I! Cleaner!-Chapter 501 - 436: Assassination Attempt Face-to-Face

"You... what exactly do you want to do?"

Unaware of the changes happening outside the carriage, Prince Freckles huddled on the seat, looked at Leon across from him with some trepidation, and barked sternly, though lacking confidence:

"Don’t think that just because you’re from the Clean-up Bureau, you can do whatever you want!"

"There is an agreement between the royal family and the Clean-up Bureau. If you do anything to me, not only will the royal family hold you accountable, but the Clean-up Bureau will send down an investigator, and then severely punish you!"

"Ah, yes, yes."

Not bothered by Joshua’s itchy-threat-like words, Leon was touching the horn protruding from his cuff link, carefully scanning the surroundings near the king’s palace.

Looking out through the compartment wall from the carriage, in the soul vision shared by the black ram, clusters of soul flames, in various shades, flickered steadily as usual. Everything seemed normal around the few streets near the king’s palace, with no noticeable anomalies.

It seems that the rebels were discreet enough not to attract attention. The king’s palace remained completely unsuspecting and unguarded, not realizing the actions unfolding on their side. So far, everything was progressing smoothly.

Furthermore, more than a hundred elite rebels with some military training had successfully infiltrated nearby.

Compared to the soul flames of ordinary citizens, the soul flames of these rebels, ready to storm the king’s palace, were visibly more "lively," bouncing restlessly and excitedly.

Although due to patrols and outposts, these people couldn’t truly approach the palace, or even enter the square directly facing the palace, and could only stay on the outer streets farther away.

Now that the manpower is in place...

After glancing at the eager souls and then at the still relaxed king’s palace, Leon couldn’t help but clench his fist with determination.

Everything is set!

Next, as long as he successfully infiltrated the king’s palace and brought Luke, who could control others’ bodies, inside, helping him "replace" the palace guard captain, these pre-arranged rebel members could immediately dash across the square and storm the palace.

Although more than a hundred people seemed too few, for such an "inside-outside coordination" situation, it was more than enough. Forming a line in front of the palace and then charging inside was not a coup but a suicidal rush.

Those often executing coups should know that a real armed coup involves a small, elite strike to swiftly control major targets and threatening personnel before anyone has time to react, to complete the task thoroughly. That’s the key to success.

The difficulty lies in how to avoid troops, hide the small squad effectively, and suddenly attack from a lethal enough distance. After executing the armed assault, suppressing the resistance of hostile forces and stabilizing the situation quickly is what matters, rather than how to break into the palace.

These preparations should all be in place before action begins. When it comes time to actually execute, from start to finish, only one or two hours should be enough. Any longer would mean the operation has failed.

After all, people aren’t stupid; if you openly gather to assault the palace, even the commander of the capital garrison, no matter how foolish, can’t be completely oblivious.

Using tricks like digging up roadbeds or blocking streets becomes meaningless against organized military forces, at most slightly delaying them. Getting a two-hour window would require incredible luck.

Considering the distance between the palace and the garrison camp, if they can’t make it in an hour and a half, the old King would be furious enough to leap from his wheelchair and strangle the commanding officer himself, followed by whoever put a pig in such an important position.

So, we must speed up a bit!

After mentally going through the plan and confirming there were no obvious loopholes, Leon released the horn, revealing a gentle smile.

"Prince Joshua."

In the uncertainty and suspicion of Prince Freckles’ expression, Leon, always bearing him no good will, pointed to their feet in a friendly manner, and said: 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Your shoelace is untied."

Huh?

After hearing Leon’s words, Prince Freckles was momentarily stunned, then reflexively leaned forward to look at his feet.

While he was bent forward, Leon, sitting across, pulled out a small silver hammer with a cushioned end from his cuff link.

The Aquarius Director’s abnormal item holder, Luke, could take over someone else’s body with his consciousness once they were unconscious. However, following the routine before his own chief went to the dream realm, he left an abnormal item in the palace that could isolate such abnormal "intrusions."

Hence, an "unconscious" person had to carry Luke’s consciousness in advance and bring Luke into the palace, giving him the chance to knock out the palace guard captain and assume his identity to redirect the palace guards.

Only with the guards mostly redirected could the more than a hundred rebels ambushing on the outer streets charge into the palace and seize the old King.

As for the unconscious person... who else but Joshua?

...

However, just as Leon was about to swing the little silver hammer to help Prince Freckles take a good nap, for some unknown reason, the carriage they were in suddenly decelerated, followed by a violent tremor.

In this abrupt halt, Joshua, who was already leaning forward, was launched from his seat, lunging forward and hitting the empty spot next to Leon, even breaking his nose.

Feeling the sharp pain on the bridge of his nose and smelling the blood from his nose, Prince Freckles was just about to burst out in anger when he heard a muffled bang from behind.

Surprised by the sound, Joshua turned his head to look, and was horrified to find someone holding the hammer usually used to ring bells in parliament, slamming it where he had been sitting, leaving a big dent in the soft leather seat.

Judging by the swing of the hammer, if not for the sudden stop, this solid swing would have surely hit his head directly!

"You, you... what were... you trying to do?!!!"

Seeing Joshua across, petrified and stammering, Leon couldn’t help showing a sheepish expression.

Though he had planned the armed coup, to send Joshua across the sea to marry a monkey, attempting an "assassination" only to be discovered right in front of him was incredibly awkward.

"Um..."

Looking at the terrified expression on Joshua’s face, Leon pulled the hammer out of the leather seat and said awkwardly:

"Do you think my hammer looks nice?"

"..."

Of course not! Even a fool could tell you were planning to hammer me with this thing, right?!

Seems there’s no way to fool him...

Looking at his brother-in-law, who didn’t believe a single word or punctuation mark, Leon sighed, grabbed the frantic Joshua trying to open the carriage door, tossed away the little silver hammer, and silently clenched his fist.

Never mind, I’ve gotten used to it.

My luck has always been lousy; having a plan go smoothly without any hitch would be strange, but missing him with a swing doesn’t matter much...

Knocking him unconscious works just as well.