"How much longer do I have to soak in this?"

As the fantasy and the hot-blooded spirit of the Heart Lake God rose up, ready to go all out in a deadly battle with Leon for the future of the entire world, the female Cleaner, soaking limp, emerged from the river and weakly shouted to Leon in the distance:

"I can't take it anymore, I really can't soak any longer, and... hic... I can hardly drink anymore either."

"Hold on a little longer."

After glancing back at the middle-aged man whose entire head was clamped by a black dog and had shown no new signs for quite a while, Leon used the Mirror World to remotely observe the flood situation in Rehe City and loudly answered:

"We still need a bit more! The Authority of the Heart Lake God is still spreading, and I'm not ready here yet. You have to hold on a little longer."

"But I... I can hardly hold on... hic... this water is really hard to drink..."

"Keep it up, you can do it!"

Seeing the female Cleaner's shriveled hand and back soaked in water, Leon couldn't help but sigh helplessly with sympathy, then tried hard to cheer her up:

"Think of your Northern Kingdom's royal family, think of your brother and father, think of the citizens of Rehe City! You're the only one who can save them now!"

"But..."

"Melly, didn't you say your dream is to be like your mother, standing in front of the entire tribe to protect all humankind? Now is the time for you to realize your dream!"

"..."

Hearing Leon's encouragement, the female Cleaner in the hot river opened her mouth, her little flushed face full of hesitation.

Although I did say that, and I'm prepared to sacrifice myself for my fellow people, I imagined realizing my dream by fighting the Outer God valiantly in desperate situations, not by having the whole city soak in my bathwater.

Besides, if I die on the battlefield defending humanity, at least I die gloriously, but how would this sacrifice be counted?

On the memorial wall of the Aquarius Branch in the future, others' death reasons will say they sacrificed their precious life to save XXX, but mine says I was on a mission soaking in a hot spring and died heroically because I soaked for too long?

This is too embarrassing!

Just after a moment of wild thinking, even though she was full of reluctance, the female Cleaner finally lay back into the steaming river, blowing a series of bubbles filled with resentment.

No way, the threat posed by the Heart Lake God is too great right now, and only someone with [Calmness] like me can slightly resist his [Heart Lake], so I have to grit my teeth and keep going...

Wait, hold on!

Previously, while soaking in the underground hot river, I hadn't noticed it much, but after briefly surfacing and then going back down, being blown by the wind above the underground river twice, the female Cleaner couldn't help but shiver slightly, with a sensation faintly on the verge of erupting.

No, really, I can't hold this any longer!

Hurriedly surfacing from the river, she quickly paddled to the "shore," the female Cleaner's face flushed red from soaking, looked up at Leon with a face of misunderstanding, and somewhat bashfully said:

"I'm not stopping soaking, but... but I need to come up for a while?"

Come up for a while?

Upon hearing this, Leon furrowed his brows and was just about to persuade her that the situation is really urgent, it'd be best to hold on a bit longer, but then he noticed her bashful expression and the way her slender legs were tightly clamped underwater.

"..."

Right, she did drink a lot of water just now, she indeed needs to relieve herself a bit.

Nodding in understanding, Leon was just about to step aside, giving her space for a satisfying relief, when he suddenly sensed something, abruptly stood up, and looked towards Rehe City above.

Almost at the moment when the female Cleaner emerged from the river, countless agitated souls in Rehe City began to extend and connect with each other, faintly appearing in a very strange "synchronization," seemingly wanting to gather together.

At the same time, Leon, who originally couldn't perceive the [Heart Lake], finally, through nearly a billion rapidly connecting souls, faintly sensed the existence of the [Heart Lake].

Those scattered little puddle-like heart lakes, as they gathered together, were already starting to transform from blurry symbols into real entities, a massive heart lake beyond imagination was rapidly taking shape beneath nearly a billion souls in Rehe City.

Moreover, if the "stones" cast by the Heart Lake God fell separately into those small puddle-like heart lakes in everyone's minds, no matter how powerful or heavy the stone was, it could only splash a few insignificant splashes.

But with nearly a billion heart lakes merging together, providing a broader lake surface and a more accommodating depth, the "stone" thrown by the Heart Lake God already had the ability to trigger a tsunami capable of destroying everything!

Damn it, why is the sun setting so slowly today?

Staring through the mirror reflected by the Mirror World, watching the sun that clearly had reached 7:30 p.m. but still hadn't completely descended below the horizon, Leon's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, then turned to look at the female Cleaner preparing to come ashore.

"Melly."

"Ah?"

Being stared at by Leon's overly serious gaze, an uneasy premonition surged up in the female Cleaner's heart.

And the development indeed was as she thought, after a brief silence, Leon hesitantly proposed:

"How about... you just don't come ashore?"

"..."

"..."

(ʘдʘ)?!

"The situation above is a bit off..."

Facing the bewildered look from the female Cleaner, Leon couldn't help but cough dryly, then explained with full eyes of helplessness:

"For some reason, today's sunset is nearly an hour later than expected, and the progress on the Heart Lake God's side is also faster than I'd predicted. The situation in Rehe City is a bit unsustainable.

It feels like just relying on the [Calmness Bath Water], there's a high possibility we can't hold down the ever-growing Authority of the Heart Lake God, which would allow him to achieve the Yellow Road Director level first, so... we might need something with a higher concentration of [Calmness]."

"..."

So... this means you want me to resolve it directly in the lake? And then suppress the Heart Lake God's Authority with [Calmness of...].

After finally understanding Leon's intention, the female Cleaner couldn't help but shake her head sharply, instantly turning the braid behind her head into a little drumstick of a poppy drum.

"No, no, no! I definitely can't do this! I mean... I am at least..."

"You are the Cleaner of the Aquarius Branch, the Princess of the Northern Kingdom, the future director of the Clean-up Bureau!"

After interrupting the female Cleaner's words, Leon crouched down and stared into her eyes, strangely persuading:

"Melly, now is the time to prove your beliefs! The Heart Lake God is about to succeed, only you have the ability to turn the tide!"

That's true, but I can't turn the tide by unleashing a "torrent," right! That's too...

"We have no time for hesitation anymore!"

After sensing the rolling waves being stirred by the heart lake above, Leon couldn't help but take a deep breath, then urged repeatedly:

"I know it's indeed a bit difficult for you, but just think about the current situation, if we let the Heart Lake God succeed, the entire Northern Kingdom might be turned into a swamp!"

"But..."

"There's no time for 'but'! The residents of Rehe City need you (to...), the citizens of the Northern Kingdom need you (to...), even all of humanity needs you (to...)!"

Placing his hand on the soaked shoulders of the unsure female Cleaner, pressing her back into the water with slight force, Leon turned back, struggling not to burst out laughing as he shouted loudly:

"Melly! Move quickly... move your legs... take action now!"