When the trash can, now a living being, stood before Pei Guang, his expression turned serious.
"This really is…"
His tone was low for a moment, but then it shifted to excitement: "This is amazing! I can't believe a trash can actually turned into a living being? Look at those strong muscles, those powerful limbs, and that reassuring body: Mr. Bucket! Can I get inside you?"
Hearing Pei Guang's question, Below One Bucket opened its lid and sat down on the floor. Pei Guang then leaned against its body and climbed inside.
The interior of the bucket was currently empty, but once inside, Pei Guang felt the space within was extraordinarily vast, like an entirely new world that could easily accommodate people.
After exploring it for a bit, Pei Guang exited the bucket. Looking at the now-standing trash can before him again, he gave it a thumbs-up.
Sensing Pei Guang's praise, the bucket stood tall with its cylindrical body and arms akimbo, radiating pride.
Ruan Mei's eyes sparkled with excitement as she looked at the bucket. She couldn't comprehend how Pei Guang had managed to shake a trash can for less than a minute and somehow "shake out" a Preservation Emanator: but she was extremely eager to understand this lifeform.
Her instincts told her that if she could analyze this bucket, she might be able to create a true Emantor.
However, Below One Bucket sensed Ruan Mei's intentions. It crossed its arms and fixed her with a firm, determined look.
Ruan Mei was taken aback: how could a being without eyes give off such an intense gaze? But regardless of its expression, it couldn't stop her purpose.
She reached out and touched the trash can. In that instant, information about its lifeform flooded her mind.
And yet, in the face of Ruan Mei's probing, the bucket remained indifferent. As a trash can, it never cared about the gazes of others: it held pride and dignity, and it possessed the heartbeat of a purpose it would uphold for life.
That belief and spirit didn't waver, not even before the Amber Lord.
In fact, when it first laid eyes on the Amber Lord upon its creation, its first thought wasn't how awe-inspiring an Aeon was, but how to protect the garbage inside it from the power of an Aeon—even though it currently held no garbage.
That didn't stop it from thinking about it!
Ruan Mei smiled when she touched the bucket—but that smile quickly froze. The information she had received told her that this bucket was indeed a unique lifeform.
At this moment, Ruan Mei truly felt like she had seen a ghost.
In her field of biology, she had seen plenty of bizarre entities, and even personally created many strange ones. But for the first time, she encountered a lifeform where all the obtained data showed nothing abnormal: everything indicated it was just an ordinary biological organism.
Her expression grew increasingly grim, because no matter how she analyzed the biological data of the trash can in front of her, the results were all incredibly normal: so normal it was as if this was just an average, healthy person with a well-regulated daily routine!
But the problem was, this… was an ordinary person?
Looking at the bucket standing with arms crossed, radiating a powder-pink-white glow and an aura of majesty, Ruan Mei couldn't shake the feeling that this guy had nothing to do with "ordinary."
But compared to Ruan Mei, Pei Guang wasn't bothered by any of that. He looked at the bucket and asked, "Bucket! I have a mission next. Someone has created a big pile of trash that needs to be taken out. That guy is really strong. Do you think you can handle it?"
Upon hearing Pei Guang's question, the bucket unleashed a wave of aura so strong it seemed to condense into vapor.
That aura told Pei Guang: no problem. It was just a bucket, ignorant of all worldly affairs, but when it came to taking out the trash, it was absolutely a professional.
To demonstrate its professionalism, the trash can walked over to a wall, clenched a fist the size of a sandbag with its right hand, and punched it.
Physically, nothing happened. But the entire space station underwent a subtle change.
In that moment, Asta, Herta, Screwllum, and a brawny man with a statue-like head all felt a pure and stable force of Preservation wrap around the entire space station.
Herta: "What the hell? Why are the walls that Qlipoth built showing up on the space station?"
Under Herta's surveillance, the entire station was enveloped in the same pure Preservation power as Qlipoth's walls.
But unlike Qlipoth's, the walls on the station were unique in one regard: while Qlipoth's walls allowed free passage, these ones had a very peculiar restriction—entry and exit were only permitted through official gates.
That's right: with that punch, the bucket treated the entire space station as a trash can.
After all, from the bucket's perspective, a sealed space like the station was essentially a trash can. As a trash can, how could it allow garbage to freely come and go like a sieve?
And as a trash can, how could it fail to protect the garbage inside and let it fly around wildly? That would violate the trash can's creed—and the very meaning of its existence.
Thus, the space station became restricted: no free entry or exit. Everyone could only come and go through designated points, just like trash.
A trash can that lets garbage in and out freely is a broken trash can, and the bucket would never allow a broken trash can to pollute the universe.
If you really wanted to let garbage in and out at will then you might as well kill the bucket! No one could shake the will of the trash can, unless it died.
But the real question was: who would even want to challenge the will of a trash can?
Of course, while garbage couldn't come and go freely, the people throwing out the garbage could. After all, life was sometimes like trash: it needed a trash can to contain it.
As a proper trash can, it would always open its arms to anyone in need of one. Even those cast aside by the entire world—it would offer them warmth and shelter with its body, shielding them from wind and rain.
Pei Guang couldn't tell what kind of special abilities the bucket had. He just felt that this trash can was very powerful and that he'd definitely latched onto a strong ally for this mission.
Compared to Pei Guang, Ruan Mei was the one most bewildered.
She had just scanned the bucket and confirmed it was a normal biological entity, yet that punch had clearly proven otherwise. This was no ordinary Preservation Emanator: it was an Emanator receiving special attention from an Aeon.
She couldn't make sense of it! The materials she provided were indeed of high quality, but they shouldn't have been capable of creating something this powerful… and yet here it was.
So where had things gone wrong? Sure, Pei Guang was unorthodox, but this was completely beyond logic, wasn't it?
Ruan Mei reviewed the entire process of Pei Guang creating the bucket. Very quickly, she remembered something important: the material Pei Guang had poured in. The creation of the bucket must have something to do with that mysterious black substance.
Thinking of this, she looked around—and spotted the empty bucket Pei Guang had casually set aside earlier. She vaguely noticed some remnants of that unusual material still inside it.
She had to check whether this substance was the key to creating this unique lifeform. She reached out, grabbed the bucket, and found a small amount of black residue inside. Pinching it between her fingers, her expression grew even more surprised.
The information in her mind told her this substance was called Chemical X: but beyond that, she got nothing useful. It was just sitting there like a pile of useless garbage, providing no significant data.
Still, she carefully preserved even this small amount of residue. She could use it in her next experiment.
At the same time, she was curious: how exactly did Pei Guang get hold of something that looked completely useless, yet somehow played a critical role in the creation of life?