Chapter 163 - 136: Scab and Student

Chu Bamboo toyed with the transparent phone, his mind racing.

’From the looks of it, the phone really doesn’t have a battery issue... But I can’t be sure yet. Does it have a miniaturized nuclear fusion reactor embedded inside, or are there still facilities in the city that support its automatic wireless charging?’

Chu Bamboo leaned toward the latter theory. After all, if nuclear fusion could be embedded into a phone—a transparent one, no less—the level of technology would be downright terrifying.

But wireless charging? That was understandable. Even C Machinery Co., Ltd., the company Chu Bamboo had founded, possessed that technology...

Even if the initial version of wireless charging could only guarantee a charge within a hundred-meter radius, that didn’t mean the technology couldn’t have evolved... Perhaps it eventually developed to the point where a device could charge automatically as long as it was anywhere inside the city.

As for the power source... the nuclear facilities out in the wilds were apparently still running!

’It’s a shame my Divine Thought is still too weak!’ Chu Bamboo thought with a hint of regret. Zhang Hai could use his Divine Thought to perceive the electrical energy within security cameras, allowing him to confirm whether he was being monitored by such Ancient Relics.

But Chu Bamboo, currently at the First Realm, couldn’t do that.

His Divine Thought could only barely cover the skin on his palm. As for its function... it was to act as a human printing press when he used his Divine Techniques!

’That... doesn’t seem very strong.’

Chu Bamboo had mixed feelings. It seemed a First Realm Body Cultivator could pin a First Realm Cultivator to the ground and utterly hammer them... though he suspected this was only because his Memory Divine Techniques hadn’t generated any offensive Skills.

Shaking his head, Chu Bamboo cleared his mind and went back to exploring the phone.

A moment later...

"Interesting! This is very interesting."

Chu Bamboo swiped his finger across the holographic screen projected by the phone. The screen could be freely stretched and resized...

With the phone on the desk, Chu Bamboo could stretch the mid-air projection into a massive three-by-four-meter screen.

’This would be awesome for watching movies!’ Chu Bamboo thought with admiration. He then shrank the holographic screen back down to the size of a tablet.

He scanned the interface. It was mostly blank—as far as he could see, the only function was for making calls.

Tapping on the icon, Chu Bamboo saw a list of phone numbers. The absurd part was that none of them were labeled with names.

’What if I dial the wrong number? Wouldn’t that be incredibly awkward?’ For a moment, Chu Bamboo didn’t know how to react. He wasn’t worried about making a mistake himself, since he already knew the few numbers he needed. But then, his brow furrowed.

’No apps at all? Then again, it would be strange to download apps in this era... So, even though this phone is an Epic Level upgrade compared to Li Kang’s old Apple phone from the previous timeline, its only function is still just making calls.’ After pondering for a while, Chu Bamboo suddenly stood up, walked into the women’s restroom next door, and from there entered the Nuwa Base.

He asked, "Nuwa No. 17, can you connect to the phone in my hand and download various apps?"

"Searching data... Request confirmed. Initiating signal connection... Connection successful..."

In the next instant, Nuwa No. 17 displayed an app store interface.

At the same time, the transparent phone’s screen became an exact mirror of the interface Nuwa was displaying.

’It really works!’ Chu Bamboo’s eyes lit up. He gently swiped his finger, looking at the familiar yet strange app icons.

’Download, download, download...’

With a series of taps from Chu Bamboo, dozens of apps appeared on the phone’s home screen in the span of a single breath.

’This download speed is incredible!’ Chu Bamboo was floored. Then, with a hint of anticipation, he tapped open one of the apps.

A moment later, he exited it, his face expressionless.

’They downloaded, but they can’t connect to the server! It’s like the internet’s out... Oh, right. The internet *is* out.’ "Nuwa No. 17, can you simulate the servers and make these apps work normally?"

"Processing... Confirming Authority’s objective. Simulation is possible."

A joyful expression appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face. He started swiping through the interface again; this time, the experience was much smoother. However, he still exited quickly, sighed, and uninstalled every single app.

The reason was simple: the content within the simulated apps was extremely limited.

For example, on a normal social media app, a search would pull up all sorts of strange and varied results. But not here. The search results were just a vast, empty void.

Douyin was the same. After scrolling through a few videos, it started replaying ones he’d already seen. The algorithm-driven experience was terrible! It made you wonder what, if anything, was even in the video database.

’...I guess it makes sense. After all, this isn’t Nuwa’s primary function.’ Chu Bamboo blanked the phone’s screen and stuffed it into his pocket.

Besides, there was another reason he uninstalled all the apps: in this era, no one else’s phone had them.

If someone were to catch a glimpse of his phone in the future... that would be a huge mess.

Chu Bamboo had a reset ability, so he could theoretically contain the risk of any leaks... But he wasn’t the kind of idiot who would knowingly ignore a problem, only to commit suicide and reset everything after the damage was irreparable.

’What’s next? Should I stay in the Nuwa Base and watch novels, movies, and anime?’ After a moment’s thought, Chu Bamboo decided to head to the shantytown redevelopment area first.