Chapter 214 - 171: We Were Always the Leaders of Cyberpunk! The Dominators

"By the way, you must be curious why I haven’t mentioned anything about track and field, right? There was a small mishap in that area. You can just experience it for yourself when you go back. All I can say is, it’s pretty disgusting! But not life-threatening. I’m not planning on pursuing sports anymore! It’s pointless."

Chu Bamboo: "?"

’Can all the riddlers in the world just drop dead? Oh, right. My good brother in this timeline is already dead, so never mind.’

Chu Bamboo mused to himself, ’But, from the looks of it, the money I’d make as a sports superstar probably can’t compare to the companies I started... But I don’t think I would have given up track and field just for money!’

Chu Bamboo didn’t see himself as the type to be so irresponsible. But after failing to figure it out, he could only shake his head. ’Forget it. Even if I don’t know now, I’ll probably see what happens in the future.’

He read on.

"In ’26, with enough financial backing, the two major companies, C and Z, no longer faced any resistance to their progress. They developed at a terrifying pace, expanding and insatiably increasing their value!

Like living capitalist behemoths, greedily devouring everything in their path.

The revolution in the Energy Battery industry not only provided a massive boost to civilian sectors like electric vehicles and mobile phones, but also greatly impacted the defense industry.

Thanks to this, as usual, I was granted the right to open a security firm."

"In February, I saw Howard again. That guy... deliberately bumped into me while pretending it was an accident! Then he apologized profusely.

He didn’t know that the moment the strange device in his pocket made contact with me, I used my Divine Thought to get a rough scan of it! It must be a device for detecting Extraordinary Abilities... but a miniaturized version! And does it have to make physical contact with me to get a reading?"

"Interesting. It seems that even with Z covering for me at the police department, he still managed to figure out, through some roundabout way, that there might be something off about me!"

"I was already prepared to kill him if he found anything... But, I sensed his disappointment! I guess he didn’t find anything?

Whatever, I should prepare for the worst! My only condition for cooperating with the military was for my parents to be protected! So I have nothing to fear."

"Of course, I also hope that you, the future Bamboo, can understand me... if this really does lead us into a ruined timeline..."

"...I see." Chu Bamboo was lost in thought. ’So, as long as I don’t fully commit and tell them everything about the future... this kind of limited cooperation, just having the military protect my parents, is enough to maintain this stable future! That’s good!’

A look of joy spread across Chu Bamboo’s face. This eliminated much of his hesitation.

"June. Still calm and peaceful. No Golden Dawn disrupting my normal life! It’s as if that strange organization never existed in this world. This is what a normal life should be!"

’Hmm, that means Howard really didn’t find anything before.’

"October. Using the batteries and Z, we finalized a strategic partnership with Dajiang Company. Over in Shanghai, we began production of brand-new intelligent drones!

This once again alarmed the military.

I’ve already made up my mind to stockpile a massive number of drones. I’m planning to store them... hmm, fifty meters below the Nuwa Base. Maybe build a base there?

I can roughly estimate the location of the Nuwa Base. If the location is slightly off, just do some digging within a one-kilometer radius..."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

Chu Bamboo fell into deep thought. He had been wondering why there were so many drones outside now. It seemed this was probably the butterfly effect of his good brother’s decision!

’This must be why there are some drone-related ruins around Jinghai City!’

"...But still!" Chu Bamboo subconsciously glanced at the ground, pinching his brow as his face twisted into a knot. ’Fifty meters underground? How am I supposed to check that? Dig with my bare hands?’

’If I used construction machinery powered by Ancient Relics, or something like a steam-powered vehicle to dig, it might be easier... but there would be no way to keep it a secret! Chu Bamboo doubted that if he dug it all up in plain sight, he’d be allowed to keep any of it.’

"Crap!" Chu Bamboo realized belatedly, the corner of his mouth twitching frantically. ’Thousands of years... while not enough to turn seas into mulberry fields, it’s still a period of immense change. A base that could survive for so long and still preserve some drones or other industrial products... it definitely won’t be easy to open!’

’So, from the moment I made this decision... it was going to be difficult for me to get them all out directly...’

’And... my good brother doesn’t even guarantee it’s directly underneath!’ Chu Bamboo didn’t know what kind of expression to make. ’What’s that supposed to mean, "definitely within a one-kilometer radius"? Fifty meters below Nuwa! Nuwa Base is already at least fifty meters underground! Doesn’t that mean it’s at least a hundred meters deep? How the hell am I supposed to dig that?!’

Chu Bamboo laughed in exasperation. He didn’t think his good brother would have overlooked this... ’So, is this his way of protesting, or is he deliberately messing with me from across time and space?’

And the next sentence he read confirmed his suspicion.

"Oh, right, it’s also possible! The drones might be dug up ahead of time... But if I really did arrange for a whole bunch of drones to be dug up... emmm, maybe you’ll see a lot of them on the streets?"

Chu Bamboo remembered what he had seen earlier in front of the Police Chief Bureau and struggled to keep a straight face. He took a moment to compose himself before continuing...

"December: Perhaps due to the butterfly effect we created, the Celestial Net Group was established ahead of schedule in the Land of Freedom! They launched Celestial Net 1!

This event was touted across the Europe and America World as a great victory against Z Company!"

"February ’27: A hyper-virulent avian flu suddenly swept across the globe! The reason it was called ’hyper-virulent’ was because this strain of avian flu was unbelievably aggressive...

Around ninety percent of the world’s chickens fell ill and died! Egg prices skyrocketed. How to describe the price of eggs? They might as well have been made of gold.

Moreover, this hyper-virulent avian flu wasn’t like previous, ordinary strains; it could be transmitted to humans! The situation was, to put it mildly, extremely serious.

You have to understand the importance of chickens to human society! And a disease on this scale... the chain reaction it would cause...

I have a slight suspicion that this might be a plot by the Golden Dawn! It’s a shame that in the previous timeline, ’I’ died way too early. Otherwise, the information from that time would have been a great help."

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed even tighter. An avian flu that killed ninety percent of chickens. And it could be transmitted to humans... That! That was more than a little terrifying.

"’29. The Celestial Net Group’s global expansion had reached an unimaginable scale!

Lin Xia, Zhao Shao, and I held a meeting! We finally made a decision... to go global! We couldn’t limit ourselves to the Divine Continent.

It’s true that as long as my Transcendent identity wasn’t exposed, the Golden Dawn wasn’t prepared to use those kinds of unimaginable methods against us!

But, the Divine Continent, at its current scale, could only support a company of our current size!

And to give you an idea of Celestial Net’s scale at the time?

After just two years of development, Celestial Net’s power and scale were enough to make even the Divine Continent wary! It was a force capable of toppling a medium-sized nation.

Many people were publicly proclaiming this as a sign of a coming cyberpunk era!

But my friend, you know full well... this is only because the people in our country have been too well-protected! In reality, the world outside is already cyberpunk—

Because in the previous timeline, we were the masters of that cyberpunk world! The rulers!"

Chu Bamboo was silent.

"January ’30. Our secret research into the Star Sea Detailed Explanation yielded huge results. The research on room-temperature superconductors was officially complete!

As a result, Lu Keke became an academician of the Academy of Sciences that same year."

Chu Bamboo was momentarily stunned. ’2030... so it took Lu Keke a full five years to mature? Well, for a scientist of that caliber, five years is actually a short time to develop!’

’But, given my sense of time... I actually thought that was a long time!’ Chu Bamboo shook his head with a wry smile.

"April ’32. The number of academicians cultivated by C and Z Companies broke thirteen! Shocking, right? But here’s something even more shocking... if we went by the normal evaluation standards, the number of academicians we’ve cultivated would be far higher. It’s just that there are only so many slots available! They’re all full... so the others have to slowly wait in line."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’How could those words even form a sentence like that? What does he mean, "the academician slots are all full"?!’

Chu Bamboo strongly suspected his good brother was just bragging, but his tone was so terrifyingly calm! It only made him more suspicious.

"Also, one more thing. I discovered something very interesting, which I’ve named: the Law of Technological Balance.

Generally, after I make a technological breakthrough, Celestial Net will follow up with one of their own shortly after... We’re basically in a constant race against each other!

I’m only able to do this because I’m basically cheating, so how are they keeping up? I strongly suspect that their special room allows them to contact Aliens... and that they can actually bargain with them. For every advance we make, the Aliens give them a corresponding boost?

It’s just a guess, but I feel like I’m not far off the mark!

However, this also made me realize something—the interests of the Golden Dawn are not completely aligned with the Extraterrestrial Civilization! The Extraterrestrial Civilization is clearly wary of the Golden Dawn as well...

Otherwise, they wouldn’t just give them a little boost every time we advance. Wouldn’t it be better for them to just provide some unimaginable technology and steamroll us completely?

And on another note, I also discovered that even though the Golden Dawn has always proclaimed itself to be the dark side of the Europe and America World, controlling all of Europe and America! In reality, they are not one and the same with Europe and America!"