Chapter 240 - 194: Time of Death: April 17, Year ’77

He arrived at the captain’s office.

After handing Wall Announcements over to Li Kang, Chu Bamboo ignored the man’s desperate, outstretched hand and turned to leave.

Li Kang gritted his teeth and said, "Um... Minmin is planning to take the two o’clock train to Celestial Capital this afternoon! She told me that the next time she comes back will probably be during summer vacation. I told you about the family dinner last night! But I also know you had urgent business yesterday... so I didn’t dare bring it up. This afternoon, are you...?"

Chu Bamboo paused, his voice devoid of any inflection. "I see... Tell her I said hi."

Li Kang frowned. He had just sighed to himself when he heard Chu Bamboo add, "Actually, you can give her my phone number. I don’t mind... but let’s be perfectly clear, Uncle Li. I only see her as a little sister. A true, one-hundred-percent, completely unambiguous... sister! You need to make that clear to her."

Chu Bamboo really stressed the point. Especially with all those taboo sibling romance plots popular in novels these days, the very idea of a "sister" was starting to get a bad name... He felt it was necessary to clarify his position!

"...As a father, I’m glad you’re doing this! But seeing my daughter getting... I don’t know if you’d call it rejected or something else... I have very mixed feelings!" At that moment, Li Kang didn’t know whether he should be happy or sad.

Finally, he rubbed his face and grumbled, "Damn it, why can’t you young people handle your own affairs... Do you think these old bones of mine enjoy being kicked back and forth like this?!"

...

Inside Nuwa Base.

The moment Chu Bamboo walked in, he saw Ning Linglong squatting in front of his bed. With her chin in her hands, she was staring at it, lost in thought.

She looked for all the world like she hadn’t noticed him come in... For a Cultivator who was guaranteed to be at the Second Realm, how utterly absurd was that?

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’The sky is falling!’

’Isn’t there a single, remotely normal woman around me?!’

Taking a few deep breaths to compose himself, Chu Bamboo finally said with a deadpan expression, "The only thing I’m thankful for is that you didn’t jump onto my bed and start rolling around. Or taking a deep lungful."

"Huh? A deep lungful?" Ning Linglong snapped out of her daze. She turned to Chu Bamboo, her expression flickering from delight to panic. Then, as the meaning seemed to dawn on her, she stiffly glanced back at the bedding. Her face instantly turned beet red.

Chu Bamboo sat down on the edge of the bed, his sharp gaze fixed on Ning Linglong. "Alright, my dear niece, I just want to ask... was this part of the playbook Hai Mingyue gave you?"

Ning Linglong: "???"

’Huh? Wait... How did you know?!’

"To be fair, a display like this might actually make someone’s heart skip a beat under normal circumstances," Chu Bamboo calmly analyzed. "But the problem is, the hole in your story is just too big. A Second Realm Cultivator who can’t hear the door to Nuwa Base open? Who can’t sense that I’ve already walked in?"

’How many times do you think he’s practiced discerning positions by sound inside Nuwa Base?!’

’You actually dare to brandish a broadsword before Guan Gong!!!’

"..." Ning Linglong’s face twisted. She’d actually had the same suspicion before, but when she asked Hai Mingyue, Hai Mingyue had explained it away—

’This is just you sending out an opening signal! You’re releasing your feminine charm and allure! That dazed look of yours gives off a gentle, non-aggressive vibe... It’s a natural buffer!’

’Besides, while it sends a strong signal, it’s not a direct confession. Afterwards, you can judge his reaction and figure out if he sees you as a potential partner, or just as a sister or some other family member.’

’It lets you advance if the opening is there, and retreat if it’s not! There’s no better method.’

At the time, Ning Linglong had thought it all made perfect sense.

She had been squatting here for half an hour!

To pull this off, she had delegated all of her tasks for the day to Guan Fei, even promising to cover his meals for the next three days!

Considering that guy’s appetite, this was a major financial blow!

But why was what was happening now completely different from what she had expected!!

Damn it! She had been completely prepared for a swift, merciless rejection... She had even started thinking about what she’d do in that desperate scenario, whether she should mutter a classic line like, ’Fortune’s wheel is always turning, don’t look down on me now,’ or maybe say something less final, to leave a crack of hope open... But she couldn’t just kneel and beg, ’I’ll do anything you want...’

But in the end... this...

How had none of her plans worked out!

A total system crash, AHHH!!!

"Calm down." Chu Bamboo patted Ning Linglong’s shoulder with a sigh. "Don’t be led astray by that wicked woman, Hai Mingyue! She’s just deliberately using this to get closer to you..."

’But, thinking about it, does this mean she already knows... that it might be the Third District Police Chief Bureau coming after her family this time? No, more than just knowing that... it’s more likely she confirmed that the Second and Third Districts were involved, and then, because of me, zeroed in on the Third District! That actually doesn’t seem so surprising anymore.’

Chu Bamboo thought for a moment. It was a good thing that, fundamentally, his connections to the upper echelons of Jinghai City weren’t that deep.

And yet, just from dealing with Lu Jin and trying to have a small impact on the First District... not even a day had passed, and a problem had already landed, fresh and dripping, right on his doorstep?!

Using Lu Muxue as a shield is one thing, but she even figured out Ning Linglong’s feelings and used that to close the distance between them in such a short time...

All one could say was that the infiltration of the First District’s official organizations by the likes of the Demon Dao Sect and Jinghai City’s great families was truly staggering!

And at the same time... this Hai Mingyue’s capabilities were absurdly strong! As expected of a... Chu Bamboo’s gaze flickered.

Yes, on the surface, Hai Mingyue came to the Third District Police Chief Bureau for the Hai Family’s sake... but Chu Bamboo knew of her connection to the Hehuan Sect... so on a deeper level, this was a probing attempt by the Demon Dao Sect!

Ning Linglong’s expression shifted, her face flushing with anger. She quickly replayed every interaction she’d had with Hai Mingyue, and finally, the slow-dawning realization hit her. She turned, gritting her teeth. "I get it now!"

At that moment, she felt the sting of betrayal!

And to think, after just a short chat, she’d thought Hai Mingyue was a decent person—as it turns out, her first impression of that woman was right after all! A wicked woman!!

"Don’t come here if there’s nothing important... I have some private secrets that can’t be shared!" Chu Bamboo’s voice suddenly grew loud.

Ning Linglong nearly tripped on the stairs. Her face went rigid, then flushed red. She slowly turned to glance at the silvery wall, biting her lower lip. Her eyes swirled with a mixture of envy, jealousy, and resentment. As if nodding through gritted teeth, she finally whipped her head back around and stomped her way up the stairs and out of the base, each step a release of frustration.

"...Women. So emotional," Chu Bamboo mused. He now had a pretty good guess as to the image both Li Kang and Ning Linglong had of him in their minds, and what they imagined his relationship with Nuwa was...

’But if you already suspect something like that, how do you have the guts to act all jealous right in front of Nuwa?’

’So gutsy! As expected... you can’t expect a woman swept up in her emotions to be rational!’

He closed his eyes and silently counted to five. The moment he heard the main door shut, Chu Bamboo’s expression turned grim. "Nuwa No. 17, standard procedure... if someone enters the women’s restroom, alert me immediately. Then, conceal all current inquiries and run them in the background..."

Having taken his usual precautions, Chu Bamboo took a deep breath, stared directly at the silver wall before him, and enunciated each word clearly, "Please state what year this Chu Bamboo lived to. And what was the cause of his death?"

The next moment, a screen of light flickered, and a line of text appeared before Chu Bamboo’s eyes.

Name: Chu Bamboo

Time of Death: April 17, ’77.

Cause of Death: By a member of the ●● organization, codename ●●, ●●. Using ●●, the subject was induced to undergo ●●-ification. Ultimately, following a vote passed by the Security Council of the Federation Countries, subject was eliminated with a Neutron Weapon in a large-scale destructive attack on the Siberian Snowfield.