Chapter 242 - 196: Top 10 in World Power, Deputy Planet-Level Cadre

Nuwa’s voice was as placid as ever. "However, perhaps it was because mutual interests served as the ballast, or perhaps because both sides were too aware of each other’s strength and the consequences should a full-blown conflict erupt—

Therefore, even as friction intensified, it only ever escalated to small-scale wars, never an all-out war."

"..." Chu Bamboo’s mouth twitched.

"On August 7th, ’39, after a cold war that lasted for several years, war finally broke out!"

"The battlefield for this war was Africa."

Chu Bamboo’s expression was a bit strange. He noticed that wars always seemed to be fought in Africa. ’Is it like this in every timeline?’

"October 1st, ’39. The immense impact of the megacorp war shocked the entire world! It dominated the headlines of major media outlets worldwide, both traditional and online...

The hype lasted for a full two months without the slightest sign of dying down!"

Chu Bamboo wasn’t surprised at all. A megacorp war was way more intense and interesting to watch than Da Mao and Ermao just standing there, trading blows...

"January ’40. The hyper-virulent avian flu that had swept the globe at the end of ’26 flared up again.

At the same time, patients who had been vaccinated with the C Biological Co., Ltd. vaccine had a severe reaction to the new strain of avian flu! This triggered the ’zombie crisis’."

"Patients who were vaccinated and then reinfected with avian flu had a thirty percent chance of dying within three days.

Furthermore, on the day following their death, they would enter a reanimated state.

Autopsies concluded that the brain tissue of reanimated humans or animals was completely dead. Their bodies could remain active for three days without any Energy replenishment, spreading the avian flu virus!

This variant of avian flu, spread directly by these ’zombies,’ would cause reanimation after death even in those who had not been vaccinated!"

"The high vaccination rate caused immense damage to the Cyberpunk Society directly and indirectly controlled by Chu Bamboo, as well as to the Divine Continent and the White-headed Eagle!

The death toll from this event exceeded one billion.

As the proposer, manufacturer, and promoter of the vaccine, Chu Bamboo was consequently labeled the greatest butcher in human history, bar none!

On the very day the avian flu broke out, Chu Bamboo defected and fled to Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, the zombie crisis resulted in the deaths of a large number of middle-class members of society!

This included a significant portion of the core personnel from C Corporation, Z Intelligent Company, and Celestial Net Company.

In the end, even Zhao Shao, the CEO of Z Intelligent Company, died as a result! He was the highest-ranking individual known to have died from the avian flu.

The enormous casualties threw the major corporations’ plans into complete disarray...

Left with no other choice, the megacorp war came to a halt."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Zhao Shao is dead? Crap, Z from this timeline wasn’t born like this, was it...?’

Chu Bamboo’s eye twitched uncontrollably. He couldn’t even imagine what Z’s attitude toward his "good brother" would be after finding out everything...

A few silent breaths passed.

’Sigh, it looks like my "good brother" has been thoroughly corrupted by a life of comfort!’

Chu Bamboo sighed with a bit of melancholy. His current self was still extremely wary of any avian flu vaccine.

’But it seems that after reaching an agreement with the Raven Clan and ensuring his own safety, my "good brother’s" level of vigilance dropped significantly...’

’But from the looks of it now... they really did leave a problem in the vaccine! It’s just... they hid it for decades! How could they be so patient?’

Chu Bamboo rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was genuinely shocked.

’However, the first avian flu outbreak in the real world happened only a year or two later. I should have still been on high alert back then, right?’

’To still force the vaccine out under those circumstances... that just means! The avian flu outbreak in ’27... oh no, this time it was at the end of ’26! Its impact must have been unimaginably huge... even if Nuwa No. 17 didn’t say so!’

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed. ’Is it because this matter is too sensitive?’ But regardless, combining the avian flu with the zombie crisis of ’40... Chu Bamboo was almost certain this was a biological attack by an Extraterrestrial Civilization.

No!

’My "good brother"... don’t tell me he was exposed when he provided the vaccine?’

A chill ran down Chu Bamboo’s spine. After all, the vaccine might very well have been provided by the Extraterrestrial Civilization... As for why his "good brother" managed to survive after the news broke...

That was perfectly normal.

In the eyes of the Raven Clan, the Golden Dawn, and even the Extraterrestrial Civilization suspected of watching Earth, Chu Bamboo was undoubtedly their ally.

However, this time, it was Chu Bamboo who, almost single-handedly, carved out the territory for the Golden Dawn and built the foundation of a Cyberpunk Society!

You have to understand, in this timeline, Celestial Net Company clearly didn’t receive any extra funding from the Extraterrestrial Civilization... After all, Celestial Net Company itself wasn’t facing any technological pressure! According to the law of technological conservation, the Extraterrestrial Civilization had no reason to intervene!

So, you could even say that Celestial Net Company’s dominance was single-handedly achieved by Chu Bamboo!

With that kind of contribution, if not for his "good brother’s" unwillingness to change his nationality, coupled with ethnic issues, running for the leadership of the Golden Dawn might not have been impossible!

"Holy crap, talk about being a blue-blooded insider!" Chu Bamboo slapped himself on the face, his emotions a complex and subtle mess.

After a moment of emotion, he forced himself to calm down and continued reading.

"July 1st, ’41. Thanks to the immense productivity and almost perverse level of control brought about by the Cyberpunk Society, the zombie crisis officially ended!

Chu Bamboo issued a public apology, stating: He had not anticipated such an outcome! He expressed his deepest regrets and promised to do everything possible to compensate for the damages, even though those damages might be beyond his ability to ever fully mend...

As soon as this news was released, it was met with angry refutations from the public. Many even believed it was Chu Bamboo’s way of mocking and humiliating the world.

Because of this, within just three days, over five thousand large-scale protest marches against Chu Bamboo’s actions took place worldwide..."

"August 7th, ’41. The Mao Bear proposed at the Sec*rity C*uncil to designate Chu Bamboo as an anti-humanity terr*rist!

The White-headed Eagle responded with: a veto!"

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Did I transmigrate? The one who vetoed it was actually the White-headed Eagle...’

「December 1st, ’50.」

As the president of C Corporation and the creator of the Eastern Cyberpunk World...

Even now, with Celestial Net Company having officially split off, and after they had fought a megacorp war that left both sides severely weakened, Chu Bamboo was still successfully ranked as: one of the ten most powerful men in the world!

He was jokingly nicknamed by netizens from the Divine Continent: Deputy Globe-level Cadre.

Chu Bamboo’s expression was complex. ’If I had maintained indirect control over Celestial Net, I probably would have been promoted directly to full Globe-level Cadre.’

"January ’57. The Divine Continent officially announced that, following the establishment of a permanent Moon Base, they would begin constructing a permanent Mars Base!

The next day, the White-headed Eagle followed suit, announcing their own plans to build a permanent, habitable base on Mars.

On the third day, spurred on, Chu Bamboo publicly announced that he would follow suit, keeping pace with the two world powers by building a permanent Mars Base of a scale in no way inferior to theirs!

On the fourth day: Celestial Net Company announced it would follow in the footsteps of the other three!"

"..."

’Well damn, so it’s a game of catch-up, is it?’

Chu Bamboo’s expression gradually turned serious. If he remembered correctly... there was a world-shattering event that happened because of landing on Mars and building a base, wasn’t there?!

"January ’58. The Mars Base was officially established..."

The next moment, all the responses retracted, replaced by: "Message traffic is heavy. Please try again later!"

Chu Bamboo’s gaze flickered, but he didn’t have a strong reaction. After staring blankly at the silver-white wall for a long while, he gave a wry smile.

"That said, I’m actually a little surprised you lasted this long!"

Chu Bamboo had thought halfway through that it might crap out at any moment. But unexpectedly... it actually held on until the Mars Base!

"But this time, it clearly involved a lot of world politics!" Chu Bamboo fell into thought. ’Why wasn’t this stuff censored?’

’Could it be because all the questions I asked were about myself?’

Chu Bamboo couldn’t quite figure it out. ’Nuwa No. 17’s alert criteria... are they different in different timelines?’

However, he eventually shook his head, casting these meaningless questions aside.

’All in all, the fundamental reason my "good brother" was able to survive this time is that he served as the Golden Dawn’s sharpest blade...’

Chu Bamboo made a calm judgment. Although he hadn’t joined the Golden Dawn, in the eyes of its members, the Chu Bamboo of this timeline was likely as important as ten—no, a hundred Golden Humans.

’And this time, the "two world wars" instance dungeon didn’t trigger!’

Chu Bamboo mused.

’That’s very interesting...’ After a moment of thought, he roughly guessed the reason.

’It must be the influence of the Cyberpunk Society!’

Even though Celestial Net Company was controlled by the Golden Dawn, it was born from the international divisions of Z and C Corporations. This created an intricate web of connections between them, no matter how fiercely they fought—perhaps something like the relationship between the White-headed Eagle and Britain?

Furthermore, from the information he had seen, Chu Bamboo confirmed that Z, C, and Celestial Net Company had been in a honeymoon period for at least a decade...

Given Chu Bamboo’s special status and his position as practically the sole founder of Celestial Net Company... he could probably indirectly influence many people within Celestial Net even after the megacorp war started—

He might even have been able to influence some of Celestial Net Company’s decisions.

So, strictly speaking, even if the cyberpunkening that spanned South America and Africa didn’t have a single, absolute leader... the megacorporations it created were powerful enough to start wars, and even after splitting, their terrifying nature was still beyond doubt...

’So that’s why the evaluation was "top ten in the world, Deputy Globe-level Cadre"! I’m starting to suspect... the White-headed Eagle and the old country were probably terrified of these three companies! It’s likely because they were afraid of being hollowed out by the corporations... which is why both sides maintained a large degree of calm!’

’They probably breathed a huge sigh of relief when we split up... In fact, it’s possible that these countries pulled some strings behind the scenes to make the companies diverge completely, or even become hostile to each other!’

One thought after another flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind.

Moreover...

In this timeline, Chu Bamboo had clearly kept Z’s existence a secret his entire life... Her creation date, not surprisingly, should still be the time of Zhao Shao’s death...

Coupled with Chu Bamboo’s deep infiltration of Celestial Net Company, which meant the company faced few external threats and wasn’t stimulated into a technological explosion...

Therefore, the Celestial Net AI was never born!

Therefore, the AI war never broke out...

And that’s why Nuwa could calmly drone on until the year ’57. And the information stopped because it hit an alert threshold, not because the network was cut, preventing it from providing details!

Closing his eyes, Chu Bamboo organized his thoughts for a good while, took a deep breath, and said, enunciating every word, "Nuwa No. 17, bring up my diary!"

Now, then, it was time for the main course!

Chu Bamboo’s eyes snapped open, burning with intensity.

’Let’s see what kind of earth-shattering intelligence my "good brother" managed to uncover this time...’