Chapter 265 - 219: Time Club

Inside a guest room at Z Company.

Chu Bamboo stared at Lin Xia, who was sitting across from him, with a grave expression. For the first time in a long while, he opened up, revealing some information he deemed to be low-risk.

"Golden Dawn! The apocalypse remains!" Lin Xia fell into deep thought. He got up and paced back and forth a few times, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. Even though he knew overcoming that desperate future would be absurdly difficult, the confirmation that most of what they were doing now seemed to be in vain still made him feel an unavoidable sense of suffocation.

His body came to a sudden halt. Lin Xia had realized something. He slowly turned his head, looked directly into Chu Bamboo’s eyes, and asked abruptly, "Ah Zhu, have you ever thought about establishing an organization?"

"?" Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed. "I remember, I think I said before..."

"Not something like the Celestial Court..." Lin Xia shook his head. "The Celestial Court is just an Extraordinary organization! Not an organization that can help you solve the problem of the apocalypse, or even cross time and leave a legacy to help you in the future... Those are two different concepts."

A thought flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. He vaguely realized what Lin Xia was getting at.

"Yes!" Lin Xia took a deep breath, a flash of disappointment in his eyes. ’Truthfully, I’d have loved to be the only one who knew the secret, but...’

He steeled his resolve and said, "You said it yourself. In the future, you can glimpse different choices! And the consequences... some are good, some are bad!"

"That being the case, why not do as you did with me? In the future timelines you can choose from, tell a select few trustworthy people the real future! And finally, build an organization that spans across timelines... to save the world."

Lin Xia stared at Chu Bamboo with a burning gaze, speaking each word with emphasis, "Ah Zhu, I’m not lying to you! The reason I trust and support you so staunchly is because I believed what you said. I believe in you... I believe that only you have a chance of leading us past that desperate future! So..."

’If it were just friendship, I’m sure I would help Chu Bamboo, but only to a certain extent. I would never have gone this far, betting my entire life on this...’

Lin Xia seriously dissected his own psyche, even analyzing the version of himself from that other timeline!

And then, he calmly arrived at the final answer.

"If it isn’t just me... but many, many people! Then... maybe the future will be completely different!" Lin Xia believed that the number of people who would make a similar decision to his, once they knew the truth, would be by no means small.

"Besides, if we can screen for and find people who support you as staunchly as I do, then even if I die in the future, even if *you* die... as long as someone who knows the truth survives and passes on information according to your needs... you’ll be able to see even more in the future!"

"To put it bluntly," Lin Xia licked his slightly dry lips, "the greatest benefit of history is that it tells you who is most worthy of trust!"

"A task, in the end... still needs people to carry it out! The right people can accomplish the right things. But if you choose the wrong people, no matter how correct your decision is, it will inevitably end in utter defeat... History has proven this countless times!"

"And you stand downstream in the river of time! You can naturally see through the mists of time that even the most brilliant geniuses cannot pierce..."

"Of course," Lin Xia paused briefly, adding cautiously, "on the main timeline, I still suggest you be as careful as possible... It’s best to keep running trial and error on multiple timelines! Only after you’ve repeatedly confirmed someone is trustworthy, confirmed they won’t have a negative impact on the future... only then would I suggest you inform them of the truth on this current main timeline. In the end... we absolutely cannot afford to lose on the main timeline!"

"...I understand." Countless thoughts raced through Chu Bamboo’s mind, and a look of relief finally appeared on his face. ’That’s right. Since I feel like I’ve walked into a dead end... I might as well just find a more direct way to push through it!’

"So, what should we call this new, world-saving organization that spans across timelines?" A hint of excitement appeared on Lin Xia’s face.

"The Celestial Court, what else?" Chu Bamboo glanced at Lin Xia, a little confused.

"No, no, no..." Lin Xia shook his head seriously. "The Celestial Court is just a faction! The Celestial Court is destined to grow large in the future, to rise, to expand... But the people who can know your secret must be people who have earned your trust, your true inner circle of the future!"

"A faction and an inner circle are two different things!"

"Do you have a suggestion?" Chu Bamboo, sensing there was more to this, gazed thoughtfully at Lin Xia.

"How about we call it... the Something-or-other Club? Of course, the specific name has to be decided by you, the leader!" Lin Xia’s eyes sparkled, his words flowing more and more smoothly as he spoke. He saw Chu Bamboo’s awkward expression and said, "I know, you probably think this name doesn’t match the Celestial Court, right?"

"But that’s exactly the effect we’re going for! We want something that doesn’t fit the style of the Celestial Court... something that sounds completely unremarkable, maybe even a little cringey..."

"If you pick a name that sounds super impressive right off the bat, it might just make people curious... just like with the Celestial Court!"

Lin Xia criticized with a pained expression, "That name is too grand, too defiant! Any normal person who hears it would immediately think... you’re obviously up to no good! Think about it, if the Divine Continent’s Officials found out you created a faction like that, what would they think?"

"But if the Divine Continent’s Officials found out you started a ’club’... what would they think then?"