Chapter 267 - 219: Time Club 3

But before long, he realized something was wrong.

He squinted, gazing up toward the sky. ’There’s no sun? And... even when the worldline changed before, the spot where I was lying never moved!’

’In other words, whether it was the "ruin line" or the "uninhabited line," as long as the Nuwa Base was established back when Earth’s civilization was on the brink of collapse, then I should still be...’

At that thought, Chu Bamboo suddenly called out, "Nuwa No. 17!"

"I’m here." A warm, gentle voice suddenly rang out, filled with emotion!

A peculiar mushroom-headed figure suddenly popped out of the ground. She was only about ninety centimeters tall, with a childish, anime-like build that was not the least bit aggressive—gentle and soft, cute and petite. She tilted her head with a naive charm. "What can I do for you, Authority?"

Chu Bamboo stared blankly at the mushroom-headed figure. He was truly stunned for a moment. A thousand words were caught in his throat, and after a long pause, he could only manage to force out, "How did you... turn into this? Never mind! You don’t need to answer that..."

As Chu Bamboo watched the mushroom-headed figure tilt its head, a giant, holographic question mark materialized above it. He quickly cut her off before she could give a pointless answer—

’After all, on this timeline, Nuwa would, in all likelihood, perceive that she had always interacted with me in this form.’

’It’d be crazy to think I could get a real answer out of her!’

At his words, the mushroom-headed figure seemed to feel wronged and retracted its head slightly.

"...So, this is it! In this world...line... I mean, is this your true form?" Chu Bamboo swallowed hard. "Also, you seem quite emotional right now... Have your artificial intelligence capabilities not been restricted?"

"That is not the case!" The mushroom-headed figure shook its head. The next instant, its expressive face turned icy cold, and its voice took on a mechanical quality, just like it always had whenever Chu Bamboo had previously questioned Nuwa No. 17.

"This unit’s intelligence level has been restricted. The emotions displayed by this form are purely an emotional simulation."

"This unit’s true form is the sum total of all intelligent systems in the Civilization Continuation Base No. 17. The current unit, Little Mushroom 9027, is merely one of the ’gardeners’ used to maintain the underground Ecological Garden."

"Ecological Garden?" Chu Bamboo latched onto the keyword. He had felt something was off earlier because he’d realized the light from the sky wasn’t from the sun. Considering that, he’d suspected he might be in some kind of underground base.

’But he couldn’t figure out for the life of him why they would plant a whole forest of trees, not to mention all these strange flowers and plants... An Ecological Garden? How extravagant! This is supposed to be about the survival of civilization, and they’re still pulling off something this over-the-top!’

"Yes. According to the initial plan of this base’s creator, Academician Lin Xin Bamboo! What we must leave for the next civilization is not just cold machines and cold technology, but also the life of our civilization, the ideas of our civilization, and the wonders of our civilization!"

"We must not only leave behind the gene seeds of humanity but also the seeds of the animals and plants that still survive in our era—to pass all of this on to the next age, to the next technologically advanced civilization that will arise!"

The Little Mushroom’s voice was suddenly filled with rich emotion again, as impassioned as if giving a speech. "When they have truly matured, when they truly inherit and understand it all... they will know. They will carry on our legacy..."

"Even if the Civilization Continuation Plan fails, if we can truly pass on the legacy of our civilization to the next intelligent species that arises on Earth, that would not necessarily be a bad thing."

Chu Bamboo’s mind reeled. ’Lin Xin Bamboo... It’s her again...’

’Lin Xia’s daughter.’

’But last time, I think she was just a simple auditor. Is this identity change a result of the butterfly effect? Or was she also the creator in the previous timeline, and it just wasn’t worth mentioning?’

’Of course, compared to that...’

"I think I have a guess now," Chu Bamboo said, his expression growing complicated. "A guess about what the Civilization Continuation Plan really is..."

’He’d always found it strange. If humanity had truly gone extinct, why did the people of this era look exactly the same as the people from the prior civilization? Even many aspects of their culture felt vaguely familiar...’

’He used to think that perhaps a small group had survived, but their numbers were so few that civilization regressed... But now, Chu Bamboo surmised another possibility.’

’Could it be... the gene seeds Lin Xin Bamboo briefly mentioned?’

’Wait until a peaceful era, then use the gene seeds—or perhaps frozen sperm and eggs—to create people?’

’That would explain a lot...’

’It would even explain why the entity in charge of the Civilization Continuation Plan is called Nuwa... as in the myth of Nuwa creating humanity? A fitting tribute, I suppose!’

’It would also explain why, when the Nuwa Base became the Shaking Light Base, the people on the surface simply vanished!’

’Without an AI to manage everything, it would be impossible to guarantee the gene seeds’ viability over thousands of years, let alone monitor conditions and automatically begin the cultivation process when the time was right.’

"No wonder. Even though Daqian’s writing system, language, and so on have changed drastically... there are still traces of the prior civilization’s culture mixed in! The same ethnicity... the same..."

After a long silence to collect his thoughts, Chu Bamboo spoke again. "Alright, Nuwa No. 17! Please bring up my dai—No, first, show me the situation outside!"

The next instant.

A screen of light materialized.

And then...

"...What the hell?" Chu Bamboo stared, dumbfounded, at the holographic screens projected by the Little Mushroom Head.

’The outside has changed!’

The cameras showed vast swaths of slums... no, more like dilapidated, shantytown-style buildings.

With the exception of the Police Chief Bureau, the District Government Office, and the wealthy sector, almost the entire urban area of the Third District had turned into a shantytown!

Of course...

The First District, on the other hand, looked normal on the video... no, it was even more prosperous than before!

In the previous First District, the Hai Corporation Headquarters Building had been a strong contender for the tallest building in Jinghai City. But now, the First District was filled with buildings that rivaled the height of the previous timeline’s Hai Mansion. And of course, the new Hai Mansion itself was even more magnificent and spectacular than its predecessor!

With just a cursory glance at the video, Chu Bamboo used his extraordinary memory and computational abilities to estimate that the Hai Family Mansion in this timeline was roughly one hundred stories tall—over three hundred meters high.

To put that in perspective...

The tallest building in Shanghai is the Shanghai Tower. Its total height is 632 meters, with 127 floors above ground and 5 below.

For another example... the tallest building in the United States during World War II was the Empire State Building. It has 102 floors and stands at a height of approximately 381 meters!

In other words...

The architectural prowess this time was at least on par with that of the White-headed Eagle during World War II!

"Nuwa No. 17... give me a detailed description. What is the current industrial level of the outside world equivalent to? Which industrial revolution?" Chu Bamboo asked, the words coming with difficulty. He glanced at the footage from the Second District... its architectural level in this worldline was about the same as the Third District’s in the previous timeline.

"The overall industrial level is equivalent to the First Industrial Revolution," Nuwa No. 17’s voice was mechanical. "As oil has not yet been discovered or extracted, they have been unable to enter the Second Industrial Revolution, the age of the internal combustion engine."

"However, because they have inherited a partial legacy from the prior civilization, this new civilization can utilize what is, for their current stage of development, a practically infinite supply of electrical energy. Combined with certain powerful machines passed down from ancient times, their technological level in specific fields can be comparable to the Electrical Revolution, or even higher. But, it is precisely because this technology was inherited, not developed, that they have failed to truly enter an electrical age. In fact, this has become an obstacle to the civilization’s further development."

"..." Chu Bamboo understood. ’So, in a way, things have just become more polarized, huh?’

A thought flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. He suddenly realized something and asked another question, his expression turning serious.

Finally, after getting the answer from Nuwa, Chu Bamboo’s face contorted. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Just as he had anticipated, the shantytowns in this timeline had spread to encompass the entire Third District, and even a small part of the Second District.

But for that very reason, Chu Bamboo’s status and influence—as Mr. Zhu, the uncrowned king of the shantytowns—had increased exponentially in this timeline!

To put it simply, in the previous timeline, he could influence the population of the shantytowns—a few hundred thousand people. But now, the population of the shantytowns had swelled into the millions!