Chapter 272 224: 'Chu Bamboo's' Inheritance

"Initiating deep thought." Little Mushroom Head's voice once again became cold and mechanical. "Initiating search!"

"DING! Attempting to link to Moon Base! Moon Base link failed! Protocol 07 automatically voided."

"Extraterrestrial weapons initiating startup! Confirmed destroyed by Alien Race civilization during the Third Celestial Court War. Protocol Eleven discarded!"

"Civilization-ending weapon program initiating... Protocol 01 discarded!"

"..."

"DING! Attempting to link to extraterrestrial satellite network! Partial connection successful! However, Nuwa No. 17 cannot handle the satellite network's data load! Please proceed to the Imperial Capital and use the Nuwa Mainframe to connect!"

"DING! Initiating drone intelligence program... Initiation failed! Searching for cause: The Third Celestial Court War! 14,260,000 unmanned machines were completely destroyed by hostile forces.

A portion of unmanned machines currently remains!

Initiating link, initiating search, confirming still-operational models... Confirmed. Remaining units: 3,472!"

"Initiating activation... Warning! Warning! Underground warehouse doors are damaged and cannot be opened. Three thousand units, a full regimental brigade, are inaccessible! Please complete repairs and clearing of the underground warehouse doors immediately!"

"Underground warehouse coordinates: ..."

"Detected 472 unmanned machines currently in a free-roaming state outdoors! One hundred of these are currently within Nuwa No. 17's sphere of influence in Shanghai."

"You may issue commands to them at any time!"

After speaking, Little Mushroom Head gave Chu Bamboo a military salute.

"..." Chu Bamboo felt like he'd imagined the sound of a mechanical WHIRR.

He stroked his chin, just having gathered his thoughts, but before he could give an order, Little Mushroom Head spoke again.

"DING! Initiating search..."

"Confirmed! Initiating inheritance procedure."

Little Mushroom Head's eyes glowed red.

'Wait, what are you...'

"???" Chu Bamboo silently took a step back. He had a feeling that it would be completely normal if Little Mushroom Head were to self-destruct next.

And then...

A few breaths later, another, brand-new Little Mushroom came hopping and skipping over from the distance, carrying a strange, crimson sword on its shoulder.

Chu Bamboo stared blankly at this Little Mushroom, only snapping out of it when the creature kept reaching out and shaking its hands insistently. He subconsciously took the sword.

Then, Chu Bamboo looked at the Bronze Sword Scabbard, glanced back at Little Mushroom Head, and realized something, a look of astonishment appearing on his face.

"Chu Bamboo has successfully inherited the Chixiao Sword! Procedure complete," the two Little Mushroom Heads said in unison, their eyes returning to normal.

Afterward, the Little Mushroom that had delivered the item bowed deeply to Chu Bamboo. "Please give my service a specific rating, dear."

"..." Sometimes, Chu Bamboo couldn't tell if Little Mushroom Head was just memeing or if it really wanted a rating. In the end, he could only nod stiffly. "Full marks!"

"Thank you for your review!" The Little Mushroom Head bowed again, then departed happily, hopping and skipping into the distance.

"..."

After a long moment of silence, Chu Bamboo examined the crimson longsword sheathed in the Bronze Sword Scabbard for a while longer.

'So this is it! The one my good brother was talking about...'

A look of understanding appeared in Chu Bamboo's eyes.

'Right! My good brother may be dead, but he never said the Chixiao Sword was destroyed along with him...'

'Under these circumstances, the next owner of the Chixiao Sword would probably have been his dear niece, right?'

"The Sword of the Royal Path," Chu Bamboo murmured, stroking the Chixiao Sword, finding it hard to put down. Even setting aside the fact that this sword was likely an incredibly powerful Spiritual Artifact, there was the simple truth... it was Liu Bang's personal sword! One of the ten most famous swords in history!

Its identity, the weighty history it carried, the supreme authority it symbolized... was enough to excite Chu Bamboo, or any knowledgeable Shen Zhou person, for that matter.

Chu Bamboo felt that perhaps only obtaining Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Ta'e Sword could compare to the excitement of getting the Chixiao Sword.

And to surpass the thrill of getting both of those swords... one would probably have to whip out the legendary Xuanyuan Sword of the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan!

"But it requires the Second Realm to use!" Chu Bamboo's face scrunched up.

He forcefully drew the sword, using all his might to channel his body's Divine Power, only to find he couldn't activate it at all. However, an image of the sword's Divine Techniques did indeed appear in his mind.

Unsurprisingly... it was indeed fire... or rather, Crimson Sky Fire?

"But whether it's Crimson Sky Fire or just plain fire, it's a noun-based Divine Technique," Chu Bamboo mused, then his gaze hardened.

As expected... the Reproduction failed.

"Wait, so what level is this sword anyway?" Chu Bamboo frowned, suddenly realizing something wasn't right. According to the information he'd received before, a person of a certain level could generally wield an Artifact one level higher...

'Does that mean this thing is just a Third-level Spiritual Artifact? That's way too low...'

Chu Bamboo's frown deepened. 'Or maybe this sword isn't a pure Spiritual Artifact, but something special? So the usage requirements are a bit lower!'

'I guess I'll only understand what's really going on with this sword after I break through to the Second Realm and actually use it once!'

With a slight sigh, Chu Bamboo slung the sword onto his back, and then...

"Nuwa No. 17, project the one hundred available unmanned machines for me to see."

In the next breath, Little Mushroom Head projected a holographic screen—

On it were scenes from within dark warehouses.

Rows of drones and mechanical dogs crouching on the ground all opened their eyes at once.

"...Holy crap." Chu Bamboo was stunned. They were completely different from the drones he had seen in his previous timeline.

These drones were each four meters long, their bodies covered in micro-missiles and shimmering with a strange, flowing light!

At the same time, the four tubes beneath them radiated a faint electromagnetic glow...

Chu Bamboo suspected they might be electromagnetic weapons, like railguns or something similar... After all, with unlimited electricity and wireless charging, the possibilities were endless.

And those mechanical dogs...

'You call a three-meter-tall machine a mechanical *dog*?'

Chu Bamboo grimaced as he watched the video.

'That's a dog? Even a tiger would get swatted to pieces by one of those things!'

They were even carrying the same model of micro-missiles, railguns, and large-caliber sniper rounds as the drones!

Compared to the unmanned machines Chu Bamboo was familiar with, these were far more menacing, even brutal...

"...Wait!" Chu Bamboo suddenly realized. "In the Third Celestial Court War, over ten million of these... were all destroyed and scrapped?!"

If the unmanned machines, numbered in the tens of millions, were all of this caliber... then...