Chapter 275 - 227: The Arrival of the Eleventh Apostle

Chu Bamboo opened his eyes, his expression blank. He looked around; he was still in the pristine Ecological Garden.

Countless pieces of information collided in his mind. Chu Bamboo subconsciously pulled out his phone and glanced at the time: 6:00 AM.

’The incident happened during lunchtime... around twelve o’clock!’

Chu Bamboo calmly made his assessment. ’In other words, I have six hours left?’

Without hesitation, he spoke, "Nuwa No. 17! Immediately mobilize all unmanned machines you can control within Jinghai City. Target the Hai Family, the Sun Family, the Hong Family..."

Chu Bamboo rattled off the names and detailed addresses of the Seven Great Clans, and even the medium-to-large factories in the directions he had previously spied on.

"Monitor them from all angles!" Chu Bamboo said, enunciating each word. "Report any and all abnormalities to me."

"As you command." Little Mushroom Head suddenly popped out of the lawn and gave a serious salute. The next moment, she projected a holographic screen.

On the video feed, drones in one warehouse after another burst to life, their lights giving off a cold glint. Slowly, they began to take off!

Then...

Chu Bamboo: "???"

Chu Bamboo watched as small, civilian drones... were also commandeered, right from the entrances of the First, Second, and Third District Police Chief Bureaus!

He watched as patrol officers, their faces panicked, shouted and scrambled, even chasing after the civilian drones... He was at a loss for words.

"This is in accordance with the Emergency Mobilization Act!" Little Mushroom Head patiently explained. "Under specific circumstances... all civilian facilities can be requisitioned! Your authority is sufficient to invoke the Emergency Mobilization Act..."

"..." Chu Bamboo was silent.

’Level 8 Authority... so this is its terrifying power!’

’It makes sense! If the highest authority belongs to someone of Lin Xin Bamboo’s level... then mine should at least be considered vice-level, right?’

’Invoking an emergency law really is nothing for an existence of that caliber... Not to mention, the current situation is indeed quite urgent!’

He patted his cheeks, forcing himself to wake up. He glanced again at the pursuing patrol officers... Oh, and some rich people who had been flying their drones on regular streets! They had now joined the grand army of drone chasers...

As Ancient Relics, these things weren’t cheap... even for the wealthy residents of the rich districts!

After a silent apology, Chu Bamboo’s thoughts churned before he calmed down and issued another command. "Nuwa No. 17... simultaneously, access all surveillance cameras within Jinghai City! Monitor for one person... The moment you have a trace of him, inform me immediately."

Chu Bamboo hesitated for a moment, then pulled a notebook and a bottle of ink from his pocket.

He unscrewed the ink bottle. With a wave of his hand, the ink floated in mid-air as if it were alive.

Chu Bamboo reached out and lightly tapped the open notebook... His Memory Divine Technique instantly condensed the ink into a lifelike ink wash painting!

It was a young man with a smile on his face.

He had silver hair and light red eyes. His features were delicate and refined, gentle as jade, making it difficult to discern his gender. Or, to put it in the terms of the Real World... a pretty boy.

So beautiful it was impossible to imagine the bloody debts he had accumulated!

Chu Bamboo stared at the finished painting for a long while, his face devoid of emotion. He placed the painting in front of Little Mushroom Head and said, "This is him... the Eleventh Apostle of the All-Powerful Lineage!"

He would never forget it in this lifetime... That voice belonged to that son of a bitch, the Eleventh Apostle!

He had died at this guy’s hands too many times! Hearing that voice earlier, he had almost had a PTSD-like reaction...

"Instruction processing initiated!" Nuwa No. 17’s voice was robotic as always.

Screen after screen materialized, and countless streams of data began to converge!

"Good, good, good," Chu Bamboo muttered, his eyes glued to the screens.

Although Chu Bamboo didn’t know when the Eleventh Apostle had returned... nor was he clear on what the enemy had done to the shantytown redevelopment area... or what their objective was...

But he knew one thing for sure!

He was about to go on a killing spree.

Or rather!

’Vengeance and closure are at hand!’

’How could things be so coincidental?’

’Today is the day that Shadow Assassin will die!’

’He had just been planning to let Zhou Ze and the others be buried today after obtaining the Forbidden Artifact... It seems there’s an unexpected surprise in store?!’

Chu Bamboo took several deep breaths, finally managing to suppress the murderous intent blooming in his eyes. After a moment of thought, he had Little Mushroom Head bring him the Chixiao Sword.

After receiving his good brother’s legacy, Chu Bamboo didn’t wait in the base for Nuwa No. 17 to lock onto the target. Without a second thought, he strode out of the base with Little Mushroom Head and dialed Li Kang’s number.

This time... the call connected quickly!

"Hello? Calling so early in the morning..." Li Kang’s voice sounded dazed.

"Something big is happening!" Chu Bamboo stressed, his face expressionless. "Much bigger than the church attack... This involves the million residents of the entire redevelopment district."

After a slight pause, Chu Bamboo said slowly, "An event that could potentially kill all one million of them!"

’Although I’m still not sure what exactly that black mist is!’

’But even he, a Transcendent, was killed instantly... It might have been because of the Eleventh Apostle... but if ordinary people are enveloped by it, they’d be poisoned to death, right?’

In that instant, Li Kang, who hadn’t even climbed out of bed yet, was suddenly wide awake. "I’m on my way."

...

「Twenty minutes later.」

Li Kang rushed into the office. Ning Linglong had arrived before him and was now sitting on the sofa, giving Chu Bamboo a look that said she was questioning her life choices.

Li Kang wasn’t surprised that Ning Linglong had arrived before him. He first nodded at Chu Bamboo, but then his footsteps halted abruptly. He stared in astonishment at Chu Bamboo, who was sitting in his seat... cradling Little Mushroom Head.

"???"

’Wait... this... this... This can’t be right?!’

Li Kang was dumbfounded. He almost wondered if he was hallucinating, because he recognized that... thing.

A familiar of the Great Goddess Nuwa!

Also known as a Lankoro!

The meaning of the name was: Pure, Mysterious, and Powerful.

According to legend, only the purest and kindest of children could gain a Lankoro’s approval. And even then, they might only see their shadows...

Yes, just their shadows!

The master of traditional painting, Xu Zihong, once painted a Lankoro. He had never seen one himself, relying purely on the innocent words of children for his depiction!

That final work was acclaimed by the previous Heavenly Monarch as a national treasure of a painting! It is still displayed today in the Imperial Capital, in the seat of honor within Qianqing Palace.

This alone was a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg!

And that master’s painting was their most authoritative image of a Lankoro... and it did indeed look quite a bit like the one before him.

Of course, not many people had actually seen a Lankoro; it was just that many, many people knew the name.

Li Kang himself had once longed to see a Lankoro... Yes, he had never seen one before! If he could just see one in person, he’d be happy for a week.

But the problem was...

He wouldn’t have been surprised if Chu Bamboo had simply encountered a Lankoro. But to be like this... holding one directly! And it looked so docile, without the slightest hint of resistance... It had even appeared outside the Divine Domain of the Great Goddess Nuwa.

"...I must still be dreaming!" Li Kang muttered.

’This is scaring the hell out of me!’

’Is this still the Third District Police Chief Bureau?’

’What in the world have I walked into?!’

And then...

"You’re here?" Chu Bamboo glanced at Li Kang, then patted Little Mushroom Head on the head. This blasphemous act made Li Kang tremble violently. He wished he could just roll his eyes back and faint. He was even contemplating whether, before passing out, he should say: ’I don’t know anything! I was just called here to handle a major incident!’

’This is too scary! Messing around like that... Don’t let the blood splash on me...’

But in the next instant, Li Kang’s pupils widened into circles as he watched Little Mushroom Head project a holographic image out of thin air.

It was image after image of massive, operational factories!

Billowing black smoke, mixed with steam, surged from the smokestacks and shot into the sky.

The immense pollution was being vented wantonly, creating a thick, smoggy sky...

Pedestrians near the factories would cough violently just from breathing the air, fleeing with panicked expressions.

However, the workers inside the factories could only silently endure the harsh conditions without any protective equipment—

Under the emotionless gazes of the foremen, they toiled like worker ants, never stopping, all to earn a pitifully meager wage...

And yet, for them, this was already considered fortunate!

Because now, at least, there were union members to keep the foremen in check... If things were like in their fathers’ generation, without a union, the foremen would have already picked up their whips, shamelessly beating and abusing any worker they suspected of slacking off...