Chapter 284 - 236: Eleven: Without a Doubt, Mr. Zhu, Your True Identity Is Our Lord

"?" Panic flashed across Eleven’s beautiful, androgynous face. He prostrated himself again, his voice trembling. "Your Eminence, why would you say such a thing?"

"??? The Shadow Assassin wasn’t..."

"That one... was assassinating Your Eminence’s subordinate. He was apprehended by Your Eminence and deserves a thousand deaths! However, we never had any intention of threatening Your Eminence’s life." Eleven’s voice was sincere, as if... he were telling the complete truth.

Chu Bamboo almost believed him.

’?’ ’Seriously, dude? You don’t have to lie so blatantly...’ Chu Bamboo had a sudden realization.

’Right, he just established the Time Club in the real world!’

’That means Eleven and the others might have only been influenced in this timeline...’

’Maybe in the previous timelines, the Shadow Assassin really did want to kill me...’

’But in this worldline’s situation, maybe he was just killing my subordinate and got caught by me?’

’Uh...’

’My brain’s gone numb.’

"So, you didn’t come to kill me this time?" Chu Bamboo clicked his tongue. Eleven’s words were indeed persuasive, but that didn’t explain the previous few resets.

"How could we..." Eleven’s voice was filled with innocence. After a slight pause, he tilted his head as if listening to something. A confused look appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face as he tried to listen too, but he heard nothing.

In the end, Chu Bamboo only heard Eleven say, "Pardon the intrusion!"

The next moment.

Chu Bamboo found himself tied to an Inverted Cross. "???"

’How are you so fast?!’

’And... where did you even pull this Inverted Cross from?’

Chu Bamboo struggled but found he couldn’t move. There weren’t even any chains on the Inverted Cross... yet it held him firmly in place!

’This... could it be an Artifact? A Forbidden Artifact or a Spiritual Artifact!’

’Also... I already called Brother Tu Mu! Where is he? How long has it been? Did you guys go missing...? Holy crap, somebody come save me!!’

"Saint, Holy Spirit, and Holy Father! A trinity." Eleven said respectfully. "As the Saint, you are God’s proxy in the Mortal World!"

"Unfortunately, you have been deluded by the world! You have not yet truly awakened."

Eleven’s voice was filled with deep regret. As he spoke, he controlled the Inverted Cross, moving it bit by bit toward the exit.

Inside the women’s restroom.

The black mist naturally parted around them.

"And our goal is to use the blood of living beings to mend the authority of All-Knowingness that you fractured for the sake of all mortals."

"Then, we will have you become our Lord, return to this land, and reign over the world once more."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have expected anything from this group of cultists.’ Chu Bamboo laughed. ’Is this really how you treat your Lord? With such a crude operation?’

’To be honest, if I really were that Lord, the first thing I’d do upon my return is kill every last one of you! Blasphemy, this is utter blasphemy... But why do I feel like something isn’t quite right?’

"..." After thinking for a moment, Chu Bamboo realized something. His expression changed, and his voice grew urgent. "Eleventh Apostle, are you saying that your All-Powerful and All-Knowing God, or rather, the God of the God Worship Sect, is still alive?"

"...God does not die!" Eleven’s exquisite face suddenly turned ferocious, but he quickly caught himself and forced a smile. "Your Eminence, it seems you truly have lost your all-knowing wisdom in this matter!"

"The Creator does not perish!" Eleven placed his left hand on his chest, his voice fanatical. "The Creator only falls into the Mortal World, deluded by the ignorant masses! When He awakens again... all will return to the rule of the Celestial Court, and humanity will ascend to an eternal, unchanging Heaven!"

"..." Chu Bamboo opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn’t want to hear all this pompous, crazy religious talk about grand promises... he wanted something more useful!

’But then again... Damn, the Time Club really screwed me over this time! Well, even without the Time Club, I was probably going to die this time anyway, so I guess I can’t really say they screwed me over! In any case, Eleven’s attitude, at least this time, has been impeccable...’

Chu Bamboo wanted to laugh but found he couldn’t.

’So, who the hell is this God?!!’

「A moment later.」

The Inverted Cross was planted in the lawn in front of the Police Chief Bureau.

"Oh, Lord! Please have mercy on the body of your Saint."

Eleven knelt on one knee, chanting softly. The two Black-robed Angels knelt down as well, as was proper.

"..." Chu Bamboo had already given up. He was just hoping that this death would be a little easier, clean and quick, not too painful... ’Then again, if it gets too painful, I’ll just kill myself!’

And then...

Chu Bamboo’s expression suddenly turned serious. He looked into the distance and saw another masked man approaching. A dozen or so Black-robed Angels followed behind him!

This man walked past Eleven and also knelt on one knee. "Your Eminence, please forgive me for my late arrival."

"...So it really is Fifth." Chu Bamboo stared at the mask, a smile of relief finally appearing on his face.

"You do know me!" Although Fifth’s mask hid his expression, his voice was filled with ecstasy. He turned to look at the many black-robed figures behind him and declared, "It’s All-Knowing! It must be All-Knowing... I swear, I have never met the Saint before."

The Black-robed Angels hurriedly kowtowed.

Eleven prostrated himself even more fiercely!

"...So, can you all take off your masks in front of me?" Chu Bamboo asked, his face devoid of expression. Even though these enemies were kowtowing to him... he felt no joy whatsoever!

"It is a prohibition from the Lord!" Eleven shook his head. The reason he chimed in was, of course, that while he appeared not to be wearing a mask, he was actually... wearing a mask of human skin!

Yes, this was not his real face...

Eleven concluded, "When you become the Lord, you may issue the order again!"

"My turn!" Fifth spoke up.

Hearing this, Eleven paused slightly. He glanced at Fifth’s back in front of him, a rare flicker of jealousy appearing in his eyes. But in the end, he still nodded!

Then, Fifth slowly rose to his feet and actually began to dance.

’?’

Chu Bamboo fell into thought. ’Why does this dance look so familiar...’ Then, he subconsciously started to hum along.

’Okay! It actually looks more coordinated this way...’

’No, wait, why are you doing the Subject Three dance?!!’

Chu Bamboo honestly felt like he was about to lose it.

For some reason, Fifth started dancing with even more vigor, a fanatical light in his eyes. "This is it! This is it."

After the dance was over, Fifth knelt on one knee, his face contorted as he roared with all his might, "Return, my Lord!"

Chu Bamboo almost misheard it as: ’Arise, my...’

In the next instant, the endless black mist rushed toward Chu Bamboo’s body at incredible speed.

"So, could you please explain everything in detail from the beginning! What the hell is going on..."

There was a hint of desperation in Chu Bamboo’s voice. He had certainly gotten a lot of information this time! And sifting through it, a good amount was useful... ’But you lunatics, can’t you explain things more coherently!’

’Why do you have to be so cryptic?’

And then...

Time began to reverse.

...

Chu Bamboo stared blankly at the screen projected by the Little Mushroom Head, which showed busy workers.

After a moment of silence, Chu Bamboo glanced at the time. "Eleven o’clock."

"Alright, alright!"

’This reset is a little late.’

’What’s the use of this timeframe? Am I supposed to wait for Eleven to show up and grab me?!’

With a blank expression, Chu Bamboo bit down on the poison hidden in his tooth, and time reversed once more...

...

"Ah... my head!" Chu Bamboo clutched his forehead, breaking out in a cold sweat and panting heavily. "How many times has it been? Three? Five? This is bad, my mind is starting to get jumbled..."

Chu Bamboo shook his head hard, and it took him a while to pull himself together and clear his thoughts.

"At most, at the very most, I can reset another three to five times!"

Chu Bamboo muttered to himself. Another three or four resets, and he could still maintain a relatively normal state. Five times... he could still reset, but his condition would be terrible! And he would very likely overlook many things he would normally think of.

’Actually, with my current condition, thanks to the feedback from being a Cultivator, it’s not like I couldn’t reset another six times or even more...’

’But if I did that, my mind would be so chaotic... that even if I got useful information, I might not be able to process it! It’s like pulling an all-nighter to finish homework. Even if you feel great while writing it, when you look at it the next morning, the quality is probably...’

’After all, I’m already running on overload... Considering waking up in reality doesn’t have much of an impact, there’s no need to push myself this hard... I can just wake up in reality once, get back to full strength, and then continue working...’

Slapping his cheeks, Chu Bamboo psyched himself up and calmly glanced at the time. "Six o’clock. Excellent!"

"So, what’s next..."

After a moment’s thought, Chu Bamboo made his decision. He strode toward the base exit, simultaneously pulling out his phone and dialing Huo Qiming.

"Old Huo! My base has been taken over," Chu Bamboo said calmly.

Huo Qiming: "???"

"You should come over right now..." Chu Bamboo said in an even tone. "And help me take care of all the guys who took over the Union!"

After a slight pause, he continued, "As an addendum, I highly suspect that the Eleventh Apostle of the All-Powerful Lineage is at the Union Headquarters right now."

"Vice Captain Chu... I really want to believe you! But..." Huo Qiming’s words trailed off hesitantly.

"Masked Hero, we’ve known each other for so long! Don’t you have even this little bit of trust in me?" Chu Bamboo retorted.

Dead silence.

"...You, since when." Every word from Huo Qiming seemed to be squeezed through clenched teeth.

"Maybe from the very beginning?" Chu Bamboo said coolly.

Silence again.

Huo Qiming thought back on his life, back to his first meeting with Chu Bamboo. He felt an embarrassment so profound he could have clawed a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor with his toes.

"...Give me ten minutes!" Huo Qiming took a deep breath, forcing his voice to sound calm. ’Damn it... He was just planning to make a couple of excuses! If Chu Bamboo had given him any random reason that sounded plausible, he would have just nodded and agreed.’

’Who could have expected... you’d just go straight for the nuclear option!’

’What a bastard! An absolute scoundrel... Even for the sake of our past friendship! You could have at least shown some mercy.’

Huo Qiming made a pained phone call, telling his secretary to request a leave of absence for him, then leaped down from the second floor.

...

「Seven minutes later.」

In a flatbread shop one kilometer from the shantytown union building.

Chu Bamboo had freeloaded a few flatbreads. He was munching on one while casually handing another to Huo Qiming as he approached. Huo Qiming was wearing huge sunglasses... obviously intending to hide his identity, but... it only made him more conspicuous!

"What’s the specific situation?" Huo Qiming trusted Chu Bamboo completely and immediately took a bite.

"I already told you clearly, the All-Powerful have taken over the Union," Chu Bamboo said, leading the way. "Just go in there and go Musou on them... Musou, as in, wipe them all out!"

Seeing the conflicted look on Huo Qiming’s face, Chu Bamboo said softly, "Don’t worry! I’ve already summoned the drone, Nuwa’s Divine Envoy... You won’t actually have to do much! Not to mention, they’ll have to contend with my face..."

"You should have said so earlier..." Huo Qiming breathed a sigh of relief. He knew how Chu Bamboo felt about the Union and had thought Chu Bamboo was asking him to take down a group of potentially armed people, using only ’Kung Fu’ that seemed plausible for a normal person, and without hurting anyone... The difficulty of that would be just...

Chu Bamboo nodded slightly. "Your mission is, if the other side doesn’t play fair and uses Extraordinary Power against me... you punch them right back!"

"That way, for a rule-follower like you... it won’t count as you breaking the taboo and recklessly showing off your ’Kung Fu’ in front of ordinary people... Afterward, we can just wipe the memories of the Union members." Chu Bamboo paused briefly. "When the time comes, I’ll make them cooperate with you!"