Chapter 289 - 241: Mandated by Heaven, Longevity and Eternal Prosperity

A moment later.

In a private room in a teahouse, located in the affluent area of the Third District.

Chu Bamboo calmly sipped his tea. Seated across from him were Ning Linglong and Li Kang.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Li Kang asked, glancing at the time on his phone in confusion. "Also, who are we waiting for?"

Chu Bamboo gave the same answer he had already given several times. "Soon."

Li Kang’s eye twitched. He wanted to say something but held his tongue. ’You said there was no rush, so why did you summon me so urgently before? You made it sound like the entire Third District was about to be wiped out, but now that I’m here, you’re just lazing around?’

Ning Linglong, on the other hand, started eating the refreshments. She had rushed over in a hurry, so she was treating this as her breakfast.

Suddenly, the door opened.

A tall figure walked in.

"You’re... Captain Huo?!" Li Kang had been about to voice his dissatisfaction when he saw his direct superior. The words caught in his throat, and his expression froze.

"Mr. Zhu, I’m now about forty percent convinced by your claims of trouble," Huo Qiming said, glancing at Ning Linglong, who was sitting opposite Chu Bamboo. He sat down directly next to Chu Bamboo. "The key to the forbidden area you asked me to retrieve has gone missing."

"...Hm?" Chu Bamboo’s eyelid twitched.

"All I can say is that there are traitors inside!" Huo Qiming sighed softly, but a murderous glint hid in his eyes. "And there are traitors in both the Captain’s Office logistics department and within the bank. That’s how they got the password and snatched the key without anyone noticing! The last time the key was retrieved was several days ago, so it must have been stolen in the last couple of days."

"I also checked on the keys stored in the other banks... and they’re gone too!"

Chu Bamboo’s fingers tapped lightly on the table as he fell into deep thought. ’So those other keys were for other nuclear facilities as well?’

He looked at Li Kang. "Go and drag Wall Announcements over here. As fast as you can."

"...Him! All right." Li Kang opened his mouth, but since Huo Qiming didn’t question the order, he stood up, gave a solemn salute as if he were a direct subordinate, and left.

"Old Huo," Chu Bamboo asked again, "within Jinghai City, are you... the strongest person in the official system?"

"More or less." Huo Qiming thought for a moment and nodded.

"In that case, do you have a way to call in other top-tier experts from the government!" Chu Bamboo asked again.

Huo Qiming gave Chu Bamboo a deep look. "If the proper procedures are followed, yes. But that would require the most irrefutable evidence! Or... if something has already gone wrong on our end..."

"Then never mind." Chu Bamboo’s mouth twitched. ’Even if something undeniably disastrous happened here, it seems like the Imperial Capital would still find a way to delay their response.’

Chu Bamboo continued to organize his thoughts, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Huo Qiming. "I’d like to ask, what exactly is the situation with ’Great Goddess Nuwa’ right now?"

Huo Qiming’s face suddenly tensed. Ning Linglong’s movements stiffened, and she stared intently at the teacup in her hands. ’Ah, these green tea leaves are so pretty... But all these other colorful ingredients are a bit much... Wouldn’t it be better if it was just the tea leaves without all the other stuff...’

"If... if I could just enter the Imperial Capital’s Grand Ancestral Temple, I would be able to gain the unconditional support of Great Goddess Nuwa!" Chu Bamboo chose his words carefully. "What level of power would I be able to obtain?"

Huo Qiming gave Chu Bamboo a deep look. The amount of information revealed in that one sentence was unimaginably vast.

"...Don’t say that to anyone else!" Huo Qiming glanced at Ning Linglong opposite them, pursed his lips, and chose to ignore her presence. He trusted Chu Bamboo’s judgment; if he chose to say this in front of Ning Linglong, it must mean he trusted her.

"I don’t know." To this, Huo Qiming gave a three-word answer.

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed. Then he heard Huo Qiming continue, "In my entire life, I have only entered the Grand Ancestral Temple once! That was on the day I was inaugurated as Governor."

"I believe that even Governor Su and Governor Lu are only able to enter the Grand Ancestral Temple when they are changing positions."

Chu Bamboo was lost in thought. ’So... changing high-ranking positions at that specific location means the transition of office is done under the watch of Great Goddess Nuwa?’

"The security procedures for entering and exiting the Grand Ancestral Temple are extremely strict!" Huo Qiming stressed.

Chu Bamboo wasn’t surprised. While his knowledge of the Imperial Capital was very limited, that was only relatively speaking. He had entered the Imperial Palace before and had also attempted to enter the Grand Ancestral Temple...

It was just that sneaking into the Imperial Palace was child’s play, but the Grand Ancestral Temple... no matter how many times he tried to get in, he died.

Chu Bamboo recalled... he seemed to have died... hmm, a thousand or two times? It almost gave him PTSD from dying so much. He eventually gave up, figuring at the time that it was a high-level, end-game map! There was no way to get in during the early stages.

This was also why he was still stuck here wrestling with Nuwa No. 17, even though he knew he could get a lot of information by going to the Grand Ancestral Temple and making contact with the real Great Goddess Nuwa.

Because in his current state, which wasn’t much stronger than an ordinary person, and based on his past experience... he had no confidence he could get in, no matter how many more times he died!

However... what Huo Qiming said now made him understand the only way in—to continuously get promoted within the Imperial Court’s system. Once an Official reached a certain rank, they had to swear an oath in the Grand Ancestral Temple, where Great Goddess Nuwa resided, to change positions!

But that was normal. From the current perspective, Great Goddess Nuwa was a cornerstone of the Daqian Dynasty’s Royal Family’s legitimacy!

No measure was too extreme when it came to a Dynasty maintaining its legitimacy.

"As for you obtaining Great Goddess Nuwa’s unrestricted support..." Huo Qiming was silent for a long time before sighing. "If you said that in front of Governor Su, you’d probably be facing beheading. In fact, you’d better tell me... that you’re just joking! Otherwise, I can’t just let this slide."

Chu Bamboo’s eyelid twitched. Ning Linglong was trembling. Then it hit him—his statement was no different than pulling out the Heirloom Seal of the Realm in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and solemnly declaring, "Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may my reign be long and prosperous!"

’Just you try it!’

’Anyone other than Zhu Biao who tried that would be silently executed... Zhu Biao would just get a sound beating.’

Chu Bamboo calmly stated that he was just joking, and everyone present tactfully chose to ignore the matter.

Chu Bamboo sank into thought.

He was actually very curious. Did the Nuwa Mainframe still possess extremely formidable power? He had previously leaned toward ’no.’ After all, after Nuwa fought several wars in the Celestial Court, her backup plans were more or less exhausted!

But the actions of the Imperial Capital’s higher-ups made him feel that something was off... If she truly had no power, then why go through the trouble of this scheme to farm cultivators? Why use such convoluted, underhanded methods to probe her?

’Is it because Nuwa is the source of legitimacy, even if she has no power?’ Chu Bamboo felt that while it was a possibility, it wasn’t a strong one. Legitimacy is most useful in times of stability... In chaotic times, legitimacy is useless. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of his previous life was proof of that!

And the Daqian Dynasty had already experienced a change of rule. It had gone through a chaotic era... In that case, if Nuwa was truly useless, shouldn’t her limits have been tested during those chaotic times? Even if she remained a source of legitimacy, those people wouldn’t be treating her with such reverence.

’Or perhaps... Nuwa still possesses some kind of special power?’

’If Nuwa really does have some special power... what could it be? She’s just an artificial intelligence, after all. A limited one, at that, one that has lost its independent functions and is only comparable to the current Z...’

Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes. He quickly thought of someone: the Celestial Court God, the master worshipped by the God Worship Sect.

Nuwa’s comrade-in-arms during the Celestial Court wars!

At the same time, he also thought of... Forbidden Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts!

’If... if that God left behind some contingency plans, giving Nuwa control over some incredibly powerful Artifacts... then it would make sense why she could become the source of legitimacy! It definitely wouldn’t be just because of the legend of Nuwa creating humanity...’

Chu Bamboo shook his head, clearing all the chaotic thoughts from his mind. He sighed internally. ’Trying to get the Nuwa Mainframe’s support now is essentially the same as wanting to call the Pope over to solve the problem before...’

’Not to mention, besides storming the Imperial Capital, the only way to see Nuwa now is to get promoted to a certain rank...’

’Even if everything went smoothly, allowing me to see her immediately upon arrival and solve the problem right away... there probably isn’t enough time.’

No matter how he calculated it, he only had half a day! And the Imperial Capital... was much farther away than the Celestial Capital.