My Dream Connects to 3000 Years in the Future

Soon after, Chu Bamboo took a shower and went to bed.

...

Meanwhile.

In a virtual conference room.

"Gentlemen, surely we won’t make the same mistake as that blond imbecile’s foolish subordinate, will we?" A white-haired old man from England toyed with his cane, his tone peculiar. "To finish a meeting only to discover that a common reporter was pulled in at the very beginning and sat through the entire thing?"

"It doesn’t matter!" a young, blond man in ornate clothes said coldly. "Celestial Net is monitoring the entire time! Besides... if an accident like that really happens, we just make the reporter commit suicide."

"Mr. Justice, how ’just’ of you!" the old Englishman’s words dripped with sarcasm.

Justice is one of the Major Arcana cards.

The Major Arcana consists of twenty-two cards in total, numbered 0 to 21, including "Fool," "Magician," "Priestess," "Empress," "Emperor," "Pope," "Lovers," "Tank," and so on.

Within the current Golden Dawn, aside from the first-ranked ’Fool’ which remains vacant, the other twenty-one codenames all have owners.

Of course, these twenty-one codenames don’t just represent twenty-one individuals... they also represent several factions within the Golden Dawn.

"What? Immoral beasts like you from England are going to criticize me on the matter of justice?" Justice sneered.

"That’s enough." James Raven frowned suddenly. "Justice, I know that as a Gaul, you don’t get along with ’Mr. Demon’ from England! But now is not the time to discuss this."

James Raven paused briefly, glancing impassively at Howard Raven before continuing, "The suggestion I made earlier... what are your thoughts?"

"I support handing him over to the Chariot Sacred Artifact for testing!" a voice as crisp and clear as spring water rang out. It was a woman in ornate attire, wearing a perfectly smooth mask that revealed only her amber eyes. "If Mr. Zhu, or any other person from the Divine Continent, is truly the ’Saint,’ our Lover Faction will support him unconditionally!"

"Hmph! You despicable Eastern Europeans can’t shed your Mongol blood, can you? The moment you see a powerful Easterner, you can’t wait to run up and wag your tails." The old Englishman sneered again. "Are you still hoping for Genghis Khan or the God’s Whip to return? So you can go back to being slaves!"

Lovers didn’t get angry, merely staring coldly at the old Englishman.

"Let’s vote." James Raven rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Every time he held one of these general meetings, it was torture for him.

Sometimes, James truly envied the Eastern Great Power across the ocean, envied their system—a centralized authority where all power was consolidated into a single fist!

James couldn’t even imagine how powerful the Golden Dawn would be if all its factions could unite...

Unfortunately...

All one could say was that not breaking into a fight was a victory in itself. In fact, the very reason they had switched to online meetings was that physical brawls had actually broken out during their previous in-person gatherings.

Thirteen people voted in favor of bringing out the Sacred Artifact, so the motion barely passed.

"I heard something happened at the Eastern artifact exhibition." A man in a small, round cap suddenly spoke up, his accent thick with the tones of Israel.

James’s face instantly darkened. He said indifferently, "There was indeed a minor incident... but it’s of no great consequence. Only three insignificant items were stolen. We will compensate for them..."

"But how is it that I heard," the man in the small, round cap said unhurriedly, "that something ’beyond the scope of common sense’ appeared this time?"

In that instant, the meeting fell deathly silent.

The corner of James’s eye twitched. He stared intently at the man in the small, round cap, his lips moving but ultimately failing to form any words. He knew all too well how tangled and complex the connections behind this man were... Even he didn’t want to offend him unless it was absolutely necessary.

The room remained quiet, the various members in the virtual conference room showing different expressions.

Finally, James spoke, enunciating each word. "There is currently no evidence to suggest that those three items have any special properties... We screen all artifacts when we collect them! I’m sure all of you have already secured the artifacts that are truly under immense suspicion!"

"Although there were some accidents this time... I don’t believe that something we failed to detect after multiple tests... could be identified by someone else!"

"I, on the other hand, suspect that it’s very likely... just a simple case! A Sacred Artifact was obtained by some damn thief... and this thief just so happened to learn how to use it, and then just so happened to steal those specific items... Don’t ask why he didn’t steal other, more valuable artifacts! Who knows what a thief is thinking?"

Seeing that the man in the small, round cap was about to speak again, James instantly changed the subject.

"’Pope.’" James Raven turned to another person in the corner. "That plan... how is it progressing?"

"It’s very troublesome," the Pope said unhurriedly. He was an energetic-looking old man; though his hair was white, his azure eyes were still sharp and piercing.

He was dressed in a red robe, wearing a red biretta, a red sash, and a cape.

"The old man made some schemes before he died!" The ’Pope’s’ eyes clouded over. "He seemed to have become aware of our faction’s existence... So! I can only say I’m actively working on it."

"But it doesn’t matter!" the Pope shrugged. "So what if I can’t become the new Pope? No matter what, even when the old man was in power, I was the ’Shadow Pope’... Even if the old man really forces a newcomer into the position... Hmph! With my influence in the College of Cardinals, I can completely sideline him."

"Besides, even if the old man made some arrangements beforehand—the candidate for the new Pope is ultimately selected by us, the Cardinals, together..." The Pope concluded with full confidence: "No matter how you look at it, the advantage is mine!"

"Mm," James nodded, but for some reason, after hearing that last sentence, he felt a strange sense of unease.

After thinking it over, he repeatedly emphasized to the Pope, "This is very important! After all, no one knows what kind of good things the papal lineage has hidden away... Several of our most prized Sacred Artifacts were all obtained by infiltrating the Church!"

"Moreover, even though the situation has changed... we can’t forget! Historically, during the Church’s peak, they regarded us as heretics! They hunted us down! Only by you truly seizing the papal throne can the Golden Dawn be proven completely safe and sound!"