Chapter 308 - 258: The Suspicions Regarding Chu Bamboo

The Pope gave a perfunctory nod, clearly not paying attention.

"In the words of the East, ’Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river.’" Lovers’ voice was serene.

She paused briefly before continuing, "In any case, this era belongs to us... it is the age of capital! The time of those ancient, conservative religions is gone for good! Only we are the ones truly favored by ’God’!"

James gave Lovers a long look but didn’t press the issue. He continued, "Also, what’s the situation with the excavation of the Heretic civilization’s ruins?"

Another person spoke, his voice thick with a Mexican accent. "Work on the Mayan Pyramid is progressing quite well... We’re almost certain there are several Sacred Artifacts inside..."

"However," the man hesitated before speaking cautiously, "because we’ve detained workers from the East’s state-owned construction firms to excavate the Pyramid... the East has been constantly pressuring us. I still think it was a mistake to let the Easterners get involved at all..."

"But if we use our own people, never mind the difficulty of finding qualified workers, even the ones with the right papers... their actual skill... those damn South Asians..." James gritted his teeth, then took a deep breath. "It doesn’t matter. In the end... they’re all going to die anyway."

"That’s right... As for the East’s protests, they’re not worth considering," the elder from England said with a hint of mockery. "All they ever do is protest, protest, and keep protesting! Other than that... have they ever taken any real action?"

"Besides, didn’t I say it before? If they really won’t let it go, we’ll just blame it on drug traffickers! I’d like to see if that country, which stubbornly refuses to step outside its own borders, dares to conduct a drug sweep in Nanmo... HAHAHAHA! I’d actually love for them to take that step. I’ve already prepared all the press releases... I’m just waiting for them to show up!"

"Let the world get a good look... at the true nature of this country that pretends to be a poor, pitiful victim!"

However, no one responded.

The elder from England paused, shrugged, and his smile vanished. He looked sharply at the man from Nanmo. "If there really are Sacred Artifacts, then... we want one!"

However, the man just sat there quietly, offering no response. It was as if he were protesting silently, or perhaps just ignoring him completely. The expression on the English elder’s face grew increasingly sour.

"Enough! We haven’t even dug anything up yet, what’s there to argue about?" James cut the English elder off. ’What a joke. The Sacred Artifacts will all belong to our White-headed Eagle Faction! Someone from England... dares to reach into our backyard?’

’The absolute nerve!’

Ignoring the English elder’s clenched fist, James scanned the room, his tone as business-like as ever. "Then, the specific matters for this meeting have been concluded."

"Does anyone have any further questions?"

No one spoke.

"Good," James said with a noncommittal expression. "Meeting adjourned."

The next moment, the Celestial Net terminated the video feed.

In the spacious reception room.

James leaned back in his recliner, his brow furrowed with worry.

"Boss! Boss!" The door flew open and Howard, who had been in the next room, rushed in, his face flushed with excitement. "The Sacred Artifact! The Sacred Artifact!"

"...Stop being so dramatic! Shut up." James’s expression darkened. He felt his train of thought had been completely derailed. After a moment, he added, "And I’m not your ’Boss’! We’re just clansmen!"

"Okay, Boss," Howard said nonchalantly. He was completely different from the serious, restrained man he had been while maintaining his Tank state in front of James. He casually pulled a chair up next to James and looked at him with puppy-dog eyes. "So, the Sacred Artifact!"

"..." James took a deep breath, barely managing to calm himself. "Are you absolutely sure that Chu Bamboo... is acting normally?" he asked, his face expressionless. "That there’s nothing suspicious about him?"

"I can’t say one hundred percent! But ninety-nine percent sure," Howard said, giving a confident wave of his hand.

"Isn’t it possible that he’s actually... controlling the Sacred Artifact? That he could summon or control the crows to do all that, even from inside his hotel room..." James, however, wasn’t convinced.

"...Boss!" The corner of Howard’s eye twitched. "You could apply that logic to... anyone..."

’James is getting paranoid,’ Howard thought. ’Besides, even if he did summon the crows, how could he control them so precisely to snatch the item? It’s not like the crows are Chu Bamboo’s Clones, right?’

"No, no, no! Isn’t this all because you didn’t plant any surveillance in his room? Are you sure it’s not because... you’re a fan of his, so you’re biased? That you’re subconsciously unwilling to consider the possibility?" James’s questioning was practically an interrogation. ’It’s too suspicious...’

’After all, if Chu Bamboo really is the Saint, then it’s only natural for him to possess Extraordinary power... and if that’s the case, then everything can be explained!’

In the online meeting room, he had insisted it was likely a lost Sacred Artifact, but when he recalled the three uncannily agile crows from the surveillance footage... James couldn’t help but feel confused.

He had used Sacred Artifacts before; the difficulty of wielding them was unimaginable. But those crows moved with such fluid grace... as if they were truly alive—

In fact, if not for the bizarre, unnatural way the crows picked the lock... he would have thought they were just ordinary living crows! He would have believed it was just an accident—an outrageous one, perhaps, but hadn’t crows done plenty of outrageous things before?

As one of the most intelligent birds, crows could never be judged by common sense to begin with.

"Boss," Howard said casually, "isn’t that the whole reason you pushed for approving the Sacred Artifact so I could run this test? I’m going to do it. We’re already at this point, so what’s the need to keep discussing it?"

James fell silent for a moment, giving Howard a long look. ’This guy is so simple-minded,’ he thought. ’But maybe it’s because he’s so direct that he can cut straight to the root of the problem like this.’ He wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Run the test tomorrow... Hmm, run it three times, back-to-back."

"Oh, right," James added, suddenly remembering something. "Celestial Net... place this Mr. Chu Bamboo under high-intensity surveillance."

"Understood," the Celestial Net replied, its voice a deep, resonant baritone.

After a brief pause, the Celestial Net continued, "Lady ’Lovers’ has exercised her clearance. All surveillance and information searches on ’Chu Bamboo’ conducted via the Celestial Net must be reported to her. She has now been notified."