My Dream Connects to 3000 Years in the Future

Nuwa No. 17’s voice was the same as ever. "Time of death: January 7th, ’51. Cause of death: Radiation sickness."

"I almost forgot! Without my intervention, there would have been two more world wars!" Chu Bamboo’s expression twitched, his heart heavy.

’It’s a mess. A complete mess!’

Lin Xin Bamboo was Lin Xia’s daughter, born in his later years. If she died at this point in time... he probably wouldn’t even get married.

"No wonder the base regressed back into a metal one! This time is really..." Chu Bamboo shook his head, gathered his thoughts, and cautiously asked, "Nuwa No. 17, what’s my permission level? Also, bring up the surveillance feed and let me see what’s happening outside!"

Immediately after, Chu Bamboo stared at his permission level—Permanent: Level 1, Temporary: Level 2—and for a moment, he didn’t know what kind of expression to make.

’This must be the first time I’ve ever seen a temporary permission level that’s higher than the permanent one...’

In the next instant, a screen of light appeared.

Just as Chu Bamboo had thought, the outside world had collapsed back to its appearance in the initial world line.

The Third District where the commoners lived, the scattered shantytowns, the steampunk aesthetic of the factories and industrial areas...

"Speaking of which, now that things are like this... will the All-Powerful Lineage still blow up the nuclear facility at around eleven o’clock?" Chu Bamboo began to ponder a very serious question.

According to past experience, even if the world line changed, the events that transpired still had a great deal of inertia... Even the traces he had left behind in the past didn’t change much...

As long as there wasn’t some earth-shattering change, he could even use the intel he’d gathered from previous explorations as usual, despite the changes on a microscopic level of the world line...

He didn’t know the principle behind it, but based on this logic... even if the world line had jumped back to its initial state, the major events should still happen, theoretically.

’So what do I do now... keep probing the Fifth and Eleven? It feels pointless, since calling for backup is useless. I was thinking about inheriting some ultimate weapons from the previous civilization, but now I can only wait for the next world line... Should I just kill myself and go back now?’

As Chu Bamboo mulled it over, he suddenly slapped his forehead. ’I almost forgot about that!’

Chu Bamboo dialed Ning Linglong’s number as he headed out the door.

...

「A moment later.」

"...You mean, your Divine Technique can copy other people’s Divine Techniques? So, you’re hoping... to copy mine?" Ning Linglong stared blankly at Chu Bamboo, who was holding her hand.

Even though she knew that Divine Techniques were synonymous with miracles, and her master was always droning on about how "it’s normal for any kind of absurd Divine Technique to appear," she was still shocked—and even disheartened—when she heard about Chu Bamboo’s.

Compared to his, the Divine Technique she was so proud of... seemed like nothing now.

"No, no, no!" Chu Bamboo shook his head, his expression earnest and serious. "It just has the potential for it, but I need to train and develop it! That’s why I’ve come to you."

’If it were just a simple copy, I could have brushed it off with an excuse. But since I need to practice the Skill on her, it’s obviously going to take a long time... I can’t just silently hold Ning Linglong’s hand all morning, can I? I have to explain it in detail.’

Chu Bamboo’s previous decision had been to speculate, deduce, and practice reproducing the Divine Techniques of living people until he had used up all his resets...

Chu Bamboo now figured something out. In the previous world line, his good brother had somehow failed to develop a method for this kind of Divine Technique—copying it from a living person... It was very strange!

It couldn’t be a matter of time. Decades was too long—his good brother had even managed to research a method to Rewrite memories...

After thinking it over, Chu Bamboo suspected that perhaps Cultivators had appeared too late! After all, even his good brother had focused mainly on Body Cultivation in the last world line! And he had mentioned in passing when establishing the Celestial Court that there were only Body Cultivators and no Cultivators in the Celestial Court at that time...

’Is it possible that the Path of Cultivation during the previous civilization’s era was actually flawed... Although Lin Xin Bamboo was a Cultivator, she lived until the extremely unusual 22nd century... If it really took until after my good brother died for a few scattered Cultivators to appear, then it would make sense why he couldn’t develop this Divine Technique.’

’After all, if there weren’t any Cultivators, how could he practice and develop a Skill like this?!’

Based on all this, Chu Bamboo decided not to place all his hopes on his good brother. He chose to do it himself and be self-sufficient.

This was something he had realized earlier, when he saw his good brother die and reflected on it—in the past, he was used to throwing all his problems to his good brother, just lying flat and waiting for a ready-made solution...

While that couldn’t be called wrong, it was definitely an irresponsible way of thinking, and one that could very well cause problems in the future—

’The habit I should form is this: if my good brother can support me, that’s for the best, and I should accept it without hesitation. After all, we’re both ’me.’ But even if my good brother can’t help, I can’t be disheartened. I have to work hard myself! I have to be independent and strong!’

Time ticked by, drop by drop.

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. Ning Linglong, however, had moved past her initial boredom and found a glimmer of interest, now studying Chu Bamboo’s face with great curiosity.

And then...

A terrifying explosion roared.

Chu Bamboo subconsciously looked out the window. In the direction of the factories, thick black smoke billowed up, then rapidly expanded.

"...This is bad." Ning Linglong’s expression changed drastically.

’Is it already twelve o’clock?’ Chu Bamboo glanced at the time. He didn’t try to stop the departing Ning Linglong, but sat quietly in place, thinking over the experience he had gained from the morning’s experiment.

And then...

He waited for death.

Opening his eyes once more, Chu Bamboo got up without hesitation, made the call, and quickly went through the motions just as he had in the previous world line, continuing to practice with Ning Linglong.

Again and again.

...

「Real World.」

Chu Bamboo rubbed his brow while eating breakfast. He had already forgotten how many times he had reset in the dream. After all, toward the end of the resets, his brain was a complete mess, aching to the point of splitting... But now, back in the Real World, he back-calculated and estimated it was probably around twenty to thirty times.

All in all, breaking through to the Second Realm had increased his number of resets by quite a bit!

’It’s a good thing, though,’ Chu Bamboo thought to himself. ’So many resets, even if each was only half a day, add up to more than a week of research. He already had some ideas on how to develop his Divine Power... All in all, the future looked promising!’

"Sir." A tall bodyguard suddenly walked up to Chu Bamboo’s side, bowed slightly, and said respectfully, "The Boss invites you to Stone Roll Music!"

"? Howard?" After a brief silence, Chu Bamboo took out his phone and glanced at it. "No, wait. Why didn’t he just call me? Why go to the trouble of sending you over to ask..."

The bodyguard gave an awkward but polite smile.

"Alright, let’s go." Chu Bamboo didn’t make things difficult for the bodyguard. He finished the last bite of his meal, wiped his mouth, and stood up.