Chapter 319 - 267: Great Change in the Magnetic Field

Waking up in the Ecological Garden once again.

Chu Bamboo remained quiet for a good while before finally sighing.

’What a string of disasters!’

He had thought the black fog contamination sweeping through the entire Third District and even spreading across all of Jinghai City was the absolute limit. But then he discovered there was nuclear contamination, too...

He had thought that this pollution, which could affect the entire continent in the future, was the limit...

But it turns out there were powerful experts involved?!

’That black pillar! Was it the work of the All-Powerful Lineage?’

Chu Bamboo felt a headache coming on. ’Or maybe there are other Shoe Sects—a mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?!’

And how did the black light spreading from that black pillar cause the Great River’s water system to go berserk?

’Wait!’ Chu Bamboo suddenly realized a serious problem. ’Is it really only the Great River’s water system that has a problem?’

Jinghai City was located at the mouth of the Great River where it met the sea.

And Jinghai had become prosperous precisely because of this golden waterway connecting it to the interior.

But if even the river mouth, which should be the calmest part, was in such turmoil... then upstream...

’It shouldn’t be that fast, right?’ Chu Bamboo broke out in a cold sweat. If the entire length of the Great River was in trouble, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Chu Bamboo recalled a dark joke: The Yellow River elbow-dropped a flourishing dynasty! The Yangtze River seems peaceful... but the real reason is that if it were to rampage, no one upstream or downstream would survive. Because it does such a clean job, the Yangtze River has no bad reputation.

The great flood of ’98 nearly rebooted the entire region along the Yangtze River.

At this moment, Chu Bamboo couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

He stood up, paced a few circles, and finally came to a decision. ’I have to keep investigating...’

Having made up his mind, Chu Bamboo went straight out and made a call.

...

"You..." Ning Linglong said, looking completely bewildered after being summoned by his call.

Then, Chu Bamboo directly "skipped," "skipped," and "skipped."

After Ning Linglong understood the situation, she said, "...Oh, so that’s what’s happening! In that case, um, I have no problem with it."

A moment later.

Ning Linglong was sweating profusely as she stared at the maglev car Chu Bamboo had acquired from Commander Huo.

"Get in!" Chu Bamboo said succinctly. Ning Linglong glanced timidly at the expressionless Huo Qiming, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and cautiously got into the car, looking back every other step like a mouse that had just seen a cat.

Even after getting in the car, Ning Linglong sat like an elementary schooler in front of the principal, with her hands on her knees, her back ramrod straight, and her eyes fixed forward.

As for Chu Bamboo, he stomped on the electric accelerator, and the maglev car shot into the air, speeding toward the Fourth District with Ning Linglong in the passenger seat.

"?" Huo Qiming, still standing there, felt his eye twitch.

He had lent him the car because Chu Bamboo claimed there was a huge problem in Jinghai. Following the intel Chu Bamboo had leaked, he had actually confirmed that the keys to the nuclear facility were missing. Only then did he believe Chu Bamboo’s story about needing a flying car as transportation to solve the problem... and lent it to him.

But now, he was getting the feeling that...

’He’s not just trying to pick up a girl... is he?’

Huo Qiming’s face twisted. To be fair, he really didn’t want to think so maliciously of Mr. Zhu, whom he actually felt he understood quite well—

But the problem was, considering Chu Bamboo’s current age, doing something this stupid after hitting puberty seemed... normal.

After all, Huo Qiming felt he’d been through the same phase when he was young...

"Forget it." Huo Qiming shook his head, quickly casting aside his messy thoughts. His expression turned cold and severe. "Even if he really did borrow the car to pick up a girl at this critical moment... I’ll just have to teach him a good lesson later! First, I need to deal with the keys and the problem with the restricted area!"

...

"...Ah Zhu! A-Are you sure your Divine Technique really is...!" Ning Linglong started to ask, then stopped, her words trailing off several times. She was looking at Chu Bamboo, who had switched on the autopilot and was now holding her hand tightly. A blush crept onto her cheeks.

No matter how you looked at it, this was a date! And a very high-class one at that...

’Could it be possible...’ Ning Linglong looked at her tightly held hand and, despite knowing the chances were slim, began to fantasize. ’Maybe Chu Bamboo just wanted to hold my hand, and this whole thing about deducing a Divine Power is just an excuse?!’

"Think what you want." Chu Bamboo wasn’t an idiot; he naturally understood what Ning Linglong was thinking, but he had no intention of explaining.

Because it was pointless!

’In the end, we’re all going to die anyway.’

He silently deduced, following his intuition, continuously analyzing Ning Linglong’s Divine Technique... slowly but surely taking steps forward on the Divine Power Skill Tree!

Finally...

At a certain point, Chu Bamboo stared at the black pillar rising again in the distance.

"...What’s that!" Ning Linglong was stunned for a moment. "What’s happening in Jinghai City? I don’t think I heard about any events over there... Is it a fire?"

"No, that doesn’t look like black smoke... What is it then..." The more Ning Linglong thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong.

The black light spread out once more.

Chu Bamboo’s calm expression suddenly froze. He realized that the moment the black light swept past, the maglev car beneath him began to shake violently, and a shrill alarm blared.

"Massive fluctuation in the magnetic field! Warning! Massive magnetic field fluctuation detected!"

"Initiating emergency landing! Initiating emergency landing!!!"

"BZZT... FZZT..."

"Program error! Warning! Program error..."

...

Chu Bamboo woke up again, his expression a picture.

He muttered, "Okay, okay, okay... so that’s how you want to play it."

Originally, his plan had been to use the flying car to escape the super-flood... and then get a good look at what exactly happened afterward.

If possible, Chu Bamboo had even planned to use the maglev car to circle a wide area afterward and see just how far-reaching the incident was...

Then, he’d see if he could contact the Bright Pope again to get more information...

And then...

And then, there was no "and then."

Chu Bamboo slapped his cheeks, his expression complicated. ’Well... I guess I got to try out the death of a superstar, huh?!’

Chu Bamboo was trying to find some humor in his misery.

But...

’A fluctuation in the magnetic field... that black light?!’

Chu Bamboo suddenly felt a figurative toothache. He had to consider a problem: was it the regional magnetic field that had an issue, or was it...

The continent?

The planet?

’Uh...’

’Is this sort of thing... something I should be getting involved in at my current level?’ A weary look appeared on Chu Bamboo’s face. He really wanted to curse someone out right now...

’So where the hell did all the top experts of the Daqian Dynasty go?!’