Chu Bamboo paused, giving Guan Fei a strange look. "Why do they look like wild n... and what’s with the clothes you’re wearing?"
"Right, and aren’t there vines at the entrance? The incredibly vicious ones... how did you get past their attacks to co inside?"
"Vines? Oh, you an the aberrant flora?" Zhou Ze asked, uncertain. "They... they wouldn’t attack these monsters, would they? After all, they’re the sa kind as these two... hmm? Wild n?"
"Wait, monsters!" Chu Bamboo also sensed sothing was wrong.
The two stared at each other.
"By ’monsters,’ you an..." Chu Bamboo collected his thoughts, staring at Guan Fei and the other man in disbelief.
"That’s right... They can’t speak, they wield powers beyond mortal understanding that you can’t even look at directly, and they go berserk from ti to ti! They go on killing sprees... They even mutate, twisting into true monsters." Zhou Ze shuddered, then gave Chu Bamboo an odd look and a bitter smile.
"These two are actually so of the better ones... You’re really lucky! You actually managed to run into a few monsters... who are relatively well-controlled."
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’Wielding a bizarre power? That normal people can’t look at directly? Mad rampages? Mutation? Distortion?!!’
’Wait...’
’They’re Transcendents!’ A storm raged in Chu Bamboo’s mind. ’The Transcendents of this world have no human intellect? They even go mad... and beco so-called "true monsters"?’
’How is that possible? This problem never appeared in the last tiline...’
’Unless!’ Chu Bamboo turned his head, staring at Guan Fei’s twisted muscles as a million thoughts raced through his mind, recalling all the things Li Kang had told him.
’Contamination... nuclear radiation causing muscle distortion... normal people can’t know about the Extraordinary, and if they find out, their mories must be erased...’
’Although I still don’t know the exact connection here, I’m guessing it’s because of the contamination... In the last tiline, there was clearly a thod to deal with it! But maybe in this tiline, there isn’t? Is that why the Transcendents of this era... are seen as monsters by normal people? Hmm, it’s also partly their own fault...’
Taking a deep breath, Chu Bamboo forced the chaotic thoughts from his mind, stood up, and said, "Alright! For now, take back to, um, your settlent..."
Zhou Ze froze for a mont, gave Chu Bamboo a deep look, and nodded.
...
After leaving the base, Guan Fei let out a strange roar at the vines and repeatedly pounded his chest. The vines began to twist like snakes, so even rising up in mid-air like cobras, writhing ceaselessly as if greeting him, or perhaps dancing.
However, so of the vines showed hostility toward Chu Bamboo. But the mont they got close, Guan Fei roared them back.
’So that’s how it is.’ Chu Bamboo nodded, his face impassive. ’The vines are their watchdogs.’
’So, could his earlier encounter be summarized as getting bitten by a dog?’
In the ruins, the group pressed onward.
Soon, they arrived in a remote area. Chu Bamboo, after all, knew the route. Even though the landmarks were completely different from the last tiline, he could still guess that this was likely the shantytown district where the Union Headquarters had been...
And then...
"Fire! Fire!" Zhou Ze suddenly perford a combat roll, his face twisting into a snarl as he scread, "He’s not Mr. Zhu! Kill all these monsters!"
Chu Bamboo’s pupils contracted. He reacted in a flash, instinctively pulling Guan Fei in front of him.
The next instant.
Accompanied by a deafening ROAR and a blast of terrifying, high-temperature steam from a distant murder hole—
A projectile pierced Guan Fei’s body.
Guan Fei’s face was a mask of astonishnt, which gave way to disbelief, then sorrow, and finally, hysterical fury and killing intent.
He roared like a beast. Instead of attacking Zhou Ze, he charged straight for the distant murder hole.
’...Are you serious, buddy?’ Chu Bamboo was genuinely stunned. ’Shouldn’t he be killing the traitor, Zhou Ze, first?’
’What kind of logic is it to charge straight into the heaviest firepower?’
And then...
Chu Bamboo watched in a daze as projectile after projectile was fired, riddling Guan Fei’s body and driving him, step by step, toward his end...
Three ters from the murder hole, Guan Fei finally collapsed, crashing to the ground. His face was still a mask of indignation and rage.
As for Wall Announcents, the one with the innocent gaze...
Oh, he’d already let out a sharp shriek and fled in disarray.
Chu Bamboo’s reaction was a beat too slow. And so...
The next mont, with another great blast of steam, a hail of projectiles shot toward him.
Chu Bamboo: "...Ze, nice one! A job well done!"
’You’re a ruthless one!’
...
Death. No matter how many tis he experienced it, Chu Bamboo could never truly get used to it.
Chu Bamboo’s eyes snapped open, and he gasped lightly.
"...Are you alright?" Zhou Ze’s voice rang out, tinged with concern.
"?" A muscle in Chu Bamboo’s brow twitched. He fought back the urge to punch Zhou Ze in the face and scanned his surroundings.
Oh, not far away, Guan Fei was still pounding his chest, communicating with the guardian vines.
’I’ve reset to this point in ti!’
Without hesitation, Chu Bamboo expressionlessly seized Zhou Ze by the throat.
"...HROOAAR?!" Wall Announcents stood frozen in place. He looked at Chu Bamboo, then at Zhou Ze, then at Guan Fei still pounding his chest in the distance. He tilted his head, the incomprehensible scene clearly causing his brain to short-circuit.
"...You!" Zhou Ze struggled with all his might, yet he couldn’t move Chu Bamboo an inch. A look of understanding, then despair, and finally hatred, slowly dawned on his face.
After a good while, once Zhou Ze’s struggles had weakened and he was on the verge of losing consciousness, Chu Bamboo casually tossed him to the ground. "Talk," he said coldly. "Tell what’s going on. Why did you try to kill us?"
Chu Bamboo was actually quite curious. He knew Zhou Ze well. The man was bold but ticulous, soone who valued personal bonds, yet he possessed an incredibly strong sense of principle.
This wasn’t so Zhu Yuanzhang-style leader—
He wasn’t the type to think: ’After I take power, I feel like my predecessor might be a threat to my authority... so I have to kill him!’ He wouldn’t do sothing like that...
If he were really like that, Chu Bamboo would have inevitably had to reset the tiline because of him—and then he could have just killed him and put soone else in charge.
But in reality, in the last tiline, after Zhou Ze beca the Director-General of the Union, he had done an excellent job. He had always been extrely respectful toward Chu Bamboo.
That was why, even though he had just died because of Zhou Ze... while Chu Bamboo was displeased, he wasn’t angry enough to kill him on sight the second ti they t.
’Hmm, of course, I can’t rule out the possibility... that the Zhou Ze of this tiline has a completely different personality from the one in the last!’ An absurd thought popped into Chu Bamboo’s head. ’After all, Guan Fei and Wall Announcents have beco wild n. Is anything really impossible?’
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