Chapter 340 - 282: C Company’s Legacy—The Hive Underground Base

It was almost nine o’clock.

On the outskirts of Jinghai City, in a patch of barren wasteland.

"...Are you sure we’re supposed to dig down from here?" Mo Wen asked, shouldering a shovel. His expression was priceless.

"Yes!" Chu Bamboo nodded. His gaze swept over the dozen or so Moisture Teaching disciples behind Mo Wen, who were also carrying shovels. These people were mostly First Realm or Second Realm existences. As for the other Third Realm Transcendents on par with Mo Wen, Chu Bamboo had sent them all to the shantytown renovation district to deal with the union and factory issues—

Although, according to Chu Bamboo’s previous estimates, with the plan he had devised, the Captain’s Office mobilizing in full force, coupled with Huo Qiming leading the team, should have been able to round up all the enemies with minimal casualties... or even none at all.

However, Chu Bamboo considered that his future plans might require transferring Huo Qiming away. After thinking it over, he decided to add some extra manpower as a bit of insurance.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t call Zhang Hai, but Zhang Hai was, after all, a member of the God Worship Sect. Who knew what the Fifth Apostle might have set up? If word got out and the Fifth Apostle found out... things would get very troublesome.

The thoughts flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind, and he immediately started digging without hesitation.

Since Chu Bamboo had started, Mo Wen’s eye twitched. He couldn’t just stand there watching, so he began digging too. "Wait a minute," he said. "Didn’t you call for heavy construction machinery? It’s on its way! Even if it’s not as efficient as us... it’ll make things a lot easier..."

The power of Transcendents often allowed them to match or even surpass machines.

"...We don’t have time," Chu Bamboo said, his voice calm. "We have to get into that place before ten... no, before nine-thirty!"

"???" Mo Wen was completely dumbfounded.

"And you guys, get to it!" Chu Bamboo looked at the remaining men, his expression serious.

The men exchanged glances, then looked at Mo Wen. After Mo Wen nodded, they all rushed forward to help.

One had to admit, the Mo Family truly lived up to the name Brother Tu Mu. Once the disciples ran over, Mo Wen stopped using his shovel...

He directly called over a Mo Family disciple and had him press his hand to the ground.

Then, under Chu Bamboo’s strange gaze, the earth began to vibrate on its own, gradually forming a narrow path downward...

Chu Bamboo: "...?!"

’Alright! Since they’re Brother Tu Mu... it’s perfectly reasonable for them to do all this... Reasonable, my ass!!’

Although he was full of sarcastic comments internally, Chu Bamboo saw their ridiculous efficiency and decided to stop working himself. He simply stood to the side and directed them.

With the aid of Divine Techniques, they reached the uppermost level of the base much faster than he had expected.

"This pattern..." Chu Bamboo murmured, tracing the outer wall of the base. He compared it with the images in his mind and quickly realized where he was. Ignoring Mo Wen and the others, who had ’Holy shit, we actually dug something up’ written all over their faces, he said urgently, "Follow me."

Chu Bamboo led the group several hundred meters away and started digging again.

Even with Earth and Wood Divine Techniques to control the soil, this time... it still took them a good ten minutes of digging—

A metal door appeared before them.

"???" Mo Wen was dumbfounded. He’d been shocked twice since arriving. First, he was shocked that they had actually found a base. Second, he was shocked by... how was Chu Bamboo so good at this? He’d found the entrance so easily?!

Mo Wen had done this kind of ruin excavation work before... but the problem was, in the past, even with the help of Divine Techniques, such digs took months at the shortest, and years at the longest... But to successfully find the entrance in just a few dozen minutes...

’This isn’t even a speedrun anymore!’

’It takes me longer than this just to get home!!’

Chu Bamboo glanced at the time: 9:31. He frowned and pursed his lips. "It should still be enough time."

After gathering his thoughts, Chu Bamboo’s expression turned grim. He looked at the group and pointed away from the entrance. "I’m going to have to ask you all to leave now. What happens next... is not something you can be involved in."

The site fell silent for a moment.

"Hey, when we were doing the work, why didn’t you—" one of the Moisture Teaching disciples began, sounding a little disgruntled, but Mo Wen cut him off mid-sentence. He gave Chu Bamboo a deep look and nodded. "I understand!"

"Don’t worry. Things we’re not supposed to see, we won’t see."

"?" Chu Bamboo was a bit surprised. He watched as Mo Wen, with an air of perfect understanding, led his men quickly out of the tunnel. They even covered the tunnel entrance with a thin layer of weeds, as if to prove they weren’t peeking from the opening.

’Could it be...’ Chu Bamboo pondered for a moment, then nodded in understanding. ’If I’m not mistaken, Mo Wen must have seen how proficient I was earlier and concluded that this base might be related to the Daqian officials.’

Apparently, this honest bunch from the Moisture Teaching had no desire to pry into the secrets of the Daqian government.

’Still, to suppress their curiosity so well!’ Chu Bamboo clicked his tongue in amazement. ’Is it because the Moisture Teaching’s education is that good, or... have they suffered for being nosy before?’

Shaking his head to clear the stray thoughts, Chu Bamboo followed the instructions he himself had once set, slowly moving the stone mechanism on the metal door.

"DING!" A crisp notification sounded, followed by a pleasant female voice. "Triggered... System startup initiated... Commencing diagnostics..."

"Camera is damaged! Unable to observe visitor information!"

"Fingerprint lock is damaged! Unable to record fingerprint."

"Commencing human magnetic field scan... Human magnetic field scanner integrity at seventy percent, barely operable! Magnetic field data successfully detected. Commencing comparison... Approximate match found in database... Commencing verification... Verification successful!"

"—Access level: Maximum!"

"’Father,’ I am the ’Hive’ system. Welcome!"

In the next instant, the great door, sealed for who knows how many years, slowly slid open.

Inside, the lights blazed to life.

In response to this...

"...Father?" Chu Bamboo was silent for several breaths, a complex look flashing in his eyes. "What is your relationship with... Z?"

Chu Bamboo was all too familiar with Hive’s voice; it was eighty percent similar to Z’s...

"I am the AI war system extended from Z’s programming—Hive Unit 8!" Hive’s voice was as steady as ever. "If Z is your legitimate eldest daughter, then perhaps I can be considered your eighth illegitimate son! Of course, I am merely an AI. Please do not apply human standards to me."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Even AIs are getting into the whole legitimate-versus-illegitimate heir thing now?’ For a moment, Chu Bamboo found it hard to process. Still, he did feel a sense of familiarity... Compared to the very serious and easily shocked Nuwa, Z’s way of speaking was indeed very similar to Hive’s. You could say she was serious, but she often came out with words that no normal human would even think of in the current context, showcasing the difference between her thought processes and a human’s, leaving one not knowing whether to laugh or cry...

"Unit 8? Hmm, I’ll just call you Hive," Chu Bamboo said as he started walking deeper into the base.

"Highest-level command detected... Modifying my designation: Hive!" Hive’s voice suddenly became urgent. "Father, please stop! The air inside is extremely foul. The main system has just been activated and is beginning air circulation... Estimated time until normal entry is possible: three minutes... Warning, air exchange unit has sustained damage. Commencing diagnostics... Estimated time until normal entry is possible: five minutes!"

Chu Bamboo’s eye twitched a few times, but he didn’t criticize it. After such a long time, it was normal for some parts to be broken. In fact, it would be strange if everything was still in perfect working order.

In reality...

’The fact that so much of it is still usable is already a huge shock!’ Chu Bamboo sighed with emotion. He had originally prepared for the worst...

Namely, that this drone base was on a completely different level from Nuwa Base and would be totally non-functional inside...

That was why he’d brought the Moisture Teaching members with him... If it really came to that, he would have Brother Tu Mu perform some emergency repairs!

’I’m actually curious to see what’s up with that ability of Brother Tu Mu, where they can just pay respects to a machine and make it run automatically.’

Of course, Chu Bamboo wasn’t so inflexible as to actually wait for five minutes. He thought for a moment and then just went straight in. To put it bluntly, with his current physical constitution, he could hold his breath underwater for more than five minutes...

The first level was extremely spacious.

There were only a few strange, cylindrical robots cleaning tirelessly. From time to time, they would extend a mechanical arm to gently tap on the base’s metal walls, as if performing maintenance.

"?" Chu Bamboo fell silent for a moment. ’So, it seems there are automated repair units inside after all! The base being able to operate for a thousand years now seems much more reasonable... Reasonable, my ass!’

’How have these robots been working normally for a thousand years?!’

Chu Bamboo stared at the cylindrical robots in disbelief, as if he’d seen a ghost. ’Don’t tell me there are other robots here for repairing the cylindrical robots... Is this some kind of nesting doll situation?!’

Opening his mouth to speak, Chu Bamboo remembered the time and got straight to the point. "Hive! Where are the drones?!"

"The unmanned machinery is located on the lowest level! Please follow the guidance... to the lowest level." As Hive spoke, one of the cylindrical robots received a command, slid in front of Chu Bamboo, and began to lead the way.

It came to a stop before a perfectly normal-looking metal wall.

The wall parted automatically, revealing a metal elevator.

"..." Chu Bamboo felt a little uneasy. As he stepped inside, he was already thinking, ’If I die in this elevator, this life will have been an absolute joke.’

During the rapid descent, Chu Bamboo began to ask Hive a series of questions.

"...Construction began in July of ’25 and was officially completed on April 8th, ’27... Major overhauls and modifications were carried out in ’35, ’47, and ’78—which resulted in the current, final form of the Hive Base."

"Last time opened... BZZZT... Cannot be determined! Data deleted! Data deleted!"

"?" Chu Bamboo’s brow twitched. He gave Hive’s camera inside the elevator a deep look but didn’t say anything more.

’...Just how deep is this place?’ Chu Bamboo counted for over twenty seconds in his head and felt that something was wrong. The elevator felt like it was in a straight freefall... and he’d been falling like this for over twenty seconds...

"Destination reached!" As the gentle voice spoke, the doors slowly slid open.

"Finally! I really thought I was going to die in there..." Chu Bamboo patted his chest and sighed. "I hope there’s... Holy shit! What the hell is that?!"

The moment Chu Bamboo stepped out of the elevator, he was dumbstruck by the sight of one behemoth after another, their forms too immense to describe with words...