Chapter 344 - 286: Twisted Destiny! The Only Possibility to Kill the Fifth

Huo Qiming fell silent, his sharp gaze fixed on Fifth.

"Or... how about we swap the hostage for you?" Fifth proposed casually. "Of course, you’d have to place some limits on your power... I know you can break free from those limits whenever you want, but it would still be a show of good faith, right?"

Huo Qiming remained silent, but he considered it. ’It’s not... completely unacceptable.’ He was carrying a Spiritual Artifact for protection. If he really did switch places with Chu Bamboo, as long as the artifact could hold out for just a moment, he could unseal his power and stab his opponent in the back. ’Could this be a chance to turn the tables?’

"You want to use this chance to steal his identity, don’t you?" Chu Bamboo suddenly spoke up. He paid no mind to the hand clamped tightly around his neck, twisting his head with all his might to look at the Fifth Apostle’s mask. "...Hu Kaikang!"

A dead silence fell.

Huo Qiming’s pupils contracted. ’The amount of information in those two sentences is staggering. Stealing an identity... and... Hu Kaikang? Isn’t he...’

’But how could that be possible!’

’The number one figure of the God Worship Sect in Jinghai City has absolutely no reason to do something like this...’

"...Logically, I should argue the point right now. Or, I could openly admit that I am Hu Kaikang, and then use some clumsy ploy to make Captain Huo doubt it!" Fifth’s tone was even, his clear eyes fixed on Chu Bamboo. "But for some reason... I can feel that you’re telling the truth. You’re absolutely certain that I’m Hu Kaikang..."

After a slight pause, a strange light flickered in Fifth’s eyes. He gradually tightened his grip on Chu Bamboo’s neck, making it hard for him to breathe. But as Fifth watched, Chu Bamboo’s expression remained unchanged. It was genuine indifference, not a pretense... Fifth couldn’t help but feel a pang of disappointment.

To avoid actually killing Chu Bamboo, Fifth gradually loosened his grip. He pursed his lips. "How did you know?"

"Let’s make a deal." Chu Bamboo’s eyes flickered as he dodged the question. "Let’s play a game of truth or dare, Lao Hu."

"I ask a question, then you ask a question. I swear on the name of the Shantytown Redevelopment Zone Union that all my answers will be the honest truth. If you know anything about me, you should understand how much that promise is worth."

"...I actually have no idea." The corner of Fifth’s eye twitched. But after a moment’s thought, he said with a grin, "Still, we can play. But I get to ask first."

"Fine." Chu Bamboo nodded without hesitation.

"...How did you find out my identity?" Fifth asked.

"You exposed your identity to me yourself," Chu Bamboo answered bluntly.

Fifth frowned. ’It’s actually the truth? But... that’s far too vague. And when did I expose myself... could it have been during one of our past ’fishing’ expeditions?’

’The last time I saw Chu Bamboo was a long, long time ago... Was I exposed back then? No, just how deep is Ah Zhu’s understanding of the All-Powerful? Or is there a mole? But only a handful of people know my public identity is a Bishop... Don’t tell me Chu Bamboo’s mole is an Apostle?’

"My turn," Chu Bamboo said seriously. "How did you escape the metal sphere and suddenly appear behind me?"

"...You’re being tricky!" Fifth shot Chu Bamboo a look. ’That’s two questions: one, how I escaped, and two, how I got behind you!’

Still, considering Chu Bamboo had indeed told the truth, and these two questions weren’t particularly sensitive, he said leisurely, "I’ll be merciful and tell you..."

"Escape? I didn’t escape. Heh, my Divine Technique is Good Luck... so," Fifth paused, his voice filled with untamable pride and arrogance, "the world is just naturally on my side!"

"???" Huo Qiming was dumbfounded. ’I’ve never seen such a shameless bastard. Good Luck? What kind of good luck lets you hide your own body?’

’Are you saying our luck was so bad we just couldn’t see you sneaking up behind Chu Bamboo? What a joke!’

But at that moment, Chu Bamboo’s heart sank. ’Destiny’s Good Luck! It can actually work like that... In that case, he might have really just... coincidentally been standing just over twenty meters away!’

’This is big trouble!’

"As for the second question..." Fifth said dismissively, "I just walked over, that’s all."

Hearing this, Huo Qiming almost laughed in anger. ’Could you possibly be any more half-assed with your answer?’

"Then my next question is..." Fifth narrowed his eyes, staring directly into Chu Bamboo’s, and said, word by word, "Explain in detail how you saw through my identity as the Fifth Apostle. Lay out your entire thought process... You asked two questions earlier, so this doesn’t count as breaking the rules, you know!"

After one last deep look at Fifth, Chu Bamboo unhesitatingly chose... to kill himself.

"???" Fifth suddenly sensed something was wrong. A moment later, his jaw dropped. He frantically shook Chu Bamboo’s body. "If you don’t want to answer, just don’t answer! You...! Don’t die on me!"

And then, time began to reverse.

...

Chu Bamboo felt a moment of disorientation, then found himself tying the metal sphere to a drone.

"..."

’Is this the right time?’

Speechless, Chu Bamboo quickly finished his task. He controlled the Hive, sending the drone flying off into the distance.

Then, he re-enacted everything from before, waiting until... the gate opened.

Eleven and Fifth walked out. Eleven abruptly looked up at the drone hovering a hundred meters above him. Clearly, even though Chu Bamboo had deliberately increased its altitude, the sound of the drone was still perfectly audible to a Transcendent of his level.

"Interesting!" Eleven completely ignored the drone as it plummeted toward him.

Fifth frowned, then suddenly raised his hand and tore the drone to shreds. The impact triggered the Antimatter Bomb’s internal reaction, and it was instantly annihilated...

"...Sigh." Chu Bamboo sighed again. He then watched as Fifth’s voice, once again, inexplicably sounded from behind him.

It was a perfect replay of before. He was captured again.

The only difference was...

"Be gentler!" Eleven yelled, looking distressed at the hand clamped around Chu Bamboo’s neck before glaring resentfully at Fifth. ’That could very well be the Saint! What you’re doing is a grave sin of disrespect!’

Fifth: "..."

The onlooking Huo Qiming: "..."

The trembling Wall Announcements, who had no idea why Chu Bamboo had brought them along: "..."

"..." After a brief silence, Chu Bamboo smoothly used his words to pull Fifth into his rhythm, starting their usual game of truth or dare. "Under what circumstances... would you allow a drone to get within twenty meters of you?"

"???" The Fifth Apostle fell into deep thought. The Fifth Apostle felt like his brain had crashed. The Fifth Apostle laughed with exasperation. "Do you really take me for an idiot? You think I can’t sense that distortion of Destiny on the drone, the one that’s just a little weaker than yours? You ask me ’when’? The only time I’d let it get that close is if I had a death wish!"

"..." Chu Bamboo fell silent. ’A distortion of Destiny?’

’Wait... just a little weaker than mine?’

’In other words... this feeling of Destiny’s distortion isn’t a direct sense of threat... it’s just a way to estimate it?!’

’If that’s the case...’

Chu Bamboo gave the Fifth Apostle a long, hard look, then once again chose to reset.