Chapter 385 - 327: The Scrutiny and Doubts of the Imperial Capital’s Giants

For a moment, Chu Bamboo didn’t know what kind of expression to make. He could only sigh. "This is really..."

After flying a bit further, they were approaching the Imperial Capital...

Streaks of missiles with fiery tails came hurtling toward them.

’I knew it... But still!’ Chu Bamboo felt a sense of surreality. He’d heard the lock-on warning before, but it had turned out to be the Ancestor. To be honest, he had almost mistaken the Ancestor for an incoming missile... ’Now, *this* is how it’s supposed to be!’

Chu Bamboo pressed his lips together and issued the command.

Instantly, the drones swarmed forward, either opening fire to provide cover or ramming the missiles directly.

Chu Bamboo counted silently. After several volleys, at least forty or fifty medium-sized drones had been shot down... and even so, one small missile finally broke through the interception and blasted straight through the drone carrier—

Of course, the drone carrier was simply too massive, not to mention it used a maglev drive! So, although a gash was torn in its belly... it was insignificant compared to its overall size. The drone carrier continued to fly toward its destination.

Chu Bamboo frowned, feeling a pang of regret. After all, he only had so many operational drones... and dozens had just been wiped out in an instant!

’Thankfully...’

Their sacrifice had bought them a few precious seconds... The drone carrier successfully broke into the airspace of the Imperial Capital.

At that moment...

A dead silence fell.

Eunuch Huang’s body trembled violently, his face deathly pale and filled with terror. Yet he didn’t dare to bow his head, still staring intently...

A struggle played out across Huo Qiming’s masked face. He glanced at Chu Bamboo’s back, clenched his fists, and finally let out a silent sigh, ultimately doing nothing.

A faint white light gleamed in Hu Kaikang’s eyes. His hand formed a claw as the light solidified, creating sharp, Wolverine-like bone claws that extended from between his knuckles... Even though Huo Qiming had looked away, Hu Kaikang’s gaze remained fixed on him.

Chu Bamboo couldn’t care less about their standoff or whatever they were thinking... He was glued to the screen—

Unlike the previous civilization.

In this feudal era, the Daqian Imperial Capital had no countryside... The so-called Imperial Capital was just a single, densely populated main urban area.

As for the surrounding villages and other cities, they were collectively known as Beizhili—

And the Imperial Palace was located right in the center of this massive capital city!

Countless citizens of the Daqian Imperial Capital saw the drone carrier in the sky, their expressions changing drastically in that instant.

"...Heavens above, what is that?"

"Like platinum... soaring through the sky... It’s a Golden-Winged Great Peng! It must be the legendary Golden-Winged Great Peng."

"It’s obviously a Kunpeng! The Kunpeng spreads its wings... it turns into a fish when it enters the water!!"

"A myth... a myth has descended upon us!"

"I knew everything recorded by the God Worship Sect was true!"

"I wish only to believe in the Celestial Court God!!"

The common people either panicked or kowtowed in worshipful awe.

But... the educated officials had a different attitude.

「The Imperial Academy.」

A man in Confucian robes slowly raised his head. His face was gaunt and his white beard hung down to his chest. He looked quite young for his features, yet his entire being exuded an air of ineffable weakness. He watched for several breaths, took a few short gasps, and coughed several times before speaking, his voice laced with uncertainty, "...An Ancient Relic? But..."

’How could such an Ancient Relic exist?!’

It was the first time the man had ever seen something so outrageous... However, a creation that displayed Extraordinary Power without the slightest trace of contamination... it could only be an Ancient Relic!

「Guangji Daming Temple.」

Host Mingren stared calmly toward the sky, finally chanting a Buddha’s Name. But the name he uttered was in Chinese: "Amitabha Buddha!"

...

"Alright... next up!" Chu Bamboo was just about to order the drone carrier to carry out a precision strike on Yangxin Hall in full public view.

The next instant, the unexpected happened—

Brilliant laser beams suddenly shot out.

"???" Chu Bamboo was dumbfounded.

The remaining escort drones were obliterated by the lasers in a matter of seconds, exploding into fireballs that rained from the sky.

Chu Bamboo quickly recalled news he had seen in the real world—drones were powerful, and had even changed the face of modern warfare to some extent, but that didn’t mean they were invincible!

That’s right, back home they had already developed methods specifically for dealing with drones—laser attacks paired with radar! Capable of destroying large numbers of drones in a short amount of time.

’From that perspective, even after a thousand years... it’s perfectly normal for the Daqian Imperial Capital to have leftover defenses like these!’

Finally, after clearing out all the drones, the lasers all converged on the drone carrier...

The carrier was absolutely massive!

Even as the lasers continuously burned away at its hull, the damage was... still just a drop in the bucket.

The drone carrier remained stationary in the sky, even as its underbelly glowed a faint red from the heat—it looked like it could take it... It could probably withstand these lasers for several hours, or even longer, without any issue!

The problem was...

"...The drones are all gone. Am I supposed to have the carrier itself do the bombing?" Chu Bamboo’s eye twitched. ’Okay, strictly speaking, that’s not impossible... but the problem is, I never considered this possibility, so I loaded all the weapons onto the various medium-sized drones!’

The people in the Ecological Garden still wore expressions of shock mixed with awe. The citizens of the Imperial Capital, captured by the drone carrier’s cameras, were also terrified and horrified... or reverent.

No one realized that, at this moment, the drone carrier was like a tiger that had been defanged and declawed.

’...No! I have another idea!’ A spark of inspiration hit Chu Bamboo. He decided to pull off a slick move before resetting.

Without hesitation, he gave the order for the drone carrier to charge toward the Imperial Palace—since it had no more munitions, the drone carrier itself would be... the final munition!

However, a few seconds after it entered the Imperial Palace’s airspace and began to plummet...

...the screen suddenly went black.

Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes. ’If I saw that correctly, the screen went black before the drone carrier actually hit the ground, didn’t it?’

’In other words... something else happened?’

’Was it because no one saw the moment of impact, so the Ancestor made a move... or was it...’

"What a headache." Chu Bamboo pinched the bridge of his nose. The lasers had incinerated every last drone... ’If only one or two had survived, I could’ve gotten a bystander’s view of what happened.’

"...D-Did it work?" Hu Kaikang asked cautiously.

Chu Bamboo didn’t answer. He simply chose... to kill himself again.

The next instant, time began to reverse.