Chapter 389 - 331: Goodbye, Governor Su and Lu Jin — The Lord of Jinghai City: Chu Bamboo

After a moment of consideration, Chu Bamboo looked at Huo Qiming, his words earnest.

"I don’t want to start a senseless slaughter. Issue an order on your end. Have the Captain’s Office cooperate in Zone Two and Zone One..."

"..." Huo Qiming’s mouth fell open. Even through his mask, one could sense his bewilderment and helplessness. ’No, this is just too...’

Eunuch Huang: "???"

Eunuch Huang and many others at the scene were once again reminded of Huo Qiming’s status. However, unlike in the previous timeline where they had dared to speak up and question things... now, sensing the unusual atmosphere, they didn’t dare say a word.

"...Were you planning this from the start?" Huo Qiming asked, a little disappointed.

"What are you talking about?" Chu Bamboo gave Huo Qiming a strange look. "I told you, I just want to shed less blood... Otherwise!"

Chu Bamboo paused, and Hu Kaikang immediately jumped in.

"I can issue orders for the churches in each district to cooperate with Mr. Zhu," Hu Kaikang said with a grin. He subtly glanced at Huo Qiming, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"It’s just that... if we do that! Tsk tsk... But, counting this group here, plus the members of the Captain’s Office connected to Mr. Zhu, Zone One doesn’t have much of a defensive force left, does it? Or is President Huo planning to have ordinary patrol officers fill the gap?"

Huo Qiming: "..."

Only then did Huo Qiming realize that Chu Bamboo might actually be telling the truth, not just tricking him with words. On the surface, Chu Bamboo was letting him remain neutral, but in reality, he was forcing him to join his side—

’Alright, maybe there was a bit of that going on—but I can just about accept this situation!’

Huo Qiming gave Chu Bamboo a deep look, let out a bitter laugh, and took out his phone. "Alright."

...

Time flew by.

「In the afternoon.」

Inside a spacious conference room at the Jinghai City Government Office.

The atmosphere was utterly frozen.

A faint gloom clouded Governor Su Tianhai’s eyes. His gaze swept over the armed Security Corps members surrounding them. His mind was filled with confusion; he couldn’t understand anything that was happening.

Just moments ago, he had been in his office handling government affairs as usual.

All of Jinghai City, and even the surrounding regions, had been as peaceful as any other day—no signs of rebellion, not even a hint of unrest.

And yet, he had been captured for no discernible reason. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it...

’What on earth happened?’ At this moment, Su Tianhai felt like Qin Ershi hearing that rebels had breached Xianyang—he couldn’t fathom where the rebel army had come from. ’Don’t tell me they just fell from the sky?!’

Lu Jin, sitting beside him, appeared calm and composed on the surface, but his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

Unlike the bewildered Su Tianhai, Lu Jin, as the person in charge of formalizing the shantytown districts, had seen photos of some of the union’s upper echelons. Now, he recognized Li Xuan... Realizing who was behind this, Lu Jin fully grasped the gravity of the situation... He felt as if he’d been struck by a club, his head ringing.

A sharp cry erupted in his mind... ’Mr. Zhu, why did he suddenly rebel?!’

’And how did they just charge into Zone One out of nowhere? Isn’t Zone Two supposed to be a buffer? Could it be that Zone Two has already fallen?’

’What he couldn’t figure out, even more, was... what about the Police Chief Bureau?’

’Even if there was real turmoil, logically, the Police Chief Bureau should have been the first to respond. Even if the Police Chief Bureau couldn’t handle it, word should have reached us, and we could have considered calling in military corps from the surrounding areas for support.’

’But now...’

For a fleeting moment, Lu Jin even wondered if the Police Chief Bureau were moles. But he quickly dismissed the thought. ’Impossible, absolutely impossible! Even if the Police Chief Bureau in Zone Three is full of moles, could the ones in Zone Two and Zone One be too?’

’If they all turned... I’d probably have to wonder if the employees of the bureaus in several zones hadn’t been paid for a long time, provoking mass outrage...’

Just then, the sound of a door opening cut through the silence.

"Director Xiang, salute!" Li Xuan called out, his expression grave. He stomped his left foot sharply and gave a standard military salute.

The surrounding Security Corps soldiers also adopted solemn expressions, saluting in unison and roaring, "...Loyalty! Allegiance!"

Chu Bamboo, who had been about to step forward, paused for a fraction of a second before his expression returned to normal. ’I don’t know whether to laugh or be angry,’ he thought. ’Whose idea was this little flourish? The system I set up just required a simple salute...’

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind. He remembered chatting with Zhao Xu about the plot of the Korean drama *The Fifth Republic*. ’Could it be that Captain Zhao misunderstood and thought I was hinting at something back then?’

As thoughts raced through his mind, Chu Bamboo walked to the platform with a placid expression and slowly sat down.

Everywhere he looked, he saw expressions of utter disbelief—Lu Jin was both anxious and furious, Su Tianhai’s face was a mask of incredulity, and the third of the City Government Office’s "big three" was apparently sick at home.

The rest were the mid-to-high-level bureaucrats of the City Government Office.

"Let’s be blunt." Chu Bamboo crossed his legs, his voice cool and detached. "The Daqian has lost its way, and the Great Goddess Nuwa stands with me!"

He gave a light flick of his hand, and a squadron of civilian drones zipped in from outside the door, circling around him.

The room fell dead silent.

"I know what you’re all thinking... Hmm, don’t worry, I’m not going on a killing spree, and I won’t touch your positions! But I am going to establish three rules..."

Chu Bamboo’s gaze swept over the crowd as he began to speak, his pace unhurried.

"First rule: open the granaries and distribute the food! From this day forward, I will not allow anyone to starve to death in the shantytown districts... hmm, to be more precise, in Zone Four, Zone Three, Zone Two... or even in any corner of Zone One! Of course, this isn’t about fostering laziness. You can cooperate with the union—work for relief!"

"Second rule: I will not permit any unrest in Jinghai City that affects the people’s livelihood! Of course, there’s nothing to be done about things outside your control. But people like thieves and robbers must all be swept up and dealt with!"

"Third rule... From today onward, in Jinghai City, what I say goes!"

After a brief pause, Chu Bamboo’s sharp gaze swept across the room. "Who agrees? Who objects?"

"I object!" a man in a scholar’s robe shot to his feet, his eyes filled with indignation and contempt. "The Great Goddess Nuwa?"

"Confucius said not to use strange powers to sow spiritual chaos! This so-called Nuwa is nothing more than an ancestral deity concocted by the ancient peoples!"

"As for the drones... isn’t there just someone behind the scenes controlling them?! What does that prove?"

"The Daqian has lost its way? The world is at peace, so how has it lost its way! It is you, you ambitious schemer..."

"BANG!" A crisp gunshot cut him off. The man in the scholar’s robe fell to the ground.

The room instantly erupted into chaos. Su Tianhai stared coldly at Chu Bamboo. Lu Jin’s brow furrowed; the Chu Bamboo before him now seemed like a complete stranger.