Chapter 390 - 332: Nuwa No. 17: Su Tianhai, the Master—Chu Bamboo—Doesn’t Care

"Any other objections?" Chu Bamboo blew on the muzzle of his gun and scanned the scene again. Seeing that no one else spoke, he nodded in satisfaction. "Good, that’s a relief. We’ll leave it at that."

Chu Bamboo clapped his hands, and the small drones floated over to hover behind each person. "If there’s anything you’re not sure about, you can ask the drones... or should I say, the Great Goddess Nuwa!"

"The Great Goddess Nuwa’s answer is my answer."

’Normally, Nuwa’s primary language for external communication was Chinese. But... after asking repeatedly, Chu Bamboo had realized it was probably an authority issue. Fundamentally, Nuwa could understand the Dream Language—it was just that the people of the dreamscape didn’t know how to activate its Dream Language module... or perhaps they lacked the authority? Whatever the case, Chu Bamboo could certainly do it.’

Chu Bamboo activated Nuwa No. 17’s temporary state governance mode. In situations purely involving matters of governance... Nuwa No. 17 could use the Dream Language to respond.

Of course, this didn’t apply to ordinary questions. It wouldn’t do for someone with clearance to ask awkward questions, not when Chu Bamboo was in the middle of a rebellion and doing it in Nuwa’s name...

After a brief pause, Chu Bamboo shrugged, his tone as even as ever, without the slightest fluctuation. "Hm... Of course, you can also see this as surveillance... I don’t care either way."

In truth, Chu Bamboo was a firm believer in the concept of AI governance. Although the method certainly had its problems, he felt that compared to human rule, AI had a much higher floor. And that was judging by the standards of the Modern Era...

In this feudal era, the standard of AI governance would be simply off the charts...

The biggest problem with an AI governing a country was, ironically, that it was too mechanical and unable to understand certain aspects of human nature. But now, this was a joint rule between humans and an AI—

"???" Su Tianhai was completely stunned. Originally, he had thought the same as the man in the Confucian robe—that the Great Goddess Nuwa was just a banner Chu Bamboo was using for legitimacy, and that there were definitely people controlling these drones from behind the scenes.

But the moment Chu Bamboo said those words, he felt something was wrong.

His brow furrowed deeper. He even ignored Chu Bamboo’s presence and cautiously began to ask the drone a question. The moment he received an answer, his mind reeled. The quality of the response was shockingly high.

Su Tianhai swallowed dryly, continuing to ask questions nonstop while glancing at Lu Jin beside him. He suspected that the person controlling his particular drone might be an exception.

However, as Lu Jin also began asking questions, soon followed by all the others... one by one, they all fell silent.

The officials all looked at one another, and the atmosphere became incredibly strange.

"...N-No way...?!" The mind of the Sun Governor of Zone Three, who had been rushed to the scene, went completely blank.

’Could everything Chu Bamboo said be true?’

’Has the Great Goddess Nuwa truly revealed herself?’

’Has Daqian truly lost the Mandate of Heaven?’

Chu Bamboo remained noncommittal, walking directly to the window. A moment later, a colossal shadow fell over them, blocking out the sun.

The room was deathly silent. The officials: "???"

They stared at the massive Kunpeng outside, swallowed hard, and felt cold sweat trickle down their backs.

’Are you kidding me... you’re actually serious...?’

The appearance of the drone carrier instantly convinced fifty percent of the officials—who, just moments before, had almost universally disbelieved in the Great Goddess Nuwa’s existence. Even the remaining half were now wavering—

Although it was long rumored that drones were Nuwa’s Divine Envoys, this was only a widely accepted truth in the world of Transcendents. In the mortal world, where people could control drones themselves, they were simply seen as ordinary Ancient Relics!

The drone carrier, however, was another matter entirely. This colossal metal bird was what truly matched the mythical image of a Divine Envoy of the Wa God!

A medium-sized drone appeared before Chu Bamboo.

The Hive had previously mentioned that the drone carrier contained numerous medium-sized drones... but "medium-sized" referred only to their physical dimensions, not their model type.

Among these drones, some were personnel carriers, like the one before him now, which resembled a helicopter. Others were bombers or single-target assassination models...

Chu Bamboo leaped directly into the drone helicopter. It then ascended at high speed toward the drone carrier in the sky, disappearing swiftly inside...

The drone carrier shuddered slightly and sped off into the distance.

...

「In the conference room.」

For a long time, none of the officials could compose themselves.

After a moment of contemplation, Su Tianhai abruptly stood up. The expressions of the other officials changed drastically. They stared worriedly at the surrounding Security Corps soldiers, afraid they would open fire immediately... However, the soldiers merely watched Su Tianhai in silence.

"Your Excellency..." Su Tianhai gazed at the drone. He still didn’t believe that Nuwa No. 17 was the real Nuwa, but he... or rather, he couldn’t afford to get hung up on the matter.

He suddenly asked a rather pointed question: "Does Chu Bamboo really trust us this much? Isn’t he worried... that we’ll betray him? Or... does he think that with you monitoring us, it’s one hundred percent impossible for us to secretly communicate with the Imperial Capital?"

Everyone else in the room: "..."

Sweat soaked through their robes! Many of them stared at Su Tianhai in terror. ’If you want to die, just kill yourself... Don’t drag the rest of us down with you!’

After a few breaths, a calm voice came from the drone: "’The Authority’... does not care."

The word ’Authority’ was spoken in Chinese, but what followed was in the Dream Language...

"? What?" Su Tianhai froze, thinking he had misheard. ’And... was the word ’Authority’ in the Divine Language?’ Although Su Tianhai was not a Transcendent, Nuwa was fundamentally a mechanical creation, so even ordinary high-ranking officials knew of its existence. His first instinct was: ’This is bad. The probability that this really is the Great Goddess Nuwa just went up...’

’But why would the designation for Chu Bamboo... be in the Divine Language?’

Nuwa No. 17 elaborated, its tone as even as ever, "According to the three prohibitions previously issued by the ’Authority’! If you communicate with the Imperial Capital, you will not be in violation of those prohibitions... The ’Authority’ only requires your absolute obedience when the ’Authority’ issues a command. That is all."

"???" Su Tianhai’s brain crashed. ’You mean... you’re not actually forbidding us from communicating with the Imperial Capital?’

’Ah... So the ’as long as you don’t violate the three prohibitions, you can do anything’ rule... actually carries that much weight?!’

Su Tianhai was truly shocked. He had never met anyone like this before. He silently scanned his surroundings and saw that the Security Corps soldiers were also completely silent, as if tacitly confirming the AI’s words.

"Good. Good, good, good!" Su Tianhai nodded, his throat feeling drier than it had ever been.

Although he maintained his absolute loyalty to the Heavenly Monarch and was still unwilling to side with Chu Bamboo... he was nevertheless shaken by the sheer audacity and magnanimity Chu Bamboo had displayed.