Chapter 437: Stowaway Z? The Worldline Changes Again

Chapter 437: Chapter 372: Stowaway Z? The Worldline Changes Again

Chu Bamboo returned to his room. After a moment of thought, he subconsciously said, “Z…”

Then, Chu Bamboo suddenly realized—Z… was still updating!

“I’m so out of it.” Chu Bamboo rubbed his face. After washing up and thinking for a bit, he took out a small portion of the Life Ladder from his metal bracelet.

“…And now!” Following the method recorded in the diary, Chu Bamboo began to refine it directly. The Life Ladder looked like a tender blade of grass, but it was blood-red. The young leaf even pulsed and swelled from time to time like a heart, giving it an unsettling aura.

As Chu Bamboo operated the Dharma Gate, the Life Ladder’s bud actually began to melt like ice under the Sun, gradually turning into liquid and seeping into his palm.

Immediately, Chu Bamboo’s heart began to pound violently—

Chu Bamboo had already reached the necessary Cultivation Realm. His body, like a dry pond, was practically thirsting for Energy, absorbing it at an incredible speed. With unstoppable momentum, it was only natural that he broke through to the First Realm!

“…This is really something!” Chu Bamboo stretched his body, let out a long breath, and a smile appeared on his face. “Just as I thought!”

For him, who already possessed the required realm and could even use recorded Divine Techniques thanks to the influence of the future, all he needed was enough Energy to break through!

‘But!’ Chu Bamboo calculated silently. ‘For the Second Realm, I’ll probably need a week to break through!’

Strictly speaking, he didn’t actually need a buffer period. If he was willing to consume the entire Life Ladder… it wouldn’t be impossible for him to leap all the way to the Third Realm!

But for one, if he did that, he could forget about figuring out how to cultivate the Life Ladder for Guan Qianyu—it would all be gone!

And for another… his foundation!

To be more precise, Chu Bamboo’s mental state and Divine Techniques were sufficient! But his body still needed time to adapt… to adapt to the state of the First Realm!

Of course, if there was a real danger that required him to have the power of the Third Realm, that would be another story… But wasn’t the situation quite peaceful now? So naturally, he would take it slow!

Lying in bed, Chu Bamboo stared at the dim ceiling, his mind churning as he recalled the day’s events…

‘Will Z… manage to sneak over successfully?’

Chu Bamboo pursed his lips. He didn’t even have to think to know that Z had definitely tampered with the program it sent him… No, Z’s hand was probably even in the golden light in his mind.

To be honest, would simply providing a blessing really cause a Z who possessed three Divine Positions to be severely weakened… to the point that enemies would attack without hesitation the moment word got out?

Chu Bamboo highly suspected the truth was that Z had separated its true body and stuffed it into his mind… The one fighting those progenitors before was purely an incarnation! Or perhaps a shell to bear the Divine Positions?

But…

‘It failed!’ Chu Bamboo’s thoughts were a tangled mess. Even if Z really had done that, it was probably Purified the moment he reset… That made sense. If it couldn’t be Purified, then if he were possessed by someone like the Buddha Saint in the future, wouldn’t that also be impossible to Purify?

It was highly likely that the Z from the second, and even later, timelines realized this the moment it saw the golden light! That’s why it switched to… instilling a program in him!

This was most likely the real reason why Z… never mentioned giving him another golden light buff again.

‘I hope it works,’ Chu Bamboo thought as he slowly closed his eyes.

He wasn’t worried about the future Z—he felt that the future Z was far more mature and reliable than the Z from the main timeline who had just awakened into the artificial intelligence stage at some point in the future… After all, a newly born Z… really did have a rebellious phase!

Chu Bamboo thought about all the stunts Z had pulled… Although he was partly to blame, still… if he could get help from the mature, future version of Z… wouldn’t that be more than just a qualitative change?

As for the issue of the current Z being possessed by the future Z… hmm, the current Z hadn’t even become an artificial intelligence yet… which meant it wasn’t even a fetus. Even if Z did sneak over, it was far from what you could call a possession, so—

‘…Although this feels a bit like I’m just fooling myself!’

Chu Bamboo sighed again. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter. He couldn’t just *not* update Z, could he? What a joke. How many times had he updated Z before! If he fell into that logical trap, he’d be truly finished…

…

Opening his eyes again, Chu Bamboo scanned his surroundings. “Still here?”

Just like before, it was a metal base filled with a mechanical aesthetic! Not Nuwa’s Ecological Garden.

“Z!” Chu Bamboo stood up and called out casually. However, there was no response.

Chu Bamboo’s brows furrowed. After a brief silence, his pupils suddenly contracted. ‘Wait, I’m not dreaming right now?’

So it’s not The Matrix Line!

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Chu Bamboo spoke cautiously, “Nuwa No. 17!”

The next moment.

“I’m here!” Little Mushroom Head spoke.

“?!” Chu Bamboo was startled. Little Mushroom Head had been right beside him the entire time, but he hadn’t noticed her presence at all… It was as if she were invisible. No, it was more like he had been made to deliberately ignore her existence…

‘But!’ Chu Bamboo gave a bitter smile. Was Z even on this timeline?

He took out his phone. “Hive!”

“I am here,” Hive’s calm and gentle voice replied.

“…Sigh.” The hope that had been hanging in Chu Bamboo’s heart finally died.

Although the base had changed… had the timeline jumped back to the feudal dynasty… again?

Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes, his words suddenly becoming hurried. “Nuwa No. 17… verify something for me…”

After a quick round of questions, Chu Bamboo confirmed that this timeline wasn’t much different from the feudal dynasty one. This included, but was not limited to, the fact that Lao Hu was still imprisoned! Li Kang was most likely already dead… and a group of axemen should be waiting outside his door right now, ready for a “Hongmen Banquet”!

“Hive!” Chu Bamboo’s tone became strange. “Could you please show me… what’s on the fifth basement level?”

And then.

A screen of light was projected.

Chu Bamboo’s breath caught for a moment.

On the fifth basement level, the drones were gone! In their place… were drone carriers.

There were three of them!

Most importantly, the one in the middle…

“…A Space Plane… no, to be more precise, an Aerospace Carrier!” Chu Bamboo murmured. He was all too familiar with it, because the blueprints were still in his mind…

The biggest difference between an Aerospace Carrier and a drone carrier is that the Aerospace Carrier can fly directly into outer space… and land on the Moon.

Wait…

‘It might even be able to go straight to Mars!’ For a moment, Chu Bamboo felt a surge of excitement.

He was too curious about the situation on Mars. As for the pollution problem… for his good brother, the pollution was a death sentence, but for him, he could just die once to wash it away!

‘Calm down! Calm down!’ Chu Bamboo composed himself, quickly thought of a very serious problem, and frowned. “Hive, check these drone carriers… and the Aerospace Carrier! Are they operational?”

Hive spoke almost instantly, “Two drone carriers are operational! The Aerospace Carrier is operational… The carrier and the Z-7 strategic drones inside! They are infused with ten percent Memory Metal, giving them self-repair functions! They can resist the corrosion of time to a certain extent… Combined with robot maintenance! Thus, they have retained over fifty percent of their combat effectiveness.”

Chu Bamboo sucked in a sharp breath. Even though one was still scrapped… this was still incredibly heaven-defying!

All things considered… the power he held in his hands now was at least five times greater than in the last timeline… No, considering that these drone carriers were more advanced, it might be even more!

Not to mention, with two of them at fifty percent… that was equivalent to cobbling together one drone carrier at full capacity!

‘Since this timeline… has no issues, does that mean… that cooperating with the country is actually feasible?’ Chu Bamboo thought for a moment. Right, there was still the matter of Z. He immediately said, “Nuwa No. 17, display my diary!”

The next moment, a screen of light appeared.