Chapter 457: To the Moon! Chu Bamboo: Wait, This Is the Moon?

“How many people would have to die? And how much time and energy would I have to spend!”

Chu Bamboo smiled bitterly. Without a doubt, even if he managed to suppress the north and south while also crushing the internal Cult rebellions, by the time things got to that point, the world would truly descend into chaos.

And the collapse of the Daqian Dynasty’s order would signal the inevitable entry of the Extraordinary onto the stage… At that point, a war of attrition would be unavoidable.

The people in the northwest would likely suffer massive casualties… After all, just seeing the Extraordinary—regardless of whether it was an Extraordinary Race or something else—would have a huge impact on ordinary people!

According to what Huo Qiming and the others had described, once the contamination spread… it was like a plague, not something that could be suppressed in a short amount of time…

Chu Bamboo recalled the history books he had read. In the last years of the Great Chu, the population was slashed from hundreds of millions down to fifteen million. As for Daqian, it was even worse… its founding population was only in the tens of millions!

The current population was five hundred million, but to see it slashed down to the tens of millions! No, even if it were merely cut in half… that scenario was just as unimaginable!

Besides, even setting aside the contamination, just dealing with the Ten Thousand Races was a challenge. Chu Bamboo had previously said he could ask the various sects for help, but with the Qilin Five Divisions in the north, the White Tiger Kingdom in the southwest, and the Gu Race of the Ten Thousand Mountains all mobilizing their Extraordinary Power at once… how much authority would he have to cede to get the Orthodoxy to commit fully? These Orthodoxy sects were already in a semi-autonomous state. To get them to shed their own blood and fight to the death, he’d probably have to fast-forward straight to granting them autonomy and independence. That was something Chu Bamboo absolutely could not accept!

Not to mention, if it really came to an era of chaos… would the various sects still find his promises valuable?

The more Chu Bamboo thought about it, the bigger his headache became. Of course, if he had astounding nerve, completely disregarded civilian casualties, and adopted a “if the population dies, it dies” mentality… If he had to give away power, he’d give it away, and when he was strong enough in the future, he could just conquer the world all over again. At worst, a few more people would die… This game wasn’t entirely unplayable…

But!

“If I really do that… setting aside whether I could live with myself, I can forget about getting the God Worship Sect’s support!” Chu Bamboo calmly analyzed.

Old Fang couldn’t stand that kind of person… or rather, in that situation… even facing his might and forceful coercion, Old Fang’s attitude would, at worst, just be the same as it was towards Su Po.

He wouldn’t offer support, but he wouldn’t openly raise a banner of rebellion, either… just muddle through.

What a pain!

“I won’t be a second Su Po!”

Thoughts flashed through Chu Bamboo’s mind, and he finally made up his mind.

…

Huo Qiming’s eyes darted around. Having observed from the side, he was gradually starting to understand. “…Do you want to cooperate with us?” he suddenly asked.

Chu Bamboo raised an eyebrow.

“My Giant Dragon Race moves unhindered through the world by brute force! And thanks to our ancestor, we have Spiritual Divine Blood flowing in our veins.” Huo Qiming was brimming with confidence. “Moreover, if we can rescue our ancestor… with our ancestor’s power…”

Chu Bamboo rolled his eyes and cut him off. “Alright, let me think about it some more!”

After a moment’s thought, Chu Bamboo added, “I’m going out to clear my head!”

“…You can’t leave.” Huo Qiming’s expression became savage again.

“Relax, I’m just going to take a look around the headquarters!” Chu Bamboo said noncommittally. “You can stay by my side… Anyway, for the time being, your ancestor…”

Chu Bamboo glanced at the Dragon God and sneered. He didn’t say a word, but his meaning was obvious… Leaving the Dragon God here alone, in its current state, there was no need to worry about it getting angry.

Huo Qiming’s fists clenched even tighter.

Chu Bamboo paid it no mind, turning and walking directly towards the main door, completely unconcerned about what Huo Qiming might do while his back was turned.

After a brief silence, Huo Qiming kowtowed to the Dragon God, then quickly followed after Chu Bamboo.

…

「In the empty corridor.」

“…Hive,” Chu Bamboo asked with interest, “are there no other artificial intelligences inside the company headquarters?”

“There are, Father, there are!” Hive quickly replied. “It’s just that the one here can also be considered Hive—to be precise, Hive Mark II! The moment it was activated, it completed its data link with me.”

“…Is that so!” Chu Bamboo said thoughtfully. “Then explain it to me! What kind of stuff is there inside the headquarters…”

…

「A moment later.」

Chu Bamboo stared expressionlessly at the ransacked armory. “…I’m so stupid, I really am!”

He’d long known that after the war with the Celestial Court, God had taken everything worth taking… And yet he still held out hope that there would be some incredible, heaven-defying legacy left by his good brother inside the company headquarters.

Sighing deeply, Chu Bamboo turned again. Sensing that the Energy in his body had mostly recovered, he decided to rewind the Light Divine Techniques again… His face paled slightly.

Huo Qiming: “…?!”

Huo Qiming continued to follow Chu Bamboo, but as they passed through the corridor, he looked through a window and saw an endless light radiating from outside…

The dragons let out mournful cries.

“…This is bad!” Huo Qiming realized the Bright Pope was making his move. He belatedly understood that he had no room to delay, and his attitude changed instantly. “You must make a decision immediately! Or else…”

Sharp claws suddenly shot out towards Chu Bamboo.

“So you’re not so stupid after all!” Chu Bamboo sneered, then immediately used the Shadow Windbreaker he wore under his clothes to kill himself again, using the shadows to make his body explode.

Time began to reverse.

…

Chu Bamboo dazedly opened his eyes. Hive’s voice rang in his ear: “Commence activation…”

Chu Bamboo: “…”

‘This is the point I returned to?’

Looking at the pitch-black company headquarters before him, its windows and doors not yet deployed, Chu Bamboo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “…No!”

What’s the damn point of opening it! There’s just one dragon inside, and it’s only useful once he gets stronger.

Rubbing the space between his brows, Chu Bamboo glanced up at the sky, surprised to find he couldn’t feel the weight of those memories now… ‘So, did they set up something over there that only triggers when the company headquarters is activated?’

After a moment’s thought, Chu Bamboo looked north again. His brow gradually furrowed, but he didn’t mobilize the drones to attack and suppress the Northern Garrison Army or the Northern Barbarian Race.

He said, “Hive…”

「A moment later.」

An unmanned shuttle appeared before him.

Chu Bamboo calmly boarded it and quickly entered the Aerospace Carrier. Then, under everyone’s watchful eyes… the Aerospace Carrier shot straight into space…

Chu Bamboo had left…

A brief silence.

The Abbot of Fengming Temple: “…?”

Ji Lan: “???”

The Pope: “…”

‘Wait, what the hell is he doing?!’

The few figures using their Divine Thought to watch this place felt their brains short-circuit… ‘You’ve brought things to this point, and now you’re just… quitting?!’

Even though they couldn’t understand what Hive was saying, they could still sense… that the Heaven-Reaching Ladder might be about to activate…

After all, the Heaven-Reaching Ladder… this was the first time since the Grand Ancestor Emperor that it had shown any reaction… Not to mention, the person before them had the support of the Mo Saint and Wa Huang. It was understandable that he might do something beyond ordinary reasoning…

But…

…

「Meanwhile.」

Chu Bamboo scanned the vast starry sky, his gaze finally landing on the distant Mars. After a moment’s hesitation, however, he ultimately said, “Let’s go check out the Moon first!”

‘The first step for human civilization was, after all, the Moon! My good brother should have set up many things on the Moon as well… Considering the contamination issue on Mars, and the fact that my good brother only decided to rush to Mars for his final suicide mission, there’s a good chance he left more things on the Moon…’

“…Command accepted.” Hive’s voice was the same as ever.

The Aerospace Carrier’s speed increased sharply at that moment.

Soon…

Chu Bamboo watched as the Aerospace Carrier caught up to the Moon, a smile playing on his lips. Then, as they drew closer and closer, his expression gradually froze. His gaze went slack, and he subconsciously rubbed his eyes.

“…No way? Am I hallucinating?!”

“Where the hell did you bring me? Can someone tell me! Why does the Moon… have an atmosphere, plants, animals, and people living on it?!”

“??? Also, when I looked at the Moon from Earth before, wasn’t it the normal white color… Why is it blue and green now?!”