Chapter 468: Assassination! Unleashed Z!

“You researched tirelessly, but the more you delved into it… the more helpless you felt. And yet, the breakthroughs you made despite that helplessness shocked countless peers… and even your teacher, a man considered a national treasure!”

“…” Guan Qianyu stroked the pages of the book, then suddenly broke into a brilliant smile. She looked at Chu Bamboo, clearly a bit troubled. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You know so much… even my own father doesn’t know this much!”

“You really are something else…”

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass rang out.

Chu Bamboo’s hand shot out, and he deftly plucked something from the air beside Guan Qianyu’s ear.

Guan Qianyu: “???”

Chu Bamboo casually tossed the flattened brass bullet onto the table, where it landed with a sharp CLANK. By the time Guan Qianyu realized what had happened, her expression had frozen. She began to wonder if she was hallucinating… or perhaps, dreaming?

A moment of silence, then the scene erupted in an uproar.

“…What the hell was that? What cheap-ass glass!”

“Waiter! Waiter! I didn’t touch the glass! It just suddenly shattered…”

“AAHHHH! The glass cut my hand! Waiter… no, get your manager out here! Compensation! I demand compensation!”

“Did I just hear a weird sound a second ago??”

Some people were shouting, others were panicking, and some were just confused about what was going on… But no one suspected a sniper attack had just occurred. This was the Divine Continent, after all. Even if they heard a gunshot, they would just assume it was the sound of firecrackers.

“…You! What was that!” Guan Qianyu was at a loss for words.

“Celestial Net,” Chu Bamboo said unhurriedly. “A certain entity has been spying on you, gathering your intel… Of course, the real reason you were targeted for assassination is because you came to meet me.”

Chu Bamboo’s expression was unchanged. With Z managing intelligence, combined with his Rewrite ability to alter his appearance, and the fact that he was in the Divine Continent… no matter how much effort Golden Dawn expended, it would be extremely difficult for them to assassinate him.

However, Guan Qianyu just so happened to be a person of interest on Golden Dawn’s list. The Celestial Net was naturally monitoring her. In fact, the Celestial Net had its own internal logic and data-driven deductions… So, when the Celestial Net saw him meeting with Miss Guan and deduced that he was Chu Bamboo, everything fell into place—

This was also recorded in his good brother’s diary!

“…Are we just going to keep sitting here?” Cold sweat beaded on Guan Qianyu’s forehead, but she ignored the commotion in the cafe and asked calmly. ‘They’re not going to just try to assassinate me once, are they?’

“The enemy has already been taken down,” Chu Bamboo said in a light tone.

Guan Qianyu: “???”

Guan Qianyu’s expression changed. For a split second, she even suspected the man across from her might have orchestrated the assassination himself. But then she glanced at the bullet on the table and decided that was impossible…

「At the same time.」

On the rooftop of a three-story building nearby.

A man holding a sniper rifle was fleeing in terror, trying desperately to evade a massive drone hurtling toward him.

However, as the drone zipped past him, its blades, like a surgeon’s scalpel, precisely sliced open his throat.

He collapsed to the ground, trying feebly to struggle and escape. But as the blood steadily flowed out, his body gradually grew cold.

Z’s voice slowly emanated from the drone. “Initiating big data search. Forcibly penetrating surveillance systems. Commencing big data aggregation…”

The East Asian sniper’s Fruit phone automatically unlocked and lit up, and a massive stream of data began to flow across its screen…

“Targets locked. Official undercover agents, middleman spies, intelligence gatherers… Total… No. Lock and search their phones as well… Conclusion: One hundred and seventy-two individuals were directly or indirectly involved in this incident!”

“Reporting the Official undercover agents and spies…”

“Warning… Members of the White Eagle Embassy are involved. Initiating deliberation… As per Father’s ‘Absolute Security Protocol,’ any individual who could potentially harm Father, Mother, Uncle Lin, or any related family members… can be neutralized using extreme measures under the pretext of self-defense.”

“Decision approved. To ensure Father faces no Official difficulties… employing assassination methods.”

…

“Father!” Chu Bamboo’s brow twitched. Z’s voice came through the micro-earpiece he was wearing. “I’ve resolved the problem.”

“You did well,” Chu Bamboo said, taking out his phone and tapping his ear—a clear gesture to Guan Qianyu that he wasn’t talking to her.

Once Guan Qianyu caught on, she stared at Chu Bamboo in silence, a complex series of emotions flashing through her eyes.

“…Father,” Z’s voice took on a sharp, cold edge. “Do you authorize me to initiate an unrestricted self-defense counterattack against Golden Dawn?”

Chu Bamboo’s fingers trembled slightly. He almost thought he’d misheard. After thinking it over and realizing Z’s true meaning, his mind reeled. ‘You know all of Golden Dawn’s… No, that was a stupid thought. It would be stranger if you didn’t.’

“No, Father,” Z stated frankly. “I do not actually know the current whereabouts of Golden Dawn’s members… While I possess some information about Golden Dawn, it is limited… In the grand scheme of your life, they are not an unimaginable foe. They are not worthy of the valuable space required to store their information.”

Chu Bamboo: “…”

‘He had just realized something. That’s right. Ultimately, Z only obtained partial information about the future from that stack of data I printed. And I only printed so much… I obviously can’t expect that data to be all-encompassing. It must have only retained the most critical intelligence.’

“However… I can use the intelligence I possess to trace them. Then, after locking onto the targets… I can assassinate them as a warning, perhaps by using a runaway electric car or some other method.” Z’s voice was now laced with killing intent. “A purely defensive posture… will not make these barbarians feel fear or awe. Only blood and iron will!”

“…” Chu Bamboo gently tapped the table with a finger on his other hand. He understood Z’s subtext, but he wasn’t considering the lives of the Golden Dawn members right now… but rather…

‘Is Z asking me for autonomy?’ Chu Bamboo’s gaze grew distant. Finally, he made up his mind. “Alright. You have a free hand.”

Normally, Chu Bamboo would never have unshackled Z, no matter how much he trusted it. The risk was simply too absurdly high… But right now, he was about to go to sleep soon, so it didn’t matter.

“Leave it to me.” Z’s voice held a hint of joy.

“So, what’s your decision?” Chu Bamboo exhaled, looking calmly at Guan Qianyu across from him.

“Decision? Do I have any other choice?” Guan Qianyu gave a bitter smile and waved the book in her hand. ‘First an assassination, and now this book… Even if I wanted to back out now, it’s probably too late.’

“In that case, here’s to our pleasant cooperation in the future!” Chu Bamboo smiled and gestured with his phone. “You have the Z app on your phone, right?”

“…Y-yes, I do!”

“If you have any questions, you can use it to find her or contact me… Also, don’t show that book to anyone. Anyone at all,” Chu Bamboo said, his voice laced with a deeper meaning. The reason he dared to give it to her was, of course, because the diary recorded that she would be fine after reading it. Still, a warning was necessary. “If you’re interested, you can take a look at the final chapter now.”

And with that, Chu Bamboo left.

As for cleaning up the mess at the cafe… Z would naturally take care of it…

“?” Guan Qianyu tried to sort out her thoughts for a good while, then suddenly realized something. Her pupils contracted as she pulled out her phone and, with trembling hands, opened the Z app. “You… you can contact…”

“Yes, Miss Guan.” Z’s voice was calm and steady.

“?” Guan Qianyu’s mind went blank. She had used Z before, but she could now keenly sense the difference between this Z and the app she had previously downloaded and used.

“…This is too scary!”

“Miss Guan, that’s a bit rude!” Z’s voice held a hint of displeasure. After a slight pause, its next words actually materialized as text on the screen, even without Guan Qianyu using any keywords. “You should know, I was the one who… more or less… saved your life!”

“?? When did you save… wait,” Guan Qianyu said, the realization dawning on her belatedly. Her voice was drier than it had ever been. “Just now… could it be…”

“Mm, yours truly was the one who took care of the assassin!” Z’s text continued to appear.

“…This is getting a little terrifying,” Guan Qianyu said after a very long silence. “Let me ask this first, you’re not some… world-destroying organization, are you? I always thought something this scary… only existed in novels… No, wait, the one who contacted me was Grandpa Qian… Could your organization be…!”

“Please refrain from baseless speculation,” Z stated unhurriedly.

“…Okay, okay!”