Li Kang was drenched in a cold sweat, glancing at the sky from time to time, terrified of divine retribution. Guan Fei finally reacted as well, his expression shifting constantly. ’If this has to do with... *her*... then that would explain it.’

"No wonder Mr. Zhu and... so it’s all her fault..." Guan Fei’s lips tightened. As absurd as it was, if it were true... then everything, from the unimaginable changes at the Underground Temple to the drastic shift in Chu Bamboo’s personality, all made sense... 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Even with his profound reverence for Nuwa No. 17, Guan Fei couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger and resentment.

"Don’t speak of this!" Li Kang all but spat through clenched teeth. It was precisely because it made too much sense that it was a topic they couldn’t touch—it was best not to even think about it!

Meanwhile, Chu Bamboo had already politely declined Ning Linglong’s dinner invitation for that evening.

"So much has happened today, it doesn’t feel appropriate. Besides... if I’m not mistaken, your father is probably insisting you attend a dinner tonight, right?"

"What do you mean?" Ning Linglong asked, startled.

"It’s simple. Tonight, just tell your father you had lunch with me, and you’ll have done your duty." Chu Bamboo paused, shooting a sidelong glance at Ning Linglong. "Of course, if you’re really that set on robbing the cradle..."

"...Uncle Zhu!!" Ning Linglong bristled. But then she thought about it, and it just got weirder... The man standing in front of her was someone she called "Uncle," yet somehow their blind date made *her* the one robbing the cradle?

The thought was chilling and left her utterly speechless!

The more she thought, the more Ning Linglong ground her teeth. This was all the fault of her foolish, absurd old man.

"Oh, right." Ning Linglong suddenly remembered something. She blinked, her boot-clad feet scuffing the ground a couple of times. The movement caused her long legs, tightly wrapped in black thigh-high stockings, and her hips to tremble, forming a pleasant curve. "What you all were discussing earlier..."

"That’s a topic you can’t touch," Chu Bamboo said casually.

"...Oh. Never mind, then."

...

At eight o’clock that night.

Chu Bamboo opened the door to his apartment and walked in. Li Kang followed close behind, with Guan Fei and Ning Linglong entering in succession.

Wall Announcements was not participating in this mission due to his power level.

"It’s so small!" Ning Linglong’s voice was laced with disbelief as she scanned the room. This was where Chu Bamboo, the founder of the union and so-called underground king of the shantytown, lived?

This... it was just a single-story apartment!

Based on Guan Fei’s previous boasting, she felt that even renting out the entire building would barely be enough to match Chu Bamboo’s status.

Guan Fei said nothing. He wasn’t surprised, because he already knew what kind of person Chu Bamboo was.

It was also Li Kang’s first time at Chu Bamboo’s home. He glanced around, a flicker of surprise in his eyes, but quickly asked, "So, where will we be staying? Right here in the living room?"

"I’m staying with you," Chu Bamboo said calmly. "The killer has exceptional concealment abilities. If I sleep in the bedroom alone while you’re in the living room, you might call for me in the morning only to find my head hanging from the ceiling."

"...That!" Li Kang’s expression shifted. He shook his head. "If that’s the case, we’re talking about a Second Realm assassin who has mastered a concealment Divine Technique! That... that shouldn’t be possible, right? A killer like that..."

"No, no, no. I’d say that given Mr. Zhu’s status, it wouldn’t be a problem for even a Third Realm master to make a move, let alone a Second Realm one!" Guan Fei interjected gravely. Realizing that a god’s interference might have been behind Chu Bamboo’s previous indifference, his attitude had snapped back to respectful.

Li Kang thought for a moment, then shot Guan Fei a vicious glare. ’What kind of unlucky crap is he spouting? If it’s really a Third Realm assassin, they could kill us all! Are we just here to serve ourselves up on a platter?’

Chu Bamboo took out his own clean bedding and made makeshift beds on the floor for the others.

He himself lay down directly on the sofa.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Soon...

The time of the last at-home assassination attempt arrived—though strictly speaking, that time was yesterday.

All was quiet.

Chu Bamboo blinked. ’So, they’re not going to kill me? Fine. I’ll just wait until three or four in the morning, then kill myself to reset.’

And then...

...

「Inside the dorm room.」

「Six in the morning.」

Chu Bamboo’s eyes flew open. He gasped for air for a good while. ’I... was killed again?’

He was certain he hadn’t killed himself at the end of his last stint in the Dream World.

’I was killed even with Li Kang and the others protecting me?’ Chu Bamboo had a massive headache. Worse, he couldn’t even be sure if the killer had alerted Li Kang and the others when they’d killed him.

If Li Kang and the others hadn’t noticed a thing until they woke up in the morning and called for him... that would be just too absurd.

He got out of bed.

Chu Bamboo began to solemnly take notes.

Second... Third?

These two numbers meant that Chu Bamboo could basically confirm the assassin was at least a Second Realm killer... most likely a Cultivator! Perhaps Li Kang’s words had jinxed him, and the opponent really did possess stealth-related Divine Techniques.

Of course, it could also be the Third Realm, but the probability wasn’t high, so he put a question mark next to it. Also, since the assassinations were still happening, it meant the mastermind’s target wasn’t just the union.

’Me?’ Chu Bamboo mused. ’What else do I have, besides founding the union, that someone would covet... or despise?’

...

「After class.」

Chu Bamboo wrote a note and handed it to Lin Xia.

"What’s this? Wait!" Lin Xia looked at the stock tickers, the buy times, and the sell times, and realization dawned. He sucked in a sharp breath and studied Chu Bamboo again and again.

"There’s the back, too," Chu Bamboo added.

Lin Xia’s hand trembled. ’There’s... more?’ He quickly flipped the note over and saw a string of numbers.

"Lottery numbers? Why are there three sets?"

"Yep. One is for the last drawing, one is for the current one, and one is for the next one."

"!!!"

Lin Xia snapped out of it and quickly pulled out his phone to check. "The last one matches... It really matches! Ah Zhu, you don’t usually follow the lottery, do you? Yes, that... possibility... is looking more and more likely..."

Even though the classroom was mostly empty, Lin Xia still avoided saying the word "future" out loud. And though Chu Bamboo had basically confirmed it for himself, he didn’t elaborate on the matter with Lin Xia either.

Lin Xia took several deep breaths, but he still couldn’t suppress the surging excitement in his heart. "Okay, I’m heading out now! Let’s meet tonight at the Weinan Internet Cafe by the school gate."

Chu Bamboo watched Lin Xia’s retreating figure, lost in thought. As he stood up, he clenched his fists. ’Even though my physical strength in the Dream World seems to be constantly increasing over time... it should be about seven times that of a normal person by now!’

’But my physical strength in the Real World... doesn’t seem to be growing at all! Is it stuck?’

Chu Bamboo was a bit lost. Then, something occurred to him...

’Wait, don’t tell me I need to... get some nuclear radiation! Is that what it takes for my physical body to evolve?’ Chu Bamboo’s cheek twitched. But... how was he supposed to get his hands on that stuff in the Real World?

No, Chu Bamboo thought deeply, given the current state of the world, there were actually quite a few low-difficulty channels to acquire it—

For example, he could buy a plane ticket, head over to the island nation next door, find their nuclear-contaminated water discharge site, dive right in, and take big gulps!

The only problem was...

’I only have one life in reality!’

Who would dare to try something like that when you can’t reset?

’Forget it! First...’ Chu Bamboo agonized for a long time before stopping in the school hallway. He pulled out his phone, opened a shopping app, and subconsciously searched for a term: Banheicha.

Nothing? ’Oh, right. I almost forgot, that’s what it’s called in the future! It might not be called that in this era...’

Chu Bamboo thought for a moment, then went straight to an AI, described the herb’s appearance and effects, and ran a search to identify it...

And then...

’Out of thirty-seven potential herbs, I can only narrow it down to thirty-three!’

Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed. What about the other four?

Was their data simply not entered into the AI, or... were these herbs a specialty product of the future, only coming into existence after some specific event?