A moment later, Zhang Hai shouldered the small tent, which Zhang Xu had packed away into a bag, and watched Chu Bamboo return to his home.
"Master." Zhang Xu's face was dark as he spoke. He wasn't an idiot. From his teacher's attitude, he was basically certain that everything Chu Bamboo had said was true. This was no longer just a shock; his entire worldview was beginning to crumble.
Zhang Xu had heard rumors before that the members of the God Worship Sect's Priest faction, who believed in the God of the West, all liked little boys. He had always thought it was just a rumor. After all, he was part of the Priest faction and had joined when he was a little boy himself. How come he had never encountered anything like that?
He had even argued vehemently against it, getting into fights more than once... But now! His world was falling apart. There was a traitor in their own house.
'No, the question now is, is my master's situation an exception? Or is it common?'
'Wait, the key thing is to think back carefully to my childhood... No matter how I think about it, it was completely normal! My master never did anything weird to me... This is just outrageous.'
"That's not important," Zhang Hai said, his tone indifferent. He solemnly mulled over every word of his prior conversation with Chu Bamboo, finally sighing. "I've long heard it said that this Mr. Zhu sees one step but calculates ten. That to win over Mr. Zhu is to win Jinghai City under the cover of night. I thought it was just a rumor, but now it seems that while it may not be entirely true, there's certainly some truth to it."
"!" Zhang Xu froze, breaking out in a cold sweat. 'That's right,' he thought. 'As Zhang Hai's disciple, I didn't even know about my own master's sordid affairs, yet that man knew everything like the back of his hand?'
'What kind of intelligence-gathering ability is that? It's already beyond what a normal person could comprehend.'
"And, Zhang Zihai." Zhang Hai lowered his gaze. He murmured the name, as if talking to himself, yet also as if questioning Zhang Xu. "How did he know that name?"
In this world, there shouldn't be more than five people who knew that name and what it truly meant!
"So, Master, what's our next move?" Zhang Xu asked cautiously. "Should we destroy... your incriminating evidence, and then come back to apply pressure? He probably doesn't have any actual proof. In that case, he wouldn't dare to act recklessly! The price for slandering the overseer of a major diocese, even for him..."
"Fool!" Zhang Hai erupted in fury. He clenched his fist and brought an "Iron Fist of Love" down on Zhang Xu's head, making him yelp. "I'll give you 'destroy the evidence'! I'll give you 'apply pressure'! I'll give you 'bully others with power' and 'slander others for slander'! Is this how I taught you? How could you be like this! Who did you learn this from... How did you go bad so quickly?"
"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me!" Zhang Xu howled, scrambling away wretchedly. "It's all because of you! The fish rots from the head down!"
"Heh." Zhang Hai scoffed. "I don't actually play with little boys. What's wrong with me playing with dolls? Is it a crime to have realistic dolls?! So what if he really exposes me? At most, it would just bring me shame within the God Worship Sect! But what you were talking about? That's a real crime!"
"You can slowly cultivate your strength! But if your character becomes twisted, there's no cure!!"
...
Chu Bamboo watched the two of them leave through the window, his expression noncommittal. He closed his eyes and continued to ponder everything that had happened.
'A Nuwa No. 17 Sub-Unit... which means there are at least sixteen others? The Two Capitals must have them. But what about the rest?'
「Evening drew in.」
Chu Bamboo decided to stop overthinking and prepared to go to bed. But then, he sensed something was wrong. His muscles tensed instinctively. He clenched his left fist into a heavy Hammer and swung it behind him in a backhanded blow.
It was a dark glint of light.
In that instant, Chu Bamboo felt his perspective shift. He saw a headless corpse. The clothes—they were so familiar!
'...So, I'm dead? How sudden!'
Lost in confusion, Chu Bamboo struggled to awaken from what felt so real.
「Time reversed.」
...
A blinding light pierced his vision. Chu Bamboo was disoriented for a moment, then clutched his head. His brain felt as if countless needles were stabbing into it, the pain unbearable.
He was slumped on his bed.
After recovering for a good while, Chu Bamboo finally managed to get up. 'So, who was it?'
'Zhang Hai? It definitely wasn't Zhang Xu. Zhang Xu probably couldn't even beat me!'
'But the odds of it being the old fraud are low.' Chu Bamboo thought for a moment, moving Zhang Hai lower on his list of suspects. He knew Zhang Hai quite well! Although the old fraud was a lecher, his character was still commendable.
'After all, other frauds, or rather, the Priest faction, really do play with little boys! But the old fraud actually plays with dolls—one has to understand, for the Priest faction, adopting little boys is basically standard operating procedure!'
'In contrast, Zhang Hai, who took Zhang Xu as his disciple, only goes for dolls. If that got out, it would actually be quite shameful for him... Yes, the earlier threat was only about the old fraud playing with dolls! It wasn't a threat to expose him for playing with little boys.'
'Exposing the matter with little boys would just be silently suppressed by the Priest faction.'
"But who else could it be?" Chu Bamboo was utterly baffled and started counting on his fingers. 'Because of the reset, in this Dream World timeline, I don't know the robbery crew... The only people I've met from start to finish are Li Kang's group and the old fraud's group.'
'Li Kang is even more unlikely...' Chu Bamboo used the process of elimination, and then he'd ruled out all the suspects. He was stunned!
'Could it be an old enemy? That's not possible either. I was just an ordinary person before. If this enemy can take me out, someone in the First Realm of Body Refining, wouldn't killing my past self have been a piece of cake? Why wait until today! It can't just be a coincidence, can it?'
He couldn't figure it out.
But that didn't matter.
"In that case, it's time for the secondary process of elimination!" Chu Bamboo snorted. Then, he rolled over and pulled a long storage container out from under his bed. The container actually had an electronic lock made from Ancient Relics on it!
He expertly keyed in the password and opened it. Inside were three wooden-handled grenades, two pistols, and a disassembled rifle.
He skillfully stuffed the grenades into his pockets, disassembled and reassembled a pistol to confirm it was in working order, and then loaded it.
"I'm not going anywhere today... I'd like to see if anyone comes to kill me tonight."
If no one came for him tonight... then he would have to prepare for the worst. Chu Bamboo's gaze was dark and profound.
Time ticked by, second by second.
Several hours later, a knock sounded at the door.
"Mr. Zhu, are you there?" Zhang Hai's voice came through the door, crystal clear.
Chu Bamboo said nothing.
"Um, Lord Overseer! Maybe Mr. Zhu already left? Mr. Zhu is always quite busy!" This voice sounded slightly embarrassed.
Chu Bamboo recognized him. He was an unremarkable resident of the shantytown redevelopment area, a casual believer in the God Worship Sect. In fact, Chu Bamboo knew practically everyone in Jinghai City's several shantytown redevelopment areas. If he couldn't even grasp the situation in the shantytowns, his own base of support... how could he dare claim to know sixty percent of what went on in Jinghai?