Minmin—full name Li Min—was Li Kang's daughter! She was also a former classmate of Chu Bamboo.
"Got it. Just put it in Linglong's room," Chu Bamboo cut in calmly, issuing an order. "You got it!" Li Kang replied, but it wasn't until he actually went inside and set the items down that he had a sudden realization. "Wait a minute. You're treating me like a common laborer, aren't you?"
"Uncle Li," Chu Bamboo said, ignoring the question and smoothly moving on to his next order. "Now that you mention it, I think I actually forgot to register. How about you pull some strings for me and get the process started? The Third District's Government Office is right next door, after all. I'm sure you have enough clout for that, right?"
"Are you kidding me?" Li Kang's eye twitched. "Do you have any idea how strict the audits for this are? This kind of examination..."
Chu Bamboo suddenly recalled something. "I seem to remember Minmin ran into a little problem when she took the civil service exam, too... How did that get sorted out again...?"
"I was talking about you wanting me to get you a direct pass!" Li Kang said, his expression unchanged as his tone shifted abruptly. "Just squeezing you in for an extra spot, on the other hand... that just means calling in a few favors. You just wait..."
The next moment, Li Kang rushed back to his room and yanked out two immaculately packaged bottles of liquor. Staring into Chu Bamboo's eyes, he said through practically gritted teeth, "Don't you worry. Tonight, I'm going to drink the district administrator under the table! This liquor was blessed by the Divine Being in the base! I'm sure he'll show me some respect for it."
Then, Li Kang strode toward the main door.
"Are you serious?" Chu Bamboo's voice suddenly rose. "It's not even quitting time yet, is it? Going now... isn't a great idea, is it? What if someone reports you? You wouldn't be forced into early retirement, would you?"
Ning Linglong's eyes suddenly lit up.
"..." Li Kang fought back the urge to curse. His figure quickly vanished.
After a brief silence, Wall Announcements tentatively raised his hand. "Bro... Bro... Brother Zhu... Uncle Zhu!"
Wall Announcements was on the verge of tears. Calling him "Brother" was already a stretch, something he could barely bring himself to do. But he just couldn't withstand the piercing glares from his two seniors!
"Sir, if you haven't practiced for it before, then even if you take the test..." Wall Announcements said, trying to be tactful. He mainly felt that Li Kang losing face to get him registered didn't seem very useful...
"It's a guaranteed pass," Chu Bamboo said noncommittally. 'In reality, even without Nuwa No. 17 feeding me the answers, if I were to take the test cold, scribble whatever, and really wanted to brute-force a pass without a reset, it wouldn't be impossible.'
'Don't underestimate my connections!'
"Oh, right. Don't you all have other things to do today?" Chu Bamboo suddenly asked.
"No—" Before Wall Announcements could get the word out, Guan Fei jabbed him hard with an elbow, knocking the wind out of him. Guan Fei, his expression unchanged, said, "We do, we do! We still have a ton of things to take care of today!"
"We'll take our leave now!" Then, Guan Fei grabbed Wall Announcements by the arm and dragged him out of the base.
"Um," Ning Linglong began, looking at Chu Bamboo. She hesitated for a good while before steeling herself and saying, "My dad said... don't forget you have dinner with him tomorrow night!"
Then, she too beat a hasty retreat.
"Kids these days!" Chu Bamboo shook his head, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
...
"So... what did he mean by that?" Wall Announcements asked, still completely lost.
Guan Fei glanced at Wall Announcements, who possessed the distinct, wide-eyed foolishness of a university student. He took a deep breath, inwardly reassuring himself, 'We all start somewhere.' Then he explained, "When Mr. Zhu said that, it was his subtle way of telling us to leave."
"That's right," Ning Linglong said calmly, having caught up with them.
"?" Wall Announcements thought for a good while before asking, still not getting it, "Uh, if I recall correctly, this underground base... its proper name is the Underground Temple, right? So who's the guest here? We've probably spent more time in the Underground Temple than he has... Never mind!"
Feeling a familiar pressure on his temple, Wall Announcements's eyes grew even more limpid.
"But now that you mention it, that is true. Why is Mr. Zhu in the Underground Temple...?" Ning Linglong frowned. No one was a fool, least of all members of the Captain's Office. Even the seemingly clueless Wall Announcements was a university student, one of the undisputed elites of this era.
The special nature of the Underground Temple meant that they only ever entered it for work. And while inside, they always had to maintain proper decorum, keep their appearance tidy, and hold an attitude of reverence... The demands were many.
In truth, they hated being in there. It was oppressive and stifling.
In that context, the attitude Chu Bamboo consistently displayed was truly thought-provoking.
"How about," Ning Linglong said in a joking tone, "we go back and take a peek right now?"
"I'm warning you," Guan Fei said coldly. "Vice Captain Ning, as long as no orders come down from above to formally investigate Mr. Zhu, I will stand with him unconditionally, no matter the circumstances. Please don't put me in a difficult position."
Ning Linglong narrowed her eyes. Guan Fei knew full well how much she hated the "Vice" in her title, yet he'd deliberately emphasized it. "I'm just a little curious, that's all," she said. "Fine, I was just joking! Uncle Zhu has been good to me. Unless he does something that actually... results in an Oracle from on high, I won't go snooping into his business."
"In fact, you should be less worried about me and more worried about the Captain!"
"I can't control the Captain. But when it comes to you, I think I can still lend Mr. Zhu a little support," Guan Fei said evasively. He casually pulled a chicken leg from his pocket, and with one swift motion, stripped it clean of meat with his teeth.
...
Of course, Chu Bamboo was oblivious to the subtle power plays that occurred after the others left. He chose to—
"Black Monkey, start! Wait... why is a payment screen popping up?"
"Seriously? In this day and age, you're telling me I have to pay? Even if I pulled out a phone to scan a payment code, where would the money even go? You can't be telling me the company that made Black Monkey is still in business, right? Nuwa No. 17!"
After thinking it over, Chu Bamboo had a flash of insight. "Nuwa No. 17, find me some pirated copies!"
Seeing the "Support Genuine Software" slogan that popped up, Chu Bamboo was left speechless.
Of course, as frustrating as it was, Chu Bamboo had no choice but to look for free content in the database.
"What the... Ninety percent of the games have a paywall! But ninety percent of the novels are free... wait, there are free movies and music too! Nice, nice, nice..."
"Wait, what the hell is this 'Black Captain 18'? They're already on the eighteenth movie? Holy mother of god! It must be so bad I have to take a look. Okay, it's an all-black cast. Never mind, I'm not watching."
I have to say, watching movies with Nuwa No. 17 was just insane. Inside the massive base, every silvery wall capable of projecting images transformed, creating a 360-degree cinematic experience that was completely immersive.
However, if the movie was full of black people... this incredible technology gave you a feeling that was just...
"The novels I was waiting for in the Real World! The ones that can be found are all completed? And there's a whole bunch of new novels written by all sorts of famous, big-name authors..."
"Thank you for nature's bounty! Nuwa No. 17, engage!"