Even so, this new state of equilibrium was still something Chu Bamboo found difficult to face.
In the end, he found it so unbearable that he chose to leave the union, becoming a mere observer and supervisor—which was the key reason he now spent his days wandering around, seemingly without a job.
After a half-hour trek, Chu Bamboo finally entered the industrial district. He paused for a thought, then pushed off lightly with the sole of his foot, his body shooting like a gale toward the bank.
...
「Inside the bank.」
"Miss Lu Muxue! If I were you, I'd turn around and walk out of here right now, no questions asked."
"?" Lu Muxue, who had just walked into the bank, froze for a moment. She frowned and looked over, only to see someone sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, exuding a carefree and uninhibited air... was he a child? A teenager? A young man?
Lu Muxue blinked. The person who had spoken looked incredibly young, but the aura he carried made it easy to overlook his boyish features.
"And why is that?" Lu Muxue's interest was piqued. Realizing she still had some time before her appointment, she walked a few steps forward and sat down directly across from Chu Bamboo.
"Why so many questions? Leave if you believe me, stay if you don't. But regardless, your mother isn't coming today." Chu Bamboo shrugged and lowered his gaze, showing no particular desire to make Lu Muxue believe him.
'She's not a friend of mine. If it's convenient, I don't mind helping out. But to have to deal with her doubts and try to convince her—I don't owe her anything. She can believe me or not!'
"What kind of way is that to talk?" Lu Muxue's mood instantly soured. 'What is he even saying! It's like he's putting a Curse on my mom, wishing for something bad to happen to her.'
If the person across from her didn't look so young, Lu Muxue would have already asked the bank staff to deal with him. After all, she was a premium client and had a few minor privileges in that regard.
However, Chu Bamboo simply closed his eyes, completely ignoring her.
With a huff, Lu Muxue felt the stifling frustration of punching a wad of cotton. In the end, she indignantly pulled her phone from her pocket and looked down, fiddling with it.
A moment later, a call came in. She glanced sideways at the still-eyed Chu Bamboo and deliberately put the call on speaker. "Mom, I'm at the Industrial Development Bank. What about you?"
"I ran into a friend today, so there's no rush on your end. Just handle things however you see fit. If you can't, just go home, and we'll go withdraw the money another time. That's all, bye!"
Lu Muxue: "!!!"
Lu Muxue was stunned. She furiously lowered the phone. "What kind of person... huh?!"
The realization dawned on her a moment later, and a cold sweat broke out on her skin. She stared at Chu Bamboo in disbelief. 'Wait, how did you know...?'
Chu Bamboo's eyes snapped open. He shot to his feet, stepped onto the glass coffee table in front of him, and with another sudden leap, flew right over Lu Muxue into the middle of the lobby.
"What's he doing?"
"Showing off? Or performing acrobatics?"
"Sir, you're disrupting the bank's ord—"
Before anyone could fully react, Chu Bamboo extended a hand and snatched a black bomb that had been thrown in from the entrance. In a fluid, 360-degree spin, he hurled the bomb back the way it came.
The next instant...
"BOOM..."
A steam-powered car parked to the left of the bank's main entrance was violently overturned by the terrifying blast wave. Smoke filled the air.
Even the bank's exterior glass windows developed a dense network of cracks from the shockwave.
The inside of the bank fell deathly silent.
'Looks like I could be the next action hero, no special effects needed,' Chu Bamboo mused. He gestured toward the spot—it was perfect. He had thrown the bomb to a place that would neutralize most of the enemy's fighting strength without being lethal.
Lu Muxue: "..."
'It... it came true again?' Her face was blank as she remembered Chu Bamboo's first words to her—*You should have left.*
"Miss Lu! Miss Lu? Lu! Mu! Xue! Miss!"
"...Huh? Ah? You!" Lu Muxue finally snapped out of her daze. She looked at Chu Bamboo, who had walked over to her side, and shuddered. Her expression shifted constantly, her lips moved, but no words came out.
"Let me borrow this!" Chu Bamboo deftly snatched the phone from Lu Muxue's hand and skillfully dialed a number.
After a moment of ringing, the call connected. The voice on the other end sounded slightly alarmed and uncertain...
"...Who is this?"
"Uncle Li, it's me!" Chu Bamboo said in a leisurely tone. "Industrial district, Industrial Development Bank. There's a robbery in progress. And one more thing: this time, they're after one of the black-coded cases from the Industrial Development Bank's black box storage!"
Then, without waiting for Li Kang to ask any questions, Chu Bamboo hung up and casually tossed the phone back to Lu Muxue.
...
"COUGH, COUGH! Big C, what the hell did you do?" The steam-powered car was now on its side. The upward-facing door was kicked open, and a man in a tiger mask struggled to grab the edge of the frame and pull himself out. "Didn't you say you were a master thrower?" he roared. "How did you manage to throw the bomb—"
The tiger-masked man's voice died in his throat. He stared in astonishment at the man who had just appeared before him.
Chu Bamboo was now crouched on the side of the overturned car. He casually extended a hand. "Need a hand?"
The tiger-masked man silently took Chu Bamboo's hand. Chu Bamboo then yanked him out and, with a flick of his wrist, tossed him aside.
The man was truly tough. He landed head-first on the ground without so much as a grunt, blood pouring from the wound.
Chu Bamboo, now holding the handgun he had casually swiped from the tiger-masked man, toyed with it for a moment. He then looked down with a smile at the man with a bear mask, whose mask was now askew, revealing half his face. The man was aiming his own pistol at him.
"Alright now. If you were aiming that long rifle that fell back there at me, I might be a little worried. But as for this... Big C, I recall you have a certain habit. Because you've played with guns since you were a kid, you had an accidental discharge once that hurt your sister. Ever since then, you never keep bullets in your personal sidearm... right?"
The bear-masked man's movements froze.
"Sigh. And you, Zhang Kun. Now's not the time to be making any moves." Chu Bamboo chided him wearily, and with a flick of his wrist, fired a shot. The gun in the hand of the dog-masked man, who had been silently drawing his pistol, was instantly sent flying, sparking as it hit the ground.
The dog-masked man grunted, then stared at his own hand before fixing his gaze on Chu Bamboo in disbelief. 'How is that possible? It's all dim and smoky inside the steam car. How did he notice my movement, let alone shoot my gun with such precision...?'
His hand was in agony, but not from a bullet wound. The force of the gun being knocked from his grasp had sprained his wrist.
"What do you want?!" the dog-masked man demanded after a brief silence. He glanced at his other accomplices who had been knocked unconscious, took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down. "Are you a cop? Or... bank security? How did you know what we were after this time...?"