Chapter 104: Chapter 94: Talisman without Extraordinary Power
Chu Bamboo opened his eyes again, his face expressionless. His head throbbed with a piercing pain, and his body involuntarily twitched twice.
He had reset again!
Normally, he wouldn’t perform such an extreme reset, because the aftermath was simply too agonizing. But now, with the number of resets having increased to seven—on top of his previous death—a suffocating frustration had built up inside Chu Bamboo... so resetting one more time wasn’t something he found absolutely unacceptable.
"...What’s going on with you?" Sitting in his chair with arms crossed, trying to look like a master, Zhang Hai’s expression tightened. He’d noticed something was off with Chu Bamboo and asked with concern.
"Are you about to lose control?" Chu Bamboo asked bluntly.
Zhang Hai: "? Wait, just hold on a minute! I... I haven’t done anything to you, have I? I stayed up all night applying for the Cultivation Technique you wanted, and it’s already been approved. It’s right here with me. Why are you cursing me out of the blue?"
Zhang Hai felt truly wronged.
"You’re fine?" Chu Bamboo’s frown deepened. After mulling it over, he asked again, "In that case, could it be because you pulled an all-nighter and it messed with your head, causing symptoms close to losing control? Like going on a rampage, losing your sanity, or, you know, smashing the entire church to pieces!"
"? Do you think that’s possible?" Zhang Hai laughed in exasperation.
Chu Bamboo closed his eyes as a thousand thoughts surged through his mind. ’This is wrong, that’s wrong... none of it adds up.’ The previous situation now seemed incredibly bizarre.
’Wait!’
"The assassin," Chu Bamboo uttered two words. He shot to his feet, threw on his coat without even bothering to wash up, and demanded, "Take me to see that assassin!"
Without a doubt, the one who had assassinated him before was still the Shadow Assassin.
It was possible that the assassin had found a chance to escape after Zhang Hai frantically destroyed the church. Then, upon coincidentally spotting Chu Bamboo, they might have remembered their orders from some unknown party and killed him as a matter of convenience.
However, considering how inexplicably Zhang Hai had lost control, Chu Bamboo couldn’t help but suspect that the assassin—or more accurately, the person or faction behind the assassin—had pulled some other trick.
...
"See? I told you! Everything’s fine." Zhang Hai poked the still tightly bound assassin with a finger, then turned to look helplessly at Chu Bamboo, his tone light. "Yeah, relax... Okay, fine, don’t look at me like that. I’ll explain in more detail..."
Zhang Hai cleared his throat and said, "The church I’m in is actually the site of a ritual."
"Generally speaking, as long as the church itself doesn’t collapse, it’s unlikely for any major problems to occur inside. And it’s not just this church; basically, all churches in big cities are like this... So, if you ever run into trouble in the future, hiding inside a church might not solve all your problems, but it can certainly take care of a lot of them!"
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’So that was the real reason the church collapsed before? Did it have to be destroyed for them to make their next move?’
’But wait... no matter how I looked at it, it had seemed like Zhang Hai was the one who destroyed the church!’ The look Chu Bamboo gave Zhang Hai grew even more peculiar.
Zhang Hai continued his spiel animatedly, "Of course, it’s not a big deal in smaller cities either. Even if the church you’re hiding in hasn’t established a ritual to protect you, your attackers will still be wary of the God Worship Sect’s power! Don’t underestimate our God Worship Sect..."
"Feeling tempted? Thinking about joining? The Cultivation Technique is right here... What are you waiting..."
"That’s not important right now!" Chu Bamboo forcefully cut Zhang Hai off, his tone certain. "You’re being targeted!"
"...Because of the assassin?" Zhang Hai raised an eyebrow, not at all panicked, his tone calm. "When I agreed to help you with this, I was fully prepared! It’s no big deal..."
"Where did you get this information? Well, that’s not important. If you’re sure about this and you’re scared, why don’t you leave now?" Zhang Hai wasn’t being sarcastic; he was genuinely respecting Chu Bamboo’s opinion. "But honestly, I really don’t think there’s any place in Jinghai City safer than this church!"
After pacing in place for several circles, Chu Bamboo made up his mind. "Today, I’m staying here for one day! Don’t bother me with things like the Cultivation Technique... We’ll talk about that in a couple of days!"
Chu Bamboo had known all along that the matter of his assassination wasn’t over. The assassin may have been caught, but what did that prove?
The real mastermind was still at large. Even now, Chu Bamboo couldn’t be sure if the culprit was that figure, Eleven.
To put it bluntly, even if they killed the assassin right now, was there any guarantee that another killer, another assassin, wouldn’t make a move come nightfall?
’Uproot the source! That’s what I need to do.’
Even though finding the real culprit seemed like a distant prospect for now, Chu Bamboo thought, ’I can at least use my life to claw out some information... every little bit helps.’
Time trickled by.
Today, Chu Bamboo was like any other ordinary follower of the God Worship Sect, trailing behind Zhang Hai.
And Zhang Hai, for his part, didn’t press Chu Bamboo to join the church anymore. He simply showed him a typical day in the life of a God Worship Sect member:
Accepting the prayers of the people, and even leaving the church to help those in the surrounding area who pleaded for aid;
Working with Zhang Xu to help the old and weak repair their homes;
Taking out some talismans, tearing them up and soaking them in water, then giving the mixture to patients who had been sick for a long time but had no money for treatment.
...
Three in the afternoon.
Chu Bamboo, Zhang Hai, and Zhang Xu started on the road back to the church.
Chu Bamboo suddenly asked, "I haven’t asked yet, but what exactly is your Divine Technique? Is it from the Healing Element? Or is it talisman painting? I’m pretty shocked you’d dare pull a stunt like that—using Extraordinary Power to heal people right in front of them! That’s totally forbidden, isn’t it?"
