Chapter 136: Chapter 118: Memorial
"So, where do I go next?"
Chu Bamboo wasn’t planning on snatching the key and heading to the nuclear facility today. After all, Gao Changming and his team had just finished gathering the resources. Who knew if there was anything left over there? He needed to wait at least a day to let them accumulate some more.
After a long moment of thought, Chu Bamboo slapped his head. "I almost forgot!"
Chu Bamboo turned quickly, left the Police Chief Bureau, and strode toward the shantytown redevelopment zone.
The last two days had been too busy, and with danger lurking at every turn, he had nearly forgotten to properly manage the shantytown redevelopment zone, which had now received its official charter.
If nothing else, he at least needed to appoint the clerks for the various administrative roles in the zone.
And besides...
...
Shantytown Redevelopment Zone Headquarters.
Inside, many of the union members were dressed in black, their expressions solemn... Those who weren’t were clearly too poor to afford black clothing, but they had washed their work uniforms until they were spotless.
Chu Bamboo gazed with a heavy heart at the row of coffins before him.
The coffins were open, displaying the bodies of Zhou Ze and the others.
Their heads had, of course, been reattached to their necks. Their eyes were closed, and their bodies were draped with blood-red flags. In this moment, their faces looked peaceful, as if they were merely in a deep sleep.
"Director." Li Xuan, standing one step behind Chu Bamboo, spoke with a respectful expression. "Director Zhou had no family. Or rather, his only family was you... As for the others, we’ve spoken privately with their relatives... They said they’ll abide by your wishes... They trust your decisions."
"You should call me the Head of the Management Department now." Chu Bamboo’s voice was even, and he didn’t spare Li Xuan a glance.
Chu Bamboo’s emotions were too complex to put into words... Zhou Ze had been slightly older than him, but in a way, Chu Bamboo had brought him up himself.
Chu Bamboo had watched him grow from a green novice into a skilled operator, eventually earning Chu Bamboo’s approval and successfully inheriting the position of Director after Chu Bamboo stepped down. Chu Bamboo actually held a peculiar affection for him, like a disciple, or even half a son.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t grieving Zhou Ze’s death. It was just that countless resets had raised his emotional threshold to an extreme high. So, even when he felt sorrow, he would never truly show it—
Besides, it wasn’t as if he had no way of seeing Zhou Ze again.
Just like in the ruin timeline, perhaps by doing something in the past, the butterfly effect could create a massive wave along the timeline, branching it into another one where Zhou Ze was still alive...
"Yes, I understand, Director." Although Li Xuan acknowledged the command, he stubbornly stuck to the old title... It wasn’t that he wanted to defy Chu Bamboo; rather, he felt that he had followed Chu Bamboo since the very beginning of the union.
After the union became the Management Department, the mid-level members, and even future recruits, would surely call Chu Bamboo "Department Head."
If he called him "Director" at a time like this, what did that imply?
It would naturally show everyone else how close he was to Chu Bamboo! That he was one of the old guard who had followed him!
That title was his seniority, the best proof of his relationship with Chu Bamboo!
Under these circumstances, how could he possibly change what he called him after just one comment from Chu Bamboo?
Anyway, if Chu Bamboo asked, he could just say he was used to it. Surely Chu Bamboo wouldn’t punish him harshly just for a title, right?
That didn’t fit his image of Chu Bamboo at all!
Chu Bamboo gave Li Xuan a cool glance but didn’t say anything more on the matter.
Li Xuan breathed a slight sigh of relief, his mind then churning with excitement and agitation.
Although his face remained serious, even tinged with sorrow, his eyes darted around, taking in the other union members standing beside him and beside Chu Bamboo.
They were like him. Although they were sad, the moment their gazes fell upon Chu Bamboo... they were filled with reverence and fanaticism.
In fact, if Chu Bamboo hadn’t been against that sort of thing, Li Xuan would have thrown himself to the ground and hugged Chu Bamboo’s legs. He believed everyone else here felt the same way!
Even though he had long known that Chu Bamboo’s abilities were beyond imagination... the union’s official promotion still made his brain short-circuit.
Back when he and the other union members heard that Chu Bamboo was taking the civil service exam, they had felt conflicted, even fearful—they were afraid Chu Bamboo was abandoning them to truly join the officials.
But even if Chu Bamboo had really joined the officials, there was nothing they could have done besides wallow in self-pity... Chu Bamboo never owed them anything; on the contrary, they all owed him.
Chu Bamboo had conquered the territory of the shantytown redevelopment zone, he had built the union from scratch, and he had trained the guard unit piece by piece... They were merely the beneficiaries of the current peace and stability.
But when the real answer came down, it was so incredible they wondered if they were dreaming—
What did it mean... for the entire union organization to be collectively promoted, directly transformed into the Shantytown Redevelopment Zone Management Department!
What did it mean for the union’s guard unit to be reformed on the spot into the Shantytown Redevelopment Zone Security Corps?!
This...
It was only when this news came down that they understood: Chu Bamboo hadn’t been taking the exam for himself! He had been taking it for the entire union.
What was getting yourself promoted?
Getting the organization you built from the ground up promoted along with you! Now *that* was a true god!
Even afterwards, as they constantly reviewed the events based on the information they had, they still couldn’t understand what Chu Bamboo had actually done to deliver such a beyond-perfect result.
All they could say was, the more they reviewed it, the more astounded they were by the abilities Chu Bamboo displayed, and the more astounded they were by what he had accomplished.
The shock of this event was no less than when Chu Bamboo had built the union from nothing.
Finally, Chu Bamboo spoke. "As for them... we’ll hold the funeral the day after tomorrow, or the day after that. Wait for my notice! It might be delayed further."
"I’ll do my best to have them buried before the seventh day."
After speaking, Chu Bamboo continued to stare blankly at the coffins for a moment before abruptly turning and leaving.
He was waiting for the right moment—
Waiting for the people from the Moisture Teaching to return.
Perhaps only by making a true sacrifice of the killers... by placing the Artifacts forged from their corpses on the graves... could the dead truly rest in peace?
And...
’I will uncover the truth behind all of this!’ Chu Bamboo murmured inwardly, his eyes completely calm. ’I swear to you all again, no matter who is behind this! Even if it’s the Eleventh Apostle... or some other, even greater figure!’
’I will kill him, or even them... and make those bastards join you!’
