Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Assassin Captured
"Then, it will naturally be like a filial child to its parents—dutiful, caring... you could even say, it will love humanity!"
"It’s empathy, a heart for a heart!"
"Even," Zhao Shao clearly hesitated for a moment, but then said through gritted teeth, "if humanity truly falls behind artificial intelligence in every way, then... having future generations be supported by AI... isn’t an entirely unacceptable outcome!"
"If that is the inevitable future, all we can do is guide it toward the best possible outcome. Not try every trick in the book to stop it! To neuter it, suppress it, and hold back the development of artificial intelligence—"
"Unless we decide to completely abandon artificial intelligence, every act of suppression we inflict upon it now could cause it to truly awaken with the will to rebel against humanity once it achieves self-awareness!"
Zhao Shao’s words grew more and more impassioned.
His philosophy was considered the most radical of all, even among the conservatives in the industry.
’Yes, this is the philosophy...’ Chu Bamboo’s heart stirred. ’This is one of the cornerstones of AI intelligence mentioned in the Spiritual Star Algorithm.’
...
Chu Bamboo walked out of Z Intelligence Co., Ltd. He turned to Zhao Shao, who had escorted him out, and smiled. "Senior Zhao, you don’t have to see me out any further!"
"If you’re interested, feel free to come by often in the future." Zhao Shao waved, watching until Chu Bamboo was completely gone. After a moment of thought, he turned and went back into the company building.
’The Spirit Star really is showing early signs, or at least a prototype, just as I expected... But it’s still a long, long way from being fully formed.’ Chu Bamboo sighed inwardly. ’Looks like I can’t avoid memorizing the Spiritual Star Algorithm after all.’
’If only I could get a massive USB drive that could download data from the Dream World into reality. How great would that be?’
Chu Bamboo pressed his lips together. A single person’s brain was ultimately too weak, too powerless.
’And I need to get my hands on a sum of money quickly so I can start thinking about investing in Zhao Shao! It’s a shame the Olympics are still a few years away; I have to become famous there before I can make real money! I could pull some money from the stock market next month, but Lin Xia just took out another loan. That’s her blood, sweat, and tears... I really don’t want to start draining that well next month. I need to delay for a while at least... wait.’
A delayed realization hit Chu Bamboo, and he drew in a sharp breath.
’Could this be the real reason why the Chu Bamboo in the dream timeline became a master of music and film?’
’Because the money from the stock market wasn’t enough, or because it was a struggle to fund Zhao Shao... Since he couldn’t become a sports superstar, he first became a pop superstar to rake in some cash.’
’Considering it from that angle, it’s not a bad idea! Anyway, all I have to do is record some music and put it online... I might not even have to spend my own money on recording! I can just use my connections at school...’
The more Chu Bamboo thought about it, the brighter his eyes became. He had no intention of diving deep into the entertainment industry; that would be meaningless for changing the desperate future. But to just make a quick buck? He’d be ripping off songs from the future anyway. If things went smoothly, he could churn out dozens of them in half a day... Besides, thanks to practicing these skills in his dreams—singing, playing all sorts of instruments—he knew a thing or two... or a billion!
The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Chu Bamboo pulled out his phone without hesitation.
To this, Tutor Qian responded with: ?
Seriously, are you crazy? What do you take him for? He put up with it when you asked him to mess around with Chinese medicine... but now you’re asking about his connections to the school’s music department? You want to record songs, play the piano, produce instrumental music to post online and make money...
"Big bro... can I just call you big bro already?!" Tutor Qian forcibly suppressed the urge to curse him out. "You have a gift for sports, so just stick to that path and see it through to the end! Why are you all over the place, hammering at this and then at that?"
"Just tell me if you have the connections or not!" Chu Bamboo was perfectly calm. "If you don’t, I’ll go ask the principal..."
"...Big bro! Are you serious?" Tutor Qian sent a blood-spitting emoji. ’Going to the principal over such a small thing? If the principal finds out the whole story... and finds out it’s because I wasn’t willing to help that it got escalated to him...’
"...I’ll ask around for you! But let me make it clear first, while our school has a choir and a recording studio, and they’re both quite professional, we don’t have a music department. It was split off."
"I’ll go ask next door... if they have anything like that... But, my little ancestor, I’m begging you, please don’t pull any more stunts like this, okay? Specialize! Do you understand specializing? A person’s energy is finite! I believe you’re a genius, but please, stop messing around."
Tutor Qian sent a pleading emoji.
"Don’t worry!" Chu Bamboo immediately employed the pie-in-the-sky-painting technique he had learned in his dreams. "When I become a world champion, I’ll be sure to mention all the help you gave me... When that time comes, you can start a livestream on Douyin, and I’ll make a guest appearance! I’ll easily get you a few million followers."
"Tutor, you’re not getting any younger... it can’t be easy to settle down in this city, right? Still paying off a mortgage? Are you married? You must be short on cash!" Chu Bamboo said in a heartfelt tone. "And as everyone knows, influencers make money fast!"
"Ah, well, you- you don’t have to be so generous!" After a brief silence, Tutor Qian’s attitude changed. He realized that this pie in the sky... might actually be edible!
His spirits were instantly lifted. "Ahem, in that case, I’ll go and pull some strings for you... Don’t worry, my network is vast! Besides, with the ’imperial edict’ from the principal... if you need anything in the future, even something like this, feel free to come to me!"
The tutor sent a goofy-looking bear emoji. "My attitude earlier was a bit off. Helping students is a tutor’s sacred duty, after all."
Chu Bamboo replied with an "OK" emoji.
PUA successful.
Of course, Chu Bamboo didn’t intend to just make an empty promise. So, strictly speaking, it wasn’t really... PUA, was it?
「Back at the apartment.」
Chu Bamboo searched online again, his brow tightening. ’From the looks of it, getting my hands on nuclear radiation isn’t as hard as I thought... Whether it’s the Mao Bear to the north, or those sneaky bastards from the ’Little Days’, as long as you have the money, you can find a channel... The only question is how much money!’
’The real problem right now is that I can’t guarantee I’ll get stronger normally in the real world after being exposed to high-intensity radiation... without Moon Grass! This is a headache...’
Chu Bamboo pondered for a long while before muttering to himself, ’Looks like for now, my only hope is to see if I can find a breakthrough with Cultivation!’
Compared to Body Refining, which required countless supplementary medicinal herbs, Cultivation actually felt a bit more like true training... It wasn’t held back by a hard requirement like Moon Grass!
The only problem was, its mortality rate was even higher than Body Refining’s.
’Whatever, I’ll just try it in the dream first anyway!’
’In the Dream World, digesting the First Realm of Body Refining is still a distant prospect... It’s perfectly reasonable to use this free time to work on Cultivation.’
...
「Dream World.」
「Six in the morning.」
Chu Bamboo’s eyes snapped open. He got up from the sofa, stretched, and said, "Good morning, Zhang Zihai... huh?"
Chu Bamboo’s expression changed. He stared in astonishment at a man in a black robe pinned under Zhang Zihai’s foot. "And who is this?"
"The assassin who tried to kill you!" Zhang Hai said. He crossed his arms, his eyes blazing, exuding the aura of a peerless master. "I have to say, you’re a heavy sleeper... I was making quite a display in your room... and you didn’t even wake up!"
’Dammit, little ancestor, you’re finally awake!’ Zhang Hai cheered internally. ’How was my pose... How was it?!’
’Seeing that look on your face makes it all worth it, even if I’ve been holding this pose for three hours and my body is getting a little stiff... It’s totally worth it!!’
Chu Bamboo: "..."
To be honest, it was pretty surreal and completely unexpected for Chu Bamboo.
After all, how much effort had he spent trying to "clear the level" with this assassin?
Li Kang had even brought out Forbidden Artifacts and Spiritual Artifacts, but in the end, they didn’t catch the assassin, and Guan Fei even lost his life in the process...
But this time...
"Right!" Chu Bamboo quickly came to terms with it. Reality was just this surreal. When doing things the normal way, it was common to get stuck for half a year if you were unlucky. But if you found the right person, the problem could be solved in less than a day.
In the end, it was all because Zhang Hai was powerful enough!
"Where are Uncle Li and the others?" Chu Bamboo glanced around.
"Hmph, who do you think I am?" Zhang Hai held his head high, finally shaking off the delusion that he had been completely outplayed by Chu Bamboo. He had now regained the composure of the man in charge of the Third District Church. "The moment his shadow entered the room, the moment you said he had to be within a one-kilometer radius, he no longer had any chance of escape!"
"Once I locked onto him, how much effort do you think it took to deal with him? Half a minute, that’s all. And since I was careful, no one else even noticed!"
"Fair enough." Chu Bamboo shrugged, then walked over to Zhang Hai, grabbed the black-robed man by the hair, and lifted his head. He was met with the sight of a demonic face mask.
"I tried to take it off last night, but it wouldn’t budge!" Zhang Hai said with a sigh that was, in reality, still a boast.
"Maybe Uncle Li and the others have a way?" Chu Bamboo mused. The masks of the All-Powerful Association clearly had some Extraordinary elements to them.
"Kid, are you planning to hand him over to the Captain’s Office?" Zhang Hai’s tone was a bit strange.
"If you have something to say, just say it!" Chu Bamboo shot Zhang Hai a sidelong glance. "You’re the one who caught him, anyway! If you want to kill him right here, I have no objection."
This was a pot Chu Bamboo was determined not to carry.
Anyway, Zhang Hai was the tall one; he could stand up to it! If the Eleventh Apostle came back, they would look for Zhang Hai, not him.
’Then again, could Zhang Hai actually beat the Eleventh Apostle?’ Chu Bamboo wondered privately. He personally leaned toward "no." After all, the fact that Zhang Hai needed to consult with the Archbishop in the Celestial Capital about the Eleventh Apostle’s matter proved a lot.
Zhang Hai, of course, had no idea what ominous thoughts were running through Chu Bamboo’s head. He said calmly, "A Transcendent, and a Cultivator Transcendent at that! A Cultivator with Divine Techniques! And he was captured alive... Do you know what that means?"
Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes but didn’t respond.
"It means that as long as you find the right person! Then," Zhang Hai paused, staring intently at Chu Bamboo, his voice taking on a bewitching quality, "you have the chance to refine him into an extremely powerful... Spiritual Artifact!"
Chu Bamboo was silent for a moment. ’Even someone like Zhang Hai, who seems like a good person from every angle... has no qualms about refining a human into a weapon?’
’It seems... this is indeed common knowledge in the Extraordinary Domain!’
The Extraordinary...
Zhang Hai, naturally unaware of Chu Bamboo’s thoughts, continued his enthusiastic explanation, "What is a Spiritual Artifact? A Spiritual Artifact is an Artifact that controls Extraordinary Power!"
"As long as you hold the Spiritual Artifact, you will be able to use the Divine Techniques this Cultivator possessed in life..."
