Minmin—full na Li Min—was Li Kang’s daughter! She was also a forr 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 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 ntion it, I think I actually forgot to register. How about you pull so strings for and get the process started? The Third District’s Governnt Office is right next door, after all. I’m sure you have enough clout for that, right?"
"Are you kidding ?" 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 sothing. "I seem to rember 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 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 ans calling in a few favors. You just wait..."
The next mont, 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 so 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 ti yet, is it? Going now... isn’t a great idea, is it? What if soone reports you? You wouldn’t be forced into early retirent, 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 Announcents tentatively raised his hand. "Bro... Bro... Brother Zhu... Uncle Zhu!"
Wall Announcents was on the verge of tears. Calling him "Brother" was already a stretch, sothing 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 Announcents 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 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 Announcents 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 Announcents 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 an by that?" Wall Announcents asked, still completely lost.
Guan Fei glanced at Wall Announcents, who possessed the distinct, wide-eyed foolishness of a university student. He took a deep breath, inwardly reassuring himself, ’We all start sowhere.’ 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 Announcents thought for a good while before asking, still not getting it, "Uh, if I recall correctly, this underground base... its proper na is the Underground Temple, right? So who’s the guest here? We’ve probably spent more ti in the Underground Temple than he has... Never mind!"
Feeling a familiar pressure on his temple, Wall Announcents’s eyes grew even more limpid.
"But now that you ntion it, that is true. Why is Mr. Zhu in the Underground Temple...?" Ning Linglong frowned. No one was a fool, least of all mbers of the Captain’s Office. Even the seemingly clueless Wall Announcents was a university student, one of the undisputed elites of this era.
The special nature of the Underground Temple ant 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 co down from above to formally investigate Mr. Zhu, I will stand with him unconditionally, no matter the circumstances. Please don’t put 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 . Unless he does sothing 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 and more worried about the Captain!"
"I can’t control the Captain. But when it cos 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 at 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 paynt screen popping up?"
"Seriously? In this day and age, you’re telling I have to pay? Even if I pulled out a phone to scan a paynt code, where would the money even go? You can’t be telling 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 so 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 gas 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 transford, creating a 360-degree cinematic experience that was completely imrsive.
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-na authors..."
"Thank you for nature’s bounty! Nuwa No. 17, engage!"
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