The authority level changed!
Chu Bamboo's gaze turned grim. It clearly wasn't a matter of his temporary Honored Guest Elder authority. Even if Li Kang had truly registered him remotely, the authority he would have gained should have been a temporary Level 1!
So...
"The butterfly effect?" Chu Bamboo composed himself.
This could only be the result of a change in the Real World, its effects rippling into this distant, unknown future. He had considered before that the Real World could influence the Dream World, but to have it truly confirmed... that was another matter entirely.
'Is this really the future?' Chu Bamboo pondered for a long while before speaking. "Nuwa No. 17, tell me, why do I have permanent Level 1 Authority?"
"Beginning data retrieval, deep analysis... Name: Chu Bamboo. Titles: The Light of the Chinese People, The Light of the Yellow Race, The Light of East Asia, The Light of the World."
"Accomplishments: At the 34th Summer Olympics, with an astonishing time of 9.41 seconds, broke the world record and won the 100-meter dash championship! He set a record that no one of the yellow race had ever managed to break before!"
"Furthermore, he also won the championship in the men's decathlon competition that followed, accomplishing a miracle beyond the imagination of ordinary people."
"In the decades that followed, he dominated both of these events. No one had managed to break the peak records he set, right up until the dawn of the Chaotic Era..."
Chu Bamboo's expression flickered. He then saw that all the text projected on the silver wall before him was retracted, replaced by a single line: "System busy. Please try again later."
"..." Chu Bamboo felt a bit strange. He mulled over the information he'd just seen. 'Sensitive content? What word could be sensitive? It can't be about me winning the championship! Otherwise... hmm?'
Then, one term finally caught his attention. 'The Chaotic Era?'
'What is the Chaotic Era? An era of chaos? An era of war? A world war? No, that's not right... A world war might have involved countless secrets for the participating nations at the time, but for future generations, what damn secrets could be left?'
'Back in the Real World, he could go online and with a casual search, all the classified documents from Nazi Germany, wicked Great Britain, or Imperial Japan were readily available.'
'So, it's definitely more than just a world war.' Chu Bamboo thought for a moment. He wasn't foolish enough to ask directly what the Chaotic Era was. Instead, he opted for a more roundabout approach.
"Nuwa No. 17, on what date was my ID canceled? And what was the cause of death?"
"ID Cancellation Date: July 1, 2040! Cause of Death: Captured and dissected by the ●● organization."
Chu Bamboo: "!!!"
Chu Bamboo gasped. 'Oh, crap, you guys are playing for real? Dissecting the one and only original specimen!'
However, Chu Bamboo quickly realized that the government probably wasn't involved. The ones who made the move were a secretive organization!
"Speaking of which, I actually died even earlier this time!" Chu Bamboo was starting to lose his composure. At least last time, he'd lived until 2053. And he had been wondering why he only dominated those events for just over a decade...
Now he knew. 'Well, damn. Turns out I dominated right up until the day I died!'
"Nuwa No. 17, could you pull up all the official media reports from after Chu Bamboo won at the Los Angeles Olympics?"
"Performing information retrieval..."
Soon, a flood of data appeared on the silver wall.
1. Chu Bamboo Breaks World Record, 'Divine Continent Speed' Shocks the World
'Oh, this one's from a second-rate paper,' he thought.
2. 9.41! Chu Bamboo Creates New History in World Athletics
'Mm, one of the Southern papers,' he noted.
3. Chu Bamboo Blazes Through 100m, World Record Rewritten
'Another one from the Southern papers.'
4. The Divine Continent's Flying Man Chu Bamboo: Breaking Limits, Setting a New World Record
'Well, damn. This paper's a little more prestigious than the second-rate ones!'
5. Chu Bamboo: Reaching a New Peak in World Athletics with 9.41
He hissed. This one was personally reposted by an account starting with the characters for "Purple Light," one that people often mistook for a grand hotel.
Chu Bamboo subconsciously reached out, touched the wall, and swiped. To his astonishment, the display actually scrolled, just like using a tablet!
But the thing was...
"It's huge!" Chu Bamboo stared in shock at the massive silver wall in front of him, then glanced around at all the other silver walls throughout the base.
If he could control all of these silver walls at will—
He couldn't even imagine how awesome it would be to play AAA games on a screen like this!
Chu Bamboo forcibly suppressed the urge to shout out voice commands, including but not limited to, "Black Myth, launch!," "Persona ●, launch!," and "Legends of the ● Kingdoms, launch!"
'Then again, if I can use the entire base for this... watching movies must be incredible, too, right? Totally immersive.' Chu Bamboo quickly had another thought.
It had to be said, only when it came to pleasure and relaxation could the human mind expand with such speed and agility.
'Chu Bamboo, Chu Bamboo, calm down. Is this really the time for entertainment?' he thought while scrolling. Soon, he saw a link to a Hupu ratings page. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, and he quickly tapped on it.
The first thing that greeted him was a photo of himself with a bright, radiant smile.
He looked almost identical to the Chu Bamboo of now.
Rating: 10.0.
A perfect score!
ImNotAFootFetishist: "Light of the World, Light of Humanity, a max-level human being. A perfect score says it all!"
The very first username nearly made Chu Bamboo crack up.
IWantToBeAFlyingMan: "Checking in! My childhood hero! I grew up listening to stories about the World's Flying Man. I always wanted to be the next one! Sigh, the only shame is that he died in his prime! The only monster who could keep breaking world records—his own records!"
Chu Bamboo found this interesting. He glanced at the timestamp. 'Mm, just as I thought.' The comment was posted much later—on March 12, 2050.
Lin Xiaxiaxiaxia: "Thanks for the tag. Best bud of the World's Flying Man here! An eight-second 100-meter record... inhumanly powerful, nothing more needs to be said! His death was destined to change so much... You guys don't understand what I'm saying. Even I don't understand what I'm saying anymore! Maybe not even I know what else he could have done, what else he could have changed if he were still alive... Maybe he really could have changed the world, and not just the world of sports. But it's a shame. He's already dead."
The comment was chaotic and rambling. But that username... 'Alright, then!'
'Makes sense. It'd be weirder if his best bud *didn't* show up in the comments to make a fool of himself...'
'But then again...' Chu Bamboo realized he couldn't entirely blame that mysterious organization for dissecting him. After all, the previous world record holder before he competed was the black sprinter, Bolt. And Bolt's time was 'only' 9.58 seconds for the 100-meter dash—
'And here I am, already breaking the eight-second barrier... and about to break seven! No matter how you look at it, that's just not human.'
"Case closed," Chu Bamboo sighed with deep feeling. "Cause of death: Flexed so hard he died."