Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 126 - 126 46 Forking

126: Chapter 46: Forking 126: Chapter 46: Forking Metal-based life, fully known as metal-based carbon-based life.

The enzyme systems within these organisms have undergone inconceivable modifications, in that the specific proteins that make up their bodies have, in part, amino acids in which the framework connecting the amino group and the carboxyl group is not carbon but specific metal elements.

And some other amino acids form complexes with metal ions.

Considering the ability of metal elements to lose and gain electrons is not equal, when protein expressed by the original human genes is translated in this life system, additional electrons are produced.

Under the orderly action of life, these proteins are arranged in specific areas in a specific manner.

Therefore, the protein complexes of metal-based life exhibit partial characteristics of metal cluster complexes.

Take, for example, the structure known as “Brain-Machine Barrier.”

Metal-based cells have far superior damage resistance capabilities compared to Earth’s native carbon-based cells.

They also have a stronger tolerance to hypoxia and have a longer lifespan.

However, Xiang Shan did not believe that metal-based plants had a competitive advantage on this planet.

The reason was simple.

The majority of metal elements in the body of metallic life have outer electron layers that exceed those of carbon atoms.

As a result, the atomic radius of these atoms naturally exceeds that of carbon atoms.

It also leads to these types of polypeptides having higher degrees of freedom when folding into proteins, resulting in greater complexity of the final folded structure, which then requires higher energy to disrupt.

The enzyme system of metal-based life requires a higher energy environment to function.

Benchmark Man’s body temperature is much higher than that of Homo sapiens.

Of course, the temperature of protein denaturation is also much higher than that of Homo sapiens.

A temperature of 37 degrees Celsius is enough to disrupt most metal-based protein reactions.

Xiang Shan remembered that the body temperature of Benchmark Men was generally around fifty degrees Celsius.

All other metal-based organisms face this problem.

They need a higher reaction temperature.

But here lies the issue.

“High body temperature” cannot arise from nothing.

According to the first law of thermodynamics, the increase in a body’s internal energy is equal to the sum of the heat absorbed by the body and the work done on the body.

Higher temperatures require more energy.

Humans can rely on a developed industrial base to make up for this energy needs using electrical power.

But most of the natural world’s organisms do not have this condition.

This was why Xiang Shan and others dared to conduct such gene modification on animals in the first place.

Theoretically, even if those experimental animals escaped, they would struggle to successfully propagate on Earth.

Native species might not have their tremendous damage resistance and combat power, but they win in “energy efficiency,” giving them a greater competitive advantage.

Under general circumstances, metal-based life cannot form large-scale populations in the wilds of Earth.

If it’s near the equator, there might be a slim chance.

After all, carbon-based life can appear in Antarctica and the Arctic.

But no matter what non-artificial interventions occur, metal-based life cannot replace Earth’s native species without developing a civilization in Earth’s environment.

Just like every major extinction resulted in the demise of giant species like the Tyrannosaurus rex, while smaller species survived in large numbers, the competitive advantage of “energy efficiency” is just too significant.

Xiang Shan remembered that he had used this reasoning to convince biologists who were committed to protecting the ecology.

His insistence that “plants should be green” stemmed from the same reasoning.

Without external interference, custom-designed metal-based species like the Copper Candy Tree could not defeat Earth’s native carbon-based species.

Benchmark Man could only play a stronger role than Homo sapiens in an industrialized society.

Yuki nodded in agreement.

He still remembered the words Xiang Shan had said to him several months ago.

Cui Hai said, “At this latitude, green plants might be rare.

But there are some in the Arctic Circle…”

Xiang Shan nodded, “The closer to the high latitudes, the colder it gets.

The disadvantage of metal-based life, whose enzyme systems require high temperatures, becomes more obvious.

Think about it, maybe the cold Arctic tundra is now the greenest place on the entire Earth.”

Cui Hai exclaimed in admiration, “Senior really is experienced and knowledgeable…”

“Alright, this is the floor,” Xiang Shan said as he looked inside.

There were one or two makeshift shacks on the floor, but not each one had someone in it.

Two or three shacks were occupied.

These must have been homes set up by homeless people some time ago.

Xiang Shan led the group inside.

There was a large shack, and he pointed at it, “This one will do.

Put down the luggage, go to the side and take down a few shacks, patch them up.

This place will serve as our temporary base.”

Yuki put down the little one he was carrying and went with a few others to dismantle the surrounding shacks.

Xiang Shan looked at the little one, and the little one also tried to raise its head to look at Xiang Shan.

“Ya!

Ya!

Da!

Don’t be afraid!”

She said so.

“It’s a pity, I can’t understand what you’re saying either,” Xiang Shan crouched down, patted the little one’s head, then rearranged the dog kennel-like shack a bit.

Although there were surveillance cameras around, in theory, this was just an individual act of a lord.

If you want to block the surveillance, that’s your own freedom.

And if this action attracts the lord’s suspicion, it is considered at one’s own risk.

Huang Ouguang made a point not to think about what the adhesive of these cheap boards might be.

This action undoubtedly drew the attention of those around them.

However, Xiang Shan, Cui Hai, and Huang Ouguang were all fully cyberized Martial Artists, and Yuki’s modifications were not minor either.

They were outrageously strong compared to the nearly unmodified Natural Persons around them.

Those people would also not take the initiative to provoke them.

Soon, the group managed to piece together a shelter that was large enough for four people to sit inside.

Xiang Shan, without concern, laid the metal composite boards he carried with him on the inner walls of the shelter.

If necessary, these could withstand small-caliber gunfire, which he deemed “better than nothing.”

“Let’s rest well for today,” Xiang Shan said, “We will need a day or two to familiarize ourselves with this city, gather information, and make thorough preparations.”

Xiang Shan said so.

Then, it was time to rest.

Even though Pine Eagle City was fraught with danger for Heroes, prolonged emotional tension could still lead to a negative state of mind and the occurrence of various mistakes.

Rest was necessary.

Cui Hai needed to continue training to recover his Internal Strength Cultivation.

As for Yuki, he was busy training.

Huang Ouguang took the little fellow and kept watch outside.

Xiang Shan once again entered a state of meditation, extending his will with the help of the latest version of the Network Meditation Room.

This time was yet another fruitless attempt.

The mysterious Internal Strength Master he had encountered last time seemed as if he had never existed.

But Xiang Shan was not disheartened.

With a thought, he connected to another website.

It was a blockchain.

The mysterious existence had not only given Xiang Shan the latest version of the Network Meditation Room but also left behind some information.

That information pointed to several famous blockchains that existed on the network.

Xiang Shan quickly realized that these blockchains must have been established after his long slumber.

He himself knew about some blockchains—of course, it was after seeing those addresses that he remembered.

This ensured that no matter when, he could always obtain Martial Arts.

Within the blockchains given to him by the Mysterious Person were three Martial Arts: “Mech Armor Iron Fist,” “Kalashnikov-style Spear Fight Technique,” and “Traitor’s Different View.”

These three Martial Arts represented the oldest Cyber Fighting Technique, the oldest Spear Fight Technique, and the oldest complete Internal Cultivation Methods, respectively.

“Oldest” here did not imply they were weak.

Of course, the original versions of these three Martial Arts were indeed very weak compared to today’s Martial Arts.

However, they too were continuously evolving.

Over the past two hundred years, many Famous Practitioners had uploaded their Martial Arts experiences and their updated versions to the blockchains embedded in Xiang Shan’s memory.

But this also brought a significant problem.

Blockchains are prone to forking.

Let’s put it this way: a blockchain could be imagined to be a huge content creation that everyone in the world writes following a set of “rules.” At its inception, this “content” was the “ledger.” In later eras, this “content” became “secret manuals.”

Because blockchains are inherently decentralized, it’s difficult for strong entities to edit them based on their singular will.

This ensured the perpetuity of the transmission of Martial Arts.

Often, these “rules” could be implemented through “applications.”

What would happen if one day an application was suddenly upgraded, adding some table structures that were not recognizable in previous versions?

This new version of the application would consistently package blocks that the “old version application” could not recognize, creating a chain vastly different from the blocks packaged by the old version.

This is what we call a “fork.”

In traditional centralized software systems, because the data storage and version management are centralized, significant upgrades could be set to “you cannot log in without downloading the new version,” ensuring that users always use the correct version.

Blockchains, however, are different.

Heroes chose to store their secret manuals in blockchains precisely because of their decentralization—the cost of editing them was too enormous.

But this also means that you can never ensure that all users always use a single “unified rule” to package blocks.

This is something only centralization can achieve.

Therefore, forking is inevitable in blockchains.

This is also one of the inherent flaws of blockchain ledgers—in that era when humans madly mined virtual resources, shorter forks were continually abandoned.

The blockchains that Xiang Shan remembered had more serious issues.

The entire world was uploading their Martial Arts insights to them, and a considerable portion of these contributors had accomplishments in Inner Strength or their understanding of it.

This led to…

the “rules” for packaging secret manual blocks could never be unified.

The ancient blockchains in Xiang Shan’s memory were full of numerous and terrifying soft and hard forks.

Take Mech Armor Iron Fist, for example; the ancient blockchain Xiang Shan remembered was like a huge archive of academic material, incredibly complex, and you would have to trace the evolutionary path of this Boxing technique from its most ancient versions.

The one from the Mysterious Person, however, was completely different.