Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 134 - 134 54 Club Chatroom

134: Chapter 54 Club Chatroom 134: Chapter 54 Club Chatroom Xiang Shan knew why he had been caught.

He had just been shopping in the Black Market, using nothing but digital currency.

This was uncommon in this era.

The most important reason was that, because digital currency at this time wasn’t pegged to any sovereign state’s legal tender, nor could any capital force speculate on it.

Despite having a status akin to ancient “precious metals,” the actual purchasing power of a single unit of digital currency wasn’t very large.

At least in this era, “mining” was not a good choice.

The so-called “mining” of digital currency involved downloading certain data, then performing specific rule-based calculations and uploads, packaging it into blocks.

The principle of digital currency was based on a “public ledger” called the “blockchain.”

Therefore, a user packaging blocks according to specific “rules” and extending the blockchain was tantamount to “accounting” for everyone—and such behavior beneficial to the collective would be rewarded with a small amount of digital currency as per the rules.

However, in this era, the digital currency obtained from mining barely covered the electricity costs consumed by the computational resources, let alone compensated for the wear and tear on the chips due to intensive computation.

Actually, even in the early twenty-first century when digital currency was booming, considering the prices of electronic components and electricity, mining with low-end smart devices still carried the risk of not breaking even.

Only during seasons with abundant sunshine and surplus electricity would some commoners consider mining online.

But their computing resources were, in a sense, limited.

And the government only accepted the practice of “using such a general equivalent.” They themselves would not mine.

As previously mentioned, the people of Jianghu especially favored the blockchain for its difficulty to erase.

Since the era of Martial Ancestor, they used this means to preserve their Martial Studies data.

It was these people who, after the collapse of the Old Era’s capitalist system, first thought of using this method played out by capitalists as a “general equivalent.”

Some, however, were more cunning.

They cleverly arranged the “rules of computation” such that if one decoded the blockchain in one way, the blockchain appeared as a mere ledger, but with another method of reading, the same blockchain became a constantly self-improving and self-updating martial arts manual.

The process of users “mining” was essentially tantamount to them deducing martial arts.

The Civilization Protectors definitely did not mine.

They would certainly not help the people of Jianghu refine their Jianghu inheritance.

However, those who controlled vast resources could still accumulate some digital currency from sporadic transactions with the lower echelons.

And Xiang Shan settling purchases entirely with digital currency was like a fool using a stack of big bills by the roadside to buy a bottle of water, then fussing over the change.

After all, in this era, probably only those youngsters who gritted their teeth and scraped together computational resources to mine would possess a large amount of digital currency and then haggle over the price.

And that was exactly the effect Xiang Shan wanted.

He hoped that a gang would chase after him.

Xiang Shan actually wanted to make contact with the gang.

There’s a saying: the snake has its path, and the rat has its way.

If anyone was asked who was most familiar with the dark side of this city, it was definitely the local gang.

Of course, it wasn’t about negotiating cooperation.

Xiang Shan had no good feelings towards gangs and didn’t think there was any value in these sorts of entities that rose to power by oppressing the good.

Gangs could be said to be the fledgling form of the Green Forest.

This was a knowledge point dug out from Deborah’s memory.

According to the Anthropology Knights of the Scientific Knight Order, the original Green Forest might have transformed from gangs.

About a hundred years ago in the archipelago of East Asia, a genius in Inner Strength emerged amongst the gangs, invented the “Ultimate Way Consensus Therapy,” and swiftly metamorphosed into the Green Forest.

In theory, any gang, given a number of conditions, could transform into a powerful Green Forest group quickly.

These conditions included but were not limited to “an Internal Strength Master,” “unique gang culture,” and “finding a place in the wilderness to establish a base,” and so on.

He planned to extract the memories of certain individuals to increase his capital for the assassination operation.

Indeed, he had not anticipated that the ones he’d lured would merely be such small fish.

In the end, he simply snorted and said, “You even dare to look down upon the Excavator Group.

Could it be that you think Green Forest has no one?”

The service station manager trembled all over and shouted, “Mercy, great hero!

I’ve told everything I could!

Compared to the big bosses above, I’m really nothing!”

“I should have squashed you right away.

But on second thought, if I squashed you, it seems I’d have no one left to send a message for me.” Xiang Shan’s hand pretented to search the manager’s forehead for a short while, and then he sneered, “Remember to tell those above you this: today’s humiliation will be avenged in the future.

I will return!”

…………………….

“‘I will return’…

is that what he said?”

Jin Anquan of the Capacitor Gang White Paper Fan looked at the report sent back by his subordinates with skepticism, then uploaded the text version of the screenshot to the chat room and asked, “What do you all think?”

This approach was indeed the most effective defense for those with lower levels of Internal Strength when faced with Internal Strength Masters.

They had those subordinates with extremely low transformation rates make contact and then relay what had happened.

This essentially eliminated the possibility of various forms of backdoor commands and Gu.

The greatest risk in this process was merely that the subordinates were too inept, ultimately resulting in the loss of information.

Either the subordinates were too unskilled and got killed by accident, leading to the loss of intelligence.

Jin Anquan asked in the chatroom, “What do you guys think?”

[Gang Leader]: This doesn’t look like Green Forest’s doing.

The person under the ID “Gang Leader” was the leader of the Capacitor Gang.

The Capacitor Gang was just a small gang with a forty-year history.

But in those forty years, the gang had set up an informational maze, concealing the identity of the “Gang Leader.” Even Jin Anquan, as a White Paper Fan, didn’t know whether the admin account “Gang Leader” was really under the control of just one person.

What the Gang Leader was suggesting, however, was that the mysterious visitor was too lenient in killing.

If the person who claimed to be an expert from the Excavator Group really belonged to Green Forest, there would have been at least three or four casualties at the service station.

After all, Green Forest doesn’t care about killing people; they even enjoy it.

Jin Anquan typed rapidly.

[Jin Anquan (White Paper Fan)]: The Gang Leader makes a very good point.

[Peter Penner (Straw Sandals)]: There’s been talk on the street lately that the Excavator Group has been wiped out.

Although the vast majority of the Excavator Group’s lackeys had been extinguished, there were still a few survivors.

After wiping out the Excavator Group, Xiang Shan continued heading north to where Wild Myth resided.

After destroying Wild Myth, he traveled north for another night before turning back south.

Later, he stayed for a few days in other Green Forest Strongholds to perform surgery on Cui Hai and a little girl.

During this time, some surviving lackeys of the Excavator Group fled to other Green Forest Strongholds or the cities nearby.

And as long as they were alive, they were bound to leak some information.

This information would then spread silently across the network.

And “Straw Sandals” was the one in the gang responsible for catching fleeting shadows and collecting that information.

This news, however, gave Jin Anquan a start.

[Jin Anquan (White Paper Fan)]: Is the information reliable?

[Peter Penner (Straw Sandals)]: There’s no concrete evidence, but it’s better to err on the side of belief.

[John Kansas (White Paper Fan)]: How could this be?

Big Bulldozer Vespa wasn’t incompetent…

[Ambrose (Red Stick)]: Not incompetent?

I can’t believe you’d say that.

Some old guy who can’t even make it onto the regional Tiger List.

At this moment, “Straw Sandals” Peter Penner suddenly added a cryptic message.

“Chain Missile Gleayard, who was on the Green Forest Tiger List, is dead, and Organization Z has been annihilated too.”

Then he added, “This information is very reliable.”

Instantly, the chatroom fell into silence, making one wonder if their internet connection was bad.

It took a while before someone started typing again.

[Gang Leader]: Since half a year ago, the skies over Pine Eagle City were going to change.

[Peter Penner (Straw Sandals)]: With the fall of an Old Hero, those Jianghu people naturally started to act.

These Jianghu folks see us from the underworld syndicates as nothing but boils and rashes.

Many heroes probably don’t wish to waste words on us.

Be very careful.

[Gang Leader]: Right.

You all heard what Straw Sandals said.

It’s not the first time I’m saying this.

These are extraordinary times, so we need to be cautious.

Whatever business we have going on, let’s put it on hold if we can, and try not to provoke any heroes.

Also remember to spread this message through the chat channels of all branches.

[Gang Leader]: Besides, Old Jin, make sure you warn the forces directly under you.

Also, how are things going with your connections to those Jianghu people?

[Jin Anquan (White Paper Fan)]: Replying to Gang Leader/to answer the Gang Leader, we’ve barely managed to strike a balance with those Jianghu people.

They fear us reporting them to the government, but even if we did, they might drag us down with them before they get killed by the government’s forces.

[Ambrose (Red Stick)]: A bunch of lunatics, all fallen to such a state…

[Gang Leader]: What about the trade negotiations?

How are they going?

[Jin Anquan (White Paper Fan)]: The terms are mostly settled, but some parts are still under dispute, like clause sixteen and eighteen.

[Gang Leader]: They still refuse to help us with our Inner Strength problems, then?

Alright, let’s yield another step and tell them that we can give up the ancient teachings’ document copies, and even ask for fewer Cultivation Techniques, but we must have at least one annotated, executable Internal Cultivation Methods manual.

[Gang Leader]: Also, @John Kansas, make sure you tidy up the business around Robbery Alley.

[John Kansas (White Paper Fan)]: Yes!