Legend of the Cyber Heroes -
Chapter 156 - 156 76 Assassination Begins
156: Chapter 76 Assassination Begins 156: Chapter 76 Assassination Begins Xiang Shan retracted the steel mace from Tang Shagu’s occiput and tucked it back into his waist, then ripped off the charging cable plugged into his own lower back.
The steel mace had penetrated Tang Shagu’s brain by five centimeters, and the intense concussion had turned the former gang leader and future Green Forest second-in-command’s biological brain into a puddle of protein.
At the same time, the high voltage released by the steel mace had also destroyed the delicate electronic components in the central part of the body.
Xiang Shan then added another blow for good measure.
“If your story of becoming part of the gang had been a bit more compelling, with elements of ‘being oppressed by society, forced onto the wrong path,’ maybe you could have lived a bit longer,” he remarked.
Xiang Shan shook his head, thus reflecting on the matter.
The inner journey of a scumbag was something he truly had no interest in hearing anymore.
In recent days, he had assimilated plenty of such templates from memories.
“Alright, let’s do a self-check now.
Energy, full; system operation, smooth; concentration of nutrients in the body, saturated…
Hmm, everything is running just fine.”
Xiang Shan nodded, then donned his black hooded cloak again, took the box that Tang Shagu had brought, which contained various essential potions, and left the base that had belonged to the Capacitor Gang’s White Paper Fan without looking back.
As Xiang Shan exited, the door and windows instantly dropped iron plates, sealing the room shut.
Since Benchmark Men could use electrical energy to replace some respiratory functions, and the higher the level of cyberization, the less oxygen they needed, “room ventilation” was not a concern for fully cyberized Martial Artists.
With this, the entire room’s security was absolutely foolproof.
Even if someone did come to check, they would only assume that “Big Brother Shell” needed to enter meditative absorption and had therefore sealed the room.
Meanwhile, a tactical analysis AI in the room’s mainframe was impersonating Tang Shagu and conducting operations.
If one traced the source, those commands would definitely be found to originate from this very room.
This tactical analysis AI was an old-fashioned weak artificial intelligence.
Xiang Shan knew the key algorithms of such AIs, downloaded some publicly available chatbot modules from the internet, did a bit of integration, then built a database based on Tang Shagu’s actions and words, and that pretty much completed the process.
The so-called “Turing Test” in a narrow sense wasn’t that difficult and couldn’t be used as a criterion for judging whether “artificial intelligence could think.”
Weak artificial intelligence could, through some sort of learning algorithm, extrapolate its capabilities in a specific direction to a level beyond human reach.
The most obvious example was the Go AI AlphaGo, which defeated the world’s number one Go player in 2017 and made moves that included forms that had never been explored in thousands of years of human history.
But six months after AlphaGo defeated the strongest human player, it was beaten by its own successor version, AlphaGo Zero, with a score of 100:0.
If an AI’s sole purpose was to “chat” with the goal of making humans believe it was human, it wouldn’t be too difficult—the “self-consciousness” of humans isn’t as distinct as we believe.
AI doesn’t need to understand what its outputted words represent, like humans do.
They just need to calculate “saying this might seem more like a person.”
This level of capability was already achieved in the mid-21st century.
Not to mention, Xiang Shan only needed to deceive the gang members for a short while.
Yes, just for a short while—just until the Meng Hand Gang collapsed.
Quite a simple task.
The tactical AI would continue to react according to the goals preset by Xiang Shan, making the people of the Meng Hand Gang continue to strengthen their defenses.
The reason he had suddenly killed Tang Shagu wasn’t that he was sick of his stories, but because he had achieved his objective.
Within the Scientific Knight Order’s base, he had planted a Trojan horse.
Speaking of which, when he entered, he had noticed some traces.
Among the century-old backdoors he was aware of, there were signs of someone else’s access.
Although he didn’t know when the intruders had accessed it, Xiang Shan could ascertain that he wasn’t the only one who had infiltrated the Scientific Knight Order’s backdoor.
After planting some Gu, Xiang Shan was ready to begin his action.
Carrying the medicine box, he stood at the entrance of the service station.
Due to the gang warfare, the local residents had already shut themselves in, with only a few people from outside the city huddling together in trepidation, bolstering each other’s courage.
In the midst of these non-human, cybernetically enhanced people, Xiang Shan was not particularly noticeable.
Shortly after, a group of people hurriedly arrived from around the corner.
Yuki called out, “Master, they’re all here.”
Xiang Shan glanced over them: “Hmm, the number’s correct.
Good.
Where’s the little one?”
A person camouflaged with a plastic bag to hide their prosthetic body stepped forward.
It was Huang Ouguang.
She slightly pulled open the camouflage on her back.
The little fellow was housed in a semi-transparent container, surrounded by cushioning layers.
“Senior, rest assured, even at the cost of my life, I will ensure this baby reaches a safe place…”
“Tsk, a guarantee is a guarantee, why say ‘I don’t care about my life’?” Xiang Shan shook his head, “With the situation as it is, I really can’t think of any scenario where your death would mean she could live—perhaps an oversized electromagnetic pulse bomb?”
The little one seemed very tired, dozing off with heavy eyelids.
Xiang Shan reached out a finger and poked the baby fat on the little one’s face.
The little one, annoyed, swatted Xiang Shan’s hand away and said, “Don’t be afraid…
afraid…”
Xiang Shan sighed, “Originally, I thought that I had found a suitable person this time who might be able to take care of you.
But today…
ah, what happened yesterday made me suspect that the martial master is also involved in some life-threatening mischief behind the scenes.
Troublesome.
The matter of finding you a safe family will have to wait until next time.”
Xiang Shan patted the little one’s head, then handed the box he was holding to Cui Hai, “Cui, take this, it’s medicine.
It should be useful for Yuan Wenren’s injuries.
It will probably be enough for each of you to be injured once or twice.
Take it, and then get out of the city quickly.”
Cui Hai asked uncertainly, “Senior, what is this?”
They had originally just gathered in the Pine Eagle Building, when, just an hour ago, Yuki suddenly sprang up, went to each of them individually, and told the heroes that his master had called for them due to some matter.
These heroes had received favors from Xiang Shan and had witnessed his methods in eliminating gang strongholds.
Knowing that such an old senior summoning them must mean urgent business, they dared not delay and hurried over.
But what they hadn’t expected was Xiang Shan immediately telling them to get out of the city fast.
Red Hand A said, “Senior, you might not be aware, but we have all been entered into the government’s database.
If we rashly try to leave the city, we might get picked up by the surveillance systems at the edges of the urban districts…”
Xiang Shan chuckled, “No worries, after tonight, they probably won’t have the energy to track down each and every lone hero like yourselves.”
“What…”
Several heroes were each shocked.
Yuan Wenren pondered for a moment and then said, “Senior, are you planning to do something big?”
Xiang Shan nodded, “You could say that.”
Oko said, “In that case, how can we leave?
We can serve the Senior…”
“Stop right there.
That’s enough.
I’m really tired of this whole ‘you try to leave but insist on staying to help and end up getting in the way’ act,” Xiang Shan said flatly, waving his hand.
Gofrey said, “Senior!
We are not afraid to die.
Even in our current state, we could still serve as pawns for Senior, taking out a few of the government’s houndhawks…”
“It’s pointless,” Yuan Wenren interrupted.
“Senior has probably secured the local underground’s influence in secret and arranged everything.
If we don’t go, we will not only let down Senior’s kindness but also risk throwing off his plan.”
“We can say that we are not afraid to die, but if we truly show up on the battlefield, how could Senior possibly act as if we didn’t exist?
Even if Senior can harden his heart in the end, we will have actually caused a disturbance to his tactical options.”
Cui Hai thought it over for a moment and then nodded, “I understand…”
“A teachable youth,” Xiang Shan said approvingly.
“With that said, you should go.”
Lastly, he patted Yuki, “Although I feel the chances are quite good, it’s better to be prepared for the worst, just in case.
If there’s no news from me within three days, don’t wait for me.
You can either go with these hero friends to the Arctic Ocean or take this little one to find a place to hide in a settlement.
That’s for you to decide.
I’ve already taught you the basics.
A small amount of flawless secret manuals I’ve also placed in your storage device.
With your talent and referring to online resources, you could train to become a famed hero on your own.
Don’t slack off.”
“Of course, if in the end you feel like you were led onto this path by me and aren’t meant to be a hero, wishing to return to a normal life, that’s also up to you.”
Yuki’s face became stiff, “Master, you’re not really going to…”
“This is Jianghu,” Xiang Shan shrugged.
“Like I said, there’s a good chance, but you always need to prepare for the worst.
Remember this in your future endeavors.”
After saying this, Xiang Shan waved and entered the authorization password for “donkey” and “mule” into Yuki’s chip, then disappeared into the darkness.
Yuki hesitated for a while and then followed hastily.
But after just around a corner, Xiang Shan had already vanished without a trace.
Yuki clenched his teeth and returned to the side of the heroes.
Cui Hai patted him on the shoulder.
Although unsure of the “big thing” Xiang Shan was about to do and what might happen, Cui Hai felt he understood Yuki’s feelings.
Every person in Jianghu, who stepped onto this path after hearing the legends, has experienced this.
Jianghu matters are not just about Divine Skill Manuals and the thrill of vendettas.
………………………………
Xiang Shan’s cloak flared like a black fire, flickering through the city’s streets and alleys.
Distractions were quickly expelled from the realm of thought.
His spirit once again became as calm as a mirror, still as water.
“So, what’s next…”
Xiang Shan strode to a street corner.
This place was an abandoned warehouse, lacking surveillance, with no one living nearby.
The gangs did not even know what the place was, using it merely as a spot to linger.
Few knew that there existed a secret door here.
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