Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 171 - 171 91 Advanced Inner Strength

171: Chapter 91 Advanced Inner Strength 171: Chapter 91 Advanced Inner Strength The structural diagram of the 733rd floor of the Meiyimei Building appeared in Xiang Shan’s mind.

In that instant, he scanned most of the cameras on that floor, and though he controlled each camera for only milliseconds, the sum of those brief moments was enough for him to piece together the complete structural diagram.

He now had control over which walls were load-bearing and which were thinner and lighter.

Of course, this also included the positions of all visible soldiers.

The mysterious Internal Strength Master exclaimed, “What happened?

What’s going on?

The way you’re using your inner strength, it seems to have improved again.”

It wasn’t that he had learned more backdoors or secret commands.

The “hidden hands” that Xiang Shan knew about were still at the level from two hundred years ago.

However, the reaction speed and feedback of his biological brain to electronic signals had greatly improved, supporting multi-threaded operations within his brain.

In the perception of this Internal Strength Master, Xiang Shan’s use of inner strength had inexplicably improved.

Even though it still fell short of the “Peak of Humanity” he had witnessed, it was enough to be the power behind a local tyrant.

The Internal Strength Master originally thought Xiang Shan had been holding back.

But then he thought that this was not their first encounter.

In their previous two meetings, he had also come into contact with Xiang Shan and personally felt the inner strength “expressed” through Xiang Shan’s consciousness.

Xiang Shan likely didn’t have this ability before.

Xiang Shan smiled in his consciousness, “The ‘Three Dragon-Slaying Moves’…

have you heard of it?”

The mysterious master seemed to be shocked.

There were a few seconds when the signal went completely silent.

Xiang Shan sighed, turning his hand over and taking out two pieces of crystal-clear fragments.

These were pieces of artificial amber containing bluish-green clusters inside.

They were what he had grabbed when he had shattered Bengel’s collection.

These were the largest colonies inside the huge piece of artificial amber.

This was the plaque of the Jade Cauldron Fungus.

Both pieces of artificial amber contained complete colonies.

Crushing the artificial amber would yield spores that might still be viable.

Unless the enemy had performed a complete inactivation process.

But…

antique collectors, right?

Would they do such a tasteless thing?

Hahahahaha.

Xiang Shan, however, wrapped the two pieces of artificial amber tightly in metal foil strips he carried with him, packaged them separately, and then slowly wrapped them in soft graphite fabric.

This was also a result of 3D printing.

Graphite is made of carbon atoms.

Carbon’s physical properties are stable and can insulate against radiation to some extent.

Xiang Shan was afraid that if the enemy knew he had taken the spores of the Jade Cauldron Fungus, they would directly resort to radioactive weapons.

Benchmark men also have high resistance to radiation—this is part of “damage resistance.”

Moreover, Yawgmoth had clarified the self-repair mechanism of genes in the late Old Era.

When high-energy particles pass through genes, they leave an imprint on the atoms making up the genes, akin to “damaging data in a storage device.” However, genes themselves have a strong error-correction capability, and even if mistakes occur, they have their own mechanisms to correct them.

Unless the damage is too severe to correct, or the mechanisms themselves malfunction, genetic information will retain stable characteristics.

So, Benchmark Men are not afraid of radiation.

However, the “First Generation Jade Cauldron Fungus” was born earlier than this point in time.

In other words, the genetic self-repair capability of the fungus strains in Xiang Shan’s hands is weaker than that of later, more mature creations.

In other words, high-energy radiation could potentially damage dormant spores.

The enemies don’t need to kill all the spores—in a rush, that would be hard to achieve.

But if they could cause mutations in the spores with a high enough dosage of radiation, it would be difficult to continue using this strain.

Even if normal Jade Cauldron Fungus still existed, Heroes would have a hard time isolating those that could produce the Restoring Enzyme anytime soon.

No one would dare inject this enzyme produced by the colony into their brains.

So, once Xiang Shan had the idea of “stealing the Jade Cauldron Fungus,” he created the necessary tools.

After wrapping the graphite fabric around it, Xiang Shan took out a lead box, put the pieces of artificial amber into it, and then stuffed it into a storage area in the lower back part of his body.

This area was covered by his external armor, much like how the protective forewings of coleopteran insects shelter their hindwings.

This made it almost certain to be foolproof.

As long as Xiang Shan could return intact, he was sure to bring back the Jade Cauldron Fungus.

At this time, the mysterious Internal Strength Master finally said, “Where exactly did you learn the name ‘Three Dragon-Slaying Moves’…

Wait, the result of our previous confrontation wasn’t due to your own inner strength level, but you reconstructed, confused, and returned my techniques with ‘His Own Way’…”

“Oh, there are indeed people who know…

It seems that very few people are aware.

Well, it makes sense, she must have that kind of style.”

He had just awakened a new memory in his brain.

Since it did not originate from the Demon Sect’s memory data, the content was fragmented and blurry.

But it was enough for Xiang Shan to remember something very important.

He had a family.

He had a lover, or a wife…

this person was closely related to the birth of inner strength.

Perhaps the person who taught him the “Three Dragon-Slaying Moves” was her.

This tiny fragment of memory allowed more neurons to join in the inner strength activity of his brain.

This manifested as “a certain progression in inner strength.”

—The “Zhu” from the Demon Sect memory data…

who are you…

are you still there now…

As Xiang Shan’s mind was entangled with memories, his hands were throwing several pull-tab can-like objects onto the ground.

[Who exactly are you?] The attitude of that internal strength master suddenly became urgent: [How do you know the “Three Dragon-Slaying Moves”?

Which Martial God are you associated with?

Who exactly are you?]

[Nobody, just a wanderer right now.] Xiang Shan responded as such.

Xiang Shan then strode forward, turning a corner in the corridor, raised his long spear, and fired several shots in quick succession, shattering five surveillance cameras.

Xiang Shan knew that within this instant, the three combat teams nearby would hear the gunfire and react immediately.

And in a few seconds, all the soldiers on the floor would receive their orders.

These soldiers were made up of martial artists with complete biological brains, low-level soldiers with partial cerebral lobes, and total AI, mixed together.

Among them, the AI had thick armor and a stable lower body, with a low center of gravity, making it difficult to knock down.

In such confined spaces, martial artists with lightweight prosthetics would have a hard time escaping if blocked by such a squad.

The noise from the fight would quickly draw more soldiers.

And what martial arts fear most is “numbers.”

But Xiang Shan was running at full speed.

At least in the area where the five cameras used to be, the enemy could not determine his exact location.

He continued to throw the pull-tab can-like objects ahead of him.

Accompanied by a few “bang bang bang” noises, a silver-black mist began to spread throughout the floor.

Cybermen require exceptionally low levels of oxygen, so the buildings lack ventilation systems — rather, to prevent enemies with special prosthetic bodies from sneaking in through ventilation ducts, most superstructures are deliberately built without such things.

This design slowed down the spread of the Iron Dust indoors on one hand, but on the other hand, also made it harder for the Iron Dust to dissipate.

[Are you actually using Iron Dust?

This isn’t the wilderness!

This is enemy territory…]

“Hmm, I know.

The enemy has abundant energy here.

Compared to ‘martial artist combat’, it’s almost unlimited.

They can use electromagnets efficiently to clear the Iron Dust.

But that’s about it.

I just hope it can buy a few minutes of time.

I’m thinking, not every floor of this building is always equipped with high-power electromagnets for clearing Iron Dust,” Xiang Shan quickly conveyed with his thoughts.

“You just go down one floor…”

At that moment, Xiang Shan’s limbs involuntarily trembled.

—EMP…

Xiang Shan lacked direct magnetic field senses, but his vision caught the subtle movements of the metal aerosol at that moment.

He began to rapidly calculate the source of the EMP.

“Due to the lack of parameters of the EMP bomb, it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact location.

But one thing is for certain.

Judging by the fluctuations of the metal aerosol, the EMP weapon is not the type that emits a directional pulse wave.

Because of this, its exact location is definitely not on a nearby floor, and it may be dozens or even hundreds of floors above.”

“Would the Scientific Knight Order really bombard their own building with EMP to catch two thieves who sneaked inside?”

Obviously not.

Martial Artist Prostheses are generally well shielded against electromagnetic forces and have a certain tolerance to EMP.

And the drones, which suffer the most damage from EMPs, are something “Heroes don’t use much, the government almost always uses.”

Moreover, in the premises of the Scientific Knight Order, there are often computers running precious experimental data.

If those devices were impacted by an EMP and lost data, it would mean that the initial experiments were in vain — a huge waste of manpower and resources.

“I thought I was going overboard, but it turns out that old guy is even more exaggerated than me…

Come to think of it, his goal might be the satellite signal station on the rooftop?

Is it to prevent the support of a powerful internal strength master from afar?”

“Hey?

Hello?

Little Brother?

Are you still there?”

No response.

It seemed that the mysterious internal strength master must have gone offline.

Xiang Shan sighed, “Had I known that guy was going to use EMP, I wouldn’t have thrown the Iron Dust…

After all, the command system on this floor would be paralyzed anyway…”

As he spoke, Xiang Shan’s figure was gradually completely concealed by the silver-black mist.

A series of bullets slid past Xiang Shan.

These were exploratory attacks by the closest combat team that had arrived.

Since Xiang Shan had destroyed the cameras before the Iron Dust spread, they did not know Xiang Shan’s location.

However, their footsteps and gunfire betrayed their position.

So, Xiang Shan took big steps forward.