Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 180 - 180 100 Unexpected Power

180: Chapter 100: Unexpected Power 180: Chapter 100: Unexpected Power At this moment, the person Xiang Shan felt most grateful to was undoubtedly Deborah Zhao.

Within the prosthetic body left by Miss Zhao, there was an arm specifically designed for sensory perception.

Its touch was so sensitive that it could be used as a form of “hearing”—sensitive enough to supplement the vibration of molecules in the air.

Xiang Shan thought this module was quite decent, so he modified it and installed it in his own prosthetic body.

And now, it was indeed proving to be extremely useful.

Xiang Shan spread his fingers, capturing every slight movement in the air.

At this moment, he was two meters away from that huge hulking cybernetic body.

The dense metal aerosol completely blocked the vision between them.

He couldn’t see the enemy, nor could the enemy see him.

Both could only rely on mechanical wave perception—including the traditional senses of “hearing” and “touch”—and their own experience to face the enemy.

Of course, Xiang Shan couldn’t possibly evade by listening to the whoosh of a punch after it was thrown.

The enemy’s punching speed was supersonic.

He simply didn’t have enough reaction time.

However, just because the big hulk’s punch was supersonic, it didn’t mean every one of his movements or every part of his body was moving at supersonic speeds.

For instance, the action of retracting a punch.

For instance, the movement of adjusting his stance.

For instance, the action of dissipating recoil.

Or perhaps, the faintest hint of a fierce wave.

The complex air currents sketched out the basic fist stance.

And the rest was filled in by the “imagination” of the biological brain and Xiang Shan’s “experience.”

Xiang Shan took a step back, his hands lifting upwards.

He aimed precisely at the wrist of that gigantic fist.

The fist grazed past Xiang Shan’s body, fissures erupting beneath his feet.

Without retracting his hands, Xiang Shan simply shifted them to the left.

Striking squarely along the inside of the huge palm.

The blunt force of the hand as heavy as an axe cleaved into the ground.

Xiang Shan retreated further, his hands circling, pressing down on the giant fist.

Thus, the punch missed once again.

Retreat one step, defend against one move.

Within ten seconds, Xiang Shan had already parried over seventy heavy punches.

The Siege Hammer Locust Prosthesis was still hopping around not too far away, jumping up and down, trying to use these sounds to pressure Xiang Shan.

Pseudo-personality masks do not require modern information technology-driven command systems; they can understand each other through body language—but this is after all not metaphysics or magic.

Without seeing each other, they can’t possibly glean information about another Pseudo-personality mask out of thin air.

Therefore, in such a chaotic environment, they also can’t distinguish friend from foe by sound alone.

Appennine’s martial arts could only be considered mediocre at best by Xiang Shan’s standards, only able to suppress Xiang Shan through the high performance of his prosthetic body.

He spent all his skill points on “mastering various styles of Martial Studies.”

“Prediction” and “pre-reading” were still a bit too high of a Rank for him.

These wide-swinging prosthetic bodies, if they suddenly charged into melee, they’d risk hurting their own side.

Within a dozen seconds, Xiang Shan had rapidly retreated a hundred meters.

But just then, the warrior with the gigantic fists suddenly cried out in alarm and rapidly backed away.

However, Xiang Shan, following the programmed routine, instantly recorded and replayed that cry, almost simultaneously recreating that sound.

Yet he retreated in the completely opposite direction.

The atmosphere remained filled with bursts of noise.

There was also a faint smell of something burning.

Xiang Shan had torn through the external armor of that large prosthetic body’s wrist.

During the continuous exchange of punches, Xiang Shan had already figured out the vibration frequency corresponding to the crystal structure of that prosthetic body’s armor and secretly cut it open with his fingers.

Normally, this wouldn’t cause too much damage to the cybernetically enhanced people, as everyone was no longer using flesh bodies and didn’t need to worry about “skin tearing” or “bleeding.”

But in the air, filled with metal aerosol deadly to prosthetic bodies, the breaking of external armor led to the breach of the airtight layer.

A large amount of metal particles entered the wrist of that prosthetic body, causing a short circuit.

That hand was no longer usable.

Of course, the part above the wrist could still move.

If put bluntly, you could swing it like a pair of hammers if necessary.

But if the wrist couldn’t adjust its angle, it meant that the application of Martial Arts would be further limited.

If that guy couldn’t break through Xiang Shan’s defense at full capacity, how could he stand a chance when his Martial Arts could not be fully utilized?

But Xiang Shan quickly realized that his imitation of the enemy’s voice did not seem to have any effect.

Xiang Shan felt he had stepped on something.

It was a “whip.”

This thing was made of synthetic muscle fibers.

It could convert electrical energy into kinetic energy, allowing it to curl or stretch.

Of course, the reverse was also possible.

Applying pressure to this kind of thing would cause electron displacement within the material.

And this could be converted into electrical signals.

For the cybernetically enhanced people, this was a “touch” sensation they could perceive.

That strange prosthetic body could lay its long whip on the floor.

That creature spanning tens of meters could form a network of tactile senses.

Even if Xiang Shan could imitate the roar of that large prosthetic body, even mimic the sound of footsteps, there was one thing he simply couldn’t replicate.

Xiang Shan absolutely could not mimic the “weight” of that Heavy Prosthesis.

For the whip, the awareness of both parties was extremely clear.

——Damn it!

Xiang Shan realized that this type of prosthetic body, which had appeared only after he’d fallen into dormancy, was exactly the kind of enemy he found most troublesome.

The whip snapped up like a stepped-on snake.

Xiang Shan was lifted by this force.

And closely following was the whizzing sound of bullets.

Xiang Shan twisted his waist and abdomen, diverting his body in mid-air, using an “Avoid” move to calculate the potential maximum angle of the bullets’ entry.

This was not a reaction made after the gunshot.

That would have undoubtedly been too late.

Xiang Shan had already reacted like this the moment he had no leverage under his feet.

If he hadn’t had such a reaction, it would not have been possible for him to survive the many battles from his past.

Mid-air, Xiang Shan caught the momentum of the bullets and sped up his rotation, then with both hands, he swept away the whips and landed once more.

But before he could catch his breath, the sound of a howling attack approached.

Since both parties were too close, the small missile hadn’t accelerated to supersonic speeds.

Xiang Shan kept dodging in succession.

After it had taken the impacts from the heavy prosthesis, Xiang Shan’s stomping, and missile explosions, the floor on this level could no longer hold and it completely fractured.

The strongest part of the Meiyimei Building as a whole was its load-bearing structure, while the strength of other areas was much less, but these were made of materials that had the advantage of being lightweight.

As a hole appeared, the slightly denser than air aerosol began to settle to the floor below.

The silver mist around it gradually faded.

Xiang Shan knew this was bad.

He could fight against so many enemies with abilities far superior to his own because the metal aerosol cut off efficient communication and information collection [referring to information command systems and vision].

Without the Iron Dust, he would face a group of Martial Artists with a telepathic bond launching a joint attack against him.

But Appennine obviously didn’t want to wait that long.

In the next instant, the Locust Prosthesis outfitted like a Siege Hammer had already slammed into him.

Xiang Shan performed a Sliding Step to dodge.

But the whip on the ground, like an ambushing giant python, suddenly sprung at him.

Xiang Shan was unable to avoid in time and was ultimately hit in the abdomen by the Siege Hammer Locust.

Appennine…

or to be precise, the Pseudo-personality Mask of Appennine, even extended a rock-like trap to anchor Xiang Shan’s lower abdomen, dragging him forward in the charge.

Xiang Shan’s prosthetic body was too light to resist the force, and he was hurled to the ground.

Because of the angle, Xiang Shan’s back and the negative side of the Siege Hammer Locust hit the floor simultaneously and in synchronization.

In that instant, Appennine was certain of his victory.

His prosthetic body was designed for impacts, with not only heavy External Armor but also an abnormally advanced shock-absorbing structure on the inside.

Unless his entire prosthetic body was shattered, nothing would cause the internal structure to fail due to impact.

But Xiang Shan’s back, including the vulnerable critical point—a biological spine—

In mid-air, Xiang Shan thrust a hand blade hard into the side armor of the prosthetic body.

A second later, they collided with the ground.

But…

unexpectedly, the floor collapsed outright.

Perhaps the structure of an entire area had been weakened by the previous missile blast.

Or maybe it was pure luck.

The “one point” where the force of the collision was most severe ended up being over the hollowed-out space.

Accompanied by a large amount of debris, both of them crashed into Mr.

Bengel’s office.

Behind Xiang Shan, the floor cracked radiantly, extending several meters.

Xiang Shan clenched his right hand into a fist, then pulled it out from within the Siege Hammer Locust’s prosthetic body.

Accompanying it was a heap of components.

But Xiang Shan had no time for respite.

He immediately rebounded backward, spreading his limbs in the air, landing silently and without a trace.

Immediately following was a rain of bullets.

This was the masterpiece of that fort.

Although he couldn’t see the enemy, only knowing a rough direction, the fire still rained down on him.

Xiang Shan rolled continuously, finding cover at last.

But the tongue of bullets kept moving, “licking” the floorboards.

Xiang Shan indeed wanted to escape right there and then, but that collision had not left him unaffected.

There were signs of damage in the main nerves of his back.

His hands and feet were slightly trembling.

——In the end, I was too confident and lacked understanding of the Martial Studies related to the Sword of the Dormant Period.

Listening to the relentless approach of footsteps and looking at the broken collectibles before him, Xiang Shan lamented thus.

It seems like I’ve really fallen this time.

“Oh well, at least there’s one thing to be thankful for.

Humanity is still making progress.

No matter how invincible I was in the past, here I am defeated by new technology,” he said.

Xiang Shan’s gaze swept around, searching for any potentially useful items.

Then, he noticed the “feeling” transmitted from that signal receiver.

A familiar… a familiar port.

A request to connect.

“This is…” Xiang Shan looked behind him in astonishment.

This antique he had used as cover was that “fort constructed of junk.”