Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 181 - 181 101 Connected

181: Chapter 101 Connected…

181: Chapter 101 Connected…

This must have been a long time ago.

Of course, it was much later than 2045, no, even later than 55.

Maybe it wasn’t even the 21st century anymore.

But compared to “now,” it was “a long time ago.”

When the “resistance against tyranny” just began.

When they had just decided to package this “violence” with the more imaginatively accessible cultural element of “chivalry.”

When they had just unfurled the banner of “Jianghu.”

At that time, the earliest heroes had nothing but a cave in a mountain area in Eastern Europe.

Besides that, the only thing they could rely on was the high-performance prosthetic bodies they wore.

After all, everyone had once been wealthy and were technology enthusiasts, mostly following the “highest standards.”

It wasn’t until the return of a “top hacker” that they could modify records undetectably across the entire net and, relying on a powerful logistics system, gradually acquire controlled parts, weapons.

But beyond that, there was another tricky point, the “manpower.”

Among the ten billion humans worldwide, did a hundred individuals realize they were engulfed in unprecedented tyranny?

Huge flows of information, in an entirely reasonable and legal manner, told humanity they had entered a utopian realm, a free kingdom.

Even if content was released, it would be drowned out by the noise.

And the residual noise that remained, as soon as it garnered any attention, would draw bans, deletions, and alterations.

No one would know their situation.

No one would help them.

A populace billions of times their size, all of them could be forces the enemy could exploit.

The earliest rebels lived their days in fear.

David Klein was the first to take action.

He found discarded machinery in a nearby scrapyard and, with a few prohibited weapons and AI provided by Xiang Shan, built the first batch of “Heroic Automatic Forts.”

Of course, this batch of forts had actually never been deployed in actual combat.

The disparity in combat power between the two sides was too great.

There was no chance for close combat; remote-launched subterranean missiles could end the heroes’ resistance.

The only effective way to resist was to “hide themselves.”

Of course, as deeds like those of Xiang Shan gradually became known to others, more and more joined, and bases began to sprout up all over the world.

But with the establishment of the decentralized network “Jianghu,” this approach was quickly abandoned.

The heroes were even more elusive than any form of military force from the past.

These automatic forts, how many times had they been deployed in actual combat before the era of “Jianghu’s underground bases” ended?

Almost none.

Even compared to the leading-edge weapons of its time, this thing was like a piece of DIY trash.

“So that’s it, I’ve unconsciously never considered you as a ‘usable weapon’…

Sorry about that, buddy.” Xiang Shan couldn’t help but laugh.

It wasn’t just him, Bengel didn’t think of it as meeting the standards of a “weapon” either.

To people from Xiang Shan’s time, it was more of a “sense of security.”

To Bengel, it was merely an “antique.”

But human weapons have always had overwhelming power.

Even a weapon from a million years ago could still cause damage to humans in the 21st century.

A weapon from the fifth century could damage 21st-century protective gear.

Until the Cyberization Process dominated by Xiang Shan was completed, old cold weapons finally retired completely from warfare.

Even weapons from a hundred years ago…

if compared longitudinally, would be absolutely overwhelmed by today’s weapons.

Yet, destroying one of the most advanced prosthetic bodies didn’t necessarily require the most advanced technology.

Xiang Shan’s inner strength touched that primitive AI.

“I remember you.” he said.

This AI wanted to fight.

—No, that’s not right.

Xiang Shan corrected his mistaken idea.

Objects shouldn’t be anthropomorphized, imagining that an “object” could display emotions and tendencies.

It wasn’t this AI that wanted to resist.

It was the creator of the AI.

It was “Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan” who was not yet “Martial Ancestor.”

“Right, I feel it…” Xiang Shan said, “‘I’ have come back…

everything has come back…”

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The data of inner strength trickled through.

This well-maintained automatic fort began to unlock.

“Weapons that were never meant to be weapons, and antiques that are far behind the times.

In a way, they’re still quite fitting.” Xiang Shan patted the automatic fort beside him, “Little brother, it’s all on you now.”

This action seemed to catch the attention of the artillery prosthetic body.

It quickly swung its cannon around.

But what greeted it were two fire lines.

Those were primitive short-range anti-tank rockets.

Of course, Bengel wouldn’t be foolish enough to load them with the latest ammunition.

In fact, there weren’t many real high-explosive bombs inside; more often, the weapons inside were those that “could hardly kill anyone” today.

Amidst the explosions, the enraged artillery prosthetic body and the primitive automatic fort exchanged fire, directing their firepower at each other.

However, the prosthetic body was hit by a shell first, paralyzing some of its exposed firepower points.

On the other hand, inside the prosthetic body was a large computational core that supported the thinking of the personality mask.

If this fragile structure were damaged, the artillery prosthetic body would cease to function—within that metal aerosol-filled environment, it might only need “a crack in the external armor.”

But this piece of junk assembled into a fort was designed to “keep firing as long as even one intact module remains.”

Two seconds later, the automatic fort was halved.

The artillery prosthetic body fell completely silent.

“Hehe…

Hahaha…” Xiang Shan had found the “supplies” he needed.

An electromagnetic spear.

The “combat part” of this device wasn’t explosive but was a section that could release all its energy in an instant.

This was typically used against enemies with a significant amount of biological tissue.

It didn’t require precise aiming, only needing to be thrust within a meter or two of where the enemy was standing to be effective.

It was almost useless against fully cybernetically enhanced people, whose biological brains were essentially wrapped within a Faraday cage.

There were also primitive fragmentation grenades.

This sinister method aimed at the flesh was also hardly able to penetrate the external armor of cybernetically enhanced people.

And the chainsaw sword—this was a specialized version of a “chainsaw.” Its shape was very similar to a two-handed greatsword, with the external engine components covering the prosthetic hand like a guard.

Modern swords were basically the opposite, emphasizing the use of prosthetic hand’s armor to protect the delicate high-frequency oscillation generator within the sword handle.

This device was intimidating to traditional enemies, but when faced with thick armor, not only was its efficiency far inferior to the disintegration of crystal structures by high-frequency shockwaves, but the wear rate of the teeth on the chainsaw was alarmingly high, essentially obsolete compared to high-frequency oscillation weapons.

There was also, like a large club, an infantry howitzer, a few bundled together, just placed behind him.

Xiang Shan cocked his ear to listen.

More troops were gathering in this direction.

Xiang Shan patted the automatic fort beside him again, “Well, let’s make a big scene at last—if I get the chance, I need to apologize to Klein.

I was a bit radical when I said this thing was just for show.”

That’s what Xiang Shan said.

He leaped to the upper floor.

And behind him, only the half-remaining automatic fort fiercely opened fire in all directions, battling against the tide-like soldiers.

Xiang Shan landed again on a floor full of metal aerosol.

He casually tossed the infantry howitzer upwards—a move that would be suicidal for a Natural Person, but as a cybernetically enhanced person, as long as he wasn’t directly hit by the explosion, it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

A shadow swept out from the depths of the silver mist following the sound of the wind.

It touched the airborne howitzer, realizing it was a decoy.

It didn’t strike hard but cautiously retracted and then swayed nearby.

Xiang Shan’s legs compressed, storing kinetic energy.

Some synthetic muscle fibers were stretched to their tightest.

While carefully listening, he quietly pulled the pins of the fragmentation grenades.

These grenades, envisioned for old humanity and early Martial Artists as enemies, had a very long explosion delay.

In earlier battles, Martial Artists like Xiang Shan could easily catch and toss them back.

So, he needed to hold on to them a bit longer.

Then, throw!

The moment the grenades whizzed out, the tentacles forming the death trap sharply retracted.

But almost instantly, the grenades exploded.

Although the explosion was of a level that “could hardly kill people,” the robust shockwave still disrupted the martial moves on the outer parts of those whips.

Almost simultaneously, Xiang Shan released the kinetic energy of his legs.

The grenade shrapnels flew in all directions like scattered flowers from heavenly maidens.

The explosion slightly pushed the metal aerosol outward, improving visibility in the center of the blast.

Appennine naturally saw the flying shrapnels.

Not knowing the parameters of these antique grenades or their specific lethality, he immediately brought back his remaining whips for defense.

After all, this was an environment filled with metal aerosol.

Any rupture in the external armor could jeopardize the entire cybernetic body.

But Xiang Shan knew.

He was familiar with the power of those grenades and knew the specific strength of his external armor.

He had no need to fear.

Xiang Shan charged forward, moving against the shockwave, sword in hand.

A sharp, immense wail.

Appennine’s three whips tightly coiled around the chainsaw sword.

Sparks flew off the sword edge as the teeth shattered.

But only the outer skin of Appennine’s cybernetic whips was damaged.

Appennine felt bewildered.

These were his last thoughts as a personality mask.

A hand let go of the sword edge of the chainsaw sword, thrusting through his cybernetic body’s external armor.

Xiang Shan had merely used the massive “guard” of the chainsaw sword to cover his own small maneuvers.

“So, you all use standardized armor, huh?

It can be disrupted using the same frequency.”

Xiang Shan shrugged his shoulders and returned into the silver mist, picking up the infantry howitzer.

Though it could hardly kill people, it was still capable of destroying buildings.

The howitzer aimed straight upwards.