Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 204 - 204 124 Victory

204: Chapter 124: Victory 204: Chapter 124: Victory After that bold statement, “A piece of scrap metal for a tactical missile is worth it,” the radio went silent just like that.

Xiang Shan leaned his head against the shooting port and searched for a few seconds.

Silence, complete silence.

This frequency only carried static.

He didn’t even know what had happened.

That broadcasting client he had never met was probably dead.

Xiang Shan truly hoped he was alive.

But to be cut off after just a sentence…

It must have been a direct method.

Since the broadcasting client wasn’t using a receiving device, Xiang Shan ultimately didn’t know how the other party had died.

Only then did a dull rumble of thunder come from beyond the horizon.

This sound had faded considerably.

High-frequency sound waves attenuate faster than low-frequency ones, so thunder nearby sounds loud, while thunder far away sounds dull.

But…

This place was a cloudless desert, completely devoid of thunderclouds.

So…

Xiang Shan closed his eyes and called up the video footage from the side of the vehicle.

Indeed, during the electromagnetic silence, there was a flash on the horizon.

It was very faint.

Considering the distance of several miles…

“Mid-range tactical missiles,” Xiang Shan murmured, “it’s spot on.”

Solo Kill King Jader whispered, “This fellow might have truly been worth it…”

“Worth shit,” Xiang Shan punched the ground, “We could have evacuated safely without this piece of information…

It just increases the odds a bit.

There was no need to sacrifice a comrade’s life for it.”

“From his perspective, he didn’t know how many heroes there were here, how they were split up.

I’m not great with expected values,” Solo Kill King said, “Perhaps in his consideration, this might have aided ‘an unknown number of heroes in unknown circumstances.'”

Criticizing brave souls with limited information from the standpoint of “someone who knows everything” is somewhat unfair to their courage.

“This isn’t just a question of statistics, right?” Xiang Shan, sitting on the ground, said, “Casualty ratios aren’t calculated like that.”

“Elite Soldier Tactics” rely on a very high casualty ratio and breaking the enemy in one wave of tactics to avoid falling into a numerical crisis.

If it couldn’t be done in one go, then one would need to turn a “few against many” into countless instances of “the strong against the weak,” ensuring a decisive victory each time, each one a ‘grand victory.’

And for “division,” the mobility of elite soldiers must be higher.

Only then could one truly achieve the flexible combat of “retreat when the enemy advances, harass when the enemy stays, attack when the enemy tires, pursue when the enemy retreats.”

All this logic serves the core principle— asymmetric casualties.

“If the enemy is a million times stronger than us, and we’ve consumed ten thousand of their units of resources for one of us, it’s still a loss,” Xiang Shan rubbed his forehead, “It should be like this.

The key isn’t ‘resource consumption,’ but the disruption of the enemy’s organizational structure.”

“Oh, right,” Solo Kill King nodded, “I remember that saying…

The Sixth Martial God also made this supplement when summarizing the failures of predecessors.

He updated the definition of ‘grand victory’ in the Assassination Tactics system of Martial Ancestor.”

“Wow, a military strategist, huh?” Xiang Shan was somewhat surprised.

—No, there should be no surprise.

If the Personality Mask and individual sources of information are similar in judgment, then this is quite natural.

“This skilled singer didn’t know we were here.

From his point of view, a group of heroes had orchestrated the Pine Eagle City incident and then left in several directions—that was also a possibility.

After all, nobody has a God’s eye view,” Single Kill King watched Xiang Shan, “Brother, even you don’t have it.

You can’t save everyone.

No hero needs to save everyone.

Don’t take humanity too lightly.”

A sudden sting…

as if a spark flickered inside Xiang Shan’s brain.

Again, a memory from the past.

—You’re crying here for what…

this inexplicable guilt?

Xiang, I must criticize you here.

You’re going to save the world.

If you can’t get out of this knot, overwhelmed by this minor issue, then you might as well sell your shares and comfortably become a wealthy man.

After all, you are financially independent.

—What do you think you are?

God or a savior?

“You can’t save me”?

Should I still owe gratitude to you, grovel on the ground begging for your salvation?

Does it make sense?

No, it doesn’t.

—Hold your head up, stand tall.

Ah, that’s better.

Remember, you are making history, benefiting humanity, and anyone should speak well of you.

As for ‘not being able to benefit everyone,’ that’s just a natural limitation.

It’s not your fault.

Xiang Shan’s hand covered his Prosthetic Eye.

He felt an urge to gouge out the eyeballs.

The dissonance brought by these tearless eyes was truly unbearable.

—When is this memory from…

what time point…

Teacher Jing…

Xiang Shan shook his head, suppressing these scattered thoughts.

Solo Kill King was looking at him at this moment.

Jader only knew that his new friend wasn’t in good shape.

Xiang Shan said, “Indeed, the spirit is commendable, but…”

Suddenly, the previously silent radio channel burst out with a message.

Jader sprung up almost instantaneously.

But the miracle they envisioned did not occur.

Another unfamiliar voice spoke, “Hello to all the listeners out there.

This is Old Sai.

Haha, I wonder how many people are still tuned into this channel?

Those familiar with me might know that I usually don’t broadcast at this time, on this channel.

But a friend of mine just got cut off before finishing his program, which really isn’t like him, so here I am covering for him.

First, let me repeat the content that my friend didn’t get to finish…”

This person known as “Old Sai,” the Broadcasting Client, began to repeat the last broadcasted military intelligence of Pine Eagle City that Crab had announced.

Xiang Shan was stunned.

However, Solo Kill King shouted, “Expand the listening range and see!”

The information processing abilities of Cybernetically Enhanced People allow them to listen to many different channels simultaneously.

Moreover, masters of Internal Strength with highly specialized linguistic functions are capable of multi-thread listening.

Initially, there was only one person repeating Crab’s content.

But soon, a second voice appeared.

“Hello, everyone.

I am your old friend Blind Fish.

You might find it strange why I am going online fifteen minutes early just to greet everyone.

Enough chitchat, let’s dive into a hot topic…”

“Welcome everyone to Babbitt’s story channel.

Just now, on the outskirts of Pine Eagle City, a tragic story unfolded.

Before telling this story, allow me, Babbitt, to recite a piece of blood-stained intelligence…”

“This is Yi, the free journalist.

I just received a special piece of intelligence from a colleague.

Before explaining its significance, let me first recite it…”

The third… the fourth… the fifth…

Limited by distance and the ionosphere’s reflection, these were the clear channels available.

Yet, in the once quiet world of radio, they shone like fire.

Far away, more broadcasters joined the ranks.

Because of the limited broadcast format, they couldn’t hear the broadcasters from far away places.

But this message was sure to spread infinitely in places unknown to them.

At this moment, Solo Kill King received a message from the young heroes.

Those youngsters seemed to also know about this matter and wanted to express something.

Solo Kill King slightly reprimanded them to keep calm.

Xiang Shan then sat up.

“Indeed, it seems I do have a problem of ‘overestimating myself,'” Xiang Shan mocked himself.

It looked like a problem of a hundred or two hundred years.

“The issue of ‘whether it’s worth it’ might only be answered absolutely objectively from a historical perspective by future generations,” Xiang Shan said.

“What we can do now, should be to utilize this intelligence to its maximum potential.”

…………………………………

In the distance, within the darkness, a hero silently grasped the back of a soldier’s neck.

Almost simultaneously, the electrical device in his palm released a high voltage current along with an electromagnetic pulse, directly destroying the opponent’s prosthetic central unit and biological brain.

The soldier collapsed limply.

The sounds of “thud thud” almost merged into one.

Only a few soldiers screamed out at the end.

But the signal was covered by a weak yet precise electromagnetic pulse.

“Alright, that buys us about two hundred and more seconds,” a hero exhaled in relief.

“This encirclement has suddenly loosened; I wonder if it’s a trap.”

“No…

it’s not…” another hero suddenly spoke, “I don’t think it is.”

“Ah?

Luo Fu?

What are you talking about?

Weren’t you just saying half an hour ago that ‘a sudden retreat might be a trap to lead us to our doom’?”

“No, it’s not that.” The hero known as “Luo Fu” shook his head.

“Listen to any broadcast…

any channel.

You’ll understand once you listen.”

“What?”

“They are all broadcasting the same thing—Amilcare Zhao has really returned to Pine Eagle City with about one third of his forces…

The reason seems to be…

because someone assassinated Bengel, an Official Knight from the Mona Knight Order of Pine Eagle City.”

“What?” the hero was shocked.

“Who did it?”

“I don’t know, we can’t even connect to the network here.

I just found out…”

“Looks like it might be true?” the hero said, somewhat astonished.

He relayed this incident through a message to a companion not far away, asking, “Old Hero, what do you make of this?”

[Then let’s break out.] The person responded quickly: [I think my old friend is about there too.]

[But your current condition…]

[Heh, the data has already been backed up with you all.

If even one of us can escape, the data that Skun Swordsaint entrusted to me can be shared with all of Earth’s comrades.

If one can get away, it’s a victory.]