Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 225 - 225 5 The Escape of the Old Hero

225: Chapter 5: The Escape of the Old Hero 225: Chapter 5: The Escape of the Old Hero Several days later, Amilcare Zhao once again walked into the virtual meeting room.

The meeting room was still shrouded in dimness.

However, intuitively, a halo of light enveloped each participant—or perhaps they were the “light sources” in this space.

This was all virtual imagery, which didn’t particularly adhere to the laws of optics.

The number of attendees seemed greater than last time.

Amilcare counted over thirty participants.

All the independent armed cadre were present; this was indeed a rare large-scale action for the loosely structured, gene bank defense arms.

The officer in charge looked around and said, “It looks like almost everyone who should be here has arrived.

Let’s begin the meeting then.”

His voice was full of static, the rustling noise nearly ineliminable.

Amilcare thought this colleague must still be in the wilderness, not back at their main base.

Most of the defense officers were now inside their own superstructures.

These buildings were tall enough that the sandstorm could not affect the communication of the satellite stations on their top floors.

Even though those satellite stations had been bombed by an EMP just two weeks ago.

In the wilderness, however, such facilities were absent.

The best communication conditions there involved mobile signal transmission vehicles.

“Due to the appearance of the sandstorm, we should probably admit defeat this time,” said the officer.

“The storm is long-lasting.

During this period, our army can’t maintain sufficient communication, and our command system is severely limited.

This is very problematic.”

“But, this should also be an advantage,” another officer spoke up.

“If those heroes don’t have radioactive batteries, they can’t replenish energy in a sandstorm environment while we can rely on manually transported batteries to sustain our troops’ operations.

Under these circumstances, we still have an advantage.”

The leading officer nodded.

“I’ve considered this too.

But before their energy is exhausted, those heroes have greater mobility than ordinary soldiers.

They might plunder the batteries we transport.

And lacking efficient communication, it’s hard to ensure the batteries are accurately distributed.”

“I’ve gathered all the elite martial artists under my command.

They will escort the batteries,” the officer said.

“Your search perimeter is close to my territory.

Should there be a need, I can allocate some of my power reserves.”

Protectors’ superstructures often house large fusion reactors for power.

They have little dependence on the sun and ample resource reserves.

Even if the army’s energy consumption reached thousands of times that of the heroes, they could afford it.

“That could work,” said the officer with static.

“However, the soldiers here are from various cadres, originally belonging to different cities and troops.

Without a unified command system, collaboration can be poor, and friendly fire incidents might occur.

Even if you can provide sufficient energy, I cannot act recklessly.”

“Maintain a squad of elite martial artists for guerrilla operations,” someone suggested.

“Keep patrolling on the map.

Those heroes haven’t had access to solar energy for two days.

Their internal electricity supply should be insufficient for sustained high-intensity combat.”

“Don’t forget, the spacecraft that crashed on Earth with Tao Enhai on board had isotopic batteries or even a small reactor,” another person said.

“With that reactor, they can still maintain energy for a few individuals.”

“That’s a bit bothersome,” admitted the officer willing to supply energy, showing a hint of frustration.

“But at least they can’t replenish their parts anymore,” another officer said.

“We’ve already effectively dismantled all the Green Forest Strongholds, and also relocated some of the wilderness settlements.

Additionally, Mr.

Amilcare’s move was truly splendid—aside from the sudden tight quota on space-based ammunition, everything else went very smoothly.”

Amilcare nodded in acknowledgment, feeling honored.

“Wear and tear on parts will be their major enemy.”

“Anyway, it’s not important anymore,” the officer still in charge of the pursuit spoke up.

He seemed to have a higher internal status than the others.

After the assassination of Bengel by Xiang Shan, which forced most gene bank defense officers to return to their territories to reinforce defenses, he stayed behind to command the pursuit of Tao Enhai.

He continued, “Tao Enhai is infected with Evolu spores.

As the infection progresses, his martial arts skills will only weaken.

We can afford to wait a bit longer.”

“Right now, what Tao Enhai probably needs most is someone who can perform a brain separation surgery for him and a safe environment to conduct it.”

At this, the officer chuckled: “I don’t think ordinary heroes would bother mastering such a rarely-needed surgery.”

Laughter of relief echoed through the room.

Indeed.

Tao Enhai was originally active around Mars and the Asteroid Belt.

For some unknown reason, about a year ago, he moved towards Jupiter and was intercepted by a space fleet in the Jovian sector half a year later.

Intelligence suggested that his goal was to seek out a recluse near Jupiter—possibly a member of the World Openers.

In a spaceport on the outskirts of Jupiter, Tao Enhai had a brief encounter with the King of Godspeed.

Although a powerful martial artist, the King held sentiments for those early heroes, did not fatally strike, nor did he prevent the other from fleeing.

He merely appeared there in time to prevent the old hero from hijacking the spaceport.

During this encounter, the King of Godspeed ordered the spaceport’s defense system to release Evolu spores into the air—a product of genetic engineering.

It was similar to a cancer cell, or rather, it was a special pathogen transformed from Benchmark Man’s cancer cells.

Once these spore-formed cells developed, they acquired the characteristic of “unrestricted division.” Moreover, they completely used electric field energy in place of the chemical energy of ATP hydrolysis.

In simple terms, they efficiently absorbed electrical energy.

In areas with high humidity, they could even attach themselves to electrical equipment, causing significant damage.

Once it damaged the external armor and entered inside the prosthetic body, this thing also continued to damage the prosthetic body and even had a certain chance of entering the biological brain.

The King of Godspeed’s external strength greatly exceeded that of Tao Enhai, and his prosthetic body was also the essence of human technological prowess.

The wounds he inflicted ensured precisely that the Evolu spores infiltrated Tao Enhai’s biological brain.

It was only because this high-ranking Protector remembered their old friendship that he did not pursue and kill him.

However, he also informed Tao Enhai, hoping Tao Enhai would surrender.

After fleeing the Cosmic Spaceport, Tao Enhai broke out based on his understanding of Ship Mastery Art and barely shook off the pursuing fleet within the Asteroid Belt.

However, his spacecraft had also been damaged.

If his prosthetic body rate and degree of metal-based transformation weren’t high enough, this old hero would have died of asphyxiation in outer space long ago.

But even so, he couldn’t hold out for long.

Thus, he had no choice but to flee to the closest major celestial body—Earth.

Although humanity’s civilization had long shifted priorities outward, Earth, as the origin of mankind, still boasted a considerable population and, relatively speaking, the most habitable environment.

According to the Protector’s speculation, Tao Enhai might have hoped to find assistance here.

Unfortunately, due to the necessity of avoiding King Aqini stationed on the Moon, the landing spots available to Tao Enhai were limited.

In the end, Tao Enhai only managed to deceive the monitor networks of outer space with his spacecraft’s external disguise layer and landed in the New World.

This was supposed to be a “catching turtles in a jar” scenario.

But someone let the news leak, and rumors of “the old hero stranded in the New World” appeared online, which later led to the story of the group of heroes coming to his aid.

“At least this time, time is on our side,” the searching officer concluded.

“I can even say, the more heroes that come, the louder our merits will resound.”

……………………………..

Jader remembered that when the sandstorms kicked up, it was often the most vibrant time for the city.

Because when the dust was raised, it meant that many of the wireless monitoring systems became less effective.

This allowed certain individuals lurking in the darker parts of the city to move more freely.

Many grudges were settled in the midst of the sandstorms.

Moreover, the storms interfered with civilian electromagnetic signals, so those impoverished denizens addicted to the net had to get up and seek jobs to earn some money during these times.

The sand could not make their metal skins feel pain.

Goggles were also sufficient to protect their eyes from harm.

In short, when the sandstorms came, the whole city seemed to surge with new life.

However, this progression fared differently for Jader.

The entire city still appeared half dead.

The posts and checkpoints at various locations seemed to sever the “vitality” flowing on the city streets.

“These houndhawks…” Jader cursed.

He turned to Yuki and whispered, “Kid, remember, it’s also very important to find routes through the streets and alleys that avoid the houndhawks.

Stick close.”

Avoiding surveillance, climbing over lower barriers, bypassing the checkpoints set up by Protectors…

This skill was also quite important for an assassin.

“You need to watch closely and know how to visually distinguish the types of surveillance devices,” the Solo Kill King said.

“During sandstorms, thunderstorms, or EMP conditions, we can approach the wireless types.

But the wired ones, no good.

You need to know how to distinguish from the power sources and the positions of wired networks…”

“Of course, there are also some wired surveillance devices deliberately disguised as wireless types.

And there are some places that are manually monitored…”

Yuki nodded continuously, taking important notes in the notebook in his brain.

The two of them taught and learned as they went, and soon they were outside Hiroshi Matsushima’s residence.

Yuki couldn’t help but ask, “Old uncle, can you tell me who that ‘friend from the past’ of yours is now?

We’re about to meet him.”

“Not until the very last moment,” the Solo Kill King said seriously.

“Even at the doorstep of that person, we could still be seized right there.

It’s also possible that you get caught, but I escape.

Under such circumstances, if you don’t know this information, wouldn’t that friend be safe?”