Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 280 - 280 60 A Glimmer of Hope

280: Chapter 60 A Glimmer of Hope 280: Chapter 60 A Glimmer of Hope The slogan proposed by the Fourth Martial God was “Uphold the Law as if the Law Exists.” It was meant to be a practical summation in response to an era where the “legal system” was completely destroyed, and “equality” and “justice” could not be found.

Of course, it must be clarified that the call to “Uphold the Law as if the Law Exists” is not demanding that heroes rigidly follow past laws in their actions.

That would be highly unrealistic.

“Law” refers to the procedural norms that are specified under certain specific conditions, according to some general rules.

It is an expression of the will of the ruling class and a tool for state governance.

In different times and places, the “legal provisions” themselves vary.

Only such progressive laws can cope with the constantly developing humanity.

It is illogical to demand that later generations abide by the laws of the past.

Heroes also didn’t have the objective conditions to enforce those specific provisions.

Heroes operated as guerrilla armed forces, mostly solitary wolves, responding to large-scale encirclements.

They couldn’t conduct investigations and trials as meticulously as the law enforcement agencies of the past did.

It’s too difficult in terms of objective conditions.

However, heroes and law enforcers do have one thing in common—they both hold the power over others’ lives.

Heroes will inevitably judge a person’s life or death.

Addressing this, the Fourth Martial God made his discourse.

He believed that it was permissible for heroes to kill, but only for the sake of “justice.” It is wrong to kill to vent emotions, and one should not entertain the thought of “this person hurt me in the past; I must take revenge with my own hands.”

Specifically, heroes should arm their chivalrous hearts with the philosophy of law and the theory of jurisprudence.

When taking a life, one should exclude personal emotions and also achieve “fairness.” If you determine that someone deserves death in a certain context, you should make a similar judgment in other similar contexts and not let evildoers off the hook due to a momentary satisfaction.

The reverse is also true.

Besides, “killing less” and “killing cautiously” are also necessary.

The Fourth Martial God refined and deduced the high ideals of the Martial Ancestor from the past, making “chivalry” more in line with the environment where the law crumbled and the Old Era was completely gone.

He also combined practice by establishing a new order in many Space Cities.

He and his comrades seized the local production equipment and organized a sizable armed force.

But he gravely underestimated the enemy’s cruelty.

King Aqini used super long-range high-energy particle beam weapons to directly destroy Space City.

It seemed that this battle also made the Protectors internally feel that King Aqini’s actions were too ruthless, and as one of the Kings, he was temporarily stripped of his command authority over the armed forces—until he partook in the siege against the Sixth Martial God and made meritorious contributions, only then did he regain some of his military powers.

However, the actions of King Aqini themselves seemed to be a signal.

Since then, the conduct of the Protectors became a bit more unbridled.

Borshu used to wonder as a hero, how great it would have been if the Fourth Martial God had won.

He was very familiar with some of the philosophies proposed by the Fourth Martial God.

Therefore, he also knew the true nature of his previous actions.

When he killed those “people who might be evildoers” in the city, he never thought to check.

Nor did he judge whether those guys truly deserved to die.

Every hero has slightly different standards for “unforgivable,” but “weighing whether it is really necessary to kill” is a very important ritual.

Borshu had completely become one of the Green Forest Men.

The more he thought about this, the fiercer his murderous intent became.

He turned his head away.

The woman who had followed along of her own accord was still sleeping.

—Just by gently reaching out his hand…

she wouldn’t even feel much pain…

Borshu slowly approached.

Ten meters…

five meters…

It wasn’t until he was only two meters away from the girl that Borshu stopped.

He reactivated all the safety locks on the remote weapons on his body.

“Absolutely not…” he growled in a deep voice and quickly backed away.

He could no longer distinguish his emotions.

Was he letting the girl follow him out of sympathy, or did he, from the bottom of his heart, want to kill her?

He couldn’t judge at all.

Borshu rolled several times on the ground.

He pressed his hands against his head, desperately pressing his face into the earth.

—There’s still hope for me…

—No, that’s not possible…

Borshu was very clear about his state.

Even after being empowered by the Green Forest Men, he still harbored hatred towards Green Forest.

Yet this hatred couldn’t overcome the closeness born from “shared memory.”

Borshu knew these people were evildoers.

But at the same time, he also knew that they would never deceive him.

They were sincere towards him.

Therefore, when he should have given a kick to Sky Fierce Star’s head, he retracted his foot at the last moment.

He couldn’t bring himself to strike.

Among all the heroes who had been initiated into the Green Forest, Borshu’s will to resist was not the most steadfast, and his hatred for Green Forest was not the strongest.

So, on what grounds should he resist that fate which was already destined?

Although the memories of the past thirty years still cried out in his heart that the Green Forest Men were evildoers, that they had twisted you.

But how could this faint voice compete with a whole nest of fierce Green Forest bandits, a collective and bloody memory that had accumulated a total duration of over a hundred years, resonating in his soul countless times?

That’s right, he knew the people of Sky Fierce were not good people.

But were they truly sincere to him?

After gaining the memories of the Green Forest, Borshu was certain that the people of Sky Fierce Star were indeed sincere towards him—they really had his best interests at heart.

It was just that the form of their “good intentions” was decided by them.

What could he do?

His emotions prevented him from betraying this “sincerity.”

When it was time to attack the original “Sky Speed Star,” Borshu did not express any opposition.

He also couldn’t commit suicide because the death would provoke anger and sadness from the people of Sky Fierce Star and the stronghold.

Thus, emotionally, he would avoid death.

This was probably the main reason Sky Fierce Star could trust him to carry out missions despite him not being fully corrupted yet.

No matter how much he struggled, he would eventually sink into the depths of bloodshed and hatred.

—Don’t give up hope… Maybe there really is a way?

Eventually, Borshu shook his head and stood up.

At least within the realm of imagination, he still had two methods.

The first was to completely destroy the Green Forest memories and the Ultimate Way Consensus that he received.

If he could destroy the memories in his brain, that would do.

He knew of such a method.

All it took was injecting a sufficient amount of Restoring Enzyme into his brain to reverse the lifecycle mechanism of his neural cells, which would revert his brain to its newborn state, like that of a young infant.

Of course, this method would also reset other parts of the brain as well.

Whether internal and external skills, or even his original memories and personality.

If a new personality was truly cultivated from this brain… would that still be him?

But, this was already the most probable method to bypass “emotions.” The Restoring Enzyme is a valuable resource for practicing Inner Strength.

To practice advanced Inner Strength, the Restoring Enzyme is essential.

But this also raised another issue.

Such a large amount of Restoring Enzyme was not easy to find.

For ordinary people, the Restoring Enzyme is too trivial.

Currently, its greatest significance lies in “aiding the practice of Inner Strength.” And masters of Inner Strength pose the greatest threat to the information systems of Protectors.

Like “Turing,” such powerful practitioners could truly suppress an entire army.

That’s why it is one of the few resources tightly controlled by the Protectors.

The production of Restoring Enzyme within many Sects is barely sufficient for their own use.

They only practice Inner Strength to maintain maximum plasticity of certain parts of the nervous system, not to erase memories.

But he intended to erase so many memories that the required amount would be astronomical.

Even if many Sects were willing to support him, providing him Restoring Enzyme, it still might not be enough.

Moreover, he now dared not reach out to those friends from the time of the Heroes.

After leaving the Green Forest Stronghold and reconnecting to the network in the city, he sent messages to his former friends using his various accounts.

“I have undergone the Ultimate Way Consensus Therapy by Sky Fierce Star, be careful.”

Then, he canceled those accounts.

He cannot ignore the possibility of him suddenly becoming deluded, wanting to blend in with those “brothers.” He cannot guarantee that he won’t suddenly betray his Hero friends.

And the other path… perhaps he could use more intense emotions to fight against the shared memory.

For instance, the memory of the Martial Ancestor that could transform one into a Martial God.

But there is also an issue with this.

The Jianghu legends led by “Turing,” along with the Protectors, have jointly hidden the information of the Martial Ancestor’s memory blockchain.

It is inaccessible to the average person.

Incidents of accidental entry are very rare.

He must delve deep into the Hero community to possibly get a clue about that blockchain.

But there’s the same problem.

If he goes into the Hero community to inquire, he would be turning into an unstable bomb.

So, he only had one last hope.

That was why he was heading to the New World.

This should be a small act of defiance by what remained of his heroic heart.

The Legacy of the Eighth Martial God.

The world has always speculated that the Legacy of the Eighth Martial God may be the information that enables one to become a new Martial God.

And to achieve this, it might require a massive amount of Restoring Enzyme.

He was willing to sacrifice his Biological Brain to let the Soul Spark of the Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan shine once more.

Even if it didn’t work, it didn’t matter.

As long as “Green Forest Borshu” disappeared, that would be enough.

—Eighth Martial God…

Borshu prayed to this weakest of Martial Gods.

Hoping that the spirit of the weakest Martial God could protect him for just a short while.

Just a short while would be enough.

…………………………………

Xiang Shan looked at the small container of semi-transparent yellow liquid in his hands and nodded, “The color looks correct.

Too bad there’s no lab rat to test it.”

Saying this, he placed the transparent container into an injector connected to a mechanical arm and then opened his own skull.