Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 299 - 299 79 Dominance

299: Chapter 79: Dominance 299: Chapter 79: Dominance Xiang Shan slung his gun over his shoulder, lifting one eye upward to stare at the rock concealed by the Green Forest directly above, while the other eye looked straight ahead.

He maintained this posture as he walked up to Yuan Wenren.

Yuan Wenren stood up and nodded to Xiang Shan, “Thank you, Old Senior, for saving my life.”

Xiang Shan sighed, “Yuan, it’s not that I want to criticize you, but your actions were a bit…

unwise, you know that, right?”

He lowered his gun and tapped Yuan Wenren on the head, “We always say, ‘A small victory leads to a big loss.’ The collective strength of Heroes is smaller than that of the government, so we can only ensure our own safety while annihilating the enemy’s living forces through Guerrilla warfare.

It’s also very important to ensure our own safety…”

Yuan Wenren bowed his head, speaking gloomily, “But, people have indeed died.

Justice won’t accomplish itself; someone has to carry it out.

If I don’t act, you don’t act, and he doesn’t act, then what fairness and justice can the world speak of?”

“Yet the kind of ‘justice’ you speak of can only be realized by a very small group of people,” Xiang Shan turned his head slightly, “If you died, maybe those two families, those seven people, would be forever forgotten.

On the contrary, by living, you have the opportunity to fight for their justice.”

“But I really do have a poor memory,” Yuan Wenren said, “Maybe in many years, I’ll forget about this incident.

In this world, there are too many such cases; I can’t remember them all.

I have to remember one and take care of one…

otherwise, I’m afraid I’ll forget.”

“That’s the issue of ‘primary contradiction’ and ‘secondary contradiction,'” Xiang Shan shook his head, “Since ‘this world’ leads to ‘such things’ happening often, what we should first do is target ‘this world’…

Never mind, it’s pointless to argue here.

You should go to ‘Mule’ to resupply some ammunition.”

Just now, Yuan Wenren had emptied his ammunition while dealing with that Green Forest.

Moreover, Yuki was someone with a low rate of modification, making it somewhat dangerous for her to leave the vehicle.

Yuan Wenren rarely directly contradicted Xiang Shan’s words, which made her feel uneasy.

She couldn’t quite pinpoint why but felt an unrest in her heart.

Looking at Xiang Shan, she noticed that the Old Senior did not seem angry.

Thus, Yuan Wenren spoke up, “Do you think we can truly change this world?”

“Perhaps the road is long and winding, but at least we are truly seeking…” Xiang Shan raised his head, “Enough chit-chat, later I still need to figure out a way to take out that Green Forest.”

Xiang Shan looked at the rock.

It was thick and indeed could withstand light firepower.

But a high-explosive bomb could shatter that rock.

If the Green Forest hadn’t taken cover behind this rock, he could have seen the bomb coming beforehand and evade.

Hiding behind this rock, on the other hand, meant the Green Forest couldn’t anticipate Xiang Shan’s actions and avoid them in advance.

“It’s strange that he hasn’t run away,” Xiang Shan remarked, “Should we throw a bomb over there to test it out?”

The Green Forest’s External Armor had already been battered in the earlier battle, making it difficult to resist the attack of Firearms.

“No, Old Senior, that’s not possible,” Yuan Wenren shook her head, “There’s a person behind that rock, a flesh and blood human being.”

“A flesh and blood body?

Almost non-Prosthesis?” Xiang Shan was surprised.

Such individuals were rare in these times.

Even if they existed, they were usually the lowest of society, incapable of carrying or lifting much.

It was hard to imagine such a person getting involved with a Green Forest.

Yuan Wenren nodded, relaying what she had witnessed to Xiang Shan along with her previous speculations.

Xiang Shan scratched his head, troubled, “Could it be he plans to hold that person hostage to threaten us?”

This type of situation occurred frequently.

Since Heroes took it upon themselves to help the world at large, they often cared about the lives of others.

Thus, many villains would take unrelated groups of people to threaten Heroes.

Xiang Shan felt he had quite a heart of stone, but according to the assumption that “Personality Masks and information source individuals under similar circumstances make similar judgments,” if someone threatened him with the lives of a city’s inhabitants, he might well give in.

And among the many types of hostages, “Unmodified Natural Persons” were the highest quality.

Non-Prosthesis humans were too fragile, dying at the slightest contact.

Even a Martial Artist with shattered External Armor could be captured.

This was truly a nuisance.

Yuan Wenren hesitated, “I don’t know why, but I feel like that Green Forest has been protecting that young woman all along.

It’s just a feeling I have…

Maybe he won’t do it?”

“Oh?” Xiang Shan pondered for a moment.

Yuan Wenren had some degree of Inner Strength, so her mind was no longer ordinary.

Her interpretation of an individual’s behavior was more accurate than most.

Xiang Shan said, “Then we need to be somewhat prepared.”

With that, he slapped the side of “Mule” and opened a hidden compartment.

Inside were nearly a hundred micro mechanical insects.

Xiang Shan waved his hand, and these micro machines blended into the surroundings under the cover of night.

In this era, there were no ordinary plants or insects left; these small creatures were somewhat “conspicuous,” but at least they wouldn’t be spotted immediately.

Meanwhile, Xiang Shan planned to deploy a swarm of drones to control the surrounding environment.

The swarm of drones slowly moved toward the mountain.

But at that moment, Xiang Shan felt that something was wrong.

……………………………………

“So you are the Great Hero,” these words left Borshu silent for several seconds.

For several seconds more, he said nothing.

Only his arm continued to carry out the task of replacing the armor.

The girl was scared, “Great Hero, you…”

“Enough!” Borshu snapped to his feet, angrily exclaiming, “Bullshit Great Hero!

I’m not a Great Hero!

Not at all!”

He shoved the girl away violently, “Get out of here now.

Call me that again, and I swear I’ll kill you.”

The girl fell to the ground, her clothes stirring up a cloud of dust.

In that instant, Borshu saw a sight that sent chills down his spine.

Amidst the dust, he seemed to see…

a few drifting beams of light.

There is a type of aiming device that fires a beam of parallel light.

This beam is invisible and can only be detected by special prosthetic eyes when it scatters upon striking an object.

It’s said that in the age of Natural People, such devices were even used in sniping.

But Cyber Warriors seldom did so.

Parallel beams couldn’t bend around the curved Earth and were also disrupted by the atmosphere, so they were meaningless for the ultra-long-range sniping of Firearm Warriors.

Instead, some close-combat Firearm Warriors with less talent for “shooting” would use these aiming devices to compensate for their shortcomings.

— There were enemies, and they were very close…

Borshu knew that when he had pushed the girl over, she had stirred up dust from the ground.

This dust had caused the atmosphere to scatter the parallel light, creating the so-called “Tyndall effect.”

He was fortunate to see the path of the light.

At that moment, Borshu didn’t think about anything; his mind was clearer than it had ever been since joining the Green Forest.

He quickly slid to the ground, then picked up the girl and moved himself at the fastest speed a regular person could endure.

He saw a series of shadows out of the corner of his eye.

Not those Heroes, but enemies coming from the south, from above.

— A moment ago, they had wanted to kill this youngster along with him.

They weren’t Heroes…

agents of the government?

No sooner had the thought arisen than a barrage of bullets fell.

Yuan Wenren, who had just taken out a batch of magazines, immediately looked up.

She watched the sky in confusion.

She had heard the series of dull thuds just now.

That was gunfire—although processed through silencers and flash suppressors, there was no mistaking it was gunfire.

The sound of bullets striking the ground was almost simultaneous.

The shooter was very close to their target.

And the “target’s” location was…

behind the rocks?

“What’s going on?

Are there others here to kill this Green Forest member besides us?” Yuan Wenren was somewhat surprised.

It was indeed a coincidence.

She ran to Xiang Shan and asked, “Senior, there’s been a change in plans; what should we do now?”

Xiang Shan did not respond.

At this time, Yuan Wenren realized that the Old Senior was acting strangely.

He had closed his metallic eyelids, and his body was completely still, with only the heat dissipation structure on his neck working hard.

This was his Inner Strength running at full force.

Then, Xiang Shan managed to squeeze out a word through his synthesizer, “Retreat…”

“What?”

Yuan Wenren didn’t catch it clearly.

“Run!

Run fast!” Xiang Shan said as he grabbed Yuan Wenren and retreated.

He jumped over the Mule, barking at the opposite side, “Cut off all wireless signals, retreat immediately!”

He had just encountered a master.

Just now, Xiang Shan had wanted to direct the drone swarm upward on the mountain.

However, as the front drone entered a certain range, another signal tapped in.

Then, a domineering Inner Strength flowed rapidly along the data chain of the drone swarm.

Xiang Shan’s Inner Strength collided head-on with this new force.

This was the first time since awakening that Xiang Shan felt “strained” regarding Inner Strength.

In some operations, his response time was faster than that of the newcomer.

Clearly, his prime neural responses were stronger than this new expert.

However, he had forgotten many maneuvers, and over the past two hundred years, the art of Internal Martial Studies had also been rapidly advancing.

He failed to understand many of the codes refreshed inside the drone by that domineering Inner Strength.

This was not to be underestimated.

Xiang Shan adjusted his Prosthetic Eye, catching sight of the individual on the hill who was emitting a massive electromagnetic signal.

It was a peculiar Prosthetic Body.

Its base had several pairs of spider-leg-like structures—not too uncommon.

However, above the “spider legs,” there wasn’t a trace of human form.

How to describe it…

It was like a giant spider carrying a pepper shaker on its back.

Xiang Shan felt his soul split in two.

The younger part laughed hysterically.

This image seemed to trigger some comical association.

Meanwhile, the older part roared.

With anger, with sorrow.

“Hartman…”