Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 379 - 23: The three-year period has come to an end.

Chapter 379: Chapter 23: The three-year period has come to an end.

Central America’s vast plains at night.

Xiang Shan stopped on a small dirt mound, constantly adjusting the lens of his prosthetic eye.

Soon, he located his target.

It was a squad of Mobile Cavalry, riding motorcycles in motion. They were the Mobile Cavalry directly under King Aqini, the true elite.

Three years ago, after Xiang Shan had annihilated the first Mobile Cavalry squad, this thirty-person squad was sent down. They had only one mission: to find the person who killed GA-R03. This squad was equipped with superior martial arts and had significantly concentrated power, unlike the incident with GA-R03 where they brought only a few people to surround and kill in the Borshu.

The tactics of GA-R03 back then were not greatly flawed. They thought they were just facing a Green Forest close to the First Heavenly Layer, but they could not have foreseen that there was also a hero present whose internal and external strength far surpassed the typical One Layer Heaven Martial Artists, and whose only limitation was his prosthetic body, leading to their defeat.

This Mobile Cavalry squad was tailored based on his performance three years ago. They were personally encapsulated by King Aqini, who also crafted their firewalls himself. It could be said that no one could break through their systems instantly.

And if they really encountered an Internal Strength Master—like Xiang Shan from three years ago—they could even call upon the world’s second-best internal strength master through satellite.

The distance between the Earth and the Moon is 1.28 light seconds. Unless one is a master like ’Turing’ who defined the evolution of computer technology, such a delay wouldn’t leave King Aqini helpless.

If it were Xiang Shan from three years ago, there might indeed have been some danger.

"Three years..." Xiang Shan sighed, "Three years of patience."

During these three years, Xiang Shan had been reorganizing his own internal strength.

He spent four months reverse engineering the latest programs to grasp the changes in internal strength over the past eighty years, then spent another two months writing an update package for the cultivation technique left by the Eighth Martial God.

Initially, the Eighth Martial God entrusted these data to Zhu Xinyu. This way, even if all resources on Earth were lost, Zhu Xinyu’s copy would definitely be preserved, and it appears that over the eighty years, quite a few people have downloaded the cultivation technique. Most of the downloads were "partial," but they were still enough to piece together a complete system.

At that time, when Xiang Shan’s consciousness was overlaid with the personality mask of the Eighth Martial God, he perceived the star-filled sky linked by the Magnetic Chain and felt a sense of "my efforts were not wasted."

Then followed two and a half years of cultivation.

Xiang Shan continuously used the Restoring Enzyme on himself to degenerate his past neural network.

This was not an easy task.

During these two and a half years, Xiang Shan also incessantly tested whether his other skills and memory were intact. He would force himself repeatedly to recall what he had learned and thought.

But the worse part was not there.

Because Xiang Shan had brain damage, he could not freely activate the neural networks in his brain— or rather, he could not freely access the memories within his brain. He could not be certain what memories were inside his brain.

Since he could not verify his memories, he also could not back them up in advance.

The memories associated with the personality mask of the Eighth Martial God were also incomplete.

When the Eighth Martial God left behind this personality mask, it was meant for a new Martial God to inherit. And usually, a Martial God would have memories like Xiang Shan did. He never expected that the Native Xiang Shan who eventually arrived here would be someone who only had "Xiang Shan’s" self-identity and thought patterns, but had lost most of his memories.

Neither "Native Xiang Shan" nor "the Eighth Martial God" could be sure whether this brain still held any precious memories or how important those memories might be.

But the risk was worth it.

Xiang Shan wanted to advance further on the path of Internal Arts, to fully absorb Eight’s legacy, which meant integrating his brain’s neurons with those nanoneedles into a cohesive network. His nervous system needed to be adjusted no matter what.

Especially the connection between the Soth Divine Realm and the nanoneedle system.

Each time, Xiang Shan injected himself with the Restoring Enzyme with the awareness that he might "forget something important."

Throughout these three years, Xiang Shan lived daily with the anxiety of "Have I forgotten something important?"

However, with the reversal of his brain damage, Xiang Shan indeed remembered more and more.

Each day felt richer in memories. Each day he feared losing memories.

Xiang Shan could hardly believe that he had persisted for two and a half years.

But thinking back now, this "death by a thousand cuts" pain wasn’t so formidable, was it?

"After all, ’this me’ has already died twice,"

Xiang Shan comforted himself thus.

According to the judgment of the Eighth Martial God, Doctor Hu must have established contact with other mystical forces. He had his own connections in the city and had built his own network. It was because of this that he was able to survive under the surveillance and searching of King Aqini’s subordinates. With Doctor Hu’s help, Xiang Shan had not been disturbed for three years.

But Doctor Hu himself could not escape.

This Mobile Cavalry squad, after learning that C. Shivaji-21, Fengxiong IV, and the previous Mobile Cavalry had disappeared underground, had also repeatedly searched in Delacruz City. They had given Doctor Hu quite a hard time.

However, this would be their cause of death.

Last year, Xiang Shan planted a Gu in the servers of Doctor Hu’s hospital.

It was similar in concept to "Fire Stealer" created by Zhu Xinyu in 2030. Those Mobile Cavalry members, after browsing the surveillance records and some log files at Doctor Hu’s hospital, would be infected. This virus was very cautious and excelled at self-deletion. It had no substantial destructive power but only secretly collected some things and then sent them out.

Of course, what specific parameters it collected was not important.

After Xiang Shan received feedback about the virus online, he knew.

The fact that the virus could operate said a lot.

At the same time, Yuan Wenren reported the location of this squadron.

She had encountered this squadron by chance in another city, but she did not publicize it; instead, she contacted Xiang Shan.

"There’s only one chance." Xiang Shan looked at the squadron moving in the distance and started his motorcycle. He was circumventing them from the side. To the Mobile Cavalry, it seemed as just a transportation person coming from the side, planning to get ahead of them.

By the time they noticed the vehicle approaching, several firearms had already locked onto the vehicle. However, the Mobile Cavalry did not want to escalate the situation and did not open fire after confirming that the person was not headed their way.

The distance between the two parties was slowly closing.

But at that moment, something ejected from Xiang Shan’s motorcycle.

Before the Mobile Cavalry could react, that object suddenly exploded. A fierce electromagnetic pulse swept through the area.

For at least twenty seconds, no information could be transmitted to the satellite!

Xiang Shan’s motorcycle suddenly veered, slamming straight into the group of Mobile Cavalry.

Blinded by the sudden EMP, the Mobile Cavalry’s prosthetic eyes flickered with noise, preventing them from aiming immediately.

But they responded in an instant.

Dense gunfire enveloped the area straight ahead.

Xiang Shan, having been prepared, swayed his center of gravity several times, dodging the dense barrage of bullets.

In an instant, the two parties closed to within twenty meters. Most of the Mobile Cavalry had already given up using firearms to suppress the enemy. They started to gather, planning to deal with this sudden attacker in hand-to-hand combat.

Meanwhile, a few members of the Mobile Cavalry began to retreat towards the back of the team, ready to support with firepower if their comrades in front could not suppress him.

It was only then that they noticed the appearance of the attacker.

The attacker had an excessively muscular torso that seemed out of coordination with his lower limbs. This looked very much like one of those niche competitive martial artists specializing in boxing.

While the Mobile Cavalry was taking a good look at the attacker, the attacker made a seemingly meaningless gesture.

The attacker suddenly stretched out his arm and swung it through the air.

It was as if he was in a relay race, high-fiving an invisible teammate.

The Mobile Cavalry thought this was the precursor to some special attack and even made evasive maneuvers.

But the guy, as if he really high-fived an invisible person, seemed to receive a burst of invisible power, causing his motorcycle to suddenly swerve and fall to the ground—no, this was probably a staged effect. He was already prepared to "shift his center of gravity" but intentionally performed it like a pantomime.

The attacker contracted his body, using the motorcycle as cover, thus avoiding a wave of gunfire. The motorcycle sparked a series of flames as it slid across the ground, colliding with the unchecked Mobile Cavalry.

The Mobile Cavalry evaded and then turned to look at their opponent who had slipped down.

Then, they saw a pair of eyes.

The attacker, propped skew on the motorcycle, almost parallel to the ground. He held the handlebar with one hand to maintain balance. The other hand was placed on his face as if holding an "invisible mask."

The scene was so bizarre that it made the Mobile Cavalry watch in astonishment.

They did not know that the "hand-switching" self-hypnosis had already been initiated.

The firewall’s 0day vulnerability of King Aqini was breached.

Malicious code was wreaking havoc.

The motorcycle’s kinetic energy was depleted by the friction with the ground. Xiang Shan slowed to a stop. The Mobile Cavalry also turned around.

Xiang Shan released the handlebar, stood up, and said, "So, different protocols were used... or is it that the prosthetic eyes themselves lack the function to receive infrared signals? There are still three left."

Though one Mobile Cavalry member did not understand why his comrades had stopped their motorcycle engines, it did not stop him from yelling, "Who are you? How dare you..."

He didn’t finish his sentence.

A comrade’s high-frequency blade suddenly cut across his face.

[What happened][Why?][Am I being controlled?][This can’t be]...

A tumult of thoughts echoed in the squadron’s internal network.

Behind Xiang Shan, the motorcycle erupted into flames due to a bullet hit. That was the sound of a metal battery reacting.

Under the firelight, Xiang Shan—the Eighth Martial God—quietly watched the Mobile Cavalry fighting amongst themselves.

"Very nice." Xiang Shan nodded in approval and said.