Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 407 - 51 Other Heroes

Chapter 407: Chapter 51 Other Heroes

Babbitt and Xiang Shan split up to enter the city. They operated separately and then agreed to meet again in a few days.

Babbitt also took out a conical solar panel hat and placed it on his head. This was a very common tool. It might be seen less often in Wilderness Settlements, which have large public solar panels and Copper Candy crops, but nomadic city-dwellers, or those who needed to wander through the Wilderness, always prepared such an item. Wearing the solar panel on their head didn’t impede movement nor arm work, but it could effectively replenish energy.

However, this meant that two people couldn’t sit too close to each other.

Xiang Shan greeted, "Ba, how have these past few days been for you?"

"Hmm, pretty good." Babbitt nodded. "I found a Martial Arts School and spent a little money on a crash course."

A crash course, or a short-term training program, is one of the services offered by Martial Arts Schools.

That is, a high-ranked Instructor would provide short-term, one-on-one personalized guidance to a Martial Artist, pointing out the problems in their Martial Arts and filling in the gaps.

This service is generally aimed at those who already have some foundation or actual combat experience, and who don’t have time for regular courses.

The ones who purchase such courses are mostly wanderers from the Wilderness.

They could be Heroes or Broadcasting Clients, or possibly Green Forest members who can control their own actions to some extent.

Of course, Protectors don’t need this service. They have their own education systems.

Xiang Shan nodded, "Seems like it went smoothly?"

"Yeah, I attended a Martial Arts School for three days." Babbitt said. "I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress!"

Such services aren’t cheap, and they’re not something you can just sign up for. But after all, Babbitt was also a fairly successful Broadcasting Client with some fans, so he could receive some support.

"That’s good," Xiang Shan nodded in response.

"And you, Mr. Noname?"

"I also found a Martial Arts School and have been taking lessons," Xiang Shan stated.

"...Huh?"

"I discussed this plan with you on the road, didn’t I?" Xiang Shan shrugged.

"This..." Babbitt was a bit startled. "You did mention it... but... I really can’t imagine someone as skilled as you would still need to attend a Martial Arts School..."

"There is always a sequence in hearing the Way, and a specialization in professional skills," Xiang Shan said. "Martial Artists from Martial Arts Schools are also experts who have reached the pinnacle in a certain skill, and naturally have something worthy to offer."

In the beginning, when he and Yawgmoth were creating the Cyber Martial Arts system, they also referenced the records of those arena fights.

And more importantly, he made contact with TX-0.

Perhaps later, he might even have the chance to track down Zhu Xinyu along this line.

This was most important.

Babbitt nodded and said, "But this deviates a bit from the kind of chivalry I imagined..."

"The romances don’t have such a story?"

"No..." Babbitt said.

"So, what else have you been up to these past few days?"

Xiang Shan asked.

Babbitt replied, "Well... I tried doing my own ’fiction’ based on the story you told, Mr. Noname. But so far, it’s still very... rudimentary."

"Not being able to surpass the past Famous Practitioners is normal. They have experienced a complete culture," Xiang Shan said. "And they have been preparing to ’tell stories’ from a young age. They understood what ’fiction’ and ’stories’ are and had a complete concept of these. But you only learned about this a week ago. It’s normal for it to not go smoothly at the beginning."

Babbitt was quite moved, "Thank you for your encouragement. Some day, I will write a story that I can be proud of."

Xiang Shan nodded, "So, what else? You spent three days in the Martial Arts School, you didn’t just stay in your own car thinking up stories for the rest of the four days, did you?"

Babbitt shook his head, "Of course not. I also remembered the part in the ’Golden Rose’ story about ’gathering the dust of gold.’ Besides one broadcast, I’ve been walking around in the city, observing this ’world.’"

"Oh," Xiang Shan nodded.

Actually, this was one of the goals he had for guiding Babbitt.

He needed more ways to understand this era.

’Fictional works written by the people of this era based on the reality of this era’ could also serve as one such way.

Xiang Shan asked, "So what do you think of Pine Eagle City?"

"Hmm..." Babbitt pondered for a moment, "It’s just a... very average city."

"Just average?"

"The cities of this era don’t seem to have any distinguishing features. The ’regional culture’ and ’geopolitical concepts’ you spoke of have been completely erased," Babbitt said. "The difference between cities is like the difference between one dump and another. If there is any difference... This place’s underworld is rather quiet; I haven’t seen a trace of gangs."

Broadcasting Clients who navigate the lower quarters unavoidably have to deal with such people.

Broadcasting Clients are a group that is very sensitive to gangs - you might even say they’re the most sensitive group to the city’s underworld.

After all, to Protectors, gangs are just a weak, riotous group treading on the edge of Dyson’s principle, and to Heroes, gangs are weak evildoers with a low level of malice and risk - even defeating them doesn’t yield many good parts. [In a sense, the near disaster that the Young Heroes faced in Pine Eagle City three years ago might not be unrelated to this attitude.]

Xiang Shan shrugged his shoulders, "The gangs in Delacruz City are cleaner, I suppose."

The things that the Eighth Martial God did back then actually did have some impact.

At least for the sixty or seventy years that followed, there wasn’t anything like a ’gang’ in that city.

Perhaps ’culture’ or ’shared imagination’ still exists thinly between people. No matter how much the Protectors deny it, there’s still a bit of it there, and it can’t be completely eradicated.

The lower-level ecosystem created by the Eighth Martial God was destroyed, but he also indeed twisted the form of gangs’ existence in that area.

Nowadays, the spontaneous organizations among the civilians of Delacruz City seldom show signs of transforming into gangs or the Green Forest.

"That’s true. Also, the local Lord here seems to be particularly... well... it’s not good to speak ill of others in the city," Babbitt remarked.

Xiang Shan nodded, "It’s true, if your Inner Strength isn’t strong, you shouldn’t curse carelessly."

"Ah, right, Mr. Noname." Babbitt suddenly changed the topic, as if boasting proudly, "The day before yesterday, after the broadcast, a supporter came forward and left. It was also a Hero."

"Oh? There was still Hero activity? A local one?"

Three years ago, with the support of Amilcare Zhao, the Protector organization led by Mrs. Deborah Zhao took action against the nearby Jianghu forces.

The Chivalrous Power in the vicinity had been devastated.

Having a Hero now was truly a fortunate event.