Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 429 - 73 Igni Seal

Chapter 429: Chapter 73 Igni Seal

Xiang Shan this time once again touched the vicinity of a server that originally belonged to the gang.

This server was currently unattended. Originally, there were some folks looking to make a quick buck by stripping it for parts, but they were stopped by the nearby martial artists. There were a few households of martial arts apprentices in the area, who had some overwhelming advantage over ordinary people. However, the apprentices here were more timid than those at another server site, not daring to establish their own organization, nor finding someone who knew programming to control the server themselves, so the server just continued to operate for three years.

"It’s still running," Xiang Shan sighed, "The technology of this era is really astonishing."

Eight reappeared behind him, "I think this is normal. Although cutting-edge technology is becoming more fragile and demands more from the environment, those crudely made civilian technologies are indeed striving to improve stability, lowering their operational environmental demands. This is a very simple civilian server, with low power consumption, surrounded by ordinary people who don’t have high demands for the network. Three years of low-power steady operation... it’s understandable."

Xiang Shan shook his head, using his skills to hide his figure, sneaked into the circle, and then quietly dismantled the server.

"At least the dust filter really needs to be cleaned... Otherwise, it won’t last for long."

Eight said, "This place also frequently has sandstorms, isn’t the dust filter full yet? That’s actually a very clever design, not bad."

Xiang Shan took out the dust filter and emptied the sand from inside. The local climate was dry, so there was no need to worry about excessive moisture.

And there were no signs of fungi growth.

However, Xiang Shan’s visit this time wasn’t just about offering free maintenance to the local residents.

In the subjective view, "Native" raised an arm, then Eight walked over and high-fived him.

A second later, Xiang Shan’s prosthetic eye reignited. His posture had subtly changed.

He pulled a wire from his wrist and directly connected it to the server.

While waiting for the progress bar, Eight said to the Native beside him, "I feel like we could do more symbol-based stuff to distinguish between our personality masks?"

Native folded his arms and leaned against the server, "What are you suggesting? An exacerbation of dissociative identity disorder? You and me, we’re just consciousness side prints of Xiang Shan created using technological means. We are one person, together we make a whole. Doing that might rather cause psychological issues. Moreover, as inner strength develops, ’Xiang Shan’ will no longer need the technology of personality masks to use all of our skills."

"Will development proceed that smoothly?... Forget it, we’ll talk later, I’m going in."

In a split second, a waterfall of data descended from the sky, enveloping their vision.

The server, which had not been maintained for three years, buzzed into operation again.

Xiang Shan now had to address another issue.

King Aqini, Jakub Hartman.

Hartman’s inner strength was high, beyond ordinary human imagination.

The Eighth Martial God from eighty years ago couldn’t match him due to lack of time to grow.

Although Xiang Shan had undergone three years of hard training, he hesitated to claim he could win.

Of course, the distance between the Earth and the moon is about 1.3 light-seconds.

Even excluding the delay caused by signal jumps and processing, that is extremely far.

At this distance, the current Xiang Shan could definitely defeat Hartman.

But the key point was that Hartman didn’t necessarily have to defeat Xiang Shan in the battle, or in "inner strength".

He just needed to "defeat Xiang Shan".

And Hartman was always standing on the side of power.

In other words, as long as he caused interference to Xiang Shan or other heroes, he could potentially tilt the battle in his favor.

Moreover, he was also an expert in the martial military path.

By then, King Aqini could completely take over the command of the army and command from afar.

Commanding troops is different from inner strength confrontations; a minute’s delay is within the "acceptable" range.

Although Xiang Shan planned to strike Paradox City during a sandstorm. In such conditions, sand particles could block some electromagnetic waves, causing communication barriers.

But there are no absolutes. Preparations for all eventualities must be made.

The Protector also knew that sandstorm weather was a good time for heroes to strike at Paradox City, thus the defenses there would be stronger than usual during a real sandstorm.

Xiang Shan might also act before the sandstorm began.

As long as he can ensure a retreat into the area covered by the sandstorm, that would suffice.

At this time, the power of Hartman could not be disregarded.

And TX-0 provided some intelligence.

"There is something called the ’Igni Seal’... It seems to be some ancient proprietary nomenclature," Zero said, "This thing appeared after the Eighth Martial God was born. You can think of it as an alarm mechanism. This mechanism is linked to a specific data link used by Hartman to execute his inner strength. Hartman seems to have directly connected it to his neural impulses. When the Protector uses the Igni Seal, his inner strength reacts almost instinctively. And this instinctive reaction will tug at countless devices between Earth and the moon, generating a surge of data."

"After the Eighth Martial God’s death, Hartman gradually installed this device at major satellite stations on Earth."

Xiang Shan asked, "What effect does it have?"

"Very straightforward; within the range covered by that satellite signal station, non-Protector prosthetic bodies overload and catch fire."

As if a true Fire God had descended upon the world, the creatures upon the earth would ignite.

Only those equipped with the Protector’s firewall could defend against such an attack.

Zero had been extremely cautious previously, and this was related to that.

However, from eighty years ago to the present, this Igni Seal had never been triggered.

Probably the first Protector to trigger this seal would become a kind of disgrace, and then face a bleak future.

In reality, this effect was also conjectured by the Turing Lineage based on the intelligence they found.

It was said that before this global system was established, King Aqini had arranged several exercises that required cooperation from Earth.

Considering the infrastructure involved in this system, it might even be a simple and crude combination of enforced online presence and DDOS.

Paradox City must also have an Igni Seal.

Xiang Shan had to find a way to counteract this device.

"If only you had obtained something left by the Eighth Martial God a few years earlier," Eight sighed, "Actually, I had set up backdoors in some satellites back then. But eighty years have passed, and who knows how many of those satellites are still in orbit. With how often the Heavenly Punishment System is activated, they might have been shot down like cannonballs already."