Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 436 - 80: Vast World

Chapter 436: Chapter 80: Vast World

Yuki closed his eyes while standing on the hundredth floor of Pine Eagle Building.

The windows on this floor seemed to have no cover at all, the high winds pouring directly into the room. His remaining native skin felt a slight sting.

The ground was uneven. It seemed as if someone had laid something down, making the floor less solid. Xiang Shan pushed him forward, his feet occasionally kicking or stepping on something.

——What is that... it’s kind of heavy... it seems like...

Then, he felt his stomach hit against a wall.

This was standing by the window.

For some reason, Yuki’s limbs shivered more and more violently. His lips also began to distort, as if he was enduring great pain.

Xiang Shan patted him on the shoulder, "Alright, open your eyes! Ah, I mean—cough, let’s try that again. Activate your Prosthetic Eye!"

Yuki reactivated his Prosthetic Eye. The view started to come into focus.

But before he could see clearly, Xiang Shan’s hand on his back suddenly exerted energy.

Yuki was pushed out, his body spinning half a circle in midair, heading downwards headfirst.

At that moment, Yuki had only one thought.

——Ah... why is there a bonus question included...

Yuki regained control of his body with a resolve as if his teeth were clenched.

——Don’t be afraid... the acceleration due to gravity is small, the energy release from the prosthetic is quick enough...

With a "thud," Yuki’s fingers caught the edge of the windowsill.

Yuki didn’t immediately climb up but stared tensely at the long stick in Xiang Shan’s hand. He didn’t know whether his mentor would suddenly strike him with the stick, knocking him down.

Cybernetically enhanced people certainly won’t let go due to pain. As long as there is no command to let go, the prosthetic will never release its grip, unless it is broken.

So if the mentor wanted to add another bonus question, he would have to break these fingers.

Then he would have to let go early to save these fingers, then resecure himself a few floors below before climbing back in.

Without these fingers, many actions would be impossible to perform. That’s the real danger.

But Xiang Shan seemed to have no such intention. It appeared he thought the difficulty of the question was already sufficient.

He crossed his arms over the stick and nodded, asking, "Can you climb up?"

"I can... uh..."

"Phantom Pain is quite intense, huh. It seems like the soothing perception center application has been uninstalled. Plus, your hands and feet are shaking severely; it looks like some corrective movement plugins have been deleted too," Xiang Shan said. "Can you still climb up?"

"I can..." Yuki stared at Xiang Shan. "But you wouldn’t shove me down with the stick, right?"

Xiang Shan nodded, "I won’t."

"Really?"

"Really."

Yuki hesitated for quite a while. He didn’t know if this was also considered a bonus question about "Reading a person’s mindset from their actions, determining if they are lying."

Xiang Shan was somewhat irritated. "Tsk, what are you thinking about? It was only after the Soth Divine Realm established the advanced connection between the language and motion sectors that people acquired the skill of ’reading physical movements.’ You are not there yet."

Saying this, he reached out his hand and pulled Yuki up.

However, Yuki remained on guard, ready to counteract the moment he felt he might be thrown out. It wasn’t until he firmly stood on the floor that he began to relax a little.

Xiang Shan nodded, "Good, you’re not foolish. You didn’t resort to overly cunning methods."

If one really had to say, there were some sneaky methods to handle this test.

For example, directly unloading the Prosthetic Eye driver, making one unable to see, effectively becoming blind.

In that case, the Prosthetic Eye would directly become "unrecognizable hardware," and its information would naturally not be received by the system.

With such manipulation, let alone understanding these maps, even if Zhu Xinyu or Hartman personally performed the witnessing, it would be futile.

Yuki said, "If we don’t play word games and look at the main point of the test, the content of the exam states ’Only by viewing the world through your ’self-created vision’, you pass the test.’ Uninstalling the Prosthetic Eye driver doesn’t work."

"Hmm, rational," Xiang Shan nodded."

The time it took from the first floor to the hundredth floor was very short. Both were cybernetically enhanced people, not like Natural Persons who can’t handle a few steps due to their thigh muscles, so they could ascend at a consistent pace. It took only a few minutes overall.

Given Yuki’s level, this short amount of time was definitely not enough to plug all the vulnerabilities in his entire prosthetic.

The firewall could indeed be blocked to some extent. After all, in such a situation, one could completely forego network services.

But in this era, every person’s system is considered a "surveillance device," connected to a "non-civilian network." This network does not provide services to individuals but will upload some information when the government requires it. During this process, the owner of the prosthetic cannot interfere.

A Wheel Maker made firewall in such a short time would hardly be able to seal all the backdoors.

At this time, removing some unnecessary drivers and plugins, deleting some non-essential files, became a cost-effective choice.

To avoid government backdoors as much as possible, Yuki deleted a large number of system files, keeping only the most basic rules.

Among them, he included programs critical to soothing sensations.

The function of this program was to send virtual signals to the body’s sensory centers, making the brain believe it still possessed a "sensitive flesh body." Lacking this program, one would feel an overall numbness and itch.

Normally, when a human body loses sensation in one area, the brain uses such signals to remind the consciousness, "There is a problem in this area, pay attention."

The removed program was designed to prevent this condition from occurring throughout the body.

Xiang Shan asked, "Tell me, why did you keep the sensory and motion systems..."

"A Hero... must maintain the ability to act..." Yuki barely managed to speak as he departed.

Xiang Shan sighed, "It seems you’ve almost passed. So, take a look outside."

Yuki turned his gaze towards the window.

Then...

The youth almost forgot the pain in his body.

Under the moonlight, the world rushed into his eyes.

It was a sight he had never seen from the ground before. The streaming lights on the streets, the stars in the sky, buildings on the hills looking as if they were on the ground level, and the pale sands outside the city...

Ultimately, all mingled into the horizon.

He felt an immense "volume of information." But this information was entirely different from what he felt when connected to the network or during cultivation.

Xiang Shan inserted another storage device into the port behind Yuki’s ear, reinstalling a secure system for him.

He patted Yuki’s shoulder.

"This is your first time seeing this, right? Take a good look. Even though those Lords have smeared it to use against us. Even though it’s now very malformed due to disasters."

"This is our world. It’s where you live."