Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 473 - 117 "Underground" Network

Chapter 473: Chapter 117 "Underground" Network

"All the contact points..." Xiang Shan clicked his tongue in amazement, "What if someone discovers them? For example, Green Forest and Houndhawk, because they detected a metal reaction nearby, so they came to have a look."

"The shell has been constructed to block electromagnetic detection as much as possible," Jader explained, "And I think it’s well-hidden. Even if it really is discovered, it doesn’t matter because this terminal can only store the most recent five pieces of intelligence. When new information comes in and there is no local storage space, the program will automatically delete the earliest one. Additionally, each terminal will delete the stored information that has been read after it’s read once. The intelligence inside is scarce, often only meaningful for a single operation."

As he spoke, Solo Kill King opened the terminal.

A very primitive interface appeared, primitive enough that it seemed to have traveled through time from before the birth of the Windows operating system.

And it even appeared on a screen that looked like a cathode ray tube.

Even though the texture of this thing, somewhere between rock and plastic, is the crystallization of synthetic chemical technology unimaginable in the twenty-first century...

No, now that I mention it, the sense of crossing through time feels even more intense.

Solo Kill King entered a few commands, then brought up several sets of QR codes.

"QR codes... okay, at least that’s a technology born in the eighties," he acknowledged.

Hearing Xiang Shan’s murmur, Solo Kill King explained, "This machine cannot understand information on its own and transcribe it into QR codes; you can only input parameters in a specific format..."

"No, I think I understand," Xiang Shan waved his hand dismissively.

After all, the older and simpler a thing is, the lower its maintenance requirements, the less likely it is to have problems, and the easier it is to replace.

It’s no surprise that the Hero Faction would dig up old technology from museums when there are not many people available to do routine patrols and maintenance.

They could even use the latest materials science to give these older technologies some buffs that transcend the era.

"So you mean, unless there are several guerrilla forces scattered in this mountain range, with a common mission, they would use this thing, right? To anyone else, this is just a terminal storing some meaningless QR codes with meanings known only to Fifth Brother," Xiang Shan sighed, "Then if this thing is discovered by Houndhawk, wouldn’t they dig out the whole thing?"

"The excavation is basically automated anyway. It only requires 3D printers and automatic assemblers to produce a batch of small excavation robots, so it’s very low-cost. Digging this thing out whole would be a good way to deplete the government’s resources," Solo Kill King laughed.

As for "cutting it off"...

That’s even less frightening.

The builders of this underground network (usually Burrow Dragon or the local Sect) know all the terminal locations. If one terminal has a problem, they could just check along the line, or they might not even need to check.

Xiang Shan nodded, "Automation... very good."

Speaking of which, in his younger days, the "ideal industry" he imagined also necessarily included "automation."

But with the advancement of automation technology, there also needed to be necessary social progress.

What he hoped for was not "the owner of the machines no longer needing employment relations," but rather "every person could liberate themselves from toil through machines, no longer worry about survival, and the purpose of human activity would solely be about human development."

During the Superman Enterprise era, to stack up "sufficient technology and production capacity for all of humanity to undergo Metal-based Genetic Modification Surgery" as quickly as possible, he did not stick to his more radical younger self’s dream of "additive manufacturing" but compromised to the reality that "centralized production systems were well developed."

At this point, it was difficult for him to say whether his judgment during that phase was right or wrong. The development of the "Metal-based Modification Surgery" was another kind of "race against time."

The young Xiang Shan had originally planned to promote additive manufacturing technologies once the Human Cyborgization Process was under way so that everyone could easily DIY their own Prosthetic Body at home.

Today, additive manufacturing technology has become a key technology that supports the Guerrilla Force. It is also because of this kind of technology that some Heroes who use high-end Prosthetic Bodies are able to slightly free themselves from logistical constraints.

It is unlikely that the Xiang Shan in his twenties or thirties could have imagined his dreams bearing fruit in this way.

Listening to Solo Kill King’s explanation, Xiang Shan felt a slight sense of poignant nostalgia for the "rugged times of old."

"...But I think the most ingenious part must be this biological Concealment technique. You see, when you came here, your first reaction was ’this place looks like it hasn’t been visited in years,’ right?" Solo Kill King said somewhat smugly.

Xiang Shan nodded, "That’s right..."

"There are actually some tricks here."

Solo Kill King whispered this and knocked on the ground before digging up a plastic product from nearby.

That looked like a...

"What is this?" Xiang Shan was surprised.

It was a plastic bottle, translucent, and it seemed to also have Fungi growing inside, which looked very dirty.

This should be a product without any electronic devices. The small bottle’s body was connected to several very fine metal tubes.

Solo Kill King opened the cap, pulled out the fungi inside, wiped it with a piece of moss he knocked off the ground, and then allocated a bit of water from the supply he carried (water is a survival necessity for Benchmark Man as well, with a high specific heat capacity and stability, and it can be electrolyzed if necessary, having many wonderful uses), and rinsed with it. After pouring out the water used to rinse the bottle, he poured some more water back in. Then he screwed the cap back on, pressurized it until water sprayed out of those tubes. Next, he introduced another solution into it, filled it up, and placed the bottle back.

"There’s something underneath... uh, it seems to be called a ’capillary wicking irrigation system’ that can disperse those sugary substances over the entire patch of land for a considerable length of time."

Xiang Shan said, "That might explain why moss and fungi can grow, but what you implied earlier was that ’the moss here can grow quickly.’"

Jader fiddled with the ground again and then pointed, "Take another look at this."

Xiang Shan adjusted the focus of his Prosthetic Eye and then discovered...

That was a solar panel the size of a leaf.

"These fungi have mostly undergone Metal-based modifications and can survive on electrical energy. The sugary substances and inorganic salt solution provide the material basis for their growth, and this small solar panel fills in the energy gap."

"And the fast-growing fungi can quickly cover the solar panel, concealing this trace as well."