Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 597 - 241: Wishing I Had Died Back Then

Chapter 597: Chapter 241: Wishing I Had Died Back Then

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This was learned only later.

In subsequent experiments, Yawgmoth’s protocol led to sporadic deaths among the primate test subjects, and these cases of death were largely due to the slow speed of brain transformation, unable to keep pace with the body’s conversion.

But these were just isolated incidents.

Most primates could survive this period by relying on standard cooling methods and live on successfully.

There were only two issues.

The first was that the cognitive abilities of monkeys are far inferior to that of humans. Even if there was minor damage to the higher parts of the brain, it would not be immediately evident.

And the second point...

As a top geneticist, Yawgmoth overlooked a physiological perspective.

The complexity and energy consumption of the human brain are far greater than those of other primates.

So much had been sacrificed for this brain.

Human infants must be born before their development is complete. If they waited until the brain fully developed and the skull was fully closed before being born, they would undoubtedly become stuck in the birth canal. Compared to many other animals, a full-term human baby is essentially a "premature" newborn.

Even so, childbirth for human females carries an extremely high risk.

All of this, for the sake of this brain.

The human brain’s heat dissipation capacity was just "sufficient," but it was not designed to handle a task like "benchmark transformation."

A barrier that other primates could barely overcome was, for humans, a true chasm.

Yawgmoth’s original plan involved a neurotropic herpes virus. Herpesviruses have affinity for skin, mucous membranes, and nerves. A single virus could transform several different types of tissue and was relatively safe.

He had not initially considered a creative approach like using rabies.

However, subsequent research showed that a weakened rabies virus was, in fact, the correct solution for humans.

"It’s just luck," Xiang Shan pondered.

Modern science had become so specialized that even a top geneticist like Yawgmoth could slip up in an avoidable situation.

Scientific research was no longer a job that could be done well by working alone.

"Recruiting that team wasn’t easy, took me so much effort..."

"And I still had to clean up after him... Tsk. Thinking about it, it was me who used this matter to create a buzz, dressed it up nicely... Damn, how many praises did I concoct for that bastard at the time?"

"But by creating a buzz, I could influence the Ethical Committee... Tsk..."

Many memories from his youth tumbled around in Xiang Shan’s mind.

The commotion woke up Cain and Jader. Cain asked, "Nameless Hero, is something wrong?"

"Nothing. Just remembered something unpleasant."

Cain scratched his head, "You seemed quite happy."

Xiang Shan fell silent for a moment, "Have you ever experienced this? Betting everything to save someone’s life. Then many years later, that person becomes your enemy."

Cain shook his head, then nodded, "If you ask me... When I was a child, this was decades ago. I was young back then. One of our seniors sponsored a hero who defected, becoming an officer, and even led a campaign to destroy our community."

"Decades ago? Before the Eighth Martial God?" Xiang Shan nodded, "I heard that for a long time after the Seventh Martial God, no new Martial Gods emerged, and the people of Jianghu were quite bewildered."

"But that’s no excuse for his betrayal," Cain said with some anger. "His external armor and all kinds of rare metals were provided by us. And what was the result?"

He glanced at Xiang Shan again, "If you ask me, you shouldn’t have saved that bastard in the first place."

Jader really wanted to curl his lips downwards. He vowed that after returning, he would fit an expressive prosthetic body to the lower part of his face—even if it was just capable of abstract expressions.

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The Solo Kill King knew the Nameless Hero’s true identity. All that occupied his mind now was the question, "Who is that guy?"

Yog considered for a moment and laughed out loud, "Come to think of it, if that were the case, he would have become the greatest Famed Hero from the past to the present, and I would have become a reactionary. That’s not right, not right at all. What a loss."

Cain felt indignant, "Hero, huh! So heroes are just meant to be betrayed, is that it?"

"No one can predict the future; making a choice that leaves no guilt in one’s heart at the present is enough," said Xiang Shan, "Besides, even the Ninth Martial God had faced turning troops on the battlefield. The government is just as susceptible to betrayal."

Cain nodded, "That’s true."

A thought crossed Xiang Shan’s mind, "The officer who betrayed you..."

"He died when the Ninth Martial God liberated Earth," replied Cain.

Xiang Shan nodded, "Well then, that settles it—but where are we heading now?"

Cain compared the record data on the tablet vehicle with the estimated action plan and replied, "We’ll be there in another hour or so."

Xiang Shan nodded.

Soon, they arrived at the end of the tunnel. Directly above the end of the tunnel was a hole, which looked like a natural fissure. A small amount of sand and dust was falling through it.

They donned Camouflage Nets and climbed up.

The Camouflage Net hung near the exit by the Burrow Dragon was covered in accumulated sand and dust. In no time, they burrowed out onto the ground.

They had escaped King Aqini’s encirclement.

Xiang Shan caught sight of a drone in the distance.

After a moment of thought, he slowly drew a gun-shaped object.

This was a signal emitter, capable of pinpointing a small beam of signal on the drone.

The frequency of this small beam of signal was close to that of satellite signals.

This frequency of signal could penetrate the ionosphere. Heroes rarely emitted signals of this frequency themselves; they risked detection by satellites.

But if one’s shooting skill was good enough, one could "snipe" the drone with such a technique precisely.

Cain had found this gun-shaped signal emitter in the underground base. Such signal emitters, considered "Inner Family Artifacts", were quite inexpensive to produce and were disdained by most people.

For Xiang Shan, utilizing this device was akin to recalling his own Martial Arts Sniping prowess.

Regrettably, just as Xiang Shan aimed, the drone flew off into the distance and quickly disappeared below the horizon.

Xiang Shan put away the emitter and said, "Looks like we’ve broken through the encirclement. Let’s go."

The three of them continued on and arrived at the seaside.

Then, just like that, they submerged themselves into the sea.

The three of them had almost no need for breathing.

Of course, generally speaking, diving into the sea would require changing one’s Prosthetic Body. Many martial arts, including the Mystic Tortoise True Gang, were difficult to execute underwater. Moreover, the resistance of seawater is far greater than that of air.

Among the Martial Arts taught by the Martial Ancestor, there was a small portion specifically meant for underwater environments..

But this time, they were not diving for combat.

After walking on the seabed for a while, the three reached a secret door.

Going inside, they arrived at another underground base.

There, Xiang Shan met with Yuan Wenren and the Black Hand Master.