Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 678 - 322: Seven Days

Chapter 678: Chapter 322: Seven Days

It has been seven days since the battle between Hiroshi Matsushima and Amilcare Zhao.

Seven days ago, Amilcare, the Lord of Pine Eagle City, launched an attack from the Pine Eagle Building, landed in the district of martial arts schools, and engaged in combat with Hiroshi Matsushima.

According to most people’s original expectations, this should have been an overwhelming victory. A Lord, or rather, a Martial Artist with the official position of "high-level military officer," has a chasm-like gap in prosthetic body performance compared to others. Besides, Hiroshi Matsushima did not practice Internal methods, only External Sect, and also lacked armament.

Under normal circumstances, the Lord should have been able to capture this anti-humanity rebel in just a few moves and hang him at the entrance of the Pine Eagle Building for public display.

However, the final outcome surprised everyone.

Hiroshi Matsushima fought a fierce battle with a Lord from the First Heavenly Layer, with several martial arts schools in the vicinity suffering collateral damage and being razed to the ground.

But it seemed that the Lord did not manage to kill Hiroshi Matsushima.

Then, four days later.

A video recording surfaced on the internet. It was from the first-person view of a Martial Artist fighting Amilcare Zhao. The recording devices were the prosthetic eye and personal equipment of a certain Martial Artist.

From the surrounding environment, this was indeed the battle between Hiroshi Matsushima and Amilcare Zhao.

During the fight, Hiroshi Matsushima, through close combat, damaged two of Amilcare Zhao’s six prosthetic eyes and likely also disrupted a sonar reception device, creating a sensory blind spot. Finally, after detonating the Iron Dust, he used this blind spot to successfully enter the underground passageways.

Near Pine Eagle City, there is a large underground river. This underground river, along with ancient subterranean tracks, abandoned underground buildings, and spaces privately excavated over the last few decades, form a complex area.

Highly modified cybernetically enhanced people shun this underground area due to the inconvenience of charging, while low-modification Benchmark Men might face the danger of oxygen deficiency, so it is rarely visited, and the government has not paid much attention to it in the past.

And Amilcare Zhao was forced to stop here.

His prosthetic body was too large to directly enter such a narrow space. Moreover, even a prosthetic body of the First Heavenly Layer would be in a bad situation if buried under heavy rocks with no space to exert force.

The Lord could not rule out the possibility that "this is a trap set for me."

Thus, Hiroshi Matsushima successfully escaped.

It is said that at the same time this data appeared on the internet, Amilcare Zhao mobilized again. A great commotion seemed to have occurred again in some part of the city.

Perhaps it was the second battle between Hiroshi Matsushima and the Lord.

By that time, Ai Tielang, along with other Heroes, had already met up with the Martial Artists who had fled the Iron Block Style Dojo.

The Martial Artists of the Iron Block Style Dojo, led by the Former Pavilion Master, Lei Daye, attempted to break out towards the edge of Pine Eagle City, hoping to enter the Wilderness before everyone else.

But Ai Tielang managed to intercept them.

According to Ai Tielang’s deduction, the Protectors had already built a blockade around the city’s edge.

After all, the Protectors still have the responsibility to ensure the safety of human life within their area of duty. Although they will not be held accountable for involuntarily affecting civilians while combating anti-humanity Heroes, using heavy weaponry in residential areas when not necessary is still prohibited.

But it is different at the edge of the city.

Such a group of External Martial Artists without basic firewalls, not carrying any heavy weaponry, rushing towards the Protectors’ already established fire base, the outcome is self-evident.

If it were a Famed Hero, perhaps they could stealthily approach and then use close combat to break through the defense lines. But these Martial Artists from the schools do not have such knowledge.

After much effort, Ai Tielang finally gained the trust of these Martial Artists from the dojos.

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Of course, martial artists from the martial arts school naturally didn’t trust these heroes. The reason Iron Block Style Dojo was investigated was because of its involvement with heroes⁠—at least, that was the excuse Young Second Master Zhao had found⁠—and then, to their surprise, several heroes indeed emerged from among their own classmates. Some martial artists couldn’t help but have some reservations.

But at this moment, they had no choice.

Since that day, Pine Eagle City had been completely locked down. No one inside could get out, and no one outside could get in. The moment someone appeared in the wilderness, they’d be hit by a tactical missile. The Protector’s army completely surrounded the entire city.

Inside the city, many mobile cavalry disguised their identities, singling out heroes and "potential heroes" among the crowds.

The Lord attempted to divide the entire city into many blocks, conducting a systematic search step by step.

At the same time, he was arranging manpower to destroy the underground areas of Pine Eagle City.

However, the only thing that concerned him was the pressure from the Scientific Knight Order.

There was a subterranean river beneath Pine Eagle City. To destroy such a "potentially valuable geographic or geological phenomenon," one needed the endorsement of the Scientific Knight Order specializing in planetary physics.

With this obstacle, Old Master Zhao couldn’t freely demolish the entire underground area.

Now, no one knew where Hiroshi Matsushima was.

Time shifted to the present, Yuki and Lei Daye were strolling through the streets, meeting up with Liu Ri once again before heading into the underground area.

After navigating a complicated route, the trio returned to a temporary hideout.

Panic seemed quite happy recently. When she saw Yuki, she clapped her hands as a greeting. Yuki had no energy to play with the little girl and simply patted her head before leaning against the ground to recharge.

Ai Tielang and a few martial artists from the school were gathered around, studying a video.

Liu Ri began searching for resources online, hoping to find new technological materials to create useful armaments.

Ai Tielang said, "Astonishing, truly astonishing... Who knew one could fight like this. Pure External Martial Studies, and still able to achieve such a record under such a disadvantage for prosthetic bodies."

"After all, cybernetically enhanced people always have their weak spots," Lei Daye said. "The Martial Ancestor once faced an enemy whose prosthetic performance was several times inferior to his own and killed the enemy with a frontal blow of his internal force—it’s about the same principle."

In the video, Hiroshi Matsushima closed in on Amilcare. Hiroshi Matsushima’s prosthetic body was only two meters, while Amilcare’s exceeded three meters. Amilcare had superior strength, speed, and explosiveness compared to Hiroshi Matsushima.

However, Hiroshi Matsushima chose to fight close to Amilcare, always maintaining a limb’s distance to anchor himself to Amilcare’s side, preventing Amilcare from utilizing the full capabilities of his prosthetic body.

This was Hiroshi Matsushima’s only advantage—due to his prosthetic body being lighter, he had less inertia and could change speeds more flexibly.

Hiroshi Matsushima made full use of this sole advantage.

He stuck to his enemy.

No matter how weak his punch was, there was always a vulnerable spot on the enemy’s body. A bit of internal force penetrating the area where the brain was located was enough to cause discomfort.

This was the essence of how the Martial Ancestor killed an enemy whose prosthetic body was several times more powerful with a frontal blow.

Hiroshi Matsushima used gunpowder to blast and damage parts of Amilcare’s armor.

Hiroshi Matsushima guessed the location of Amilcare’s prosthetic eye or other sensory prostheses, and then targeted them with his strikes.

It was the epitome of textbook combat.

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