Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 706 - 350: Meeting Oneself

Chapter 706: Chapter 350: Meeting Oneself

Novihan was awakened by a commotion.

For fifty years, he had been standing in front of the Ninth Martial God, considering himself no more than a dead man. After the defeat of the Tenth Martial God, this centenarian Famed Hero felt truly tired. He arrived in this city and just stood there.

Perhaps, on the day he no longer wished to stand, he would go up and have a final word with his once spiritual leader.

But that stand lasted decades.

In the past two decades, he hardly even moved, and his brain activity became increasingly serene.

However, the instincts honed as a Hero made him particularly sensitive to the sound of troops moving.

The Prosthetic Body sensed the movement of the troops, and his brain was activated by the instinctual reaction etched into it. Novihan watched the soldiers move around, watched one after another high-level military officer descend from the top of the tower. They joined forces on the ground. Some officers quickly organized themselves, seemingly preparing to do something.

Novihan had already guessed the reason. He wanted to move a little, but his Prosthetic Body emitted a discordant noise.

Too long without movement, even an alloy body couldn’t withstand it.

It took him a long time to turn his body around.

Novihan slowly surveyed his surroundings and found that no fewer than five military officers, fully armed, were scattered around.

—Another Great Hero was about to die...

Novihan knew. For an ordinary Hero, only one or two high-level military officers would be dispatched to deal with them. Now, just for an approaching battle, five high-level military officers had been arranged.

This was a renowned Hero.

—All of them once Famed Heroes... Why choose to come here to die...

Novihan slowly turned around.

His gaze moved past a large group of kneeling people and settled on that slowly arriving figure.

With a height of three meters, he stood out like a crane amongst chickens in this era. The guy was draped in heavy armor, with huge plate-like objects connected to the forearms of his hands, their appearance indistinct. He was also wrapped in black stealth gear, with something resembling chains dragging on the ground, clinking.

The civilians kneeling on the ground maintained a posture of prostration, moving across the floor on their knees—a testament to the physical condition of Cybernetically Enhanced People that ensured this action did not cause them pain. They cautiously stretched out their hands to reverently touch the Saint who was about to sacrifice his life before God, partaking in his glory.

They didn’t even dare to touch long; just a quick tap before moving away.

The Hero, like a ship battling the waves, caused a stir in the crowd.

The people were filled with awe.

But Novihan, with a modicum of Inner Strength, could see that the Hero was becoming increasingly agitated.

The Hero continued to walk in silence.

Suddenly, he waved his hand, pushing away the people around him.

The people tossed aside rolled on the ground but kept their eyes on the Hero.

The Hero said, "Stop kneeling, get out of here quickly. If you want to live, stop kneeling. Go, and the farther the better!"

With that, he kept walking forward.

He quickly walked past Novihan.

The Hero turned around once more and said to those people, "Get out of here! Don’t kneel. Listen up, no one in this world should be told to kneel. Neither Xiang Shan nor Yawgmoth can demand it. No one can."

A terrifying aura emanated from him. Even Novihan was intimidated, and his recently rebooted brain momentarily ceased functioning.

Normally, Novihan stood in the front row. The believers usually regarded Heroes like him as Saints. During their pilgrimages, they would draw an invisible line at the spot where these Heroes stood.

Xiang Shan walked up the steps of the massive Mayan Pyramid.

The Famed Hero behind him had lost the opportunity to persuade him.

"I really am..." Eight sighed. "This kind of thing... I just can’t understand it..."

The Native pondered, "Think about it, it’s not impossible. Humans do have a psychological need to construct religion."

It is said that humans are creatures that imbue "meaning" into things. The neurons responsible for this can quickly capture the intentions of others. This is also the basis for learning and imitation.

However, this mechanism is not so precise. Its function occasionally extends beyond "conspecifics" to objects, even encompassing abstract and holistic concepts such as "nature" and "the world."

People cry for certain reasons, and the sky cries rain for certain reasons—as if the universe itself changes for certain reasons.

"The existence of the universe has meaning" is humanity’s most fundamental and greatest collective illusion.

But this is merely because certain not-so-precisely-set neurons are attempting to capture the "intentions" of "the heavens" and "nature."

Humans also conjure up specific common imaginations to fill the "void" that they feel should exist.

This is human instinct.

The Ninth Martial God was the answer the common folk of Paradox City found for themselves; he was an answer to the woes of their lives.

They had never seen anything meaningful, and the government wouldn’t give them "meaning." The death-defying battles of the Heroes were the most meaningful thing they had seen.

"Ah, what is the person above thinking?"

Their gazes turned upward.

Above the alloy material of the Mayan Pyramid structure were four huge pillars. These pillars supported a structure resembling the Eiffel Tower but stood four hundred meters tall.

Atop the pure metal legs of the Iron Tower, numerous cables as thick as wrists extended outwards, coming from all directions, fixing the Ninth Martial God and his machines in midair. The position of the Ninth Martial God was the lowest, just slightly above the "top" of the pyramid.

Perhaps because the Prosthetic Body was chiefly used in space, its aerodynamic shape wasn’t very refined, with a pair of wing-like structures extending from the shoulders. These were a set of Vector Injectors, designed with visual effects in mind. His Prosthetic Eyes were not independent eyeballs. Underneath the smooth visor, taking up a third of the face, there must be non-traditional optical instruments.

The sharp face was fixed downward, looking towards the bottom of the pyramid.

Xiang Shan didn’t know if the Ninth Martial God was watching him.

The other exhibited no reaction, as if he were already dead.

Xiang Shan arrived beside the Ninth Martial God and noticed an exposed data interface on his wrist. It was meant for connecting to external weapons—similar to Amilcare’s armaments. The interface was close to the ground, and Xiang Shan could reach it with a stretch of his hand.

"Oh, looks like this is left for everyone to communicate," Xiang Shan said as he looked at the Ninth Martial God. "To prevent a new death without a word, the government left this thing here, so Heroes could connect directly. What will I see if I plug in? Huh?"

Xiang Shan reached out and patted the Ninth Martial God. "Do you have something to say to me? Martial God?"