Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 711 - 355: The 9th Martial God (Part 4)

Chapter 711: Chapter 355: The 9th Martial God (Part 4)

"A universal solution" is always more difficult than "a specific purpose."

"A therapy targeting a specific type of cancer" is easier to research than "a therapy effective against all types of cancerous transformations."

"A medicine that only kills a few types of pathogens" is also more likely to exist than "broad-spectrum antibiotics."

Technology that works on anyone to "restore damaged neural networks" is naturally countless times more difficult than technology meant to "reshape neural networks into a specified structure."

In fact, what the Eighth Martial God faced was simpler compared to "reshaping neural networks into a specified structure."

For the Eighth Martial God, this "specified structure" had a blueprint, clear data.

It was himself.

This is also why the Eighth Martial God’s research advanced by leaps and bounds. The head of the Hospital Knight Order, Wang Yi Emery, needed to consider many things, but the Eighth Martial God only needed to think about "how to use virtual brain circuits to make the general population’s neural networks ’more like his own.’

If not for Eight’s possession of the Eighth Martial God’s final dealings with his traces, he might have accepted this explanation.

But...

"I am quite sure that the research on the Eighth Martial God’s virtual neural circuits could not possibly have any data left in the external world," judged Eight, "The theory is completely logical, but the starting point is flawed. Since the starting point is flawed, the emergence of such a logical answer is, in fact, illogical."

[Indeed.] A fresh thought intervened in his thought process, [The story of the Ninth Martial God is an utter lie.]

Then, another memory surfaced.

With the help of his developed underground forces on Mars, Xiang Shan made contact with an organization that had existed for a long time.

It was during the era of the Sixth Martial God.

At the end of the Fourth Martial God’s era, three junior officers, inspired by the Fourth Martial God, wanted to become heroes. However, when King Aqini blasted the Fourth Martial God’s space city to smithereens, this aspiration was also shattered.

As time passed, these three friends gradually became mid-level officers, and during the era of the Sixth and Seventh Martial Gods, humanity reignited their passion for chivalry. These officers also used this sentiment to develop Chivalrous Power among the junior soldiers and expanded several comrades of the same rank.

These people looked forward to the day they would travel beyond the Asteroid Belt.

However, that day never came.

The troops belonged to the Planetary Defense Forces, responsible for combat on the surfaces of terrestrial planets and icy small bodies. They were part of a different combat sequence than the Space Fleet and the Gas Giant Planet Fleet. Near Mars’ orbit, they indeed had their own small-sized fleet, but this fleet’s main functions were only orbital bombardment, orbital landing, and transportation.

The lack of large battleships meant this small fleet, which belonged to the Planetary Defense Forces sequence, couldn’t face the true Space Fleet head-on.

It was for this reason that they were supposed to land on Jupiter’s satellite constellation in the later stages of the war.

However, the Seventh Martial God and other Chivalrous Forces had somehow held back an enemy force several tens of times their own size just outside the Asteroid Belt. In a moment of crisis, the Protector even attempted to cross the Zodiac Plane for support, but was still defeated by long-range light beams.

Until the Seventh Martial God died in battle, the Protector had not succeeded in crossing the Asteroid Belt.

However, the Seventh Martial God also could not penetrate within the Asteroid Belt. The Protector’s firepower was too strong. If the White Fleet Prosthetics Followers left the "geographical advantage" of the Asteroid Belt, they would be annihilated within a short time.

During this period, King Aqini was stationed near the Asteroid Belt for a long time, commuting daily to the orbit of Mars.

Therefore, the force initially set for a pre-battle uprising failed to respond to the deed of the Seventh Martial God—because the commanders of this force judged that as soon as they raised the banner of revolt, King Aqini would annihilate them in an instant.

After the fall of the Seventh Martial God, the Chivalrous Forces fell again. The already assembled strength of this troop became unstable, spreading disarray and leading to many incidents. In the end, a considerable number of officers and soldiers had to leave the troops, become Heroes, and then gradually disappeared beyond the desert.

This included the three who were first inspired.

But within this force, the heavily damaged main body went underground, continuing as a smoldering fire.

Until another Xiang Shan was born.

[There was never a betrayal in the ranks out of thin air.] The Ninth Martial God said, [I’ve been operating in that troop. At first, it was the officers’ "private salon," then it shifted to underground concerts mainly attended by soldiers. After the Military Police were replaced by one of our own, I even held several semi-public concerts in their "Network Disconnection Zone"...]

[At the beginning, the vast majority of soldiers were unaware of what I was singing... they just hadn’t been exposed to other types of music... at least not to mature music, at most to primitive ditties. So they were happy. Then, they slowly began to understand a bit, because the underground organization had been fostering a culture for years, and they began to understand implicitly.]

[Until one day, I met someone who claimed to be Ingrid Granat. Although by her actions, I couldn’t see any trace of Inga. But that’s not difficult for Internal experts to accomplish. You know, since her Talent doesn’t lie in computing, Inga’s Inner Strength Battle can’t beat Old Dog and Xinyu, nor can it match Tolya (note, Anatoly’s nickname). But she’s still stronger than these guys in terms of expansion in the Soth Divine Realm.]

A new memory surfaced. Xiang Shan, carrying his instrument, left a semi-artificial underground cave. Some playful Scientific Knights had expanded and reinforced this cave, and there were no surveillance systems or wireless networks. It was a common destination for underground singers nearby.

If not broadcasted, Xiang Shan was quite fond of this place too. Sometimes he listened to others sing, sometimes he pondered, and sometimes he sang himself.

A concept called "culture" was brewing in this mire.

At this time, someone followed Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan initially tried to shake off this follower, but the opponent’s ability surpassed his expectations. Several attempts by Xiang Shan were futile.

After realizing Xiang Shan’s intentions, the person quickly forced Xiang Shan into a narrow alley.

Then, this person introduced themselves as Ingrid Granat, seeking him out only to talk about "culture." They mentioned that they were in search of a path to reshape culture, to reshape a common recognition.

Although in Xiang Shan’s eyes, this person moved like a naïve youngster born in recent decades with a vague sense of gender and a casual attitude toward things. But Xiang Shan realized, this was something Ingrid would do.

So, he embraced this old friend tightly.