Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 946 - 181: The Younger Generation

Kotoba and Yang Mengying had quite a connection. Before Yang Mengying was born, Kanhara Kotoba already knew Yang Mengying’s mother, Lin Yu.

After graduating from university, Kanhara Kotoba joined the Transhumanism International Corporation, becoming one of the secretaries of the company.

Though nominally she was just an ordinary employee, handling tasks like department office supplies procurement, administrative affairs, coordinating meeting room booking, reasonably arranging meeting room usage, and ensuring daily maintenance of meeting room environments. It’s said that the prime minister’s door attracts officials of three ranks, and she was placed in the President’s office as soon as she joined the company, and that president had watched her grow up from a young age.

Although Uncle Xiang and Uncle David both assured her that they hadn’t intervened in the recruitment and that Kotoba’s ability was indeed sufficient for the position, being placed in the President’s office somewhat revealed the elders’ care for her.

Even Kotoba’s first direct supervisor was always polite to her. No one dared to talk about qualifications or status with her, and no one dared to toss miscellaneous work to her.

Kanhara Kotoba soon started doing external liaison work.

At that time, Xiang Shan hadn’t asked her to directly handle very high-spec important tasks. Kanhara Kotoba initially engaged with some nonprofit organizations.

Among these "nonprofit organizations" were all sorts, including those "against cyberization" and those "advocating Homo sapiens rights," etc.

Actually, very few organizations really came to find trouble with Superman Enterprise. Generally speaking, enterprises advocating cyberization are opposed by naturist groups that promote "harmonious coexistence with nature." But Xiang Shan had long since dismantled such criticisms through propaganda techniques.

The characteristic of Benchmark Man "mainly consuming electrical energy" allows humans to return large areas of farmland. Alongside the advancement of reactor technology and the expansion of desert solar power generation arrays, electrical energy has become increasingly cheap. The impoverished countries that embraced standardization first indeed completely ridded themselves of famine while maintaining natural landscapes.

"Before criticizing Benchmark Man as unnatural, wouldn’t it be better to think about whether Homo sapiens are friendly to the natural environment?"

This is a promotional strategy of Superman Enterprise.

And "microorganisms that decompose organic waste" and "microorganisms that enrich heavy metal pollutants" have also made Superman Enterprise synonymous with "environmental protection." Whenever someone tries to attack Superman Enterprise from this aspect, they end up in chaos internally.

Oh, by the way, at that time, small groups advocating that "plants have life too, and vegetarianism is also killing" became inexplicably vocal.

On the matter of "rights of New Humans and Old Humans," Superman Enterprise consistently insisted on "government-led legislation," shifting the pressure of public opinion towards societal managers. Xiang Shan had more than once publicly stated that they were not a government and had no intention of becoming a "corporate nation." He was willing to fight for Benchmark Man’s rights and willing to help "ensure Homo sapiens rights," but only as a "citizen."

Under such circumstances, few came to find trouble. And among those who did, very few actually saw core members of Superman Enterprise.

Lin Yu was undoubtedly one of them.

In retrospect, perhaps Xiang Shan intended this.

Initially, Lin Yu’s interaction with Kotoba was purely work-related. Lin Yu was calling attention across various fields, urging the public to focus on "Homo sapiens unable to become Benchmark Men due to technical limitations." Sometimes, she wanted to understand the workings of Superman Enterprise to determine her strategies. Other times, she sought donations from the enterprise to run her organization.

Kotoba initially thought this woman was here to "extort," but was soon moved by Lin Yu’s work attitude. During this process, she and Lin Yu became private friends, and she learned about Lin Yu’s past.

Although Kanhara Kotoba’s father and Lin Yu’s father were both friends of Xiang Shan, Kanhara Tsun and Chen Feng didn’t know each other at all. Their only common point was calling Xiang Shan "Uncle."

But between two women several years apart, they felt inexplicably numerous commonalities.

For example... at some point, their families both chose ideals and subsequently distanced from them.

Kanhara Kotoba graduated from her graduate program the year Yang Mengying was born as a part-time student. Kotoba had little impression of the former. She attended some courses at Uncle Xiang’s alma mater but the tutor was overly polite because Uncle Xiang donated to the alma mater. However, she was quite curious about Lin Yu’s daughter.

Kanhara Kotoba witnessed the whole process of Lin Yu falling in love and marrying her husband. Lin Yu’s husband bore an air of misfortune. He suffered from leukemia in childhood. Though later fortunate enough to recover successfully with a bone marrow match, the presumably uncontrollable proto-oncogenes and higher-than-average cancer cell count in his body destined him from missing out on the wave of human upgrades.

It’s said that Lin Yu secretly took her boyfriend’s biological sample to Yawgmoth for examination. Lin Yu herself didn’t get over the psychological barrier, so never underwent standardization modification surgery. Yet her lover didn’t reject it, though the technology couldn’t save him. Lin Yu even was willing to face her psychological obstacles for him.

However, fate isn’t sealed with the overcoming of personal hurdles. Yawgmoth deemed the risk of his standardization modification surgery too high, with no solutions to resolve quickly.

But that man was rather open-minded.

Under these circumstances, Yang Mengying was born.

Seeing the little infant surrounded by her parents, Kanhara Kotoba felt an inexplicable ache but seeing the baby’s peaceful sleeping face, she felt that the whole world became lovely.

Kanhara Kotoba watched Yang Mengying grow up until she followed Xiang Shan into the shadows and raised the righteous banner.

Then, Yang Mengying brought the Holy Lord, finding the self-isolated Kanhara Kotoba in the maze of the network.

— This path is likely a detour, but...

Kanhara Kotoba exhaled as imagined.

A report from the Holy Lord days before brought the Six Dragons Sect on Earth to a halt.

If she hadn’t reached the Space Elevator before the message was sent out, she could not have contacted the insider from the Six Dragons Sect within the Space Elevator management department.

Now, finally hiding inside a warehouse, Kanhara Kotoba began to worry about Yang Mengying.

— Mengying... please be safe...

...........................

Xiang Shan yanked Yang Mengying’s head out, their eyes met, Inner Strength launched like thunder. In an instant, Yang Mengying plunged into complete darkness.