Legend of the Cyber Heroes

"Clang! Clang! Clang clang clang..."

Accompanied by a series of crisp metallic sounds, a boy named Yuki ran joyfully down the street with a large pile of scrap iron dragging behind him, announcing to anyone who would listen, "I have a dad now! I have a dad now!"

The residents of Recycling Station Town mostly watched this scene with smiles—noting especially that it was the smile of mockery. Yuki's biological father had died several years ago due to a lithium disease bacteria invasion in his biological brain, leaving behind a woman and seven children.

To feed her seven children, the woman had no choice but to sell her spine, cerebellum, and pons and replace them with a piece of construction machinery. Recycling Station Town got its name because an old garbage dump from the Sublimation War era was unearthed here; the town's inhabitants all depended on the resources from the dump to survive. Some materials like the Sublimation War era alloys needed to be transported to the cities, and there was a high demand for transport capacity.

Once the woman became construction machinery, she had no hands or feet to look after her children. Of her seven children, four had sequentially died of illness, and one had been taken away as a Gene Tax by the tax collector to maintain the diversity of the Human Gene Bank. Her eldest son had gone to the city to make a living early on, leaving only the youngest son. He had been bullied since he was a child.

Most residents had little interest in Yuki's "new dad." Only a few kids, clumsy and curious, gave Yuki a shove. Yuki's body fell to the ground, letting out a "clang"—the hallmark of cheap prosthetic limbs.

"Ha ha... you fatherless bastard, where's your dad? Huh? Let's have a look, shall we?"

The leading older child laughed heartily.

Yuki snorted and lifted the head in his arms: "Look! This is my new dad!"

It was a... very, very miserable head. Its fontanelle was completely gone, and the edges of the metallic skull were still twisted, as if it had been mangled by a tremendous force. Inside was a charred mass that looked like some kind of melted residue, making one wonder if the biological brain was still present. It should have had a layer of bionic skin, but now only the metal shell remained, with eyeballs tucked inside the metal eyelids. A large piece of the lower jawbone was also missing.

The older child was taken aback, then burst out into even greater laughter: "Ah hahaha... haha haha! It's just a dead man's head! Haha ha! It suits you so well! Dead man's head! Bastard... hahaha!"

"It is not a dead man's head!" the boy said angrily. "He's still alive! If you give him a bit of water, his eyeballs can still move!"

"Hahahaha... this is too funny! A dead man's head!" This time, the older child even lost interest in bullying Yuki. He laughed wildly, waving his hand, signaling Yuki to scram.

Clutching the... or rather half a head, Yuki ran swiftly home.

He had found this head deep in the pile of rubbish. He had inadvertently dug into a new soft spot—a kind of buffer structure from a warship, with high polymer nanomaterial buffer that was still valuable in this era. The head was lying there. At first, he thought it was a rather rare piece of junk, so he was quite happy for a while. But as he left the garbage mound, he accidentally dropped the head into a puddle of filthy water.

Then, he saw the head's eyeball move slightly.

"I'll definitely fix you!" the boy said to the head: "Then I'll have a dad."

...

—I...

The man dreamed a dream about "martial arts."

In the dream, there were flashes of swords and shadows of blades.

Vector Injectors, steel clubs, Ship-Slashing Blades, Fire God Cannons, wireless signal receivers...

Each was a mighty weapon of ancient and modern times.

Mobile Step, Devil-Subduing Cudgel, Ship Commanding Jue, Firearm Lock, Cloud Dragon Hacking Technique...

Each was a well-known and respected martial art.

—What...

The consciousness returned to the flesh. He opened his eyes, and the world in front of him swayed unstably, everything in sight seemed to be in flux.

"You child... why did you soak this head in the water? And put Copper Candy in too? You barely have enough to eat yourself..."

"Mom! Look! Look! His eyelids are really moving!"

"Eh? They really are moving?"

"This way I have a new dad!"

"We can't keep this dead man's head..."

"Mom!"

It seemed an argument ensued.

Then there was the sound of a vehicle starting up.

"Alright, alright, I'll call the Town Mayor over to have a look."

The dialogue was utterly baffling.

The man's thoughts were unable to continue.

Thus, he fell into a deep sleep once more.

But this time, he had a nightmare.

An unending exchange of punches and palms. He could no longer remember the techniques.

Then... a Cybernetic Body with a stature of five meters... one... one...

"Yog..." the man muttered through clenched teeth.

"What are you saying? Is that your name?"

Unexpectedly, there was another voice engaging in conversation.

The man opened his eyes. What met his gaze was a wrinkled face. That face seemed to be native, with the upper half of the skull replaced by machinery, and cylinder-like lenses sprouting in the eye sockets.

The man was somewhat taken aback: "You... who are you?"

"The Town Mayor of Recycling Station Town." The elder smiled: "Who are you? 'Yog', is that your name?"

The man pondered for a moment. But unexpectedly, his mind was blank.

"I am... I..."

The man wanted to shake his head. But it was then that he realized that he seemed to have nothing but a head left. The realization startled him. He had to respond: "That name is probably not mine... 'Yog' is not my name."

"But that was the first word you uttered upon waking up." The Town Mayor mused for a moment: "Then, for convenience, shall we still call you 'Yog'?"

The man hesitated for a moment, wanting to nod. But he realized he still couldn't nod his head. He could only say: "For now... let's do that?"

Although deep within, a voice was shouting loudly, reminding him that this name had a profound significance... it was definitely not his name. Even if he had forgotten himself, he could not forget this name... but he just couldn't remember why.

Yuki jumped up, "Town Mayor! Could my dad have been a warrior from the old era? The super awesome kind!"

The man was startled... and unable to jump, "I have a son?"

"No no no, you were picked up," the Town Mayor explained a few sentences, then said, "This child's idea of 'dad' and all is just his own thinking, he lacks... necessary care."

"Town Mayor!" Yuki stamped her foot, "You still haven't said yes or no!"

"Heh heh... This junkyard was excavated fifty years ago. But the 'Sublimation War' happened even earlier. It's impossible for brain cells to live that long," the Town Mayor tried to explain, but he realized Yuki simply couldn't understand and shook his head.

"It must be trash that came from the city a few months ago?" An unusually mechanical voice came from outside the window.

The voice was almost noise, making the glass vibrate. The man turned his eyeballs and saw a truck parked outside the window...

Could that vehicle even be called a truck? The man indeed saw a huge cargo bed. But the front of the truck was too small to fit a person. On the front, a camera was looking at the man.

Only then did the man realize that...or more accurately, his head, was lying on a bed, a large lamp hanging above him. The lamp must have been brought by the Town Mayor; its wire directly plugged into an outlet on the Mayor's neck.

And the bed was directly facing the window.

"Yulia, in order to raise money for her child's treatment, sold her spine, cerebellum, and pons, and then used the remaining money to buy engineering machinery," the Town Mayor pointed outside the door, "She earns a bit more than before, but with that kind of body, there's no way to enter the house, so the room had to be arranged like this."

The man was a bit astonished.

He vaguely felt... that humans shouldn't be like this. This wasn't how people should look.

Yuki looked hopefully at the Town Mayor who pondered for a moment, "Maybe he really was somebody before? Possibly an athlete?"

"Wow!" Yuki cried out in surprise.

The man was still completely baffled.

"Alright, thinking like this must be tiring, right?" The Mayor turned toward the man, shaking his head, "I also have a driver chip here, my grandson just replaced his—one that could help you. I don't know what you've been through, but all the devices on the outside of your biological brain are burned out, just a few components are left. Fortunately, your brain-machine barrier is quite reliable..." The Mayor's hand pressed on the man's head, "I cleaned it up for you, seems like there are a few functioning ports left, I'll switch it on for you!"

Only then did the man realize that he seemed to only have half a head, no tongue; an emitter was directly connected to his mouth.

—Why am I only realizing such an important thing now... Ah!

A sensation like an electric shock.

[New device detected]

[Installing necessary drivers]

New signals raced through the man's nerves.

—This feeling...

Suddenly, the man felt as if his body "came to life."

His limited body had suddenly become vigorous!

"Without the assistance of a driver chip, your biological brain would have a hard time controlling a prosthetic body... I see your eyes are quite good, they could be worth some money. Think about it? Sell them to me, and I can get you a prosthetic body."

The man wanted to shake his head again. He quickly declined, "No, thank you for your kindness. But I think... perhaps my eyes contain clues about my past. I'm not ready to part with them yet."

The Town Mayor shook his head, "Then there won't be a free prosthetic body for you..."

Yuki jumped up, "I can find one in the junk pile!"

"It's not that easy, kid," the Town Mayor, with his hands behind his back, shook his head and left.

Yuki jumped up, "Pah! I can find..."

"Alright!" Yulia's horn sounded seriously and Yuki immediately shut up.

At dusk, Yuki, holding the man's head, fell asleep like that.

Outside the window, Yulia's camera focused on the man. The man, on the other hand, seemed unable to sleep at all.

—What is this "Yog" thinking?

Yulia couldn't help but be curious. She hardly had the shyness of women from the old era. Apart from her biological brain, her entire body was made of steel. With such a body, what was there to be shy about?

She now had only one wish, which was to watch Yuki grow up, to get a decent prosthetic body, and then... and then...

She could not imagine the future any longer.

This was also why she didn't insist on Yuki throwing away that human head. Perhaps this way, the child would be a bit happier.

However, it was impossible for their family to afford a prosthetic body, not even a cheap one. All the money had to be saved for Yuki's adult prosthetic body. In a few years, Yuki's biological parts would exceed the maximum limits of a child's prosthetic body.

But adult prosthetic bodies are expensive.

Sometimes, Yulia thought about selling her temporal lobes and frontal lobes. But she heard people say that those who sold their temporal and frontal lobes weren't human anymore, just machines.

Being a machine wasn't a big deal. But if she couldn't love Yuki anymore, could she still work?

Money needed to be saved quickly!

Hopefully, this dead man's head will also be able to work in the future!

Consider it as repaying Yuki for saving him.

The man also saw Yulia's gaze. To be honest, the "gaze" from the camera always made him feel a bit uncomfortable, without knowing why.

What made him uncomfortable went beyond that. Now, "Yog" had temporarily become his alias. But he felt that was quite inappropriate.

In the darkness, he finally confirmed one thing.

The real owner of the name "Yog" was definitely, definitely, his arch-enemy.

An enemy with whom he shared an irreconcilable enmity.

—I am... a rebel...

—What am I rebelling against?