Legend of the Cyber Heroes

When the electric current passed through the artificial muscle fibers, a series of signals traveled along the metal wires and rushed into Xiang Shan's spine, decoded by his cerebellum, then slammed into his brain.

Xiang Shan almost thought that he had grown legs again.

These artificial muscle fibers could actually simulate touch...

No, that was not right. This wasn't some fresh technology. Xiang Shan realized he had experienced this sensation before.

He thought this as he busted open the door and rolled on the falling iron gate.

This kind of design had been around for a long time. By 1960, sensitive resistors had already been implemented practically.

Sensitive resistors are special resistive materials that react to specific physical conditions. These resistors are usually highly sensitive to certain physical conditions, and when those conditions change, the resistance changes—like how photoresistors show changes in resistance under different strengths of light. Similarly, thermistors display different resistance values at different temperatures.

Magnetoresistors and other special resistors also have a wide range of applications.

But the most closely related to martial artists is the "pressure-sensitive resistor."

As the name suggests, these are resistive materials that display different resistance values under various pressures.

In the era familiar to Xiang Shan, this technology had already developed. When designing prosthetic bodies for martial artists, designers would incorporate pressure-sensitive resistors into some of the components.

Even a force of one newton or a pressure of one thousand Pascal could be faithfully reflected by the components containing pressure-sensitive resistors.

The downside was that this would compromise the strength and lifespan of the parts to some extent. After all, the strength of pressure-sensitive resistors was incomparable to professional alloys.

But the advantage of these components was that they allowed martial artists to better master their prosthetic bodies and even achieve the "clever force" that natural human martial artists absolutely could not.

Ninjas in the twenty-first century would say they borrow "the power of the Earth," while even more ancient boxing scriptures contain similar descriptions: "Power originates from the feet, takes form in the legs, is governed by the waist, spurred by the spine, and released through the hands." There were even boxers with such an ideal, believing that if force is sequentially exerted from the ankles, knees, joints, waist, spine, shoulders, upper arms, elbows, wrists, and fists, one could produce a fist moving at near sonic speeds.

But for humans of the old era, this was merely imaginative. Given their sluggish nerves, it was almost impossible for them to grasp the perfect timing. A force of one newton or one thousand Pascal hardly made a noticeable impression on them. They couldn't truly bring the theoretical force into practice.

Neural signal transmission speeds had their limits.

However, cyber martial artists could even feel a surge of energy that could transform from potential energy to kinetic energy, from kinetic to potential, transmitting from one component to another... To them, it was as if they possessed the mythical "qi force" described in novels.

Xiang Shan could harness this power.

He had smashed through the door. The iron gate had almost no resistance and fell off its frame. Xiang Shan's feet heavily kicked the still-airborne gate, sending it crashing to the ground at an incredible speed, quickly deforming and then flattening on the ground.

Xiang Shan accelerated in midair a second time.

—Nice legs...

That was the only thought that flashed through Xiang Shan's mind.

This wasn't the strongest set of legs he had used—Xiang Shan was sure of it. In the past, when he had a full-powered system, he had used stronger prosthetic legs. However, the power rating of those prosthetics... although he didn't remember the exact figures, they definitely weren't something that could be powered by the current type of battery.

This was the best set of legs Xiang Shan had used under the present power rating.

Perhaps it was because the technology of this era was still superior to the era he was familiar with...

In the moment he clashed with the steel rod, Xiang Shan hooked his hands around the steel rod and then kicked out at the giant man's waist and abdomen, using it to change direction.

If his opponent had been a natural person, that move would have already ended the fight. But a cyber martial artist didn't have so many fragile internal organs. Their armor's shock-absorbing layers could also absorb some of the impact, preventing damage to critical structures.

Compared to the legs, these arms were far too useless.

Xiang Shan had reinforced these arms with scattered parts from a canine-type prosthetic body, but their base quality was too poor. Just the impact dissipated by the speed nearly disintegrated the arms.

A silver light twisted up along the steel rod. Xiang Shan secured Yuki's yet-to-be-cyberized head and neck with one hand, kicking at the top end of the steel rod with both legs again.

The impact from the steel rod and the reaction force from the legs' kick accumulated together. Lev's stick technique suddenly lost balance, and Xiang Shan accelerated out from the range of the steel rod.

"Yuki, how are you doing?" Xiang Shan quickly set down his disciple. Yuki was barely breathing at this point. His legs had been damaged by the impact of hitting the ground, and his internals might even have been affected, with likely internal bleeding in the abdominal cavity.

But Xiang Shan breathed a sigh of relief.

Metal-based protein could not only significantly delay cell apoptosis but also had great resistance to mechanical damage and could survive longer in low-oxygen environments. This meant that the humans of this era had stronger resistance against "brain damage" and "suffocation."

With the medical technology of this era, it was not difficult to replace damaged organs with artificial prosthetic bodies, which could even become more powerful than before.

As long as people remained alive, that was enough.

Only then did Xiang Shan look towards Lev.

Memories from Will flashed through again.

"You are… 'Silver Transmission Shaft' Lev…"

"Silver Transmission Shaft" Lev Scheer, the quarter boss and assault team leader of medium-sized thug organization "Z Organization," was skilled in stick technique. His steel stick, made from the transmission shaft of the "Busker Snake" class assault ship, was silver because it included the common prosthetic body's external armor, earning him the nickname "Silver Transmission Shaft." His favored style, named "SSC Tri-Weapon Unity Stick," SSC standing for Sword, Spear, and Cudgel, was a genuine martial arts discipline known for its versatility, tactical flexibility, and strategic prowess.

He was originally a talented martial artist from another territory, but felt deep shame after losing to a boxer from a rival dojo in the Paralympics qualifying combat event [where most external strength, excluding firearms, was categorized]. Therefore, he killed his opponent with stick technique after the match. His master attempted to expel him from the school to show that the style did not protect the dishonorable, resulting in his dojo being slaughtered by an enraged Lev Scheer. Before bounty hunters could gather, Lev Scheer had fled to the wilderness and later joined a thug organization.

"You too are a martial artist?" Xiang Shan asked angrily, "Being a martial artist, yet resorting to bullying the weak. Don't you feel ashamed?"

This statement plunged Lev into confusion, "Since when did martial artists not bully the weak?"

"Ah?" Xiang Shan felt confused once more.

—Why would martial artists of this era… believe that dominating the weak was justified?

—The purpose of creating martial studies was to use the individual's weakness to resist tyranny's might…

"Ah, I remember now." Lev suddenly slapped his head, "Oh, it seems there was indeed such a figure who said something similar. Who was it? One of the World Openers… Martial Ancestor? He did say that martial arts existed to oppose the strong with the weak—you really are a hero, aren't you? But I've heard, even in Jianghu, few people believe in this anymore. How many years has your head been buried?"

Xiang Shan didn't know why, but he felt as though something within him was missing. A sensation akin to "phantom limb pain."

"No one believes anymore?"

"Of course," Lev said as he drew an inequality sign on the ground with his steel stick, "Although Martial Ancestor stated that martial arts were designed to fight against tyranny, supporting the weak prosthetic bodies to accomplish significant tactical or strategic goals. But now, in the Jianghu, when two clash, it's always the stronger party that wins, right? Even those claiming to fight for the weak are 'strong' themselves, aren't they? It's the same in Jianghu, Green Forest Path, and even more so among the Protectors."

"Even if a master were to use a weak prosthetic body to defeat a strong one, that would merely show their superiority in areas other than 'prosthetics'—like mastery of martial arts algorithms, drivetrain integration and optimization, intelligence, and biological brain reflexes. After all, a prosthetic body isn't everything. This is still the strong preying on the weak."

There has never truly been a "weak overcoming the strong" in this world.

Xiang Shan stared at the inequality sign on the ground, "Between people, is there only inequality? Does everyone in the world think this way?"

"If you think that way, then there are still people in the world who think like that!" Lev quipped playfully, "Let's not talk about this, sir. We've heard that you, with your makeshift prosthetic body, defeated a bionic fist boxer. We think you have great potential, so we've come to invite you to join us!"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Shan even felt like laughing, "Join you?"

"Yes, join our Z Organization and the Green Forest Path," Lev said, shifting the steel stick back onto his shoulder. "Although you were previously mixed up in Jianghu, I can see you didn't do well there. Regardless, falling into such a state without a single hero to rescue you… tsk tsk, it shows not every hero supports your idea huh! Why don't you simply come over to our Green Forest Path? We embody freedom, with fewer rules than Jianghu, doing mostly the same things..."

Xiang Shan was perplexed once again.

He was certain that he was unfamiliar with the terms "Jianghu Path" and "Green Forest Path." According to the remaining knowledge in his biological brain, these terms were merely from "novels."

Nor did anyone intend to turn them into reality.

This was not a fantasy that was made real along with cyber martial arts... the era he knew well didn't contain any "Green Forests"! They were all supposed to be just fantasy!

In the peaceful era that ended with heroes assassinating tyrants and putting chaos to rest, martial arts were naturally supposed to decline, silently lurking on the internet, quietly waiting for another tyrant to rise before baring their fangs.

Or to remind those in power never to impose their might on the people.

Or to naturally disappear in obscurity, leaving future generations a legend.

—It was supposed to be like this.

Xiang Shan knew this was only an ideal scenario. The underlying design of the martial arts technique was supposed to have extra thresholds—it was supposed to be designed as something "not suited for the strong to bully the weak."

—Has this underlying design also been distorted?

Suddenly, Xiang Shan laughed.

"Heh… heh heh heh. Jianghu Path? Green Forest Path? Rules of the martial world? Hahaha... Just which fool from which generation was naive enough to mimic such things?" Xiang Shan bent down, with his hands pressed against the ground, "I simply don't care about any Jianghu or Green Forest. I just want to ask you, in this era, is an invitation to join also an invitation to kill?"