Legend of the Cyber Heroes

About "why Yuki was so excited," Xiang Shan was naturally well aware.

The boy was so happy because Xiang Shan had promised to teach him some skills.

Xiang Shan admitted that revealing his identity was somewhat of a risk. He even contemplated the worst scenario—that "chivalry" was completely warped in this era and heroes no longer had any prestige. In such a case, he might even need to knock Yuki out and leave the town.

But he really lacked common sense about this bizarre era. He truly needed someone from this era to help him. In addition, some brain alterations he could not complete alone. To restore his martial arts, he needed an assistant.

Yuki was the only person Xiang Shan could currently trust. Having spent several months with him, he knew the boy was inherently kind and smart. He also had enough curiosity to want to understand the world.

In Xiang Shan's view, the boy was worth cultivating as an assistant or even an apprentice.

Xiang Shan had also given considerable thought to revealing his identity.

After weighing the risks and benefits, Xiang Shan ultimately chose to be forthcoming.

A few minutes ago, Xiang Shan had seen the expression on Yuki's face shift from astonishment and fear to relief.

"I saw you, Xiang Shan, angered by the plight of the workers," Yuki said. "I believe you are a good person, a good hero."

Afterward, Xiang Shan asked Yuki where to buy parts and borrow a set of specialized tools. Yuki then took Xiang Shan to Dr. Schultz's place.

"Hmm, the parts you need are mostly quite common. I have most of them here," Dr. Schultz glanced at the list Xiang Shan had made and nodded. "However, some of them are quite pricey, so..."

"Don't worry, I have a way to pay," Xiang Shan said, pulling out a vertebra from the package he carried with him. This vertebra shimmered with a silvery-gray gloss, hefty and dense, unlike the accumulation of calcium and protein, close to metal in density.

This was a legacy item left by Will Grand Duke, a spinal bone.

Indeed, humans could grow such vertebrae. This was something Xiang Shan had just remembered. In the twenty-first century, humanity had made tremendous progress in molecular biology and genetic engineering, allowing bodies to synthesize proteins containing metal elements through genetic modification.

If one used a modified virus to graft new gene fragments into their body and consistently took anti-immunity medicine to suppress the reaction between their original body and the emerging proteins, the protein-composed cells would gradually replace the original cells, eventually evolving humans from "Homo sapiens" into a brand new species of human.

And this new species, which evolved from Homo sapiens, had a much stronger adaptability to cyberized prosthetic bodies. The metal-based proteins in their bodies would form natural wires and resistors, significantly lowering the "brain-machine interface" threshold, while the cells' resistance to mechanical damage skyrocketed, preventing the nearby cells from necrosis when hardware was implanted in the human body.

—This might also be the reason why Xiang Shan was able to wake up again after being unconscious for countless years.

From a certain point in time, the human cyborgization process ran wild like a runaway horse.

Xiang Shan could no longer remember the finer details. But he still remembered that in his era, the spine was a critical element. The metalized spine acted as a natural data transmission line with high channel capacity, naturally matching neural signals without needing much adjustment. Many cyberization modifications preserved the brain, cerebellum, medulla, and spine.

Now, Will Grand Duke's Martial Artist Prosthesis still used this technology.

Xiang Shan remembered that Yuki's mother, Yulia, had sold spines. These items were still quite valuable today.

Dr. Schultz was startled. "You're going to sell this?" He looked at Xiang Shan's skeletal prosthetic body. "Don't you plan to use it yourself?"

Xiang Shan nonchalantly responded, "No medicine."

"Medicine?"

"That thing you need when you change spines... what's it called?" Xiang Shan probed.

Following the integration of metal-based genetic fragments, cell anti-apoptosis increased, and all receptors on the original cell membranes were rewritten, rendering Earth's native viruses nearly incapable of harming the New Humans. Additionally, the rise in body temperature also immune most old bacteria, fungi, and parasites. However, this did not mean that the body wouldn't reject a foreign spine.

—Of course, this was from the era in Xiang Shan's memory.

Xiang Shan didn't know how much Earth's technology had advanced since he'd been unconscious. As this was a specialized issue, Yuki was not very clear about it either, so he could only probe Dr. Schultz.

Dr. Schultz nodded. "Indeed... the Reverse Messenger Soaking Agent is really hard to get."

He didn't question it much. After all, ordinary people don't need to replace their spines in a lifetime.

"Right, right, the Reverse Messenger Soaking Agent!" Xiang Shan nodded, pretending to suddenly realize—fortunately, he was now shameless, and even his vocalizer was a cheap, emotionless piece of hardware, requiring no acting skills.

—Reverse Messenger Soaking Agent, a term he had never heard of... Messenger, does it relate to messenger RNA?

Xiang Shan himself was an engineer. But he vaguely remembered having a friend involved in biology who had talked to him about related topics.

"The Central Dogma, DNA inputs genetic information into messenger RNA, then the messenger RNA transcribes it into long polypeptide chains, which are folded by the cell organelles into proteins... Reverse transcriptase? No, that shouldn't be right..."

"Has this process already been further reversed?"

It seemed the technology was still advancing. Xiang Shan judged so. In his era, except for exceptions like the prion virus, other life activities generally followed the biological genetic information expression process of "The Central Dogma." It was nearly impossible to reverse such life activities inside the cells of an advanced organism.

"However..." Doctor Schultz flipped to the bottom of the list, looked at it and said, "Some of these parts, I really don't have... This specification, it shouldn't be applicable to a prosthetic body, right? And the last one, the iron sheet no thicker than one millimeter and less than three centimeters wide? You'd best go to the waste parts recycling bin on the east end of town for these items."

Xiang Shan explained, "These are to make some... auxiliary tools."

"Looking at this list, you must not have had professional training, have you?" Doctor Schultz shook his head. "Many of your specifications are non-standard. I don't know what kind of prosthetic body you plan to make, but a Martial Artist's professional prosthetic body is quite rare. I don't want you to waste these hard-earned good parts. How about this, why don't you go online to check out some design drawings?"

"Online?" Xiang Shan was startled. He remembered that the internet had once disappeared due to the war. He really hadn't expected that this seemingly rundown world still had something like network signals.

"Our town is quite broken down, and there's no public network signals. But I set up a private one at home. You should be able to receive it if you sit in the center of the living room. I can give you a one-time access password..."

At this point, he paused, "But, you'd better not download anything at random, and don't turn on the holographic signal preview either..."

Xiang Shan was indeed somewhat tempted.

But he eventually shook his head. "No, thank you, Doctor. The internet must be very expensive, I can't take advantage of you for nothing."

"That spine already made me quite a profit," Doctor Schultz patted Xiang Shan's shoulder, "And, you also saved my town, I really ought to thank you."

"No, I'm not used to accepting favors for no reason. If I need it, I'll come back to borrow your network," Xiang Shan still declined Doctor Schultz's kind offer.

Doctor Schultz did not invite him again. He quickly found the parts Xiang Shan needed and loaned him a set of professional biological tissue surgery tools.

After confirming that Xiang Shan had walked far away, Schultz went upstairs.

The town mayor was in a room upstairs.

"Uncle, he didn't go online," Schultz said with a strange expression. "Why did you remind me to invite him to go online?"

Doctor Schultz truly didn't understand his uncle's request, but he had followed it. His uncle was the most traveled and knowledgeable person in the town, having wandered far and wide in his youth and knowing some secrets.

"Dresden…" The Town Mayor called Schultz's name, "You can turn off the network first."

Schultz nodded and disconnected the home network directly using the brain-machine interface.

After all, he usually saved on network costs in this way.

"Did you know, Dresden?" The Town Mayor seemed to be recalling the past. "When I was younger, I offended an official and had to flee far from home."

Schultz nodded, "Indeed, but you were lucky, that official later died..."

"He was assassinated by a Hero," the Town Mayor paused before saying. "That Hero was summoned by me..."

"What?" Schultz screamed.

Conspiring with a Hero was a grave violation of the Dyson principle!

"I didn't conspire with any Hero. It just happened that I encountered one in the wilderness and then sought his help," the Town Mayor huffed. "Your grandfather, my father, once told me, Heroes, these thugs, are actually easy to exploit. Just act humbly towards them, and they will not trouble you. On the contrary, they will assassinate those officials they believe are guilty for some perverse sense of honor—they are actually very easy to manipulate. This, this is a vital survival wisdom we must understand."

Schultz exclaimed, "You never told me this before..."

"That was before... The fewer people know this secret, the better," the Town Mayor paused. "But now, the situation is different. The tax officer collected only eighteen babies, below the standard ratio. We don't know what he intends to do to us; we might only be able to rely on the 'Hero' again."

Schultz immediately understood. "You're saying... Xiang Shan is a Hero?"

"I don't know what Mr. Shan did before he lost his memory, but I know that all Heroes have one habit; they don't connect to the network carelessly. I had a brief encounter with a Hero for a few days; they always require extensive preparations before going online," the Town Mayor whispered. "I'm not sure if Mr. Shan is a Hero, but he certainly can fight—especially since he acquired that Martial Artist Prosthetic."