Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 40 - Farewell

40: Chapter 40 Farewell

40 -40 Farewell

Xiang Shan opened his eyes.

According to the schedule, today was the day the Welfare Officer would announce the restoration of asylum.

It was also the time he had planned to leave the town.

Since that inexplicable turmoil had passed, there was no longer much point in staying here.

Besides, though he didn’t remember who he was, he could at least be sure that he must have been a renowned rebel in the past.

Just being in a place under official surveillance made him uncomfortable.

He needed to leave, to go into the wilderness.

At this time, Xiang Shan’s prosthetic body had changed compared to half a month ago.

The external armor, damaged in the fight with Lev, had been recast.

This time, his external armor was more streamlined, but the chest and back were bulkier than before, clearly packed with new machinery.

The entire external armor had been painted in a matte black.

The lower body still had prosthetic legs made of synthetic muscles, designed for reverse-joint walking.

His hands too, taken from Blade Guest Ronconi, had now been painted to match the color of the external armor.

This was not for aesthetics or “style consistency.” Xiang Shan was not yet concerned with that.

This was mainly to avoid the space-based weapons satellites above.

In those days, he had gazed at the starry sky more than once.

With the support of three martial artist’s drive chips, his prosthetic eye could finally be powered up higher.

With the help of the prosthetic eye, he had also spotted many celestial bodies moving at unusual speeds in the sky—those were “artificial satellites.”

If one considered the number, the density of artificial satellites in this era had already reached its limit.

Xiang Shan guessed that orbit was densely packed with man-made objects.

Those were the hovering “eyes” in the sky.

He didn’t know to what precision the optical scanning of this era could achieve, but matte black was harder to detect than shiny metallic colors.

A hero must know how to deal with these things.

Inner strength could indeed follow electromagnetic signals to invade the enemy’s terminal devices, disrupting and even taking control of them.

But with the power of this humanoid prosthetic body, Xiang Shan couldn’t project his inner strength into space through any electromagnetic frequency.

He was unable to use his inner strength to neutralize those far-off reconnaissance satellites in orbit.

Unless he could control a powerful enough launching device.

Besides “surveillance,” there was also “the attack that could arrive at any time.”

According to Xiang Shan’s memory, the only limitation of “space-based weapons” was the “potential damage to valuable property.” If a hero was discovered in the wilderness, he would then face concentrated fire from space-based weapon satellites.

Xiang Shan looked around.

The elderly and disabled around the old parts recycling bins all stood in the corners like they had crashed.

The town mayor had preemptively shut down these individuals’ prosthetic bodies to prevent them from confronting the Welfare Officer, leaving them in a state of feigned death.

Xiang Shan was uncomfortable with this practice.

In the past era, the function to “shut down a prosthetic body” could not be authorized to another person.

Only the “biological brain directly connected to the prosthetic” could command the motion components of the prosthetic body to shut down through neural signals.

But in this era, it seemed to be common.

Xiang Shan’s eyes swept over another machine in the corner.

The infrared signal from his prosthetic eye penetrated that machine.

Then, it tremulously stood up.

This was a quadruped machine, nearly two meters tall.

Xiang Shan had dismantled the parts of Lev’s prosthetic legs and reassembled the power structures on a frame commissioned by the village mayor.

This machine was essentially four legs carrying a rectangular tabletop with two prosthetic eyes at the front.

Ronconi’s drive chip was installed in a small metal box beneath those prosthetic eyes.

Xiang Shan had assigned this mechanism the code name “Donkey.” “Donkey” was a type of pack animal robot.

Although on flat surfaces, the efficiency of wheels was far better than that of this outdated leg structure, wheels struggled to navigate complex terrains.

Under such conditions, a multi-legged robot still had its purpose.

This machine would be responsible for carrying Lev, Paulus, Ronconi, and the last remnants of Vigorous Kui’s legacy.

Moreover, it was itself a “spare prosthetic body.”

Without speaking a word, Xiang Shan gazed into “Donkey’s” prosthetic eyes and issued the “follow” command.

He walked out the door.

The streets were quiet, devoid of people.

Only at the other end of the town was there some dust fluttering.

Clearly, the residents had once again gathered in the square, waiting for the Welfare Officer’s arrival.

Xiang Shan glanced that way twice.

Well, that little guy never did come over.

Xiang Shan shook his head.

The matter of a child throwing a tantrum was utterly unreasonable.

He walked a few steps and soon reached the other end of the town.

This side featured a raw material accumulation yard.

Beyond that was the garbage dump upon which the residents relied for survival.

Xiang Shan planned to head in that direction, crossing the remnants of the battlefield to reach the nearly unvisited wilderness.

Xiang Shan stood at the edge of the garbage dump, turned around, and looked back at Recycling Station Town.

“Tsk, tsk,” Xiang Shan shook his head.

“It’s such a broken place, yet there’s still a bit of it that’s hard to leave behind.” “I need to find a way to recover more of my memories, otherwise, I might think any piece of scrap metal is something valuable…”

At that moment, a cloud of dust was rapidly approaching.

It might be someone coming for him.

Xiang Shan withdrew his foot.

Before long, Yulia appeared in Xiang Shan’s view.

A cloth strip was tied to her rearview mirror.

The Town Mayor was lying beside her vehicle’s bed.

Xiang Shan was a bit puzzled, “Miss Yulia?

Mr.

Mayor?

What brings you two here?”

He was indeed quite surprised.

At this time, the town’s residents should have been welcoming the Welfare Officer.

The Town Mayor shrank his shoulders, somewhat embarrassed, “We just came to see off the Righteous Warrior.

You’ve been with our town so long and helped us so much…”

Yulia was straightforward, “I asked the Mayor to come with me.

You had told Yuki that before you leave, there was one thing that had to be returned to you.

I don’t have a prosthetic hand convenient for retrieving items, so I had to bring the Mayor with me.”

The Town Mayor removed the object tied to Yulia’s rearview mirror.

It was a piece of synthetic fabric with a drive chip inside.

It was Yuki’s spare chip.

Xiang Shan had made some modifications to it, disabling some ports that could be externally interference.

These were measures Xiang Shan took to keep his secrets.

Initially, if he wanted to teach his apprentice something real, he had to think of a way to get him out of potential surveillance.

But having this was akin to telling those in power, “I am a rebel.” That’s why Xiang Shan had told Yuki early on, if they were to part, Yuki had to dispose of that chip.

It seems Yuki at least remembered this.

“Kids being stubborn…” Xiang Shan glanced at Yulia and the Town Mayor.

It seemed that Yulia didn’t fully trust the Town Mayor.

Yuki probably wrapped the object around Yulia’s rearview mirror himself.

She hadn’t handed it over to the Town Mayor, maybe fearing that the mayor might secretly keep the chip, and such behavior could implicate her and Yuki.

But she was also genuinely afraid the chip might fall off halfway, unable to pick it up, and subsequently offend Xiang Shan, this “thug.”

“Why bother with all this trouble?

I only said that this item shouldn’t be inspected.

If there’s a risk of inspection, just destroy it yourself.”

As Xiang Shan spoke, he connected the chip to an interface on his wrist, formatting it.

He tossed the chip to the Town Mayor, “This would suffice.”

“Haha…” the Town Mayor laughed cautiously, “Doesn’t the Righteous Warrior want to stay a few more days?”

“No need.

The town has been kind to me, I helped you fend off some thugs, and guarded you for so many days, I consider the debt repaid.” Xiang Shan shook his head, “There are some personal matters I need to handle next.”

The Town Mayor was greatly alarmed, “That’s not what we meant…”

Xiang Shan ignored the old man, instead turning to Yulia, “Madam, please tell that kid Yuki that I was very disappointed in his performance in these last few days.

Understand, very disappointed!

Knowledge is the most precious thing in this world.

I always complain that there isn’t enough time, never enough to teach everything.

It’s unacceptable not to learn when given the chance to be taught.”

Yulia was silent for a moment so long that Xiang Shan started to doubt if this person wanted to speak to him at all.

Finally, a sound came from Yulia’s speaker, “Not allowing Yuki to come was my idea.

Please don’t be harsh on my son.”

Xiang Shan laughed softly, “I guess I won’t have the chance to be harsh on your son anymore.

I indeed have to leave.”

Only then did Yulia seem to breathe a little easier.

She really was afraid of these kinds of situations.

If Xiang Shan harbored any malice towards her and Yuki, they had no way of resisting.

“It seems you really like that kid Yuki…” Yulia remarked.

“After all, he’s the one who dug me out of the garbage heap, and he’s my only apprentice so far,” Xiang Shan waved his hand.

After a moment of thought, Yulia asked, “So, the knowledge you passed to Yuki, was it all that important?”

Xiang Shan nodded, “I think, if he hasn’t strayed, he should be able to live more like a human in many years—of course, it’s also fine if he forgets.”

A gust of wind blew.

The sand and dust dramatically decreased the visibility.

Xiang Shan glanced back, the familiar Ground Effect Vehicle was already on the horizon.

He nodded, “The time to leave has come.”

Indeed, a Great Hero should enter the sandstorm, carrying something with a Long Spear, and slowly disappear.

Yulia started the engine—[perhaps a ritual Xiang Shan couldn’t understand]—and said to Xiang Shan, “Thank you for educating my child.

Shan, I hope you go well…”

“No, that’s not possible.”

At that moment, another voice joined the conversation.