Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 55 - He Sneaked In

55: Chapter 55 He Sneaked In

55 -55 He Sneaked In

Within the Z organization, there were Vigorous Kui and Little Poison Insect, two Martial Artists known for their Internal Strength, so naturally, they were somewhat prepared for an Internal Strength Master.

Take, for instance, the closed-circuit surveillance cameras at each entrance to the tunnels.

These cameras were purely optical signal collection devices, which could not be hacked.

After the signal traveled through the closed-circuit lines to the monitoring area within the Great Stockade, it was monitored by a few members with very low levels of cybernetic enhancements—they specialized in this work.

These individuals had flesh and blood hands and only a single brain chip, which lacked the function to control their limbs.

This way, even if someone released a “Talisman” or “curse” through the screen, they would not be immediately controlled.

Next to these members were purely mechanical alarm systems.

Indeed, this was considered a spectacle.

After reading the memories of several Green Forest Men, Xiang Shan remembered that such things did exist—certain places used a “Difference Engine” as their control system specifically to defend against Internal Strength Masters.

The Difference Engine could essentially be considered a type of computational tool within the category of Turing Machines.

It’s not that this device couldn’t be hacked, but it certainly didn’t accept electronic signals.

To hack into a Difference Engine, one would have to find a way to jam specific gears or the like.

Besides that, the Great Stockade had another defensive measure.

About thirty percent of the personnel had chips that were not connected to Gleayard’s proprietary local area network servers.

Only around seventy percent of the members were directly connected to Gleayard’s servers.

Another twenty percent belonged to the second-in-command, Little Poison Insect, and the remaining ten percent belonged to the third-in-command “Blue Steel Vulture” Daniel.

Furthermore, Lev and Vigorous Kui’s direct stormtrooper units also had their own sequences.

This was done to prevent the entire stronghold from collapsing in case Gleayard was killed by an Internal Strength Master.

Ordinarily, Gleayard could issue commands to his subordinates with just a thought.

However, if he wanted to notify the other stockade leaders or issue commands to everyone in the stronghold, he would have to rely on the primitive broadcasting system.

Naturally, there was a nice-sounding term for this known as “Jianghu etiquette.”

In this era, many essentially useless traditions, which might even decrease work efficiency, were actually in place to defend against Internal Strength Masters.

In other words, even if Xiang Shan could control the whole stockade by following Gleayard’s server to spread Gu, he couldn’t possibly wipe out the entire Great Stockade in one fell swoop.

At the very least, the two stockade leaders and a small elite stormtrooper team required a different approach.

Additionally, thugs with low levels of cybernetic augmentation might also not be controlled.

But that wasn’t too significant.

The underground network was complex and intricate.

The tunnels below were not straightforward paths but rather had numerous turns and forks, with forks within those forks.

“Following the camera lines” wasn’t a good idea either.

At times, the layout of the camera’s coaxial lines was very peculiar, with several points of misdirection along the route.

Some false wires could even deliberately lead in the wrong direction.

The ground also had fake footprints and tire tracks.

In some dead ends, there were even EMP mines buried.

While “Iron Dust” types could somewhat resist EMP to a degree, an EMP attack erupting from beneath your feet wouldn’t give you the time to deploy Iron Dust; one could only rely on a Prosthetic Body’s inherent electromagnetic resistance to get through.

However, Xiang Shan had directly extracted the map from Lev and Gleayard’s minds and therefore wouldn’t get lost.

Although the Z organization had a surveillance system, it was, after all, limited by manpower and could not cover every base.

Moreover, in the eyes of most people, as long as the surveillance at the entrance was fine, there wouldn’t be a big problem inside.

Soon, Xiang Shan stopped at an intersection without cameras.

He shook the rear side of his motorcycle, letting his Disciple off.

Yuki wanted to speak up, but Xiang Shan covered his mouth, shaking his head, “Don’t you know about echoes?

In these kinds of tunnels, even a small sound can travel far.”

Yuki covered his mouth, and struggled to get used to typing in his mind, “Then Master, what should we do now…”

“You hide here,” Xiang Shan pointed at a fork in the tunnel, “This passage connects two of the most frequently used routes but is not often traveled, and there are enough turns.

Just hide at the first corner inside, got it?”

Yuki nodded eagerly.

Xiang Shan was only a few hundred meters from the Z organization’s Great Stockade now and had already received a signal sent from one of the servers.

However, this signal was one-way.

Ordinary members could only download specific data from this channel—including the surveillance content within the base, distribution of supplies, personnel movements, and leader commands.

They had no permission to upload and didn’t need to.

Some communications, such as chat, were handled by “radio.”

This also prevented certain members from becoming “Gu Master” puppets when online, quietly bringing Gu into the stronghold, then taking out certain information and ultimately selling out all the stronghold’s secrets.

— Although Xiang Shan thought that Gleayard had quite a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

What Xiang Shan needed to do now was to enter the range where he could exert his Internal Strength—that is, where the signal emitted by the transmitter could reach the stronghold’s server.

Per the agreement, Yuki had to wait here first.

[Remember, in case you get discovered…]

[Just dodge the auxiliary lines!]

[Nonsense!

What did I tell you?

If you get discovered, say, “I am the disciple of a Hero, and my master has already infiltrated your stronghold.

If you don’t want to gamble on whether there’s Gu on your body, then please capture me so I can trade for a chance to remove the Gu poison with my master.”—The auxiliary line system is to prevent you from being instantly killed!

It’s nothing but a beginner’s training tool!]

Yuki hesitated: [Isn’t this betrayal?]

Xiang Shan emphasized again: [Remember, just say it like that!

Now, go hide well!]

Yuki obediently followed the instructions.

After confirming that Yuki was indeed invisible to the naked eye, Xiang Shan nodded; [Hide well, I’ll be right back.]

After saying that, he and the corpse of Ali under his control both started their motorcycles and headed towards the Organization Z stronghold once more.

A few minutes later, he saw his destination—a parking lot.

It was a place for parking motorcycles, and the edge of the field was lined with several weapon racks.

Below the weapon racks were three ammo boxes, providing bullets of three commonly used calibers.

Several lackeys were gathered there.

They were huddled in a corner, holding homemade gaming devices, playing Tetris there.

“Gaming” was perhaps one of the few cultural aspects that had continued from the Old Era until now.

According to a theory, the neural activity in the brain of a Martial Artist who had just started learning, while executing external strength, was similar to that during gaming.

Be it the thinking mode of “forecasting and planning,” or the emotional aspect towards “victory and defeat,” the consistency was very high.

It’s just that, in this era, no one dared to download resources online casually.

Even a few lines of code might carry malicious Gu.

The few games here were byproducts created by the warriors in the stronghold when they were training their inner strength.

Some classic designs would be passed down through word of mouth to this day, then reproduced repeatedly by generations of Internal Strength Practitioners.

Someone from afar greeted Xiang Shan and the body of Ali.

Xiang Shan, draping an arm around Ali’s shoulders, waved back, while playing a laugh track recorded just before he subdued this Green Forest brother.

This laugh, after being technically processed by Xiang Shan to remove background noise, sounded slightly odd but still good enough to deceive

“Come on, come and play a few rounds!” a burly man shouted, “Loser has to take a shot of ethanol.”

“No thanks,” said Xiang Shan vaguely.

After all, Ali wasn’t a fully modified warrior; having been dead for several days, his body inevitably showed some abnormalities and the cheap chips couldn’t write very complex stuff, making his physical movements appear very stiff to an observer.

The Gu hadn’t been planted yet.

Xiang Shan’s own cultivation of internal strength hadn’t fully recovered, and even hacking something as unprotected as the Organization Z server took a certain amount of his energy.

If he was discovered too soon and caught in the unrelenting assault of the External Martial Artists, he might not find the opportunity to release the Gu poison.

Therefore, he couldn’t reveal himself yet.

Fortunately, those Green Forest men didn’t insist, and continued to focus on playing their game.

Xiang Shan, carrying some supplies, headed towards the collective storehouse of Organization Z first.

Every time a raid was completed, the lackeys of Organization Z would go there to submit their spoils, to help maintain the operation of their organization.

This action wouldn’t raise any suspicion.

Xiang Shan covertly used his prosthetic eye to scan the ceiling, marking the position of all the cameras, and silently calculating their coverage area or the frequency of their rotations.

He then compared this with the memories of Gleayard and Lev.

Frankly speaking, the camera coverage in this Green Forest Stronghold wasn’t very dense.

Only some key intersections and the surroundings of critical areas like the warehouse, machine room, and power station had denser coverage.

Xiang Shan dragged the body of Ali, walking through the narrow and dim corridors.

Soon, two Green Forest thugs came face to face.

Xiang Shan carefully adjusted his pace to ensure they would meet in a dim section of the corridor.

The two bandits, noticing Ali’s odd step and Xiang Shan’s somewhat unfamiliar face, looked puzzled.

Xiang Shan passed by the two naturally.

The two bandits were still wondering if one of their brothers might have taken too much of some drug and were about to turn around for another glance.

But at that instant, a noise like a gunshot rang out.

Xiang Shan’s arm grabbed hold of Ali’s steel rod and then violently shook his wrist.

The tail end of the steel rod struck the two Green Forest bandits.

Before they had a chance to turn around, they were hit at the back of the head by the rod.

The intense vibrations penetrated into the medulla, causing the two bandits to lose control of their bodies momentarily.

Xiang Shan turned around, pressed on the backs of their heads, and emitted a high-frequency shockwave, shattering their spines and crushing the main nerves inside the spinal canal, then destroying their brains.

He immediately threw the miscellaneous items to the ground and quickly left the scene.