Legend of the Cyber Heroes-Chapter 79 - Night’s End 2-in-1 Mega

79: Chapter 79: Night’s End [2-in-1 Mega Chapter]

79 -79: Night’s End [2-in-1 Mega Chapter]

Without a doubt, being “buried alive” was the most terrifying among the many disasters that befell the masses.

The surrounding “darkness” had a physical presence.

It was like a malicious plastic bag, tightly sealing off your breath.

Above you was a weight impossible for human strength to overturn—this weight blocked any interaction between you and the air.

There was no space to move.

There were no elements to sustain life.

Humanity’s pride in “imagination” and “creativity” turned into instruments of torture.

In the darkness, “creativity” prophetically constructed scenarios of “death.” Humans would imagine someone walking by just a few meters away, never knowing that there was a tormented soul lingering here…

Yuki had almost woken up under such circumstances.

However, he could still hear sounds.

It was the sound of crying.

He felt softness in his chest, but his stomach was in severe pain—it was the result of being punched.

In the final moments of the corridor’s collapse, Xiang Shan protected two children under his body and then propped his arms on the ground, forming a triangular structure with the corridor walls and the floor to create a space.

Yuki, having been cushioned on the ground, had knocked his head against stones bouncing off the ground, which made him pass out.

The little girl using him as a buffer was relatively unharmed.

Seemingly exhausted from crying, intense fear almost knocked her out.

Still, she kept kicking at the object in front of her.

Upon hearing that “bang bang” of metal, Yuki realized it was his master’s external armor.

Yuki quickly held the girl back—he wasn’t worried about his master at all.

With an armor that not even industrial machinery could cut through, there was nothing to worry about.

This little girl, constantly in such a stressed state, could easily hurt herself.

Yuki felt her heart beating very fast.

This speed was not something a natural heart could withstand.

“If you’re awake, nod your head, and use the Contemplation technique I taught you.

Imagine darkness, and suppress your brain activity,” Xiang Shan’s message appeared directly in Yuki’s mind; “Oxygen is limited here, and since this little girl has the most biological parts, oxygen should be prioritized for her.”

As long as the energy hadn’t run out, Xiang Shan hardly needed oxygen.

Most of Yuki’s internal organs and limbs were prosthetic, so his need for oxygen was also relatively low.

But the little girl’s organs were natural, and her oxygen consumption was the highest among the three.

Xiang Shan also noticed that Yuki was awake.

He whispered, “Hold on a little longer.

The satellite patrols above us are very active right now, so don’t leave rashly; at least hold on for an hour…”

However, they couldn’t hold on for too long.

After a while, the government would surely come to collect the debris that had been knocked down.

Materials convenient for collection in space had mostly been retrieved already.

But the remaining materials were also resources—certainly simpler than extracting from ore or enriching from soil.

Moreover, the government would surely come to check whether the targets of the space-based kinetic weapon’s bombardment were indeed dead.

The only thing worth being grateful for was that, according to Xiang Shan’s impression from the Welfare Officer, the Protectors always operated under a “lack of human resources.” The Dyson principle forbade individuals from pledging allegiance to anything non-individual, and legally, the Protectors couldn’t directly order the public, so they likely wouldn’t arrive immediately.

But they had to leave before dawn.

Such were Xiang Shan’s thoughts.

The little girl started getting restless again.

Xiang Shan was truly exasperated—he didn’t like children at all.

But he still sighed, lowered his head, and rubbed his face against the girl’s cheek: “Don’t be afraid…

don’t be afraid…”

The girl seemed slightly bewildered.

The Green Forest members only treated her as a toy, and the captive Natural People never thought to teach her to speak.

Even if they burned a “language pack” into a chip and inserted it into her brain, she wouldn’t know how to use this knowledge or how to form neural pathways.

But there was one phrase…

“Don’t be afraid.”

In the darkness, this phrase was repeated by many people, by her ear.

“Don’t be afraid.”

As if possessed, the little girl opened her mouth, with a cry in her voice, and said, “Don’t be afraid…

don’t…

be afraid…

don’t be afraid…”

She had spoken the first words of her life.

Not “Mom” or “Dad”—she had never used these two words.

“Don’t be afraid.”

“Yes, don’t be afraid.” Xiang Shan, unaware of this fact, nodded.

After a while, the little girl finally calmed down.

Xiang Shan then gradually increased the power of Yuki’s Prosthetic Body.

“Alright, disciple.

Listen closely,” Xiang Shan said in a low voice, “What comes next may concern the lives of the three of us.

Now, you dig the soil from behind me and fill it under yourself.

Move quickly…”

Yuki nodded with difficulty, then reached out her hand, passing through Xiang Shan’s ribs, and started to dig the soil beneath Xiang Shan’s ribs.

Due to the noise caused by those Space-based Kinetic Weapons hitting the ground, most of the surrounding soil was loose.

The occasional rocks were not a problem.

Yuki’s limbs had been replaced with lackey-grade Martial Artist Prosthesis before entering the Great Stockade, so there was no worry of injury from digging.

At this moment, Xiang Shan was left with only one hand.

On one side, he had only half an arm left, and the other hand was overheated and damaged due to rapid firing earlier.

If he were to dig himself, he wouldn’t be able to maintain even this small space.

Following Xiang Shan’s instructions, Yuki dug from beneath Xiang Shan’s ribs, from his side, and beside his neck—these were the parts of the ground she could reach.

The soil flowed down like water.

In the darkness, where vision was not possible, Yuki couldn’t estimate the total amount of soil.

Several times, she thought she was going to be buried alive.

Once the soil was cleared to a certain extent, Xiang Shan exerted force with his waist and legs and fiercely arched upwards, splitting and compacting the soil above, raising it by two feet, while Yuki was almost really buried.

She struggled out of the loose soil and repeated the process.

The three of them, like a bubble in the soil, slowly floated up.

Finally, after several hours, Xiang Shan pushed upwards with force but didn’t feel the mountain-like weight anymore; instead, he felt a void in his body.

Yuki then breathed in a breath of air with an extremely high oxygen content.

The three of them finally came to the surface.

Yuki looked around, stunned.

The landscape around them had completely changed.

Centered on the Great Stockade of the Z organization, within a radius of several hundred meters, all hills and boulders had vanished.

Only a hole remained.

A large hole formed by many overlapping circular pits.

At the bottom of the pit, a burst of water was gushing from the ground.

It was that underground river.

If the evaporation rate wasn’t too high, this place might form a small lake.

Everything belonging to the Z organization had disappeared.

Xiang Shan then looked up at the sky.

Numerous satellites were still moving above.

It was not yet entirely safe to conclude this place was safe.

But at least there was no sign of a Space-based Kinetic Weapon crashing down.

Xiang Shan breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground.

In the intense activity just now, his Prosthetic Leg was completely wrecked.

The power system in his trunk also overheated, causing many problems.

However, they had at least survived.

“Phew…

hahaha…

I finally remember why Martial Arts aren’t suited for oppressing the weak,” Xiang Shan sighed, “The means by which the strong attack the weak are just too many.

There are also many more cost-effective than Martial Arts.”

To massacre those helpless individuals, “many guns” are more useful than most martial arts.

In places like Dyson’s huge stockades, no matter how many resources they accumulated, they couldn’t withstand a space-based kinetic weapon attack – such attacks were merely akin to clearing orbital debris, just taking out the “trash.”

“Master?” Yuki immediately adopted a “listening to the master’s teachings” posture.

“First, drag me over to the donkey.

Before daytime.” Xiang Shan sighed, “Also, check the pocket under your collar.

I must have slipped a hard disk into it just now.

If it’s lost, I will expel you from my tutelage.”

“Ah?” Yuki was shocked: “You didn’t say that before!”

“Stop talking, check if it’s still there, then pull.”

Fortunately, the hard disk was still there.

So, Yuki placed the sleeping little girl on Xiang Shan’s chest, then twisted his own clothes into strips of cloth to bind Xiang Shan’s arm, and began dragging Xiang Shan forward like this.

Looking at the stars, Xiang Shan said, “Human ‘weapons’ have always been in a state of ‘lethal power overflow.’ To ‘kill a person,’ a knife is enough.

All firearms embody ‘lethal power overflow.’ Even cyberization, most prosthetic bodies can’t withstand conventional firearms, not to mention the current situation — tell me, to what extent must one train their martial arts to ensure they can survive an oversaturated bombardment from space-based platforms?

And these are just the cheapest kind of weapons.

If they were to use self-propelled nuclear weapons, tsk tsk.”

While pulling hard, Yuki nodded, “Yes, martial arts…

really quite useless!”

“Yes.

A supersonic Martial Artist Prosthesis costs enough to deploy an entire squadron of supersonic drones,” said Xiang Shan.

“That’s why the party with resource superiority would never choose martial arts as a standard tactic, right?”

“Yes!”

“Actually, historically, it’s always the side with fewer resources that pins their hopes on ‘elite warriors.’ History has proven this countless times,” pondered Xiang Shan.

“Hmm, let’s see…

about two thousand years ago on the other side of the Pacific?

That time was, roughly, during the ancient society’s ‘Wasteland Era,’ when technology, organizational structures, and even culture were crumbling and regressing.

At that time, a vast empire split into three kingdoms.

One of the kingdoms was called ‘Shu Han.’ If you read historical stories, you’d realize that they…

they were like a painting that doesn’t quite match the rest of the era, very much adhering to classical morals—at least more than others at the time.”

“If you’re familiar with the stories, you’ll find that they often won battles, but as they won, they neared extinction — that’s the consequence of elite soldier tactics.

Because it takes a long time for an elite soldier or a brave commander to develop, and losing one takes a long time to train and replace.

But their enemy could consist of ten trained regular soldiers sacrificing one for another.

For elite tactics, ‘small victories lead to defeat.'”

Elite tactics require constant major victories until final triumph.

If they only achieve small victories without achieving a very high trade-off, the wins might as well be losses.

And one major defeat could determine the fate of these elite warriors and commanders.

Indeed, a ruler of the Kingdom of Shu Han, a Marquis listed among the ‘Martial Temple’s Ten Sages,’ also pointed out this issue in his renowned essays — “These are all elites gathered over decades from all regions, not belonging to just one province; if repeated over years, two-thirds would be lost, how then to conceive of fighting the enemy?

These are my unresolved issues”.” And “if not strategized now, wanting to hold out with just the resources of one province against the rebels, these are my unresolved issues.”

National power, or rather “resource” abundance, cannot be overturned by “elites”.

For thousands of years, the military strategies of humans have always favored “those in control of numerous resources”.

That is the strong man’s “Son of Heaven’s Sword”.

And cyber martial arts, that is the “Commoner’s Sword”.

It will always remain the Commoner’s Sword because it was designed from the start for those with fewer resources.

For someone controlling many resources to try to kill enemies with this method would be foolish.

Yuki felt somewhat disheartened.

He stopped to let his hands and feet, which had been intensely active, rest a bit and asked, “Then don’t we heroes never stand a chance?”

“Not necessarily, we actually have one advantage — consumption.

Isn’t the consumption of resources on both sides asymmetrical?”

“Ah?”

“The trash that just fell was originally satellites.

Sending a satellite from the Moon’s surface to Earth’s orbit also requires a substantial expenditure.

And that’s just for kinetic space-based weapons,” Xiang Shan gestured with his head to himself and the little girl on him: “And look, their expenses just now didn’t achieve the intended effect, did they?”

A massive army certainly means massive consumption.

And a saturation of weapons means even greater consumption.

Mind you, even in modern armies that emphasize “sharpshooters,” the vast majority of bullets are used for “suppressive fire.” It’s common for thousands of rounds to kill or injure just one enemy.

Right, this is still “lethal power overflow”.

In fact, most of the firepower expended in wars doesn’t impact the enemy at all.

And the ultimate development of this trend was probably at the beginning of the 21st century.

Then, in Central Asia and Western Asia, “braves” would spend a few US Dollars on tents as fake targets, while their modernized enemies often had to spend hundreds of thousands of US Dollars on missiles to strike them.

And these braves, living almost like in the Middle Ages, earned only a few dollars a week, nowhere near their enemies’ hourly wages.

Such a terrifying exchange rate naturally also made the superpowers of the time feel the strain—not that they couldn’t afford it, but because they felt it simply wasn’t worth it.

“‘Not worth it’ — that’s the method heroes use to win,” Xiang Shan gazed at the stars and chuckled: “Manifest in the industrial zone, make them hesitant to commit to eradicating heroes along with valuable production equipment.

Conceal yourself, make each of their moves fail, let their resources be squandered.

Also, take advantage of absolute individual superiority, gradually accumulating an advantage.”

Yuki clenched his teeth.

He seemed to have realized something.

In this scenario, the only thing not considered is…

the value of life.

If life is priceless, then no matter how many resources one trades for it, it’s a loss.

Xiang Shan nodded, “Right, this thing is designed for those who are desperate and have only their worthless lives left—of course, our concepts of heroism and morals also encompass a lot more.

For instance, those unwilling to follow the principle of ‘knowledge openness’ are easily eliminated.

Its fundamental design is just like this.”

“Those who are desperate, willing to gamble with their lives, and willing to share everything with like-minded others, only they can join the battle.”

Saying this, Xiang Shan retracted his gaze from between the stars and looked at Yuki, “Kid, the martial arts I’ve designed are exactly this.

You understand now, right?

Your mother was right to think you shouldn’t become a Hero.”

Yuki’s lips quivered.

“How about it, regret it now?

There’s still time to quit.”

Without a word, Yuki turned around and continued pulling Xiang Shan forward.

“What, no answer?”

Yuki spoke in a muffled voice, “I know…

Master, you mean well.

But!

I!

Haven’t!

Gotten!

My!

Revenge!”

He exerted himself as if venting.

“I want!

To take revenge!

On this world!”

Xiang Shan laughed.

Not bad.

He continued looking at the starry sky.

“Of course, you don’t need to be too disappointed.

‘Heroism’ and ‘Martial Arts,’ compared to ‘resources,’ might have a thousand weaknesses but also have their strengths.

When we designed them, we made it difficult for them to be eradicated.

No matter how many times they fail, there will always be a few seeds remaining…”

“A long, long time ago, you see, I thought that if everyone could perform their duties well in their own fields, the world would naturally become better.

Like me, my friends and I solved humanity’s food and education problems.

We thought that as scholars, by doing our jobs well and solving these technical problems troubling humanity, naturally, there would be other people from all walks of life, various people, coming together to make this world better.”

“Naïve…

It was utterly naïve…”

Xiang Shan said this.

After calming down, he repeatedly reviewed the memories of his past self and then arrived at this conclusion.

It seems that after that memory, he had experienced many long years and had completely different experiences.

Suddenly, Yuki stopped.

“Master, didn’t you forget your past?”

Xiang Shan laughed and scolded, “Can’t I suddenly remember, huh?”

“Wait, Master, are you a noble Lord?

Aren’t you a Hero?” Yuki was shocked.

“Tch, making a fuss over nothing,” Xiang Shan shook his head.

“In the distant past, many chivalrous ancestors came from noble backgrounds.

A person can’t decide where they come from, but they can decide the path they take later.

You still have a lot to learn, kid.”

Yuki relaxed and then his eyes lit up, “Master, since you’ve regained your memory, you must know a lot, right?

Do you also know about ancient times?

What about your past?”

“That’s a very long, very long story,” Xiang Shan glanced sideways at his disciple.

“I didn’t ask you to stop.

Keep pulling!”

Yuki continued pulling while talking, “Master!

Talk about!

Your!

Past!”

Several hours later, they finally reached the donkey’s side.

As the east began to lighten slightly, the “donkey” started moving, then continued forward.

The man-made stars in the sky also melted into the dawn light.

[Volume One: Alone in a Foreign Land as a Stranger, end]