Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1180 The End of the Journey and Before the Departure
Zomor Volta is writing his final written record. Perhaps because death is imminent, his mindset has shifted slightly, allowing him to maintain his rationality for longer without having to use his passion for music to combat his bloodlust.

After the first attack on the Celestial Star Fleet and the first contamination of the light-speed highway, everyone was already practically dead. It was only a matter of time before the entire Liangshan Marsh was exposed.

Unlike previous minor skirmishes, this time "Liangshan Marsh" is situated on the main road of the light-speed highway, directly opposite King Agni. This time, the government's annihilation will be relentless, leaving no stone unturned.

The feeling of death was etched into his heart, and perhaps that's why he was able to record these things.

When the Ninth Martial God was still around, his companions would also write similar things. Of course, most of the time it was the Ninth Martial God himself who did the writing. At that time, Zhuomo'er lacked the patience for this and found the activity tedious and boring.

But after a long period of hell and obsession, Zomor found it quite interesting.

Perhaps he simply misses the old days when the Ninth Martial God was writing down his records, and his companions would be there to cause trouble and improvise a few times.

He has compiled all his experiences over the past sixty years. This is the final part. He needs to send it to Tao Enhai as soon as possible.

Thinking of this, he looked up at Masahiro Norio, who was sitting in the armchair. The king's left hand rested on the armrest of the alloy chair, his five fingers falling and snapping back in quick succession, producing a series of crisp and dense metallic clanging sounds, like a miniature rock concert. His head swayed rhythmically, seemingly immersed in his own world.

Zhuomo sighed: "Heavenly King..."

"Hmm." Masaga Norio did not stop what he was doing.

"To be honest, it felt really awkward to say those words, but in the end I really felt that I should say 'thank you'."

"What are you thanking me for? Thanking me for bringing you up the mountain?"

Zhuo Mo'er said, "For so many years, you've allowed me to move freely in the mountain stronghold, right up to today... The fact that the stronghold has become like this must be partly due to you."

“The outlaws are free…” Masahiro stopped banging, changed his posture, rested his cheek on his right hand, and leaned back in his chair. “As long as you don’t intend to harm your comrades, the outlaws are absolutely free, and you can do whatever you want.”

"But in the end, I led everyone to their doom."

“It doesn’t matter, even a dead end is still a path.” Masahiro nodded, completely unconcerned.

“I really find it strange that you agreed to come with me to attack the Celestial Star Fleet,” Zomor said.

"Let's have another fight, and then you'll take a portion of the men with you?" Norio Masaga said. "I hate infighting among my own people."

In these twenty years, "fighting" was the last violent activity of Liangshan Marsh. The frenzy of music mixed with the accumulated urge to kill brewed an unknown magical wine of thought in the minds of these outlaws.

They are deeply immersed in the world of music, but once the flow state disappears, the accumulated urge to kill explodes, engulfing their consciousness, and they can't even distinguish their own people.

Small-scale skirmishes thus broke out.

This kind of thing has been happening repeatedly over the past twenty years, and it has become increasingly serious. Compared to twenty years ago, "Liangshanbo" has lost a quarter of its members.

The addiction to killing remains deeply ingrained in them, like a shadow, impossible to eradicate.

Over the course of sixty years, Zhuo Mo'er, known as "Tian Gang Xing," not only expressed his emotions through music but also created themed works.

He repeatedly elaborated on three themes: "delayed gratification," "there are different levels of pleasure," and "fighting to the death with the strong is more exhilarating."

Finally, more than twenty years ago, the Liangshan bandits completely stopped their regular raids, and all the outlaws entered a special state—they constantly delayed their own pleasure, hoping for an opportunity for a "death battle".

They wouldn't easily start a fight; right now, their minds were only focused on a "grand deathmatch." If they were to engage in ordinary killing, they would feel unworthy of their long wait.

—Unless desire burns even through the self.

"Liangshanbo" is already on the verge of self-destruction.

Perhaps it was fate... On the verge of destruction, Zhuomo heard the call to arms from the martial arts world, a broadcast from a chivalrous knight.

This might sound strange. Zhuomo'er's original intention was not to choose to sacrifice himself as a chivalrous hero.

The moment he learned about the Celestial Star Fleet, his first reaction was only one...

—This is what we've been waiting for for twenty years…

—The best deathmatch ever.

This discovery became the starting point for all subsequent thinking.

Only then did the last vestige of chivalry in Zhuomo'er's mind tell him that the God of War might need help—regardless of which God of War it was now.

Zhuomo then contacted Tao Enhai. He couldn't think of any other way to prove his identity and could only rely on the special protocol stored in the device.

That communication encryption protocol that was unexpectedly stable and still works after sixty years.

He told the outlaws of Liangshan that he had found the best enemy and could have a final, best fight to the death.

In that instant, "Liangshanbo" came to life.

But after entering the light-speed highway and firing long-range weapons, death was inevitable. Only then did Zomor regain his long-lost rationality.

For reasons unknown, he decided to do something he had never done before: write something.

In the end, he suddenly became a little curious about Norio Masaga.

At this moment, Zheng Hedianxiong and he were the only two people in Liangshanbo who could talk to each other.

Norio Masaga said, “My parents once told me that the people in the place where I was born believed that it was better to perish in one’s prime than to decay in the end—perhaps that was what they thought when they took their own lives. It’s been two hundred years. I think our ‘Liangshan Marsh’ has indeed reached the time of its withering.”

This passage is filled with words and phrases that Zomor doesn't understand. Zomor was born in a relatively late era and is only a little over a hundred years old now. He has little memory of his parents and doesn't understand "family education." Concepts like "suicide," "ethnicity," and "regional culture" are also foreign to him.

He asked, "Are you an early baseline man?"

“My parents were the first generation of baseline humans who evolved from Homo sapiens.” Zheng He looked at Zhuo Mo’er. “Are you asking this because you want to send these stories to the Knights of the Valley as well?”

Zhuomo felt a pang of shame, a guilt akin to betraying a partner welling up within him: "I'm sorry, it was indeed my fault..."

"Contact the God of War. Xiang Shan." Zheng He Norio asked, "Is that right or wrong? Will Xiang Shan know too?"

"Perhaps, I'm not sure. The person who contacted me was someone who worked with Xiangshan three hundred years ago..."

“Then this story really does need to be told.” Masaga Norio nodded. “I don’t even remember if anyone else remembers this story. It would be good if one or two more people knew it.”

Masahiro seemed unconcerned by Zomor's response and began reminiscing on his own.

"Where should I begin...? The earliest... might be related to the first half of the 21st century. One of my mother's senior classmates died in war while conducting fieldwork in Africa."

"What is your mother's... 'senior'? Is it a title for a research knight? Is your mother one too?"

“‘Brother’ (Japanese)...is that the word? I don’t quite remember how it’s said now.” Norio Masaga looked up at the dim sky. “Actually, the key part is the second half. My mother received help from that person during her school years, so she used her connections to find out the whole story. That person had a wealthy friend from the Western continent, and it’s said that this friend immediately found a group of soldiers to avenge that person—at a time when murder was still taboo.”

“What is that person’s name?” Zhuomo asked.

“It’s been too long, how could I possibly remember? There’s no need to include this in the database, it’s purely my personal memory. Let me think… his surname should be ‘Kamihara’. His daughter is very famous, you must know her if you were a knight-errant, her name is ‘Kamihara Kotonoha’.” Masaga Norio pondered.

Zhuo Mo'er hadn't expected this connection: "Yuan Yanye, the disciple of the Martial Ancestor and the Goddess of Eloquence?"

“Yes, that ‘rich friend’ is Xiang Shan, the ‘founding father of martial arts’ you all talk about.” Zheng He nodded. “My mother often marveled at this great friendship. She used a classic novel from the Western continent to describe this friendship from the Western continent—what is called ‘beautiful loyalty’? Ah, my mother is such a refined person.”

“She was impressed by Xiang Shan’s righteousness and therefore believed in him. She had applied for the early clinical trials of the baseline human modification surgery, but was not selected. She did not actually know Xiang Shan. She was modified during the second phase of the promotion surgery and met my father there.”

"Looking back now, that was probably their most dangerous experience. According to the information that was later revealed, if they had been reformed earlier, they would have experienced the version without backdoors. They definitely wouldn't have survived the assassination attempt by the usurper."

“My parents, a linguist and a clinical neuroscientist, didn’t seem to have any talent for becoming warriors. In the later stages of the secret war, when order was gradually collapsing, they were just trying to come up with a plan to save society and protect their families, which was the original ‘consensus therapy’.”

"By implanting certain shared understandings, we can achieve the effect of mutual understanding. At that time, the suicide rate in my hometown broke historical records again, which was already a serious social problem. So my father wanted to use technology to implant a way of thinking that 'uses another emotion to counteract the impulse to die'—I think you have already experienced it."

Zhuomo nodded. Sixty years ago, he had thought about suicide, but once the thought arose, he would lose control and smash things, destroying everything around him to cover up the idea of ​​ending his own life.

Norio Masaga's tone was calm and even: "Many settings, basically it's like this. You can't attack your companions, you have to share good things with your companions... It's to deal with some social problems of that period. I still remember their ideas, 'transcending the barriers of rationality,' 'living poetically in society'..."

“I was born around this time. My parents had me when most of their peers were already great-grandparents—because the development of consensus therapy rekindled their passion. Ha, the age of the baseline.”

“I spent my childhood in a very small community. Back then, the people there were very loving. Everyone was simple and lived like a family. No matter who was in trouble, everyone would lend a helping hand and help them get through it together. I didn’t actually experience the ‘golden age’ that you heroes boast about. It is said that when I was a child, society was gradually collapsing and the external environment was already very harsh, but people could still huddle together to keep warm.”

“My parents recruited many volunteers to build the village by posting messages online. There are four villages that watch over each other. Each village has a place called the ‘Collective Memory Hall’, which has a medical device with a brain-computer interface, where everyone exchanges pleasant memories.”

Masaga Norio stopped here.

Zhuomo knew about this emotional shift. For Masaga Norio, there was definitely a "but" that he didn't want to face.

"But... disaster still struck. A strange disease swept through the entire biosphere, including the mountain where we lived. All the vegetation withered and died within a few months. My hometown is at a relatively high latitude, and based on human physiological conditions, to survive the winter there, one must have a sufficient supply of fuel. My father actually calculated that if only four villages needed the forest on that mountain, by constantly replanting, it could be maintained almost semi-permanently."

"After the plants died, all we had left was our stored timber. The first two years were fine; back then, I was just a boy obsessed with chasing after young girls, oblivious to the family's well-being. I didn't see how the atmosphere in the village grew increasingly desperate as the timber and fuel were depleted. The most vivid memory I have of the Biosphere 1 extinction event is of the prettiest girl in the school crying while holding her cat—her cat had died around that time."

"The fifth year... I think it was before the Ascension War even started, and more and more people were choosing to increase their transformation rate..."

Zhuomo was surprised: "You didn't originally plan to maximize the modification rate after completing the breeding obligation? You wanted to maintain a low modification rate all along?"

Zomor was born on Mars. There, if the baseline humans don't reach the maximum terraforming rate, they'll freeze to death.

“There weren’t such customs back then…” Masahiro shook his head. “Don’t interrupt me. Just remember this. Old people will definitely understand what I mean. You just need to know the general idea.”

"When Wu Zu promoted cybernetic implants to the mountains, he had the idea of ​​'using waste heat from machines to maintain a baseline human body temperature.' Many people chose to raise their cybernetic bodies. However, by then, Superman Corporation had disappeared, and the industry leaders and standards for cybernetic implants had vanished. The national government had gone bankrupt due to its theft of state power, and there was no one to regulate it. The cybernetic implants on the market were completely incomparable to those of the mid-21st century, and many people suffered because of inferior cybernetic implants..."

Norio Masaga tapped his head: "In the 'Hall of Collective Memory,' even children have to experience the painful noise and despair of consensus therapy. That was the first time I realized that 'collective memory' was being mixed with impurities—impurities that were not part of my father's plan."

“One winter, someone in the next village froze to death. I only heard about it. It seems that the sublimation war had already begun at that time. There was no sign of the war ending, and no hope of rebuilding the land. My father finally made a decision. He wanted to take us to find volcanic hot springs while there was still enough fuel, and rebuild the village in a place rich in geothermal energy.”

“We burned our stockpiled timber into charcoal for easier transport. We pooled all our fuel and put several trucks on the road.”

Masaga Norio laughed silently: "It was on that road that I killed someone for the first time. Back then... heh heh."

A notorious outlaw who orchestrated numerous massacres over two centuries experienced unusual emotional fluctuations due to recalling his killings, as if it were something quite extraordinary.

“I still remember what Uncle Renta, my neighbor, said… ‘You kids can’t do this. You’ll definitely live to see the end of the war.’ ‘Adults can handle these dark things.’ Actually, by the standards of the old era, I think I was already an adult. Uncle Renta didn’t have any fighting talent. He died soon after. But I do. Just by downloading publicly available martial arts techniques online, I can defeat enemies with guns by relying on 40% of my cybernetic body.”

“My father was just a doctor, so he didn’t anticipate one thing. After the widespread deforestation, people all over Japan flocked to areas rich in geothermal resources. He was hoping to find a hidden natural hot spring, but where are such places? He shouldn’t have waited for someone to organize a nationwide disaster reconstruction effort. As a result, we ended up having to scramble for resources…”

"Then, another major event occurred. The fake Xiang Shan—later known as the Second Martial God. You certainly know the impact this had on chivalrous people, but you may not know the impact it had on non-chivalrous people. When my mother heard the news, it was as if her bones had been removed, and she collapsed to the ground crying. This event robbed many people of their hope. A chivalrous person whom many regarded as a 'savior' actually did something that was absolutely intolerable at the time."

"Disappointment, despair, sadness, anger... and then the killing for survival. 'Our' memories have gradually become tainted."

“My father did consider stopping the memory collection and exchange. But that would be tantamount to denying the meaning of our village coming together. He was afraid that if we stopped this practice, the village would fall apart, and we would lose even the possibility of sticking together for warmth.”

"And the price of his hesitation was... perhaps it could be called 'fighting.' The four volunteer groups operated relatively independently. In the beginning, my father gathered the volunteer groups to explore technology. The memory collection and editing techniques used by the four groups were slightly different. The differences between the four groups were amplified until one day... we no longer considered the people of the other groups as family. Everyone started killing each other."

“My father even cheered at the beginning because of the victory of ‘Liangshanbo’—yes, that’s the name my mother gave us, and it’s been used ever since. My father cheered for ten minutes, and after the fervor subsided, he broke down in tears. He cried and said he was sorry to everyone, that he didn’t want it to be like this.”

“My mother had been in a daze ever since before the Second Martial God's defeat. I admit I regret it deeply; I actually asked my father and his wife to stay home and rest because of his strange behavior, and not to worry about anything else. I don't know what they said in the end. They ultimately chose to end their own lives. My father's suicide note read, ‘Please forgive me for being a coward. I really didn't want to see our once beautiful village slide into the abyss of the extreme. I only hope that my sinful soul can be carried by the winds of the earth to the village's watchtower, where you can see a clear stream, and perhaps the ghosts of lotus flowers will bloom in the pond we dug together. Please forgive me for going first. I love you all.’ My mother's mental state didn't allow her to write anymore—she was once an excellent linguist. That piece of paper might have been the last neat piece of paper she ever wrote.”

"They walked into the active volcano hand in hand—that's what the witnesses said." Norio Masaga gently brushed his prosthetic eye with his hand, seemingly unaware of it. "It's strange that I'm saying so much."

Dromo recorded all of this truthfully: "Is this the entire origin of the Green Forest?"

“There’s one more thing… After my parents committed suicide, I didn’t even have time to mourn them because another village came to take revenge. They even had more people. They seemed to be using collective memory to recruit soldiers. Later I found out that someone from that village had found another way to use it… Survivors all over Japan were converging on the active volcano area, and we occupied the hot springs near the active volcano. They recruited other survivors.”

"Should I call it luck or misfortune...? Our villages are all connected to my parents' academic connections—and my mother's side has people with a certain talent for linguistics. In the era of cyber martial arts, this can be considered 'internal strength talent'—a large proportion of the children in our four villages possessed this talent. Everyone rushed to download the content of martial arts novels from the internet and used it in their feuds. To achieve victory, we competed to recruit fighters—and our collective memory was further tainted."

"At that time, the Second Martial God incident caused the collapse of large groups of chivalrous forces and the individualization of resistance. However, the infrastructure of the old era had not completely deteriorated, and the internet was still there. Internal skills made great progress in that era. Moreover, this wave of development was not in 'height' but in 'details'. After top masters opened up the peak of application, many ordinary people began to expand their paths."

"The chivalrous ones probably never imagined that on the islands of the East Pole, there would be a small group of people who would learn martial arts solely to kill each other—because learning internal energy would make them enemies of Yogomov. Generally, only chivalrous people would learn such things; no one would learn it simply to 'kill their neighbor.' But back then, when we were fighting to the death, not a single person thought of 'reporting our opponents and having the authorities kill them.' Perhaps this was part of the spirit of the outlaws."

"The deeper the knights' research into the brain and cognition goes, the more advanced the Green Forest becomes. The injection of collective memory is becoming increasingly convenient. Perhaps it was around the time of the Fourth Martial God that the process of ascending the mountain was similar to today's—before that, we had many complex rituals that required more than a year of treatment. It's possible that some of the knights' techniques for creating the Second Martial God were reinvented, or... perhaps it was simply uploaded by a participant after concealing some details?"

"After the defeat of the Fourth War God, Yogmov began to dig up everything on the surface that he felt was 'worth making into amber.' That was also the best time to leave Earth. I felt that our mental state was no longer suitable for staying on Earth; there were too many things to kill there, so I came to space."

"You initially wanted to curb the killing too?" Zhuomo asked, surprised. Zhenghe Norio sighed, "But everyone is unable to resist the urge to 'want new family,' and people keep turning into new outlaws. Before I knew it, I even had ten cargo ships."

Masahiro stopped talking at this point.

"and then?"

“That’s it. Until you arrived, we had no more stories, just a chronological account.” Masahiro tapped a finger on his forehead with his right hand. “While the two opposing consciousnesses of humanity were fighting for the right to decide the future, we maggots were also fighting in the mire. That’s all. That’s the story.”

“You should…” Zhuo Mo’er hesitated for a moment, “You actually have a chance to leave the Green Forest. You are a strong person…”

“Do you know ‘movie’? It’s a special ritual where videos are projected onto a screen and watched.” Norio Masaga’s tone was nostalgic. “When I was a teenager… I think they sensed I liked a girl, so my parents changed the vulgar comedy they were going to show at the village screening that week to a romance film. My mother was probably too sophisticated. She chose Titanic. To be honest, I don’t remember much about the male and female leads. The scene that impressed me most that night was an old man with a white beard calmly closing the cabin door as the ship was about to sink and standing in front of the helm. The music at that moment was elegant and clear, without a trace of sadness. The captain’s sadness overwhelmed everything.”

“This is the ‘ship’ my parents built with love. I am its captain. My parents love me, without a doubt. And I love them too. Even though this ship has become a terrible disaster, it is the trace of my love for my parents. I am the captain, and anyone has the right to jump ship and escape, but I cannot do so. I feel that only by sinking with this ship can my soul return to the lookout tower of my hometown village and be with my parents…”

Even though none of the original villagers are left.

"How strange." Zomor recorded the last part. "So this is the last conversation of the bandits. We probably won't have any rationality left after this."

"perhaps……"

Suddenly, a mechanical beeping sound emanated from beneath Norio Masaga's chair. A mechanism activated, and a medication tube popped out from the side of the chair.

“It’s just been thawed. This dose is enough to wipe out all memories and most of the personality. On Earth, the Jade Tripod bacteria were once found in major hospitals. For a time, it was easy to obtain the bacteria if you got it in time.” Zheng He Norio held up the transparent glass container. “You’ve finally shown some brotherly demeanor, so I’m making an exception and giving you a chance… to escape to Earth or Mars.”

Huandan enzyme is also an essential drug for the Extreme Dao Consensus Therapy, and it has always been personally kept by the Heavenly King in Dazhai. Zhuo Mo'er, however, was learning for the first time that the Heavenly King's chair contained the freezer of Huandan enzyme.

Zhuomo'er asked in a complicated tone, "Why didn't you take it out sixty years earlier?"

“I suddenly feel that my mother would be moved by this scene. I think I remember what kind of person she is. I couldn’t remember before.” Masaga Norio shook the container in his hand. “Should we take it or not?”

“I am also a killer who has endured and delayed killing for twenty years. I can’t give up this best death match. My soul will not allow me to do it.” Zhuo Mo’er shook his head without even a moment’s hesitation. “If I were still a chivalrous knight, I would not allow myself, a madman of the greenwood who has participated in twenty-eight… no, thirty massacres, to live on.”

Zhuomo didn't completely forget about killing the moment he started playing. He also had moments when he couldn't control himself. In the thirty-five years following his first performance, he participated in a total of twenty-eight raids. Including the first two, that makes thirty.

Which thought comes first?

"Of course, it's 'to participate in the deathmatch'."

“What a pity, brother. I’m in a similar situation. Can my soul really return to my homeland? I can’t help but doubt it. Apart from Jakub Hartman, I’m probably the person who has personally slaughtered the most humans.” Norio Masaga held up the liquid, looking up at the transparent container in his hand. “What a waste. If I sold it, I could have exchanged it for a few more bombs.”

He applied slight pressure with his fingers, and cracks slowly appeared, one after another. The glass shattered, like white spider lilies appearing between Masaga Norio's fingers.

The Huandan enzyme solution condensed into elliptical droplets under low gravity, but did not fall vertically. Because the ship was accelerating, the droplets struck Masaga Norio's prosthetic eye at an angle, then flowed from the corner of his eye to the back of his neck.

A junior leader walked over carrying a huge metal crossbow: "Boss, the third leader... has finished shooting."

In the era of cold weapons, a crossbow like this would be considered a siege weapon. But in modern times, it doesn't even deserve to be called a "weapon," as even a close-range backstab wouldn't cause effective damage. This is a hastily made throwing device by the "Liangshan Marsh."

Their purpose is to throw the steel cones and bombs backward.

If the ship itself is taken as the frame of reference, the launched weapon travels rapidly backward; however, if the planet is taken as the frame of reference, the projectile decelerates along the direction of the ship's flight. This is a projectile made from stock spring steel.

Twenty years ago, explosives and steel spikes were planted on the future acceleration track of the Tianxing Fleet. In preparation for a decisive battle, "Liangshanbo" deployed all its reserves. Blackened steel spikes and bombs were scattered along the long track, too numerous for the railway protection troops to clear.

Masaga Norio's tone suddenly changed: "Very good."

After a long wait, at the moment of release, his ego had vanished.

This is what the Liangshan members are like now. They are no longer able to think about anything other than the "final battle to the death." However, the ideas that were instilled in their minds with the music sixty years ago make them incredibly focused on this matter. They will unleash their greatest passion in anything related to "this final battle to the death," they will think carefully, they will execute orders meticulously, and they can even be so obedient as to not obey orders at all.

They will think rationally and discuss "how to inflict the greatest damage on the enemy." But they will never waver on "the significance of this battle"—"participating in this battle" is their very reason for being.

Zhuomo felt that his own sense of self was about to disappear. He wrote down Zhenghe Norio's words and added a sentence at the end.

"The dead pay tribute to those who went to their deaths."

After confirming the transmission, he immediately ordered the destruction of the last ultra-long-range transmitting equipment on the ship, leaving only the equipment used for fleet communications.

No intelligence is needed, and there's no one left to say goodbye to.

Nothing could disturb "Celestial Star" Zhuomo'er from fighting this last and most beautiful battle.

In the face of a master of internal martial arts, it would be foolish to retain long-distance communication equipment.

Twelve hours before the engagement with the Celestial Star Fleet, the Lightspeed Highway Administration Fleet clashed with "Liangshanbo" for the first time. "Heavenly King" Masahiro Norio led his squad into the administration fleet. Four of Liangshanbo's sixteen ships, previously civilian vessels, exploded. However, Masahiro Norio captured six military ships.

For the first time, humanity realized that there were such powerful martial artists among the outlaws.

Seven hours before engaging the Tianxing Fleet, the second Luzheng Fleet arrived. But this time, "Liangshanbo" had already divided its forces, using five ships to intercept the enemy ships' main guns.

"Liangshanbo" deliberately dismantled its five ships, which were intended as sacrificial pawns. The armor was disintegrated to serve as cover, and the propulsion system was used to ram the ship. "Tianxian," a first-level martial artist, led his squad to seize the ship. After killing a first-level martial artist, he detonated himself, perishing together with the first-level horizontal fleet commander.

In the explosion, debris spread at the speed of light.

Six hours before engagement, the Tianxing Fleet proactively slowed down and entered a state of combat readiness. The acceleration process over the past few days was rendered useless, and a large amount of deceleration materials were consumed. The next deceleration would require a longer distance and more time.

Meanwhile, the "Liangshan Marsh" group blew up one of their ships. The outlaws lifted all safety restrictions, propelling the ship at near-explosive power, burning every last drop of chemical fuel except for what was needed for the final charge. As a result, one ship actually exploded.

But the bandits didn't care.

Standing atop the armored bow of the captured warship, Masaga Norio crossed his arms and gazed at the distant bright star: "Ah...ah...it's truly...exhilarating..."

He leaped from the bow, leaving a crater in the armor plating from the recoil. Two minutes and thirty seconds later, the ship was engulfed by the particle cannon.

In the final minute, it fired everything it could.

The bandits abandoned their warships and charged towards the Celestial Fleet. They used the warships as assault vehicles, completely disregarding the possibility of explosions—the wreckage that wasn't instantly vaporized served as obstacles on the light-speed highway. The wreckage that crashed into them at high speed became both assault cover and kinetic weapons.

The bandits spread out completely, forming groups of three, with each person spaced fifty meters apart and each group spaced about three hundred meters apart.

Since the advent of the cyber martial arts era, the "human body" has been replaced by the "cyber body". Warriors' reactions and movements can keep up with bullets, and they are not afraid of non-direct bullets in terms of defense. Skirmishers can be easily defeated one by one by experts.

However, the "Liangshan Marsh" were overjoyed. The Tianxing Fleet lost approximately six percent of its main combat strength in this battle. Two of its capital ships were heavily damaged. One of them was caught in the explosion of three First Heaven Martial Officers when "Tianwang" Masahiro used a nuclear bomb to self-destruct.

Senior military officer Balmong was the only officer to survive his encounter with Masaga Norio. When Masaga, now with only one hand, used his remaining body to restrain his colleague, Balmong sensed something amiss in the man's emotions. Although the entire "Liangshanbo" was in a frenzy, Masaga Norio's state was exceptionally unusual.

He retreated rapidly, then saw a flurry of error messages appearing in his field of vision; the reactor inside him had nearly gone out of control. If he hadn't retreated several hundred meters in time, resulting in insufficient neutron flux density, he too would have been caught in the catastrophic explosion.

In his report, he described Masaga Norio's final state as "exhibiting a continuation of neoteny."

King Agni commented on this as "illogical" and "an incompetent defense."

Balmunke did not live in the old era, so he could not make a proper analogy.

Perhaps it's the expression of a powerful outlaw locking down his enemy with one hand...

It looks a lot like a child who has found a pretty branch and turns to look at their parents.

......................................................

On Earth, in the upper region of the Eye of Mercury, three old men from three hundred years ago are searching for distant light in front of a private astronomical telescope.

Xiang Shan and Tao Enhai wanted to see their friend off. They found this toy-like observation device belonging to the scientific research knight.

Looking at the glitter in the starry sky, Tao Enhai sighed: "Don't you want to say something?"

"What are you talking about?"

“‘Love really does bring disaster’ and stuff like that.”

“You have a deep misunderstanding of me, Dr. Tao,” Xiang Shan said. “Love and peace are my pillars of belief. I have never said that hatred, indifference, and war can bring a good future, have I?”

Niaguti said, "But you'll say, 'I don't believe in love.'"

“Then I truly do not believe in the possibility of using love as a means,” Xiang Shan said. “Love and peace are the ends. Attempting to use the ends as a means will likely fail to achieve the ends.”

"You're always shy about expressing your love for others. It's as if saying it out loud would damage your image."

“Hmm…” Xiang Shan sighed, “You’re not wrong about that.”

Tao Enhai was finally surprised: "Which side of you are you now? Which side of Xiang Shan would give up being so stubborn?"

"It was indeed my fault," Xiang Shan said. "A narrow escape from death always changes something."

"I'd rather believe that the nuclear radiation and the surgery changed you. You've had quite a few near-death experiences."

"Maybe." Xiang Shan didn't say anything more.

After a long silence, Xiang Shan started talking again: "I searched my memory this afternoon. I seem to remember the bandit leader's father. To prevent potential mental health problems caused by cybernetic implants, I invested in some projects in my own name or in a corporate capacity. I met Dr. Masaga, Masaga Shigeru, once. Old Chen probably talked to him more. I never imagined that the bandit camp was actually his technological achievement. And his wife is someone that Kambara knows..."

For Niaguti and Tao Enhai, "Kamihara Takeru" simply meant "Kamihara Kotonoha's father" and "Mukoyama and their deceased friend." They didn't express any sentimentality about this matter.

Tao Enhai was more interested in another topic: "How did you come up with that idea?"

"I searched my memories online, and hey, it really helped me fill in the gaps."

Niaguti was also surprised: "In my memory, Xiangshan was actually... I'm sorry, I'm not used to 'you were actually the first one'... It feels strange no matter how I say it."

"Whether I am the original Xiang Shan or a new consciousness regenerated from this creature's brain, it's all the same, that's not the point. Let's continue with the previous topic—the Six Dragons Cult is the same. The Green Forest is probably somewhat involved as well... I chose to hide my true ideals and disguised myself as a worldly merchant who only wanted to gain a long life and liked to wave the banner of idealism. The image I created caused the deviation of the God of War and probably sent the wrong signal. A goal that requires unholy means to achieve may not be a holy goal."

"If I had openly declared from the beginning that I wanted to eliminate famine, raise awareness, and change the world..."

“Perhaps you will die sooner,” Niaguti interjected. “Many people believe that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. When a great figure claims to be creating good deeds that benefit the world, it often means changes that affect all levels of society.”

"This statement makes a little sense when used to define those in power, but it's unnecessary to generalize it, isn't it?" Xiang Shan's tone was somewhat dejected.

"If you claim you're just pursuing crazy dreams and don't care about money, who would dare invest resources in you for your extravagance? Only if you say you want immortality and to make money will those wealthy people believe you'll be meticulous about every investment—and that's what you said more than two hundred years ago," Tao Enhai said.

“Look, in movies and TV shows, villains with childhood trauma are easier to defeat than villains who vow to build a better world. If you claim to be initiating a cognitive revolution, most people will probably see you as the second type of villain,” Niaguti added.

"If you want to do something, you have to pretend to be what the world expects." Xiang Shan sighed, reflecting on a truth he had long understood.

Niaguti said, "Perhaps we lost many beautiful things back then. Kindness, or the ability to believe in love... things that everyone should possess..."

“No, perhaps humanity has never had a ‘good essence.’ Kindness, trust, and love may constantly flicker in individuals, but they have never become a shared ‘essence,’” Xiang Shan interrupted.

"I never imagined you were so pessimistic about humanity..."

"Quite the opposite. This is what makes humanity so great in my eyes. 'High mountains inspire awe, virtuous conduct is a model to follow; though we cannot reach them, our hearts yearn for them.' An old man once wrote this for me, meaning that noble character is like a towering mountain, inspiring admiration, and virtuous conduct is like a broad road, guiding us to follow. Although we cannot reach such a level, we know in our hearts the direction to strive for," Xiang Shan said. "Humanity has never possessed an inherently good nature, but through imagination, it has created a path to heaven from nothing. Isn't that a kind of greatness?"

In the telescope's field of view, a starless area suddenly brightened, but quickly quieted down.

The glint of war in the starry sky has finally disappeared.

Tao Enhai nodded: "Yes, it's a great path to find hope in despair. Although no one knows where this path ultimately leads."

"Humans are not Gods and cannot know in advance whether the unknown path leads to heaven or hell, but they should not be afraid to set off—at least if they are clever enough, they may be able to turn back before seeing hell."

Xiang Shan concluded by saying this.

He looked towards the horizon one last time. The east was gradually turning white.

Let me mention some settings that aren't in the main text.

The name "Shōga Ten'o" is a homophone for "Chao Gai" or "Heavenly King." It's the story of "the final chapter of the outlaw world," a tale conceived many years ago.

I originally planned to finish writing about setting off towards the mountain in this chapter, but I've written so much and only gotten this far. This part of the story is meant to depict a segment from the later stages of the Secret War to the early stages of the Ascension War from the sidelines, briefly narrating "the process of this world turning bad" from the edge of the stage.