Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1181 Facing the Relationship Between Master and Disciple

Xiang Shan manipulated the working arm to move his head, aligning his spine with the spinal interface of a test prosthetic body.

Xiangshan's recent rest and recuperation were in preparation for the successful connection of this new spine.

The spine that Xiang Shan used before was found in a bandit stronghold in the New World, and it wasn't a very strong component. After taking a direct hit from the Godspeed King, that spine was severely damaged.

After that, he ingested a large amount of nuclear radiation.

The surgery to save Xiangshan's brain also requires space to operate.

Furthermore, the scientific knight who presided over the surgery admitted that saving that vertebra would require additional medication and engineering, and given the knight's current resources, it would be better to replace it with a new one.

Therefore, during the treatment, that spine was removed.

The spinal cord is a relatively cost-effective data cable for the motor center, featuring a hardware protocol that is highly compatible with the brain. Most importantly, it is extremely readily available.

In the early stages of prosthetic development, prosthetic designs generally preserved the spine—by the end of the 21st century, humans have not yet been able to create a product that achieves such a balance in terms of brain compatibility, bandwidth, and cost.

The prosthetic body is also designed around the principle of "preserving the spine".

Humanity has accumulated a wealth of experience in this area. Unless there is a major technological breakthrough that gives invertebrate structures a significant advantage in most fields, this design will likely remain.

That's certainly the case now. Apart from a few prosthetics with special needs, most are designed with slots for the spine in mind.

Where there is demand, there will naturally be directions for research and development.

The route to Xiangshan comes from the Pine Crane Knights. It is said that after being disturbed by a terrorist from the Six Dragons Cult who did not want to reveal his name last year, the Pine Crane Knights lost their deputy commander and other key research personnel. They were also hunted down by King Agni. Naturally, their situation deteriorated, and they had to use their own technical reserves to take on orders from high-ranking military officers in order to obtain resources and connections.

This spine is said to be an order from a high-ranking military officer. The porous base is made of carbon fiber ceramic, first a layer of osteoblasts is laid, and drugs are used to make bone grow rapidly. Then neural stem cells are filled in and induced to differentiate.

With modern technology, the remaining parts belong to the "final assembly" stage. This involves replicating the genetic information of the transplant recipient, transcribing it into nerve cells, or directly embedding the produced proteins onto the cell membrane surface to bypass the brain's immune response.

Once the nerves in the spinal cord and the brainstem have grown into a single unit, everything will be complete.

The Knights of the Forge of Life, on the other hand, offered another potion that could command permanent cells to grow in a normal form.

Upon closer examination, these are all part of the Six Dragons Cult's technological reserves.

Incidentally, carbon fiber ceramics are used to resist the conversion of electromagnetic pulses into mechanical waves. This is supposedly the selling point of this product: the main skeletal structure of the spine does not convert electromagnetic pulses into mechanical waves.

At the same time, the tiny cavities inside the bone can also absorb and scatter some of the infrasound waves.

It is said that the Knights used this design as a selling point, but the designers and target users do not seem to believe that this function is really useful. After all, the First Heaven Prosthetic Body has a very deep spine and extremely strong electromagnetic protection. There are very few cases of electromagnetic pulses being injected into such a depth.

If this situation were to occur, the first thing a martial artist should consider is not infrasound—under normal circumstances, this would mean the complete loss of the cybernetic body.

It can only be said that Juan Rebin's death was indeed somewhat unusual.

After that battle, Xiang Shan underwent a period of recuperation and is now no longer remotely controlling a humanoid robot, but has regained his prosthetic body.

This spine base is entirely artificial. Although its shape closely resembles that of a natural spine, its industrial design is immediately apparent. Each segment of this spine has pre-installed electronic interfaces, allowing for highly efficient interaction with most prosthetic devices.

Tao Enhai's voice came from Xiang Shan's mind: "Xiang Shan, this time we are pursuing the ultimate performance, so there is no room to add any more power components to the spine..."

"Why do I need to emphasize it a second time? I already said before that it's really unnecessary this time."

Tao Enhai seemed to choke: "To be honest, boss, I'm really not used to you being like this. Just be stubborn—ever since you and Ingrid were forced by Yorgov to participate in the spine crawling competition, you've been stubbornly installing independent power into your spine..."

“I think it should have worked,” Xiang Shan said. “Although I don’t remember the specific process, I’m sure that my head was able to roll into the cushioning material area under Yogemov’s hands, all thanks to this design.”

“The performance of prosthetics back then was incomparable to that of today,” Tao Enhai said. “Juan Rebin’s prosthetics really couldn’t accommodate this kind of design anymore—I’m afraid that without this extra device, your PTSD will flare up and affect your performance.”

PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is not synonymous with "fear." Although the vast majority of PTSD cases are indeed caused by fear and may manifest in ways similar to "fear," they are ultimately not the same thing.

Even the bravest person, who possesses the courage to transcend death, will suffer trauma.

An elderly soldier, upon seeing a piece of fruit rolling down, mistook it for a grenade and threw himself upon it, attempting to shield his comrades with his own body. This veteran's courage had long transcended death—but it was also part of the trauma.

For martial artists, this psychological mechanism can affect their judgment in martial arts combat and reduce their performance in the moment.

Tao Enhai believes that Xiang Shan suffers from severe PTSD related to the events on the moon. If an independent power system is not added to his spine, he will lose his sense of security, which will even affect his martial arts performance.

In peacetime, mistaking a rolling fruit for a hand grenade might be a celebrated story adorning a hero's medal, but what if it were "mistaking a rolling rock for an explosive device on the front lines"? How many mistakes would that cause?
Combat is a precise science, especially in this era pioneered by Xiangshan.

Psychological factors are an issue that must be addressed.

Tao Enhai certainly had reason to worry about this. Xiang Shan was unable to be honest when it came to himself, especially when it came to facing his trauma and failures.

He was simply good at telling himself "I'll win it back later," which was another way of addressing the root cause of his illness.

only……

"Thinking about it carefully, the reason we insisted on using the fission reactor back then was probably..." Xiang Shan nodded, "Yes, yes, I understand."

The specifications of Juan Rebin's prosthetic body are too high. Even if we really wanted to make major changes, we couldn't find suitable parts or materials in a short time.

Furthermore, Xiang Shan also had to admit that Zhu Anleibin's prosthetic body design was very reasonable, and the reserved expansion interfaces were sufficient to cope with various emergencies.

He is about to face a situation where he must push the limits, otherwise his chances of winning are slim.

Upon hearing this, Tao Enhai was once again deeply moved.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Xiang Shan waved his hand at the camera.

“You have twelve hours to adapt to this prosthetic body, while also developing personalized plugins and patches to integrate your consciousness with your body,” Tao Enhai said, regaining his composure. “After twelve hours, we will conduct the final test.”

The objective this time is to provide assistance to Venus.

As a price for the battle, Xiang Shan received a lethal dose of berserk radiation during the battle on the Carmen Line. Many details of the treatment process came from the Six Dragons Cult's techniques, which were generally unfamiliar to research knights.

No one could say for sure what Xiang Shan's current condition was.

According to the predictions of the surrendered research knights, the God of War may be stronger or weaker than before.

Of course, based on existing theories, many relevant people, including Tao Enhai, believe that Xiangshan will suffer some damage this time.

If Xiang Shan's brain damage is indeed severe, making it difficult for him to be called a martial arts legend who is as good as a god or a saint...

The heroes from Earth and Mars will have to find another way.

A complete first-level prosthetic body of a king is precious; for the sake of the entire solar system, it cannot be wasted.

Earth Knight decided to assess the God of War's true worth before considering anything else.

After giving his instructions, Tao Enhai waved to Xiang Shan, then walked out with his hands behind his back.

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

The edge of the plaza at the gate of the Knights of the Eye of Mercury.

Yuki lifted Penny with one hand and held the little girl above his head. Penny's face scrunched up, looking fierce.

“I remember you used to really like this, didn’t you?” Yuki shook his wrist. “Wow, you’ve gained so much weight in just a few months…”

Since being found by the Xiangshan master and his apprentice, Donte Panicole has been in a state of "malnutrition." While Homo sapiens can indeed sustain themselves using electricity, they still need to absorb various nutrients to grow taller—after all, expecting to grow taller by only consuming carbohydrates is quite fantastical for Homo sapiens.

Yuki was aware of this. In the wasteland, people waited until they were nearly adults before fully cybernetic, precisely to preserve a digestive system. The intestinal wall is a cheap yet sophisticated filtration system, selectively allowing essential nutrients to pass through, and even possessing a degree of self-regulation. The Research Knights could certainly produce superior filters, but those were inaccessible to ordinary people.

Children need to eat to grow up.

In Xiang Shan's small team, for a long time only he and Panike needed to eat. When they first set off, Xiang Shan did take him to the city market to find nutritional supplements. But once he understood the ins and outs and had the strength to deal with ordinary gang members, he had to do the work alone.

But not many people do this business, and Yuki, being an outsider, often couldn't collect all the necessary nutrients.

Raising a baby is this difficult. And according to the Dyson principle, a person needs at least two adult offspring to be free. It is said that some people give birth without any intention of raising the child, simply waiting for the tax collectors to take the baby away, thus fulfilling their obligation purely by "fate".

In addition, there is a legendary "good luck," which is similar to a "countryside tale." It is said that half a month after the tax officials took away the babies, some people were judged to have "fulfilled their reproductive obligations" and gained their freedom.

After years as a knight-errant and experiencing many things, Yuki understood what was going on. An infant, after being selected by several knightly orders, was sent to a cryogenic chamber in Venus's synchronous orbit. People there wouldn't die in accidents, and were naturally considered to have "fulfilled their reproductive duty."

While collecting nutrients for Penicill, Yuki also realized the extraordinary nature of his own mother.

Penicillin has grown rapidly in the past few months, largely thanks to Dr. Freeman. To ensure the survival of the cetacean civilization, Dr. Freeman and the humans have tried every possible way to obtain balanced nutrition in this barren world. They also share some processed, long-preservation food with Xiangshan—reportedly, the dolphins eagerly offered him their one-tenth of their rations for the following month. It seems the dolphins would have given even more if giving too much wouldn't have affected their own survival.

The dolphins adored the human baby.

Panic, baring her teeth and brandishing her claws, expressed her dissatisfaction to Yuki. Six Days, who had come from the American Drilling Dragon community, crossed her arms and whispered with the local knight-errant, Halberd, while former research knight apprentice, Yin Zhewei Song, was busy expanding his knowledge of the martial arts world from Yuan Wenren.

Yuki felt that this was the most relaxed he had been in days—until he saw his master standing beside him.

Yuki felt he must have some kind of psychological issue. While ecstatic, he immediately tensed up.

Xiang Shan smiled and said, "I won't test you this time." He paused for a moment and then added, "You did well this time; you actually recognized it."

Although Xiang Shan didn't intend to hide his identity through "acting skills".

The last time Yuki met Xiangshan was when he was covered by the pseudo-personality Xiangshan had left behind—a simulation program running on that computer, without eyes, connected to an external camera. Because Tuoba, this powerful ally, joined late, there were many things to work out, and everyone was quite busy. Xiangshan's conversation with Yuki and Pannica was also brief.

This time, Xiang Shan was still controlling a test prosthetic body.

Yuki can still be recognized from his subtle gestures.

At this moment, the young swordsmen talking around realized from the content of the conversation who this swordsman was. Yin Zhewei almost shouted it out, but Xiang Shan quickly shut her down: "Quiet down, strictly speaking, this is not a place where we should be making noise."

Yuki then noticed that Xiang Shan had a light strip wrapped around his hand.

Yuki had never heard Xiangshan talk about such a thing before—which was understandable. This custom only emerged in the last hundred years or so, and Xiangshan had no prior knowledge of it.

It's said that this kind of memorial ceremony or something should have involved lighting a bonfire, but there are no trees left in this world. The amount of discarded carbon fiber scattered across the earth could be reduced, but it would at least need some processing; otherwise, it would just be a low-combustion material.

If you want to create a huge luminous object like in the past, you really need LED strips.

—The above was all told to him temporarily by Daji and Yin Zhewei.

Xiang Shan followed Yuki's gaze and looked at his arm: "Yeah, that's true. Actually, I only found this out today from someone else's memories..."

Xiang Shan reached out, intending to pat Yuki on the shoulder. But Yuki, quite alert, took a half-step back.

Xiang Shan immediately became unhappy: "I said I wouldn't test you, and I won't. You brat..." He withdrew his hand.

Yuki felt a little ashamed, and his tense body relaxed.

Then, with lightning speed, he pointed a finger at Shan's neck: "If this were a weapon with explosives, you would be dead—go find some practice questions on the internet and do some extra practice."

Yuki fell silent.

“I noticed you were uncomfortable because I wasn’t testing you, so I wanted to make you feel more at ease. Your master is still pretty considerate, isn’t he?” Xiang Shan’s tone carried a hint of smugness. He beckoned to Youki: “Come on, let’s take a stroll…”

He casually unmuted Yin Zhewei. Yin Zhewei cried out, "Aaaaaahhhhhh—I'm a research knight…no, I mean…"

“Alright, alright, young lady, I need some personal time right now,” Xiang Shan said. “My time is a little precious right now. In a few hours, I’ll be tested by someone. Then, I have to rush off to another planet—so if I’m lucky enough to have a little time left, we can definitely talk a bit more. Now, how about giving me a little time?”

As Xiang Shan spoke, he led Yuki aside.

There weren't many people here. In the center of the square, the small mountain of LED light strips had gradually gone out—most of the light strips had run out of power.

This is to commemorate all the heroes, led by Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV, who sacrificed their lives in the battle for the space elevator and the Carmen Line annihilation battle.

Similar events are reportedly held in various locations. Earth Knights hasn't had a large-scale outdoor event like this in a long time. The cultural atmosphere surrounding it is very weak on this planet—after all, Old Dog was really diligent—and the entire process was borrowed from Martian Knights.

Earth Knights need events like this.

It seems that the focus of similar events varies slightly from region to region. The one held here, along with the one at the Space Elevator, mainly commemorates the heroes who sacrificed their lives in the Battle of Carmen Line. There are corresponding memorial events for heroes who were wiped out while blocking regular armies in various places, and for heroes who sacrificed their lives while destroying major launch bases and barracks.

Niaguti also put in a lot of effort.

Previously, Earth Knights didn't have the resources to do this; many things were new to them. Throughout the entire African region, there were numerous matters requiring her, as the martial arts leader, to intervene.

Xiang Shan stared blankly at the LED strip that was mostly extinguished, then tore off the one in his hand and threw it using a concealed weapon technique. The soft LED strip was like a bamboo skewer, with the tip slightly embedded in the pile of LED strips, and then it hung among the extinguished LED strips, looking particularly conspicuous.

"Thinking about it carefully, I might not be a very good mentor..."

“How could that be? Senior Brother Tuoba is that strong, and so magnanimous…” Yuki immediately said. He didn’t want to be used as a comparison.

"That's because Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV himself is capable, and Lao Shi is better than me in this respect too." Xiang Shan said in a private chat with his hands behind his back, "You've been my disciple for almost five years now. But the effort I've put into you is actually less than what Lao Shi put into his disciple's first five years—of course, let me state upfront that it's not entirely my fault. I also had several years of amnesia."

Yuki was truly shocked.

This shock is quite complex. To analyze it specifically, perhaps 35% of the shock comes from Xiang Shan admitting that he is not as good as the other martial gods, 25% from the shock that "my treatment is so much worse than that of Senior Brother Tuoba", 15% from the shock of Master's non-stick pan characteristics (note: I've seen it many times), and 20% from the shock that "he would actually say 'I'm doing my best'".

Another 5% comes from "Damn, is the old man planning to expel me from the sect early because he doesn't want to donate to some planet?"

"After all, the tenth brother found a research team that can delve into top-notch external martial arts," Xiang Shan sighed. "They're practically a graduate student team, aren't they? Tsk tsk."

He pressed his temple: "I've carefully digested Tuoba and Lao Shi's memories. Except for the part about joining the sect, which is a bit missing, the whole process was quite formal... When I met you, I hadn't experienced the process of 'raising a child'. As a basic educator, I've done a pretty average job. No, no, thinking about it carefully, if I, at twenty-one, knew that three hundred years later I would be teaching a ten-year-old child to go to the battlefield, I might be so ashamed that I would commit suicide."

Yuki patted Xiangshan on the back: "How should I put it... times have changed? Maybe?"

“You have no idea what the past was like… Sigh. So, that kid Hayabusa went around in circles and found that the world had become just like the one he knew from his childhood. It’s really…” Mukaiyama shook his head, “I myself haven’t learned to ‘face failure with equanimity.’ The saying goes, ‘Aim high and you’ll get somewhere in the middle; aim for the middle and you’ll only get somewhere below.’ That’s just how I am. Even my earliest disciple didn’t get any good results following me. Look at Kotonoha Kanbara, and then look at Hayabusa Fuigert.”

Xiang Shan was silent for a while, as if he wanted to add something: "Of course, they also made a mistake by not learning this lesson on their own."

Yuki had never felt this emotion before.

“I’m still quite disappointed, Yuki. I would actually be quite happy to be your mentor—if times were any different, we might have met at the same university, and you could have helped me get a meal when you went to the cafeteria every day. Oh no, it seems that role should have been Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV, and you would have been mainly mentored by him.”

"To be a research knight?"

"Back then, they were called scientists."

Yuki fell into deep thought: "According to some of my friends, I might be in a terrible situation if I were in that position."

"Ha, as long as you're fine, why would I stop you from graduating? Why would I need to freeload off apprentices? If the world were normal, I'd be incredibly rich—ah, I should emphasize this: I'm the richest person in the world. The world is crazy, but a world where someone like me can't earn any money is equally abnormal."

Xiang Shan then said something that Yuki couldn't quite understand.

Yuki fell silent again, and after a moment said, "Am I going to be expelled from the sect?"

“At your current level, you could call it ‘graduating from your apprenticeship.’ I prefer to call it ‘graduation’—of course, Professor Xiang has at most agreed to Yuki’s application for the dissertation defense. Professor Tao and Professor Endebil are experts in the field of ‘chivalry.’ Since I’m not participating in the defense committee, they also have Old Yang… We don’t have enough acquaintances on Earth. I remember we needed five at this time. Never mind.” Xiang Shan scratched his head.

Yuki said, "You...you're not coming back? We'll still..."

With a "smack," Yuki's head was smacked hard by Xiang Shan.

"This trip will take a long time. After all, it involves both Mars and Jupiter. The outbound journey uses fuel pooled together by the heroes from both Earth and Mars, but the return journey won't have that option. And we might even have to fight on the road at the same time," Xiang Shan said. "And you know, there's only one payload expert for the outbound journey? I can't even bring someone like Old Yang or Songdao."

"Dr. Tao is indeed quite free lately. You can go and brush up on your academic subjects when you have time. Of course, you can also learn through practice. Just don't follow the example of your senior brothers and sisters by slacking off and rebelling... and don't follow the example of the Tuoba."

Xiang Shan shook Yuki's shoulder: "Got it?"

"Oh."

“We might actually become teacher and student at the same university someday. A normal university,” Xiang Shan said. “Don’t ask stupid questions like ‘Will we meet again?’ Otherwise, my already questionable moral character will become even more questionable.”

"Oh."

"Alright, the memorial service is over." Xiang Shan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief in his mind, and his prosthetic body relaxed. "We still have a little time to chat with your friends."

At this moment, his tone sounded like, "I can even get along well with my child's friends; I'm such an open-minded parent."

Yuki thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "Master."

"Ok?"

"I think you're wonderful. In my heart, you're just as amazing as my mother. To me."

That statement did indeed create a bit of a jarring effect. Yuki felt he probably wouldn't have said it in other situations.

"Hmm, maybe one day I'll be proud of you, kid."

　The next chapter will be released at a surprise moment.

　　(End of this chapter)