Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1198 The Moment the Gate of Miracles Opened

AI symbiosis, the path to ascension explored by the Fifth Martial God.

Just as primitive eukaryotic cells in the primordial era devoured mitochondria or chloroplasts, AI is "wrapped" inside consciousness, allowing it to process information filtered by the human brain, and making its output one of the underlying modules of consciousness.

It is neither master nor servant, nor subject nor object. To consciousness, AI is an invisible organ, a limb operating outside the brain, rather than an object.

Biology and machinery are interdependent and intertwined, blurring the lines between them.

"However, compared to Lao Ba's route, it is indeed too different, and at most it can only be considered a supplementary module."

The technology of the Eighth Martial God is the implantation of a pseudo-personality mask. It uses artificial neural circuits to modify the human brain, allowing any human brain to approach a specific state, enabling that brain to carry Xiang Shan's pseudo-personality mask and thus closely resemble Xiang Shan himself.

The Eighth Martial God uses this technology in a "multi-threaded learning" manner, which means that the pseudo-personality mask uses the biological brain to preprocess the data and then absorb it more quickly, thereby enabling some research.

“Using the biological brain as a cognitive filter, the first step of processing is performed on the AI ​​that is equipped with a self, and then the second step of processing is performed by the 'mountain-facing self' built into the AI. It is a similar idea to the AI ​​endosymbiosis I have conceived, but it is more extreme and more inhumane.”

Even though the Eighth Martial God used bodies from gangsters and outlaws with murderous tendencies, it cannot conceal the cruel nature of this method.

Xiang Shan sighed, "Perhaps it's because... Zhu Xinyu might see herself as this."

Zhu Xinyu sees herself as even more cruel and ruthless than she actually is. She thinks she's an absolute warrior.

Coincidentally, most of their memories came from Zhu Xinyu's Eighth Martial God, and they happened to have a brain structure similar to Zhu Xinyu's. In terms of innate temperamental tendencies, they were almost identical.

Human temperament and beliefs have innate tendencies. These tendencies do not determine everything. A person born with emotional deficiencies can become a kind person through education. However, humanity should not deny the existence of these tendencies.

The Eighth Martial God accepted the memories. She became Xiang Shan.

The Eighth Martial God is Xiang Shan in Zhu Xinyu's eyes.

But deep within her soul also lies "herself as seen through Zhu Xinyu's eyes".

"Xinyu eventually developed another technological approach: biological brain hijacking technology."

Judging from the memories brought back by AI, Zhu Xinyu's technology is quite mature.

Xiang Wu prompted, "In your own memory, the Six Dragons Cult also showed another route, didn't it?"

"Implanting a large amount of memories into a biological brain at once to assist a specific AI in creating a martial god?" Xiang Shan said, "If you're talking about similarities... then they are indeed similar."

Before leaving Earth, Xiang Shan met the Knights of the Forge of Life, a Xiang Shan who was overwhelmed by pain.

"The human brain and AI... just by changing the connection between the two, so many interesting technological achievements can be made," Xiang Wu remarked.

The Six Dragons Cult Leader is also a type of Xiangshan, the Eighth Martial God is a Xiangshan who possesses some of Zhu Xinyu's cognitive abilities, and the Turing lineage's techniques are all a continuation of Zhu Xinyu's thinking.

These technical approaches were all developed based on Xiang Shan and Zhu Xinyu's early thinking.

The Fifth Martial God's "AI endosymbiosis" is a purely cultivation process. Through long and arduous training, anyone can gradually incorporate AI. This is a further step beyond "AI plugin internalization," and should be considered a higher level of development in cyber martial arts. The whole process is like running a command-line tool in your mind.

Compared to other achievements, this technique is slightly less powerful, but it represents a "gradual path" that anyone can aspire to. Perfecting this technique means thoroughly understanding the process of "going from one to two."

The difference between the Eighth War God and the Turing lineage lies in their circumstances. The Eighth War God was born in the Earth-Moon system ruled by King Agni, making it difficult to acquire technology from the interstellar network. Furthermore, before his rebirth as Xiang Shan, the Primarch lived in an experimental group within the Knights Hospitaller researching brain injury-related medical treatments. Naturally, he conceived of using artificial neural circuits to completely rewrite the "hardware drivers," allowing AI to act as the operating system kernel, directly managing all "hardware resources."

Driven by standardized wet components, the Eighth Martial God successfully created many of his own clones.

But what the Eighth Martial God lacked was "self-awareness." His active period was too short; he experienced only one battle that could be described as a "fight to the death." He didn't have the opportunity to see himself in the special situation of "life and death."

Furthermore, the Ninth Martial God has not yet appeared, making it much more difficult to understand the impact of shared human memories on Xiangshan than it is now.

The Eighth Martial God possessed the treasure without realizing it.

Zhu Xinyu, on the other hand, purely uses her understanding of internal energy cultivation to find gaps in consciousness without modifying the hardware—those zero-day vulnerabilities that are either innate or implanted during internal energy cultivation—to tamper with the signals of the original consciousness and hijack the biological brain.

Compared to the technology of the Eighth Martial God, this technology demands far more from the individual. It relies purely on reason, using symbols to reconstruct a more powerful self. Because the internal energy talents of the Turing lineage are among the highest in humanity, ordinary people are destined to be unable to keep up with their thought processes.

The Six Dragons Cult, on the other hand, allows its followers to offer up biological brains so that AI can complete its capabilities, achieving an effect similar to "divine intervention." However, ordinary humans cannot endure the pain, defeat, and sorrow that Xiang Shan has experienced for a century in a short period of time—in fact, even Xiang Shan himself could not do it.

Ultimately, all the Six Dragons Cult could create were high-performance cyber madmen.

These four technologies represent four completely different design approaches, with the core difference lying solely in the design of the protocol stack.

All four protocol stacks are artificial constructs embedded on the edge of "consciousness".

By cross-referencing them, one can more vaguely grasp the shape of "consciousness".

It's like working backwards from a broken mold to create a product.

Superficial consciousness is merely the interface of the physical body, while overall consciousness is also a stack of protocols within the flesh and blood machine.

Xiang Shan's thoughts flowed like a torrent... This might not be a metaphor. Several data links seemed to be his neural circuits, transmitting his "thoughts" to the Sanctuary Zone. The accumulation of Martian research knights was becoming the memory bank of his consciousness.

Some nodes generated new pseudo-personality masks. The private network domain built by AI was opened to him. One link after another rewrote new thought processes.

Although those data are still outside of my mind, they have already become part of the idea of ​​"heading towards the mountain".

With such massive support, the unresolved issues concerning the Fifth Martial God, the Eighth Martial God, and the Turing lineage are being rapidly resolved. Having already obtained a copy of the Holy Lord's memories, Xiang Shan even felt he could recreate the Xiang Shan Protocol Stack of the Six Dragons Cult on the spot.

With each passing second, Xiangshan understands humanity and himself better than ever before.

The inherent boundaries between "human" and "AI", and between "body" and "consciousness" are beginning to blur.

The scientific knights' hundreds of millions of hours of observation and recording of the brain have become a new source of assistance.

The ego has been dissolved. A greater being is emerging.

“That’s right, that’s right, that’s it…” Xiang Wu murmured to himself, “You have arrived at the place I went to last time.”

Xiang Shan said, "Even if we can be considered brothers from the same mother... are you really going to give me all the resources you've accumulated on Mars? Is that really a good idea?"

“That’s not the accumulation of ‘Xiangwu’, but the accumulation of ‘Xiangshan’,” Xiangwu said. “The ascension resources that Xiangshan prepared for Xiangshan are naturally meant to be used on Xiangshan.”

That's what Xiang Wu has been doing ever since he resumed his activities. He's been working his way up from the Lone Knights to the present day, constantly deploying distributed databases across Mars.

Even though his last ascension attempt failed, he was still making preparations.

These components, along with the Turing-specific backdoor that Berry transferred to AI Xiangshan, constitute the power that Xiangshan is currently using.

Without this preparation, Xiang Shan might have spent a long time extending his presence into the online world.

“The instant we exchanged memories, I realized that the Twelfth Martial God had gone further down this path than the resurrected Fifth Martial God,” Xiang Wu said. “The technique of switching personality masks… no, even before that, you had already touched on the core of the problem.”

Another memory surfaced, from Xiang Shan—the twelfth Martial God—an experience on Earth several years ago.

Xiang Shan knelt before the mainframe left behind by the Eighth Martial God. Inside the mainframe, a pseudo-personality, retrained by the Eighth Martial God, was present. The mainframe was burning; the Eighth Martial God's last remnant was about to perish along with it.

Xiangshan, the biological brain, felt as if a part of him had been killed. He was grief-stricken; he almost wept.

Meanwhile, Xiang Shan inside the main unit burst into laughter.

In that instant, they were connected.

Xiangshan is an integral part of the whole.

From that time onward, Xiang Shan had actually grasped the boundary between the self and the machine.

Touching the boundary is the beginning of breaking the boundary.

Every battle, every bit of accumulation, all of Xiang Shan's experiences have imperceptibly propelled this transformation.

"As it stands now, ascension is indeed a realm that only a small number of people can reach. It requires familiarity with technology, self-awareness, and the assistance of the collective imagination of humanity," Xiang Wu remarked.

If someone wants to ascend to a higher level, they need to undergo a long period of training. Their neural network must be developed to the point where it can become part of the AI ​​workflow and participate in the existence of AI. They also need to have a sufficient understanding of computer technology.

Then, he needs to create AIs that can portray himself. He needs to use these AIs to understand himself.

These AIs must also take action to convince everyone that AI is part of that person.

If a person truly believes in the inherent strength, activity, steadfastness, and adaptability of his soul, these attributes will become even more prominent.

Symbols, language, and memes become near-divine beings in the electronic world. And this deity can enter another form of physical body at any time, without any constraints.

Whether it's oneself or others, everyone will acknowledge that a life transformed in this way is still the same ascendant.

The accumulation of technical skills, the accumulation of inner strength, and the accumulation within society are all indispensable.

Yes, this is the path to ascension under current technological conditions.

Perhaps with technological advancements and the evolution of human culture, the conditions for ascension will gradually decrease. Humans will find it easier to accept that "imagining oneself as an individual AI" is also a part of oneself—ultimately, it's just a concept, a perspective on the world.

The world itself does not change because of a human belief. Only human actions can change the world.

At this stage, Xiang Shan can't think of another individual besides himself who can achieve the great feat of "ascension".

“Don’t be afraid,” Xiang Wu whispered behind Xiang Shan. “If you can’t achieve your ideal ascension, then no one can. The final step in the Six Dragons Sect’s path to ascension is ‘God re-entering the body’—and the many revolutionaries of the past two hundred years have already accomplished this for you.”

Perhaps compared to Zhu Xinyu, Xiang Shan's passively achieved "ascension" was only half-baked, lacking the power to exist in the "present" and lacking a living soul. However, he has already accomplished what Zhu Xinyu could not.

The unique cultural phenomenon of "rebirth of the martial god" is a resource unique to Xiangshan.

Well, this is the last one.

All we need to do is follow Zhu Xinyu's method to complete the first incomplete human ascension.

Assume the basic structure of personality.

Create a personality-building module.

Migrate self-constructed data.

This is how the self is constructed to strengthen itself.

Berry has shared all the data downloaded to Mars with the AI ​​Xiangshan. The most valuable thing is the ideas; everything else can be done better using the data from the Six Dragons Cult and the Temple of Saints.

Xiang Shan could sense a greater version of himself, but at the same time, he noticed the last trace of hesitation deep within his heart.

A hand gently rested on Xiang Shan's back. Xiang Wu sighed, "Don't be afraid. You're just taking the first step. Sooner or later, someone else will walk this path and come to you. It could be me, it could be Berry, or Dugu, or some other person we don't know. It's an objective phenomenon, a repeatable behavior. Loneliness is temporary. Compared to almost permanent life, it's insignificant."

Xiang Shan nodded.

"Next comes a realm no one has reached before. I can only accompany you this far. I'm going offline now to check if that fatso is dead yet." Xiang Wu gave him a hard push. "Good luck, Xiang Shan."

Xiang Shan felt as if he were falling... no, falling into the air. He was swept away by the gale. The data was like a tsunami, like a storm.

The amount of data exchanged between Xiangshan Brain and the outside world has not increased significantly; what has truly changed is the "self."

The "self" is no longer confined to this brain. The surging data from the outside world is also a thought towards the mountain.

The surging internet is destroying the enhanced mind in its metamorphosis.

The tiny "I" is dissolving.

This strange impact activated the visual processing network in the biological brain, making Xiangshan seem to see the sky.

0 and 1... all kinds of symbols in various languages ​​form clouds of data in the inner sky.

The clouds formed a huge, blurry face.

That looks like myself.

A gigantic version of yourself looking down upon a tiny version of yourself?

In an instant, the face of "oneself" that visually filled the entire sky became blurry again.

No… a tiny version of myself appeared before me.

Within the soul, a massive typhoon appeared out of nowhere, shattering everything.

If the "ability to perceive" can be quantified, then the things that the self facing the mountain now is associated with are more than ten times those of a day ago.

If you're willing, it could be a hundred times, a thousand times, or even ten thousand times.

This is something that cannot be encompassed by human intelligence.

Despite his leaps in cognitive abilities, Xiang Shan felt his intelligence was slipping away and his thinking was becoming fragmented.

Zhu Xinyu gradually completed the construction of her enhanced mind over nearly a century.

Xiang Shan's exploration of internal energy cultivation was never as advanced as Zhu Xinyu's; the Eighth Martial God had only caught up with Zhu Xinyu from eighty years ago. The core principles of mental strengthening provided by Berry didn't include data from trial and error; she simply wouldn't upload that part of her memory.

The only exception is the ascension that the Fifth Martial God has yet to achieve.

The expansion of the self continues. The concept of "towards the mountain" is expanding rapidly within the Martian network, while simultaneously being dissolved by the network itself.

And then...

An unexpected supply of provisions has appeared.

"So that's how it's set up..."

Xiang Shan sighed.

That is a brand new memory circulating throughout the Mars network.

Text, video, memory files...

Data scattered throughout the Mars Network. The timestamps are mostly from 150 years ago.

The newly generated crawlers become part of the memory mechanism, crawling these mountain-shaped contents with sufficiently ancient timestamps.

An unfamiliar figure stood between two solar panels, brandishing a chainsaw sword and roaring.

He said, "This is our city!"

He said, "We must rebuild society!"

He said, "We live as we did when the law still existed! Until we figure out new laws based on custom!"

He enacts rules in a world without rules. He seeks out and records spontaneous rules.

He broadcast his actions live to the entire solar system, and he openly proclaimed his existence.

He didn't know if his approach was the right answer for the times, but people felt that he might actually be more right than anyone else.

The Fourth God of War.

This is the memory of the Fourth God of War for everyone.

The Fourth Martial God also attempted to directly use memory files to answer the questions of like-minded individuals. These files contained a collection of thought processes and related knowledge, which could also be seen as fragments of the soul.

The Fourth Martial God has long since dissolved into the network.

"Ah...ah..."

Xiang Shan expressed such feelings.

Before venturing into the more intricate memory maze, there's actually a chance to get used to it in advance.

The self, pervasive across the network, began to think. Servers everywhere started issuing high-temperature warnings.

In the blink of an eye, those scattered memories were reorganized.

The Fourth Martial God couldn't give him the same hints he had just given Xiang Wu. But the experience he had just gained was enough.

Deep within the mountain's soul, the image lingers on the last one. It was the Fourth Martial God's final public event, the anti-encirclement rally at the Jupiter Space City.

The Fourth Martial God simply sat on the edge of a solar panel, holding a huge gun, and said something to a few close comrades.

The image froze at that moment. According to historical records, this place was only a dozen days away from the evaporation of the space city.

The Fourth Martial God seemed to have stepped out of history. He "walked" out of the scene and joined the shadow behind Xiang Shan.

It used to be Xiangshan's own protocol stack, and it has been updated.

"Ha ha……"

Xiang Shan felt himself laugh out loud.

The hibernating volunteers in the hibernation center may have actually dreamed of the man's hearty laughter.

What an extraordinary individual! Perhaps the Fourth Martial God's inner potential far surpasses that of Xiang Shan from the 21st century. If their positions were reversed, and the Fourth Martial God's original form received the education and resources that Xiang Shan possessed in the 21st century, the Fourth Martial God's original form would have become an even more remarkable figure.

This bold fellow, even the traces he left behind in the world, became a new, scorching current, inspiring Xiangshan to rise up.

Even the Fourth Martial God from 150 years ago would never know this.

The storm raging within the soul, like steel, continues. The erosion of the network by the self and the assimilation of the self by the network are locked in a tug-of-war—the material basis of the self has long since shifted from intercellular electrical signals to electrical signals within the network. The uncontrolled flow of data is like epilepsy in humans.

Pure spirit exists based on the flow of matter. Consciousness can react upon matter, but the spiritual changes caused by changes in matter are invariably subject to them.

There's nothing to be afraid of.

If ascension to heaven cannot be achieved by climbing mountains, then at this very moment, none of the other individuals in human civilization could do it.

At the same time, if Xiangshan achieves ascension, then based on our understanding of this special individual, the conditions for future human beings to achieve ascension will be greatly reduced.

Having received abundant help from others and from within myself, I am undoubtedly standing at the crossroads of destiny. Even I, Xiang Shan, must marvel at my own abilities.

The torrent of consciousness finally overwhelmed the backend of the network, and then rushed to the surface like a breached dam.

Finally, the wave of memes surging across the internet joined in the resistance and destruction of consciousness.

In 1991, the father of the World Wide Web announced that he would abandon patent applications and release the open WWW technology free of charge. The process of the internet becoming accessible to the masses had an idealistic element. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, cyberspace had already become an outlet for malice.

Lacking a unified will and a pre-defined structure, the internet's surface is filled with a spontaneous, chaotic trend driven solely by irrational "interests." Everyone's primary goal is to "gain recognition," and to support oneself, one must oppose others. This binary, opposing sentiment dominates the online landscape.

As the internet becomes the most important tool for production, money naturally becomes a catalyst for this conflict.

The hostility offline will amplify a thousandfold here.

This is the arena of public opinion. Public opinion is irrational. Humanity can never create a rational arena of public opinion; at most, it can only have one that is based on rationality.

This is cyberbullying powerful enough to drive a person to a mental breakdown. Simply reading content filled with malice and absurdity is tiresome. And before mental fortitude is fully developed, this kind of content naturally mingles with one's thoughts.

It's practically a mental poison.

but……

"Now that things have come to this, are we going to lament 'how wicked humans are' over such a trivial matter?"

Xiang Shan wanted to laugh.

I understood this more than two hundred years ago.

On that afternoon, when the air was almost scalding and the stench of blood and decay filled his nostrils, in the peacekeeping force camp in Shelukemidom, Xiang Shan understood one thing.

We are all human. That's what being human is all about.

He is not fundamentally different from the people of that small African country. Given certain conditions, he too could, like the people of that country, view "killing certain specific people" as "justice."

If one is not constantly vigilant against the evil within, he too will degenerate into a beast.

"What is this? A Mara or something formed unconsciously by all living beings?" It's just a hurdle we've already overcome.

Assuming the basic structure of personality, we create personality composition modules, transfer self-composition data, and finally move on to the next step.

It will be recorded in history.

The target wasn't my own, but something online.

Those labyrinths of memories woven by everyone.

as well as……

Numerous weapons are continuously generated on the network in the form of blockchain.

Cyber ​​Martial Arts, pioneered by Xiang Shan, progressing in the direction he pointed out, perfected by many, and ultimately far surpassing Xiang Shan's imagination.

Their structures already possessed certain life characteristics. Now, Xiangshan wants them to become "information organs" of a completely new organism.

The "self" has flowed out of Mars along the remaining links.

An earthquake struck the internet.

Xiangshan's memory labyrinth, relying on distributed storage and backup to live forever on the internet, seems to have realized something.

As the will to move towards the mountains expands, more and more cluster antennas in the starry sky are pointing towards Mars.

If the super AI named Chongli hadn't destroyed most of the relay stations connecting Mars with the outside world, Xiangshan's ascension would have been even faster.

But it's alright, it's just a slight delay.

The last time I surpassed myself.

Yes, it's very simple.

Xiangshan may be defeated by objective conditions, but it will never be defeated by its own limitations.

Many of the martial gods were originally individuals whose potential exceeded that of Xiang Shan himself.

Having received gifts from many people, how could one possibly surrender to oneself?
Although the solar system network has not yet transmitted all the information back, the download has begun, and the self-encapsulation process is nearing completion.

In that instant, Xiangshan finally saw it...

Like an egg in a vortex... another embryo in the eye of a typhoon.

From a subjective perspective, one can still vaguely make out Zhu Xinyu's eyebrows and eyes—this means that the self has read Zhu Xinyu's features from the information transmitted back.

You can't truly understand her unless you reach the same level.

This is the full picture of the Ascended AI. Simply by operating, she can disrupt another enhanced mind construct. She is a warrior who will never lay down her weapon.

The mountain understands. The soldiers will also ask for help.

Against the storm, they reached out their hands to the mountain.

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

Wu Kui Enlil ran across the ground like a storm. In his hands were two guns, each nearly a meter long and with a caliber that would have been considered "cannons" in the old days.

Two firearms that use gunpowder to drive tungsten-lead bullets.

He and the Firefly had fired several times to provide support, but none of them had achieved any results.

Just now, A-Niao launched an attack with impeccable timing. However, at a distance of about 15 centimeters from David's body, the laws of physics seemed to have slumbered—the trajectory appeared to be distorted by an invisible hand, forcibly twisting the original 90-degree vertical entry into a 15-degree sweeping attack! The bullet merely grazed a scratch on David's shoulder armor!
David, the King of Conquerors, is surrounded by a high-intensity magnetic field. When a bullet enters, it cuts through the magnetic field lines, and then, due to Lenz's law, a counterforce is generated. David's control over the magnetic field is astonishing; he might even be able to use the force of a bullet from several centimeters away to launch an attack from thin air.

In this era, martial artists of the First Heaven generally preferred to use electromagnetic firearms. The absence of gunpowder and the smaller, lighter ammunition meant a larger magazine capacity. Electromagnetic firearms could also easily achieve higher muzzle velocities and greater damage. However, this also meant that the bullets inevitably required the use of a large amount of ferromagnetic materials.

Generally, this technology is deployed in critical parts of large vehicles that are not afraid of strong magnetic fields, or in other rare resources that need to be transported with care, to ensure that these valuable items are not hit by stray bullets.

Few people would mount it on a prosthetic body.

On planets with thick atmospheres, such as Earth, there are ways to bypass them. For example, a non-ferromagnetic payload can be encased in a soft ferromagnetic alloy, and then the soft part can be eroded away by the air.

But this is Mars, where the atmosphere is thin.

Enlil obtained two guns and four bullets from his spare weapons by remotely issuing commands to the supply drone.

David and Singlehorst moved in arcs, constantly shifting positions. To ensure a hit, Enlil was determined to close the distance to within 100 meters.

It was as if a storm was chasing two tornadoes that were tearing each other apart.

The situation looked quite close. Singlehorst, as expected of a top-tier fighter, used sidesteps, sliding steps, cutting in, and disrupting the opponent's balance... In terms of skill, he was superior to David. David was on the verge of falling several times.

The problem is that Singlehorst can't launch a decisive attack.

David's prosthetic body is far superior to Singlehorst's. And then there's that annoyingly strong magnetic field.

The sense of distance cultivated over the past century has ironically become a misconception.

David's magnetic field strength was so high that it could cause substantial physical interference even at a distance of twenty centimeters, disrupting the transmission chain of an opponent's movements. Generally, magnetic fields of this level are only used to maintain the reaction environment of a fusion reactor, responsible for taming plasma at hundreds of millions of degrees. However, David had more than ten such magnetic fields installed on his prosthetic body.

When fists and palms clash, before the attack can even land, the joints begin to malfunction.

Even if the fist successfully strikes David's armor, the magnetic field will instantly lock the armor's macroscopic structure, causing the point-like impact force to spread out evenly at the speed of light.

The penetrating force that Singlehorst could unleash was naturally incapable of penetrating such a defense.

David could disrupt Singlehorst with a mere punch—even a mere graze from a few centimeters away could potentially damage the transmission joints.

Singlehorst transformed into a phantom. This wasn't his usual style; for a century, he'd been accustomed to playing the more advantageous role in one-on-one combat. However, he hadn't forgotten the principle of "the weak defeating the strong." The ideal behind Cyber ​​Martial Arts was "the few defeating the many, the weak overcoming the strong."

His footsteps kicked up clouds of dust, like layers of red gauze. Singlehorst moved through them like a phantom. He was carefully calculating, waiting for the moment when the scales of victory would tip in his favor.

David, however, wasn't thinking about anything; he felt every neuron in his body screaming. He finally had a real sense of time. More fantastical ideas began to take shape in his mind.

Enlil was already close behind David. Singlehorst suddenly retreated—perhaps due to reaching its cooling limit, perhaps needing to demagnetize some of the magnetized components, or perhaps simply not wanting to obstruct Enlil's firing arc. David lowered his body slightly, his right fist tucked into his waist, and the hidden nozzle on his elbow snapped open, pre-spraying coolant that resembled blue ice crystals.

The legs and arms simultaneously gather power.

From an ordinary person's perspective, this "charging" took only a fraction of a second. Enlil's vision, however, was as if paused; his extreme focus brought about a momentary shift in his perception of time. From his subjective perspective, the blue crystals slowly expanded, pre-cooling the vent. The Martian atmosphere lacks moisture; otherwise, he would have witnessed the formation of ice crystals. David's crouching posture, the gathering of power in his arms…

The dust motes flying everywhere were frozen in the air.

The muzzle slowly rose.

Without the slightest shaking or deviation, the sight moved smoothly and evenly in the senses.

Enlil didn't seem like he was about to assassinate the king. He appeared relaxed, as if he were recharging.

The built-in plugin calculates firing parameters and makes subtle corrections based on factors such as air pressure, wind speed, and altitude difference—even though these factors are negligible at this distance, the plugin completes this process instantly.

The invisible battering ram struck Enlil's back in that instant.

The elongated moment shatters in the next.

Enlil was thrown into the air by the sudden explosion and forced to crash into David's direction.

Enlil's prosthetic body had sufficient defensive capabilities, and the shockwave could only push him away; its power was insufficient to truly harm Wu Kui.

Judging from the direction of the impact, it should be diagonally downwards.

David used a device hidden in his foot to drive explosives—or perhaps a landmine—into the soil.
Enlil avoided stepping on the landmine. David detonated the explosives remotely.

Enlil regained his balance mid-air. He could see shrapnel slowly whizzing past his prosthetic eyes. The sudden explosion interrupted his concentration but didn't faze him. He turned his gun again and aimed at David.

Twenty meters to go.

Although the distance was already dangerous, David had no room to dodge...

Then came the overwhelming shadows.

The reactive armor on the back of David's upper arm exploded at that instant.

Martial artists will attach reactive armor in various bizarre locations. These different methods form the hidden trump cards in various martial arts—unpredictable forces, unexpected defenses, and movements that were originally impossible.

But David's armor seems to be different.

Dozens of rhomboid metal scales scattered, like a metal flower that bloomed and withered in an instant. The "petals" danced and surrounded Enlil from all directions.

—Ah, I feel like I've seen this before…

Enlil released his gun and desperately made defensive movements in mid-air to protect his neck, causing the thruster on his back to deflect.

But it was too late.

The electric arc jumps between the scales, and the magnetized metal scales contract instantly.

Gloomy Type 1: Wild Beast Trap.

The move by which the Twelfth War God controlled the King of Romans during the Earth War.

David created the classic magnetic chain martial arts.

Layers of gunpowder and metal scales create a reactive armor with intricate patterns. The scales disperse instantly with the help of gunpowder, but within them are several low-resistance cables made of high-performance materials. At the moment of magnetization, the strong magnetic field behind it is transmitted, locking the armor in place at an astonishing speed.

Enlil crashed into David’s back.

The hidden nozzle on his right elbow had just ignited, piercing Enlil like a spear of light.

The jetpack behind David also activated instantly.

Because of the chains binding him with the Fifth Martial God, David's jetpack doesn't allow him to fly. However, if David wanted to press himself to the ground, the chains posed no obstacle at all.

Singlehorst's mind flashed back to the last green peacock on Earth. During the Biosphere One outbreak, he had briefly withdrawn from the front lines of the spies' cause, volunteering as an animal rescuer for a time. He had witnessed the last time a peacock displayed its plumage on Earth.

David's dazzling moment reminded him of the peacock.

Enlil has been engulfed by plasma.

Singlehorst had no choice but to raise his gun.

The bullet was headed straight for David's punch. Singlehorst used the recoil to make an incredible dodge in mid-air.

David missed his punch.

However, his mind was not on his fists at all. The ball-throwing game he used to practice at parties, the Gangqi martial arts he created with Xiang Shan two hundred years ago, and the Xuanwu True Gang of Dugu Beiluo Shimen just now, all inexplicably overlapped in his mind.

The scorching current created by the jet engine was revived by the magnetic field. The incandescent vortex moved mysteriously along with his palm.

"Shouldn't this move be called... Starlight Extinction? Or Galactic Starburst? I don't think I can really pull off an explosion..."

The Singlehorst temporary overclocked prosthetic body was only able to extend to that enormous area of ​​effect.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen was still repairing her damaged hands and feet. She observed the battle situation with a cold eye.

She transmitted the message: "A-Niao, I'll be jumping into the air in a bit. Just fire four shots into the sky with the goal of 'piercing through my limbs.' Give me the predicted trajectories."

【Uncle-Master, why?】

"Stop talking nonsense, do as I say!"

Dugu Beiluo Shimen was suddenly thrown backward, his elbows slamming heavily onto the ground with a sound like an explosion. The force of the impact propelled him into the air.

The system visualized the parameters transmitted by A-Niao. Four virtual lines extended in mid-air. Dugu saw bullets shooting along these four lines.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

Hands and feet collided repeatedly with bullets.

Dugu only came up with this idea after seeing Singlehorst reset her joints with bullets. Compared to the veteran, her martial arts skills were not yet refined, and such violent reset would greatly damage the lifespan of the joints.

it's fine.

It won't take that long.

Dugu drew his thermal sword again.

The locations of all the magnetic field generators on the Heavenly King's body have been recorded.

Singlehorst's attack, along with the martial arts technique he just used to manipulate plasma, has revealed all of this data.

The personality profile has already been completed.

In terms of pure martial arts skill, Singlehorst is stronger than David. If Singlehorst can adapt to this new martial art, victory is only a matter of time.

But now, time is the issue.

Enlil received intelligence from the front lines. A Heavenly officer was attempting to cross the Knights' lines to provide support.

The Heavenly King's mindset has also changed significantly. He is now a dangerous enemy.

It has to be fast, even if...

The vectoring thrusters behind her deployed, and all the remaining propellant was used.

--Prepare……

"Oh, you unlucky kid. Is this how I taught you?"

A voice as ethereal as a soul resonated within my consciousness.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen fell to the ground like a thunderbolt, the thermal sword slashing down along the balance point of the three magnetic field generators on David's back.

David raised his hands high, and the plasma cluster, which spun like a galaxy, collided head-on with him, causing his outer armor to deteriorate rapidly.

David retaliated with a backhand strike, his palm striking Dugu Beiluo Shimen on the crown of his head. Before the head was destroyed, Dugu saw Singlehorst seize David's head.

Then, the scene flashes back. Dugu Beiluo Shimen lands heavily on the ground.

A "background process" deep within her mind was rehearsing the outcome of her next move. "Martial arts" seemed to have come alive.

The sudden interruption of the background process caused Dugu to lose his opportunity. The landing position was wildly off track.

However, Dugu Beiluo Shimen was gripped by fear because of another matter.

Master?
It wasn't the Fifth or Twelfth Martial God. The feeling was that of her master, the Tenth Martial God.

But this...

"If you can't control martial arts, then let martial arts control you, girl."

It felt as if someone was gripping my hand. That was…

Memories of my youth were forcibly evoked.

"Second brother... is that you?"

Dugu Beiluo Shimen seemed to feel the wind of his hometown... and even more winds that he hadn't had time to experience.

The magnetic field, fists, feet, and plasma forms of the Heavenly King were extracted, abstracted, and then topologically reconstructed. Including Singlehorst, all of this became "obstacles."

An "obstacle" like a headwind.

—No, no, the winds of my homeland are more than just obstacles. To ride the gale, Regulus XIV.

Unfamiliar memories are linked.

"Haha..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen laughed out loud.

She finally caught a glimpse of the magnificent scenery that her second senior brother had been longing for.

The Great Red Spot on distant Jupiter.

Raise your sword.

The propellant had long been exhausted. The planned thunderous strike had failed.

However, Dugu Beiluo Shimen was elevated to an even higher level.

The thermal sword sliced ​​through David's tiny galaxy. The material created to withstand the power of the sun cleaved through the light.

The magnetic field deflected the sword's momentum, but Dugu applied force in the direction of the magnetic field. The fluctuation of the magnetic field had already been anticipated.

David shut down the magnetic field, but it was too late.

Wow, that was fast...

That was a sword strike unleashed by the combined power of David's magnetic field and Dugu's arm. An attack that pierced through the shoulder and left chest armor.

David roared and broke the blade. But Dugu used the magnetic field on his right to dodge in mid-air.

Singlehorst seemed to have seized the moment; the phonon knife that had been hanging behind him flew out of his hand, leaving only a thread connecting it to his wrist.

High temperatures can also degrade the phonon knife blade. Want to seize the moment when Dugu tears through the plasma cloud and use the phonon knife to deliver the final blow?

"A flying sword that leaves your hand? Interesting! But useless!"

David flicked his wrist, and the blade of the sonic knife was snatched away.

but……

It's too light.

The instant he released the blade, Singlehorst stopped the magnetic field of the phonon knife. The magnetism of the unmagnetized alloy ferromagnetism was negligible. David failed to snatch the knife along with its hilt.

The handle was brought close to the plasma mass, the magnetic field was restarted, and a small portion of the plasma was torn off while being accelerated by the David magnetic field.

In the instant before impact with the outer armor, the magnetic field vanished, plasma flooded David's wound, and the sword hilt was deflected by the armor. The magnetic field restarted, and the hilt, while capturing another wisp of plasma, regained its momentum and rammed into David's chest once more.

dong dong dong...

Xuanwu True Qi - Dragon Style - Qiuniu
Like a series of drumbeats.

A burst of sparks erupted from David's wound.

Although not as specialized magnetic trap weapon as the Meridian Mandarin Duck Axe, the hilt of the Sound Blade can actually serve as a temporary substitute to unleash the Dragon Style of the Xuanwu True Qi.

Like David's impromptu creations, Singlehorst's tactics were also just a makeshift patchwork.

Singlehorst remarked with some emotion, "Although that subordinate is a bit simple-minded, he does have some talent."

He kicked him from the side. David's prosthetic body was already in serious trouble, and he couldn't raise his arm in time.

The colossal King of Mars crashed to the ground, raising clouds of dust several meters high.

Singlehorst leaped onto David's chest, drew a large-caliber weapon, and aimed it at David's head.

“You should accept your loss, Professor Klein. Order the Martian soldiers to surrender.”

My friend, a native of Beijing, told me that Beijingers do indeed like to say "bad luck kid," and they even deliberately imitate the Tianjin accent. I actually asked him about it.