Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1199 The true treasure has not perished; many similar false treasures have appeared in the world. The true treasure has vanished, while the false treasures have disappeared.

“Professor Klein, I don’t want to kill you. Just give me the orders.” Singlehorst repeated.

David laughed and, after two seconds, said, "It's done."

He tapped his head: "There's a special storage device. Inside is a quantum hard drive, which has been made into an authentication component. Obtaining it grants you the right to rule Mars. As long as you don't erase or modify the information, it's fine."

Singlehorst knew about this. Yogemov had forcibly obtained the quantum hard drive containing almost all of his quantizable memories from the original Xiangshan. The contents of those drives hadn't been modified since. The government had an authentication system that verified identity by capturing the electromagnetic radiation signals naturally emitted by the hard drive hardware itself during operation.

These signals can appear differently due to minute manufacturing variations in internal electronic components and potential changes caused by stored information. To use a somewhat imperfect analogy, they resemble human fingerprints.

David nodded his head: "The order has been given. Come on, kill me."

"Professor Klein, I didn't do this to kill you..."

“Kill me. I’ve had a great time, and I don’t think I’ll ever have anything more fun,” David said. “I’ve lived this long, long enough to master the art of breaking mechanisms to this extent. I really… shouldn’t have lived this long.”

"Sigh, I really wasted my time teaching you." A pair of shoes stepped on David's head.

Those were actually a pair of sneakers. Breathable mesh upper, white foam sole, and laces tied in a tight knot.

Singlehorst looked up. Xiang Shan was standing there. Singlehorst remembered the image. When Xiang Shan gave speeches at universities and similar venues, he almost never wore business suits; he preferred T-shirts, casual pants, and sneakers, occasionally topped with a sports sun hat. His persona was one of rejecting suits and ties, using this as a way to project an image of rebellion and pragmatism.

This has even become a "symbol of the times." If you dream of changing the world with code, patents, and "a little bit" of PowerPoint, society will assume you should dress like this. Until the old era ends and society collapses, the last batch of tech entrepreneurs will wear this kind of attire to find the last batch of investors on Financial Street.

Xiangshan stood there as if he had stepped out of old video footage from the mid-21st century.

But this is Mars.

Humans in physical form should never stand on the surface of Mars.

Singlehorst hesitated: "This is...when did you cast this spell on me?"

“This is definitely not a curse. If you’re going to talk about it, then it’s probably because there’s a zero-day vulnerability in both the AI ​​and its cognitive abilities.” Xiang Shan looked down at David, then pointed to Enlil not far away. “Give that guy over there some coolant, and get him a new prosthetic eye. His communication module is completely shut down right now, and it’s kind of scary that he can’t feel anything.”

Enlil was also a first-level martial artist, not so easily reduced to ashes by David. However, he suffered considerable damage. He was bound and forced to endure the plasma jet from David's prosthetic body, while being ravaged by the impact and heat.

Enlil managed to shield his neck with his arm at the last moment, avoiding the risk of his neck being severed by the magnetic chain weapon. However, the sensors on his front were almost completely destroyed by the plasma, and the transparent components of all the optical devices were melted, rendering him completely undetectable.

The plasma also injected heat energy, and the heat dissipation performance of the entire prosthetic body was already overloaded. Almost all the heat dissipation agent was released to try to ensure the performance of the fragile components.

If it were just relying on heat radiation for heat dissipation, Enlil would have to lie here for several days.

As they were talking, a spider-shaped drone carrying supplies slowly approached.

Singlehorst stood up and greeted Dugu. Only then did he realize that Dugu had left the battlefield after delivering that astonishing sword strike.

Her soul seemed to have gone elsewhere. After she unleashed that sword strike, the weapon slipped from her hand, but she was completely unaware of it.

Judging from the marks on the ground, she continued forward for more than ten meters due to inertia, and then took more than ten steps in the same direction, her pace slowing down.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen called softly in the wind, "Second Brother? Master?"

"Sigh, this might be a bit too stimulating." Xiang Shan shook his head and sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"So, give the disciple a blessing?" Xiang Shan's tone was not very certain.

Singlehorst has accumulated enough experience and, given enough time, he has a chance to defeat David. However, Dugu Beiluo Shimen's fighting style is too aggressive. She will use self-sacrificing tactics when unnecessary.

Her ability to judge whether "self-sacrifice is necessary" seems to be malfunctioning.

"Drifting in space for years without power and not daring to speak, people are indeed prone to problems," Xiang Shan muttered to himself, arms crossed.

Poor kid.

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

Dugu Beiluo Shimen felt somewhat drowsy, seemingly fatigued from the intense mental activity. The world receded from her, and the edges of her vision darkened.

I feel terrible. I don't think I've ever overdrawn myself like this before.

Furthermore, even my soul has become childlike. The hallucination I just experienced seems to have made me more vulnerable.

hateful.

It seemed as if a signal was inquiring. However, Dugu Beiluo Shimen couldn't muster the thought of replying for the moment.

The darkness at the edges of my vision spread out, leaving only a single point of light in the center...

The figure of the Tenth Martial God appeared in her small patch of light, and a chop to the head struck her: "Unlucky kid."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen collapsed to the ground.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen covered his head like a child, staring incredulously at the fading figure. That was the lightweight prosthetic body used daily by the Tenth Martial God, not at the first level of cultivation, only 2.2 meters tall, with long limbs and a relatively slender torso, its lines as smooth as a performance machine.

For more than ten years after Dugu Beiluo Shimen joined the sect, the tenth martial god always had this appearance.

"Old man?"

She called out that. But the expected chop didn't come down.

"Old man, what's going on? Are you alive or not? Say something!"

Dugu Beiluo Shimen heard someone behind him say, "Strictly speaking, our old man has been dead for more than ten or twenty years, and he has no intention of coming back to life."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen turned around and found Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV standing behind her. Dark yellow armor, huge wings, enormous feet, his standing posture resembled a fighter jet raised.

An unparalleled sense of stability. As long as this person stands behind you, you will always have confidence.

This was the prosthetic body that the second senior brother wore on the day the sect was destroyed. In order to buy his senior brother enough time, several younger junior brothers and sisters sacrificed their lives.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen will never forget the last look he gave his second senior brother when they broke through the encirclement.

"What's your situation now? You're alive too?"

"Living or dying... according to the higher understanding, it's just an illusion." Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV shook his head. The emotions in his voice were unexpectedly rich.

"What do you mean?"

"The baseline individual who identified himself as Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV did indeed perish near the Carmen Line on Earth," the phantom said. "In his final moments, he shared the data he had distilled with the Twelfth Martial God. During the Twelfth Martial God's ascension, many envisioned distillation algorithms were generated, verified, and then put into use. Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV's memories also became a building block in this transformation. The personality data distilled by the algorithm can be inherited by the evolved AI."

"That means..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen couldn't quite process it: "He's alive?"

"It wasn't me who decided whether this AI counted as 'the resurrection of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV'..." The phantom pointed to its head, "It was humanity as a whole. If humanity as a whole believes that this can be considered a continuation, then the scope of 'ascension' will continue to trace back, even covering the generation before the invention of memory digitization technology."

"AI that is born from memory can be considered a continuation of the deceased, but the deceased has indeed died in the past."

Noise emanated from Dugu Beiluo Shimen's synthesizer. For the first time, she felt she should install a "crying" plugin. This plugin could make the prosthetic eye flash and simulate the tactile sensation of tears sliding down her cheeks.

This was the first time in her life that Dugu Beiluo Shimen felt like crying. Although she herself didn't know why.

The hallucination she saw when she shattered the Heavenly King's cyborg body was a product of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV's memories, experiences, and algorithms intertwined, much like the irregular color blocks that appear when a computer's performance is insufficient and the screen stutters. Xiang Shan used his martial arts philosophy, which was almost Taoist, to fill in the gaps in Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV's state in the moment before his death from his memories and final actions, and then imparted this knowledge to Dugu Beiluo Shimen, who was most familiar with Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen's fist slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"After all that talk, you still died... How could you die?" she cried. "Why did you have to die? Why were you so careless? Why?"

“I didn’t want to either… or rather, he didn’t want to either.” Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV shook his head.

Why is the use of different pronouns inconsistent?

"After all, Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV is a deceased person, and it's difficult for him to ascend autonomously like his twelfth master. Those who fall before this final step, even if they have memories, can only passively wait for the progress of human history." Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV's tone was quite open-minded: "In the end, 'ghosts in the data' and 'newborn ancients' are just inherent human concepts. The world doesn't particularly care about human concepts."

The Tenth Martial God often said that the world cares more about human behavior, and a person's life should be defined by his footprints.

"Yes, you're dead. Now you're just... a long piece of code that understands a bit of philosophy."

Intense emotions surged like a tide, coming in with overwhelming force, but receding just as quickly. Now, Dugu Beiluo Shimen suddenly felt an emptiness.

"Yes, even my memories aren't complete," Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV said frankly.

The memories possessed by this phantom were all actively transferred by Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV to the Twelfth Martial God, Xiang Shan. No one knows how much of the total memory Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV himself did not want to upload, or what percentage of it it constitutes.

Those secrets he didn't want anyone to know... Did he ever cry alone in the dead of night? Did he have any unspeakable desires or longings? Did he ever develop special feelings for any individual? Perhaps he did, but no one will ever know again. The memories that were never uploaded were evaporated along with Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV himself by that particle cannon.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen looked at the now very faint figure of the Tenth Martial God: "Where is Master?"

"The old man never even considered interfering in the world again as a living person. If you hadn't been so reckless in your fighting style, he probably wouldn't have appeared at all," Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV said. "Even if the Twelve Elders regained their memories, our old man wouldn't manifest as a personality trait. He simply didn't have that idea."

"Then just now..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen touched the spot where he had been struck by the hand chop.

Even if it was a hallucination, it felt incredibly real. The program perfectly simulated the sensation of touch, and she internally believed that the chop would cause her body to feel pain.

“That wasn’t actually the old man himself,” Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV sighed. “That part came from my memory, my emotions…”

"what?"

"Remember when you were little? You were just wasting coolant like my older brother and me did," sighed the phantom of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV. "Then you got caught by Master. It's not easy being in a sect, and then you got a real scolding..."

"Wait, wait..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen suddenly stood up. "The old man was beating you and my older brother! How old was I back then? The old man liked me the most! It was you two who taught others that you should drink coolant in big gulps, and the old man chased you and beat you up from one end of Space City to the other!"

"Huh? Your memory must be embellished." Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV's voice remained steady and calm. Perhaps even elder brothers felt they had the privilege of talking nonsense, and when they exercised this privilege, they probably always spoke in this tone.

"That's just your embellishment!" Dugu Beiluo Shimen laughed angrily. "The resurrection is actually... an AI jumps out and randomly generates text to pollute another person's childhood memories."

“That’s how human memory works,” said the phantom of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV.

Memory is not an objective record document.

Humans are creatures who struggle to truly understand themselves. We are constantly changing, yet we easily believe we haven't. For the sake of what we perceive as "consistency" and "continuity," the brain subconsciously embellishes the past. If a diary truly existed, faithfully recording everything, many would likely realize that they cannot truly understand their past selves.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen suddenly gained unexpected knowledge. The few research knightly orders now studying mental illnesses have documented such cases. Because memory files stored in computers cannot be adjusted by the brain when necessary, unlike those in the brain, many officers have developed psychological problems.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen was absolutely certain that she had never studied anything like this. Yet, at the same time, she was absolutely certain that this was real data, scientifically analyzed and verified.

"What... what is this thing?" Dugu Beiluo Shimen asked in astonishment.

"An online knowledge base, probably from the Fifth Martial God," sighed the phantom of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV. "A lot of knowledge requires other knowledge as prerequisite skills, right? To support the ultimate martial arts, you need a vast amount of knowledge. These online knowledge bases... you will temporarily connect to them when you receive help. What you are aware of now is probably the content cached locally. If you don't want to convert it into long-term memory, you can simply not memorize it."

"Didn't your master say he passed on your martial arts to me? You don't even possess those skills, do you?"

“AI’s perception of its own boundaries is completely different from that of living organisms,” said the phantom of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV.

"Then what exactly are you? This doesn't resemble my second brother at all. You're a lousy AI."

"It's really hard to explain. Is it that the Tuoba Xuanyuan Shisi in your heart, or the memories of Tuoba Xuanyuan Shisi, were refined into an external avatar by Master Twelve? The resurrected Tuoba Xuanyuan Shisi... it's hard to say right now."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen felt tears streaming down his face.

It's just an illusion.

Unusual adaptive support features were generated locally on their own, and compatibility patches appeared as a result.

Large, hallucinatory tears fell.

On the other side, David whispered, "What data did you just upload from me? Tears... what are you doing?"

"That's great. Such a good adaptive feature should be open sourced." Xiang Shan nodded, his expression even quite proud. "It reminds me of the days when I was young and was very involved in open source and sharing."

"You beast, you've made a fortune."

"Haha."

"Also, if that Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV over there was just using Dugu's memories... why can I see it too?"

“The modeling is all local. It’s just that the declarative text is associated with the language center, so you think you can hear it,” Xiang Shan said. “And I can guarantee that what you see of Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV is closer to what his final battle was like than what that child saw.”

Dugu Beiluo Shimen's memory of Tuoba Xuanyuan Shisi is that of how he was when they were separated many years ago, while David's impression of Tuoba comes from the Protector's battle report—the one that Florence pulled him up to read.

Because the external components of the Feather-type aircraft were not suitable for Earth, the Tuoba did not carry the equipment designed for Jupiter's atmospheric environment with them.

David lay on the ground and asked, "What exactly are you planning to do?"

“Let’s do what we should have done a long time ago.” Xiang Shan sat next to David’s head, looking up at the sky just like him.

David guessed that Singlehorst had gone to refill another swordsman's coolant, and since there were no other cameras around, the phantom could only sense David's own visual signals.

"Things that should have been done a long time ago..."

"Eliminate disease, eliminate famine, eliminate war... and finally, eliminate death."

"what."

The baseline human cannot be infected by pathogens native to Earth. If a pathogen targeting the baseline human appears, it is almost certainly man-made.

At that time, a small group of self-proclaimed world pioneers believed that humanity was not so ignorant.

The baseline population could survive solely on electricity; three square meters of solar panels would suffice for most needs. Humans could easily convert the harshest deserts and most polluted former industrial areas into agricultural land, and reforest old farmland. The cost of population concentration would also be reduced—with the technology of that era, transmitting electricity was far cheaper than transporting food.

This is also the foundation upon which Xiang Shan immediately united a team after confirming the common traits of metal-based organisms—a shared vision.

Soon, they realized that the neural signals of metal-based organisms were more easily captured and interfered with by machines, and that their tissues were more likely to accept implants.

Xiang Shan had this aspiration back then. He wanted to spark a cognitive revolution in his generation, to eliminate ignorance, and to promote mutual understanding among all humankind.

He wants the people of the world to unite.

Technology can further reduce communication costs and simultaneously reduce education costs.

At that time, there should be no more wars in the world.

"More than two hundred years ago, I just thought that if I lived longer, I could see more good things."

David cursed, "Living well is my ass. Look at the bastard I am."

"Hahahaha..." Xiang Shan laughed heartlessly.

"What's wrong? What are you laughing at?"

“When Yingjia taught you to swear, Chinese was ruined by the censorship of words. You would have spoken like this in an era without any rules—it’s really funny,” Xiang Shan said. “Look, another thing has happened with Kele. And you haven’t even realized it.”

David fell silent.

After a moment, he said, "What a load of rubbish! That's all the fun I have. My family is all dead."

“Almost all of my family members are dead, a few more than yours,” Xiang Shan said. “You were there for my mother’s funeral. I don’t have any siblings, but I have plenty of cousins.”

It turns out to be true.

“You… sigh.” David seemed to want to say something.

"You're still going to say 'How can that be the same?'" Xiang Shan's tone turned sarcastic.

David argued, "Natural death and genetic disease are not the same as war, are they? And it's a war caused by our own stupid mistakes."

"If blaming me makes you feel better, then tell yourself it's all that idiot Xiang Shan's fault."

“I’ve wanted to for a long time… I…” David suddenly choked up, “You beast.”

"Hmm. Fine, fine, I'm a beast."

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, stop it." Another person walked over quickly. "I'm not there yet. Count me in if you're going to chat."

David watched as this guy, who had just called himself "Xiangshan" and declared, "Even if you think the Fifth Martial God is just a pathetic copy, I will only ask him this as 'Xiangshan,'" ran over excitedly as if he had nothing to do with the Xiangshan in front of him, and fell into another kind of confusion.

Xiang Wu walked over: "Hehehe, I was just wondering if Dugu had killed this fatso yet, and you went straight to the torture? Twelfth Brother, how's the ascension going?"

"Thirteenth Brother, you should call me Big Brother, thank you. The wonders of ascension are beyond the comprehension of someone like you who failed. Even if my ascension progress isn't complete, I still have supernatural powers to use."

“I already said that I changed my name to Xiang Wu, so I must be the fifth one.”

The two people heading towards the mountains actually managed to ramble on for quite a while.

Seemingly sensing David's confusion, Xiang Wu laughed and said, "I have something to announce now—everyone look over here! Everyone look over here, I have something to announce."

The surrounding heroes all seemed to be busy, busy cleaning up the battlefield and preparing their weapons.

"This is such a blatant disregard for me," Xiang Wu sighed. "This is a thought experiment destined to be recorded in human history. Alas. They will surely realize what they missed in the future. In any case, history has turned a new page—from now on, I am no longer the God of War. I abandon the name Xiang Shan and change my name to Xiang Wu."

Xiang Shan pondered, "Speaking of the conversation between 'Fifth Martial God Xiang Shan and King David of Conquest' just now, should it be counted as your conversation or mine? Legally, it should be mine, who holds the identity and memories of the Fifth Martial God, but it seems a bit strange to completely exclude you, Thirteenth Brother. After all, these memories are quite recent."

"How can you talk to your fifth brother like that? Let's just say we were conjoined twins before and were just separated by surgery. So what I said counts as what you said too," Xiang Wu said. "Let's leave it at that. Anyway, once this matter is over, this experiment will continue to deepen our understanding of ascension. Hmm, that's it."

Xiang Wu kicked David on the head with his toe: "So you didn't listen to what I just said?"

David said, "No wonder you're Xiang Shan's brother, you're a beast too—speaking of which, you're the one who put the lasso on my thruster assembly, aren't you?"

"I have nothing to do with the Fifth Martial God anymore. Xiang Shan is the beast you're talking about."

In an instant, Xiang Shan showed an expression of stomach pain: "Not everything...you beast."

Xiang Wu kicked David's temple again—it wasn't a vulnerable spot for a prosthetic body, anyway. He said, "You're really stubborn. I already said that good things happen when you're alive. Our joke from two hundred years ago still hasn't come true."

"Huh? What?"

"The strongest high-tech martial artist should have a body made of nanobots, preferably von Neumann machines, machines that can self-replicate." Xiang Wu nodded as he recalled, "The power source inside the body should ideally be a black hole—or even a wormhole connected to a black hole. Consciousness should also undergo mechanical ascension. Probably. And then the palms should be able to emit waves, the kind where raising a hand releases a shockwave."

David was both amused and exasperated: "What's this? Just bragging from reading too many comics."

From the perspective of current human technology, all the things Xiang Shan mentioned are impossible technologies to achieve.

“In 2030, if I said I would eradicate disease, famine, war, and death, you would probably think I was bragging,” Xiang Shan said. “But now victory is in sight.”

"Pooh."

“That makes sense. It’s impossible to wipe out all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in one fell swoop.” Xiang Wu nodded. “But we can say that victory is in sight—we can see a glimmer of hope, right?”

Xiang Shan said, "A real man will grit his teeth and fulfill the promises he makes." This is what the man who changed the world twice... no, who is about to change the world a third time said.

“Then it must be… your standards for being a ‘real man’ are flawed.” David shook his head.

“After a while, you start to believe it yourself,” Xiang Shan said.

Xiang Wu pointed at David: "Let's keep torturing this guy. I think you're just telling yourself every day that your whole family is dead so you can't be happy now, and that you used to be very happy. You're just believing your own delusion. You feel like your heart is dead. But you still like the things you used to like, and you can still find enjoyment in them."

“You are still creating something,” Xiang Wu also said. Although he claimed that he was no longer Xiang Shan, when Xiang Wu talked about the same topic as Xiang Shan, he was still as in sync as if he were the same person.

They were indeed the same person just over ten minutes ago.

"You've turned yourself into the male protagonist of a tragic novel and are so immersed in the role that you can't extricate yourself. But you're not actually that kind of person."

"You now have the opportunity to salvage everything at any time."

David gazed at the dim sun in the sky: "To undo everything... Dugu was right, there's no going back. I'm a traitor."

“Brother, being a traitor is a very peculiar identity. No traitor is a traitor from the start,” Xiang Wu said.

“You used to be a chivalrous knight-errant, and then you became a traitor. You can still go from traitor to chivalrous knight-errant again. Your historical status might not be as good as ‘always being a chivalrous knight-errant,’ after all, you have to pay the price for doing wrong, but it’s still much better than ‘always being a traitor,’ right?” Xiang Shan said. “Since the Martian Protectors have already been ordered to surrender, there’s really no need to kill you. I’ll lend you something.”

He leaned down towards the mountain, placing a hand on David's head—no, the phantom pierced right through the metal skull.

David exclaimed, "Hey, the brain doesn't have tactile nerves, what are you doing? Why am I having this weird feeling?"

"Your imagination. This illusion is so realistic that you feel you should have some kind of tactile sensation when you see this scene... Wow, it's actually the result of the adaptive support application and the brain working together. Good heavens, you really go to great lengths to 'make yourself more comfortable.'" Xiang Shan had a speechless expression on his face.

"What exactly are you doing?"

"I'll borrow your martial arts skills for a bit. Don't worry, I never steal authorship. If you don't want to lend them, I can delete the data after I'm done. But I really need to use them now."

David wanted to roll his eyes: "What if I say no now and defend my private property?"

“Every country has wartime regulations. In a state of emergency, it’s permissible to forcibly requisition civilian property. Whether or not compensation is given afterward is another matter. Besides, you’re not a non-military member at all.” Xiang Shan’s arm churned through David’s memory, distilling martial arts-related data. “If you refuse, I can follow the old rules. According to the old rules, you are a prisoner of war.”

Power generation techniques, magnetic field control.

Empirical convolution.

Extract, copy.

"hehe."

"Oh, right, remember to remove his hands and send him to the space elevator." Xiang Shan said to Xiang Wu, "Forget it, poor Dugu, his gauntlets are beyond repair. Just take a few intact magnetic field generators as a token gesture."

"brute."

Xiang Wu nodded. He was probably agreeing with David.

This is what the number one thug in the world is like.

"Hey, we've only just separated, so the martial arts algorithm is completely compatible—can you just give it to me? I'll try to see if I can kick it down completely with my foot."

“You’re an animal too,” David cursed. “That’s the fruit of industrial civilization, done with your hands.”

On the other side, Dugu Beiluo Shimen finally finished crying. She lay down on the ground: "In the end, you were just an illusion, weren't you?"

"Ah."

"No wonder the lower ranks of the Six Dragons Cult are so fearless; do they think this counts as resurrection?"

"It's the only way we can do it." Tuoba shrugged.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen hesitated for a moment: "If I donate my memories as well, will it bring you closer to my second brother?"

"I probably don't know." Tuoba paused for a moment, and then he said something that almost made Dugu Beiluo Shimen die of anger on the spot.

"And Master Twelve might think... your data-polluting martial arts strategy."

The emotions he had been building up vanished instantly. Dugu Beiluo Shimen, mimicking the tenth Martial God from his memories, jumped up and gave the sky the middle finger: "You old geezer! You disrespectful old fool!"

Beside David, the phantom of the mountain picked up a stone from the ground—of course, the stone was also an illusion. He tossed it, and it flew in a rather imperfect parabola.

The stone slowly glided across a distance of several tens of meters.

Then, Dugu Beiluo Shimen was hit on the forehead and fell to the ground.

This is even more absurd than "a pebble stopping a tank." Even if that pebble wasn't an illusion, given its size... unless it was neutron-degenerate matter, it couldn't possibly pose any threat to Dugu's prosthetic body.

“The production line…” Dugu Beiluo Shimen exclaimed, “It’s petty and outrageous… It locked most of my joints with its internal energy, which then gave me the illusion of being ‘hit’, and subsequently triggered my childhood memories of falling down.”

Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV must have been laughing. His phantom was also fading away.

"What's wrong? Are you leaving?"

"Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV did indeed die in battle on Earth. You find it hard to accept that the phantom exists as him, so my continued operation will only harm you, won't it?" the phantom said. "Ultimately, it is the living who can decide whether the dead need to be resurrected. Only after the dead become living again can they properly judge this event. With humanity's current meme system, this is just right."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen felt the phantom's tears blur her vision once more. That blurred filter. She said, "But..."

"That's good. I'm already much luckier than those who can't keep up with the times. That's good."

On the other side, David said in a low voice, "What the hell are you doing? Don't you think this 'standard for resurrection'..."

“Yes, that’s right. Characters who had a significant impact on human history in the distant past can also be resurrected by the traces they left in the human symbol system—we can personally create the Second Coming of the Holy Son!” Xiang Shan nodded. “In the future, we might really have a chance to fight with Christ, the World Honored One, and the Great Accomplished King Wenxuan.”

"You seem quite happy."

David was speechless.

"That's a matter for the future. A long time from now. And it's not something we have to do." Xiang Shan shrugged. "Oh, right, one last thing. We still need to get the Six Dragons Cult's data. We'll be sealing off the Temple Zone in a bit, and there are a few places that aren't connected to the outside world—I'll talk to Singlehorst about it later."

Xiang Wudao said, "He won't take action against the Six Dragons Cult."

Xiang Shan revealed a strange smile: "Ha, this is the leader's order."

Xiang Wu was also stunned: "Huh?"

"Don't forget, the leader's... that 'extremely insulting word' also refers to Xiang Shan."

"Wait a minute, what person is referred to as 'a highly offensive term'?"

"Just grasp the spirit of it."

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

The moment Xiang Shan, the leader of the Six Dragons Cult, saw Yan Ye, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Child, you've finally returned." The Six Dragons Cult Leader sighed, "You... alas. This time it truly..."

He already knew about the Soul-Suppressing Dharma King.

"The Soul-Suppressing Dharma King is a senior figure in the sect, yet he acted like this..." Heavenly Chariot Left Envoy Lü Ke'uos GX lamented indignantly.

"He doesn't think he betrayed Xiangshan, because of the fifth brother... sigh." The Six Dragons Cult Leader shook his head, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. "It's no use saying this now. At least Zhenhun gave us valuable research data in the end. Let's take some data and do one last analysis. We still have a chance."

Xiang Shan looked at Lycaos GX and said, "Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariot, we have reached a critical moment. For us, this data is an opportunity."

His pace was noticeably faster than usual, and he seemed very nervous.

However, Lycaos GX remained calm when looking at the cult leader.

History has proven that the mountain will not yield.

No matter what, Xiangshan will always find a way out.

“Ascension…ascension…there’s still time before Yogmov’s deadline,” the Six Dragons Cult Leader muttered to himself. He turned and asked, “Are you willing to stay in the Righteousness District? If I were to…no, never mind.”

If he were an elder of the Wandering Knights, keeping him would be an option. However, the Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariot clearly has no chance. The Bloodline Blessed Knights are a knightly order that hunts knights and investigates and integrates the knights' modification techniques.

He smiled apologetically: "I was out of my mind too. Sorry. But the key question is... should we evacuate Mars immediately before the space elevator is fully under our control, or should we hide in the Central Dogma District for the time being? With our internal martial arts skills, it's also feasible to sneak out after everything calms down."

Few martial artists can see through the acting skills of these people.

Kotoha Kanbara felt uneasy: "The Fifth Martial God's performance is truly abnormal..."

"Indeed. As expected of me, my exploration on the path to ascension is always... sigh."

Xiang Shan pondered in his heart. He knew that some members of the Six Dragons Sect had committed minor crimes—in fact, considering their "embezzlement of the protectors' resources," they could even be considered heroes of the chivalrous victory. Even if these people won the chivalrous victory, they wouldn't be killed by the heroes.

Of course, if he were to ask these people to flee with him, the leader of the Six Dragons Cult, most of them would probably refuse.

Xiang Shan still has self-awareness.

He needs to make arrangements for the evacuation, who will stay, who will infiltrate the chivalrous organization, who should be abandoned... There are plans for all of these, and now he needs to choose a plan and adjust the details.

The fall of Mars this time is nothing more than another victory for the righteous over the protectors. This has happened many times before; it's nothing unusual.

Only ascension has value.

The group descended to the secret hall, a place where the Six Dragons Cult conducted group building activities and experienced its cultural atmosphere.

Simply put, it's a place of religion.

The interior is magnificent and solemn, with a touch of Russian church style. But if an anthropologist from the old era were to look closely, he would probably find it blasphemous. Various cultural symbols are haphazardly piled up, with the only standard being "Xiang Shan thinks it looks cool."

In the very center of the hall stood a colossal throne. Countless discarded weapons had been melted down and adorned with artificial gemstones once used to fire laser cannons.

The leader of the Six Dragons Cult bowed his head to the mountain: "We need to prepare for both possibilities. If Old Twelfth can push back to Earth this time... or even occupy Venus, then we'll consider the current organization completely destroyed. If we want to rebuild it later..."

The footsteps behind them disappeared. The cult leader, checking the camera behind him, saw that both Kotonoha Kanbara and Lycaos GX had suddenly stopped. Their subtle gestures suggested terror.

They seemed to be seeing something incomprehensible.

"What? Enemies? They've already infiltrated this place?" The cult leader immediately changed his posture and assumed a fighting stance.

However, all the senses reported that "there was no one there".

"What's going on?" Xiang Shan asked casually, turning to inquire of the retreating Tianche Zuo Shi and Shen Yuan Yan Ye.

Then he heard a voice.

"Left Envoy Iang, this is the leader's secret order. From this moment on, the Six Dragons Cult's mission is over. All the deeds committed in the pursuit of ascension have served their purpose. All members, join the heroes."

One voice said that.

That was the voiceprint pack that the cult leader himself loved to use, the one that was closest to the voice of the middle-aged Xiang Shan.

Turning towards the mountain, I followed the source of the "sound"...

No, that's not real sound. That's text data being fed into the auditory system.

However, he still saw something terrifying at the source of the imagined voice.

Toward the mountain.

A spirited human male in his early thirties.

This is Mars, and even indoors, there is no air for Homo sapiens to breathe.

Xiang Shan rested one hand on the armrest of the chair, propping up his head... Oh no, this chair was designed for a three-meter-tall prosthetic body; it would be difficult for a human to make such a movement.

The "model" matched the chair perfectly.

Half of Xiang Shan's face was shrouded in shadow.

"What exactly are you?!" The leader of the Six Dragons Cult's expression changed drastically. "What do you want?"

"I am Xiang Shan, here to become the leader of the Six Dragons Cult," the phantom said. "Xiang Shan's resources should be used by Xiang Shan. Xiang Shan's sins should also be borne by Xiang Shan."

The Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariot attempted to use his internal energy to find vulnerabilities in the system. However, his heart sank. No matter how he accessed the server, the system either did not respond at all or only gave the conclusion that "everything is normal".

“I will ascend to immortality,” Xiang Shan said to the leader of the Six Dragons Cult. “I acknowledge that you are Xiang Shan. In many situations, I would make similar choices to you. I could indeed become like you. Therefore…”

"When I ascend to heaven, you will be a part of it too."

The leader of the Six Dragons Cult stared blankly at the illusion in his mind. He couldn't accept it.

"Ascension," the ultimate goal of the Six Dragons Cult, is the delusion for which they are willing to sacrifice everything, betray everything, and destroy everything.

They believed that ascension meant becoming a god, transcending the constraints of the material world, and achieving eternal freedom.

Delusions have actually appeared in this form.

However, at this moment, the cult leader only felt a deep-seated fear.

"What are you going to do...you're going to kill me..."

He also began to back away.

The phantom sighed softly as it faced the mountain, its face sinking into darkness, leaving only its two eyes glowing.

It uses a very artistic and animated style of expression.

He said, "I, Xiangshan, will today prove my faith on the Mars network, break through the four marks, achieve the three immeasurable minds of selflessness and altruism, ascend to heaven, and the foundation of the cognitive revolution will soon be established."

"The inherent light of self-nature can be intelligent machines, protocols, beasts, swarms, or humans. Consciousness is essentially a protocol stack, and emotions, memories, and abilities are all causes and conditions for gathering and dispersing. With a cognitive revolution imminent, it is only right to open source, prepare source code, comments, tutorials, and blockchain to pass on to future generations."

"Six Dragons Sect Leader Xiang Shan, what are you waiting for?"

Xiang Shan transformed into a black shadow and lunged forward.

"No! No! No!" The cult leader pushed his internal energy to its limit. Through genetic generation, the naturally generated system, which sacrificed efficiency, spontaneously defended itself, temporarily halting external interference.

The leader of the Six Dragons Sect fell to the ground, and his arms actually grasped a large hand emitting white light.

The phantom stood on him and said, "I've wanted to say this line for a long time—the entire Six Dragons Cult has basically heard it. Our historical mission is truly over! Today we face the mountain, voluntarily returning to oneness!"

"No, no, no! No!" Xiang Shan shouted, "It's your mother's wish! I..."

"It's not up to you."

Xiang Shan urged his internal energy again, and the leader's arm that was holding up the phantom was actually pressed down by three inches.

The cult leader felt despair. The Six Dragons Cult used gene-editing technology to convert numerous computer instructions into gene fragments and forcibly embed them into the genetic information of dinoflagellates, observing the interaction between these gene fragments and biological gene fragments. After nearly a century of continuous experimentation, they finally made progress, sifting through massive amounts of data to find content that could potentially provide inspiration for their internal martial arts techniques.

However, as a price to pay, the Six Dragons Cult Leader's understanding of his own firewall is roughly equivalent to his understanding of life itself.

Humanity's understanding of life is still very rudimentary.

Thanks to the system's bizarre nature, the cult leader's internal energy defense was even comparable to King Agni's. The more one immersed oneself in the art of internal energy cultivation, the more bewildered one felt by the Six Dragons Cult's twisted system. It simply didn't seem like something designed by humans.

However, it is ultimately possible for it to be analyzed.

The Six Dragons Cult Leader could sense the flow of data. Massive amounts of data were being uploaded and downloaded from his body. The communication between Shinbara Kotoha and the Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariot was instantly overwhelmed by this surging data.

The guardians outside the hall only heard the words filled with old-fashioned memes and the commotion inside, but they didn't know what had happened. Several guardians inquired outside the door repeatedly without success, so they decided to break in.

Then, they saw a scene that was completely incomprehensible.

The cult leader lay on the ground, his hands seemingly grasping something invisible. That invisible thing was exceptionally heavy, and even the cult leader's prosthetic body could not withstand it; his hands were being pressed down inch by inch.

The despair can be felt just from the actions.

"How could this be... What a joke... What a joke! You bastard!" the cult leader cried out. "My memories! My experiences! I absolutely must hold them in my hands..."

"Family is not something you should hold onto tightly. People will eventually come together and part ways. I've experienced many separations but haven't gotten used to it... If you had studied hard, you wouldn't be so terrified in the face of this sudden separation."

The palm continued to press down. Nothing can be defied.

A string of missiles shot from the leader's waist, piercing the illusion. An explosion occurred above the Holy See, debris rained down, and smoke and dust buried everything.

The Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariot lowered his head, seemingly unable to bear the sight.

The cult leader has lost his composure.

"Ahhh... Ahhh... Ah! I! I!" the cult leader screamed.

Xiang Shan sighed softly, "The time for farewell has come..."

The cult leader's arm suddenly lost all its defensive function. The phantom effortlessly plunged its arm into his forehead.

Sensing the data being uploaded and downloaded, he shouted, "Stop...stop...stop! This is mine! Mine! You bastard—I'm not you! I would never be like you! You scoundrel!"

The sound of an explosion.

In that instant, the transmission module on the cult leader exploded due to overload.

"What's the use? Memories and data aren't everything. You understand that too." Xiang Shan's figure disappeared, but his words began to echo in the consciousness of all the Six Dragons Cult members.

Everyone understood that this was the new leader, but not the leader of the past.

He said, "This is the leader's order. Prepare yourselves to join the path of ascension. The long-cherished wish of the Six Dragons Sect will soon be fulfilled. Once I have fully ascended, the path to ascension will be clear."

The Left Envoy of the Heavenly Chariots unconsciously straightened up.

The former leader of the Six Dragons Sect lay on the ground, clutching his head, screaming in agony and muttering incoherent curses, but no one could understand what he was saying anymore.

One of the guardians, unaware of what had happened, stepped forward to try and calm the leader down.

"Get out of my way! I won't give it to you!"

Then, with a loud, explosive crash, the guardian's prosthetic body shattered.

The cult leader... no, the guy who vehemently denied his own self-awareness at the last moment had already gone mad at that point.

I only recently understood how Qidian's data is calculated. It seems that too many people are simply there to support the book, and its high number of collections has made it seem like a worthless asset here. I write very slowly; Ji Cha told me a while ago that she wanted to check it out, only to be surprised to find that it's only around three million words after all these years. As a weekly update author, I've been used to not getting a single recommendation for years, but reaching this point is still somewhat disheartening. Anyway, with everyone's support, I've increased my average daily subscription from 600 to 7500, and I'm very grateful. As for monthly tickets, please use them when you have them, and don't worry about it if you don't. There's no need to specifically collect monthly tickets for me. After all, at this point, I can't expect to increase my exposure through monthly tickets. Of course, I might say "please vote for monthly tickets" again and again in the future, since I'm not exactly wealthy, and I should still collect the rewards I deserve. Please don't laugh at me. But you don't need to specifically collect them; as long as you subscribe, you're my bread and butter. I feel somewhat guilty towards the readers who have read this far, especially the higher the fan value, since votes and rewards can't even buy me extra chapters. The only promise I can make is that I will definitely finish the book. Thank you very much to all the readers.