Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1209 Survival and Rebirth

The four warriors of the Black Ship Rising Sun huddled behind cover, listening to the sounds in the distance.

The passageway they were in was already piled high with anti-warfare chevaux-de-frise. Three alloy steel bars welded together at specific angles, their simple structure evolved from the ancient "Czech Hedgehog" anti-tank chevaux-de-frise, allowing for rapid storage and assembly. In modern space warfare, due to its advantages of mass stacking and rapid assembly, it is widely used in naval defense.

Compared to ancient anti-tank chevaux-de-frise, anti-warrior chevaux-de-frise had trigger-activated bombs mounted on the tops of their steel bars. These bombs would explode upon impact with an attacker, and included both standard high-explosive and armor-piercing shaped charge rounds. The two types were arranged alternately: the tops of the front row of steel bars, 70% loaded with high-explosive rounds, used for shockwaves and fragmentation to slow the attacker's advance; the tops of the rear row of steel bars, 70% loaded with armor-piercing shaped charge rounds, used for metal jets to penetrate the attacker's outer armor.

If the attacking side charges headlong into the enemy, and their first kick lands on a high-explosive object, the prosthetic body is easily thrown into the air and crashes into the back row.

These anti-warrior barricades are typically found in the passageways of warships. Due to reactor size limitations, the prosthetic bodies of First-Level Warriors are significantly larger in shoulder width and torso thickness than those of regular soldiers. The primary function of the anti-warrior barricades is to restrict the rapid attacks of First-Level Warriors. While the passageways will have the winding paths that allow regular prosthetic bodies to pass through, First-Level prosthetic bodies cannot pass through directly.

The layers of steel bars also serve as defensive cover, and their specific arrangement allows the defenders to quickly locate the reserved firing channels—the straight spaces hidden between the steel bars.

If the enemy's first-level warriors stop clearing, they will have to endure the defenders' fire. Even if ordinary soldiers cannot penetrate the frontal armor of a first-level warrior, they can still wear down the armor's durability through continuous fire, and may even scratch the sensor nodes.

Such defensive fortifications make it difficult for the defenders to turn the tide of battle. Their greatest significance lies in slowing down the enemy's annihilation speed at the First Heaven Warrior level, thus buying the fleet an opportunity to organize a counterattack.

The tunnel shook violently, as if there had been an explosion in the distance. A soldier connected to the fleet system shook his head: "Warehouse No. 3 also self-destructed; the guard squad heroically sacrificed their lives."

His tone was heavy.

Another soldier sighed, "So, it's time?"

The third soldier said, "It's so unfair... to die before dawn."

Everyone understood. This was an order consistently conveyed from top to bottom, and a combat command and plan collectively decided and refined by the warships.

The enemy now has an absolute advantage in mobility, so no matter which unit is attacked, the entire force must delay the enemy's advance and deplete their supplies at all costs.

The question of "who will sacrifice" is not even chosen by the Black Ship's loyalists. Everyone must be prepared.

"Mars has been declared liberated several times already? Don't be too optimistic. Maybe we're actually in the middle of the night according to Earth's day and night cycle?"

"At least we can see the light of dawn, so it's not too bad."

The two soldiers offered words of comfort—or rather, self-comfort—from pessimistic and optimistic perspectives, respectively.

“If you ask me,” the soldier who connected to the system said, “being able to get network support even when facing King Agni’s forces is already incredibly lucky.”

"The twelfth Martial God is indeed remarkable—but I wonder what the meaning is of the data that keeps being uploaded after the commander made us download the Martial God's plugin..."

Suddenly, the soldier felt a tremor.

"coming!"

The soldier connected to the system immediately sensed the loss of vision. The enemy's micro-missiles had disrupted the internal surveillance. The hovering drones in the tunnel used for aiming assistance also disappeared from the network at the same instant. The soldiers saw flying debris.

The second soldier immediately observed through the scouting path in the fortifications. Layers upon layers of steel bars blocked the passageway. These bars were arranged in a specific geometric pattern, with several extremely narrow viewing angles preserved within the grid. These angles were designed by the defenders using calibrated lasers when laying the fortifications. The attackers, seeing this for the first time, would find it difficult to pinpoint the location of the scouting path immediately.

However, the soldier only saw darkness.

—That is…

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he heard a series of sounds—or perhaps it shouldn't be called a "series," but rather several impacts occurring almost simultaneously and condensing into a single sound. The multiple impacts overlapped within a very short time window, too fast for his reaction time to discern.

The enemy was attacking the barricades. The soldiers didn't know what was happening, but they still raised their guns and fired bullets.

The bullet struck the darkness, sending up a spark. The soldier with the gun instantly realized that it was a heavy tower shield.

What are these continuous attacks? I can't guess...

The sound of blows striking the barricades of the anti-war activists grew closer and closer. It was as if another headless steel fly was rampaging through the barricades.

The soldier connected to the system had no chance of survival. He immediately detonated the bomb in the warehouse, destroying the remaining supplies. Ammunition, fuel, and spare parts were burned in one go, leaving the enemy no chance to resupply on the spot. Then he raised his gun, intending to fire like his teammates.

Then, a blade pierced his torso.

"what?"

The soldier didn't react in time.

That seems to be...

Magnetic chain weapon.

Magnetic chain weapons that resemble octopus tentacles.

The tower shield surged forward in that instant, crashing into the anti-warrior's chevaux-de-frise. The chevaux-de-frise's tip, which the tower shield was facing, was reinforced with more high explosives; the blast could impede the warrior's advance and might even push them back, sending them crashing into armor-piercing traps on the other side.

The explosion blew the anti-warfare barricades off—but this was unusual. The barricades were secured to the ground via a structure pre-installed inside the warship; even a tank ramming them shouldn't have caused them to fly off so easily. Clearly, their anchoring points had been attacked, compromising their structural integrity.

A series of explosions. Due to the size of the explosive charge, most of the energy was directed towards the tower shield. The shield flew backward, then seemed to hit something and came to a stop.

The instant the tower shield collapsed, a dark figure darted out from behind it. It was too fast to see clearly. The barricades were already tilting precariously, powerless to stop the advance of the first-level martial artist.

In his final moments, the soldier with the gun saw his bullet leave a golden mark on the black torso.

The absorbent coating was scraped off.

He wanted to laugh, because he knew the value of a first-level Heavenly Warrior's prosthetic coating. The prosthetic he used could be exchanged for this scratch…

—Not bad...

Then, his torso shattered into large pieces.

Together with the third soldier.

Shuoqidi tore two Black Ship Righteous Army soldiers to pieces, finding coolant storage canisters inside their bodies. The cooling medium was different; ordinary soldiers' coolant couldn't be mixed with that of a martial artist like Shuoqidi. He directly crushed the canisters and poured two portions of coolant onto his calves. The coolant evaporated instantly, making that area appear scalding hot.

The pinned warrior tried to pull out a grenade to detonate himself. He also noticed that his two comrades were not dead, only unconscious. But he was not happy about this; their survival only meant that the other side intended to use their lives for something. The captured knights under the Protector's command were more pathetic than the dead ones.

The intense EMP caused him to lose his balance, making him move like a dying creature.

Shuoqidi lashed out with its tail, shattering the warrior's body. It then retrieved the coolant and tossed it to Meliaduk, a first-level warrior holding a shield behind it. Meliaduk then applied the coolant to the launcher on his wrist.

Melia Duke's wrists are special electromagnetic cannons. His shield has a unique structure resembling a sabot, and its base has a similar interface. When extreme acceleration is needed, the wrist cannons launch the shield sabot, causing the entire tower shield to accelerate forward independently, transforming it into a moving wall like a tsunami.

Several soldiers quickly searched the surroundings for usable supplies. A mechanic came over to check on Shuoqidi's condition, especially his tail prosthetic.

Shuoqidi possesses a tail prosthetic—because humans have degenerated their tails, and the nervous system no longer reserves mapping space for extra limbs, most people do not use such prosthetics and may even feel uncomfortable with them. The long tail coils into a cone and hangs behind Shuoqidi. It is a high-quality magnetic chain weapon, with some of the metal plates mixed in, and some are even specially made phonon blades.

Mixing expensive blades with magnetic field generators in magnetic chain weapons is a high-consumption approach.

However, weapons like anti-warfare barricades, which have the advantage of being "cheap," are basically made of the same materials, with almost identical microstructures of the metal.

That series of collisions was caused by this long tail weaving through the gaps in the anti-warrior's barricades. The tail protruded from the edge of the tower shield, sliding laterally along the base of the first row of steel bars. Shuoqi relied on tactile feedback to propel itself, ensuring the phonon blade always gently grazed the bottom of the anti-warrior's barricades. The energy condensed into a single line would significantly reduce the alloy strength along that "line."

When Melia Duke pushed the shield, the outermost barricades were knocked away, and the bomb was triggered, causing a chain reaction of impacts.

At this point, the anti-warrior barricades had already lost most of their effectiveness.

Meanwhile, Shuoqidi's long tail pinned down the soldiers opposite the defensive fortifications.

The martial artist's movements were incredibly swift in the eyes of the three warriors, but by the standards of the First Heaven, they could be described as "orderly and methodical".

Remove the remaining barricades, throw them, and destroy the rest, repeating this process.

The soldiers quickly searched for remaining resources, while Shuoqidi strode forward. Meliaduk and another first-level warrior followed behind.

A sharp whistling sound, like a gale, came from Shuoqidi's body.

Meliaduk was already used to this. He walked up to Sochidi and quickened his pace. However, he didn't raise his shield, because Sochidi needed air to cool down.

Shuoqidi is a rare warrior specializing in "shipboard environment specialization".

A first-level martial artist who fights in atmospheric environments possesses a cybernetic body with internal air channels. Air intakes throughout the body greatly optimize aerodynamics, and if the internal turbines are powerful enough, they can even unleash unpredictable and miraculous bursts of power. The surrounding air acts as both propellant and coolant, reducing the pressure on the user's refueling.

The Space Warrior optimized this structure, which was mostly unused, and redistributed the saved internal space to other components to improve the overall strength of the prosthetic body.

The Shuoqidi falls somewhere in between. It retains several air intakes and a small number of air passages.

This is to reduce coolant consumption.

This prosthetic body originally took into account "tactics under resource constraints".

The same applies to the tail prosthetic. Single magnetic chain weapons are rarely used to begin with. Magnetic chain weapons are also products whose advantage lies in their low cost, so naturally, they rely on quantity to achieve victory. Mainstream magnetic chain martial arts are based on the premise of multiple magnetic chain weapons working together.

The tail of the Shuoqidi is a weapon specially designed for narrow environments.

It was precisely because of this narrow positioning that Shuoqidi escaped the Battle of the Carmen Line on Earth. His most suitable environment was a deep-space warship, and he was designed for extreme environments where resupply was temporarily difficult to obtain, so that he could play his greatest role in the boarding and counter-boarding operations of the deep-space fleet.

That humiliating defeat had already spread throughout the Celestial Star Fleet. The Protectors… at least the Protectors' high-ranking officers weren't fools. Although King Agni had implemented information control, the fact that the King had returned alone and then made all sorts of outrageous strategies, without any news of the annihilation of the God of War to boost morale, spoke volumes.
They avoided the internet and communicated privately using their own invention of Braille written on perforated metal plates, evading King Agni's surveillance. Many people marveled at how lucky Sokidi, this freak, was.

Melia Duke quickened his pace, saying, "Time is running out, we should..."

But the only response he received was a laser signal: [Confirmation]

Meliaduk really couldn't understand it. This guy, Sochid, was just so difficult to talk to. Aside from Lieutenant Fierte, it seemed like no one else had tried to speak to him.

Speaking of Lieutenant Fihert, he was indeed a fine fellow. He got along well with most people and handled many troublesome tasks. It's said that he was the one who initially dealt with matters related to Sochidi, so Lieutenant Fihert had been keeping an eye on the matter ever since. Later, the King even sent him undercover to monitor a suspicious organization.

Unfortunately, being an undercover agent is the easiest way to find yourself in a dilemma. Lieutenant Fihert was questioned by the King. It's unclear whether Fihert himself wavered, or if the King misjudged the situation. Perhaps he did waver, because everyone had to believe the King wouldn't misjudge. Consequently, he was also excluded from the fleet and didn't participate in the Battle of Carmen.

Hopefully, that guy will have a chance to surrender.

Whenever he thinks of this, Meliaduk feels a pang of regret.

Was he walking ahead of Shuoqidi because he wanted to protect the guy? Of course not.

It's simply because they're afraid of dying.

This Black Ships' warship could be destroyed at any moment by the main guns of the Black Ships' own warships—a tactic of mutual destruction, which Meliaduk had read about in his study of past cases, including many instances where King Agni himself had used this tactic.

Fortunately, the knight-errant was more conservative than the king when it came to firing cannons.

He walked ahead, able to quicken his pace slightly. Communicating with Sokidi was pointless. The fellow seemed to have a very poor grasp of human language; perhaps only Lieutenant Fihert could speak to him more than a few words. Only by changing his pace in this way could he passively force him to speed up.

Even if this acceleration is just a drop in the ocean...

After passing through the gates and leaving the warship, Shuoqidi stood on the hull, adjusted his bearings, and then kicked off with all his might, leaving a bowl-shaped dent in the warship's outer armor before flying away silently. Meliaduk and another first-level warrior did the same.

They quickly left the Burst behind.

Meanwhile, on the other side, an unexpected flash of light appeared.

One of the Black Ships' warships was hit by their own main guns.

Melia Duke didn't know the number of the warship that was hit, nor did he know how many people on the Protector's side had perished along with the warship.

After the Black Ship Righteous Army mobilized for resistance, the decapitation squad's speed of eliminating the enemy slowed down considerably. Therefore, the squad began to split up as planned. Shuoqidi himself led one group with only two deputies and a small number of ordinary soldiers, while the other two groups each had more than ten men.

This way, we can avoid being taken down by the Black Ships in one shot.

But for senior military officers, this was truly bad news.

King Agni's restrictions stipulated two conditions: "confirmation of the deaths of twenty First Heaven warriors" and "confirmation of Shuoqidi's death." Only after these two conditions were met were they allowed to surrender.

If they are unable to confirm their companion's death...

This is simply an impossible condition to achieve.

And now, they can't even use information technology.

The moment the king's disciple, that freak with the canister-like prosthetic body, exploded, Melia Duke truly thought he was going to die.

Who would have thought? King Agni's army dared not use most of its information technology on the battlefield.

Now, the only thing that can support Meliaduk is the king's promise.

The king said that as long as they were under his rule, he would promise eternal life to the victims.

Under his management.

Before setting off, the king forced everyone to back up all their memories and said that he was willing to share the glory of ascension.

Melia Duke didn't understand the difference between this and "creating a personality mask." Could another self truly give this self the courage to live on in place of the original?

But he dared not think about it too deeply.

The three first-level martial artists moved silently through the void, occasionally adjusting their direction with their own thrusters. As for the ordinary soldiers, they used captured external thrusters to move forward.

The thrusters' exhaust plumes were more likely to expose them, so the ordinary soldiers and the first-level warriors split into two groups. The soldiers had lighter tasks and didn't need to repeatedly resupply. They were also slower, so they would take shortcuts and set off earlier.

Three first-level martial artists rapidly approached a non-powered object that resembled a black coffin. It was six meters long, coated entirely, and its complex geometry could confuse radar. Once Shuoqidi got close, it automatically opened, delivering a portion of the supplies.

This supply station had come with them and remained relatively stationary due to inertia. As the Black Ship Legion slowly decelerated, the supply station also slid out of the Black Ship Legion's formation, so First-Level Warriors needed to detour to obtain supplies.

Ammunition, propellant, coolant, weapon parts...

Shuoqidi quickly completed the resupply.

While resupplying, Meliaduk also reviewed the messages left behind by others. Sochidi was incredibly difficult to communicate with, and it was hard to imagine him devising tactics. Meliaduk's role was that of Sochidi's advisor.

He reported: "A new structure has appeared around the Black Ship's flagship. The heroes are assembling flying vehicles. Their purpose is unknown."

He thought for a moment. Perhaps the commander of the Black Ship Righteous Army had made an emergency evacuation? That seemed unlikely. But what else could it be?
Should we pursue the king?

The king currently lacks first-level martial power by his side, so this is indeed a solution.

But Meliaduk couldn't imagine the courage to do that.

[No answer needed.] Shuoqidi's dialogue was still so difficult to understand. He paused for a long time before saying, [Mine. Acquired.]

Melia Duke pondered for a long time. A spark appeared in the distant starry sky. It must have been a group of soldiers, killed by a long-range sniper, their brief burst of light creating that brilliant flash.

Meliaduk realized what Shuoqidi meant.

Assembling the aircraft means that the Black Ship Legion has gathered a necessary amount of propellant there, and it will not be easily destroyed.

The meaning of 铄乞底 is to seize this resource.

An ultra-long-range surprise attack, a desperate gamble.

Melia Duke suddenly realized something.

—Although his thinking is a bit strange, is this guy also thinking about... how to survive?
..........................................

Jeanne reconnects her prosthetic eye and stands up in a daze.

A strange emotion surged within her. This was...

Pride and self-esteem?
[There was a mountain, in a place unknown to others, that overcame its own narrow-mindedness and fear.] Jeanne's vision of the Ascended One was so resolute. [Let us cheer for him and for me.]

A faint sadness. Jeanne only sensed this one trace of sadness. It came from the heart, and from the mountains.

"Death" is merely a state that exists by definition. Its boundaries are always blurred. When technology is sufficient to challenge its boundaries, death becomes utterly ambiguous.

Life and death are nothing more than attachment to appearances, a one-sided reality modified by ideas.

Is this... the mindset of the Ascended?

"It's not necessarily the only correct answer," the Ascended One said. "But to my past self, if you believe he's alive, then he's alive. If you believe he's dead, then he's dead."

Jeanne did not answer that question, but instead focused on experiencing herself in the present moment.

The operating system was completely updated. The locally deployed database was inextricably linked to a part of my mind. But this feeling…

[Another subtle application of 'no-self'.] Xiang Shan said, [Because I am not attached to the appearance of "self," my consciousness will not conflict with yours.]

[I was the one making the decision...? But Xiang Shan kept saying I was just a burden.]

"No, this is maximizing efficiency." The Ascended's thoughts seemed to surface directly on the surface of his consciousness. "You could say I'm cooperating with you, or you could say we're making decisions together."

【What?】

[Having connected to a much larger pool of abilities through me, your way of thinking must differ from that of the pure Jeanne. Don't worry, we can do it.]

A strong sense of self-confidence spurred Jeanne on. She looked at her arms with a sense of bewilderment.

Even the prosthetic body has been updated.

The president of the Hermo Society and Director Adong stood there, their prosthetic bodies locked, seemingly due to the loss of consciousness, causing the program to execute automatically. The Ascended's consciousness gently touched Director Adong and sighed, "Eighty years. You've had a hard time, my friend."

Besides these two, several others fell into a deep sleep on the spot.

They were all summoned by Xiang Shan to deploy new martial arts abilities within Jeanne's prosthetic body.

Jeanne's consciousness linked into the virtual space. The fleet seemed to be in a state of chaos. Li Wenyang was confirming information from various sources, and most of the crew looked hurried.

"The Agreement fired and hit the Immersion, which had been completely overrun. We are confirming the results," Xiang Shan said. "Their primary target was the surveillance footage, and it was accompanied by an EMP operation. We only know that they were divided into three groups, but we don't know the troop strength of each group."

"Don't worry, we can win." Li Wenyang split off a thread and appeared in front of Jeanne. He even called Asga to join in.

“The external flight equipment has been manufactured,” Li Wenyang said. “The resources are all ready, and we can depart at any time.”

"It's almost time to say goodbye properly."

Li Wenyang simply disappeared, presumably reassigning the computing power back to his own work.

Asga seemed a little dazed, as if she hadn't quite grasped the situation. She muttered, "The acting commander is making such a big fuss, like he's never coming back." She looked at Jeanne and asked, "How are you now?"

“I don’t know… I…” Jeanne seemed somewhat lost in thought. She said, “I’ve never felt so good before…”

Asga seemed to want to say something more, but she ultimately chose to swallow her questions. She hugged Jeanne and said, "If you die, don't expect me to go to the asteroid belt to retrieve your body."

Just as Jeanne was about to say something, the alarm went off.

"Damn it," Asga complained. "I'm outside the warship now, and a small group of enemies is coming. Tsk tsk... Ah, the commander said you guys don't need to worry about it. Ha, I've got your back this time."

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

I was really lucky... or rather...

Surprisingly, this eccentric man, Shuoqidi, has some tactical thinking.

Melia Duke thought so.

The warship that had just exploded, the soldiers who had followed them, and the military attaché of another group of protectors still fighting on a certain warship attracted the attention of most of the Black Ship's followers.

After being downsized, the decapitation team, consisting of only three first-level martial artists, became even more stealthy than before. The three of them actually managed to reach the vicinity of the flagship.

However, the cost is also obvious.

The remaining fuel was definitely not enough for another jump. Just getting there wouldn't be a problem, but the propellant wasn't sufficient to support complex evasive maneuvers. Otherwise, they'd just be flying targets.

If they can't get the propellant, they'll have no choice but to wipe out everyone on the enemy flagship...

Or be killed by the enemy.

Melia Duke inexplicably thought of the God of War's record of conquering enemy ships. Although some of the cases were unclear, he still felt a faint excitement.

Only individual combat strength... Shuoqidi's only truly reliable asset is his individual combat prowess. Thanks to the protection of his other members, Shuoqidi is currently in perfect condition.

He might be able to fight against a terrifying enemy like Tuoba Xuanyuan XIV in this state!
As long as he can land, even if he only stands on the hull of the warship, the Black Ship Legion will absolutely not be able to resist!
The instant the radar beam struck them, it felt as if a thunderclap exploded within their senses. Realizing they had been exposed, the three martial artists activated their radar to maximum and, no longer concealing their exhaust plumes, charged forward with all their might!
The bullet's trajectory was projected onto Melia Duke's mind. The universe was too vast, and the reflexes of a First Heaven warrior were too fast. All bullets were fired based on trajectory prediction; the three of them could easily dodge them with just acceleration and slight swaying.

Several fighter jets seemed to be trying to close the distance to reduce reaction time, but they were instead hit by the guns and martial arts of the protectors.

In the center of my field of vision, the black, heavy sword-like hull of the ship was rapidly magnifying.

There was also a strange, silver-gray cone-shaped structure next to it.

"We did it!" Meliaduk shouted over the radio.

I originally intended to write about the battle between "those who are unaware of their chance to ascend but remain fearless" and "those who are promised the chance to ascend but remain fearful," so I added more screen time for the nameless soldier. I was supposed to finish this section today, but I think I turned the air conditioning up too high and caught a bit of a cold.

Let him live one more day.