Chapter 354: Chapter 354

"Lying dormant... indeed," Xiang Shan sighed. "Indeed, there has never been a good opportunity to truly understand this era."

From the moment Yuki unearthed him, he had been constantly fighting. Fighting against the Green Forest, fighting against the government.

The only time that could really be considered as "rest" was probably during the sandstorm when he huddled in Pine Eagle City. Old Master Zhao acted foolishly outside, exterminating bandits, while Hiroshi Matsushima and Little Brother were reliable teammates he rarely met. It was also a rare moment when he could relax his mind.

But during that time, he was also absorbing the memories of his past—the ones found within the Green Forest Stronghold.

Enhancing his Martial Arts, retrieving memories, slaying villains...

He almost never stopped.

"Indeed, when I used to teach apprentices according to the ancient ceremony two hundred years ago, I really had to spend a lot of effort to explain the concepts we organized. He knew nothing about that ’culture’..."

The virtual Eighth Martial God nodded, "Yes. It is still Jianghu that uses the culture you created to maintain cohesion, so there are always seeds of culture flowing from Jianghu to the public. Without Jianghu, they would not even understand that."

"Lie dormant, understand this world, while mastering my Inner Strength," Xiang Shan nodded. When he now used the high-level Inner Strength involving his entire brain, it would trigger abnormal brain discharges, causing severe headaches. This also required medication to cure.

Until the damage in the brain was reversed, his Inner Strength was considered "not yet restored."

Additionally, the Eighth Martial God had also brought a large amount of "Inner Strength knowledge from eighty years ago."

This knowledge was still a bit outdated today.

But Native Xiang Shan was a person from two hundred years ago.

This knowledge, he also needed to learn and master thoroughly.

Native Xiang Shan asked again, "Speaking of ’Paradox City’, do you have any clues?"

"Paradox City," the place Doctor Tao suggested he visit, said to be where the "Martial God" was.

The virtual Eighth Martial God pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "I don’t know about such a place. It appeared after the death of the Eighth Martial God."

"Eight was killed by naval artillery, died without a trace," mused Xiang Shan. "Then it’s likely one of Nine, Ten, or Eleven?"

"On this point, I’m as unknowledgeable as you," shrugged the virtual Eighth Martial God. "But on this matter... you could actually just ask Hero directly. Apart from me, no Martial God has silently died in darkness. As long as you stop pretending to be a ’person of today,’ it shouldn’t be hard to find out. Or maybe look in Doctor Tao’s memories. Since he’s the one who sent you, he must know what’s there."

Xiang Shan sighed, "Speaking of which, do you think... the Martial God could be captured?"

If it were him, he should be able to fight to mutual destruction or commit suicide, right?

"Then I know even less," the virtual Eighth Martial God sighed. "Xinyu seems to still hate the Martial God. If she hadn’t intervened, the last three might indeed have been captured by Hartman."

"Don’t be afraid. As long as you assimilate me, then at least Hartman won’t be able to use Inner Strength to suppress us," the virtual Eighth Martial God smiled. "When you embrace the past, the path to the future is already opened."

"This time, let’s kill the Undead and then cover the remains that possess power and authority over real people!"

Xiang Shan closed his eyes: "One day, we can reach the kingdom of freedom."

Xiang Shan opened his eyes again... no, strictly speaking, "regained sight," when the reactor in front of him was already complete.

He seemed to have spaced out in his soliloquy.

Now, the robots were coating the reactor’s surface with graphite and lead to shield the conspicuous radiation.

Although Benchmark Man today had strong resistance to radiation damage, that didn’t mean the reactor didn’t need protection. Firstly, strong radiation would still interfere with the operation of electronic devices. Secondly... if it’s too easily detectable, how could the Hero carry out an assassination?

Xiang Shan then used the available materials to pack the reactor.

Xiang Shan carried the massive bundle on his back. Although the reactor was the most delicate type, with the core of the reactor being only several centimeters in length, width, and height, including the magnetic confinement device and radiation shielding layer, it was not small either.

His Prosthetic Body could barely fit a power system of this size, but that would cause the Prosthetic Body to stall—the problems of radiation and heat dissipation needed to be resolved again.

He needed to find a place to rearrange the layout of his Prosthetic Body.

Xiang Shan carried the reactor and walked upward.

Soon, he encountered Old Hammer again.

"Those guys have been dealt with," said Old Hammer. "They will have a fair trial. If they were just following orders, had no subjective malice, and are willing to make amends... I will give them a chance."

Xiang Shan was silent for a moment: "If it’s too difficult, then never mind."

The Black Valley Lineage’s Burrow Dragon had also suffered numerous casualties. The ones responsible were those Mobile Cavalry.

"To kill in the name of justice, not in personal anger," Old Hammer repeated a phrase the Martial Ancestor had once said.

He had never left prisoners behind on his journey, as he lacked the conditions to house and control prisoners, let alone to educate and reform them. His own situation was precarious. But it was different for these Burrow Dragons. They were soon to move to another base.

Xiang Shan waved his hand: "I hope the next time we meet, it will be in victory."

Xiang Shan carried the reactor on his back and continued upward.

He had now recognized the path. Soon, he arrived at the entrance of the cave.

A section of the cave entrance had collapsed. It must have been the effect of Iron Dust burning in an enclosed space.

On the ground, he saw two intertwined corpses. Due to the damaged external armor, the contents inside were completely burnt away, yet their general forms were still recognizable.

Xiang Shan looked at the remains of Borshu, his expression complex.

From the surroundings, he could deduce what had happened.

Xiang Shan silently pulled out a hard disk. It was his own memory he had seized back at the Green Forest Stronghold.

Xiang Shan exerted a little force and crushed the hard disk. Black fragments scattered like sand on Borshu’s chest through the cracks of the external armor.

"I actually should have shown this to you. Maybe you could have held on a little longer," Xiang Shan mumbled, "and I might be able to alleviate your symptoms now. Too hasty."

Xiang Shan had already backed up the contents of the hard disk. This was purely a memorial.

"Even though I don’t know the process, at least in the end, you were a hero, brother."

Xiang Shan cleaned up the stones on the surface a bit. The path revealed itself. Xiang Shan spotted the damaged vehicle.

"’Camel,’ huh." Xiang Shan nodded.

It seemed someone had driven this vehicle in and blocked the way.

It was quite foolish. Without explosives in the vehicle, the crudely made external armor could only block for a few minutes. The Mobile Cavalry could blast it open with heavy weaponry or cut through with a Sonicon Blade or high-frequency blade.

Maybe there were no other options at that time. It was just a way to buy a little time.

But what comforted Xiang Shan was that he didn’t see the corpses of his own people.

It looked like they had evacuated a step ahead.

Every time Xiang Shan and Yuki split up, they had already agreed on a meeting place, so he was not panicked.

Xiang Shan was just walking with the reactor on his back, step by step towards Delacruz City along the old road they had walked a hundred years ago.

This city happened to have several underworld strongholds controlled by the Eighth Martial God in the past. But eighty years had passed, and those strongholds might no longer be secure. After all, King Aqini’s subordinates had been searching over and over for the last few decades.

He just kept walking.

Soon, he passed by the city’s Iron Block Style Dojo.

Xiang Shan stood at the entrance and looked inside—there was a group of new apprentices doing entry-level training. He couldn’t see further inside.

But soon, Xiang Shan hacked into the dojo’s cameras.

He saw Zheng Lunnao teaching those apprentices boxing technique.

"Old Zheng is still not bad," Xiang Shan thought to himself.

He wandered a few more steps around the city.

But unfortunately, those "friends" from before could no longer be found.

In the end, he walked towards Doctor Hu’s clinic.

Not far from the clinic was the orphanage. The Eighth Martial God’s childhood was spent here. Expectedly, the familiar people from back then were gone, and even the exterior had changed.

Xiang Shan passed the orphanage and walked into the clinic. Compared to eighty years ago, there were noticeably fewer volunteers now.

Xiang Shan closed his eyes and sent forth his inner strength. He quickly infiltrated the hospital’s system. According to what Doctor Hu had said, it was quite possible that there were remnants left by those pepper cans here. Xiang Shan had been unable to deactivate them before, but the Personality Mask of the Eighth Martial God had compensated for his shortcomings.

Then he walked into the hospital like that.

Strangely enough, despite Xiang Shan carrying a large box, he was able to precisely avoid every person’s patrol route.

He quickly arrived at the hospital room of a girl whose name he did not know.

The surgery seemed very successful. The girl’s vital signs had stabilized. Artificial blood had been transfused, and it seemed the injuries were no longer a concern.

What remained was improving the transformation rate, replacing those severely damaged bodily tissues that were completely unusable.

Xiang Shan gently placed a twisted metal piece beside the girl’s pillow.

This was taken from the remains of Borshu’s wreckage.

"It was only a few hours out," Xiang Shan sighed, "just in this little while. You haven’t woken up yet, one from Green Forest has died, a hero... a great hero has become immortal. You really should have seen that great hero." For more chapters visit NoveI★Fire.net