Chapter 355: Chapter 355

This was decades before Xiang Shan mourned the Borshu.

Xiang Shan walked up to the door of a warehouse and kicked it open.

Inside the door, there was a gang.

Or rather, a group of Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan had already drawn his weapon. To be safe, these gang members were not equipped with very sophisticated Martial Arts Algorithms, so he could certainly defeat them if it came to a fight.

But his opponent was also "Xiang Shan," not to be underestimated.

The command he would issue next was going to destroy those guys’ lives. Perhaps they also had a "survival instinct." Over the years, under the influence of various potions, those Pseudo-personality Masks had embedded the imprint of "Xiang Shan" deep into their already dead Biological Brains, so it was hard to guarantee they didn’t have a survival instinct.

Although Xiang Shan had a fallback plan to control these "selves" of his, he dared not take the risk. This was something one should never bet on.

The guys were engrossed in reading documents. A few of them looked up and asked, "What’s happened?"

"Emergency," Xiang Shan said. "Execute the final unload program."

Several of the gang members looked at each other.

One of them asked, "Is that necessary?"

"In a few hours... or even possibly in a few minutes, Jakub will lock down the city. We can’t hide it from him," Xiang Shan said.

Another "Shadow" asked, "Why don’t you run away?"

"For some reason, I must choose to credibly die in front of Jakub. Only then will he stop certain actions."

"Is there a possibility that one of us could go as a substitute death?"

"No," Xiang Shan shook his head. "How could you appear in front of Jakub? Impossible. I would fight to the death to prevent that from happening."

Then, a gang member stood up, silently walked to the corner, picked up liquid fuel, and splashed it around.

Another person quickly accessed the network and began to spread the command.

Others began methodically smashing suspicious devices and removing storage units from the equipment.

The rest stood opposite Xiang Shan. "There are some things you must do yourself. It would make our wounds look more believable," they said.

A gang member stood opposite Xiang Shan, using the infrared signal from his Prosthetic Eye to transmit data into Xiang Shan’s body.

Xiang Shan shook his head. "All of this is meaningless now..."

He had just rushed to Trace’s Black Valley. The memory had already been uploaded. From "that upload" until his death, he would have no other opportunity to upload memories.

"No, it is meaningful," that "Xiang Shan" smiled. "This is the reason for our existence."

Just then, a loud whistling sound came from above. It was the noise of a gigantic orbital cabin air-dropping.

"They’ve already assembled the vanguard troops," that "Xiang Shan" changed color. "There’s no time to explain. Come on."

The other Pseudo-personality Masks also picked up weapons and ruthlessly started firing at the people beside them.

Xiang Shan confirmed the completion of the file reception, then nodded, and swung out with his stick.

The guy’s entire brain immediately deformed.

Then came sixteen Pseudo-personality Masks, sixteen swings of the stick.

One Pseudo-personality Mask ignited the fuel on the ground before dying. The fire had already started.

Xiang Shan quickly ran out.

Not all gang members stayed inside the headquarters; some were still outside, maintaining the gang’s operations.

He had to kill every gang member he met, while leaving his footprints in various places.

Only then could he deceive others.

There was not much time left.

Soon, a disturbance appeared. Hartman seemed to have already begun to surround the city.

Almost simultaneously, an open message appeared on the local network.

Xiang Shan saw it too.

Hartman’s requirement was for Xiang Shan to die in front of him. He must confirm Xiang Shan’s death.

Xiang Shan calculated the countdown.

At least they could deal with their own Pseudo-personality Masks.

He arrived at the second gang headquarters. The Pseudo-personality Masks at this location had already begun an efficient mutual killing according to the command, and a small half were already dead.

The rest also left some marks on the walls that looked like traces of a battle with bullets and fists.

Xiang Shan nodded to the remaining few, then quickly headed to the third headquarters.

Then the fourth... the fifth...

While Xiang Shan was clearing out those gang strongholds, the news kept coming in.

The new lord, who had been in office for only three years, tried to escape Delacruz City in a vehicle, but King Aqini shot him down outside the atmosphere. King Aqini did not allow anyone to leave the city.

"It seems he really is desperate," Xiang Shan thought, "Has Xinyu been exposed, or is it me? Has he seen the feasibility of ’computer control of the human brain’? Does he realize this technology is dangerous and thus wants to eradicate it at all costs?"

As Xiang Shan pondered this, he was with a gang member named Peng Da on the street. He quickly broke the gang member’s neck and then crushed a storage device with his foot.

Soon, King Aqini put forth his conditions.

"A person like Xiang Shan must go to the designated coordinates and face death."

Otherwise, this human protector would destroy the entire city.

What a terrifying individual.

Xiang Shan sighed. He saw the countdown and, after silently estimating the time, Xiang Shan slightly relaxed. He indeed had time to eliminate all the gangs before leaving.

All traces of the technology that had ever existed must be destroyed. This technology might be born, but it absolutely must not fall into the hand of people like Hartman.

However, looking at those countdowns, Xiang Shan could not help but feel melancholic.

The part of the memory preserved underground might return to the next Xiang Shan in many years.

But from the moment he left that secret chamber, all of his current memories were doomed not to be preserved.

This part of memory lasted only a few hours longer than the countdown given by Hartman—just over half an hour longer.

This segment of memory belonged neither to "Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan" nor to the "next Xiang Shan."

"So... is it only this segment of memory that truly constitutes ’me’?" Xiang Shan thought.

But still, he ceaselessly headed toward the next stronghold.

There was no more time for sentimentality. Xiang Shan saw from the surveillance that other heroes had already professed themselves as Xiang Shan and entered the metal aerosol.

The substitution deaths of those heroes now seemed meaningless. Hartman seemed to have a way to distinguish Xiang Shan. All the ordinary martial artists had been killed.

Although this act seemed meaningless,...

...they were good people.

Xiang Shan was extremely anxious. Perhaps for every second he delayed, another peer from Jianghu would sacrifice themselves as a substitution death.

Green Forest had already set fire to the warehouse he had always used. The contents were also blown up.

This could also create an illusion—that Xiang Shan was fighting with those gangs. It was a clash of art and long-held grudges at the last moment.

Everything was justified.

Xiang Shan then killed a few pseudo-personality masks in the streets and alleys who hadn’t managed to get into shelters.

After eliminating them, Xiang Shan subtly inquired about the nearby noise.

The citizens had been gathered together, crying out loudly for help. They were pleading for a hero to save them.

Xiang Shan sighed softly and headed for the last stronghold.

Inside the stronghold, the Shadow Gang’s pseudo-personality masks had mostly finished killing each other. The remaining few were even burying blasting caps into the walls, ready to completely blow up the place.

But unexpectedly, before Xiang Shan could finish the cleanup, Winter found him.

"Xiang Shan..." Amid the ruins, Winter straightforwardly said, "Run away."

"Run away. You must have a way," Winter cried out, "You are the Great Hero from the Ascension War period, Ancestor of the Martial Path..."

"On the other hand, there seems to be a Great Eagle Dog from the Ascension War period, a top mastery in Inner Strength," Xiang Shan shrugged and smashed another storage device with a long stick.

"Still doing these things...still doing these! What’s the use? You’re going to die soon! Please, think of another way... think of something!" Winter suddenly became agitated. She yelled loudly, "You are..."

After a moment of thought, Xiang Shan said, "The collective memory developed by this gang could potentially become the seed for Green Forest, so it still needs careful eradication."

This was the most realistic reason he could offer.

Xiang Shan looked up at the silver stars barely visible above the dome and said calmly, "The ’old friend’ over there has only given us so much time, nothing else can be done now. Consider it a final contribution to the homeland of this lifetime."

Winter seemed completely unable to accept it all. She knelt on the ground, and a stranger also knelt down, "But what about you...you haven’t...Xiang Shan, you shouldn’t just die . You are the resurrected Xiang Shan, you..."

"’Xiang Shan’ has already died at least seven times, there’s no reason he shouldn’t die," Xiang Shan looked towards the horizon where a hint of white appeared, and said, "I would sacrifice my life a thousand times for this world...unfortunately, such things can’t be achieved just by dying more. It seems this life really is at its end."

The two argued intensely for a few more moments. It seemed Winter still couldn’t accept the outcome.

Xiang Shan sighed, pulling off the magnetic core fabric he had prepared a long time ago from his body, "This is magnetic core fabric, inside are several magnetic chains," Xiang Shan said, "This lifetime’s thoughts are just this much, it would be quite a pity if they were lost. I didn’t have time to test the power, but even from ’Xiang Shan’s’ perspective, it’s considered an exceptional concept. If refined in combat, it would be optimized to become even stronger."

Winter seemed to break down even more. She held the fabric and wept bitterly. Original content can be found at NovєlFіre.net

But the prosthetic eye had no lacrimal gland to provide tears.

Xiang Shan ultimately had to harden his heart and hacked into his comrade’s prosthetic body.

"No...you can’t..." Winter screamed, "Xiang Shan, stop it...no, you can’t...a great hero should not force others! You can’t!"

But Winter’s prosthetic body stood up on its own.