Chapter 377: Chapter 377

"He’s truly terrifying..." Faulkner V pressed one hand to his head and said in a low voice, "Whose memories are these? Martial Ancestor’s? Turing’s? Or the King’s?"

"There should be aspects of all three perspectives." Feheart said, "These teaching materials were originally provided by the King. When Martial Ancestor was executed, Yawgmoth distributed his quantum storage device to the Kings as a stamp of power. This piece of memory might have been extracted by the King himself from his own storage, possibly mingling with his own memories. Of course, it’s also possible that it was downloaded from that vast Memory Labyrinth."

"It’s too frightening," Faulkner V shuddered uncontrollably. Hugging his head, he said, "That was a terrifying era. I can catch glimpses of it through the mindset of either Martial Ancestor or Turing. Back then, the connections between people were so close. Everyone around me... all of humanity... seemed to become a tremendous whole. This immense entity, with your family and familiar people as its tentacles, solidified countless restrictions upon one’s spirit..."

"No, it’s not just the living. The dead linger in the minds of the living as well, contributing to this imprisonment."

"How did humanity endure such a past..."

"But even more terrifying was Martial Ancestor himself."

"The talents possessed by Martial Ancestor himself made it easy for him to feel the shackles. He knew he could live as he pleased, yet he could swallow the weight pressing down on him with a smile... He consumed the pressures from both the dead and the living, transforming them into a kind... a kind of indescribable power."

"As a Scientific Knight, Martial Ancestor also had a lofty pursuit of truth. But for Martial Ancestor in that era, in order to achieve another ideal of his own, even ’the lofty faith in truth’ could serve as a mask—he despised this mask, yet he allowed himself to play the part perfectly."

"Furthermore... he seemed to be deliberately honing his ability to ’persuade others’."

Faulkner V spoke at length as if venting, and even his upper body kept straightening and then bowing slightly—this was the program determining that his emotions were in significant flux, hence automatically simulating the state of "deep breathing" to soothe his nervous system.

"The ability to persuade others, huh..." Feheart looked up, "That’s true. The Ninth Martial God was an enhanced version of this very aspect. The Seventh Martial God gathered a large army, almost draining the entire Jianghu of its strength. The Eighth Martial God was killed by the King before his Divine Skill was accomplished, and the world’s reverence for ’Xiang Shan’ faded once more. In such a severely unfavorable situation, the Ninth Martial God could even gather forces capable of storming the Throne from the depths of space and the Wilderness, during an era when Jianghu had not yet recovered its vitality."

That was indeed a terrifying power. The Ninth Martial God might have reached a level in "Performing Arts" that went "beyond skill." He only needed to broadcast his stance over the network to amass tangible forces. There were even records of middle-ranking officers proactively contacting Hero.

"Supervising Battle Officer Mechanism" also became widespread during that time.

Faulkner V nodded and sighed, "The Ninth Martial God... But he was still defeated, even turned into a display... Perhaps there will never be such a power again."

Feheart asked meaningfully, "So, Ranger Faulkner V, do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing for humanity?"

Faulkner V hesitated for a moment: "Maybe it’s a good thing?"

Feheart nodded. That was the normal reaction. Martial Ancestor possessed memories of "persuading others." Personal experience, when put in his own perspective, would only increase the power of persuasion manifold. Since the Protectors had abolished all beliefs, it is normal to be shaken when facing his memories.

If Faulkner V had categorically denied Martial Ancestor’s ideals at that moment, then Feheart would have needed to list him as a suspect of disloyalty.

The Protectors were true materialists. They believed that cold, hard reality could shatter all fervent illusions.

Guards who are slightly shaken now will be better able to guard their minds when facing Martial Gods in the future.

That is the mission of the Martial God Special Operations Unit.

The Martial God Special Operations Unit, formed after the Fourth Martial God by King Aqini Jakub Hartman, is a mobile force assembled from the elite of Life-Chasing Cavalry from all over and together with the finest Disciples from the internal education system, they receive special training. The unit’s primary mission is to search for Martial Gods and to discern them.

However, after the Ninth Martial God, this mobile force began to downsize. The actions of the Tenth and Eleventh Martial Gods have significantly reduced the size of this force. And now King Aqini is no longer enthusiastic about this unit, so for a long time, the Martial God Special Operations Unit has not been at full strength.

Until three years ago.

Three years ago, three disciples of King Aqini—C·Shivaji-21, GA-R03, and Fengxiong IV—led Zhili Rangers under the King to the underground in the search for potential clues of the Eighth Martial God.

Then, the group lost contact on the day of the operation.

King Aqini’s second operation team arrived at the scene ten hours later. But that Burrow Dragon community was already empty. When leaving, the Burrowing Dragons had extensively used explosives to collapse many areas, leaving behind little evidence. Even King Aqini couldn’t reconstruct the situation at the time.

And that area was where the legacy of the Eighth Martial God was most likely to remain.

"The legacy of the Eighth Martial God" might have already been taken.

King Aqini didn’t know what the legacy of the Eighth Martial God was or who got it. But the Eighth Martial God had shown him another possibility of Inner Strength. That possibility was too frightening, and he wouldn’t allow terrorists to venture into that domain.

Therefore, King Aqini began to expand this squad.

Feheart was an old man who had witnessed the defeat of Martial Gods eight times. In his career, Martial Gods had been defeated eight times, but he never responded once. This was a synonym for "reliability." Thus, King Aqini appointed him as an instructor of the special operations unit.

By the way, the original instructor of the squad was slaughtered during the pursuit of the Eleventh Martial God.

And this special operations team is also allowed to study the memories of the Martial Ancestor.

Of course, they could only read certain fragments. These fragments were largely screened by King Aqini himself.

Moreover, these fellows were prohibited from using the Restoring Enzyme while studying the memories of the Martial Ancestor. Their progress in cultivating Inner Strength was also strictly controlled.

There had indeed been team members who wanted to use the Restoring Enzyme while researching the memories of the Martial Ancestor, hoping to turn themselves into vessels for the rebirth of the Martial Ancestor’s Soul Spark. But such traitors were executed on the spot.

Feheart was very pleased with the progress of Faulkner V. He said, "Alright, you can rest now. Today, you can use computing resources without any restrictions. Take a good rest, and don’t overthink."

Faulkner V bowed his head and murmured, "Mr. Feheart... are the Martial Gods truly about to return?"

Feheart nodded, "Indeed..."

"Once the hero draws his sword, it is again a calamity for the common folk spanning ten years..." Faulkner V said softly.

He seemed to be persuading himself to remain firm in his beliefs.

—Confused, but still hoping to serve as a Protector of Civilization.

After pondering for a moment, Feheart made a few adjustments to Faulkner V’s electronic file.

At the same time, he was facing hundreds of members.

In fact, most conversations were conducted by AI. He only needed to generate a vague set of parameters in his mind, send them out, and the AI would organize the text and carry out the conversation. This allowed him to engage in different conversations with hundreds of people simultaneously.

But this was his limit. His Inner Strength could not support more detailed operations.

It is said that masters who have merged their consciousness more deeply with computers can even engage in such communication with tens of thousands of people.

However, this is actually not very meaningful. If it weren’t for the "individual assessment of trustworthiness" absolutely requiring human involvement, then the program could accomplish all of this.

Masters of Internal Strength generally don’t pursue such skills.

After completing the evaluations for the day, Feheart’s consciousness moved into a spare Prosthetic Body with a nearly physical sense of a flesh body. It was an old man with graying hair, and it even perfectly simulated the sense of helplessness of an aging man.

It is said that growing old is a gentleman’s romance. Feheart found this to be very true. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn NovєlFіre.net

He felt that only in this body could his spirit feel complete—his heart seemed well adapted to the sensation of weakness and aging.

Then, a bitter smile played upon Feheart’s lips.

"Naive little ones..."

In eras past, people constantly felt the terrifying gravity of something called "society," as if merely proceeding forward would crush oneself.

But in this era, can people live comfortably?

The intangible, ambiguous pressure of the Old Era had indeed disappeared. But...

—In their hearts, "the Kings" are truly noble...

The Iron Heart Dharma King of the Six Dragons Sect even put both hands over his mouth to suppress his laughter.

—This constant threat to life... Hahaha... Hahahaha...

And those children, they are mostly able to satisfy their various sensual desires through unlimited use of computing resources. When they look back at the Old Era, they see inconveniences here and there. They instinctively overlook the objective existence of "human happiness" of the old times.

They can use resources to achieve sensory satisfaction and happiness. An era without this kind of happiness, in their eyes, is lacking.

This is also why the Martial Gods with True Personality Masks always erupt from the lower strata.

Once the "happiness" of the old times crosses the fog of history and lands in mediocre souls, the flames of rebellion ignite on their own.

—Dealing with these people every day, one feels like their spirit could go awry...

While laughing, the Iron Heart Dharma King couldn’t help but think of the "suspected Martial God" who disappeared without a trace three years ago.