Chapter 378: Chapter 378

In the Iron Block Style Dojo located on the southern side of Delacruz City, Yuki was sparring with Zheng Lunnao.

"Pay attention to coordination! The coordination of hands and feet! Rhythm!" Zheng Lunnao chided while swinging his arms to intercept Yuki’s punches, "You must be slacking off again! Your footwork is a mess! Advance! At this moment, you shouldn’t follow my retreating rhythm to strike, but rather find a way to attack when I lift my foot, stealing a beat and entering your own rhythm!"

Yuki nodded and called out, "Yes!"

He had been trying hard to grasp the "rhythm" that the instructor and master had talked about. According to the master, every expert understood "rhythm." Watching an expert throw punches was enjoyable because their movements contained a personal rhythm—like a kind of individualized musical style, it was a work of art.

But it seemed Yuki’s artistic cultivation was quite low.

A few minutes later, the youth was knocked down by Zheng Lunnao.

This was the tenth time he’d been knocked down today.

Yuki’s limbs creaked under the strain. Only then did Zheng Lunnao stop and say, "Alright, that’s enough for today. Switch back to your own hands and feet."

"Yes, Teacher Zheng," Yuki replied as he nodded in thanks. He bowed to Zheng Lunnao and then went to the equipment room. With the help of the equipment, he first disassembled his right hand with his left, then attached his own right hand. Then he proceeded to replace the left hand, left leg, and right leg in succession.

Just as the old martial arts schools had specialized "Judogi" and "practice uniforms," modern dojos also provide specialized prosthetic limbs for practice. These prosthetics are purchased at low cost just before they are discarded, after which the martial arts school adds shock-absorbing materials to them. They ensure no harm, or at least no accidental fatalities. Furthermore, the prosthetic limbs used by these lower-class individuals lacked fancy features, were very straightforward, and easy to use.

And so, the cyber martial artists wouldn’t develop the bad habit of "getting used to punching softly and not being able to exert force when it really counts." All they have to do is input an enhanced calibration parameter when it’s time for real combat or a restricted output power parameter during practice.

After Yuki had switched back to his own limbs, he sat down. The youth had already replaced everything above his nose with prosthetic body parts, and his eyes were a complete set of cameras. The muscles in his back had also been replaced with prosthetic material, and most of his internal organs were removed, leaving only a few digestive organs. A blood pump and a piece of artificial lung supplied what was left of his flesh. However, as the martial arts school didn’t provide replacements for areas other than the hands and feet, the youth always arrived with equipment better than that of his contemporaries.

The youth adjusted the focus of his eyes, then opened up the prosthetic limbs he had just been using and began to repair them.

When Zheng Lunnao passed by, he glanced over here.

This youth named "Yuki" was introduced by Hoovernull. Instructor Zheng and Doctor Hu had been good friends for many years, and although they didn’t interact much, they owed each other favors. Additionally, because of the connection with the Eighth Martial God, Doctor Hu would occasionally send orphans he’d sponsored to the school to learn martial arts.

Most people can’t become Scientific Knights, and for children from the lower classes, becoming Competitive Martial Artists is already an excellent path.

Instructor Zheng thought this boy called "Yuki" was such a child. The youth had a foundation in Mech Armor Iron Fist and learned the basics of punching theory well.

Yuki also stated that he still had a lot to learn, so he wouldn’t be solely focused on external strength.

According to Zheng Lunnao’s observations, this youth named Yuki had at least studied Firearms Path and repair techniques.

Beyond that, there must be other things.

Instructor Zheng realized that this child might be a Hero. What he was learning was essentially the standard set for a Hero. This guy had his own Hero’s teaching; he was just in the more foundationally educated martial arts school to learn these basics.

And these things would combine at a high tactical level into a tight system, sustaining the warrior in continuous combat.

However, Instructor Zheng didn’t ask.

There was no need to. Unless he planned to join the ranks of Jianghu right then, asking such things would only complicate matters.

It’s best to pretend ignorance.

At this moment, Yuki heard the sound of soft steps.

A rosy-cheeked little girl chewing gum ran over. She was about four or five years old, just having learned to talk. She was Yuki’s little sister. When Yuki practiced martial arts at the dojo, the little girl would also come running over.

The girl saw Zheng Lunnao and bowed to Instructor Zheng.

A smile appeared on the flexible screen on Zheng Lunnao’s face.

Then the little girl continued to run over to Yuki with light footsteps.

"Yuki Yuki..." the girl called out.

"What ’Yuki’..." Yuki was not pleased and sternly pressed the little girl’s head down, "Panic, you should be calling me ’Brother,’ that’s correct."

The girl’s name now was Dont Panic. Before Senior Shan and his disciples took her out from a Green Forest Stronghold, numerous kind-hearted people held her, still a baby, and told her this phrase. It was the first word she learned. She stubbornly believed that this was her name.

"But you are Yuki, no one else calls you Brother!" the little girl seriously said while struggling with her little hands and feet.

Three years prior, Yuki followed Senior Shan to the Burrow Dragon. Afterwards, they withdrew. Based on the memories of the Eighth Martial God and data browsed in Doctor Hu’s hospital, Senior Shan inferred that Doctor Hu had connections with some individuals who were "not Scientific Knights." At the same time, the personality of the Eighth Martial God also trusted Doctor Hu. Thus, Senior Shan sought Doctor Hu’s help.

With Doctor Hu’s assistance, Senior Shan, Yuan Wenren, Yuki, and Liu Ri were hidden away in several batches.

After that, various forces searched back and forth several times. People like Doctor Hu and Instructor Zheng also suffered quite a bit.

But they managed to save their lives.

In the half year that followed, Yuki retreated underground in Delacruz City, immersing himself in the world of programming. Occasionally, when Yuki asked him questions, he would hear his master lament, "Damn, so inner strength can also be utilized ." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NovєlFіre.net

Throughout that half year, the master was consolidating his own knowledge, occasionally downloading some modern programs from the network and reverse engineering them to understand the developments of the era.

After half a year, Xiang Shan told Yuki that he needed to go into a prolonged period of seclusion.

The master thus returned to the "donkey" buried at the city’s edge and secluded himself there to practice skills.

Before leaving, he sought out Doctor Hu, hoping Doctor Hu could help his disciple get in touch with various foundational education institutions—that is, martial arts schools and the like.

Doctor Hu naturally helped with this favor.

For the next two and a half years, Yuki began to travel between various martial arts schools to learn different skills. Every now and then, when Xiang Shan emerged from his seclusion, he would point out some high-level theoretical concepts to his disciple and assign some homework for Yuki to complete before his next emergence.

The act of "learning skills from different schools" was in fact permissible. When the Martial Ancestor founded martial arts, he strongly emphasized the spirit of "sharing of technical information," much like the early idealistic programmers. Hence, even to this day, the ecosystem of martial arts schools is not as insular as the "Sects" and "Gangs" of the Natural Person era.

As long as you do not accept investment from a martial arts school to participate in sports meetings, then you have no dependent relationship with the school.

Yuki actually quite liked this kind of atmosphere in the martial arts schools. All the schools had one singular goal—to make it into the Olympics.

These were "hopeful" days, days brimming with vigor.

Although Yuki was very much aware that their buoyant fighting spirit was built on a false notion of "prospects," their enthusiasm still genuinely touched him.

The youth had never experienced such a vibe since his birth. During the months following Xiang Shan, though he saw "true freedom," he was always living on edge.

—What a pity, we are not on the same path...

Watching his enthusiastic classmates greeting him, Yuki thought to himself.

And so, he left the martial arts school, leading Panic by the hand.

Yuki skillfully navigated through the streets and alleys. His eyes had learned to reflexively search for any potential surveillance cameras. Each wander on the streets was a training session for his counter-surveillance skills.

Zheng Lunnao had not misjudged him; he had never focused on learning external strength.

He had to learn too many methods.

Soon, Yuki arrived at the prearranged location.

Liu Ri was a year or two older than Yuki, but due to living in the isolated Burrowing Dragon Community, his mental maturity fell short of Yuki’s.

On that day, Yuan Wenren and his group had retreated after blowing up a section of the tunnel with Borshu. They had all lost their combat capabilities, and if a squadron of Mobile Cavalry did surge out, they would be powerless to stop them, and hence of little use.

Liu Ri and the previously rescued Burrowing Dragon brains naturally followed them.

The Burrowing Dragon brains had been crudely removed by the Mobile Cavalry and all suffered varying degrees of brain damage. Doctor Hu simply registered these individuals as "volunteers" for the Hospital Knight Order, using the power of the Scientific Knight Order to sidestep King Aqini’s subsequent searches.

Over the two years, those Burrowing Dragons gradually recovered. Taking their companions with them, they dispersed to other Burrowing Dragon Communities.

But Liu Ri stayed behind.

He wanted to become a Hero. Great Grandfather had told him; he ought to become a Hero.

Liu Ri excitedly pulled Yuki’s arm, "Yuki, Senior Sister Yuan is back."

The gleam in Yuki’s prosthetic eye conveyed excitement, "Senior Sister Yuan? What about the master?"

These past few years, Yuan Wenren had not been idle either. Initially, she also followed Xiang Shan to learn and fill in the gaps in her inner strength. It seemed that before Xiang Shan went into seclusion, he had assigned her other missions too.

"Senior Shan?" Liu Ri shook his head, "I don’t know either..."

A few days earlier, Xiang Shan had ended his long seclusion. However, after greeting Yuki and the others, Xiang Shan had left too.

He said Yuan Wenren had given him intelligence.