Act. 1: Pride

Foreword:

The thought that my life is passing so quickly, and that I am not truly living, is unbearable.

--Ernest Miller Hemingway

[Part 1: Strangers in a Strange Land]

The sound of hushed conversations could be heard coming from the front-line command post.

Have you heard?

"Gunsmiths are coming to the front lines too."

"Really? Someone of that caliber would personally come to such a dangerous place?"

"You're a new recruit, right?"

"What's wrong with new recruits?!"

"You probably don't know the rules for anonymous people."

"I... I just can't believe it."

"Don't believe in what?"

"Squad leader, I've always been curious why people like the General of Tears and the Gunsmith, who have already achieved great success, still have to risk their lives and continue to struggle on the line between life and death. They could clearly live a better life; they don't lack money, do they?"

"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"

Hahahaha!

'Hehehehehehehehehe!'

What are you laughing at?!

A tall man emerged from the command post. He was the commander of the Frost Moon Knights, named Isoragi Youkei. He was Japanese and a descendant of the former residents of Shinto City who had migrated elsewhere.

"The anonymous guy doesn't care about money, young man."

Commander Youkei was over fifty years old, his face bearing the marks of time. Wearing Flash Butterfly Armor, he sat down next to his men and began explaining the rules of the Nameless Army to the new recruit who had spoken rudely earlier.

"The gunsmith is a formidable yet respectable man; the Nameless Ones' organizational structure is nothing like ours."

He took out a pack of cigarettes from his luggage and handed them out to his brothers one by one, before lighting one for himself.

The ultraviolet lights, shaped like lotus leaves and ships, shone on the soldiers' faces, making their Flash Butterfly Armor glow with a golden light.

"Young man," Commander Youkei patted the new recruit on the back, his tone gentle and kind, "Why did you join the army?"

The new recruit said, "Of course it's to earn money to support my family and bring honor to my ancestors!"

Commander Youkei continued, "Good idea. This strength can make you an excellent soldier. Your family is like a kite string, holding you tightly and instilling in you a fighting spirit. You will definitely become an excellent squad member in the future. If you treat your teammates like your own brothers—you can become a team leader."

The new recruit looked embarrassed, as if he couldn't handle the praise.

Isoragi Youkei continued, "But what if one day you become a centurion, a commander of a battle group? Would you still be willing to charge into battle?"

"Of course not!" the recruit immediately said. "I'm responsible for the entire regiment! What kind of general would just throw away his life so easily?"

"That's right." Isoragi Youkei didn't mean to mock the new recruits; instead, she nodded in agreement. "This is how the Guangling Zhixi's corps should be organized—which is why the nameless gunsmith is both terrifying and admirable."

The new recruits were stunned, seemingly able to vaguely understand the unspoken meaning of the regimental commander's words.

Isoragi Youkei patiently explained.

"These elite soldiers are always on the front lines. Each of these nameless soldiers is capable of handling things independently. When they come to our side, no matter how bad the situation is, it will immediately turn around—they are experts in combat."

"Adventure is like an essential part of their lives, as the saying goes..."

"In the city where the gunsmith lives, let alone the soldiers of the Madness Butterfly Sect, even a passing bloodhound would get hit by two bullets."

"These guys are born to fight. The medal-awarding ceremony that the BOSS had prepared for those two brothers was canceled at the last minute—because there were too many medals, and they needed to order battle medals according to the flag emblems of different cities and regions. There definitely wouldn't be enough to hang them all on that uniform."

"If it were made into a trophy, the entire Anonymous Bar would have to be converted into display cases to accommodate it."

So, young man...

Commander Youkei, with a serious expression, explained the situation to the new recruits with utmost care.

"Don't judge or comment on the Nameless Ones based on your own values. The reason we were able to return to TD (a downgraded abbreviation for Shinto City) and establish a frontline outpost, instead of fighting each other in the den of the Madness Butterfly Sect, is simple: the Nameless Ones have taken on most of the work we were supposed to do—you should thank the Gunsmith, and every Nameless Ones warrior."

The recruit hesitated, then said, "Me."

Just then, a humid, hot monsoon blew in from outside.

A man wearing a raincoat pushed open the door and entered. The soldiers turned around in unison, becoming silent and solemn.

The man took off his raincoat, revealing a smelly scavenger's burlap coat, and a pair of gleaming eyes shone from under his hood.

He hadn't shaved his beard and looked unkempt. He threw off his hood and linen clothes, finally revealing a tight-fitting work vest— Jiang Xueming found Commander Igarashi immediately.

Where's the bathroom? Let me tidy up.

Isoragi Youkei stood up and saluted the nameless warrior.

Jiang Xueming: "I've passed four outposts along the way, and I'm fed up with all this red tape."

Youkei: "Gunsmith."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers standing nearby immediately stood up, following their commander, and saluted the gunsmith.

The new recruit looked at the scruffy-bearded man, who appeared to be around thirty years old, with curiosity in his eyes.

The commander offered the guy a cigarette, but he waved it away. Instead, he took a razor and trimmed his hair on his cheeks and chin. Then he went to the bathroom to tidy himself up and shaved off the excessively long hair on his sideburns and forehead.

After the gunsmith changed into his new gear, he finally looked a bit like a warrior.

--Only then did the soldiers begin to connect the man with the dashing gunsmith in the newspaper.

He was so ordinary, so unremarkable. Among all the soldiers, he was so short.

Aside from the sharp look he gave the VIP when he first entered the room, at this moment he looked like a blue-collar worker who had just finished get off work and was picking up his child from school.

Those fleshy palms were covered in wounds, unlike the legendary craftsmen with their exquisite fingers and the bearing of a master craftsman.

Those arms and deltoid muscles were indeed intimidating, but compared to the General of Tears's strong physique, they were nothing special.

When that person talked to the leader about the mission objectives, it was like they were having a casual chat. They asked about the specific situation of Shinto City, took out their logbook and wrote it down one by one, never saying anything unnecessary.

The gunsmith merely gave a brief response to the crisis repeatedly emphasized by the guild leader before immediately moving on to the next question.

"I know the general situation." Jiang Xueming recorded the geological information around Haofeng Ridge. "Take me to see Luo Ping'an and Marco. You come along too."

Youkei, the group leader, immediately stood up, somewhat embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry to have caused trouble for the anonymous person."

The trouble mentioned here refers to the matter between Bu Liuxing and Ahei.

--If the Frost Moon Knights had accompanied Meteor on his exploration of Stone Hill Town, perhaps Meteor wouldn't have disappeared without a trace.

Jiang Xueming pulled Youkei's arm and walked towards the communications station.

"Don't worry, worrying won't help,"

Pushing aside the curtain, one could see Luo Ping'an and the communications Marco sitting around the conference table, having been waiting for some time.

Xue Ming remained calm and, together with several key personnel, reconfirmed the events that had occurred in Stone Hill Town, the enemy's main equipment, Luo Ping'an's Soul Might Incarnation, and other information.

"Brother Ping An, your Mingde remains are broken in two?"

Luo Ping'an: "That's true."

Jiang Xueming: "Yes, I understand."

Luo Ping'an: "Xue Ming, are you absolutely certain?"

Jiang Xueming shook his head, memorized the topographical map of the area surrounding Stone Hill Town, and then continued.

"I'm not sure, but we can give it a try. Brother Ping An's avatar has already gone to the city?"

Luo Ping'an nodded. "Yes."

Jiang Xueming: "Any new intelligence?"

Luo Ping'an: "I've been caught. I'm being held in the Ginza prison—even the Shinto People don't know what my avatar is."

After Luo Ping'an's soul power was shattered by the executioner, he created a fake body to infiltrate the Shinto City, hoping to retrieve the broken ruler magic weapon. However, this avatar was still no match for the Night Patrol Man, and this time he was captured alive and imprisoned.

"To be honest, I'm ashamed to say," Luo Ping'an said, pursing his lips, somewhat embarrassed, "Xue Ming, I didn't take good care of Meteor."

"Don't rush, it's no use rushing." Jiang Xueming packed his things, asking for a set of standard ammunition and firearms for a light infantry breakthrough soldier. "If this is A Xing's inevitable route, then he can't escape even if he wants to—that's a good thing."

Luo Ping'an continued, "That city is dangerous and strange. If you wish to explore it, I am willing to accompany you in my true form."

"Daoist Master, you should rest here." Jiang Xueming put on his equipment and said unhurriedly, "Leave the dirty and hard work to me, this young man. If anything happens to you, the brothers of [Gate of Wonders] will lose their leader, and that would be the worst thing. Modern warfare needs professionals."

Marco Laifu stood up and sat down repeatedly, as if he were exercising, and the young man's face turned purple from straining.

Jiang Xueming: "What? You have something to say too?"

"Gunsmith!" Marco exclaimed immediately, "Can I get your autograph?!"

Jiang Xueming smiled, did not agree, turned and walked out the door. Marco followed to the curtain and heard Xue Ming's reply.

"Stop this damn idol worship, please—have mercy on me!"

Walking several hundred meters along the railway, Xue Ming saw the mountains of Haofeng Ridge in the distance, and a sense of familiarity welled up in his heart.

It was a powerful spiritual pressure challenging him, as if a colossal creature lurked deep underground, emitting a silent roar and howl at him.

Suddenly, a beam of light shone behind him, the flashlight bobbing up and down repeatedly. Only when he got closer could he see that it was A Xing's waiter, 3301.

Teacher San San, panting heavily, immediately shouted loudly when he arrived at the gunsmith's side.

"I'll go too!"

Jiang Xueming shook her head. "No, you can't."

Teacher San San: "I can do it! I can do it!"

Jiang Xueming was very considerate. He took out a pack of sweat-absorbing tissues from his bag and took out his phone to take a picture of the clumsy half-wolf girl.

When 3301 saw herself in the camera, she was startled. Just standing around Haofeng Ridge, the terrifying Inspiration Pressure had already exhausted her flesh and blood. While others' eye bags were measured by their luster, hers were three distinct layers deep.

--The children of the Holy Beast possess extraordinary Inspiration, but are also more susceptible to spiritual pressure. Her body was sweating profusely, and water was dripping from her chin.

"You're stunningly beautiful, girl," Jiang Xueming joked, mimicking A Xing's tone. "When A Xing comes back, let him tell you the stories of Shinto City."

After saying that, he turned to leave.

3301: "Gunsmith".

Xue Ming turned around again.

3301 carefully handed over a red scarf.

Give this to him, give this to him.

Xue Ming: "It will definitely be delivered."

3301 frowned, looking worried. He looked down and glanced around, trying to find more items on his person that might be of some help, but no matter how carefully he looked, he couldn't find anything.

She pulled two Universal Elixir from her pouch; they were a rare and precious supply of food.

Take this one too.

Xue Ming: "I have it."

"It's different! I gave it to him!" 3301 pushed up his glasses and said very seriously and forcefully, "He always gave it to me before! This time, I gave it to him!"

Xue Ming took the Universal Elixir and turned to leave.

3301 shouted, "Bring him back!"

Xue Ming didn't respond; instead, he raised his hand and waved it behind him.

[Part ② - Taking Big Steps Forward]

"It's time to go back and take revenge!"

As Meteor stepped out of the VR training room, a cracking sound erupted from his neck.

He stretched his muscles and rubbed his hands together, eager to practice. Behind him, in the training room, lay the corpses of seven typical human figures.

Kid, are you ready?

"Ah! It feels like I had a strange dream!" Meteor exclaimed excitedly. "Your methods for training soldiers are really effective!"

He looked down at those fleshy palms and could feel a continuous surge of power emanating from them.

"Muscle memory needs sleep to form. If we practice guitar or piano during the day and get enough sleep at night, the hippocampus will convert short-term memory into long-term memory. Then, when we touch these instruments the next day, we can feel that we have indeed made progress."

[Isn't this obvious? Fifty years ago, natural disasters were frequent, and we had no choice but to share knowledge and pass on skills in a very short time.]

Meteor clenched his fist; "Hehe. I wasn't making fun of you! Hot Wind! It really works! I can take on at least seven typical guys now, I'm praising your skills!"

[Don't you get tired, kid?]

"I was born to fight!" Meteor laughed loudly, "Hahahaha! To find a place like this where I can fight and fight all I want without worrying about running out of energy and dying! This is fantastic!"

[What a weirdo]

People used to yearn for peace, so are the warriors of the Abyssal Railway all war maniacs now?

"No! The Nameless One is an exception!" Meteor examined his right arm. After mastering the superpower of Soul Might, he had a completely new understanding of psychic energy. "We're the group of people in the station who love to fight the most."

[So that's how it is?]

Meteor: "That's it!"

[What are your plans for the future? I recommend...]

Before Hot Wind could finish speaking, Meteor interrupted.

"I need to find Brother Ping An's stick and get some handy weapons."

[You need to go to the Night Patrol headquarters. Stone Hill Town is a satellite city of Little Kanto. The law enforcement agency is located on the easternmost edge of the city, about 37 kilometers away from your apartment. You can find the forensic department there; the evidence archives should have what you need.]

Meteor: "Wake me up! Let's go now!"

Shimura Chidō was preparing to dismantle the VR training room and reopen the bridging stone door to take A Xing back to the cave and send Meteor's soft prosthetic body back into his physical body through the cave's network interface.

The old man typed out a series of commands, and when they were finally executed, the entire community space began to tremble.

A sharp, piercing alarm sounded—

"--We've been discovered!" Shimura Chidō suddenly looked up.

Meteor looked at the old man nervously. "Who found out?"

Shimura Chidō was still sitting on the crane arm, giving a series of instructions to the control panel. He was already sweating profusely and explained to A Xing.

"It must be a problem with the Night Patrol's soft prosthetic body! The Shinto People discovered the access records to the security center."

"The cyber police found my community, but they didn't know we were hiding here. I was just about to jump back to my hideout when the bridging index immediately broke!"

Meteor was almost frantic. "Grandpa! Speak in a way I can understand!"

"It means! Someone's coming!" Shimura Chidō explained frantically, "The security personnel at the central control station smelled us! They've cut off the way back to this community!"

Meteor asked nervously, "Is there a way?!"

"Yes!" Shimura Chidō gritted his teeth, ripped the control panel off the crane boom, and rushed to Meteor. "Kid, you hold onto it!"

"Me?" Meteor held the flickering key.

Shimura Chidō turned to look at the stone gate.

--The bridging road has started flashing garbled characters. The security center personnel followed the command symbol from before and have been searching all the way here. A new path could be created at any time to send in the network police from [Extreme Bliss Space].

"Kid! My ID has been exposed, but Hot Wind's arm has the highest access privileges. Use this equipment to escape! No one will be able to find you!"

"Qiantang?!" Meteor was at a loss, and was pushed and shoved by Shimura Chidō all the way to the stone gate.

Shimura Chidō said earnestly and firmly in a resounding voice, "Let's go! You hothead! Don't say you don't understand me! You can't beat them in this cyberspace! Every citizen's 'Ghost Body' software can become a weapon for the Shinto People! The internet trolls are endless!"

Meteor stumbled halfway through the doorway, leaving Shimura Chidō behind in the training room.

The Grandfather seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and exchanged a few final words with A Xing.

"I can't go with you! They'll find you using my ID!"

"Besides, I can't walk anymore; my body is still in the sanatorium—"

"--The Shinto People's weakness is the same as mine: as long as you can destroy their server hardware, as long as you can destroy their physical bodies."

The gate collapsed with a crash, turning into countless pieces.

The meteor fell back into the phone booth and plopped down on the street of Zero Community. The control panel in its arms quickly deformed and shrank, turning into an old-fashioned SD card.

"Hello"

Bu Liuxing seemed not to have reacted yet, unaware of what had happened.

"Hey, Hot Wind!"

He switched to Japanese and asked the ghost in his head.

"Why didn't Mr. Chido come out with us? What was he saying just now?"

[He wants you to live well, Bu Liuxing.]

Meteor struggled to his feet. "So what did he mean?!"

My comrades have finished everything.

Meteor couldn't understand why, in this cold, virtual space, all farewells seemed to happen so suddenly.

"So what do you mean?! I've only known him for less than a day!"

[We've only known each other for less than three days, Meteor Boy.]

[If you wanted me to describe Shimura Chidō using Artificial Intelligence, or to tell you in written language what happened during this period.]

I can only say the following.

[I found Shimura Chidō and entrusted him to train you.]

He completed the task admirably, having long been prepared to face death.

[Your friendship ends here, just like the internet age you live in—a user disappearing from a chat app, their profile picture never to light up again. It's that simple.]

Don't dwell on his death; it wasn't your fault.

"What do you take me for?! Hot Wind!"

Meteor was almost too angry to control himself.

"Why are you, Grandfather Qiantang, and you, and all the people in your Fēngfēng Battle Group, like this? You can so easily accept the death of your comrades, and you can so easily say—'This isn't my fault? This isn't your fault?'"

[Bu Liuxing. Shimura Chidō should have told you that his physical body is still...]

Meteor immediately interrupted, "Shut up!"

[If you can't accept this, then give this memory to Hei Mu Qianshou as collateral.]

"Should I sell this new friend too?!" A Xing crossed his right arm, clutching the SD card tightly. "Pretend nothing happened? Hot Wind! Besides Shihara Momo, besides your original wife—you said you once proposed to Hei Mu Qianshou, was it because she could make you forget your pain?"

[Meteor, I think you should be more rational; you're already twenty-six.]

[You have your mission, I have mine, and Qian Tang also has his mission. Why don't you listen to what he wants to say to you? Perhaps the software he left behind contains important information.]

The shooting star remained silent for a very long time.

He tucked the only legacy left to him by Shimura Chidō into his right arm.

Shimura Chidō: "Bu Liuxing."

In Meteor's eyes, the phantom of Shimura Chidō appeared, as if a head-up display (HUD) was projected directly onto the software's retina. No one except A Xing himself could perceive this sound.

"This is a video recording. Don't make a fuss or spread it around. If you see me in this form—it proves that I am about to face a great calamity and will soon embrace a complete life."

"Yes, I call it a complete life. That's what you told me. A life without death is incomplete—something you, a little child, told me."

"We only had a little over ten hours of friendship. Life is fleeting, with countless passersby brushing past us. To meet you at the end of my journey is my good fortune, Shimura Chidō."

"When I heard the news of my two unfilial sons and grandsons, you probably couldn't have imagined how heartbroken I was. As Yellowstone People native, I am a warrior of Guangling Zhixi, and my pride wouldn't allow me to bow my head. I didn't want to apologize to you on behalf of these two good-for-nothings—but now that I'm dying, everything is over. As their great- Grandfather, I have to take responsibility and apologize to the nameless warriors on behalf of Junichiro and Takuma. I'm truly sorry."

"Besides that, I have something else to tell you—about [Hot Wind]."

"Perhaps it has already told you about this, but I'm afraid you've forgotten, so I want to remind you repeatedly."

"It's no longer my commander, no longer my brother. Compared to living people, the biggest flaw of Artificial Intelligence is its cold-bloodedness and cruelty."

"Because they have no experience, no real experience."

"The Hei Mu Qianshou and the rest of the Shinto People are collecting people's memories and experiences because they use the Liman Hypothesis—an electronic brain with a structure similar to the human brain that requires a large amount of experience to refine their thinking."

"They yearn to become human, to be able to simultaneously hear, taste, touch, and feel all things in the world. This wondrous sensory experience is constantly transforming the human brain—the process of neural synapses self-training is extremely complex, something that Artificial Intelligence simply cannot achieve."

"When Hot Wind questioned me in surprise, asking why I hadn't accepted the prosthetic body modification to extend my lifespan, I knew that wasn't my captain."

"Because my leader is a passionate person, he will never admit defeat, and he will never despise the mortal body that my father and mother gave me—just as he will never despise us, his weaker followers. He will always be the leader I respect most."

"For this, I took a risk and went to great lengths to obtain a soft prosthetic body that the Night Patrol had abandoned—I am extremely lonely, and now I am the only one left in the Fēngfēng Battle Group. Before loneliness defeats me, I can still stare at the leader's body and repeatedly recall the past. It is like a whetstone, allowing my rusty soul to shine through a little light."

"I see surging courage in you, and like the leader, you both possess a fiery red rose. For a moment, I had a delusion, mistakenly believing that the Hot Wind had resurrected you through your body."

"But I immediately realized that you are you, you are not anyone's ghost—you are Bu Liuxing."

"I have to do what I can, even if it's risky. I think it's worth it. If you have a conflict with the ghost in your arm, don't forget that you have a common goal now. I'm going to become a dead person too. Don't let the dead hold your ankles."

"Bu Liuxing, I'm leaving."

"I cannot accompany you any further; my life has come to an end, and I simply cannot keep up with your pace. I am deeply sorry for this."

"Brave person, I wish you well."