Coercing Submission

"Well?" Leif opened his faceplate, revealing the face tattooed with a bright red Z. "Will you avenge your companions, or join us?"

Paulus's teeth chattered. "You want me... to join bandits? To give up Civilization Protection?"

Paulus was no famous martial artist, but he had still made something of a name for himself in regional competitions, and he was still young. For cyborgs, the "growth period" or "ascension period" could last fifty years, even a hundred. As long as neural circuit optimization continued to outweigh redundant accumulation, a cybernetic martial artist could keep growing.

If he kept at it for another thirty years, he might even make it into the Paralympics...

"That's right." Leif smiled. "Look at Lord Leif standing before you. What's so bad about living like us? Besides, the Dyson Principles don't prohibit people from voluntarily giving up protection. You can make your own choice."

"I..."

Paulus still wanted to argue—whether to refuse or bargain for more benefits for himself.

But Leif mercilessly cut him off. "Worried about losing the comforts of the city? For people like us, entering the city isn't all that dangerous. Worried about the lord's pursuit? Then Mr. Leif standing here is the best proof—it's no big deal at all. The wilderness without protection only weeds out the weak."

As he spoke, Leif lowered the rod from his shoulder. "I've laid it all out for you. If you still don't know what's good for you, wouldn't that be downright stupid?"

"I..."

"On one side is the 'death' of losing everything. On the other is the 'life' of joining us and gaining Inner Power. Do you really need Mr. Leif to teach you which to choose?"

Paulus fell silent for a moment, then asked, "You're willing to trust me... willing to teach me Inner Power?"

"That's how we trust one another!" The iron rod pressed down on Paulus's wrist, forcing aside the hand shielding his eyes. "Lower your hand. As long as you join us, I won't hurt you—we survive in the wilderness by sticking together."

Paulus did not have the ability to close his eyes. He really did see Leif's eyes.

But nothing happened.

Paulus let out a breath of relief. Then the steel rod pressed against his throat.

"So, will you join?"

"I'll join..." Paulus nodded with difficulty.

One look at the expression on the half of Paulus's face that remained told Leif that this fellow had not completely submitted. He was probably thinking that once he obtained the means to learn Inner Power, he would flee the organization.

Leif did not care. Because that was impossible.

Those who possessed Inner Power held an absolute advantage over those who did not.

Even powerful figures like the lord needed Inner Power to rule this land. And after cultivating Inner Power, one could hide within the network. Even the lowest Command Realm gave one the capital to resist rule.

The protectors of civilization could not tolerate unauthorized practitioners of Inner Power.

Of course, there were always highly skilled hackers who quietly scattered their secret manuals across the internet. Perhaps they hid in online communities that allowed open registration but had only a handful of users, perhaps inside obscure technical posts on popular forums, perhaps in openly copyrighted images or other media. There were also blockchain paths passed down by word of mouth.

There would always be genius youths who seemed born knowing such things, able to piece together traces of Inner Power from those fragments, comprehend their own Inner Power, and become a new generation of heroes.

Jingbao Kui was one such genius. Paulus had not gone down that path; perhaps he had been unlucky, or perhaps his talent for Inner Power simply went no further.

So the idea of "learn Inner Power, then run away" had been impossible from the start.

Of course, that was not the real reason the organization behind Leif feared no "betrayal."

Organizations in the wilderness did possess strong cohesion. But that did not come from things like a leader's personal charisma.

Bandits created "shared memories."

Memories of robbing together, memories of killing together, memories of drinking, whoring, gambling, and indulging together...

"Shared collective memories" provided by countless people.

Bandit organizations stored such things on hard drives, then plugged them into the brain-computer interfaces of new recruits.

Compared to an individual, memories vast beyond imagination would devour a person's mind and permanently alter their character. They were not one person's memory of a single event, but memories formed from the shared experiences of an entire group—hundreds of people over decades.

Organizations with the means would even perform surgery beforehand, destroying the existing "temperament" within the Biological Brain.

And so, a brand-new scoundrel was born.

Even renowned heroes of an earlier generation, if captured by wilderness bandits, would receive the same treatment.

These bandits were the Greenwood Road galloping across this era. Famous heroes and swordsmen disdained associating with them, but there were indeed many capable fighters among them.

That was right. Powerful martial prosthetics could be stolen. With the right connections, they could also be bought.

There were also countless channels for acquiring Martial Arts Algorithms. Some grandmasters even hid their martial arts within blockchains beyond the control of the Father of All Machines, waiting for worthy recipients to obtain them. Due to blockchain structure, these Martial Arts Algorithms were broken down into clusters of information that could not be privately copied.

Though rare, they could still be traced.

Only Biological Brains perfectly matched to powerful prosthetics and flawless martial arts were truly things one could encounter only by chance.

When they heard of a martial artist who, after losing all his Martial Arts Algorithms, still defeated another renowned martial artist, Leif's organization began to move.

That was talent. Given time, he might become a powerful figure in his own right.

Paulus, meanwhile, was merely an extra.

These idiots simply did not understand what unbelievable methods lay hidden behind the vague descriptions of those ignorant villagers.

"All right." Leif tapped Paulus's chest with the steel rod. "Come along. We still have things to do."

Mayor Schultz's throat bobbed as he tried to say something. Paulus had been hired by him, and he had clearly paid him... but... but...

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

All at once, Anthony, the "Blossom Bomb" whom Leif had knocked down first, stood up. He let out a meaningless beastly roar and activated the Vulcan Cannon on his shoulder. The bullets that had not fired earlier sprayed wildly.

Metal-Based Protein made humans of this era harder to kill than those of the past. Yes, destroying the structure of the Biological Brain could fundamentally destroy a person's personality and sense of self, but that did not mean biological death.

A "personality," an entertainment plug-in, had never needed to be bound to hardware like the brain.

Perhaps it was a final flash of life? The still-living brain neurons discharged one last time. The mechanical body read that response and issued the wrong command.

Parts scattered, and blood plasma atomized.

The residents screamed.

Then a steel rod punched through Anthony's neck, snapped his spine, and swept sideways, disabling the Vulcan Cannon.

Anthony could not hurt Leif even when he was conscious, much less now.

Leif turned back expressionlessly and looked at the mayor behind him. "Old man, you were the one who shot at me just now, weren't you?"

While he had been dealing with that Gunfire Way martial artist, a bullet had indeed struck the armor at the back of his neck.

The mayor was scared witless. He hurriedly threw away the rifle in his hands. Seeing Anthony's final instinctive reaction, he had thought it was an opportunity... he...

"Nice shot." Unexpectedly, Leif merely smiled, with a hint of approval in his tone. "You picked your timing well. That was a pleasant surprise."

Then silver flashed, and the village chief's hand holding the gun exploded along with the weapon.

The inherited firearm became flying fragments, while his hand turned into a puddle of viscous fluid splashed across the ground.

Leif laughed loudly and turned away. He was not really angry about the mayor's actions. With a gun of that caliber, his outer armor was hardly made of paper. On the contrary, the mayor's move had added a little decoration to this boring operation!

Paulus cautiously moved closer. "Then, sir, could you remove the Inner Power from my friend?"

He had already decided to bring Longkoni with him into the wilderness. At least they could look after each other.

Leif waved him away, signaling him not to bother him.

Leif: [Did you hear that, brother? Remove the Command from that useless trash?]

Jingbao Kui: [Such a hassle?]

Leif: [We need to expand the ranks too...]

Jingbao Kui: [Got it. It'll be done soon. Now, the child mentioned in the intelligence has secretly been taken to the other side of the village by a heavy machine. Intercept them!]

Leif: [Got it!]

Leif bent his legs slightly. His transmission system rapidly accumulated internal energy.

Then it converted it into kinetic energy and released it.

Leif had already leapt into the air.

Two jet nozzles suddenly popped from his rounded back armor. At the same time, an air intake opened in Leif's chest.

Newton's Three Laws were approximations of the world's truths under low gravity and low light speed. At least on Earth, within the usual limits of cybernetic martial artists, Newton's Three Laws were absolute. There was no lightness skill that approximately ignored unequal action and reaction forces.

But cybernetic martial artists could still "leave no trace upon the snow."

With vector thrusters.

The batteries and power system inside Leif could not withstand thrusters of that class. But using a jet engine for a short period was still possible.

Since life first appeared on Earth, no animal had ever accelerated itself to such a degree. More than that, no animal so heavy had ever achieved such speed. No birds, insects, savage beasts, or even legends could describe Leif's movement technique at this moment.

As the force of his first leap began to fade, he had already crossed a third of the town.

With a boom, the giant man crushed a house beneath his feet and gained a second burst of acceleration.

He had already spotted Yulia, about to reach the main road and accelerate.

"Ha!" Leif laughed as he hurled the steel rod in his hand.