Kidnapping

Yulia regained consciousness quickly.

The principle behind a concussion was that external vibrations struck the neuronal structure. But the metal-based proteins created by the Father of All Machines formed cells far more resilient than those of natural humans. Combined with the impressive shock-absorption systems of industrial machinery, Yulia had suffered no substantial damage despite rolling through the air and crashing down hard on her front end.

However, her left rear wheel was gone. A steel rod that had fallen from the sky had pierced straight through it.

That was what had caused her accident.

The clock turned back several minutes.

"So this town has no protection now, right?"

At that moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the sandstorm.

At the same time, noisy yet heavy footsteps began to thunder. Panic had already been building among the crowd when the welfare officer announced that the protection had been revoked. Now, those words ignited their fear.

Youji's eyes widened. Several vague black silhouettes in the dust gradually became distinct. Then he restarted his camera—he suspected that he had seen wrong. In his vision, the figure charging out of the darkness was actually three meters tall, with both arms apparently held straight out at its sides. Yet those arms were wildly disproportionate to its body—they were far too long.

Youji stared. "What is that?"

"Come with me!" Yulia reversed, skillfully hooking the unloading rack around Youji's waist. That maneuver would probably have been fatal to a natural human, but Youji would at most need a few replacement parts.

These people looking for trouble were probably thugs, but they absolutely could not get caught up in a thug fight.

But as Yulia fled with Youji, that steel rod fell from the sky.

—Youji...

Yulia detected crying. She did not need to compare voiceprints; it was her son. Youji was sprawled on the ground, bawling his eyes out. One of his legs had detached from his body in the accident, and he could no longer move.

"Good boy..." Yulia shouted rapidly. "Put your leg back on! Didn't you learn repairs from Yawg? Hurry! Hurry up..."

"Mom!" Youji cried in delighted surprise. "You're okay! That's great!"

"I told you to check your leg already!" Yulia was frantic. She did not know what had happened, nor whether the attack had been collateral damage from a fight or something deliberate. She only wanted her son to get away as quickly as possible.

Clang, clang, clang. Metal striking metal. Applause.

Leif stood nearby with a mournful expression. "What touching family affection."

"You're... a thug..." Yulia was horrified. "What do you want? My prosthetic body? My brain lobes? You..."

"Relax, relax." Leif pretended to wipe away nonexistent tears. "I have no interest in a lady's prosthetic body like yours. A brain bridge discarded so early, untrained brain lobes—they are not worth much either."

He strode forward.

Yulia instantly saw what the giant man intended.

—Youji...

Yulia's front wheels spun. She wanted to ram the giant with every last bit of strength she had. But her industrial prosthetic body was simply too cumbersome. With a rear wheel missing and her power damaged, she could not get herself moving in time.

Leif grabbed Youji. He could hold the child in one hand.

"All right, little guy. I heard you were the one who dug that man out of the junkyard." Leif smiled. "He would not leave you to die, would he?"

Youji's eyes widened. "Your target is... Master..."

"Master?" Leif repeated the word. "You mean... 'Master'?"

Leif: [Hey, Jingbao Kui, did you hear that?]

Because of the greater distance, the signal had become somewhat worse.

Jingbao Kui: [Yeah, "Master." An unexpectedly big fish? Only famous knights and swordsmen were qualified to have students use that term.]

Leif: [But isn't that strange? Would a knight really let himself fall into that kind of... that kind of state where he had lost everything?]

Knights would not lose everything. When they raised the banner of rebellion against existing civilization, they had already prepared themselves to give up their lives. They would rather die than lose their Inner Power—rather than become slaves to tyrants once more.

Knights were also the hardest to capture alive.

Without brainwashing them, even if they were stripped of everything, they would use their own strength to find every crack in society and become knights again.

But if they truly lost their Inner Power and their ability to resist, they would choose death.

Even knights brainwashed into Greenwood Road would be no exception in this regard.

The protectors of civilization, such as the lords, understood this as well. Knights rarely became prisoners. They were either executed on the spot, or their brains were directly dismantled as another kind of resource.

Thus, many people speculated that Xiang Shan was a martial artist who had lost his Martial Arts Algorithm, rather than a knight.

Jingbao Kui: [Whatever... Find an opening and plant a Trojan horse in him first! Even if he really is a famous knight of his generation, after losing his memory storage device, he cannot possibly recall his Inner Power in a short time!]

[Ah, wouldn't that be even better?] Leif grinned viciously. [That would prove our new brother definitely has talent in Inner Power! Get there quickly and set up an ambush, understand?]

Laughing loudly, he skewered Youji on the iron rod and raised him high into the air. Youji struggled constantly. But Leif merely kept adjusting the steel rod, maintaining a firm hold over the little body's center of mass. Youji's struggles disrupted the dynamic balance between himself and the rod, but Leif only needed to twitch a finger to restore it.

He laughed as he walked through the town's streets and alleys. Everyone along the way fled from him. The village self-defense force was meaningless before a martial artist of this level. People only screamed and desperately ran away from his side.

[To your left.]

Following Jingbao Kui's instructions, Leif kept changing direction.

Jingbao Kui had infiltrated the surveillance network. In the city, it was as though he had revealed the entire map.

Then Leif spoke. "Hey, Brother Enoch up ahead, where are you going?"

Enoch, who had been fleeing for his life, immediately froze.

"Lord Leif..." He desperately tuned his voice toward the parameters of "fawning." "So it was you..."

Though Leif had changed prosthetic bodies, that original face of his...

"My, my, I have never appeared before you in this form, have I?" Leif smiled. "It is just a matter of hot-swapping brains. If you have several prosthetic bodies, you will understand too!"

"I... I am naturally nowhere near your equal, Mr. Leif... I..."

"I need to trouble you again, Enoch." Leif spoke gently. "Can you take poor Mr. Leif to this child's home? I am here to find that martial artist."

"Enoch!" Youji instantly exploded. "You bastard! You told him! You got Mom hurt! It was you! You!"

He kicked and flailed wildly. But Leif merely shook the weapon again, maintaining his balance.

Enoch was startled. "Yulia... What happened to Yulia...?"

"Relax, relax. I heard your love poem. I did not lay a hand on that industrial machine." Leif laughed heartily. "Will you lead the way?"

After hearing that Yulia was unharmed, Enoch relaxed. He stopped thinking about anything else. He did not dare disobey Leif and could only lead the way obediently.

Youji continued shouting curses. "You were the one who pushed Master back then too, weren't you? You bastard! Bastard!"

"Hey, brat." Leif bounced the rod in his hand. "Is this really the time to worry about that?"

"What?"

"Have you not considered why I chose to capture you?" Leif smiled.

Youji's face froze.

Leif burst into laughter.

Youji was merely a bargaining chip in a "deal."

Although neither Leif nor Jingbao Kui believed that the martial artist called "Shan" could match them, they still had to stop Shan from escaping. The Bionic Fist Technique was less aggressive than Leif's staff techniques, but a lightweight prosthetic body held a considerable advantage in long-distance pursuit.

They had seized Youji only to make sure Shan could not leave.

Of course, he had other uses as well.

In the best-case scenario, they intended to use Youji as a hostage and force Shan to accept the implantation of a Trojan horse.

That way, Jingbao Kui could kill Shan at any time.

Soon, Enoch said, "It's just ahead..."

Youji's home was not far from there. Leif looked at the dilapidated shack and shook his head.

A building like this could not provide any effective defense. He had no idea what that Shan was hiding inside for.

—Come to think of it, was he really in there?

The infrared vision of his artificial eyes showed that there was indeed a heat source inside the house, slightly warmer than the surroundings.

He considered whether to use the wind pressure generated by his staff to blast apart the shack, or simply kick down the front door.

"All right, get back." Leif waved a hand, telling Enoch to get lost. Enoch looked at Youji as though he still had something on his mind. But Leif snapped, "What is it? If a fight starts later, I will not be able to look after you."

Enoch jumped and flattered him, "How could that be? How could that 'Yawg' possibly compare to you?"

Though he said that, he still reversed slowly.

And naturally dragged things out for several more seconds.

A moment later, Jingbao Kui sent the signal that he was ready as well.

He had entered within thirty meters. At that range, the Wi-Fi signal was strong enough. His Inner Power could be transmitted through the air without obstruction, using Leif's eyes to perform the technique of "witnessing."

"Good..." Leif muttered, then called toward the door. "Hey, nameless martial artist, you are still in there, right? Now, a fellow of the martial world has come to verify what he has learned with you! Please come out?"

There was no response.

"Oh? You will not show yourself?" Leif called. "Then what happens to this benefactor of yours may be hard to say."

"Master!" Youji shouted from the air. "Don't fall for their trick! I believe you're strong! You just haven't remembered yet! You can escape! Avenge me later! Master! You..."

"Shut up!"

A light tap of the steel rod squeezed the air from his lungs.

Youji, whose internal organs had not yet been replaced, immediately spat blood from his mouth and nose.

"Hey? Are you coming out or not?" Leif shouted.

There was still no movement. The object inside was gradually giving off more heat.

"What the hell?" Leif grabbed Youji in one hand and used his three-meter rod to poke the door. To a natural human, that long rod was nearly like a pillar or a city gate bar, but to him, it was merely a staff at eyebrow height.

The main structure of the house groaned under the strain.

But the person inside still did not emerge.

Yulia, who had barely managed to move closer, was filled with despair.

—If Shan did not save that child even now...

"Tsk. Martial artist, are you trying to tell us, 'This child has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want with him'?" Leif shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. That kind of tactic is not much use against the heroes of Greenwood Road."

He had not determined what the heat source inside the house was, or whether there was a trap, so he did not attack rashly.

Without line of sight, he might not be able to grasp everything about his opponent. On the other hand, the knight inside might have ways to counter him.

Even if he could destroy the house with half a move, he would also be giving up the initiative for half a move.

If the one inside really was an expert, half a move of initiative might be enough to decide life and death.

"Since that is the case..." Leif lifted his steel rod and tossed Youji high into the air. "You brought this on yourself!"

Youji flailed helplessly in midair. Leif had already taken a stance like that of a golfer.

Of course, it was only a threat. He did not intend to kill the child yet. If he did, the bargaining chip would truly lose its value.

At that instant, Youji's house exploded. A silver gleam surged out like flowing water, then gently coiled itself around the steel rod.

—So fast...

That was Leif's first thought.