"You must remember: the natural flesh is the lowliest thing."
A massive Austrian Black and Tan Hound berated them like this: "Martial arts are easy to practice, and hard to practice. They are easy because you only need to entrust everything to machines. They are hard because, to master them, you must transcend what you were born with and attain true freedom!"
Such an image surfaced in his mind.
What familiar rhetoric...
The man thought to himself. In "his"—Xiang Shan's—past, there should have been someone who had said something similar, right?
Sure enough, faint bioelectric currents stirred within his brain. It seemed some memories were being awakened once more.
But what rose to the surface of his consciousness now was not Xiang Shan's memory.
This memory belonged to Will Grand Dog. It was a scene of his father teaching him and his siblings.
That enormous hound had not taught Will any moves or stances. Those had already been implanted into Will's prosthetic body together with the Martial Arts Algorithm.
They had merely sparred continuously, strengthening their application of the Bionic Fist Technique through actual combat and synchronizing the Biological Brain, Martial Arts Algorithm, and prosthetic body.
Convolutional computation was already a highly mature concept. Based on long-term records, a prosthetic body could also optimize itself to a certain extent.
The Biological Brain also had to form neural circuits compatible with the Martial Arts Algorithm.
And the Martial Arts Algorithm had to be continuously written with entirely new strategy sets in response to the Biological Brain and prosthetic body.
This was how cyborgs cultivated martial arts.
There was no point in someone repeatedly practicing a single set of punches. The "procedural memory" stored in the brain—what people usually called "muscle memory"—had an entirely negligible influence on the body. Cyborgs neither needed nor could improve their physical capabilities through exercise. The "practice" of martial arts was completely meaningless.
Cyber martial arts had only "combat application."
A cyborg's martial path likewise had only actual combat.
This was no pleasant memory. Just reading it made Xiang Shan feel slightly nauseated.
But there was no choice. Xiang Shan needed to absorb the canine warrior's memories.
He did not remember this sort of thing very clearly. Let alone the fact that he was not an expert in brain neuroscience—besides, neuroscience alone could be subdivided into countless fields—even if he were, he would have no way of grasping the state of this era.
Just how far had this era's information technology advanced? Had the principles of "emotion" been explained? Could code that produced "feelings" be created?
He did not know.
But even in the era he remembered, abruptly reading another person's memory storage device was an extremely dangerous thing.
A person's thoughts were ultimately influenced by "experience." From this perspective, the personality trait known as "character" might simply have been the result of convolutional computation over one's "experiences."
Reading another person's memory storage device would affect one's own consciousness to a certain degree. Such effects were often unpredictable.
If a person possessed enough experiences of his own, of sufficient quality, if his past life had been brilliant enough to far surpass the memories being read, then those memories might not have much impact.
But if the reverse were true, then it was over.
And Xiang Shan happened to be in a state of total memory loss.
This was bad.
But Xiang Shan had no room to hesitate. In the end, he could only follow the method within those memories, deliberately engaging in specific thoughts and activating specific areas of his brain to resist that influence.
This was a scientific Visualization Method designed after electrodes had been implanted into the Biological Brain, through constant observation of "how the brain discharged when thinking about a particular object." It shared the same origin as the seed of Inner Power, but its effects were limited to "visualization."
If the memories he faced were vast enough, then no matter how skilled he was at visualization, he could not avoid the disaster of having his personality overwritten.
Yet Xiang Shan needed to absorb this portion of the memories. His understanding of this era was simply too limited.
He could trust Youji. But Youji was only an ordinary child. He did not know many hidden secrets.
Xiang Shan had to understand this bizarre era.
It was just that...
This dog's memories were truly revolting.
After "abandoning protection" under his father's arrangements at the age of ten, this creature had lived in an "inhuman" manner ever since.
Why... Cybernetic prosthetics were clearly developed so humans could escape disease and suffering, so they could conquer extreme environments... Why was this technology used to create people wearing dog skins?
That nameless fury again.
Xiang Shan was nearly forced out of his meditative state by that emotion.
Then, distant gunfire startled him.
It was a burst of automatic fire. It was followed by a faint, muffled sound.
The gunfire stopped.
That was not something the mayor's automatic rifle could have produced. Xiang Shan quickly judged that something had happened in town.
Through the wall, he could faintly hear chaotic sounds outside.
"That kid... I hope he can get back in time." Xiang Shan sighed, suppressing the "memories of Will" that kept surging through his mind as he began installing his legs.
Part of the reason he had nurtured Youji was that he truly needed a trustworthy assistant. But that did not mean he could not function without one.
The leg installation had already reached its final stage. All that remained had been installation and actual testing.
I hope the field test doesn't turn into a combat test...
Xiang Shan thought this. Although the legs had already been calibrated while connected to the medical terminal, he had yet to link them to his own nervous system.
Untyped Language could make it harder for others to hack into him to a certain extent, but this was the price he had to pay—where a bug might appear in Untyped Language, or what kind of bug it might be, was impossible to predict.
Let alone him, even that godlike hacker from his memories... that godlike programmer... whoever it was... would not dare claim that his code contained absolutely no bugs.
This was determined by the mathematical level of human civilization.
But if a bug truly appeared in prosthetic control, especially in battle, it would be fatal.
Xiang Shan swiftly fitted both legs into the sockets prepared at the roots of his thighs, securing circuit after circuit, installing components, tightening screw after screw...
No step could be skipped. Sometimes, whether a single screw was fully tightened could decide a Vagrant's life or death.
Faster... faster...
The Bionic Fist Technique is one of the oldest forms of boxing. It is said to date back even to the era of the Martial Ancestor...
Don't panic. This screw...
The lords are powerful people who have proven themselves. They are... extensions of will...
Almost there...
Will's memories turned into a mental demon. Outside, clamor and the sound of metal striking metal intermingled. Xiang Shan could barely tell which were distracting stray thoughts and which were real.
Then came another tremendous crash.
A building not far away collapsed.
This was followed by the roar of an object tearing through the sound barrier.
A thunderous boom.
Faster...
Then, the noise outside vanished.
Xiang Shan keenly sensed that something was approaching this place.
Have they found me?
The essence of the Bionic Fist Technique lies in...
Are they coming for me?
Then a voice came from outside the door. "Hey, nameless warrior, you're still in there, right? Fellow martial artists have come to compare what they've learned with you! Please come out!"
Xiang Shan tried to reduce his power supply as much as possible, lowering the heat he generated.
He suddenly realized that this integrated outer armor was truly pathetic. It had no vacuum layer, no reflective inner lining, and no way to conceal his thermal signature...
Ah, no... If it had that kind of outer armor, it would need a better cooling system to match...
The best cooling systems could even serve as a kind of weapon... At the right moment, spraying boiling coolant from the acupoints could mislead thermal-tracking equipment...
He had to buy time. There was still a retaining ring at the joint that needed to be tightened.
Such a thought flashed through Xiang Shan's mind.
But the next words came from outside.
"Oh? Not coming out? Then what happens to this benefactor of yours may be hard to say."
Then came Youji's voice. The boy only managed half a hysterical sentence before Xiang Shan could not even make it out. Immediately afterward came a muffled groan.
What happened?
Xiang Shan's artificial eyes seemed to have read his intent. His vision began expanding, bringing a broader spectrum into his field of sight.
Humans considered something opaque because light could not pass through it.
But in reality, different electromagnetic waves possessed different penetrating power. If certain aliens could not see visible human light but could see X-rays, then wood would appear as crystal-clear as glass to them.
Xiang Shan's vision passed through the house.
He saw the hulking man provoking him.
Xiang Shan wanted to say that he "felt suffocated," but he truly did not need lungs to breathe now.
Such a massive prosthetic body... that kind of output...
But that thought was overwritten by the next.
No, that's not right... Martial arts themselves can overturn the gap in combat power created by the mere accumulation of numbers... That is why martial arts were designed...
"Hey? Are you coming out or not?"
The hulking man seemed to be urging him. Faster...
Xiang Shan's prosthetic hand spun at nearly its maximum speed, tightening the screw.
The screw nearly threw sparks against the fastener.
"What the hell?" In Xiang Shan's sight, the hulking man poked the door with a long staff.
Dust shook loose and sprayed directly into Xiang Shan's eyes.
Almost there...
"Tsk, warrior, are you trying to tell us, 'This kid has nothing to do with me. Do whatever you want with him'?" Leif shook his head and clicked his tongue. "Tsk tsk tsk tsk, that sort of tactic isn't very useful against heroes of Greenwood Road like us, you know?"
He tossed Youji high into the air, assuming a posture like a golfer's.
"Sizzle!"
A brief sound rang out.
A crack burst across the screwdriver's handle.
Current surged from the battery and flowed into his legs.
At the same time, he shielded his vulnerable eyes with both hands.
Then, everything around him lit up.
By the time his surface consciousness caught up to his movements, he had already charged out of the house.
The enormous steel staff was right before him. Xiang Shan stretched out both hands and hooked onto it, then drove his legs against the ground. Amid flying dust, his entire body spiraled upward along the steel pole!