Lists, Martial World Rules, and the Mad Hound

"An unknown martial artist from Scrapheap Town, Shan." The secretary bowed slightly. "He was still alive. On the day the welfare officer left, he clashed with two thugs and successfully killed them."

Apennine waited for a moment, then froze. "That's it?"

"Yes." The secretary nodded.

Apennine gestured twice. "I specifically threw Will's prosthetic body over there to attract more thugs and give that Shan some practice. Just one batch? Are our prosthetic bodies that unattractive now?"

"That was not the case." The secretary shook his head. "The two thugs who attacked on the first day seemed to have been quite famous. One was called Leif Sjelett, known in the Greenwood as the 'Silver Drive Shaft.' The other was an Inner Power expert called Jingbao Kui. Though not particularly renowned, he commonly partnered with Leif and used Inner Power eye contact to launch surprise attacks. Xiang Shan wiped them both out in one stroke, causing the weaker thugs to no longer dare go there."

"Hmm? 'Silver Drive Shaft'?" Apennine closed his eyes. "I remember no such name among the 108 Heavenly Fiend and Earth Fiend generals on the Greenwood Tiger List. Not on the Greenwood Tiger List..."

The secretary shook his head. "There were also people the Greenwood Tiger List had not included. Leif Sjelett was the assault captain of the Z Organization and a confidant of Geliad, the Z Organization's leader known as 'Chain Missiles.' Geliad was the Earth Fiend Star ranked ninety-eighth on the Tiger List. He had not been active much in recent years, but intelligence indicated that he was studying drone formation arrays. If that intelligence was true, his ranking might rise several places. As Geliad's confidant, Leif Sjelett should also have the strength to enter the Greenwood Tiger List."

The Greenwood Tiger List, together with the Greenwood Black List, the Martial World Dragon-Phoenix List, and the Martial World Heavenly Ladder List, were all creations of the Civilization Protectors.

Among them, the Greenwood Tiger List and the Martial World Dragon-Phoenix List were regional lists, recording noteworthy martial artists under eighty years old within their respective regions.

Their purpose was to provoke infighting among martial artists beyond their control, plunging the entire martial world into a state of endless competition. Martial artists would focus on one-on-one combat techniques against other people rather than studying the martial arts advocated by the First Patriarch of Martial Arts, which were aimed at autocracy and institutions.

To make these people fight even more fiercely, they would release all the intelligence they had gathered.

This was one of the few free sources of intelligence in this era.

These lists included every member's techniques, battle records, and even killing moves. This was meant to help those listed individuals' enemies better plan methods to deal with them.

Yet even knowing this, those martial artists still fought over their rankings. Even in certain internal matters of the martial world, martial artists used these lists to determine who had the right to speak.

By this point, even powerful figures who had initially been wary of the lists had no choice but to get drawn in.

Honestly, Apennine understood that feeling all too well. He also used certain games from the old era to temper his martial spirit. Those things had rankings across the entire Solar System. Every time he saw his own ranking, he felt a sense of unfairness.

A sense of unfairness was precisely a manifestation of humanity's inherent flaws, one of the curses biological brains had bestowed upon mankind. Countless upheavals had begun because of it.

In the orthodox martial cultivation of the Civilization Protectors, extinguishing the sense of unfairness was a crucial step.

Perhaps it was because he could not extinguish that desire to compete that his father did not favor him—Apennine occasionally thought so.

Apennine was somewhat surprised by this result. "A Greenwood thug who might make the Tiger List, and an Inner Power expert?"

"Yes. Among those Greenwood people, the Language Realm already counted as expert level." The secretary nodded. "The two of them attacked together and were still killed by Shan."

Apennine raised his hand. "Wait... wait. Let me guess. Shan used the Bionic Fist Technique?"

"The standard Bionic Fist Technique: Beast Mimic Way." The secretary spoke respectfully.

"Ha... hahaha! Excellent!" Apennine became excited. "Then Shan truly has exceptional martial talent! Such a talent deserves honor! Secretary, in another twelve hours, that place will be restored to Father's protection list, right? Then we can go..."

"But Young Master Apennine, there is a very serious problem here." The secretary shook his head. "That 'Shan' may be an expert of the Martial World Way."

"The Martial World Way?" Apennine's expression froze. "The Martial World Way? Those lunatics?"

The secretary nodded. "During his confrontation with Jingbao Kui, he displayed powerful Inner Power cultivation. In this regard, he far surpassed Jingbao Kui. Judging by Jingbao Kui's Language Realm level, he may already be an expert of the Compilation Realm or the Assembly Realm."

"How was that possible?" Apennine was startled. "This fellow... the Compilation Realm or Assembly Realm? That is not merely an 'expert in the martial world.' That is an expert. Would an Inner Power expert like that also fall so far as to lose everything?"

"Perhaps it was some form of internal punishment among martial world people? If those martial world people could not accept becoming like this themselves, then their enemies would want even more to turn them into this." The secretary guessed, "I have indeed heard that some organizations in the martial world punish disciples who violate righteousness by 'abolishing their martial arts.'"

Self-mutilation punishments like "three cuts and six holes" held no deterrent power for cyborgs. It merely meant replacing a prosthetic body—unless the blade was driven into the biological brain.

But if the blade entered the biological brain, that meant death.

Thus, martial world people had their own punishments.

"Abolishing one's martial arts" was among the more severe of them.

And abolishing martial arts had different implications. In some cases, it merely meant a sect or organization believed someone's character was improper and wanted to reclaim the martial arts it had taught internally, simply removing the chips and software. In that case, the expelled disciple still had a chance to search online for open-source techniques and become a martial world person again.

But in another case, brain nerve surgery was used to destroy both memories and foundations together.

"So... those stinking rules of the martial world..." Apennine hesitated. "Isn't that a little too roundabout?"

"I do not know. Martial world people have their own logic when they act." The secretary said, "And even more bafflingly, Shan seemed not to have forgotten his Inner Power. In these past days, he even cultivated it again. A knight-errant who possesses Inner Power cannot be subdued."

Apennine nodded. Greenwood thugs could use a shared, frenzied collective memory to brainwash a knight-errant into becoming a thug. But the Civilization Protectors could not use this method. They had no such "shared memory," nor did they advocate any "single torrent of emotion." Besides, Greenwood brainwashing could only merge someone into the Greenwood; it could not make someone fight for any particular person.

There were records of people implanted with Greenwood memories who did not settle down as bandits where they had been indoctrinated. Instead, they slaughtered everyone in that mountain stronghold before going elsewhere to commit evil.

The Greenwood was ultimately still part of the martial world, and its ideals did not clash too severely with the martial world's "kind of freedom."

But the Civilization Protectors' position stood in stark opposition to that of martial world people and even Greenwood people.

Apennine sighed. "Looks like there will be no new subordinate after all. Still, I can harvest a set of high-quality brain lobes..."

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded from a nearby loudspeaker.

"Then, Young Master, could you leave that 'Shan' to this old man?"

Apennine showed a trace of displeasure. "Uncle Alster?"

The secretary's face lacked the ability to display expressions. Yet he too revealed his displeasure.

The newcomer's Inner Power was slightly higher than his. Such blatant intrusion was extremely rude. In the martial world, those thugs might even kill over it.

The door opened without a sound. A black hound as tall as a man walked in.

Alster Grand Daug, a Bionic Fist Technique grandmaster known as the Mad Hound, was skilled in both internal and external cultivation. Though he was merely a dog, he was also one of Apennine's father's most valued subordinates. He used a lightweight beast-type prosthetic body, yet its output was already no weaker than some heavy prosthetic bodies. He excelled at close-quarters killing and hand-to-hand combat. Unless he encountered a martial artist skilled in reconnaissance and Gunlock at long range, he could defeat lower-ranked members of the Greenwood Tiger List in a one-on-one fight.

"Uncle Alster wants to avenge Will?" Apennine found it strange. Alster was no loving father. His martial artist prosthetic body absurdly retained natural reproductive organs, and he had even undergone reverse-aging therapy several times to maintain the vitality of his reproductive system. It was his hobby. Alster Grand Daug had dozens of children. Most received no attention from him, while some with potential for martial arts were taught the Bionic Fist Technique and then made to swear loyalty to the lord.

And Will was one of the unfavored ones.

Otherwise, Will would not have followed him, the lord's unfavored son.

Avenging a son or disciple? That was not something Alster would do.

"No, of course not." The black hound's mouth opened like a mask, revealing the wrinkled face behind it. "For one who practiced martial arts, killing someone or being killed was perfectly normal. Will was inferior in skill. He deserved to die."

"Then..."

"My Bionic Fist Technique was actually broken by a knight-errant who didn't use algorithms. I can't accept that," Alster said. "I'm going to beat him to death. It's that simple."

Apennine's expression grew solemn. "I have already reserved his brain lobes..."

"I do not want the brain lobes. If you want them, Young Master, I will keep an eye on them for you." Alster said. "But I must kill him."

Apennine clenched his fist, then slowly loosened it.

"Fine, I can accept that. Though I am the lord's son, just as Alster Grand Daug does not care about Will, my father may not care about a son like me either. At least until I master the Myriad-Faced Heroes Compendium, I cannot defy him..."

"Then I will depart three hours after the welfare officer sets out." Alster revealed a gloomy smile.

After the dog left, Apennine smashed the sofa with one punch.