Farewell

Xiang Shan opened his eyes. As planned, today was the day the welfare officer would come to announce the restoration of shelter.

It was also the day he planned to leave this town.

Now that that inexplicable turmoil had passed, there was little point in him staying here. Besides, although he did not remember who he was, he could at least be certain that he had once been a notorious rebel. Simply remaining somewhere under official surveillance made him uncomfortable.

He had to leave, head into the wilderness.

Xiang Shan's prosthetic body had changed again compared to half a month ago. The outer armor damaged in his fight with Leif had been reforged. This time, its lines were slimmer, but its chest and back were bulkier than before, clearly packed with new machinery. The entire outer armor had been painted matte black. His lower body still had one artificial-muscle leg, built for reverse-jointed walking. His hands had also been taken from Blademan Longconi, though they had been painted to match the outer armor.

That was not for aesthetics or "stylistic consistency." Xiang Shan was not yet in a position to care about such things. It was mainly to guard against the Space-Based Weapon Satellites overhead.

Over these past few days, he had gazed up at the starry sky more than once. With the support of the driver chips from three martial artists, his prosthetic eyes could finally operate at higher power. With their assistance, he had found many celestial bodies moving through the sky at unnatural speeds—those were "artificial satellites."

Judging by their numbers, the density of artificial satellites in this era had already reached its limit. Xiang Shan estimated that the orbit was packed solid with artificial objects.

They were all "eyes" floating in the sky.

He did not know how precise the optical scans of this era could be, but matte black was always harder to spot than gleaming silver metal.

A martial artist had to know how to deal with such things.

Inner Power could invade an enemy's terminal devices through electromagnetic signals, disrupt them, or even seize control. But with the power output of this humanoid prosthetic body, no matter what electromagnetic frequency Xiang Shan used, he could not directly send his Inner Power into space.

He could not use Inner Power to disable the surveillance of orbital satellites tens of thousands of miles away.

Unless he could gain control of a transmitter powerful enough.

And beyond "surveillance," there was also "an attack that could arrive at any moment."

According to Xiang Shan's memories, the only restriction on Space-Based Weapons was that they "might damage important property." If a martial artist was discovered in the wilderness, then what awaited him would be concentrated fire from Space-Based Weapon Satellites.

Xiang Shan looked around. The elderly and disabled people around the scrap-parts collection bins were all huddled in corners as if they had crashed. Afraid that they might offend the welfare officer, the mayor had shut down their prosthetic bodies in advance, putting them into a state of suspended death. Xiang Shan felt rather uncomfortable about this practice. In the past era, the function of "shutting down a prosthetic body" could not be authorized to another person. Only "the biological brain directly connected to the prosthetic body" could command its moving parts to shut down through neural signals. But in this era, such things seemed commonplace.

Xiang Shan swept his eyes over another machine in the corner. Infrared signals from his prosthetic eyes penetrated that machine. Then, it shakily rose to its feet.

It was a quadrupedal machine nearly two meters tall. Xiang Shan had dismantled the components of Leif's prosthetic leg, then modified its power structure onto a frame he had commissioned the village chief to make. The machine was simply four legs carrying a rectangular tabletop, with two prosthetic eyes at the very front.

Longkoni's driver chip had been installed in a small metal box beneath those prosthetic eyes.

Xiang Shan had given this thing the chassis designation "Mule." Mule was a pack-beast robot.

Though tires were vastly more efficient than such outdated structures as legs on level ground, tires had difficulty crossing complex terrain. Under those circumstances, multi-legged robots still had their uses.

This thing would be responsible for carrying what remained of Leif, Paulus, Longkoni, and Jingbao Kui's inheritance. It was also, in itself, a "spare prosthetic body."

No words were needed. Xiang Shan only had to stare into Mule's prosthetic eyes to issue the command to "follow."

He walked out through the gate. The street was quiet, without a single person in sight. Only at the other end of town was dust rising into the air. Clearly, the residents had gathered in the square again, waiting for the welfare officer's arrival.

Xiang Shan looked in that direction twice.

Well, that little guy had not come after all.

Xiang Shan shook his head. There was no reasoning with a child throwing a tantrum.

After walking a few steps, he quickly reached the other end of town. This side was a raw-material stockpile. Beyond it lay the dump that the residents depended on for survival. Xiang Shan planned to leave from this direction, cross the ruins of the battlefield, and head into the wilderness where almost no townsfolk had ever gone.

Standing at the edge of the dump, Xiang Shan turned around and looked at Recycling Station Town.

"Damn, damn it. It's obviously such a lousy place, yet I'm actually a little reluctant to leave." Xiang Shan shook his head. "I need to find more of my memories somehow. Otherwise, I'll start thinking every piece of scrap metal is some kind of treasure..."

At that moment, a plume of dust rapidly approached. Perhaps someone had come looking for him. Xiang Shan withdrew the foot he had stepped forward with.

Before long, Yulia appeared in Xiang Shan's field of vision. A strip of cloth was tied to her rearview mirror. The mayor was clinging to the side of her cargo bed.

Xiang Shan found this rather strange. "Ms. Yulia? Mr. Mayor? Why have the two of you come?"

He truly was surprised. At this time, the town's residents should all have been welcoming the welfare officer.

The mayor hunched his shoulders and said awkwardly, "We merely came to see you off, righteous hero. You have been in our town for so long, and you have helped our town greatly..."

Yulia got straight to the point. "I asked the mayor to come with me. You told Youji that, before you left, there was something he absolutely had to return to you. I do not have a prosthetic hand convenient for picking things up, so I had no choice but to bring the mayor along."

The mayor removed the item tied to Yulia's rearview mirror. It was a piece of synthetic-fiber fabric, containing a driver chip.

It was Youji's spare chip. Xiang Shan had made some modifications to it, blocking certain ports for external interference.

This was also something Xiang Shan had done to keep his own secrets. His original intention had been that, if he wanted to teach his apprentice something real, he would have to find a way to free him from potential surveillance. But this thing was equivalent to telling those in power, "I'm a rebel." So Xiang Shan had told Youji long ago that if they were separated, Youji would have to destroy that chip himself.

It seemed that Youji had at least remembered this.

"A child throwing a tantrum..." Xiang Shan glanced at Yulia and the mayor.

It seemed Yulia did not completely trust the mayor. Youji himself had probably tied the item to Yulia's rearview mirror. She had not handed it over to the mayor, perhaps because she feared that he would secretly keep the chip for himself, and that such an act might implicate both her and Youji. But she had also clearly been afraid that the chip would fall off along the way, that she would be unable to pick it up, and that she would ultimately offend Xiang Shan, this "violent thug."

"Why go to so much trouble? I only said that it would be best not to let anyone inspect this thing. If there was a risk of inspection, you could just destroy it yourselves."

As he spoke, Xiang Shan connected the chip to the port on his wrist and formatted it.

He tossed the chip to the mayor. "That will do."

"Ha ha..." The mayor smiled cautiously. "Will the righteous hero not stay a few more days?"

"No. The town did me a favor. I helped you repel a wave of thugs, then protected you for so many days. That counts as repaying your kindness." Xiang Shan shook his head. "Next, I have some matters of my own to handle."

The mayor was greatly alarmed. "That is not what we meant..."

Xiang Shan ignored the old man and turned to Yulia instead. "Ma'am, tell that boy Youji that I have been deeply disappointed by his performance these past few days. Understand? Deeply disappointed! Knowledge is the most precious thing in this world. I have always only regretted that there was not enough time to teach everything I know. When someone has the chance to learn but cannot absorb it, criticism is necessary."

Yulia remained silent for so long that Xiang Shan began to wonder whether she simply did not want to speak to him. Only after quite a while did her speaker emit a voice. "Not allowing Youji to come was my decision. Please do not make things difficult for my son."

Xiang Shan laughed. "I do not think I will have another chance to make things difficult for your son. I truly am leaving."

Only then did Yulia relax slightly. She really had been quite afraid of such things.

If Xiang Shan bore any ill intentions toward her and Youji, the mother and son would have no way to resist.

"It seems that you truly like Youji..." Yulia said.

"After all, he dug me out of the dump, and at present, he is my only apprentice." Xiang Shan waved a hand.

Yulia thought for a moment, then asked, "Then, is the knowledge you taught Youji really all very important?"

Xiang Shan nodded. "I think that if he does not stray from the path, then many years from now, he should be able to live a little more like a human being—though it would be fine if he forgot."

A gust of wind swept in. The sand and dust sent visibility plummeting. Xiang Shan glanced back and saw the familiar ground-effect vehicle already on the horizon. He nodded. "It is time to go."

Of course, a great hero ought to walk into the wind and sand with something skewered on a long spear, slowly vanishing from sight.

Yulia started the engine [this was probably some sort of ritual Xiang Shan could not understand] and said to Xiang Shan, "Thank you for teaching my child. Shan, I hope everything goes smoothly for you..."

"No, that is impossible."

At that moment, another voice cut into the conversation.