Killing Intent

"What the hell is this?" Xiang Shan tore apart the tentacles with an expression of utter bewilderment.

Then he saw something astonishing.

Inside every tentacle were thick nerve bundles. This was a very typical cephalopod trait. Mammals had evolved a protective layer called the "myelin sheath," greatly increasing the speed at which neural signals traveled. Non-mammals lacked this structure, but they still had certain ways of strengthening their nervous systems. Cephalopods had taken an entirely different path—they made their nerves thicker.

The formula for electrical resistance was R = (ρ*l)/s, where ρ was resistivity. Once the conductor was determined, so was this parameter. With the same conductive material, the smaller the cross-sectional area, the greater the resistance. Cephalopods reduced resistance by increasing the cross-sectional area of their nerves, allowing neural signals to travel at speeds more than half again as fast as those of humans. At the same time, they optimized their neural structure, forming independent centers of thought inside their tentacles.

The tentacles inside Geliad retained this function.

What was even stranger was that it was not just the tentacles. Geliad's back contained numerous electronic components tangled together with neurons extending from the tentacles.

"What... what the hell is this?" Xiang Shan was dumbfounded. "There's actually... a method like this?"

Xiang Shan pulled out all the tentacles. As expected, their neural structures were directly linked to the brain.

"What kind of setup is this..." Xiang Shan fell into confusion once more. His memories contained no trace of it. This was absolutely not modification technology that had existed in his era.

But this did not seem like the time to investigate it further.

Xiang Shan ripped several wires out of Geliad's body and plugged them into the data port on his wrist, carefully using his formidable Inner Power to contact the residual drives inside Geliad.

In his era, masters of powerful Inner Power could plant "gu" within another person's body. Geliad's own Inner Power might have been mediocre, but who knew whether an expert had planted some hidden trap in his drives—something even Geliad himself might not have known about.

Xiang Shan truly had plenty of experience with this. He knew that quite a few capable fighters had died while "looting corpses," never even learning what had done them in.

His powerful Inner Power, an extension of Xiang Shan's will, surged into Geliad's mechanical body. Geliad had undergone extensive cybernetic modification, and the modules controlling his movement were relatively independent. Even after Xiang Shan dug out the chips related to martial arts, the lower half that had transformed into a vehicle could still move independently.

Xiang Shan quickly cleared out dozens of hidden traps, then overwrote part of the drives. The electric engine inside Geliad restarted.

Xiang Shan continued dismantling the armor. He found a fairly decent component on Geliad's back—a wireless signal transmitter. This was the part Geliad used to control his drone swarm. Jingbao Kui had a similar one on him, but its power output was far lower than Geliad's. Geliad could even issue commands directly to drones several kilometers away.

This was probably an essential cybernetic component for snipers in this era.

Xiang Shan did not currently have the means to maintain drones, but this thing had other marvelous uses in the hands of an Inner Power master.

With this, Xiang Shan's formidable Inner Power could finally wound enemies from hundreds of yards away.

There was simply no time to install it into his body right now.

Xiang Shan activated his Inner Power, hacked into the wireless transmitter, and took over Geliad's remaining drone swarm.

Then he fell silent for several minutes.

Xiang Shan tore open Geliad's armor, removed the wireless transmitter whole, and summoned several nearby drones. He casually ripped a few wires from Geliad's body and tied the transmitter onto the drones.

During the process, he did not forget to pick up the fingers that had been sheared off by bullets.

Xiang Shan could not help sighing. This method of transport was not reliable. These drones had limited memory, so he could not write overly complicated automated control programs for them. Besides, satellite positioning systems in this era seemed to have been rendered obsolete by electronic sextants due to inadequate secrecy. He had no idea whether this thing's navigation system was reliable over longer distances.

If it got lost along the way, the losses would naturally be enormous.

But he truly had no time to modify himself now.

There was still one person who had to die.

"Ohhhhhhh! Yulia! Yulia!" Enoch roared wildly, frantically accelerating and turning his vehicle, repeatedly reversing and charging forward to ram into the rear cargo bed of Yulia's vehicle.

He wanted to shove his bumper into the exhaust pipe of that heavy engineering machine. He wanted to thrust his driveshaft into the spare tire of that heavy machine.

He wanted their circuits to connect.

He wanted...

He wanted...

He wanted the two machines to become a pile of scrap metal together!

He wanted the two brains to become a lump of protein!

To stay together forever! Never to be separated again!

"Yulia! I love you! Love you! I love you!" Enoch's impassioned male howl, filtered through the noise reduction of his voiceprint package, sounded incomparably clear.

"You bastard... urgh..." Five meters away, Youji coughed up blood and tried to rush over, only to be firmly held down by the mayor.

That series of explosions had just drawn the attention of some townspeople. Youji realized that this was the direction his master had planned to leave by, so he came along as well. Then he saw a scene that left him shocked and helpless. That bastard Enoch was desperately ramming himself into his mother. Youji wanted to rush over, but Enoch merely reversed once and sent him flying five meters.

But by then, Enoch had completely forgotten about killing anyone, so he did not run him over.

Youji tried to get up again, only for the mayor to hold him down.

The mayor knew very well that Youji was already severely injured. More of his internal organs would definitely need replacing. If Leif struck him again at a time like this, the child would truly be doomed.

But Enoch soon stopped.

"That's not right..." Enoch muttered in confusion. "It's not supposed to be like this, it doesn't feel like this. Why... why? Why, why, why, why!"

He rammed Yulia's cargo bed viciously. Yulia's beloved engineering-machine body was smashed into two pieces.

"Why?! It shouldn't feel like this! Why?!"

Enoch had no sense of touch. He had not experienced any "touch" since he was a little over ten years old. In a village like this, many people retained some portion of their natural bodies even in old age. And martial cybernetic bodies capable of feeling touch were beyond anything Enoch could imagine.

He did not know where the problem lay.

Enoch only felt that this was completely unlike his instincts.

I must be insane...

I must have been insane from the first injection of testosterone...

At that moment, a figure slowly walked in from outside the village.

"Pitiful thing."

Though it came from a cheap vocalizer, the countless crackles in that angry shout revealed the speaker's fury.

Xiang Shan said, "You should be freed too."

He glanced at Yulia's front section. Geliad's bullet had torn through the brain-machine barrier. Her Biological Brain was damaged beyond saving.

He could roughly guess where the problem lay.

The cybernetic body had clashed with instinct, and Enoch had received no education or psychological counseling. He did not know how to deal with the contradiction between spirit and flesh.

Cybernetic modification was supposed to conquer every disease...

Xiang Shan thought to himself.

Then white light filled his vision.

It was Enoch. For some reason, Enoch suddenly charged at Xiang Shan like a madman.

Xiang Shan did not dodge. Youji let out a mournful cry.

But the next second, Enoch's entire body lost balance and rolled sideways three times. Two tires flew away.

Xiang Shan, meanwhile, stood up as if nothing had happened, two driveshafts still in his hands.

In that flash, he had dropped flat to the ground, slipped beneath Enoch's vehicle, and removed Enoch's two driveshafts.

The dust around Enoch gradually settled. The enormous truck whimpered as though crying.

"I must be insane."

Xiang Shan walked over to Enoch's front section and said, "If there is another life, direct your anger and courage in the right direction. Be a person."

Just as he was about to hurl the iron bar in his hand, a bullet struck beside the edge of his foot.

The welfare officer stepped out from the crowd and shouted, "Riotous criminal, stop right there!"

Xiang Shan still held the iron bar raised, but he halted and looked at the welfare officer.

This time, the welfare officer had brought around twenty personal guards. Their heads resembled cameras, their faces consisting of huge lenses. Those lenses provided excellent optical vision. They held firearms in their hands.

Military Martial Way? Their realm is the Ten-Machine Drill, and their martial art should be the Gunlock Formation...

The mayor threw himself in front of the welfare officer. The welfare officer had come today to announce the beginning of protection. Nothing could go wrong. Yet before the mayor could speak, the welfare officer reached out and gripped his shoulder. His cybernetic eye flashed red, and the mayor found himself unable to speak.

The welfare officer had already extracted a rough account of the situation from the mayor's chip records. He had noticed the distant battle from his ground-effect aircraft; now he was merely confirming it.

He sneered. "Riotous criminal, stop! Enoch's crimes have already been reported. If the account is true, he will not receive protection. But I came today to announce again that this town is under protection. Before this man is stripped of that protection, I will not allow you to kill him."

"Oh? So now you decide to show up, my lord?" Xiang Shan smiled.

Though he called him "my lord," there was not the slightest respect in his voice. For some reason, the welfare officer instead felt as though he were being mocked.

The welfare officer snorted. "People should not judge people. Stop this violence, and then you..."

"Damn." Xiang Shan suddenly sighed. "Fine words, but coming out of a dog's mouth, they really are..."