The Number One Thug Under Heaven

"Fine words, but coming from a dog's mouth, they really are..." Xiang Shan shook his head and sighed. "Hard to put into words."

The welfare officer retorted, "What do you mean by that?"

He truly did not want to clash with Xiang Shan. Intelligence records showed that the "Shan" before him was a monster capable of killing Silver Drive Shaft, proficient in both Inner Power and External Power. He would not be easy to deal with.

"Dealing with Vagrants" was not part of the welfare officer's mandatory duties.

It was precisely because he had anticipated the possibility of a conflict with Xiang Shan that he had brought so much combat power this time.

Martial arts did, after all, suffer from the problem of two fists being unable to defeat four hands. A prosthetic body with only two arms often could not beat one with four, because four arms allowed for more numerous and composed tactical options in combat.

Likewise, if a group of cyborgs could advance and retreat as one—some grabbing legs, some locking waists, some twisting arms—then no matter what martial arts a Vagrant knew, it would be difficult for him to use them.

The dense formations rendered obsolete by gunpowder were precisely the nemesis of martial arts.

The twenty-five guards behind the welfare officer appeared to be standing in a few loose rows, but their positions secretly conformed to a battle formation. The rear guards could quickly fire linked volleys to suppress the enemy, while the front guards could swarm forward and limit the space in which martial arts could be used.

These modified soldiers gave him a little confidence, enough for him to dare hear how Xiang Shan would respond.

In his view, it would naturally be best if negotiations alone could make this Vagrant withdraw.

Yet Xiang Shan merely looked at Enoch's Biological Brain and said, "Indeed, no person should stand above another. If a person has committed a crime, then another person should not be the one to judge him; he should be handed over to the law. But what if the law cannot render a proper judgment?"

The welfare officer sensed something wrong. He discovered that a preset process in his mind had begun to activate.

—This was no ordinary Vagrant...

A wave of terror rose in the welfare officer's heart.

Xiang Shan continued, "Your power—this so-called public authority—was itself formed when everyone gave up part of their private rights and gathered them together. Its original purpose was to prevent people from being trampled upon. But from what I can see, you masters are the ones trampling others!"

At that, Xiang Shan cast the welfare officer a sidelong glance. "In the end, could any of you meet even one of the basic requirements of equality, justice, and rule of law? If you could make me believe that you could achieve those things, I would not mind surrendering without resistance. But unfortunately..."

"Is that why you kill people?" The welfare officer's voice trembled slightly. "Thug!"

"That's right, a thug!" Xiang Shan felt sparks of exhilaration burst through his brain. More of his memories were stirred awake. "I am the number one thug under heaven—because Knight-errantry is violence! It is the violent action of the common people striking back against atrocities!"

As he spoke, Xiang Shan hurled the metal rod in his hand at Leif's Biological Brain with all his strength.

The welfare officer did not hear the rest of Xiang Shan's words. The alarm had already overwhelmed his senses.

"This man is a fundamentalist follower of the Martial Ancestor!" The welfare officer was horrified. "Even after the Eleventh Defeat, there are still fundamentalist believers in the Martial Ancestor!"

The welfare officer hesitated no longer. The founding father of cybernetic martial arts was the greatest terrorist in this world, the source of every upheaval over the past two hundred years.

All fundamentalist Vagrants of the Martial Ancestor's Knight-errantry were enemies that the Human Gene Bank's forces had to eradicate.

At that moment, several shadows were hurled over from afar.

The welfare officer's first reaction was to intercept them. The command traveled as electromagnetic waves, piercing into the guards' preset War Path routines. Several streams of bullets wove into a net, detonating the can-shaped objects in midair. But silver mist, centered on those cans, spread in an instant on the blast wave.

"Iron Blossom?" The welfare officer's heart skipped a beat. Iron Blossom was an extremely common tool used specifically by Vagrants. One reason it was so widespread was that it was easy to make. But no matter how common it was, this little village could not produce it. Xiang Shan should not have had such a thing.

For a martial artist like the welfare officer, one who excelled at military formations, Iron Blossom was highly restraining. Conductive metal particles could refract electromagnetic waves, disrupting his commands and preventing them from being fully transmitted into the guards' bodies.

"But what can Iron Blossom do?" The welfare officer sneered inwardly. If a single Iron Blossom could completely counter military formations, then the system of Military Martial Way would have been cut in half.

The metal-particle aerosol could limit a War Path martial artist's ability to command a military formation with electrical signals, but every soldier in the formation still retained some computing ability. As long as they preset commands upon detecting Iron Blossom, then relied on those commands for limited coordination while fighting and moving beyond the aerosol's coverage, they would be fine.

Before the silver mist descended, ten tongues of fire lashed toward Xiang Shan. Xiang Shan used footwork to dodge repeatedly, until his body was completely concealed by the Iron Blossom.

Only the whistling of wind flickered around the welfare officer.

The welfare officer calmly retreated. At the same time, fifteen guards kept firing in all directions to provide suppressing fire, while the entire unit moved together.

The area covered by the Iron Blossom was not large, only a few dozen square meters. Soon, half the guards had left that range.

The welfare officer also received an extremely faint response signal.

Under such circumstances, he could not borrow the guards' vision and thus could not confirm Xiang Shan's position. But the welfare officer knew that the instant he stepped out of the Iron Blossom was Xiang Shan's best opportunity to attack him.

His mind was intensely focused. The implanted chip adjusted his perception of time. Signals transmitted through metal-based nerves emerged from the chaotic stream of consciousness at that instant.

One step... two steps...

The welfare officer saw sunlight.

—I'm out? He didn't keep pace?

—Is he unfamiliar with War Path martial arts?

At that instant, his vision linked with the cameras of fourteen guards.

But at that very moment, a sharp howl erupted directly ahead. The entire metal-particle aerosol was violently stirred.

About forty centimeters above the ground, a mass of air protruded like a sharp blade. In an instant, the welfare officer imagined a grandmaster of the Bionic Fist Technique advancing with his body held low.

At that instant, two points of red light flashed within the aerosol.

—Prosthetic eyes... Inner Power!

The welfare officer understood immediately. The metal-particle aerosol would also refract infrared signals, but the moment "Shan" charged out of the aerosol's range, he would be able to launch an Inner Power attack against him!

—Too bad. Because you aren't familiar with War Path martial arts, you're about 0.5 seconds too slow...

Now the welfare officer had regained control of the guards' prosthetic bodies. As he leaped backward, eleven guns once again wove together into a linked barrage, cutting off "Shan"'s charging path!

Unexpectedly, "Shan" showed no intention of dodging... No!

Only when the source of the red light flew beyond the aerosol did the welfare officer see that they truly were prosthetic eyes—but they were not on Xiang Shan's body. They were two prosthetic eyes connected to batteries, thrown out by Xiang Shan with concealed-weapon techniques.

And the source of that tremendous whistling through the air was not Xiang Shan himself, but a metal rod spinning like a boomerang—Enoch's drive shaft!

"No!"

At that instant, another terrifying, piercing howl suddenly appeared. Xiang Shan, hidden in the silver mist, abruptly broke the sound barrier, exerted force in an instant, and crashed into the guards' ranks.

When Xiang Shan first dodged, he had not used his full strength, merely to confirm the parameters of these guards' prosthetic bodies. After evading the first wave of gunfire, he had silently stepped into the aerosol, then thrown out the metal rod and prosthetic eyes—he had gouged those eyes out of Geliad. Connected to the battery of a small drone, they could emit a little red light to bluff his enemies.

The guards won through numbers. Their prosthetic bodies were far inferior to Xiang Shan's, which had plundered the parts of many martial artists. They had no time to turn their gun barrels.

The bullets originally aimed at the prosthetic body missed the metal rod. It continued flying low, knocking down the three guards with the best angles of attack.

And Xiang Shan had already slammed into two guards.

At that moment, the welfare officer completely forgot about commands. He saw an unimaginable method of External Power. In that stretched-out span of time, Xiang Shan merely spread his arms leisurely and pushed at the guards. Yet no matter which part of his body collided with them, it instantly destroyed their balance and bounced them a foot into the air. These guards had no Vector Thrusters and could not adjust their posture in midair.

In the welfare officer's eyes, Xiang Shan was like a Martial God, unstoppable!

After sending twelve guards flying, Xiang Shan shifted direction slightly and walked straight toward the welfare officer.

The welfare officer realized that his position blocked the firing lines of the remaining guards. He instinctively sprang backward while rapidly calculating how to rearrange the guards' positions.

But Xiang Shan was faster. The welfare officer's feet had risen less than twenty centimeters from the ground when Xiang Shan stepped down at even greater speed. The welfare officer was slammed to the ground, and the inertia disrupted his stance.

Xiang Shan's right hand thrust out almost simultaneously, piercing the welfare officer's neck.

Thus, the welfare officer's camera was forced to face Xiang Shan's prosthetic eyes.

In that instant, the welfare officer felt it... he saw it...

A terrible will crashed through intangible code and into his chip!

"Ah!" The welfare officer let out a brief scream. The guards around him all convulsed in unison.

The next second, Xiang Shan suddenly exerted force and tore the welfare officer's head from his body!

His spine was ripped apart outright, and even the welfare officer's cerebellum suffered severe damage. The welfare officer wailed in agony while Xiang Shan once more used Inner Power to search for cracks he could infiltrate.

Then the welfare officer's skull sprang open, exposing the brain-machine barrier.

Xiang Shan leisurely removed the chip and storage unit. "Master, don't forget your original duty. Remember to declare protection."

The man tossed the welfare officer's head into the village chief's arms, then bent down and picked up Youji.