Chapter Summaries

Enoch returned to the town with news from Leif and accused Xiang Shan of causing the deaths and upheaval around him. As Xiang Shan prepared to confront Enoch, Geliad watched from a distant sniper position and fired a drone-guided attack, convinced he had won.

• Enoch arrived in a modified heavy machine and told Yulia that Geliad had promised to teach him a Military Martial Way.
• Enoch blamed Xiang Shan for the town’s troubles and Leif’s death, while Xiang Shan prepared to fight him.
• Mayor Schultz tried to stop Xiang Shan from killing Enoch, but Xiang Shan spotted a drone overhead and struck it.
• Geliad monitored the town from a garbage mountain seven kilometers away and prepared a Gunfire Way attack.
• Geliad watched Xiang Shan leap into the air and concluded that his attack had succeeded.

Xiang Shan dodged Geliad’s long-range gunfire while trying to protect the mayor and Yulia, then charged toward the sniper. Geliad recognized Xiang Shan as a formidable opponent and prepared to face him in close combat.

• Xiang Shan used supersonic footwork to dodge Geliad’s shots and knock the mayor away, but his attempt to move Yulia only sent him crashing into a garbage heap.
• Xiang Shan evaded more bullets and used the terrain and his stored map to estimate Geliad’s sniping positions.
• Xiang Shan realized Geliad was deliberately targeting civilians to pressure him, and he charged through the battlefield toward the sniper.
• Geliad watched Xiang Shan approach and feared his close-combat skill, but saw defeating him as a chance to prove the Gunfire Way.

Xiang Shan used precise changes in speed, direction, and engine output to evade Geliad’s sniper fire while crossing the junkyard. He disappeared in a dust cloud, then resumed accelerating straight toward Geliad.

• Xiang Shan adjusted his running angle and speed to counter the ground’s resistance and evade Geliad’s bullets.
• Xiang Shan accelerated with his heat engine and ran across a section of battleship armor wreckage.
• Geliad lost track of Xiang Shan and fired bullets around the wreckage to trap his route.
• Xiang Shan crossed the top of the wreckage, dropped to the ground, and used the dust cloud to hide his movements.
• Geliad fired blindly through the dust, then spotted Xiang Shan accelerating toward him over the craters left by his bullets.

Xiang Shan advanced through Geliad’s gunfire, identified his position by catching a bullet, and closed the distance toward a decisive fight. Geliad deployed drones and fired two explosive shells as Xiang Shan approached.

• Xiang Shan used infrared vision and his Martial Arts Algorithm to catch a bullet’s trajectory and determine that the sniper was at position C.
• Xiang Shan sprinted through dust and corrective fire, while Geliad recognized his expertise and released hundreds of drones to prepare the battlefield.
• Xiang Shan spotted Geliad’s heavily armored, tank-like prosthetic body and identified him as the leader of the Green Forest Stronghold’s Z Organization.
• Xiang Shan dodged Geliad’s bullets and accelerated toward the range where close-combat techniques could work.
• Geliad fired two shells at Xiang Shan, who veered away as both shells struck the garbage mountain and exploded.

Xiang Shan charged through Geliad’s explosion and gunfire, using precise martial techniques and prosthetic algorithms to survive and close the distance. He reached Geliad’s blind spot and dropped toward his back for an attack.

• Geliad fired sixteen bullets across Xiang Shan’s path as the explosion’s shock waves swept toward them.
• Xiang Shan deflected several bullets with Inch Force and vibrated another with his fingers, changing its trajectory while losing a finger.
• Xiang Shan entered close range, evaded Geliad’s weapons, and used pressure sensors to locate his internal power system.
• Xiang Shan inferred Geliad’s limited field of vision and moved behind him while the tank fighter searched for him.
• Xiang Shan kicked a piece of iron through the air and fell like a cannonball toward Geliad’s back.

Xiang Shan defeated Geliad after surviving his weapons and uncovering the Demon Cult’s hidden tentacle weapon. He retrieved Geliad’s storage unit and martial arts chip, then reflected on the strange spread of military martial arts in this world.

• Xiang Shan dodged Geliad’s gunfire and used pressurized coolant to repel the metal-particle aerosol.
• Xiang Shan shattered Geliad’s armor with high-frequency vibrations, but pink tentacles burst out and bound him.
• Xiang Shan tore through the tentacles and killed Geliad, then removed his storage unit and martial arts chip.
• Xiang Shan checked for hidden brains and a self-destruct mechanism before approaching Geliad’s body.
• Xiang Shan recognized Geliad’s fighting style as military martial arts and wondered how bandits had gained access to War Path techniques.

Xiang Shan salvaged Geliad’s neural-linked cybernetics and commandeered his drone swarm before confronting Enoch, who destroyed Yulia’s vehicle in a confused frenzy. Xiang Shan stopped Enoch, but the welfare officer arrived with armed guards and blocked him from killing Enoch, leaving Xiang Shan openly defying the official.

• Xiang Shan discovered unusual neural and electronic systems inside Geliad, cleared hidden traps from his drives, and restarted his vehicle body.
• Xiang Shan took control of Geliad’s drone swarm, removed its powerful wireless transmitter, and rigged it to nearby drones for transport.
• Enoch rammed Yulia’s vehicle repeatedly, destroying it, while Youji tried to intervene and the mayor held him back.
• Xiang Shan arrived and stopped Enoch’s charge by removing two driveshafts, then told him to direct his anger and courage properly in another life.
• The welfare officer arrived with around twenty armed guards and ordered Xiang Shan to stop, declaring that Enoch could not be killed while still under protection.
• Xiang Shan mocked the welfare officer’s words as the two faced off.

Xiang Shan rejected the welfare officer’s authority and attacked the Human Gene Bank force, using Iron Blossom and a series of feints to break through its formation. He defeated the welfare officer, removed his chip and storage unit, and left the village chief holding the severed head as he picked up Youji.

• Xiang Shan argued that public authority had failed its duty to uphold justice and called himself the number one thug under heaven.
• The welfare officer identified Xiang Shan as a fundamentalist follower of the Martial Ancestor and ordered his guards to attack.
• Xiang Shan used Iron Blossom to disrupt the guards’ coordination, then fooled the welfare officer with thrown prosthetic eyes and Enoch’s drive shaft.
• Xiang Shan charged through the guards, knocked down twelve of them, and brought the welfare officer to the ground.
• Xiang Shan tore off the welfare officer’s head, removed his chip and storage unit, tossed the head to the village chief, and picked up Youji.

Xiang Shan escaped the village with the gravely injured Youji after hacking a ground-effect aircraft, then treated him while waiting for supplies. Grand Daug tracked Xiang Shan’s trail and set out to kill him, while Youji remained unconscious and dependent on Xiang Shan’s battery.

• Xiang Shan decided to take Youji with him, hacked the welfare officer’s driver chips, and fled the village in the officer’s aircraft as an Inner Power expert attacked through a satellite.
• Missiles destroyed the aircraft after Xiang Shan had jumped out with Youji, and Grand Daug dismissed the wounded welfare officer’s account before tracking the knight-errant’s trail.
• Youji dreamed of his mother and woke to find Xiang Shan keeping his damaged body powered with a cable connected to his own battery.
• Xiang Shan explained that Youji’s lungs and blood loss were critical, and Youji cried before falling asleep again.
• Grand Daug found Geliad’s remains, detected a scent trail, and ran after Xiang Shan.
• Xiang Shan examined the items he had taken from the welfare officer while waiting for the drone and Mule to arrive.

Xiang Shan studied the mismatched technologies in the welfare officer’s and Geliad’s equipment, then modified his prosthetic body with Geliad’s transmitter. With Youji near death and Mule missing, Xiang Shan prepared to search for it and left their shelter.

• Xiang Shan compared the storage devices and software used by the welfare officer, Leif, and Geliad, finding that their technologies came from different eras.
• Drones returned with parts from Geliad and Xiang Shan’s finger, and Xiang Shan installed Geliad’s wireless signal transmitter in place of his exhausted engine.
• Youji woke briefly in tears and then fell unconscious again, so Xiang Shan realized he needed to find water, nutrients, and Mule’s backup battery.
• Xiang Shan concluded that Mule had likely strayed from its route and decided not to risk waiting as their shared battery drained.
• Xiang Shan made a crude land mine, connected solar panels to himself, bound Youji to his back, and set out to search the area where Mule might have wandered.