Chapter 21: A Chip Suppresses the Niwan Palace, Hence My Fate Is No Longer My Own

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Xiang Shan nodded solemnly at his own handiwork and said seriously to Youji, “Apprentice, you must remember this: this chip might be what separates you from ordinary people… If, and I mean if, someday you and I part ways, and someone tries to inspect your drive chip, it’s better to format this chip than to let them catch it, understand?”

Youji nodded somewhat uncertainly. “Is it that serious?”

“If they find this, they’ll immediately think you might be someone… who has willingly given up your protection.” Xiang Shan patted Youji’s head. “If one day you no longer want to follow me, I’ll help you reset the chip. It’s entirely your choice.”

Youji asked with curiosity, “Master, does this chip have some big secret?”

“Not the time to tell you yet.” Xiang Shan shook his head. “Only when you truly set out with me on the path of chivalry will I explain it to you.”

—Otherwise, you would have to live your whole life in fear.

While Youji worked on his exercises, Xiang Shan not only rewrote the terminal system but also worked overtime to prioritize completing the firewall.

The “firewall” in cyber martial arts is akin to the “dantian” in traditional martial arts—it is the origin of all internal energy. The extent to which a swordsman controls the computer reflects the realm of their internal power.

Xiang Shan couldn’t recall what level his internal power was in the past, but he knew it was probably not low.

The only problem was that he currently lacked a chip capable of unleashing such powerful internal energy.

“Master, did the mayor tell you anything?” Youji asked, probably bored and trying to change the subject.

Xiang Shan opened his eyes and nodded. “Maybe something will happen in about half a month.”

He had to regain some combat ability before that time.

“That’s after the welfare officer arrives, right?” Youji quickly realized and became a bit nervous. “The mayor doesn’t mean they might actually cancel our protection, does he?”

Xiang Shan shook his head. That was hard to say.

Youji’s biological parts trembled slightly.

“What would you do if that happened?” Xiang Shan asked Youji.

Youji thought for a moment. “Master, you’re a swordsman, right?”

Xiang Shan looked at him. “And?”

Due to potential surveillance, he didn’t answer directly.

“Then we’d go to the wilderness… you’d take me and Mom!” Youji’s tone held a hint of pleading. “A swordsman must know how to survive in the wild and avoid ordinary bandits!”

Xiang Shan considered for a moment. “Hmm, that might not be a bad idea. If I can gather the relevant knowledge within these two weeks, I’ll copy it to you.”

“Master?” Youji was somewhat puzzled.

“If you find it scary, you can indeed hide it.” Xiang Shan nodded. “That would be a wise decision.”

“Then Master, what about you…”

“If I were to leave directly…” Xiang Shan hesitated. “I don’t know why. I know leaving might be the safest choice. But my instinct tells me that at this moment, if I do nothing and just leave, then I wouldn’t be myself.”

Xiang Shan couldn’t remember who he was before or how strong he had been. Now, he had only a brain and a crude prosthetic body. Facing unknown powerful enemies, “running away” might be the right choice.

But…

—Martial arts were created precisely for situations like this…

—It is a discipline that, even if only one person remains, even when facing unknown powers, can instantly reverse the balance of strength…

—Its very design is for this purpose. It is a technique to resist the tyranny of the strong.

It is a technique to protect the weak.

His heart told him this.

Before long, Xiang Shan completed the reconstruction of Will’s prosthetic drive chip.

He handed the chip to Youji and said calmly, “Youji, help me connect this chip to my biological brain.”

Only with this chip installed could he truly become a swordsman again.

Become the person he once was.

Youji was a little nervous.

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Soon, a sensation that could only be described as “divine possession” descended upon Xiang Shan.

Although Xiang Shan always said computers were mere tools, and their capabilities never surpassed human ability,

The reason humans create tools is because “increased efficiency” itself constitutes a qualitative leap.

What Xiang Shan described—the leap from a Turing machine to something beyond it, to something above the human brain—is another level of transcendence, akin to the journey from human to god.

For example, an ordinary iron shovel only slightly improves efficiency over bare hands in digging. But this increase in efficiency has had a profound impact on civilization—mass adoption of iron farming tools is a hallmark of any advanced civilization.

Moreover, transferring damage from the human hand to a non-living metal tool is itself an act of liberation.

Computers are similar. They replace humans’ paper-and-pen calculations, but humans shift the computational burden from the “brain” to energy—energy stored hundreds of millions of years ago in plants as solar power, energy driven by planetary gravity moving water, energy released by stellar fusion.

Calculations a computer finishes in a second might take a human a day, a month, or even a year to complete by hand and pen.

That is the power of tools.

After implanting Will’s drive chip, Xiang Shan’s work efficiency increased significantly.

He could now build more detailed blueprints in his mind and store them directly in the chip. He could consume electricity and call on computational resources to calculate more precise parameters.

In the following days, Xiang Shan explained the meaning behind his recent actions to his disciple while reconstructing his prosthetic body.

Time was tight. He had to complete his new prosthesis before the welfare officer’s announcement.

On the third day, he instructed Youji to deliver a set of parameters to the mayor.

By the fifth day, the village chief sent some items.

Among them was an outer armor. This armor closely resembled a natural human torso—about an inch thick and weighing a hundred pounds. There was also a support frame to hold the armor so it wouldn’t hinder movement.

This armor wasn’t the type warriors usually used. It greatly restricted torso mobility. But Xiang Shan still didn’t have a movable spine; his torso was already immobile. The power units salvaged from the canine-type prosthesis were sufficient to support this armor, so he chose this design.

Also delivered were two brand-new alloy leg bones.

Next, he needed to reconstruct the topology of the artificial muscles.

These artificial muscles were certainly not shaped like natural muscles. Natural evolutionary anatomy had many inefficiencies—like the Cambrian fauna’s haphazard neural networks, many of which were asymmetrical, unlike the nearly perfect bilateral symmetry shaped by natural selection in modern animals.

This early biological state greatly limited the intellectual development of most species.

Ancestors of vertebrates, due to niche competition, lost the older neural systems inherited from Cambrian ancestors, retaining only a major nerve in the tail. As environments changed and these creatures sought to occupy other niches, this single nerve evolved into a whole new nervous system capable of supporting bilateral symmetry.

This was the origin of the vertebrate spine.

However, such “destruction before construction” stories are rare in evolutionary history. Most of the time, evolution follows a trend of “once lost, functions do not reappear.”

Of course, species rarely lose functions lightly. If a trait doesn’t affect survival to reproductive age, it won’t be eliminated—evolution cannot rid humans of old age diseases because they don’t impact reproduction. In nature, few live to old age.

Thus, many “largely useless but harmless in youth” evolutionary remnants or “historical baggage” accumulate in organisms.

Perhaps, when the environment changes again, they serve as a kind of evolutionary buffer—a reasonable strategy given the unpredictability of the future.

But artificial prostheses are not designed to cope with “unknown futures,” but for “specific purposes.”

It would be foolish to replicate natural prostheses with their many redundancies when designing artificial ones.

The canine-type prosthesis muscles are easier to exert force and better match the new bionic martial arts variants.

But this was not the martial art Xiang Shan was familiar with.

He needed to use these existing muscle fibers, discharge connectors, and new leg bones to design the muscle fiber connections, creating a prosthesis suited to him.

“Not difficult.” Xiang Shan told himself. “Merely a problem of topological geometry.”

Well, he had to admit, this was actually the hardest part.

It involved millions of artificial muscle fibers, discharge devices, and circuit layouts.

After calculation, other challenges awaited.

Without professional repair equipment, he and his disciple had to assemble everything themselves.

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The only consolation was that artificial muscle fibers were replaceable. High-intensity use would cause overheating, aging, and breakage. These artificial materials lacked self-repair ability and had to be replaced.

All muscle fibers fell into just three standardized types.

As long as the fiber ends were near a discharger, the discharger could emit electromagnetic force to connect the fibers’ ends to the correct circuits.

It was indeed a fine design.

At least, Xiang Shan thought such convenience was rare in his familiar era.

Soon, two legs gradually took shape.

During this process, Xiang Shan reconstructed his body’s framework. Without a spine as the core, he needed more space for control circuits and had to consider heat dissipation.

Regardless, he installed the heat engine and battery salvaged from Will into his chest.

Meanwhile, he did not waste the remaining parts from Will. He gradually replaced old components in his prosthetic arms and optimized them further.

—That said, the precision of these hands was terribly low.

These hands were truly old; probably not brand-new when Youji’s grandmother used them.

No amount of patching could make these hands suitable for combat prostheses.

—He had to find a way to get better prosthetic hands.

Xiang Shan added this to his plan.

While he was tirelessly building his new prosthesis, the Recycling Station Town was not idle.

……………………………………………………………………………………

On the third day after the mayor’s conversation with Xiang Shan, Enoch returned limping on a broken wheel. With no place to replace the blown tire, he had dragged himself back inch by inch.

This caused an uproar.

According to Enoch, unknown bandits had approached him, demanding information about “Shan” and “martial prostheses.” During the ordeal, Villy was killed by the bandits.

“That prosthesis!” Enoch declared with conviction. “It’s because he didn’t sell that prosthesis… We might be targeted!”

“What nonsense, Enoch!” The mayor scolded sharply. “Without Shan, we might not even be able to pay our taxes!”

“If he hadn’t meddled, maybe none of this would have happened,” someone in the crowd said timidly.

“Nonsense!” The mayor drew an ancestral automatic rifle and fired into the sky. “Is this the time to talk like that?”

Most humans don’t seek extensive cybernetic modifications. Low-mod cybernetics still suffer severe trauma and blood loss from gunshots, often fatal. Heavy machinery types like Enoch can also be killed if their biological brain is hit.

However, many martial artists have experience confronting firearms—outer sect martial arts include “Gunnery Way,” emphasizing mastery over firearms. Warriors must consider facing hot weapons head-on.

For this reason, the mayor had no intention to fight Will Grand Dog to the death. Cybernetic prostheses grant reaction speed and survivability sufficient to counter traditional firearms.

—In fact, “cyber martial arts against firearms” came before “cyber martial arts using firearms.”

“Now is not the time for such talk!” the mayor said loudly. “We must find a way to save ourselves!”

Although the lord is obliged to kill bandits harming protected people, he has considerable discretion over when to act.

Therefore, when the cost of killing bandits outweighs the benefits, the lord will stop the pursuit.

This applies equally to bounty hunters and bandits themselves.

If a settlement temporarily loses protection but has sufficient defensive strength, bandits might avoid attacking.

Now, they had to organize self-defense forces.

“They only target one prosthetic warrior; it won’t be a large bandit group!” The village chief shouted. “Large bandit groups have many powerful warriors! A single prosthesis won’t attract them, so if we unite, we have a chance to get through this!”

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