Chapter 26: Coercion

"How about it?" Leif opened his faceplate, revealing a face tattooed with a vivid red "Z." "Will you avenge your companion, or will you join us?"

Paulus’s teeth chattered. "You want me to... join the thugs? To abandon the shelter of civilization?"

Although Paulus was not a renowned martial artist, he was someone who had made a name for himself in regional competitions, and he was still young. For cyborgs, a "growth phase" or "ascension period" could last fifty or even a hundred years. As long as the optimization of their neural circuits continued to outpace the accumulation of redundant data, a cyber-martial artist could continue to evolve.

If he kept this up for thirty years, he might even be able to break into the Paralympics...

"Exactly," Leif laughed. "Look at Lord Leif here before you. Is there anything wrong with being like us? Besides, the Dyson Principles do not forbid people from voluntarily renouncing their protection. You have a choice."

"I..."

Paulus wanted to argue—was he trying to refuse, or was he trying to negotiate for better terms?

But Leif interrupted him mercilessly. "If you are worried about losing the comforts of the city? For us, entering the city is not that dangerous. If you are worried about the hunting parties of the Lords, then Mr. Leif, standing right here, is the best proof—it was never a big deal to begin with. The wilderness, stripped of protection, only weeds out the weak."

As he spoke, Leif lowered the rod from his shoulder. "I've said as much as I can. If you still don't know what's good for you, wouldn't that be a bit too stupid?"

"I..."

"On one side is 'death' by losing everything; on the other is 'life' by joining us and gaining Internal Arts. Do you really need Mr. Leif to teach you how to choose?"

Paulus was silent for a moment before asking, "Are you willing to trust me... willing to teach me Internal Arts?"

"That is how we trust one another!" The iron rod pressed against Paulus’s wrist, forcing down the hand he was using to shield his eyes. "Lower your hand. As long as you join us, I won't lay a finger on you—in the wilderness, we all rely on each other to survive."

Paulus did not have the ability to close his eyes. He indeed saw Leif's eyes.

But nothing happened.

Paulus let out a sigh of relief. But the steel rod immediately pressed against his throat.

"So, are you joining?"

"I join..." Paulus nodded with difficulty.

Seeing the expression on the remaining half of Paulus's face, Leif knew that this guy might not have fully surrendered. He was likely thinking of escaping the organization once he learned the secrets of Internal Arts.

Leif didn't care. Because that was impossible.

Those who possessed Internal Arts held an absolute advantage over those who did not.

Even powerful figures like the Lords had to rely on Internal Arts to rule these lands. And once one practiced Internal Arts, they could hide themselves within the network. Even the lowest "Command Realm" practitioner had the capital to resist oppression.

The protectors of civilization could not tolerate unauthorized practitioners of Internal Arts.

Of course, there were always high-level hackers who would inconspicuously scatter their secret manuals across the internet. Perhaps hidden within online communities that were open for registration but had very few members, perhaps buried in obscure technical threads of popular forums, or perhaps hidden in open-copyright images or source materials. Additionally, there were blockchain paths passed down by word of mouth.

There were always those genius youths, born with an innate understanding, who could piece together the fragments of Internal Arts, realize their own techniques, and become the new generation of heroes.

Jingbao Kui was one such genius. Paulus had not walked this path; perhaps it was bad luck, or perhaps his talent for Internal Arts was simply limited.

Therefore, the idea of "learning Internal Arts and running away" was impossible from the start.

Of course, this was not the true reason why the organization behind Leif did not fear "betrayal."

The organizations in the wilderness did indeed have strong cohesion, but it was not due to the personal charisma of their leaders.

The thugs created "shared memories."

Memories of robbing together, memories of killing together, memories of drinking, gambling, and whoring together...

Countless "collective memories" provided by the group.

Thug organizations would store this data on hard drives and then plug them into the neural interfaces of new recruits.

Compared to an individual, this massive, inconceivable amount of memory would swallow a person's spirit and permanently alter their personality. It was not the memory of one person regarding one event, but the memories formed by the collective experiences of hundreds of people over decades.

Organizations with the resources would even perform a pre-emptive surgery to destroy the "temperament" already existing in the biological brain.

Thus, a brand-new, depraved piece of scum was born.

Even some famous heroes, once captured by wilderness thugs, would be subjected to this treatment.

These thugs were the outlaws roaming this era. Renowned swordsmen and heroes disdained to associate with them, but there were indeed many skilled fighters among them.

True, powerful martial prosthetic bodies could be stolen. If one had the connections, they could be bought.

There were also plenty of channels to acquire martial arts algorithms. Some masters even hid their martial arts within blockchains beyond the control of the Father of All Machines, waiting for those with destiny to find them. Based on the structure of the blockchain, these martial arts algorithms were dismantled into private, non-replicable information clusters.

Although rare, they could be tracked.

Only a biological brain capable of matching a powerful prosthetic body and perfect martial arts was truly something that could be sought but never found.

When they heard of a martial artist who, despite losing all their martial arts algorithms, still defeated another famous warrior, Leif’s organization swung into action.

This was a talent; given time, they might become a formidable power.

And Paulus was merely a bonus.

These idiots had no idea what incredible means were hidden behind the vague descriptions of the ignorant villagers.

"Alright," Leif tapped Paulus’s chest with his steel rod. "Come along, there is still work to be done."

Mayor Schulz’s throat moved, wanting to say something. Paulus was someone he had hired; he had clearly paid for his services... but... but...

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Suddenly, Anthony "The Flowering Bullet," who had been knocked down by Leif first, stood up. He let out an animalistic, senseless roar and activated the Vulcan cannon on his shoulder. The bullets that hadn't been fired earlier sprayed out randomly.

Metal-based proteins made the humans of this era harder to kill than in the past. True, destroying the structure of the biological brain could fundamentally erase a person's personality and self, but that did not mean biological death.

"Personality" as an entertainment plugin was never meant to be bound to the hardware of the brain.

Perhaps it was a final flash of brilliance? The surviving neural cells discharged one last time. The mechanical body read this reaction and issued a faulty command.

Parts flew and blood misted the air.

Numerous residents screamed.

Then, a steel rod pierced through Anthony's neck, snapping his spine, before a sweep destroyed the Vulcan cannon.

When Anthony was still conscious, he couldn't hurt Leif, let alone now.

Leif turned back, expressionless, looking at the mayor behind him. "Old man, you were the one who shot at me just now, right?"

While he was dealing with the firearms expert, a bullet had indeed struck the armor on the back of his neck.

The mayor was terrified out of his wits. He hurriedly dropped his rifle. He had seen Anthony’s final, instinctive reaction and thought it was an opportunity... he...

"Nice shot." Unexpectedly, Leif just smiled, his tone carrying a hint of praise. "The timing was excellent. It counts as a pleasant surprise."

Then, a silver flash flickered, and the mayor's hand, along with the gun, exploded into fragments.

The heirloom firearm turned into scattered debris, and his hand became a pool of viscous fluid splattered on the ground.

Leif laughed heartily as he turned and walked away. He wasn't actually angry about the mayor's actions. After all, with a firearm of that caliber, his outer armor wasn't made of paper. On the contrary, the mayor's action could be seen as a little embellishment to this boring operation!

Paulus carefully approached. "So, Senior, is it possible to remove the Internal Arts from my friend?"

He had made up his mind to take Lonconi with him to the wilderness; it would be good to have some mutual support.

Leif waved his hand, signaling him not to bother him.

Leif: [Did you hear that, brother? Disable the command on that loser?]

Jingbao Kui: [So troublesome?]

Leif: [Minions need to be expanded as well...]

Jingbao Kui: [I know. It'll be done in a moment. Right now, the kid from the intelligence report has been secretly taken to the other side of the village by a piece of heavy machinery. Intercept them!]

Leif: [Understood!]

Leif’s legs bent slightly. The transmission system was rapidly accumulating internal energy.

Then, converting it into kinetic energy, he released it.

Leif had already leaped into mid-air.

Two thrusters popped out from his rounded back armor. At the same time, an air intake opened on Leif's chest.

Newton's three laws were approximations of universal truth under low gravity and low light speed. At least on Earth, within the range of ordinary cyber-martial artists, Newton's three laws were absolute. There was no such thing as "action and reaction are not equal" in light-body techniques.

However, cyber-martial artists could still achieve "leaving no traces on the snow."

By relying on vector thrusters.

The battery and power system within Leif could not support high-level thrusters. But for a short duration, using a jet engine was still possible.

Since the appearance of life on Earth, no animal had ever been able to accelerate itself to this degree. Moreover, no creature of such weight had ever achieved such speeds. No birds, insects, wild beasts, or legends could describe Leif's movement at this moment.

As the force of the first leap waned, he had already crossed a third of the small town.

With a "boom," the giant crushed a house and gained a second acceleration.

He had already seen Yulia, who was about to run onto the main road and was preparing to speed up.

"Ha!" Leif laughed loudly and hurled the steel rod in his hand.