Chapter Thirty-One: Overwhelming

As the house collapsed with a thunderous roar, the townspeople watched in awe. Had they not long ago surrendered the maintenance of their physiological functions to pre-programmed systems, most of them would have surely forgotten how to breathe.

This was the power of martial arts.

These impoverished souls had no means to stand against a thug. Their highly specialized, clunky industrial prosthetics were no match for a true martial artist. They felt it in their bones: to a warrior, they were nothing more than ants. The so-called "self-defense" and "preparations" they had made now seemed laughable.

Watching Leif cleave a house in two with a single swing of his staff, everyone forgot how to think. Even the homeowner had no time to lament the destruction of his property. They were consumed by despair.

Yet, a moment later, the long staff whistled through the air again. The battle was far from over.

As the shockwave tore through the building, Xiang Shan had already rolled to the side. The "Bionic Fist: Beast-Mimicry Style" was a martial art specialized for ground combat, keeping the center of gravity low and movements steady. However, Xiang Shan was using a humanoid prosthetic, which was ill-suited for bestial movements, preventing him from maximizing his speed advantage.

But there was no other choice.

The Bionic Fist algorithm he had scraped from the brain of that dog was the only martial art in his arsenal. No matter how many techniques he remembered, that was the only one he could actually execute. His prosthetic output was far lower than his enemy's, and his speed was merely on par. As for defensive capability, it was not worth mentioning; if that steel staff landed a direct hit, Xiang Shan would undoubtedly die.

Unexpectedly, however, the frantic urge to embrace death had faded from Xiang Shan’s heart. Even the impulse of righteous indignation was gradually dissipating.

*The dead deserve respect; there is no point in being angry at a man who is already as good as dead.*

Xiang Shan was certain that the scales of victory were tipping in his favor.

Leif twisted his hands, channeling the recoil of the steel staff into his next move. The tip of the staff traced a wide arc over his head before suddenly shifting into a sword-like stance, slashing down toward Xiang Shan with brute force.

Xiang Shan kicked off the ground with both legs, refusing to retreat, and instead charged toward Leif.

*An inch longer, an inch stronger,* but conversely, long-range weapons required space to be effective. Within a few feet of Leif, he was inside the blind spot of that three-meter staff!

Leif adjusted his footing, yanked the staff, and slid his hands from the end to the center. But unexpectedly, Xiang Shan did not strike. He merely rolled across the ground, using one hand to maintain his balance, and slipped behind Leif.

He was observing.

Xiang Shan understood that conventional attacks were meaningless. "Certain information" from within his consciousness flowed out, rapidly overriding the convolution experiences of the original owner of this martial algorithm. The attack-heavy Bionic Fist already deviated from the original code and design intent—it even deviated from "martial arts" itself, veering into the "heretical path."

The core design philosophy of Cyber-Martial Arts had always been "assassination tactics."

In natural human hand-to-hand combat, every strike might have significance. Breaking a rib made it hard for an opponent to breathe. A heavy blow to any nerve plexus on the face could disrupt thought. There were sensitive vital points in the groin that could induce shock. Furthermore, a bleeding wound could drain an opponent’s stamina. Even a bruise on a muscle could hinder an enemy’s ability to exert force. Therefore, in natural human combat, "offense" was a highly cost-effective strategy.

But cyborgs were different. For a cyborg, unless the outer armor reached metal fatigue, accumulating minor damage was utterly meaningless. And those numerous vital points that seemed like design flaws simply did not exist on a cyborg. Killing a cyborg was not that simple.

When martial arts were first designed, the hypothetical enemies were "the tyrants." Such people possessed vast resources. They could use the best medical care and prosthetics to repair themselves, and use the strongest weapons and mercenaries to protect themselves. A knight-errant usually only had one chance to strike.

Cyber-Martial Arts was an "art of assassination." All techniques and strategic clusters were ultimately oriented toward "completing a set of effective attacks in the shortest possible time."

Xiang Shan had forgotten this. Stepping on his opponent's weapon had been "reckless." That was why he had paid the price of an arm. But now, he remembered. And so, he knew he would not lose.

For an assassination art, the most important "lethal strike" had already been delivered. Xiang Shan was certain that the information he had returned using the "Return the Favor" technique from the *Dragon-Slaying Triple Strikes* was definitely not something pleasant. Even though he didn't know exactly what commands were used, what their effects were, what the enemy's drive chip parameters were, or when a malfunction would occur, Xiang Shan was certain that the moment would come soon.

And until that moment, he only needed to keep this giant preoccupied...

The long staff whistled past. Xiang Shan sidestepped.

He only needed to keep this giant busy, preventing him from harming others.

*This man’s martial arts are inferior to mine.*

Xiang Shan assessed. Given the overwhelming performance advantage of the opponent's prosthetic, offense should have outweighed defense. That was true. However, the giant’s martial technique was truly mediocre.

As Xiang Shan shifted his position, legs driving his body upright, Leif twisted his hands and changed his grip. The staff thrust like a dragon, the cold glint striking like shattering stars. Xiang Shan turned his body, narrowly dodging three thrusts to his chest, though the prosthetic arm strapped to his back was torn away.

The steel arm flew like a cannonball, collapsing a house and punching through a wall behind it. But the ruined limb was no longer functional. That was fine. His center of gravity had shifted slightly, but that was just a matter of adjusting his calculation parameters. For a true martial artist, such things could be done with a mere thought.

*That’s right, he is inferior to me.*

Xiang Shan thought. Using the momentum from the severed arm, he pivoted his footwork and spun, arriving at Leif’s side.

Once the spear-like thrusts were spent, Leif changed tactics again, sweeping the staff horizontally and creating a fan-shaped zone of destruction on the ground. This move was kept lower than usual, aimed at Xiang Shan, who was hugging the ground. Gravitational acceleration didn't help a cyber-martial artist much; if Xiang Shan jumped even slightly too high, he would be caught in a combo before he could land.

But Leif’s prosthetic was three meters tall. Even though the power components used by cyborgs were freer than muscles, they were still constrained. This was not the optimal way to exert force. The power of this strike was not that terrifying. Xiang Shan simply jumped half a foot before the staff reached him.

Leif stood up abruptly, the staff shifting into a spear stance, flicking upward like a torch held to the heavens. Xiang Shan simply kicked the side of the staff with one leg, his body sliding horizontally without being lifted. His other leg gathered force in mid-air, striking the ground as he landed, and he rolled away, dodging the follow-up thrust.

He had indeed never seen the "SSC Three-Weapon-in-One Staff" before. It must have been developed during his period of slumber. But he understood the underlying code and design logic of swordsmanship, marksmanship, and staff fighting.

To Xiang Shan, this battle was not even as dangerous as his fight with that dog. At least when he fought Will Granddog, he was using a piece of absolute junk for a body. If Will’s canine-type prosthetic was a 100, Leif’s was probably around a 300. And his own prosthetic back then... calling it a zero might be harsh, but a 1.5 would be an overestimation. A one at most.

Back then, his prosthetic performance was a hundred times worse than Will’s; now, the gap with Leif was only a few times over.

Cyber-Martial Arts was inherently designed to subvert the strength of equipment. Or rather, it was designed to use "data" and "algorithms" to overturn the disparity in equipment. Tyrants would inevitably hold the strongest gear—all martial arts were designed with this as a foundation. To raise the banner of rebellion and oppose tyranny, one had to be prepared for this.

Moreover, tyrants would always command more numerous armies. Technology had completely changed the face of the world. People’s communication was restricted by technology; it spied on them, making it nearly impossible for the power of the masses to coalesce in the shadows. Modern tyrants were more adept at dealing with the people than any tyrant of the past.

That was why the technique of "martial arts" had to be designed. Information storage and erasure required very little energy; it was virtually costless. Only with such things could one oppose tyranny. One *must* oppose tyranny with such things.

Only that which could overturn the quality of prosthetics and the number of troops was called "martial arts."

If Leif’s martial arts were worth 100 points, then Xiang Shan’s own... 1,000? 3,000? 10,000?

He wasn't sure. The only certainty was that it was higher than the enemy in front of him. In this regard, Xiang Shan was undoubtedly "strong." He could even predict the enemy's movements a tenth of a second in advance.

Internal force held far more weight than external technique, and different styles of external martial arts had compatibility differences. For instance, if Leif were a master of the Gun-Cannon Path and the distance between them was over a thousand meters, then even if Leif’s martial arts were inferior, he could still have placed Xiang Shan in dire straits. But Leif was a brawler, favoring the "heavy and powerful" approach.

If it were just that, it would be fine. If they switched places—if Xiang Shan controlled Leif’s prosthetic and Leif controlled Xiang Shan’s—Xiang Shan would have abandoned the changes of the greatsword and spear in this style, held the staff in the middle, and used constant hand-swapping to strike with both ends, confining all movement to a tiny range, never giving those prosthetic legs a chance to shine.

No, if the internal force battle hadn't been lost, a heavy prosthetic could also rely on superior energy reserves to simply exhaust a light one.

But the fatal command had already been issued.

*“Damn it...”*

If Xiang Shan’s rich mental activity was born from the certainty of his victory, then this was the only thought remaining to Leif. This enemy was harder to deal with than he had imagined. The computational resources consumed by the martial arts chess match were higher than he had expected. His chip’s temperature was rising far beyond expectations.

But if he didn't maintain this consumption...

[Why] [have you] [not killed] [him yet?]

A voice came through intermittently from Jing Bao Kui.

[Kill him? Fuck! Prepare to run...]

At that moment, a heavy footstep caught Leif’s attention.