Chapter 47 Murderous Intent

"What the hell is this?" Hsiang Shan tore open those tentacles with an extremely bizarre expression.

Then, he beheld an astonishing sight.

Within those tentacles were thick ganglia. This was a classic cephalopod trait. Mammals had evolved a protective layer called the myelin sheath, which vastly accelerated the transmission speed of neural signals. Non-mammalian creatures lacked this structure, yet they still possessed ways to reinforce their nervous systems. Cephalopods had taken an entirely different path—they simply made their nerves thicker.

The formula for electrical resistance is $R = ( ho cdot l)/s$, where $ ho$ is resistivity, a constant parameter once the conductor is determined. Given the same material, a smaller cross-sectional area results in greater resistance. Cephalopods reduce resistance precisely by increasing the cross-sectional area of their nerves, thereby achieving a nerve signal transmission speed exceeding half that of humans. At the same time, they optimized their neural architecture, forming independent cognitive centers within the tentacles.

The tentacles inside Galiard's body retained precisely this function.

And what was even more eerie was that it wasn't just the tentacles. Behind Galiard were numerous electronic devices, entangled with the neurons extending from the tentacles.

"What... what the hell is this?" Hsiang Shan was dumbfounded. "Is there really... this kind of approach?"

Hsiang Shan pulled out all the tentacles. Unsurprisingly, their neural structure was directly connected to the brain.

"What kind of trick is this..." Hsiang Shan fell into deep confusion once more. His memories held no impression of this whatsoever. This was definitely not a modification technology that existed in his era.

However, now did not seem to be the time to delve into this.

Hsiang Shan pulled several wires out from Galiard's body, plugged them into the data interface on his wrist, and cautiously used his powerful internal kung fu to probe the remaining drives within Galiard.

In his era, powerful internal kung fu masters could plant "Gu" parasites inside other people's bodies. Regardless of how mediocre Galiard's own internal kung fu level was, heaven knew if there were hidden traps planted inside his drives by some expert—a fact that even Galiard himself might not have known.

Hsiang Shan genuinely possessed rich experience in this regard. He knew that quite a few top-tier experts had died precisely from "looting corpses," sometimes expiring without ever figuring out what had ambushed them.

Serving as an extension of Hsiang Shan's will, his formidable internal force surged overwhelmingly into Galiard's hardware body. Galiard's degree of prosthetic enhancement was very high, and the modules for his locomotive parts were relatively independent; even if Hsiang Shan dug out the martial arts-related chips, it wouldn't prevent this lower body, transformed into a vehicle, from moving independently.

Hsiang Shan quickly cleared dozens of hidden traps and then overwrote part of the drivers. The electric motor inside Galiard's body restarted.

Hsiang Shan proceeded to dismantle the armor further. On Galiard's back, he discovered a rather decent component—a wireless signal transmission unit. This was the part Galiard used to control his drone swarm. Explosive Kui also had a similar one, but its power output was far smaller than Galiard's. Galiard could even issue direct commands to drones several kilometers away.

This ought to be an essential prosthetic component for snipers of this era.

Hsiang Shan currently lacked the conditions to maintain drones, but this gadget also had marvelous uses in the hands of an internal kung fu master.

With this thing, Hsiang Shan's formidable internal force could finally inflict damage on enemies from hundreds of feet away.

It was just that there was no time to install this into his own body right now.

Circulating his internal kung fu, Hsiang Shan hacked into the wireless signal transmitter and subsequently took over Galiard's remaining drone swarm.

Then, he fell silent for a few minutes.

Hsiang Shan tore open Galiard's armor, completely uninstalled the wireless signal transmitter, and summoned the nearest few drones. He casually pulled a few wires from Galiard's body and bound the wireless signal transmitter to the drones.

During this process, he did not forget to pick up the fingers sheared off by bullets.

Hsiang Shan couldn't help but sigh. This method of transportation was far from secure. The memory capacity of these drones was limited; he couldn't write overly complex automatic control programs. Moreover, the satellite positioning system of this era seemed to have been phased out in reverse by electronic sextants due to insufficient security. He had no idea whether this gadget's navigation system would remain reliable over longer distances.

If this thing were lost halfway, the loss would naturally be catastrophic.

Yet, he genuinely had no time to modify himself right now.

There was still one more person who had to die.

***

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Yulia! Yulia!" Enoch roared frantically, desperately accelerating and turning the steering wheel, repeatedly reversing and charging, ramming into the rear cargo bed of Yulia's heavy engineering vehicle.

He wanted to plunge his bumper into the exhaust pipe of this heavy engineering machinery. He wanted to drive his driveshaft into the spare tire of this heavy machinery.

He wanted their circuits to connect.

He wanted...

He wanted...

He wanted both machines to turn into a heap of scrap metal together!

He wanted both brains to turn into a mass of protein!

To stay together like this forever! Never to be separated again!

"Yulia! I love you! Love you! I love you!" Enoch's passionate, masculine roar, processed through his voiceprint pack's noise reduction, sounded unexpectedly crystal clear.

"You bastard... ugh..." Five meters away, Yugi spat a mouthful of blood, attempting to rush forward, but was held down firmly by the mayor.

The recent chain of explosions had drawn the attention of some villagers. Yugi realized this was the direction his master had intended to leave, so he had followed along. Then, he witnessed a scene that left him shocked and at a loss. That bastard Enoch was desperately ramming into his mother. Yugi wanted to charge over, but a single reverse from Enoch sent him flying five meters away.

However, Enoch had completely forgotten about killing at this moment, so he didn't run him over.

Yugi tried to stand up again, only to be pinned down by the mayor.

The mayor knew very well that Yugi was severely injured right now. Certain internal organs would definitely need to be replaced again. If Lefu hit him once more at this juncture, this boy would truly be dead.

Soon, however, Enoch halted his actions.

"No..." Enoch muttered in bewilderment. "This isn't how it's supposed to be, this isn't the feeling, why... why? Why, why, why, why, why!"

He slammed fiercely into Yulia's cargo bed like a madman. Yulia's cherished engineering machine body was smashed into two halves.

"Why?! This shouldn't be the feeling! Why?!"

Enoch possessed no sense of touch. He hadn't experienced any "tactile sensation" since his early teens. In a village like this, many people retained a portion of their natural bodies in old age. As for martial arts prosthetics equipped with tactile feedback, they were beyond Enoch's imagination.

He didn't know where the problem lay.

Enoch only felt that this was completely different from his instincts.

—I must have gone crazy...

—Starting from the very first testosterone shot, I must have gone crazy...

At that moment, a figure slowly walked over from outside the village.

"Poor thing."

Despite being a cheap vocalizer, the countless noise pixels embedded in that stern shout betrayed the speaker's fury.

Hsiang Shan said, "It's time for you to be released."

He glanced briefly at the front section of Yulia's vehicle. Galiard's bullet had peeled open the brain-computer interface, damaging the biological brain beyond salvation.

He could roughly guess the root of the problem.

Prosthetics had conflicted with instinct, and Enoch had received no education or psychological counseling, leaving him clueless about how to handle this contradiction between soul and flesh.

—Prosthetic enhancement was originally meant to conquer all diseases...

Hsiang Shan thought to himself.

Then, a blinding white light filled his vision.

It was Enoch. For reasons unknown, Enoch suddenly charged toward Hsiang Shan like a madman.

Hsiang Shan did not dodge. Yugi let out a cry of grief.

Yet in the next second, Enoch's entire body lost balance, spinning sideways for three full rolls. Two tires flew off into the distance.

Hsiang Shan stood up nonchalantly, holding two driveshafts in his hands.

In the blink of an eye, he had dropped straight to the ground, evaded from beneath Enoch's chassis, and stripped away Enoch's two driveshafts.

The dust around Enoch gradually settled. The massive truck was weeping with a low wail.

"I must be crazy."

Hsiang Shan walked up to the front section of Enoch's vehicle and said, "If there is an afterlife, channel your fury and valor in the right direction. Be a human being."

Just as he was about to hurl the iron rod in his hand, a bullet struck the edge of his boot.

The welfare officer stepped out from the crowd and reprimanded, "Hooligan, stop right there!"

Maintaining his stance with the iron rod raised, Hsiang Shan halted his movement and gazed at the welfare officer.

This time, the welfare officer had brought twenty or so personal guards. The heads of these soldiers resembled video cameras, their faces being massive lenses. These lenses provided exceptional optical vision. They held firearms in their hands.

—Military martial arts? The realm is "Ten-Machine Performance," and the martial art should be "Gun and Artillery Locking Array"...

Hsiang Shan thought to himself.

The welfare officer strode straight up to the scene. He had come today to announce the commencement of the sanctuary status. Absolutely nothing must go awry. Without waiting for the mayor to speak, the welfare officer grabbed the mayor's shoulder, his prosthetic eye flashing red. The mayor found himself unable to speak.

Meanwhile, the welfare officer had already extracted roughly intelligence from the mayor's chip records. He had sensed the distant battle while aboard his ground-effect vehicle, and now he was merely confirming it.

He sneered, "Hooligan, stop! This Enoch's crimes have already been reported upwards. If the facts are as stated, he will not receive sanctuary. But I came here today to re-announce that this town is under sanctuary. Before this man is stripped of his sanctuary, I will not allow you to kill him."

"Oh? You lords certainly pop out right on cue when it's convenient." Hsiang Shan smiled.

Though he addressed him as "milord," there was not a shred of respect in his tone. For some reason, the welfare officer instead felt a sense of being mocked.

The welfare officer snorted coldly, "A human should not be judged by another human. Cease your violence, and you—"

"Damn." Hsiang Shan suddenly let out a sigh. "Those are fine words, but coming out of a dog's mouth, they really are..."