Chapter 48: The Number One Villain of the Heavenly Realm

"The words are fine, but coming out of a dog's mouth, they really are..." Hsiang Shan shook his head and sighed, "It's hard to put into words."

The Welfare Officer retorted, "What do you mean by that?"

Truth be told, he was quite reluctant to come into conflict with Hsiang Shan. Intelligence records indicated that the "Shan" before him was a monster capable of slaying the "Silver Driveshaft," a practitioner of both internal and external martial arts who was far from easy to handle.

"Dealing with chivalrous outlaws" was not something the Welfare Officer was required to do.

It was precisely because he anticipated a potential clash with Hsiang Shan that he had brought along a heavy contingent of combat strength this time.

Martial arts, after all, could not escape the reality that "two fists are no match for four hands." A prosthesis with only two hands usually lost to one with four, because a four-handed prosthesis had more and freer options in martial strategy.

Similarly, if a group of cyborgs could move in unison—some grabbing legs, some clutching waists, some twisting arms—then no matter what martial arts an outlaw possessed, it would be difficult to deploy.

The "dense formation" eliminated by "gunpowder" was precisely the bane of "martial arts."

The twenty-five elite soldiers behind the Welfare Officer looked like they were just standing casually in a few rows, but their positions actually conformed to a tactical array. The rear soldiers could rapidly fire volleys of ammunition for suppression, while the front soldiers could swarm forward to compress the space needed for martial arts to unfold.

These modified soldiers gave him a sliver of confidence, emboldening him to hear out Hsiang Shan's response.

From his perspective, if negotiations could make this outlaw back down, that would naturally be the best possible outcome.

Yet Hsiang Shan only looked at Enoch's biological brain and said, "Granted, man indeed should not place himself above man. If a man has committed a crime, he should not be judged by another man, but rather handed over to the 'law' to be dealt with. But what if the 'law' fails to render a correct judgment?"

The Welfare Officer felt a hint of unease. He realized that a preset process in his mind had already been initiated.

—This is no ordinary outlaw...

A shudder of dread gripped the Welfare Officer's heart.

He heard Hsiang Shan continue, "Your power—what is called 'public authority'—is itself formed by everyone relinquishing a portion of their private rights and pooling them together. Its existence was originally meant to prevent human beings from being trampled upon in return. But as I can see, you lords are trampling on others yourselves!"

At this, Hsiang Shan glanced sideways at the Welfare Officer. "When all is said and done, can you gentlemen fulfill even a single one of the basic requirements like 'equality,' 'justice,' and 'the rule of law'? If you could make me believe that you are capable of these things, allowing myself to be captured without a fight would not be out of the question. Unfortunately..."

"Is this your reason for killing?" The Welfare Officer's voice trembled slightly. "You thug!"

"That's right, a thug!" Hsiang Shan felt a spark of "exhilarating" joy erupt within his brain. More of his memories were reactivated in tandem. "I am thug number one—because chivalry is a form of violence! It is the fierce action of the oppressed striking back at atrocities!"

As he spoke, Hsiang Shan already hurled the metal rod in his hand toward Lef's biological brain with force.

The Welfare Officer did not hear the latter half of Hsiang Shan's words. Alarms had already overwhelmed his senses.

"This guy is a fundamentalist follower of the Martial Ancestor!" the Welfare Officer thought in terror. "Even after the 'Eleventh Defeat,' there are still fundamentalist believers of the Martial Ancestor!"

The Welfare Officer hesitated no longer. The progenitor of cybernetic martial arts was the greatest terrorist in the world, the source of all turmoil over the past two centuries.

Every fundamentalist outlaw of the Martial Ancestor's chivalry was an enemy that the forces of the "Human Gene Pool" were obligated to eradicate.

Just at that moment, several shadowy objects were thrown from afar.

The Welfare Officer's first reaction was "interception." This command was transmitted via electromagnetic waves, piercing into the martial arts processes preset in the elite soldiers. Several chains of bullets wove into a net, blasting those soda-can-shaped objects to pieces mid-air. But a silver mist of light took those cans as its core, expanding instantly amidst the blast wave.

"'Iron Flower'?" A jolt went through the Welfare Officer's heart. Iron Flower was a very common, specialized tool for outlaws. The reasons for its popularity included "simple preparation." Yet no matter how common it was, this small village had no business manufacturing it. Hsiang Shan shouldn't have had this item.

For a martial artist skilled in military formations like the Welfare Officer, Iron Flower was quite a counter. The conductive metal particles could refract electromagnetic waves, disrupting the commands he issued and preventing them from being fully transmitted to the soldiers' bodies.

"But so what if he has Iron Flower?" A cold sneer crossed the Welfare Officer's mind. If a single Iron Flower could completely counter military formations, then half of the military martial arts system would be ruthlessly hacked away.

Metal particle aerosols could restrict military martial artists from using electrical signals to command formations, but every soldier within the formation still retained a portion of their calculation capabilities. As long as they set commands in advance upon discovering "Iron Flower," and then relied on those commands to execute limited coordination while fighting their way out of the area covered by the aerosol, they would be fine.

Before the silver mist descended, ten tongues of fire licked toward Hsiang Shan. The shirt-clad man executed his footwork, dodging continuously until his figure was completely swallowed by the Iron Flower.

Only the sound of howling wind swept around the Welfare Officer.

The Welfare Officer retreated calmly, while fifteen elite soldiers kept their weapons trained on the surroundings for suppressing fire, the entire squad moving in tandem.

The area covered by the "Iron Flower" wasn't very large, merely a few dozen square meters. Soon, half of the elite soldiers had moved out of that zone.

The Welfare Officer also received extremely blurred response signals.

Under these circumstances, he could not borrow the vision of those soldiers, so he could not confirm Hsiang Shan's location. Yet the Welfare Officer knew that the very instant he stepped out of the "Iron Flower" would be the prime moment for Hsiang Shan to attack him.

His mental focus reached a peak. The built-in chip adjusted his perception of time. Signals transmitted by metal-based nerves emerged from the chaotic consciousness at this exact moment.

One step... two steps...

The Welfare Officer saw the sunlight.

—I'm out? He didn't keep up the rhythm?
—Unfamiliar with military martial arts?

At that instant, his vision linked up to the lenses of fourteen elite soldiers.

Yet in that very fraction of a second, a sharp screech suddenly erupted ahead of him. The entire metal particle aerosol was violently churned.

About forty centimeters off the ground, a mass of air protruded like a sharp blade. The Welfare Officer instantly envisioned the scene of a bionic boxing grandmaster lowering his body and charging forward.

At this moment, two red points of light flashed within the aerosol.

—Cyborg eyes... Internal energy!

The Welfare Officer understood immediately. The metal particle aerosol would likewise refract infrared signals, but the moment "Shan" rushed out of the aerosol range, he could use internal energy to launch an attack against him!

—Too bad, because you're unfamiliar with military martial arts, you were about 0.05 seconds too slow...

By now, the Welfare Officer had reassumed control over the soldiers' prostheses. As the Welfare Officer plummeted backward, eleven guns once again wove a chain of bullets, cutting off the path of "Shan's" charge!

To everyone's surprise, "Shan" did not show any intention of "dodging"... No!

When the source of the red light flew out of the aerosol's range, the Welfare Officer finally saw that it was indeed cyborg eyes, but not the ones attached to Hsiang Shan's body—rather, two cyborg eyes connected to batteries. Hsiang Shan had thrown them out using a hidden weapon technique.

And what produced the tremendous sonic boom was not Hsiang Shan himself, but a spinning iron rod acting like a boomerang—it was Enoch's driveshaft!

"No!"

In that instant, another terrifying, piercing shriek suddenly arose. Hsiang Shan, hidden within the silver mist, abruptly broke the sound barrier, exerting force in an instant to crash into the midst of the soldiers.

Hsiang Shan had not used his full strength during his first dodge in order to gauge the parameters of these soldiers' prostheses. Having bypassed the first wave of gunfire, he had silently stepped back into the aerosol, then hurled the iron rod and the cyborg eyes—eyes he had gouged out from Galiad's body. Connected to a small drone's battery, they were capable of emitting a bluffing red light.

The elite soldiers won through numbers, but their prostheses were far inferior to Hsiang Shan's, who had plundered multiple martial artists. Their gun muzzles were too slow to swivel.

The bullets originally aimed at the "prosthesis" missed the iron rod. It continued flying low to the ground, taking down three soldiers who had the best angles of attack.

By then, Hsiang Shan had already collided with two soldiers.

At this moment, the Welfare Officer completely forgot his "commands." He witnessed an unimaginable display of external martial arts. In that prolonged stretch of time, Hsiang Shan merely smoothly opened his arms to push the soldiers. Yet no matter which part of his body collided with a soldier, it would instantly shatter that soldier's balance, launching them a foot high into mid-air. Lacking vector thrusters, these soldiers were unable to adjust their postures in mid-air.

In the Welfare Officer's eyes, Hsiang Shan was like a "Martial God," completely unstoppable!

After knocking away twelve soldiers, Hsiang Shan shifted his direction slightly and walked in a straight line toward the Welfare Officer.

The Welfare Officer realized that his position blocked the shooting trajectory of the remaining soldiers. He instinctively leaped backward while frantically calculating in his mind, trying to rearrange the soldiers' positions.

Yet Hsiang Shan was faster than him. Before the Welfare Officer's feet had even left the ground by twenty centimeters, Hsiang Shan stamped down with even greater speed. The Welfare Officer was dragged down to the ground by this action, and the momentum ruined his stance.

Hsiang Shan's right hand thrust forward almost simultaneously, piercing into the Welfare Officer's neck.

Thus, the Welfare Officer's lens was forced to lock onto Hsiang Shan's cyborg eyes.

At that instant, the Welfare Officer felt it... He saw it...

A terrifying will, piercing through ethereal code, crashed straight into his chip!

"Ah!" The Welfare Officer let out a short, sharp scream. The surrounding soldiers convulsed in unison.

The next second, Hsiang Shan exerted sudden force, ripping the Welfare Officer's head right off his body!

His spine was directly snapped, and even the Welfare Officer's cerebellum suffered severe damage. The Welfare Officer emitted a mournful cry, while Hsiang Shan once again used internal energy to search for any crevices to erode.

Then, the Welfare Officer's skull popped open, exposing the brain-machine barrier.

Hsiang Shan leisurely extracted the chip and storage unit, saying, "Mister, don't forget your original duty. Remember to declare asylum."

The man tossed the Welfare Officer's head into the village chief's arms, then bent down to pick up Yugi.