Chapter Eight: The Seas Change, Yet Old Enmities Remain

Yuki sat somewhat tensely across from Xiang Shan. For some reason, he felt that the “Jorg” before him seemed different.

Humans are naturally adept at conveying their emotions through more than just declarative language. It’s as if they possess an innate compiler. People can transform their feelings into a secret code expressed through body language, facial expressions, demeanor, and tone—and the method to decode this cipher also resides within the human brain.

From the subtle details of “Jorg,” Yuki discerned this message—he was no longer the same.

Yuki himself was unaware of the decoding process; he simply felt uneasy. His room looked as if a storm had swept through it—various parts were scattered and tossed about roughly. That dog lay on his only table, its chest and the back of its head opened up.

“Sorry about that, kid,” Xiang Shan scratched his head. “I lost control of my emotions just now... made a bit of a mess here.”

Atop his head was a kettle lid. Cybernetic humans don’t require airways or esophagi, so the biological brain sits slightly lower than in a natural person, leaving room in the skull for electronic components. But Xiang Shan had lost all his electronic devices; aside from the biological brain, his skull was empty, with the brain-machine interface exposed.

He was quite wary of static electricity causing dust to enter.

Looking at the head topped with a kettle lid, Yuki couldn’t maintain a serious expression.

“Did you remember something, Jorg?” Yuki asked.

Xiang Shan nodded.

He hesitated. Yuki was a cybernetic human, which meant his memories might not solely belong to him—Xiang Shan was unsure what modifications were done in this era, or if backdoors for supervision remained in the brain.

He also didn’t know what status his enemy held in this world, or if uttering his name might bring danger.

After a long silence, Xiang Shan finally spoke, “Yuki, I’m about to tell you something. You absolutely must not tell anyone else—otherwise, it could endanger you and your mother. Do you understand? Of course, you can choose not to listen; I won’t force you...”

Nervousness appeared on Yuki’s face, but it was quickly overtaken by excitement. “You remembered! Right? You used to be someone important, didn’t you? And you have powerful enemies...”

Xiang Shan sighed and pressed a hand on Yuki’s head. Months of living together had taught him that this boy was endlessly curious. He wore a serious expression. “If you really want to hear it, you have to swear not to tell anyone what I’m about to say. Can you do that?”

“Yes!” Yuki nodded eagerly.

Xiang Shan sighed again. Now, he had no one else to trust. If he wanted information, it would have to come from this boy.

“Yuki, have you ever heard the name ‘Xiang Shan’?” he asked.

“‘Xiang Shan’... so your name is ‘Shan’?” The boy was thrilled. “‘Xiang Shan’ sounds so powerful!”

Xiang Shan was a bit bewildered. His grandfather had given him the name; it had no special meaning. But in his era, the name should have made everyone marvel...

—My name... has vanished?

—Such a monumental historical event has disappeared from human knowledge? The event that reshaped Earth’s evolutionary history...

—How long have I been asleep?

Xiang Shan gripped Yuki’s shoulders. “Do you really remember nothing? About this name? Or even names that sound similar? Do you know anything about titles like ‘Xiang Shan is Hard to Surpass’ or ‘Shaking Mountains is Difficult’?”

Yuki shook his head.

Xiang Shan sat back on Yuki’s bed. For some reason, Yuki felt Xiang Shan suddenly seemed very defeated.

“Xiang Shan, were you famous before? I’ve never heard of you. Was it such a blow?” Yuki asked curiously.

Xiang Shan nodded. “I was indeed famous... maybe everyone in the world knew my name?”

“Ha, bragging! ‘Everyone in the world’?” Yuki laughed mischievously. “You’re not an Olympic champion! Tell me, what great deeds did you do?”

Xiang Shan held his head. “Still can’t remember.”

Though he’d recalled his name and some things, the actual experiences remained elusive.

He probably knew why. To chase the pinnacle of martial arts... to push the limits of biological brain performance, he had transferred all declarative memories that could be losslessly converted into mechanical language to external storage devices. His brain retained only non-declarative memories that couldn’t be precisely converted, along with pure knowledge.

He had lost too much.

Even if memories in the biological brain could be reawakened, the physically vanished storage devices could not be recovered.

Now, all he could remember were his name, his enemy’s name, and other technical data.

Xiang Shan looked puzzled. “Hey, Yuki, if you don’t remember ‘Xiang Shan’... what about the name ‘Jorgmoff Veigt’?”

Yuki racked his memory hard, but still came up empty. He shook his head and looked at Xiang Shan with concern.

“That’s strange. If no one remembers my name, the ‘victor,’ surely not everyone would forget him too?” Xiang Shan’s expression grew puzzled. “Could it be I’ve slept not for decades, but for thousands of years?”

Yuki laughed loudly. “Xiang Shan, are you crazy? Even a fully modified brain can’t hibernate for decades without nutrients. You were probably put in there at most five or six years ago!”

Stopping his laughter, the boy added, “If that’s true, maybe your relatives and friends are still alive! Now that you’ve recovered your memory, you might be able to...”

“I can’t remember their faces at all...” Xiang Shan shook his head, looking lost. “I don’t even remember who they were.”

He sank into confusion again.

“Hey, Yuki, what year is it now?”

“What year... you mean that...?” Yuki thought for a moment. “209?”

“Year 209 AD?” Xiang Shan was stunned. “AD?”

“What’s AD?” Yuki shook his head. “You sound strange.”

“Yuki, do you know what major historical event happened in year 1—or year 001?” Xiang Shan asked.

The boy shook his head. “I only remember a historical event called the Sublimation War in year 03.”

“Sublimation... War...”

He had no recollection of that term.

Humans had completely forgotten the AD calendar, adopting a new dating system. Had he really slept for 209 years? No, that was absurd. Brain cells simply couldn’t survive 209 years without nourishment.

Or perhaps this “first year of the new era” corresponded to his own time, but later people redefined the era based on a historical event he knew?

For example, people now might call World War II the “Sublimation War”...

—Ha... impossible...

Xiang Shan chuckled at his own thought.

That glitchy feeling in his artificial eye returned.

Judging from the junkyard that sustained the recycling town, the Sublimation War must have occurred in the information age.

Xiang Shan had slept longer than he thought.

Why had he come back to life?

His regeneration seemed utterly meaningless. His name had been buried beneath the dust of history, and his enemy seemed to have met the same fate. No one remembered either of them. Yet, in this situation, he still clung to his enemy’s name and awoke from the junkyard.

Why?

—No, that’s not right.

Xiang Shan told himself.

“Jorg and I were made from the same batch... the same batch of what... damn, I can’t remember. Our biological parts used the same technology. If I’m still alive, then he has even less reason to be dead.”

“And this twisted world... Earth becoming what it is now must be deeply connected to that so-called ‘history-changing evolutionary event’ I remember!”

Xiang Shan clenched his fist unconsciously.

“Even if I have only a head left... I must know who I really am, what happened while I was asleep. I have to... I must...”

“Xiang Shan...” Jorg shook Xiang Shan’s hand.

“Oh? What? Sorry, I zoned out.”

“Sorry...” Yuki bowed his head. “I’m so ignorant. If I knew your past, you wouldn’t be so sad.”

“No, it’s my fault,” Xiang Shan shook his head and smiled. “Who told me I wasn’t famous enough yet?”

“Were you just thinking about your family and friends from the past?”

“No...” Xiang Shan shook his head. After a moment, he said, “I’m about to tell you a secret, a real big secret. If it scares you, I’ll leave right away...”

Yuki grew nervous again. “What is it?”

“Besides my name, I just remembered my identity.” Xiang Shan looked at the dog lying on the table. “Sorry, kid, I’m not the athlete you admired. I’m a knight—an impressive knight.”

“So you’re... what?” Yuki’s face stiffened. “A knight?”

He stared at Xiang Shan. “A knight?”

Xiang Shan nodded seriously. “A very impressive one.”

……………………………………………………………………

As the festive atmosphere gradually faded—or to put it another way, as the street brawls slowly ceased—the doorbell rang at the home of Dresden Schultz, the mayor’s nephew.

Mr. Schultz was a heavily modified individual. His entire face was replaced with metal: flat eyes and an abstract stern expression fixed as decoration on his head. It was said to resemble an ancient mechanical hero.

Xiang Shan was utterly baffled when he saw a man wearing a “steel man” face come to open the door.

Fortunately, Yuki didn’t know what “Iron Man” was. He jumped up and shouted, “Doctor! Doctor! Xiang—er, ‘Shan’ needs some parts. He heard you have some, so he came. He wants to make himself a new...”

“Hold on, kid, you’re too excited.” Xiang Shan laid a hand on Yuki’s shoulder. “Doctor Schultz, right? I might need to make a more convenient prosthetic, but I’m missing many parts. I heard your stock is the most complete in town.”

Doctor Schultz nodded. “Understood. Please come in.”

He unlatched the door chain, letting Xiang Shan and Yuki enter. Yuki dashed inside, took a few steps, then even glanced back at the doctor with an expression full of pride mixed with the desire to show off.

Doctor Schultz scratched his head. “This is the first time I’ve seen that kid this excited...”

“Probably just overly excited,” Xiang Shan explained. “I remembered some... things from my past. I told him that, as thanks for saving my life, if he helps me out in the future, I’m willing to teach him some skills.”

Doctor Schultz was somewhat alert. “Repairs?”

He knew this man had some repair skills.

The town only needed one doctor. The Schultz family had three children and planned for a fourth. If the next child didn’t enter the human gene pool, the doctor intended to raise all four as upper-class talents. The town only needed one doctor. With his children already vying for the role, how could he let others interfere?

“Maybe simple repairs, maybe other skills,” Xiang Shan patted the doctor’s shoulder. “Of course, my skills can’t compare to yours!”

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