Chapter 26 Pressured to Follow

"How is it?" Lev opened his face armor, revealing the face marked with a bright red Z: "Will you avenge your companion, or join us?"

Paulus's teeth chattered, "You want me... to join the thugs? To abandon the protection of civilization?"

Although Paulus was not a renowned martial artist, he was still someone who could make a name for himself in regional competitions, and he was young. For Cybermen, the "Growth Period" or "Ascending Period" could last fifty years or even a hundred years. As long as the optimization of neural circuits always outweighs the redundancy accumulation, Cybermen martial artists could continue to grow.

If it continued for thirty years, he might not be unable to make it into the Paralympics...

"Exactly," Lev smiled: "Look at Mr. Lev standing before you. What's so bad about being like us? Moreover, the Dyson principle doesn't forbid people from voluntarily giving up protection. You have a choice."

"I..."

Paulus wanted to argue - was he trying to refuse or to bargain for more benefits for himself?

But Lev ruthlessly cut him off: "If you're worried about losing the pleasures of the city, for us, entering the city isn't that dangerous. If you fear the Lord's pursuit, then Mr. Lev standing here is the best proof— there's really nothing to worry about. The wilderness without protection only eliminates the weak."

While speaking, Lev placed the stick from his shoulder down: "Everything has been said to this point. If you still don't take the hint, wouldn't you be too stupid?"

"I..."

"One side leads to 'death' with the loss of everything, the other to joining us, to the 'life' of learning Inner Strength. How to choose, does Mr. Lev need to teach you?"

Paulus was silent for a moment, then asked, "Would you trust me... willing to teach me Inner Strength?"

"That's the kind of trust we have amongst each other, yeah!" The iron stick pressed down on Paulus's wrist, pressing down the hand that covered his eyes: "Put down your hand. As long as you join us, I won't strike you— in the wilderness, we all stick together to survive."

Paulus didn't have the ability to close his eyes. He really saw Lev's eyes.

But nothing happened.

Paulus breathed a sigh of relief. But immediately afterwards, the steel rod was pressed against his throat.

"So, do you join?"

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

Lev, watching the expression on the remaining half of Paulus's face, knew that the man might not have completely submitted. Perhaps he was thinking, after learning the way to Inner Strength, he could escape the organization?

Lev didn't care about that. Because it was impossible.

Those with Inner Strength possess absolute superiority over those without it.

The powerful Lords like those who rule over these lands rely on Inner Strength. With the practice of Inner Strength, one could hide oneself in the network. Even the lowest "realm of command" possesses the capital to resist domination.

The protectors of civilization cannot tolerate Inner Strength Practitioners who train without permission.

Of course, there are always profound hackers who would subtly spread their secret manuals on the internet. Perhaps hidden within those sparsely populated communities open to registration, or within the unpopular technical posts of popular communities, or even within the images and materials of open copyrights. Moreover, there are paths of oral tradition on blockchain.

There will always be those prodigious youths who seem born with knowledge, piecing together traces of Inner Strength from these fragments and comprehending their own Inner Strength, becoming new heroes of the next generation.

Vigorous Kui was one of those geniuses. The reason Paulus didn't follow this path might be bad luck, or perhaps his talent for Inner Strength was just so-so.

So, the idea of "learn Inner Strength and run" was impossible from the start.

Of course, this wasn't really why the organization behind Lev wasn't afraid of "betrayal."

The organizations in the wilderness indeed have strong cohesion. But this isn't due to the personal charisma of a leader or anything like that.

The thugs create "shared memories."

Memories of robbing together, killing together, engaging in eating, drinking, prostitution, and gambling together...

The "collective shared memory" provided by countless people.

Thug organizations would store such things on hard drives, then plug them into the newcomers' brain-machine interfaces.

Compared to an individual, the huge and unbelievable memory would devour a person's spirit, permanently changing one's personality. It's not the memory of one person about one thing but the collective experience formed by a group, by hundreds of people over dozens of years.

And organizations that can afford to would even perform surgery in advance, destroying the "temperament" that already exists in the biological brain.

Thus, a brand-new scoundrel is born.

Even some famed heroes, when captured by the wilderness bandits, would suffer such treatment.

These bandits are the Green Forest Path riders of this era. Famed heroes and swordsmen disdain to associate with them, but among them are indeed many skilled hands.

Yes, a powerful Martial Artist Prosthesis can be snatched, or if one has connections, also be bought.

There are plenty of channels to obtain Martial Arts Algorithms. Even a few grandmasters hide their Martial Arts within blockchains beyond the control of Yawgmoth, waiting for the destined to receive them. Based on the structure of the blockchain, these Martial Arts Algorithms are broken down into a kind of information cluster that cannot be privately replicated.

Although rare, they leave trails to be followed.

However, the biological brain that can match with powerful prosthetic bodies and perfect Martial Arts is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

When it was heard that a martial artist defeated another renowned Martial Artist after losing all his Martial Arts algorithms, the organization Lev belonged to started to operate.

This one is a talent, given time, she could very well become a formidable force in the area.

As for Paulus, he's just an accessory.

These idiots simply don't understand what incredible means are hidden behind the vague descriptions of those ignorant villagers.

"All right," Lev tapped Paulus's chest with his steel rod, "Let's get moving, we have things to do."

The throat of Mayor Schultz twitched, wanting to say something. Paulus was hired by him, after all, he had paid him... But... But...

"Aaaah!"

Suddenly, Anthony, the "Explosive Bullet" that Lev had knocked down first, stood up. He let out a meaningless beastly roar and activated the Fire God Cannon on his shoulder. The round that hadn't fired before now burst out randomly.

Metal-based proteins made humans of this era harder to kill than in the past. Indeed, destroying the structure of the biological brain could fundamentally destroy a person's personality, self, but that didn't mean death in the biological sense.

The entertainment plugin known as "personality" was never fully bound to the hardware of the brain.

Was it the last flicker of consciousness? The still-living brain nerves discharged for the last time. The mechanical body read this response and gave a wrong command.

Parts scattered, plasma vaporized.

The residents screamed in fear.

Then, a steel rod drove through Anthony's neck, breaking his spine and with another sweep, destroyed the Fire God Cannon.

When Anthony was still conscious, he couldn't hurt Lev, let alone now?

Lev turned his head back expressionlessly and looked at the Mayor behind him, "Old man, it was you who shot at me just now, wasn't it?"

Indeed, as he was dealing with this Firearms Path martial artist, a bullet had hit the armor on the back of his neck.

The Mayor was already scared stiff. He hastily threw away the rifle in his hand. Seeing Anthony's final instinctive reaction, he thought it was an opportunity... He...

"Not a bad shot," surprisingly, Lev just smiled with a hint of appreciation, "You seized the moment quite well, a nice surprise."

Then, a flash of silver, and the Mayor's gun-holding hand, along with the firearm, exploded into smithereens.

The ancestral firearm turned into flying fragments, and the hand became a viscous fluid spilled on the ground.

Lev left with a hearty laugh. He wasn't really angry about the Mayor's actions. After all, considering the caliber of that firearm, his external armor wasn't made of paper. On the contrary, the Mayor's actions could be considered a small embellishment to this boring affair!

Paulus approached cautiously, "So, senior, can you remove the Inner Strength from my friend now?"

He had made up his mind to take Ronconi to the wilderness with him for companionship.

Lev waved his hand, signaling not to bother him.

Lev: [Didn't you hear, brother, remove the command from that useless guy?]

Vigorous Kui: [Is it that troublesome?]

Lev: [Even lackeys need to be replenished…]

Vigorous Kui: [I got it. It'll be done in a moment. Now, the kid from the intelligence has been stealthily taken to the other side of the village by a heavy machine. Intercept them!]

Lev: [Got it!]

Lev's legs bent slightly. The transmission system was quickly accumulating energy.

Then, it was converted into kinetic energy and released.

Lev had already leaped into mid-air.

The rounded back armor suddenly popped out two jet nozzles while at the same time, a vent opened on Lev's chest.

Newton's three laws are the approximation of universal truths under low gravity and low speed of light conditions. At least on Earth, within the range of an average Cyber martial artist, Newton's three laws are absolute. There is no such Qinggong where "action and reaction are not equal" without approximation.

But still, Cyber martial artists can achieve "Traceless Snow Step."

Thanks to vector thrusters.

The batteries and power system inside Lev couldn't sustain thrusters of that magnitude. But using jet engines for a short time was possible.

Since the emergence of life on Earth, no animal has ever accelerated to such a degree. Even such heavy animals have never achieved such a speed. Birds, insects, wild beasts, and even legends cannot describe Lev's movement technique at this moment.

The force of the first leap was coming to an end, and he had already crossed a third of the small town.

With a "boom," the giant crashed through a house and then gained the second burst of acceleration.

He had already seen Yulia about to get onto the main road, ready to speed up.

"Ha!" Lev laughed loudly as he hurled the steel rod in his hand.