CHAPTER 1064: CHAPTER 73: THAT’S HOW COMEDY WORKS

Protector Shi, wrapped in a layer of dust-proof cloth, gently tapped the ground with the tip of his left foot, gliding through the dark streets like a small drone for quite a while.

He didn’t use the Vector Injector again. This body was too small. Not only was there no space to accommodate a reactor, but even the space to house propellant was insufficient.

Furthermore, the propellant was too conspicuous.

Protector Shi was lost in deep thought. That so-called Six Dragons Sect Hunter was incredibly strong, beyond words.

As for Inner Strength, it utilized personality profiling to accurately identify a specific cultural group, which was specialized for human targets, a realm he had only witnessed in the internal textbooks written by Iron Heart Dharma King. This wasn’t the mainstream development of Inner Strength, and even the two top masters of the time, "Turing" and "Aqini," might not possess such skills.

The most frightening aspect was that the Hunter might not even be a martial artist specialized in Inner Strength for human targets. The Hunter’s firewall was also terrifyingly powerful, and none of the curse skills he mastered had any effect on the Hunter’s firewall. He tried hundreds of methods to interfere with the Hunter, yet none worked, while his own firewall triggered alerts three times.

As for external strength, relying solely on improvisation to decipher Protector Ti’s ultimate move was, to Protector Shi, nothing short of mythical.

These two skills, surprisingly embodied in one person. He even vaguely wondered, could that Hunter be a Martial God? Otherwise, how could an ordinary person have such abilities?

For the Hunter, the only weak link was the "Prosthetic Body." The Hunter’s prosthetic body was a bit weaker than his. In the recent force exchange, amidst the hand-to-hand combat, the Hunter had the advantage in Moves and was also in a favorable position in stance and prosthetic space. However, when both released energy simultaneously, both their joints malfunctioned at the same time.

If the quality of their prosthetic bodies were similar, Protector Shi’s prosthetic limb joints would malfunction first. At that point, the opponent could hold back in time. Thus, the Hunter would only need to repair afterward, avoiding immediate damage to the prosthetic limb.

If that Hunter were to replace his prosthetic body with his true one...

Protector Shi told himself to remain calm. He had only one chance of survival, which was to retrieve his prosthetic body.

And to reclaim his prosthetic body, he must head to the city’s center.

His prosthetic body was stored in the city’s most central location.

................................

[The next matter to compete on is... the prosthetic body.] Tumor Xiang Shan’s hallucination spoke to Jeanne.

Jeanne clutched her head with both hands, "Prosthetic body? We’re done for, we don’t have... we can’t produce a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body!"

Tumor Xiang Shan sighed slightly, [That’s true, but the other side doesn’t know that.]

"Ah."

[In his eyes, our external strength absolutely outmatches him. Our Inner Strength is also formidable, capable of identifying the Six Dragons Sect through personality profiling, and he can’t break through our firewall.] Tumor Xiang Shan spread his hands, [Typically, a martial artist like us would undoubtedly be spectacular, surely with at least a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body.]

"External strength... that was an extraordinary performance! We don’t always have that level all the time. Not to mention personality profiling, and you know how the firewall is!"

As Jeanne said, this was a huge misunderstanding.

Tumor Xiang Shan cannot always harness Jeanne’s neural network to deliver a Martial Ancestor-level performance.

Jeanne’s original neural network was a burden in such intense confrontations.

Beyond the level of Inner Strength, personality profiling also heavily relied on Xiang Shan’s past experiences in battling various "individuals" from the Old Era, which was hard for others to replicate.

As for the firewall... it was hand-coded by King Aqini, and Tumor Xiang Shan spent considerable time patching it and blocking backdoors. Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan and Hartman were mortal foes for decades, having a certain understanding of each other’s personal styles. And the special version of the Martial Ancestor memory for educating rangers retained some content for greater effect.

The "curses" mastered by the Protectors of the Six Dragons Sect were mostly second-sequence curses eliminated by King Aqini. As for first-sequence curses, Iron Heart Dharma King dared not disclose them. These curses, which had records of failing to kill targets multiple times, already had patches circulating in small circles but had not become widespread.

For most cyber warriors, these curses were still terrifying. Many sects’ secret curses were even less potent than these discarded works of King Aqini.

However, these discarded works of King Aqini, ironically, were ineffective against King Aqini’s own subordinates.

Jeanne and Xiang Shan had exhaustively worked to continue using these works of King Aqini. While on Earth, they occasionally would install Tumor Xiang Shan-patched King Aqini firewalls for martial arts school scoundrels who bullied the Unprotected, testing whether the patched firewall still attracted formidable enemies.

Even if Jeanne’s firewall had not been updated for over a decade, it wouldn’t be threatened by the Moon’s discarded curses.

And this fact, in Protector Shi’s eyes, rendered Jeanne unfathomable.

[So, the good news is that after he retrieves his First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body, he may not dare come over. But on the other hand, the next time he sees you without a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body, he might wish to drag you to mutual destruction.] Tumor Xiang Shan said, [What a religious fanatic... how can such a devout follower exist in this shrouded and ambiguous Six Dragons Sect religion?]

In the midst of hand-to-hand combat, Tumor Xiang Shan had already glimpsed Protector Shi’s decision preferences and "seen" Protector Shi’s personality traits. He had no doubt that if next time he and Jeanne faced Protector Shi, and Jeanne lacked a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body, Protector Shi would dare to send Jeanne to the afterlife in the most brutal manner.

Jeanne was a bit indignant, "So, we’re safe, but we mustn’t appear before them? Because we don’t have a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body?"

The combination of Jeanne and Xiang Shan was very unstable, with a terrifyingly high ceiling, almost reaching a Martial God, but also a terrifyingly low floor, rendering life unmanageable.

In most cases, Jeanne couldn’t unleash the full might of a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body.

Moreover, along their tumultuous journey, there was no scope for accumulating a First Layer Heaven Prosthetic Body—after all, Jeanne was gravely ill, and without seeking treatment methods, she might not even see the day when the prosthetic body is accumulated.

Tumor Xiang Shan shrugged, [There is a way, though.]