86: Chapter 6 Screening Questions 86: Chapter 6 Screening Questions The intense headache once again interrupted his recollections.

Xiang Shan slapped the sides of his head with his hands, but couldn’t alleviate even a bit of the pain in this manner.

David Klein…

Xiang Shan disconnected himself from the hard drive and looked down at the ammunition box by his feet.

——David Klein…

He seemed to remember that name.

The segment of memory from the hard drive had ignited a light in his mind, illuminating the things around it.

He remembered this person…

Yes…

David Klein, former NASA researcher, a world-class engineer.

Additionally, the designer of the first full-body prosthetic.

Cybernetic transformation was initially applied in the field of aerospace.

By encapsulating the brain within a thick protective layer, one could stay in space for an extended period without worrying about muscle atrophy.

The protective layer, along with the Benchmark Man’s inherent injury resistance, was sufficient to counteract radiation.

Furthermore, as a being that could survive on electricity, Benchmark Man’s resource consumption could be minimized.

Apart from a small number of inorganic supplements and nutrients, Benchmark Man didn’t need more supplies, relying on the space station’s solar panels for sustenance.

And in the event of an accident on the space station, the survival rate of fully cyberized Benchmark Man astronauts was far higher than that of Homo sapien astronauts.

Therefore, the first fully cyberized human was an astronaut.

David Klein leveraged his NASA connections, collaborating long-term with space agencies from around the world.

He himself was the most formidable engineer.

Only then did Xiang Shan take his gaze off the ammunition box and calm down.

“If I think about it…” Xiang Shan closed his eyes, “that segment of memory from before, it’s ‘me’… or the person who could be ‘me’, persuading others, and that guy was among the crowd.”

“Which means, there should be a seven-year gap between ‘me’ just joining the ‘Rama Project’ and ‘me’ as the ‘Director,’ wanting to ‘do something big.'”

“In other words, the ‘me’ who wanted to become the ‘Stealer of Heavenly Fire’ that convinced others, should have happened around 2035?”

But at this point, Xiang Shan felt something was odd.

“Although ‘me’ at 35 was naive, I was still impassioned, filled with revolutionary zeal.” Xiang Shan sighed, “How come ‘me’ at 28 was like an idiot?

Not having any strengths to speak of, nor any passion, it’s impossible to see any resemblance to the current me.”

Ah, of course, people grow.

For instance, a certain philosopher who, upon graduating from middle school, wrote an article titled “Youthful Considerations When Choosing a Career,” advocating for striving toward a noble goal to become nobler, achieve greater success, and find happiness, all brimming with a noble sense of self-sacrifice, was certainly a classic striver’s speech.

However, after facing society’s harsh blows and enduring human suffering, this philosopher gradually realized that in certain eras, many people become more miserable through labor—laboring until they became mere tools, devoid of any human dignity.

If the philosopher of his youth could travel through time and meet his younger self, he would undoubtedly have mixed feelings.

So it’s perfectly understandable for there to be differences between Xiang Shan at 35 and at 28!

“No, no, delving into those memories again might make me want to strangle myself.” Xiang Shan sighed, “It’s better to give my mind a break for a bit.”

Xiang Shan felt that he must have gone through a long period of time after turning 35.

However, that brings us back to…

“How old am I, exactly?” Xiang Shan pondered, “If I was in my early twenties at 28, I would be close to thirty by 35, right?

Back then, the Genetic Modification Therapy for Benchmark People had just seen a breakthrough, and cyberization hadn’t even started.”

“Hmm, if I think about it, cybernetic transformation would inevitably involve multiple fields, a tremendously large project.

After 35 years, I would have to coordinate across various sectors, applying for funds and investments from different countries and enterprises.

Then establishing the standards for the transformation surgeries… This couldn’t be done in less than a decade.”

“And the last segment of memory… That is, the time before I created ‘Martial Arts,’ when the last impoverished person became a Benchmark Man, and everyone could survive on charging, global famine was successfully eradicated.

That must have been at least in the 50s?”

Xiang Shan stroked his chin, “Although I feel like a youth in my mind, am I actually an old man?”

“Or even a quintessential ‘old but not deceased is a scoundrel’?”

“This is really…”

Xiang Shan shook his head.

“Thankfully, there’s no old-age smell after cyberization.

Otherwise, with such a young mindset but an old man’s smell, that would be terrifying.” Xiang Shan shook his head again, deciding to slow down the pace of reading his memories.

He felt that the current him was the more mature one after all.

From the years 28 and 35, all the way until his slumber, “Xiang Shan” must have crossed numerous battles to become the person who now calls himself “Thug Number One under Heaven.”

He couldn’t revert to the ordinary junior researcher he was in the year 28, nor could he revert to the naive fool of the year 35.

The thug he was now was what he needed.

He couldn’t absorb too many memories at once.

At this moment, a reminder came into Xiang Shan’s mind.

[Master!

They’re coming!]

Xiang Shan climbed out of the “donkey’s” carriage.

Yuki was lying on top of a rock, looking anxiously at the trailing dust in the distance.

The two thugs riding motorcycles.

Xiang Shan adjusted his Prosthetic Eye, “They’re about three kilometers away…

Yuki, the gun.”

Yuki handed the rifle in her hand to Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan then said, “Go down and cover the little girl’s ears.”

Despite the fact that the little girl was no longer so fearful of Xiang Shan because of their days spent together and his prior efforts to protect her, she still felt uneasy when she saw people with higher rates of cybernetic enhancements.

Xiang Shan could guess why.

In the couple of years she had spent in the stronghold, those who were kind to her had lower rates of enhancements, while those who treated her harshly, as if she were a plaything, were the thugs with higher rates of enhancements.

It was better to leave the care of the little girl to Yuki.

Yuki nodded, then rolled off the rock and slid down.

Xiang Shan, on the other hand, casually raised the rifle and fired a shot skyward.

A moment later, Yuki screamed, “Master, what are you doing?”

“Attracting their attention,” Xiang Shan shrugged his shoulders: “I should have taught you this.

The term ‘maximum killing range’ and ‘effective range’ aren’t the same.

There’s also a difference between ‘maximum killing range’ for cybernetic organisms and flesh and blood.

For this rifle’s design, they’d have to be within a thousand meters to accurately hit the target.”

As he spoke, Xiang Shan kept his eyes on the dust cloud.

A few seconds later, the sound reached the other side.

Only then did the two thugs turn around.

“Watch my footsteps,” Xiang Shan told Yuki while casually hopping left and right on the rocks, dodging bullets at will.

A minute or two later he lifted his rifle.

“Hmm, the design of that motorcycle isn’t too different from the ones we’ve seen with Organization Z.

Its center of gravity is very low,” he muttered while maintaining his side-to-side movement and pulling the trigger.

One man fell at the sound.

The other seemed startled and tried to turn.

In the process of turning, the forward momentum was split into two different directional forces.

The speed was bound to decrease.

Then Xiang Shan pulled the trigger a second time.

“All hits, bullseye, full score,” Xiang Shan declared.

He looked at his disciple, “Have you understood now why I fired skyward?”

Yuki nodded, “You needed them to enter effective range?”

For cybernetic people, mistakes due to “shaky hands” don’t exist.

The gun sway caused by one’s own “repeatedly hopping” is also a controllable variable, hardly affecting aiming.

However, for the Firearms Path, the “atmosphere” is an uncontrollable variable.

Unless the energy embedded in your weapon is sufficient to make atmospheric disturbances “negligible,” even a gentle breeze, or a patch of air with uneven density, could cause your bullet to deviate.

Gleayard’s use of a small drone formation for shooting assistance is precisely because of this—the drone formation is responsible for detecting atmospheric disturbances.

Xiang Shan nodded, “Anything else?”

After a moment of thought, Yuki shook her head.

“This is also a matter of distinction,” Xiang Shan crossed his arms, “If they were common travelers or individuals with other motives passing by, upon hearing the gunfire, their first reaction should be ‘to flee’ or ‘to hide,’ not ‘to investigate.’ Only those thugs who believe this place is their ‘territory’ and that they have strong control over it would do that.”

Yuki thought for a moment, “Master, couldn’t the lackeys also turn tail and run?”

Xiang Shan nodded, “But that is also an important principle.

Better to let ten guilty go free than to wrongfully kill one innocent.

After all, we depend on personal judgment to act heroically.

No matter how powerful a hero, one cannot eradicate all the evil in the world.”

“But you’ve also told me before, ‘One must eradicate evil thoroughly when encountered.’

“When you’re certain someone is evil, then you must be thorough,” Xiang Shan said calmly, “But if you’re not certain, then don’t make judgments rashly.”

As he spoke, Xiang Shan jumped down from the rock, “Although I used ‘Skyward Firing’ to make a judgment earlier, which has a high probability that ‘they are evil people,’ it’s still not absolutely certain.

That’s why I shot their spines, stripping them of their ability to move.

To Benchmark Man, this isn’t irreversible damage.

I will check their memories in a bit.”