“I need to end this quickly.” The bald man thought to himself as he continued pressuring Li Chengyi. Suddenly, his back split open, and a black and red knife hilt slowly erged from the flesh of his right shoulder.
This was his most powerful weapon—a specialized cutting blade forged from an extrely expensive high-grade alloy known as "Rainbow Iron." It was several tis sharper than the previous weapon he had used, capable of slicing through most special alloys on the market. Even he couldn’t withstand a direct hit from this blade.
*Clang!*
With another forceful strike, he sent Li Chengyi staggering back, scattering fragnts of purple petals from his armor.
With a fierce expression, the bald man reached back to grasp the hilt of his ultimate weapon. But before he could pull it free, his hand stopped suddenly, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground, as though he had found sothing invaluable among the scattered debris.
He abandoned the attempt to retrieve his weapon, falling rigidly to the ground like a card from a deck, with his back straight and his arms wrapped around the dirt and rubble as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.
*This is… the power of Enchantnt of the Hand!*
Seizing the opportunity, Li Chengyi lunged forward and grasped the hilt of the weapon on the bald man’s shoulder.
*Bam!*
Before he could pull out the blade, the bald man threw a punch, striking him square in the chest and abdon.
*Enchantnt of the Hand* had only managed to hold him for one second!?
There was no ti for surprise as Li Chengyi was flung backward, landing a few ters away and crouching to steady himself.
*Clang!*
The bald man took the opportunity to pull his weapon free, swinging it diagonally down toward Li Chengyi’s head.
The blade, gleaming like a rainbow, descended like a fluttering ribbon, striking down with blinding speed.
*Crash!*
With a sharp sound, the Flower Scale Armor on Li Chengyi’s body shattered, scattering into countless purple petals.
He looked up at the rainbow-colored blade hurtling toward him.
*“Gladiolus!”*
*Swoosh!!*
A burst of sword blades shot out, instantly piercing through the bald man’s body.
In that mont, everything around them seed to freeze.
A myriad of purple wisteria petals swirled around Li Chengyi, gradually changing color and form, transforming from purple to a faint golden hue.
As the golden petals dispersed, they revealed his new form.
The previous wisteria Flower Scale Armor was gone, replaced by a thick golden armor. The armor looked as though it were made of pure copper, with a helt shaped like a locust’s head, complete with fierce mandibles. Golden crystal spikes protruded from the forehead, shoulders, elbows, and knees, like short swords embedded in the armor.
In addition, a dense circular arrangent of at least dozens of golden sword blades ford a wheel on his back.
So of these blades were long, others were broken or irregular, and so were simply spikes. But each one glead with a razor-sharp edge.
Five of the longest sword blades extended over a ter, stabbing directly into the bald man’s chest.
Li Chengyi reached behind him, pulling out one of the long swords from the sword wheel and rising to his feet.
As he stood, the blades embedded in the bald man’s body retracted back into the sword wheel as though they were alive.
“Why can’t I ever get a straight answer from these people…” he sighed, slicing both long swords forward.
The blades swept across the bald man’s frozen face, cutting his once-resilient body like a potato, leaving a clean X-shaped cut.
“What… is this!!?” the bald man gasped, his voice faltering.
He couldn’t comprehend what he had just witnessed. What was this?
Exoskeleton armor? Bio-armor? Or so kind of cutting-edge technology?
*Slash!*
But it was too late. His head was split into four pieces, two intersecting cracks crossing his face.
Li Chengyi released his grip, and the sword in his hand shattered into golden gladiolus petals. Then, his sword wheel automatically reford the missing blade.
This was the essence of the *Gladiolus Flower Scale Armor*. Its power was in offense rather than defense. Though the flower language of gladiolus symbolized fortitude, it was ultimately ant to strengthen attacks, making the blades of the armor harder and nearly indestructible during strikes.
*“Gladiolus is more about enhancing attacks rather than defense. The flower language of fortitude empowers the armor’s swords to make them stronger and less likely to break.”*
He glanced down at the armor covering his body, adorned with intricate gladiolus patterns and dozens of sharp blades.
Refocusing, he looked down at the bald man, drew his sword, and began to cut again.
Soon, the bald man was chopped into dozens of pieces.
There was no blood, only scattered tal fragnts and components.
*“A fully-modified robot?”* Li Chengyi’s heart sank. To prevent his Flower Scale Armor’s powers from being exposed, he quickly looked around and began cutting the remains into even smaller fragnts.
After a few strikes, he ca up with a better idea.
He threw himself onto the pieces and rolled back and forth over them.
With its abundance of built-in blades, the gladiolus armor acted like a grinder, crushing the remains into even finer fragnts with each roll.
Only when he was sure that no complete device was left did Li Chengyi stand up, dust himself off, and walk away quickly.
Finding a cara blind spot in the alley, he reverted to his normal appearance, then jogged towards Candy Bar.
Since he had been attacked, there was a high likelihood that others from the company had also been targeted.
*Who were these attackers? What organization were they from? And why did they target him?* These questions needed answers.
Sprinting through the alley, he soon found an exit and dashed to the street.
Not far from the street, a line of police cars was parked next to a hundred-ter-long wall near the bus station.
White police cars with blue lettering flashed their red and blue lights, and a group of ard officers had set up a yellow caution tape around the area.
From a distance, Li Chengyi spotted his boss, Zhang Sinda, and Zhong Ying inside the police line, speaking with a tall man in a fitted black police uniform.
While the other officers wore light blue uniforms, this man’s was jet-black, with a silver cross star on each shoulder.
He had thick eyebrows, a strong face, and a muscular build, with one arm completely replaced by a black tal prosthetic with no synthetic skin cover.
Li Chengyi walked up to the caution tape, blending in with the crowd of onlookers.
“Boss!” he called out loudly.
Zhang Sinda turned and nodded in acknowledgnt before speaking to the black-uniford officer, then walked over with Zhong Ying.
“Are you alright?” Zhang Sinda asked, his eyes narrowed as he examined Li Chengyi.
“I’m fine. Soone tried to kill , but I managed to escape, hid in an alley, and ambushed them instead,” Li Chengyi said quickly. “Were you guys attacked too?”
“Yes. Two fully-modified people, but they were garbage models with limited functions. We managed to drive them off,” Zhang Sinda replied casually, though it wasn’t hard to imagine the danger.
Having just faced a fully-modified opponent himself, Li Chengyi knew how powerful they were.
But Zhang Sinda had dealt with two of them, which would have been even more perilous.
“Where’s Song? And Sima Gui?” Li Chengyi asked, noticing only Zhang Sinda and Zhong Ying.
“They’re fine. Song got a minor injury, nothing serious. Sima Gui wasn’t attacked; the assassins were scared off by the police who arrived,” Zhang Sinda replied calmly. “The most pressing issue now is to find out who is behind these attacks. To make a move like this in a Yiguo city takes more than ordinary nerve.”
Li Chengyi nodded, glancing around, and noticed a charred human-shaped figure still smoldering on the pavent.
“Is that one of the attackers?” he asked.
“Yes, sniped by the police from a distance,” Zhang Sinda replied. “But fully-modified people are hard to kill. Once they’re onto you, it’s troubleso, so we need to find out their source quickly.”
“Wait... Boss, wasn’t that guy blown up? What do you an by hard to kill? Wasn’t he completely destroyed?” Zhong Ying, who had been quiet, couldn’t hold back anymore.
Experiencing both the dead-end and the recent attack seed to have toughened her nerves considerably.
“Oh, I haven’t explained it to you?” Zhang Sinda asked, slightly surprised.
“No, you haven’t,” Li Chengyi replied, nodding along with Zhong Ying.
“Well, it’s simple,” Zhang Sinda continued calmly. “Fully-modified people, as the na implies, are living humans whose entire bodies have been modified. The only part of them that’s still their own is their brain, while everything else is either synthetic or alloyed.”
“But even after being blown up, they’re still alive?” Zhong Ying asked again.
“Because of consciousness backup,” Zhang Sinda replied. “Fully-modified people’s brains can be cloned and regenerated. Their mories and personality are stored in a registry, so if their body dies, they can simply clone a new brain and rebuild a body. It’s just a matter of money.”
“They can do that!?” Li Chengyi and Zhong Ying were both stunned.
“Would they still be considered human?” Li Chengyi found it hard to understand why soone would willingly turn themselves into such a monst
rosity.
“Why not? The personality registry only activates if the previous brain is completely destroyed. It’s tightly regulated. And, fully-modified people are effectively immortal,” Zhang Sinda sighed. “What defines a person’s identity? No one can truly say. But to others, if soone retains the sa mories and uses the sa brain cells, even with a new body, they’re still considered the sa person. From an ethical standpoint, as long as multiple copies aren’t created, it’s allowed.”
“Who regulates this?” Li Chengyi asked, imdiately catching on.
“The Ethics Committee,” Zhang Sinda replied. “A global organization led by Yiguo and Baixing. However, given the relative ease of cloning technology, many people secretly pursue this twisted version of immortality. So, the exact number of fully-modified people is unknown.”
“That’s... unreal,” Zhong Ying murmured, wide-eyed.
“It’s nothing remarkable,” Zhang Sinda said. “Many high-ranking families in Yiguo and Baixing have elders who’ve chosen to beco fully modified. Due to the Silent Fortress’s restrictions, though, they’re not allowed to hold power or enter cities, so not many people know about it. But it seems this ti, a significant group has dared to act openly, possibly a known terrorist organization.”
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