Chapter 1132: Chapter 141: Jupiter Hero
“In short, that’s how things are.” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen concluded, “I escaped from Jupiter, had no choice but to frantically correct my trajectory with the last of my fuel, and ended up landing on Earth. Then I road around gathering data, and I’ve been living in seclusion in this city for the past few years. This place has so significance for Master, plus it’s not far from two big cities, and there are settlents in the wilderness…”
“Hold on, hold on…” Yuki interrupted, “Significance… really? This place is significant for Master? Why have I never heard about this?”
“The old man surely finds it aningless—But let tell you, modern folks find this period particularly interesting.”
Yuki: “You guys are quite casual with your terms over there…”
Xuanyuan Fourteen slapped his forehead: “Ah, right, right, almost forgot, I’m supposed to et up with the new Master soon—don’t record this segnt, don’t let it slip outside. The old man hates being referred to as old. Hundreds of years old. Anyway, back to the original topic. This mory segnt, the old man, oh no, Master himself definitely finds it aningless, I even suspect he’s sowhat ashad to recall it and unwilling to bring it up. But let tell you, it’s thrilling.”
Yuki hesitated. This tone, this way of speaking…
“What kind of mories did you share with them along the way?” Yuki suspiciously eyed Xuanyuan Fourteen, “I feel like the ‘thrill’ you ntioned isn’t the kind of ‘thrill’ most people would expect.”
“Hahahaha…” Xuanyuan Fourteen burst into laughter. But the others around were visualizing deep breaths to calm themselves down.
Xuanyuan Fourteen’s words had filled them with anticipation.
Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen cast so prepared USB-like storage devices to the others, allowing them to view the records themselves. These devices collect records of the brain activity of the Martial Artist through their own brain-machine interface.
“Wow, so exciting, so exciting…” Inzewei said, tilting his head and plunging into deep imrsion, experiencing the mory from the most direct perspective.
Yuki suspiciously eyed the USB in his hand. Just now, Xuanyuan Fourteen hinted he could watch it later, after helping him with so tasks first.
Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen rubbed his hands, furtively telling Yuki, “When you give them mories later, how about secretly editing it and removing this segnt?”
Yuki replied, “Is it aningful?”
“This way you can observe data from the sa sample rereading a mory under completely identical scenarios using controlled variables.” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen chuckled, “Explore and discover. The Martial God Society basically viewed the sa mories five or six tis, each ti thinking it’s the first—of course, I’ve inford them about this.”
Yuki held his forehead: “Wow… kind of excessive, Brother. By the way, this group is so naive—could it be the result of your screening of target volunteers?”
“Absolutely not. It’s just that they’re so pure-hearted, yet still alive, I did exert a bit of effort.” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen said, “Earth really is a terrible place; those things float above, any city on the ground could be razed in an instant. Sotis, I do miss that ghostly place called Jupiter. Jupiter’s atmosphere is dangerous in itself, yet it can give you a sense of security.”
“Jupiter City… really, I don’t know where to start.” Xuanyuan Fourteen waved his hand, “They won’t wake up for a while, I reckon you will digest that mory faster. Co on, I have so odd jobs here, need so help. Let’s talk while walking.”
“What are we doing?”
“Unseal my prosthetic body.” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen shook his arm, “Mine is a prosthetic body beyond the First Heavenly Layer; sothing capable of fighting in Jupiter’s atmosphere—though not particularly suited to Earth’s surface, it’s definitely not bad. I can’t bear to wear down that type of prosthetic body during daily activities.”
Yuki realized belatedly, nodding. Indeed, the prosthetic body Xuanyuan Fourteen is using now doesn’t et the specifications of the First Heavenly Layer prosthetic, definitely without a reactor. And him escaping alive from the encirclent battle thirty years ago, surely he has impressive skills.
Despite being ambushed initially, falling into a completely disadvantageous position, the tenth martial god’s organization still achieved an astonishing exchange rate, with each mber taking out over a hundred tis their number of Anti-Martial God Rangers before martyrdom. Resulting in the damaged formation of the Anti-Martial God squad being decimated by the Eleventh Martial God ten years later, leaving this distinguished squad unreconstructed to date. [Consider that the incident encountered during the reconstruction process is rarely known]
The tenth martial god’s organization, though small in scale, highly values the exploration of martial studies, with an average level that’s very high.
Yuki imdiately felt a sense of safety.
“Do you want to know what Jupiter’s like… pretty shaky? Should say very shaky?” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen stated, “I was born there. To , the cities there are pretty mundane, whereas Earth’s land gives a reassuring solidity. No wonder it’s humanity’s holand.”
“What’s ‘very shaky’?”
“Cities within Jupiter’s atmosphere stay in the stratosphere. The troposphere can’t hold still at all; even the First Heavenly Layer prosthetic body has the risk of getting lost. Satellite signals trying to penetrate the dense atmosphere? That’s too difficult to achieve. Not to ntion the fierce thunderstorms—the largest superstorms blanket areas large enough to engulf Earth whole. The atmosphere is excessively chaotic, almost impossible to predict. Those who can navigate briefly through Jupiter troposphere with a craft are the elite among elites.”
“Cities are only built in the troposphere. It must have been at the end of the 21st century, driven by the human cyborgization process, human enthusiasm for materials science directly ramped up several notches. Then the pioneers of that era brought the initial materials to construct the original cities. They started from space stations in Jupiter’s orbit and aerospace relay stations of the Galileo satellite constellation, entered Jupiter’s atmosphere, then unfurled airbags, connecting them with chains, and built the three-dinsional cities beneath the airbags—occasionally incorporating airbags within the city’s frawork. The airbag’s density ensures it stays at a mid-stratosphere level…”
Yuki was deep in thought: “But Jupiter’s atmosphere mainly… is hydrogen, right?”
“The airbags used on Jupiter are different from those on Earth. Understand it as a submarine’s ballast tanks, a frawork of polyr materials, coupled with another polyr mbrane, filled with low-pressure hydrogen.”
Unlike Earth, Jupiter’s atmosphere lacks oxidizers, naly oxygen. Airbags made of hydrogen are relatively safer.
This structure anchors the city at a relatively stable height.
Of course, this ‘relatively stable’ concept is in relation to Jupiter’s scale. A city’s relative elevation change over a day might surpass the distance between any mountain peak and base on Earth.
But not all variations are so intense. Since the overall center of gravity of the floating cities is low enough, and gaps are reserved for wind to pass through, most of the ti, floating cities are habitable enough.
Most of the ti, movable block connections are re visible undulations.
This is precisely because of such an environnt, Jupiter cities rarely have rail transport systems; all pipelines are made from wrinkled flexible materials. Rotorcraft are common there. So storage instrunts need fixed areas, hanging structures are employed on the do ceiling, using the best vibration-damping designs for stability. anwhile, so everyday tools co with electromagnetic modules, or are simply made of strong permanent magnets, to ensure the tools aren’t flung out.
“Jupiter is such a spooky place, I’ve heard Saturn is similar.”
Yuki said, “Life there must be… quite tough… By the way, how co you were born there?”
“An officer always has to fulfill reproductive duties. For senior officers, understanding internal human reproductive conditions is a key assessnt indicator. To progress, one must reproduce,” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen said, “Tracing back my parents’ nas, five or six generations on both my father’s and mother’s sides were senior officers.”
“Ah?” This ti Yuki was genuinely shocked, “Truly traceable descendants?”
“Ha, it’s useless. No officer would distribute resources equally to all offspring. Even if they did, everyone could live worry-free, but that would be aningless to them,” Tuoba Xuanyuan Fourteen sneered, “If I hadn’t run into the old man, I would’ve died at seventeen. Have you heard of a gang where all mbers are relatives fighting each other?”
Yuki searched his mory bank, “In this situation, shouldn’t it be called… a clan?”
“What is that? An ancient anthropology concept? Forget it, it’s not important,” Xuanyuan Fourteen waved it off, “In any case, I ended up following my master, moving to an even lower-level Hero community. Where Heroes gather is at the bottom of the troposphere, more dangerous than the floating cities primarily above the troposphere. But Hero floating bases are smaller, so they’re sturdier.”
“There, I learned to use sails and inflatable Flying Wings. The storms in the troposphere in a fixed direction are faster than Earth’s surface sound speed, so we Jupiter inhabitants rarely use fuel propulsion…”
Xuanyuan Fourteen led Yuki downward, narrating his past experiences along the way.
This building actually has a fairly large basent, complete with a standalone generator set three hundred years ago, though it’s non-operational now. It was replaced by a small reactor. A massive electronic machine covering dozens of square feet occupied the basent, connected by a pipe to the building’s original ventilation system. Xuanyuan Fourteen directed the computer-generated waste heat into the building’s original ventilation ducts, dispersing it as much as possible before reaching the outside. The thermal insulation of the building would maximize the obstruction of exterior probes.
Xuanyuan Fourteen halted the current data processing sowhat regretfully, patting the computer. Yuki noticed, embedded within this computer’s structure, parts obviously designed as explosives—Xuanyuan Fourteen had considered self-destruction when assembling this computer. He said, “Just dismantle all parts that store information. The equipnt can be left for later folks; no need to blow it all up, right?”
“What if I forget so parts? Better safe than sorry,” Xuanyuan Fourteen replied, “I’ve self-destructed quite a few precious devices; this is nothing.”
With that, he pulled out an inconspicuous canister from beneath the computer rack.
“Superconducting quantum chip stored in low temperatures,” Xuanyuan Fourteen said, “This thing needs to be dismantled and stored separately in a low-temperature environnt. Once the prosthetic body stops, the re temperature would make it fail.”
There were also several boxes, containing a few precise key components stored in different gel or fluid fillings, preventing deformation while also releasing stress.
Yuki’s attention was caught by a large structure on the wall: “That… what’s that?”
It was a pair of wings. The structure even reminded Yuki of “feathers” he had only seen in docunts.
The span was nearly ten ters, just hanging on the wall.
“Oh, looks like feathers, right—you know what feathers are, right?”
Yuki nodded.
“Specialized component for Jupiter’s atmospheric environnt. Feather-shaped prosthetic body plugin, capable of absorbing incoming wind, while the feather-like structure’s tips ionize Jupiter’s hydrogen-rich atmosphere to create forward thrust. But on Earth, it’s not very useful; shock wing is better,” Xuanyuan Fourteen lanted, “No idea if it’s possible to transport it—honestly, in Earth’s environnt, it’s not very useful, but the material is excellent, performance is strong, it could be dismantled to make other weapons. You ca too suddenly; I hadn’t thought of leaving here now.”
“Actually, waiting a few days wouldn’t be impossible…”
“Never let an equipnt you can’t use for a while dictate your schedule, junior brother,” Xuanyuan Fourteen sternly shook his head, while he opened a sealed large box.
It was a very graceful body. It had so ancient armor traits but emphasized aerodynamic design. Yuki noticed that the brother’s current head was attached to that prosthetic body, which then stood upright, resembling a fighter jet. The dark yellow paint made this prosthetic body look fierce and understated.
“Co on, follow what I taught earlier, unlock those parts, then place them in positions specified by the maintenance instrunt. You can also observe more, learn sothing chanical, and broaden your knowledge.”
Yuki nodded, paused, and then asked a question, “By the way, brother, there’s been a question I’ve wanted to ask…”
“Hmm?”
“When you first fled, did you think about escaping towards outside the asteroid belt?”
“Of course I did. But it’s the panic that made lose direction,” Xuanyuan Fourteen shrugged.
“Not quite right, isn’t it? Considering the maximum speed you could take while hiding your tracks, it should have taken you a very long ti to reach Earth. Losing direction shouldn’t last that long.”
Xuanyuan Fourteen scratched his head, “Alright, I have to admit, at that ti I was really holding my breath, like a child seeking their parents after being hit. My master was dood, but he entrusted to continue the plan. I was thinking then, I wanted to et the next Martial God. I must et them—too bad, I never t the Eleventh Master.”
Yuki pulled out a box, “Are you so sure my master would awaken on Earth?”
“No, not sure at all. But the likelihood of encountering a Martial God within the inner Solar System is much higher than outside the asteroid belt.”
“Why? Isn’t the outside of Jupiter’s orbit the main base of Chivalrous Power?”
“You were born on Earth? Then you surely haven’t been outside the asteroid belt?”
Yuki stood up, sowhat excited, “Brother, you went there? I’m very curious about what it’s like over there!”
Reviews
All reviews (0)