After the tide receded, a few people moved about on the rocky beach. They held oddly-shaped tools, scraping off so lichen-like organisms from the surface.
These are the best-growing organisms on Earth. It is said that three hundred years ago, an ancient and great "soone" released this pure goodwill into the seawater. These algae, which reproduce abundantly in the shallow sea, are naturally edible.
For the Benchmark n, this could be considered pretty decent food.
The prosthetic body rate among these people is very low; a few have barely any cyberization.
And among these people, the most conspicuous one is actually a person whose body has largely undergone cyberization.
He carries a basket woven from iron wire, also collecting seaweed. And behind him is a sturdy machine resembling an engineering robot, equipped with solar panels.
Liu Ri softly said, "This can’t go on, Senior Sister Yuan. At this rate, it’s almost impossible to blend in with the crowd."
This person is naturally Liu Ri, forrly known as Burrow Dragon, and now a Cooperator of the Martial God. And the one acting as an engineering robot behind him is naturally Yuan Wenren.
Yuan Wenren only needs to remove various components from the prosthetic body and replace them with a more tattered shell for disguise to achieve this level.
Yuan Wenren said, "There’s no better way. Since we ca first, we have to find a way to do sothing. Gathering so intelligence is good, too."
"Tsk, it’s hard to imagine, this secluded island is inhabited by humans," Liu Ri whispered. "Even if it’s inhabited, why are there so few people..."
If there were more people here, this Martial Artist Prosthesis wouldn’t be so conspicuous.
If there were sizable towns and martial arts schools, it would be even better. People like Liu Ri, with a modification rate exceeding ninety percent, could perfectly integrate into their surroundings. There are quite a few martial arts school apprentices who compete in low-level matches (usually undercard matches) while accumulating prosthetics.
But there’s nothing here. Just a small number of modified humans.
Moreover, the number of children is quite low. This proportion makes Liu Ri suspect whether these people are still under the protection of those Gene Bank Protectors.
If a community cannot provide more natural mutations, it lacks value for active protection by the Human Gene Bank.
All indications show that this place is very unusual.
"This whole Southeast Asian archipelago is said to have only three or four senior officers of the First Heavenly Layer in charge, with almost no inhabitants, no conditions for Green Forest to be born, and few Heroes coming here," Yuan Wenren said. "Before coming, I had only heard of it and didn’t expect it to be like this."
The island is a rather harsh combat environnt for Heroes. Amphibious prosthetics perform mostly inferior to pure water prosthetics of the sa cost in water and are certainly inferior to land battle prosthetics of the sa cost on the land. But without using amphibious prosthetics, the ocean itself is an obstacle.
And the Protectors can fully equip the defending army on every island with pure land battle prosthetics and deploy a large number of ships and mobility units specialized in water combat on the sea.
Not to ntion, they also have aerial rapid response units capable of quickly transferring from one island to another.
Under a strict satellite surveillance system, guerrilla warfare between islands is challenging.
This era is not the ancient tis anymore. Seawater can no longer block large-scale troops. There are also enemies in the sky. The legend of a few small sampans attacking a water stronghold can only be an ancient myth.
Bai Man, a Hero of the First Heavenly Layer, could only sneak underwater to Africa. He used the seawater to cover himself and couldn’t complete guerrilla warfare between islands.
Unless a Hero’s skill level is strong enough to easily defeat specialized prosthetics with non-specialized ones and quickly retreat before the mobility units can respond.
This has also resulted in very few Heroes in this archipelago.
No one knows why the Martial God chose this place as a transit point.
"But on second thought, it’s really quite strange," Yuan Wenren said. "This place, three or four hundred years ago in ancient tis, had a lot of people. It seems that before the ancestors of Homo sapiens landed on this island, other human species lived here. And being close to the equator, the region has ample sunlight, and there are even natural seaweed resources for supplent—logically, it should be a very suitable place for Benchmark n to live. With so few people here, sothing doesn’t feel right."
"Alright, stop thinking about it. Let’s just wait at the agreed place," Liu Ri sighed. "Why hasn’t Yuki arrived yet... I hope he’s just lost."
The two walked along the beach, one following the other. They looked like an ordinary technical worker and his rundown engineering machine.
In a deserted rocky beach, they subrged into the seawater. Liu Ri also put on a mask.
After walking a few steps, they saw a tall silhouette moving vaguely in the water.
They imdiately froze. Although the silhouette looked familiar, and this was the predetermined eting point, utmost caution was necessary.
Liu Ri assud a subtle stance. And the chanical arm under Yuan Wenren’s shell quietly operated, raising a concealed gun barrel.
"Not bad. Smart to be so cautious. Good," Xiang Shan said, approaching.
Liu Ri imdiately jumped up, "Master..."
"Stop it, apprentice," Xiang Shan pressed Liu Ri down, looking towards Yuan Wenren.
Yuan Wenren imdiately transmitted several files, reporting what they’d observed these days.
Xiang Shan sighed and explained the unclear points Yuan Wenren ntioned in the report: "This place did indeed have many people before. But in the later stages of the Chivalry War, this was roughly one of the second batches of regions to bring the state of war into the open. From then on, many people began migrating... and then ca the early space warfare and orbital bombardnt. Even fewer people remained here."
"After the Chivalry War, public transportation collapsed completely. The Ascension War was purely destructive. I don’t know how many people were left here after the Ascension War. But I think, except for the Protectors, few would be willing to cross the ocean to live here."
But this is indeed a sowhat darkly humorous fact.
Many now-extinct human species managed to craft boats to cross the ocean from the continent with much less intelligence than Homo sapiens. The ancestors of Homo sapiens also arrived here before the invention of writing.
Apart from the Protectors, almost no Benchmark Man could reach here from the continent by themselves.
Xiang Shan waved his hand, pointing behind him, "There’s a big submarine back there. I just seized it. It contains our new teammates. You go over. The friend-or-foe identification code has been sent to you. I’ll go up and take a look."
Liu Ri was stunned: "Look at what?"
"Since we’re here, we must revisit old places," Xiang Shan said calmly.
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