Chapter 104: Despair

Bzzzt...

A dense tangle of circuitry lay exposed at the severed stump of Mu Cheng's lower half. Tiny blue electrical arcs flickered continuously, the only sound remaining in the world.

Su Mu stepped out of the darkness, his face pale. He leaned almost his entire weight on the Snakewood Cane. That last strike had clearly drained him to the point of collapse; if he hadn't acquired the Bronze Law, Great Force Bombardment Punch, which drastically improved his physical constitution, he would have passed out long ago.

Was this the strength that rivaled the Silver tier?

This battle had taught him just how terrifying a Silver powerhouse could be. He had won in the end, but the price was astronomical. He had exhausted all the explosives in District 13, leveled the Vipers Gang Headquarters, Xie Quan was dead, Bubai had lost an arm, and he himself was on the verge of collapse.

Yet Su Mu couldn't shake a lingering premonition. The battle didn't seem over. Rather... it had only just begun.

Because Mu Cheng was not just a simple cyborg; he was also a Transcendent. What exactly was the transcendent power he had failed to show before his death?

Had he underestimated the power of the Silver Vertical Pupil, leaving him no time to use it? Or...

Clap, clap, clap...

A sudden round of applause rang out from the darkness. Immediately after, a shocking scene unfolded.

Six identical cyborgs, their entire bodies covered in Mithril Alloy, slowly stepped out from the shadows. Their footsteps fell in perfect unison, their silvery-white metallic shells exuding a terrifying, cold gleam under the moonlight.

One of the Mu Chengs voiced his praise: "I didn't expect you to hide such terrifying power. But looking at your state, it will be very difficult to use it a second time anytime soon, won't it?

"Meanwhile, I still have six cyborgs left. Su Mu, I told you earlier that an even greater despair was yet to come. Now I can't help but ask, do you feel... despair?"

Faced with such a despair-inducing scene, Su Mu smiled. He smiled with genuine delight. "Why would I despair? Shouldn't I rejoice at such an interesting development?"

Mu Cheng's expression turned frigid. "Just as I thought. You Nightmare Apostles are all a bunch of disgusting lunatics. Killing people like you brings me no pleasure, especially since you destroyed one of my cyborgs!

"Why can't you short-lived bastards just wait for death obediently in some dark corner? Must you always come out to flaunt your existence?"

"Oh?" Su Mu smiled faintly. "You hate Nightmare Apostles? Then how did you acquire your transcendent power? Don't tell me you grew it yourself."

"Hmph." Mu Cheng snorted coldly. "I acquired my transcendent power through a Nightmare Apostle, but so what? Did I force them to become Nightmare Apostles? They can only blame their own bad luck. Since their fate was sealed, they should have obediently accepted its arrangements instead of acting like you—refusing to quietly enjoy the rest of your life and insisting on courting death instead!

"Su Mu, because of you, I've suffered heavy losses. Fortunately, your Illusion Technique is quite rare. Once I turn you into a puppet, it should barely make up for it."

Puppet?

Su Mu's eyes flickered, and he murmured, "Silver Law, Sequence 24: Servant Master!"

Mu Cheng offered an icy smile. "You actually have some insight. Are you surprised? That the low-ranked Sequence of Servant Master possesses such powerful combat strength?"

He didn't wait for Su Mu to answer, continuing on his own, "This is the power of money! The world only knows that the Servant Master Sequence is very low, its transcendent pathway is unclear, it cannot advance to Gold, and it can only control servants weaker than the user. But little do they know, they are all completely wrong!

"Controlling full cyborgs is the true application of the Servant Master! Unlike controlled Transcendents, full cyborgs do not resist, and as long as you have the money, they can be mass-produced. Where else in the world could you find such perfect servants?

"As long as I have enough money, I could even build an entire cyborg army. So what if I can't advance to Gold? With an army of a thousand cyborgs in my hands, I am Gold!"

Mu Cheng was clearly getting carried away. He looked exactly like a gamer who, after securing an overwhelming advantage, decided to camp the enemy spawn and relentlessly type out taunts instead of destroying the base.

From his words, it wasn't hard for Su Mu to guess some of Mu Cheng's past. Possessing the Silver Law, Servant Master—a low Sequence with no hope of advancement—it was inevitable that he would be looked down upon by his Silver Transcendent peers.

He had probably later met Qian Zihao, who sat on a Mithril Mine, discovered the groundbreaking potential of cyborgs, and subsequently begun a life of acting as Qian Zihao's dog to hoard money for his cybernetic army.

Now, Su Mu also completely understood why all those previous bombs hadn't managed to kill Mu Cheng. It was because he was a full cyborg. By abandoning all his internal organs, he effectively had no weaknesses inside or out. Murong Mengli's intelligence hadn't been wrong; current technology truly couldn't create full cyborgs, because cyborgs ultimately still required the human element—they had to be operated by a human.

A person without internal organs was a corpse, naturally incapable of operating anything. But Mu Cheng had fused the power of the Servant Master with technology, using his transcendent power to control full cyborgs. He could be considered walking at the absolute bleeding edge of technology.

"You cannot rival a Gold Transcendent. They wouldn't need to fight a cyborg army head-on. They would only need to execute a decapitation strike and kill you, the controller," Su Mu kindly pointed out the flaw.

Mu Cheng didn't appreciate the tip. Instead, he sneered. "Did you think I wouldn't consider that? To counter exactly that, I abandoned my own physical body long ago and embedded my soul into the cyborgs. As long as a single cyborg remains, I will never die!

"Flesh is weak, mechanical ascension!"

Su Mu wasn't surprised. He had long guessed Mu Cheng's method. With such reverence for cyborgs, the man would certainly try to modify himself. Su Mu had read the ability description for Servant Master and knew that a Servant Master could embed their soul within their servants, and even transfer it between them.

"Brilliant. Indeed, everyone has their own strengths and craves an extraordinary life. Even as a low-sequence Silver Rank 1, you still have a heart that yearns for Gold." Su Mu applauded in admiration. He appreciated Mu Cheng's boldness—to go as far as discarding his own flesh for the sake of his ambition.

A true powerhouse was never stingy with their praise for an enemy. Sometimes, an enemy was the best mirror to reflect oneself; the kind of person you were determined the kind of enemies you would meet.

Faced with Su Mu's praise, Mu Cheng revealed a look of disdain. "Su Mu, I know you're stalling for time, but I don't care. In the face of absolute power, all petty tricks are useless. True despair is when, after making every possible preparation, you still cannot change the outcome of your defeat!

"I'm giving you time to prepare, while you... only need to despair!"

Su Mu smiled helplessly, realizing his opponent had misunderstood. "Actually, I don't need time to prepare. I've just never met someone who abandoned their body like you before, so I was a little curious."

"Oh? Does that mean you're ready to die?" Mu Cheng mocked as the six cyborgs, gleaming with silver light, slowly surrounded Su Mu.

Su Mu shook his head mildly. His tone was unusually calm and composed, as if stating an unquestionable fact. "You can't kill me."