No sooner had he finished speaking than the guy suddenly moved, and Chen Xu and Dong Biao shouted at the same time, "Not good, get out of the way!"
But it was too late. The group felt a blur before their eyes, and then several soldiers groaned and fell far away. Chen Xu felt the wind behind him and instinctively went to kick backward, but he heard Dong Qingjie groan in pain, clutching his stomach and shrinking to the ground. Meanwhile, Dong Biao roared "Hey!" and threw a punch to the left, followed by a groan.
Chen Xu looked up in surprise and saw Kidd sitting perfectly fine on the bench!
However, around Chen Xu, Dong Biao was painfully clutching his left hand, clearly suffering a serious injury, while the dozen or so Dong family warriors who had come with him lay scattered on the ground, with Dong Qingjie lying beside him.
Chen Xu was horrified. Was this still a speed that humans could possess?
He quickly helped Old Dong up, asking anxiously, "What's wrong with you?!"
Old Dong groaned, "I'm fine. Luckily I have the liquid body armor, I won't die!"
Kidd, seated in his seat, snorted twice. "Liquid body armor, huh? No wonder my punch didn't penetrate their bodies. But even the best body armor has its limits. While liquid body armor can mitigate my power to some extent, let me tell you, I only used less than 10% of my strength on each of them. What if I had used more force? Even if I couldn't penetrate the armor, the force would have been enough to shatter their bones and internal organs!" He glanced at Dong Biao and said, "Foolish fellow, you're considered a master among humans, able to sense the trajectory of my punch. Unfortunately, you overestimated yourself, actually taking a punch head-on. Your left hand should be useless now!"
How could Dong Biao predict Kidd's movements? Just now, everyone only saw a blur before their eyes, and in less than five seconds, everyone collapsed!
Dong Biao retreated to Chen Xu's side, his forehead beaded with sweat, clearly seriously injured. He said, "I'll hold him off. You take the young master away quickly. That's a monster; we can't fight him!"
Seeing his extremely pale face, Chen Xu knew his left arm was severely injured. With such a wounded body, how could he possibly hold off this monster?!
Chen Xu forced himself to calm down and said, "If you increase your strength, won't your speed decrease? Damn it, how is that possible? With your ghostly speed, how much explosive power do you have in that instant? The human body can't withstand the pressure of such speed; it should have exploded long ago. How did you, Tarot, manage to do that?!"
Kidd laughed heartily: "Mr. Chen, don't think that only the technology of Tongchi Island can truly surpass the world! Our Tarot has been established for over a hundred years, with incredibly strong foundations. Although you have gained the upper hand for the time being, under Satan's protection, our scientists have successively broken through several bottlenecks that have plagued them for years. Our cyborg warriors are now the most powerful beings in the world!"
He pointed to his temple and said, "You're right! Ordinary humans could never withstand the pressure of such speed, but we are no longer ordinary humans! Our entire bodies, from muscles to bones to blood, have been modified! Our brains also have chips capable of supporting such high-speed movement! Mr. Chen, your mecha weapons have indeed ushered in a new era, but in front of us, those mechas are nothing but scrap metal!"
At this moment, Chen Xu had already received Xiao Min's analysis of the battle that had just taken place, and... the call to the police!
"By utilizing the acceleration capabilities of electromagnetic fields, we can increase the explosive power and speed of cyborgs, allowing them to instantly possess combat abilities comparable to Superman..." Chen Xu said coldly. "Ordinary humans cannot withstand the impact of such high speeds, but cyborgs can. Am I right?"
Kidd's expression suddenly turned to one of utter astonishment. He said, "Mr. Chen is indeed as powerful as the legends say. With just a few words, he has already grasped the principles of our cyborgs. It seems that your existence and that girl from SMMH are indeed a threat to us. Fortunately, you are unable to leave today. Otherwise, if you were to go back and tell that genius girl this news, she might be able to conduct research targeting us."
It seems that Zhan Jing's involvement with SMMH has been successfully kept from Taro, but this has also pushed her into danger... That's why Chen Xu didn't take her with him on this trip to Thailand; she's the safest person on Tung Chi Island.
Chen Xu sneered, "That's right. Even without Zhan Jing, I can already vaguely guess your weaknesses... using electromagnetic force to accelerate. Non-cyborg bodies can't withstand it, but even you cyborgs can't maintain this state for too long. First, your energy simply isn't enough to support it for that long. Could you maintain that speed again, or even twice?!"
Seeing Kidd's face grow increasingly grim, Chen Xu breathed a sigh of relief—if Xiao Min hadn't come from the future and known the weaknesses of these cyborgs, he really wouldn't have been able to fool him.
Chen Xu continued, "Furthermore, even if you are cyborgs, even if your entire bodies have been modified, how long can you withstand such powerful acceleration? Hmph, don't think I don't know that if you had continued in that state for a few more seconds, your body probably wouldn't have been able to handle it! Cyborgs! Bah! You've abandoned human dignity and haven't gained much. If you continued to accelerate like that for a few more seconds, your body probably wouldn't have been able to withstand it and would have exploded! Even now, your mechanical skeleton and artificial muscles must have reached a certain limit, otherwise why would you still be sitting there obediently? You could have just knocked me out and taken me back!"
…………
Chapter 393 Perfect Cyborg
Kidd's dark face was a picture of brilliance. After a long while, he clapped his hands and said, "As expected of Mr. Chen, you are truly remarkable. You've seen so much from just one exchange. I doubt even that girl has your insight. If we didn't know so much about you, that you were a computer novice in your first semester of college, I would have thought you were the real SMMH. Your insight is truly sharp. However..." His expression changed, and he said viciously, "Now all your men are down. I know you are proficient in Chinese Kung Fu, but do you think you can escape from my grasp? Even without my superpowers, the muscle strength of this body is more than enough to deal with you!"
As expected, he was right... Chen Xu felt a little relieved. Sure enough, history had changed drastically because of his defying the heavens, and the punishment from Heaven had truly become a reward for his enemies... These near-perfect cyborgs only appeared in the later stages of the great deception of the century, and now, this obstacle had been overcome nearly thirty years ahead of schedule under the influence of Heaven. But thankfully... it was still under his control.
"Then go ahead and do it... Well, before you do it, I have one more question."
"You and that girl are our greatest enemies, but also our most respected enemies. Okay, ask away." Kidd stood up, one hand gripping the heavy desk in front of him, and with a light flick, he tossed the hundred-pound desk aside as if it were made of foam. He said, "Oh, I know what you want to ask. It's about that stupid woman from the Li family, isn't it?"
"Hmm?" This guy reacted quickly! Chen Xu thought to himself, no wonder, this guy is currently the Tarot's head in Southeast Asia, strength alone is not enough.
"Hmph, that's right, I killed that stupid woman, and I also turned that girl from the mainland into an idiot... She was such a cowardly woman. Just a little psychological suggestion turned her into that half-dead state. But I had to keep her alive as a scapegoat, so I didn't kill her or use my energy too much to deal with her. With the medical technology of your All-Eat Island, you could indeed cure her, but that doesn't matter anymore."
“Hmm,” Chen Xu nodded, “Xiao Lin is just an ordinary girl, even a bit weaker than the average person. If you had used too much force, she might have been brain dead. As for the thugs at the door not noticing anyone inside, that’s perfectly normal. With your terrifying speed and skills, it would have been too easy for you to fool ordinary people… This frame-up was indeed brilliant. But what’s strange is, with your skills, why didn’t you kill Miss Li with a single blow? Why did you have to tamper with things at the hospital later?”
Speaking of this, Kidd snorted and said, "Do you think I didn't want to? I had already knocked out that woman surnamed Li and hypnotized Xiaolin. I grabbed her hand and made her hold the dagger and stab that woman surnamed Li in the heart, but unexpectedly, at the moment the knife pierced her chest, Xiaolin actually struggled, so I didn't kill her with one stab... However, this is just a minor matter, I naturally have a way to finish it off."
"I understand now." Chen Xu thought to himself, it seems that Xiao Lin is kind-hearted by nature. Although she has lost consciousness, she subconsciously struggled for a moment when she was being used as a tool to kill someone.
"Hmph," Kidd said, though he called it a small matter, but being caused an accident by an ordinary girl really annoyed him. He didn't want to talk about it anymore and said, "Do you have any more questions? If not, then just leave quietly."
“One last thing,” Chen Xu said with a sly smile, “Your entire body has been replaced, so what I want to know is, is your thing down there still usable?”
"What?"
“A man’s pursuit in this life is nothing more than three things: money, power, and then women,” Chen Xu sighed. “Let’s not talk about the first two for now, but just the third one… Don’t forget, I once caught that Seven. The results of his autopsy showed that his penis had been replaced with a rubber tube. It’s still okay for arousal, but he’s really powerless when it comes to having sex with women. I wonder if you guys have made any progress in this area now that your technology has improved?”
"You're asking for death!" Kidd roared, throwing a punch at Chen Xu, but it lacked the terrifying speed of before. It was merely the physical strength of a cyborg.
Chen Xu's purpose was to provoke him, so he sneered and unleashed his Bagua Palm to meet him.
Indeed, Chen Xu's words were extremely unkind; they were a blatant slap in the face and an attempt to reopen old wounds! Not only did he reopen old wounds, but he also rubbed salt into them!
The genitals are a common weakness for men, the most vulnerable part of the human body. For cyborgs, this weakness is absolutely unacceptable. Combined with other technological considerations, these cyborgs have been "castrated"—their penis and testicles have been removed, replaced with plastic implants attached to the ureters… The vas deferens is completely useless; its function is simply to facilitate urination and metabolism. Even if they wanted to have sex, this plastic implant cannot be engorged with blood, leaving it permanently limp and "immortal."
Therefore, for every man who has undergone mechanical modification, this is a profound disgrace, something they can't even mention in daily life. They also have to receive injections of male hormones regularly—because their testicles are gone. Although most of their bodies have been replaced, they still retain some human functions. No wonder Chen Xu's words made him jump with excitement.
Since his last encounter with Seven, Chen Xu had gone to great lengths to consult several masters of Baguazhang and Tai Chi, and had also practiced intensively in a virtual reality environment. Baguazhang's fluid movements and Tai Chi's use of softness to overcome hardness were both effective techniques against such physically powerful opponents… Using Wing Chun would be suicidal… Wing Chun is all about close-quarters combat and instantaneous power; against such a modified monster, what else could it be but suicide? One punch would essentially eliminate his fighting ability.
Despite several consecutive attacks failing to even touch Chen Xu, Kidd remained unperturbed. He sneered, "So this is how you defeated Seven? Chinese Kung Fu is indeed impressive. But let's see how much stamina you have left. My energy is plentiful. As long as I don't use my superpowers, I can continue this relentless attack for hours on end. You'll be exhausted by then!"
Chen Xu ignored him and continued pacing. Kidd was right; fighting is rarely long-lasting, especially when he was continuously pacing like this. It was exhausting both his physical and mental strength. You see, boxers in the ring are often panting heavily after just a few exchanges.
However, Chen Xu had no intention of engaging in a prolonged fight. A direct confrontation was futile against such a monster. With each palm strike, regardless of whether it hit its target, Chen Xu released a wave of infrasound. He was incredibly curious about this guy. As the first opponent of the fully-formed Tarot cyborg, Chen Xu's plan was naturally to keep him alive and take him back for further study. He couldn't bear to simply amplify the infrasound to its maximum frequency and kill him instantly.
Although Kidd said he wasn't in a hurry, he was getting increasingly anxious inside. His punches were like the wind, and he was getting more and more agitated. He didn't know that this was actually Chen Xu's infrasound attack taking effect. Although the damage was weak each time, it accumulated and his body was starting to lose control.
"Actually, I think you guys are quite pitiful," Chen Xu said suddenly after dodging a punch.
Kidd instinctively asked, "What's there to pity?"
Chen Xu strode forward, his face filled with pity: "I pity you. Although you gained immense power in a short time, look at your bodies, what part of you can still be called human? Your internal organs have been replaced, I suppose even your stomachs have been replaced, replaced with a purely energy digestion and conversion system. And your tongues? They're just for show. You don't need to eat, so you'll never be able to enjoy the taste of delicious food. Although you still retain some excretory systems, it's only because your bodies still have a trace of human breath. Every day you just need to replenish energy, inject hormones, and inject drugs to maintain the balance of your current bodies. It's a pity that you can no longer taste delicious food or feel the flavor of fine wine. You don't need to rest, you can't experience the joy of dreaming. Without a reproductive system, you can't enjoy the pleasure of love between men and women... All of humanity's most primal senses of enjoyment have been stripped away. Tell me, what's the point of you living in this world?"
Chen Xu stepped behind Kidd and slapped him hard on the waist, saying with pity, "Actually, you can't really be considered alive in this state."
With that palm strike, all the injuries that Chen Xu had inflicted on Kidd's body flared up, causing him to collapse limply, his face still bearing an expression of disbelief: "How, how is this possible... You're just a human, how could you possibly defeat me?"
"Oh?" Chen Xu dismissively withdrew his hand. "And you? Well, that's right, in essence, you can no longer be considered human..."
Seeing Kidd fall to the ground, Chen Xu sighed: "The development of technology is always meant to serve humanity, not for you to use technology to transform humans into these inhuman, ghostly things... Tarot, you're wrong, really wrong!"
…………
Chapter 394 Energy
The thorough investigation into the Nanyang family has yielded truly shocking results.
These cyborgs are just like ordinary people in normal times. Thanks to Tarot's high-tech capabilities, the weight of their prosthetic limbs is almost the same as that of their normal limbs. However, under X-ray examination, everything is exposed.
Of course, those who get modified are basically those with something to hide. But when faced with dozens of submachine guns, those who know they can't hide it anymore only have two choices... One is to resist and get riddled with bullets—because Tarot won't put too much effort into these people; they usually just get an arm or a leg replaced. They don't have electromagnetic powers, nor are they invulnerable to bullets. The other is to honestly confess.
Of the hundreds of thousands of members of the entire Nanyang aristocratic family, nearly a thousand were transformed!
Most of them are those who are unsuccessful and powerless in their families, and who can only live a life of idleness and waiting for death... These are also the people who are most easily controlled and manipulated.
What pains some clan leaders even more is that some of their direct descendants with inheritance rights have also joined this group.
These people are, of course, basically hopeless of becoming clan leaders. They want to use the power of Tarot to turn their fortunes around.
But after all, these people are the core members!
From what they said, many of them did not know who their masters were, but basically, they were given a certain amount of hope. Those people promised that they could use some means to make the current head of the family, the first in line to inherit the position, die mysteriously, and promised to give them power so that they could completely control the family.
How could such an outcome not break the hearts of the heads of households and the elderly?
They share the same blood, yet they covet each other's lives. These rebellious clansmen, after their identities are exposed, desperately try to shift the blame onto each other in an attempt to clear their names. Such a reaction is truly disheartening and makes one shake their head in dismay. These people may be easy to control, but they have no backbone whatsoever. It's no wonder that Tarot chose these people and they can't achieve anything great.
However, everyone knows that the person who truly ruined the Tarot Plan was Chen Xu, who happened to arrive this time.
For a time, Chen Xu was driven by a mix of gratitude and hatred for Tarot's infiltration of the Nanyang aristocratic families. He had also executed these family traitors and declared his break with Tarot. Therefore, this time, Chen Xu's negotiations with the Nanyang aristocratic families went very smoothly.
The Nanyang Chinese community possesses immense wealth, which has permeated every aspect of life in the region. What they lack is a powerful patron to protect them from persecution by the local indigenous people and the local authorities. In the 1960s and late 1990s, the land was stained red with blood. Given these painful lessons, it's no wonder that the family heads were so excited when they learned that Nanyang's Chinese disciples could pass an examination, and the outstanding performers would join the Tongchi Island defense force.
Everyone knows that Tongchi Island currently holds a very special position. To put it bluntly, it is Chen Xu's little kingdom, where everything is handled by Chen Xu. He has even established his own garrison, and can recruit soldiers and build an army on his own.
With members of their families stationed on Tongchi Island, the island is only a few hours' journey from Southeast Asia. If another indigenous uprising breaks out in Southeast Asia, threatening the lives of the Chinese, Tongchi Island has pledged to arrive immediately to protect its citizens, even if it means going to war with the local government.
Everyone knows Chen Xu is a troublemaker; if he dares to say something, he definitely can do it, and he'll definitely dare to act on it. And Tongchi Island, now at its zenith, is no longer a force that the local governments of Southeast Asia dare to challenge. Not to mention them, even the US military, after suffering a major defeat last time, doesn't dare to cause trouble lightly and has had to rely on the Rockefeller family's power to establish a cooperative relationship with Tongchi Island. As for others, looking across the world, apart from Taro and X, probably no one else dares to provoke Tongchi Island anymore.
In return, the Nanyang families not only invested in businesses on Tongchi Island—though it's unclear who actually benefited from this arrangement, as investing on Tongchi Island is currently highly sought after, and anyone with common sense can see its potential—the Nanyang families, primarily focused on the financial industry, would receive a treatment comparable to that of the major domestic state-owned banks and several internationally renowned banks that had also received preferential treatment. This would be enough to propel their businesses to new heights!
Of course, the Southeast Asian families also showed their sincerity, sending the first five billion US dollars as sponsorship directly to Chen Xu for the construction of Tongchi Island and the expansion of the garrison.
Who says Chen Xu isn't short of money? Although his businesses span the globe, building Tongchi Island and maintaining his army—where doesn't that cost money?
Of course, out of respect for Old Dong, Chen Xu offered very generous terms to the Nanyang family. Overall, it was definitely a win-win situation, but Chen Xu and the Dong family would certainly reap the lion's share. Even if others knew, there was nothing they could do. Being able to get a piece of the pie on Tongchi Island was already a result of using connections.
After this incident, Lao Dong's status in the family rose accordingly, and he was practically the young patriarch. Old Master Dong had already officially declared him the next head of the family, and this time, no one objected or dared to raise any objections.
Thus, half of the four major Chinese families were firmly tied to Chen Xu's cause. As for the other two, the Yu family's focus on energy was of no interest to Chen Xu… Although the whole world was currently scrambling for oil, Chen Xu wasn't particularly interested in it. Aside from the fact that the equipment for building Tongchi Island required bioenergy, he already had plans for the island's future energy supply.
The reason why the ocean city of the future can attract so many residents is mainly because of its excellent environment. Therefore, the energy used in the ocean city is basically pollution-free green energy.
Chen Xu doesn't currently have the capability to land on the moon to develop helium-3 resources—and he doesn't dare to do so either. That stuff is taboo. Even though the US military was taken advantage of by him last time, when it comes to the ownership of such an energy source that could change the face of the world, a full-scale war might break out.
Chen Xu's plan is to utilize green energy sources such as tidal energy and solar energy.
Ocean cities have abundant sunshine, and with the regular tides due to the rotation of the moon and the earth, they are ideally suited for this type of energy.
Currently, several large tidal power plants have begun construction on Tongchi Island. The powerful ocean currents combined with new technology are enough to guarantee the energy supply of the entire city—and can even transport energy to cities along the coast.
Solar energy, on the other hand, is used in many more areas.
Solar energy is actually the source of all energy; the saying that all things grow by the sun is not just a saying. In this era, solar energy has been used in all aspects, but the biggest problem is that there are many difficulties in the current energy reserves. If there is cloudy or rainy weather and the ground cannot receive sunlight, equipment that uses solar energy may become paralyzed.
As the saying goes, "the weather is unpredictable," which is the main reason why solar energy cannot be widely used at present.
But what about the battery in Xiaomin's supercomputer?
With solar energy charging, it can be used for a full month after being fully charged... The future world has made groundbreaking progress in energy storage research.
A new type of solar-powered car engine, with a novel body structure, can convert solar energy into kinetic energy and store excess kinetic energy. This engine is somewhat similar to the batteries used in small motorcycles. With sufficient energy, it can travel more than 300 kilometers even without sunlight. In theory, it can travel indefinitely with sunlight.
Moreover, is there really no sunshine on rainy days?
That's impossible.
The only time there is no sunlight is at night or during a solar eclipse, when the sun is completely blocked by celestial bodies. Therefore, even on cloudy or rainy days, strong sunlight can still break through the clouds; it's just that the sunlight will appear very weak under the cover of clouds.
Many current solar energy devices are far from adequate in terms of "sunlight collection" and energy absorption. However, the sunlight receiving systems used in new solar energy devices can capture the energy of sunlight over a wider area. Even in cloudy or rainy weather, the solar motor can still be used. Moreover, at normal driving speeds, the energy consumption is only slightly more than the energy obtained from converting light energy into kinetic energy.
In addition, even if there is no light source at all, the engine can be powered by charging.
Of course, the solar engine is just a new energy device. In order to build Tongchi Island into the world's number one technology capital, Chen Xu had Chen Fei thoroughly review the information on the computer. All the high-tech products that are currently applicable and can be manufactured under the current conditions were found.
I imagine the whole world will be astonished when the island is finally opened to all!