Hidden Dead Ends-Chapter 52

*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 moment, everything around them seemed 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 helmet 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 arrangement of at least dozens of golden sword blades formed a wheel on his back.

Some of these blades were long, others were broken or irregular, and some were simply spikes. But each one gleamed with a razor-sharp edge.

Five of the longest sword blades extended over a meter, 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 some 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 reformed 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 meant 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 metal fragments 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 fragments.

After a few strikes, he came 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 fragments 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 camera 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-meter-long wall near the bus station.

White police cars with blue lettering flashed their red and blue lights, and a group of armed 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 metal 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 acknowledgment before speaking to the black-uniformed officer, then walked over with Zhong Ying.

“Are you alright?” Zhang Sinda asked, his eyes narrowed as he examined Li Chengyi.

“I’m fine. Someone tried to kill me, 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 pavement.

“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 troublesome, so we need to find out their source quickly.”

“Wait... Boss, wasn’t that guy blown up? What do you mean 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 seemed 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 name 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 memories 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 someone 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 someone retains the same memories and uses the same brain cells, even with a new body, they’re still considered the same person. From an ethical standpoint, as long as multiple copies aren’t created, it’s allowed.”

“Who regulates this?” Li Chengyi asked, immediately catching on.

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

“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 become 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 time, a significant group has dared to act openly, possibly a known terrorist organization.”