Chapter 41: Being alive is more important than anything

The preliminaries of the Golden Fist Tournament began as scheduled; for Weiniya, a Cyber Golden Immortal, the qualifying round was as easy as sprinkling water.

Since she no longer needed combat training, Weiniya began daily contemplation of drawing qi into her body; each time you saw the faint qi flowing into her, you would fall into self-doubt.

To avoid being chased away by Weiniya, you reviewed your laziness over the past year and started longer breathing exercises.

Everyone says the second stage of martial arts is a continuous accumulation, but after over a year of breathing exercises, you sensed your qi flowing like a river through your meridians, eventually gathering in your abdomen to form a lake.

Streams, rivers, lakes, currents, and seas—this is how the books describe the second stage of martial arts; the lake-like sensation is usually attained only after five years of breathing practice, yet you achieved it in just over a year, proving you are an unparalleled genius.

Thinking of this, you felt much better; moreover, with the opening of the Golden Fist Tournament, the major underground boxing arenas gradually quieted down, giving you ample free time for the grand competition.

After finishing the daily sparring matches and breathing exercises, you used your remaining time to study Weiniya's physique and why she could use Stanweistin once every five minutes.

Hmm....

Excluding the reason of prosthetic compatibility, it's a matter of humanity value...

Humanity value is a profoundly mysterious number in prosthetic academia, but there is a consensus everyone knows.

That is, once humanity value reaches the breaking point, the person will suffer cyber psychosis; this cyber psychosis is not mere depression—they become trapped in their obsessions and pose great harm to society.

When using a prosthetic, one relies on neuronal regulation; but once humanity collapses, the neurons react unpredictably with the prosthetic on the person's body, turning even a harmless medical prosthetic into a lethal weapon.

What determines the level of humanity value? The widely accepted view is: it rises with education level, with the extremity of morality, and with whether one's will is steadfast.

Simply put, if someone has higher education, extremely high morality, and firm will, their humanity value naturally becomes high.

Yet the more cold-blooded and lacking a moral baseline a person is—unable to feel guilt or similar emotions—their humanity value can be absurdly high.

Lying on the prosthetic operating table, Weiniya watched Zhang Jie furrow his brow, smacking his lips and shaking his head like an old Chinese doctor, thinking she had contracted some fatal illness.

"Teacher... have you discovered something?"

"Am I going to die?"

Seeing Weiniya ask weakly, Zhang Jie shook his head and smiled at her.

"No, don't overthink it."

"Teacher... tell me, I can bear it!"

"You! You don't need to worry about me! I will persist and finish the match—I'll kill Weil!"

"What are you thinking about?!"

Zhang Jie laughed and scolded, patting her little head.

"Don't think too much—just see how luck goes."

"Oh..."

Beep beep beep!

The instruments kept sounding alarms, and Zhang Jie watched in person as Weiniya's prosthetic compatibility surged, breaking through the heavens, leaving him stunned.

This... this!

Why do martial arts and prosthetics produce such a wondrous reaction?

"Try using Stanweistin."

Zhang Jie placed his hand on her abdomen; as his words fell, Weiniya's body suddenly jerked violently, her entire sense of time seeming to accelerate tenfold or more, and in Zhang Jie's perception, he felt her internal qi also rushing.

"Alright, stop."

"So that's how it is..."

Zhang Jie felt as if he had opened a new continent; if martial arts and prosthetics could truly operate together, then those beasts outside the walls would no longer be a match.

"Teacher? Have you discovered something?"

Weiniya blushed slightly; the teacher's qi was again swirling in her belly.

"Hmm, it's somewhat of a discovery."

Zhang Jie withdrew his hand, looked at her flushed cheeks, and spoke up to interrupt.

"By the way, want to go see your sister later?"

"I still don't know how she's doing."

Before, I only knew Weiniya had a critically ill sister, but didn't know what illness she had; since Weiniya started learning boxing here, she's only gone to visit once a week.

I hadn't mentioned it before because they weren't close yet; after Weiniya left her Xiaoanchun form, Zhang Jie thought of going to have a look, but he still hadn't learned about her past.

"Eh?"

Upon hearing the teacher wanted to visit his sister, Weiniya's face flashed with surprise, then she nodded blankly.

"I'll follow your lead."

"You and Weiniya went to see her sister; on the hospital bed lay a girl who looked very much like Weiniya, with the same silver-white hair, lying still—like a miniature Weiniya."

"Through Weiniya's explanation, you learned about her past."

"A fairly happy family, parents killed by cyber psychosis, a sister turned vegetative, a life of picking up trash and boxing to pay debts, and thereafter constant malice."

"A few simple words can sum up the hardships Weiniya has endured; watching her recount her past so calmly, your heart feels deeply complex."

"If an ordinary person faced these things, they'd likely break down early and become a cyber psychosis."

"Faced with a sister who could never wake up, Weiniya told you she merely clung to a breath, refusing to believe her sister wouldn't awaken, as her belief to keep living."

"She merely feared death, yet also wanted to end it all, so she went to fight in the underground boxing ring, becoming that female madwoman of the arena."

""But now I have a new belief... Teacher, I will strive to keep living," she said, looking at you."

"You were originally relieved, feeling you'd done a good deed pulling that desperate girl back from the brink, but Weiniya's next remark nearly scared the soul out of you."

"She actually asked you whether to pull out her sister's tubes!"

"Weiniya... calm down..."

"I'm quite calm, teacher."

Weiniya tilted her head, looking at Zhang Jie with a puzzled expression.

"I've heard that those in a vegetative state are actually fully conscious; they can sense everything outside, but cannot control their bodies..."

My sister no longer has any hope of waking up; I don't want her to suffer any longer.

Zhang Jie listened to Weiniya's words and sighed helplessly.

What you're saying is just an exception, Weiniya.

Maybe she will wake up someday, maybe she will be cured, maybe she will pass away peacefully one night.

But what I want to tell you is that being alive is more important than anything.