Mechanized Modification Laboratory.
Having completed the consciousness chip transformation, Mo Yu began testing the functions of his new body.
Not far in front of him stood a man in combat uniform. His expression was serious as he looked at Mo Yu and asked in a deep voice:
"Director Mo, are you sure you want me to go all out?"
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Come at me with everything you've got," Mo Yu responded with a firm nod.
Hearing Mo Yu's reply, the guard in combat gear crouched slightly. As his feet dug in, he launched forward toward Mo Yu with full force.
The instant the man moved, Mo Yu's artificial eye contracted.
A flood of data surged into his mind.
Movement speed, muscle force points, shifts in air current—all of it.
Countless data streams wove together in Mo Yu's brain chip, turning his field of vision into a three-dimensional grid.
As the guard closed in, a fierce, upward punch was launched straight at Mo Yu's chin.
But Mo Yu had already taken a step back, dodging the heavy punch with ease.
The guard didn't stop. Seeing his punch dodged, he quickly lifted his right leg and drove a brutal knee strike toward Mo Yu's abdomen.
But Mo Yu had already predicted this.
The moment the guard's muscles engaged, Mo Yu's artificial eye captured it. His brain simulated the trajectory of that incoming knee before it even came close.
Mo Yu curled his abdomen and arched backward, easily dodging it.
Still, he didn't counterattack. He continued to wait for the next wave of offense.
In the battle that followed, Mo Yu only evaded.
His fully mechanized brain granted him immense computational power. Every sensory feedback module embedded in his body allowed him to predict each move in advance.
Frustrated by being unable to land a single blow, the guard attempted a feint.
He threw a fake punch, hoping to bait Mo Yu into dodging, and then launch a real attack the moment Mo Yu reacted.
But psychological tricks in battle were meaningless in front of Mo Yu.
His predictions were based on absolute neural computation—muscle tension, attack wind force, even the rhythm of the guard's breathing.
Mo Yu didn't use any of the close-combat skills he'd honed during his frontline years. He relied purely on the built-in capabilities of his mechanical body to dodge.
It was a technique-free evasion—yet far more terrifying than any technique.
As long as the target's movement speed was within the detection threshold of his artificial eye or sensor modules, his brain could instantly simulate their motion trajectory.
After more than ten minutes of rapid evasion, Mo Yu looked at the panting guard and thanked him for the effort.
Next, he decided to head to the Tiger Soul Research Institute's combat power testing chamber.
There, he could get a more detailed understanding of his mechanized body.
Several hours later, Mo Yu arrived at the power testing chamber.
The first test was still evasion.
To simulate combat realism, he instructed his subordinates to fire live rounds at his body.
His powerful computational ability kicked in once again.
The instant the muzzle flashed, his brain simulated the bullet's acceleration, parabolic path, and various other data.
Dodging bullets felt as easy as breathing.
After completing this test, Mo Yu also ran assessments on movement speed, auditory sensitivity, and more.
Once the tests ended, a data report was handed to him.
Looking at the report, Mo Yu now had a clear grasp of his current strength.
Although his mechanical transformation was complete, he still hadn't reached his former peak.
What limited him was the current level of mechanization technology.
But Mo Yu wasn't worried.
With his transformation complete, his combat style could no longer be based on hand-to-hand fighting like before.
The battle style of a mechanized body was something completely different.
Next, he decided to open up a new field of research.
He would create a set of weapons perfectly integrated with his mechanized body.
Over the next four years, Mo Yu and his team focused on developing these mechanized combat weapons.
By the time the latest upgrades were finished, Mo Yu's mechanical body had been completely revamped.
Aside from the consciousness chip, every component of his body had been upgraded. He had turned himself into a fully functional weapon.
The first modification: his arms.
Inside his left arm was a built-in beam gun. It used energy rounds powered by the energy core and could eject from the forearm with a wave of his hand to strike enemies at close range.
With the chip-enhanced brain's precise calculations, his hit rate with the beam gun was extremely high.
Humidity, wind speed, distance—he could gather detailed data before attacking.
And with his ability to calculate enemy movement trajectories, he could even fire preemptively. His real-time hit accuracy in combat exceeded 95%.
His right arm housed a high-frequency vibrating particle blade.
When an enemy closed in, Mo Yu only needed a single thought. The vibrating blade would eject from his fist and launch a slashing assault on the close-range opponent.
Then came the torso.
Besides the energy core inside, the chest also contained a mounted energy cannon.
When he wanted to launch a wide-range frontal strike, the metal chest plate would automatically open, unleashing 18 pre-charged energy shells for area bombardment.
Even if the shells were exhausted, the energy core could rapidly reload them.
At the back of his torso was a mobile thruster system that allowed rapid aerial movement.
Then there was the head.
In addition to housing the consciousness chip, it was equipped with a solar energy absorption panel. This allowed him to recharge using solar power, injecting the harvested energy back into the core.
The efficiency of this method wasn't high, but in certain situations, it could prove unexpectedly useful.
That was why Mo Yu chose to install the solar panel.
Finally, both legs were equipped with boosters inside. These allowed for short-distance bursts, effective for both escape and pursuit.
In battle, the boosters could greatly amplify the power of his kicks.
Aside from weapons in the head, torso, and limbs, Mo Yu also had a high-voltage electric plate installed at the back of his neck.
If an enemy grappled him in close quarters, a single thought would activate a surge of high-voltage current throughout his body, electrocuting the attacker.
With another round of combat testing, Mo Yu's strength had now surpassed even the peak of his former flesh-and-blood self.
At this point, his entire body had become a weapon.
But in Mo Yu's eyes, the current stage of mechanized transformation was far from the end.
The next phase of modification would unfold in three directions.
First, upgrading the functional components of his body.
For example, the artificial eye could be upgraded with thermal imaging, radar, and other tech to adapt to more combat scenarios.
Second, enhancing the strength of the components.
This upgrade was tied directly to the materials used to create the components.
Finding more suitable spiritual materials for mechanized modification was one of its core aspects.
Energy absorption, high-temperature resistance, extreme cold resistance, electromagnetic shielding coatings—things like that.
To improve the overall performance of the mechanized body, materials science was the key.
With high-strength materials, even a weaponless mechanized body could become a lethal force. In some cases, enemies wouldn't even be able to break through its defenses.
Through current spiritual material testing, Mo Yu had already identified many materials suitable for mechanical modifications.
The challenge now was how to integrate these material properties into a composite that perfectly matched the demands of a modified body.
He entrusted this problem to the Energy Research Institute, the Star Research Institute, and other institutions that had spent years specializing in material science. Together with his mechanization team, they would develop upgraded materials for the mechanized body.
Time passed.
Mo Yu continued to press forward along the path of mechanical modification, constantly seeking breakthroughs.
The road that had once grown rapidly now reached a bottleneck. Development began to slow.
During this period, Mo Yu discovered a new path.
Since his mechanized body had reached an upgrade bottleneck, he would research a mech that could work in tandem with it.
The mech Mo Yu envisioned wasn't the type seen in sci-fi movies, where the body remotely controlled a machine from inside.
In his eyes, that type of system was impractical in real combat.
What he wanted was a mech that fused with his mechanized body, making the body itself the control core of the mech in battle.
To illustrate, the way sci-fi pilots operate their mechs was like a gamer using a joystick—at the end of the day, it was still an external control method.
But the fusion Mo Yu envisioned was entirely different.
He would treat his mechanical body as a component of the mech, becoming its brain and heart—fully integrated.
This way, his combat perspective would be the mech's direct point of view, with zero dissonance.
In Mo Yu's mind, his already-mechanized body was naturally suited for perfect integration with a mech. It wasn't a problem at all.
There were many advantages to building a mech.
The number of weapons that could be embedded in a mechanized body was ultimately limited.
But a massive mech was different. Creating one over ten meters tall meant it could carry weapons and ammo on a whole new scale.
To make it a reality, Mo Yu and his team worked around the clock.
Two years later.
When a thirteen-meter-tall, full-metal mech stood in the center of the lab square, Mo Yu felt the same thrill he had when his mechanized transformation first succeeded.
But new challenges came with it.
To operate the mech, it needed a completely new energy core.
Relying solely on the core inside his body—while enough to move the mech for a while—wouldn't last under the mech's massive energy demands.
At this point, Mo Yu faced two choices.
First, build a large energy core inside the mech to power it.
Second, upgrade his own energy core to dramatically boost its energy capacity, enough to sustain high-intensity combat within the mech.
Of the two, the first was simple. The second was difficult.
But Mo Yu chose the second without hesitation.
Eventually, with future upgrades to his body, the energy core would need to be improved anyway.
Even if he didn't tackle the issue now, he would have to deal with it down the line.
As a pioneer of mechanized modification, Mo Yu wanted to solve as many problems as possible for those who came after him.
…
Year 109 of the Dawn Era.
Late at night.
Mo Yu wore a white mourning robe, silently gazing at the black-and-white memorial photo on the living room wall.
In the photo, his grandmother wore twin pigtails—she had been beautiful and vibrant in her youth.
This woman, who had endured a lifetime of hardship, had lived a life full of trials.
At thirty-two, her husband—her lifelong partner—died in an experiment. She raised their child alone.
Five years later, she was nearly killed by radiation from another lab accident.
Then, in the final two years before her retirement, both her son and daughter-in-law died on the front lines, leaving behind an infant—Mo Yu.
Despite all this, she never collapsed under the weight of tragedy. She always pressed forward, facing hardship with strength and tomorrow with optimism.
She gave her entire life to the human race.
It was from her that Mo Yu first felt the power of belief.
He clearly remembered her words back when she was alive:
"I never believed in Feng Qi because I wanted something from him. The beauty of faith isn't about taking—it's about how it gives you something to look toward. A light that keeps shining on you, even when you're trapped in darkness and despair. That's what belief is. It's a heart that redeems itself."
At the time, he didn't understand what she meant.
Not until he went through his own despair did it finally make sense.
Memories of his grandmother kept replaying in Mo Yu's mind.
When he was a toddler, wobbling on unsteady feet, she followed behind with a smile, gently reminding him, "Slow down."
In his rebellious youth, he shouted that he would fight on the front lines like the heroes. She chased him around the yard with a stick, yelling curses the whole time, but he never listened.
When he got into Breaking Dawn Academy, she made a whole table full of food. She complained nonstop while cooking, but her eyes betrayed the pride she couldn't hide. Her feelings were complicated beyond words.
When he returned home disabled, she was the one who got him through those hopeless days, helping him reignite his will to fight and start over.
…
All those moments with her swirled in his thoughts.
This old woman who always talked about wanting to hold her great-grandchild in her arms... in the end, never got the chance. She was gone, forever.
Outside, tree branches swayed in the wind, tapping softly against the window. Moonlight filtered through the skylight, casting a pale glow over Mo Yu.
Before he knew it, he had been walking the road of mechanized transformation for over ten years.
Three days ago, his last living family tie had vanished.
For the first time in all those years, Mo Yu felt a deep, heavy sadness.
Now that his transformation was complete, he theoretically had near-infinite lifespan. Time was no longer a threat.
As long as humanity survived, he could keep replacing outdated components and stay at his peak. And that peak would only keep rising with better tech.
But inside, he felt a sorrow he couldn't describe.
With his grandmother gone, he realized a bond tied to blood and love had been severed forever.
His cold, mechanical body couldn't calm what he felt in his mind.
He wanted to cry. But he had no tears to shed.
Mo Yu stood up, knelt before the memorial photo, and bowed deeply—three times.
Then, without looking back, he turned and left.
The grief only grew heavier.
With his current capabilities, he could've deleted these painful memories at any time. But he didn't.
Whether sorrow or joy, emotional bonds were proof that he was still human—not just some cold, mechanical thing.
In the days ahead, he would carry the beliefs of his grandmother, his parents, his wife, his brothers... everyone he had lost.
And keep moving forward on the path to rise for humanity.
Either to rise with them—or fall with them into ruin.