Grassland, grass, and more grass.

Perhaps what Wang Ping saw before him could hardly be called a grassland; it was more aptly described as a wasteland. The morning weather was quite cool, and the breeze carried a scent that, while not particularly refreshing, was certainly better than the slightly putrid mix of various living odors from the village. Wang Ping wrapped himself in a tattered cloth, jumped down from the earthen slope, and continued walking south. Now, Wang Ping looked like a vagrant, his whole body wrapped in rags, a wooden stick in his hand, and a broken straw hat on his head. His gray-black, dirty, and messy long hair was tied into a ponytail with a strip of cloth, hanging loosely behind him.

Originally, Wang Ping did not like such long hair, but he had no choice, as the hair was actually a necessary part of a biological magnetic field detection radar. Wang Ping could only accept its presence. Once, the dream of a homeless man who had never cared about his long hair was to personally comb his wife's hair, but now he found himself having to comb his own.

To be fair, Wang Ping was not unattractive. By the standards of his time, he could be considered a typical pretty boy, with soft facial features. His years of bedridden life had given him a quality he detested—feminine beauty. Combined with his long hair, it was not surprising that he was often mistaken for a woman.

A sudden gust of wind lifted his loosely tied hair, covering his face. "Damn!" Wang Ping cursed, trying to smooth his hair. He couldn't help but think of his older brother, who helped manage his parents' business. "Maybe it's my brother playing tricks again! Why did he have to make the radar look like hair?" Wang Ping thought angrily. "Only he would call me sister and joke about my appearance, always saying that his work pressure is huge, but seeing such a delicate younger brother makes him feel much better."

Suddenly, he realized that he would never see his family again, and might not even know where they were buried. The memories in his mind would be the last keepsake he had of his family, and he felt a deep sense of bitterness. But there was one thing—he couldn't cry even if he wanted to.

He no longer had the right or the ability to cry.

After using voice commands to activate the auxiliary computer in the hibernation pod, Wang Ping learned a great deal, especially after the computer played his father's message. Only then did he realize how much effort his parents had put into saving his life.

At the time, people with disabilities caused by various reasons could compensate for their physical impairments by cloning certain parts of their bodies. However, individuals with high-level paraplegia or certain genetic diseases could not use this method to recover. The reason was simple: cloning and transplanting the human spinal system was an unsolved challenge.

The spinal system serves as the neural pathway connecting the human brain and the trunk. Cloning it in a cultivation tank is not difficult, but the challenge lies in failing to cultivate spinal clones with nerve junctions and genetic information identical to those of the donor. Even if cloning is successful, the probability of a complete transplant success is very low. Many patients who have undergone spinal transplants have experienced various functional problems. Therefore, Wang Ping's parents sought alternative methods. Due to their good relationship with the military, they eventually secured a slot for Wang Ping in a military program after much effort, making him an experimental subject in the "Bionic Body Manufacturing Program."

In plain terms, the "Bionic Body Manufacturing Program" was designed to create so-called "super soldiers." It involved gathering personnel who could not be rehabilitated using cloning technology and completely replacing their bodies by transplanting their brains into entirely artificial bionic bodies. In other words, they became cyborgs, half-human and half-machine. Of course, the volunteers for the surgery were all disabled soldiers from the military, with Wang Ping being the only civilian.

Given the technological context at the time, even such artificial bodies, without any weapons installed, possessed formidable design capabilities, as they were created for warfare and could be equipped with various weapons and other enhancements. However, there was still a long way to go from design to practical application. One major challenge for researchers was how to instantly increase the output power of a miniaturized nuclear fusion reactor to support the burst energy required by the movement system while maintaining normal operation. Another issue, such as installing weapon systems within the body or providing energy for weapon systems from the miniaturized nuclear fusion reactor carried by the body, was ranked far beyond the top 100 challenges to be overcome.

Wang Ping's body was actually the first generation of fully functional bionic bodies. Given that Wang Ping was a civilian who was dying of illness, to prevent the leakage of national scientific research results, his body was equipped only with essential systems, and all military-related hardware systems were omitted. Therefore, his body carried only five systems: the life magnetic field detection system, satellite positioning system, life support system, miniaturized nuclear fusion energy system, and auxiliary computer system.

Strictly speaking, the life magnetic field detection system is a military auxiliary device and should not have been installed on Wang Ping. However, considering the need to monitor Wang Ping's brain activity during hibernation, developing a separate system would have been too time-consuming and resource-intensive, so it was exceptionally installed on Wang Ping. Its external detection capability was compressed to a range of no more than 1,000 meters and no less than 5 meters, with the ability to detect up to 255 life targets simultaneously. The design of the system as hair-like structures was necessary to achieve the required sensitivity for radar detection, which was something Wang Ping could neither imagine nor understand.

The satellite positioning system uses the third-generation Beidou system, with adjusted positioning accuracy reduced to civilian levels. However, when Wang Ping tried to connect to the satellites, he found that he could not establish contact, possibly because the satellites had long since been destroyed due to the passage of time.

The life support system is crucial for supplying Wang Ping's brain with the necessary nutrients. This system requires a specialized brain energy box to provide essential nourishment, which can be cycled and reused with minimal loss. Under conditions where fresh water can be replenished, the normal operating lifespan of the energy box is six months. Wang Ping's parents prepared ten boxes for him, sufficient for five years of use. Moreover, these nutrients can typically be formulated using simple tools under normal circumstances. The only problem is that Wang Ping's situation is not normal.

The miniature nuclear fusion system provides the operational energy for the bionic body and has reserved interfaces for weapon energy output. It is essentially unchanged from the military design, meaning that with the appropriate military equipment, it can be installed in the corresponding positions within the body or connected to any of the multifunctional interfaces on Wang Ping's arms and legs, allowing him to use it. However, no matter how capable Wang Ping's parents were, they were not foolish enough to install military-grade combat equipment for him, which would undoubtedly bring trouble to themselves and their son.

Initially, Wang Ping was supposed to awaken after the transplant and wait for breakthroughs in cloning technology or updates to the system. However, the issue was that Wang Ping's brain was original, and while the bionic system does not age, the brain does. It was possible that before any technological breakthroughs were made, Wang Ping could die of brain aging. Not wanting Wang Ping to spend his entire life using such a bionic body, his parents decided to put him directly into hibernation after the bionic body replacement.

Currently, the reactor in Wang Ping's bionic body operates at only 9% capacity, sufficient for general movement but not for sprinting. Wang Ping doesn't know the exact reason, but the military has its own confidentiality principles, and the auxiliary computer contains no relevant information. One thing he can confirm is that he can speak, drink water, and sleep like a normal person. The advantage is that his appearance is indistinguishable from a human, drinking dirty water won't cause diarrhea, and he can ensure a sound sleep with a command. Additionally, the auxiliary computer can wake him up based on the situation. The downside is that he cannot eat, produce saliva, tears, or any other secretions.

The strength of the bionic body is quite impressive. According to the introduction, the external materials and framework can absorb a high degree of impact. For example, if Wang Ping falls from a height of ten meters onto concrete, he will be unharmed even if he lands on his head. At fifteen meters, he might experience slight brain concussion, and beyond twenty meters, he must adjust his posture to land on his feet, using joint cushioning and rolling to dissipate the impact. At heights over thirty meters, even if he lands safely, residual impact could damage his joints or, in severe cases, turn his head into a mess of pulp. Often, the auxiliary computer selects the counterattack method based on the attack received. When attacked by mid-range firearms without any weapons, the only option for Wang Ping is to pretend to be dead.

Wang Ping touched his face and pinched it lightly. His brain clearly felt both the sensation of "touch" and "pain." However, he noticed that if he scratched his face lightly, it still felt like "touch," and if he scratched harder, it felt like "pain." He could not feel "itching." Perhaps it was due to skin aging or the inability of the auxiliary computer to process the vague signals between touch and pain.

After understanding his body, Wang Ping had no specific goals to pursue. Although his interaction with the villagers was brief, comparing what he encountered and knew before and after his hibernation, Wang Ping concluded that there were likely no government institutions or similar organizations left in the world. He had come to a time when civilization was gradually regressing. It was possible that in a few hundred years, humans might even forget basic language and start the exploration and development of civilization anew.

'Maybe wandering for the rest of my life isn't so bad.' Wang Ping had no intention of saving the villagers; he knew he lacked the ability. As someone who had not even completed high school, let alone talk about restoring civilization or becoming a hero, Wang Ping was not foolish. He knew that in such a chaotic era, simply surviving was a significant achievement.

'In this body, even having children is impossible.' Wang Ping smiled self-deprecatingly, thankful that the brain nutrient solution contained components to suppress libido; otherwise, dealing with unrelieved desire wouldn't be easy.

Traversing the wilderness was not easy, but fortunately, the wandering man of the wilderness knew from the records of the auxiliary computer that although the reactor's energy output was far from sufficient, the stored hydrogen fusion material was enough to keep the reactor running normally for more than half a year. In other words, as long as he wished, without accounting for wear and tear on the body, Wang Ping could walk continuously for half a year. As for what would happen after half a year, he had not yet given it much thought.