Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 3: Hacking is actually pretty easy!

Mercer had a terrible three days.

Life without a TV, computer, or cell phone, and having to lie in bed all the time, is not easy.

Dr. Oda only comes once a day to conduct a detailed examination, and then leaves in a hurry, instructing him not to get out of bed and move around unnecessarily.

The formula review that I thought would come soon has not appeared, which is even more frustrating. The knife that is about to fall is the most frightening.

To be honest, he regretted it a little—if only he hadn't made the choice, hadn't traveled through time, or had simply chosen the option of becoming a wanderer.
But these feelings of regret didn't last long.

It wasn't that Mercer was particularly magnanimous, but rather that he found his ability to perceive emotions had also diminished.

His brain was processing thoughts at an increasingly rapid pace, while his emotions were becoming increasingly detached. This situation inexplicably terrified him—without feelings, only cold, analytical thinking remained.
So what's the difference between him and an AI?
Fortunately, after he cautiously inquired with Dr. Oda, the answer he received was reassuring.

The fact that his nerves were damaged, resulting only in some emotional perception, is not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it may be a self-protective mechanism of the brain. As his brain nerves gradually heal, his emotions will return.
perhaps.

Dr. Oda even believes that even if there is no recovery, it is a good thing. In this world, being able to maintain a calm and clear mind at all times is an outstanding talent.

For now, Mercer can only put aside these fears and use this calm mind to start thinking about how to survive.

Fortunately, when the fourth day arrived, Dr. Oda brought him some good news.

"Your network access pod has been reinstalled, and you can access the internet freely for the next few days. If the monitoring data meets the requirements, you will be reassigned to hacking activities. I don't know anything else."

As Dr. Oda was about to leave after speaking, Mercer hurriedly spoke up: "Dr. Oda, about the accident..."

"As far as I know, after Director Aoki reported the specific situation, headquarters did not stop the project. Instead, they arranged a new experimental project. As for the impact of the accident..."
Anyway, this isn't the first time people have died. The server needs maintenance, the firewall needs reconfiguration, and network IPs need to be moved. In short, the excavation operation was forced to stop for a few days, but it will resume soon.

After Dr. Oda finished speaking, he looked at Mercer and said calmly, "You are very lucky. Although the brain nerve damage this time is serious, it is not fatal. Moreover, not everyone has the possibility of recovery after brain nerve damage."

This is also a talent, meaning your hacking potential may be far greater than initially assessed.

Of course, greater potential might not necessarily be a good thing for you.

Although Dr. Oda appears cold, Mercer can keenly sense that there is still some humanity in her words.

While most company employees are ruthless climbers, it doesn't mean that everyone is completely cold-blooded and ruthless when it comes to exploiting and taking advantage of others.

Dr. Oda seems to be that kind of person; she still has a little conscience, though it doesn't seem like much.

"You mean the new project might be related to me?" Mercer's words surprised Dr. Oda. She glanced at Mercer, said nothing, and simply turned and left.

Mercer frowned as he pondered—the new project.
After a long pause, Mercer sighed, gave up thinking, and activated the network access module that had just been installed in his mind.

The network access module is the core prosthetic body through which hackers influence reality. It not only allows hackers to directly influence networked devices in the real world through their minds, but also allows them to directly connect to nearby networks via wireless network signals.

At the same time, different models or companies' network access warehouses also have different special functions.

For example, the network access module of the network monitoring model comes with a diffusion module, which allows hackers to make the program spread like a virus when using the fast cracking program, automatically spreading to other networked devices around the target.

Arasaka's network access pod, on the other hand, is more geared towards stealth and the destruction or hacking of individual targets.

Of course, none of this matters to Mercer right now; all he really needs is a simple internet connection.

He's been so bored these past few days.

[Arasaka Mk3 Network Access Container Now Open]

[Bioinformatics validation passed]

[Permissions approved]

[Mercer Han's access rights verification complete]

Current neural latency: 2.7ms

The current data bandwidth test result is: 780GB/s.

[Exclusive ICE: Obsidian V.2 has been successfully launched]

[Coprocessor: The 'Hannya' quick crack module is running normally; the quick crack program is not currently loaded (please comply with the Arasaka employee agreement when using it)]

A long string of text flashed before his eyes, but Mercer simply thought of it and the data disappeared.

He turned to the side, somewhat laboriously picked up an Arasaka tablet that Dr. Oda had placed beside him, put it on his lap, and then pulled a data cable directly from his wrist and plugged it into the tablet's interface.

Actually, when he had a network access pod, he didn't need these devices to connect to the network wirelessly, view websites, and play videos. But in today's cyberpunk 20...
Mercer glanced at the time on the tablet.

October 12, 2071.

Well, in today's cyberpunk 2071, even street urchins struggling to make a living know that they should never directly connect their brains to the network.

Because if you choose to connect to the internet physically, you can only rely on the ICE in your personal network receiver to withstand attacks and viruses on the network.

Some viruses, if they hack a computer, at most burn out a hard drive, but what if they accidentally get into your brain?
That's roasted pig brain.

After connecting to the network, Mercer didn't do anything extra. He knew very well that there was no such thing as personal privacy here, and every word he said and every action he took could be scrutinized by someone.

So he simply connected to the internet and wanted to confirm his location, which was not difficult. Soon, he knew where he was.

Suburbs near Vancouver, Canada.

In the cyberpunk world, Canada is a 'resource colony' that has long been fragmented by major corporations or organizations.

Military technology has given Alberta control as a synthetic petroleum production base.

The internet has controlled Quebec and transformed it into a 'data farm,' while Vancouver is a very important enclave in the wasteland.

The entire city of Vancouver was completely absorbed by Arasaka as early as 2045, and even the Parliament Buildings were converted into a research and development center, becoming a fortress-level city for Arasaka facing North America and an important hub for the flow of goods from the Asia-Pacific region to North America.

Mercer opened the map and began to think about his escape route.

First, in terms of straight-line distance, head south to Emerald City (old Seattle), then south to Portland, then from Portland you can enter Oregon directly, and then south to Night City. The journey is about 2,000 kilometers.

Hmm. Mercer had only assessed the potential troubles on the road based on the basic knowledge in his mind, and couldn't help but rub his head in pain.

First, the radiation levels near Seattle are very high.

In 2045, in order to counter Arasaka and prevent him from taking Seattle, military technology implemented Project Emerald Bird.

They fired three Cobalt-60 dirty bombs toward the north of the city, creating a radiation buffer zone. These three specially made dirty bombs had a radiation period of an astonishing 30 years.

Moreover, as things stand, the tug-of-war between Arasaka and military technology in Seattle continues.

However, Arasaka is currently operating in the shadows while Military Science is in the open. If they were to casually run over there and their identities were discovered to be related to Arasaka, Military Science would not be a reasonable force.

Therefore, it's best to avoid Seattle, especially if you have to take a detour.
Mercer carefully examined the map and eventually devised two suitable escape routes.

One option is to simply travel by water, find a way to board a ship at the port of Vancouver, and once you cross Seattle, you can disembark anywhere, steal a car, and head straight to Night City. Alternatively, you can go directly to Night City by boat.

The difficulty lies in speed. If they fail to escape by boat before Arasaka realizes the project is out of control and the personnel flee, given Arasaka's control over Vancouver, it will be very difficult for them to escape under pursuit.

He needs to plan the timing of the operation, the escape route, and the disguise in advance, and also arrange or plan the boats in advance.

The other option is to travel entirely by land. As long as you can get past the border checkpoints, you can then speed across the wilderness, only needing to deal with the Chaotic Blade Society and various local thugs active outside the city.

Mercer didn't search or browse these pages much; he just glanced at the map and then logged off the network, turning instead to familiarize himself with his hacking knowledge.

Despite his brain repeatedly telling him that he had indeed mastered 'Mercer's' hacking techniques, he still felt uncertain.

If you want to prove your skills, there's nothing easier than doing it yourself.

After only a brief moment of thought, Mercer identified his target: to write a stealthy puppet program and convert it into a fast hacking program that could be written into the coprocessor of the network access bay, attempting to directly hack into the cameras surrounding the ward using the network access bay.

This is also the most common and basic hacking technique in games: scanning surrounding devices and using quick cracking to gain access.

Without needing to type on a keyboard, he started programming with his thoughts simply by connecting the tablet to the data cable. The near-zero latency and ultra-high transmission speed in wired mode instantly filled the laptop and tablet with program and programming boxes.

Countless numbers and letters flashed rapidly on the tablet screen, and Mercer's eyes emitted a faint golden light.

At this moment, in his vision, it seemed as if everything in the world had been transformed into data.

Like breathing, it was an instinct; he didn't need to think about programming languages ​​or anything like that. Countless lines of code found their place on their own and formed a program.

Fifteen seconds.

In just fifteen seconds, he completed the rapid hacking and takeover program for the electronic device, and then embedded it into the coprocessor in one second.

Just as he was about to test whether the program would work, a very glaring red prompt suddenly appeared in front of him.

[It has been detected that you are currently attempting to take over company equipment using a quick hacking technique. Please note that this action violates the company's employee regulations and the usage rights of the Mk.3 network access module. Please cease this illegal activity immediately.]

Um.
Mercer clicked his tongue, but his eyes still gleamed with golden light. He neither unplugged the data cable connected to the tablet nor stopped what he was doing.

At this moment, the tablet's heat began to rise rapidly, and at the same time, more and more program pop-ups appeared on the screen.

Until the program window in front of me suddenly disappeared.

[Arasaka Mk.3 Network Access Container Rebooting]

[The Arasaka Mk.3 network access module has restarted successfully. Missing action logs were detected. Do you wish to restore and report the changes?]

[Cancel. Program compromised, warning.]

[Self-checking in progress.]

[Reboot.]

Ten minutes later, Mercer finally stopped. He unplugged the data cable expressionlessly, then covered his head and rolled around on the bed.

"Painful Grass".

Mercer couldn't help but curse twice, then, panting heavily, touched the slightly hot piercing behind his ear, but finally couldn't help but reveal a bright smile.

Become!

He not only successfully wrote a magic puppet virus, but also compressed it into a fast cracking program and added it to the coprocessor.

From then on, he could just scan the device with his prosthetic eye, just like in the game, and send a virus to take control of the target device in a covert way.

Most importantly! He also successfully 'optimized' Arasaka's network receiver!

Among the features that were specifically optimized were employee access control monitoring, automatic recording and reporting of usage logs, network browsing log recording, quick cracking of usage agreements, backdoors planted by Arasaka, and several virus monitoring programs lurking in the ICE program.

He also deleted the usage history of the tablet in his hand and disguised it as an ordinary usage history.

And all of this took only thirty minutes!

Simply incredible!

If it were the original Mercer, it might have taken him more than half an hour to write the former, while the original Mercer probably wouldn't even dare to try the latter! Because if the device alarmed, it would likely be Arasaka's agents who arrived!

The protection programs inside the Arasaka device were written by countless programmers working over 14 hours a day. Want to crack them in fifteen minutes? Pure dream!
But Mercer did more than that. He not only intercepted the device's signal transmission before it alarmed and broke into the device's built-in ICE system, but also successfully rewrote the program code, optimizing and eliminating those unimportant and useless functions, or more accurately, blocking them.

Blocking is harder than optimizing. Optimization simply involves deleting code, but blocking requires finding the core code within that mountain of garbage, rewriting it, integrating it into the original code, and disguising it properly.

The purpose of doing this is, of course, to pass the inspection.

Furthermore, Mercer rewrote the code used in this crack into a new puppet program.

He named it 'Freedom Killer V0.1'.

The sole purpose of this program, or rather the virus, is to erase the monitoring program and backdoor on the prosthetic body. It first eliminates the original program code and then rewrites it with the virus to make it appear as if it is still running normally.

Although the current program is still very rudimentary, it is most likely only effective against the MK.3 network access module that he has currently compromised.

But Mercer was confident that, given a maximum of two more hours, he could write a hacking program that could automatically locate and eliminate disguises, applicable to all cybernetic bodies.

This program can eliminate not only simple monitoring, but also completely destroy the safety measures that Arasaka installed on the prosthetic bodies of his employees.

Arasaka Corporation has implemented a very strict monitoring system for all its employees.

This system can ensure that the company can lock all of the employee's prosthetic body permissions the moment it decides to fire the employee, turning the employee's entire prosthetic body into scrap metal in an instant.

Arasaka's agents are also equipped with special rapid takeover programs, which are specifically designed to detect and eliminate their own people.

Agent Arasaka can use this ability to quickly and effortlessly crack and lock prosthetics—even most cracked prosthetics can be re-locked by this targeted and rapid cracking.

However, Mercer's Free Killer program can completely kill these backdoor programs and disguise them while overwriting the original programs with new programs, completely eliminating the possibility of them being quickly cracked by dedicated removal software!
Mercer covered his head, a smile on his face, but he couldn't help but start thinking.

Is this something he can do?
To be precise, this level of programming ability is far beyond the level of an ordinary genius hacker!
Before the transmigration, everyone laughed at Lucy in the anime for being weak, and she was completely different from Hacker V and Lark in the game.

But without a doubt, in the real world, a hacker like Lucy is already at an advanced level among ordinary hackers.

The reason she can't be called top-tier is because Lucy has been on the run ever since she escaped Arasaka, living a life of hardship and displacement, so her skills have hardly improved, and her equipment is unlikely to be updated.

Even so, she was amazed by David in the anime, saying: It's incredible that she has such hacking skills at her age.

Although David wasn't exactly a worldly-wise person, he was still an honor student at Arasaka Academy, so even if he hadn't seen much, he still had basic judgment.

And Mercer.
He can draw a conclusion based on common sense in his mind.

Even if Lucy started studying diligently from today, she probably wouldn't reach his current skill level by the time she's thirty.

What limits Mercer's technical capabilities nowadays is not hacking talent at all, but simply the accumulation of theoretical and practical skills, as well as the computing power provided by the human brain as a 'wet component'.

Everything he does when he writes programs is practically instinctive!
It was as if the moment he triggered the network receiver alarm, a solution to the vulnerability had already appeared in his mind—this instinct didn't even make him feel the slightest bit nervous or afraid, completely forgetting the possibility that failing to crack it would trigger an alarm.

Because that's how he saw it at the time.
Suppressing the program's alarm was as easy as putting out a cigarette, and cracking it afterward was a piece of cake. I just thought of it and did it, and I actually succeeded!
"Being a hacker is pretty easy."

Mercer let out a long sigh, feeling the joy and satisfaction that came from the heart, and lay down on the hospital bed, pushing the alarmingly hot tablet far away.

His still-throbbing head told him that now was not a good time to write about a 'free killer'; he needed to rest.

However, he hadn't been able to close his eyes and rest for long.

"Click."

The door opened.

A man in a suit with a cold expression walked in with a woman who also had a cold expression.

"Mercer Han".

Mercer opened his eyes.

"Company review."

　I will update every night at 12:01 AM sharp from now on!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)