Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 40 Negotiation
Roger's lips curled down almost imperceptibly; the mere mention of this woman's name infuriated her.

Johnny Silverhand stormed Arasaka Tower twice because of this woman, died because of her, and many of her old friends also died in Arasaka Tower because of what happened back then.

As a result, she was forced to wander in the wilderness for several years.

She still harbored feelings for Johnny Silverhand, or rather, she had never truly let go of him. Therefore, the mere thought of Ultraman's name only fueled her anger.

Roger said in an unfriendly tone, "Then you shouldn't have come to me at all. What does what Ultraman asked you to do have to do with me?"

This woman is so stubborn.

Mercer shook his head slightly, and then said bluntly, "You want me to save him now? I don't have the ability or the time."

To be honest, rescuing him is at most a side quest for me. If I actually rescue him, how will it help me personally?

Although Otto said she wanted to give me some reward, to be honest, she probably didn't care if Johnny continued to suffer in the server or some storage chip for a few more years.

I'd rather wait until I'm absolutely certain and feel sufficiently safe before taking action, and I'm open to abandoning this commission if necessary.

His words made Roger frown, and then Mercer added fuel to the fire by saying, "Yes, I can help Ultraman, but is that good news for you?"

"Ultraman gave me a few options: rescue Johnny Silverhand and free him, or simply help him get rid of his burdens, or... hand him over to her."

Mercer stared at Roger and said calmly, "Do you want to see Silver Hand die completely, or do you want to see him and Ultraman live happily ever after in cyberspace?"

"Enough!" Roger glared at Mercer with an unfriendly expression. "You seem to know quite a bit about what Ultraman told you? Even as an AI, you're still so unlikable."

"No, no, no, I know about your love-hate entanglements myself. It's out of my personal interest."

"You were all big shots in Night City back then, with tons of gossip and scandals to uncover."

Mercer laughed: "So, I was thinking, rather than letting Johnny Silverhand become an AI with Ultraman, whose emotions have become much more distant, or simply killing him..."
Perhaps you'd be more interested in the suggestion of resurrecting Johnny Silverhand?

“Resurrection? Are you kidding me?” Roger stared intently at Mercer.

Mercer, however, said in a relaxed tone: "I'm not joking. With such a wide network of connections, Queen Rogue should have heard of Arasaka's 'Protecting Your Soul' project, right?"
Relic chip.

Johnny Silverhand's consciousness is probably currently stored in a Relic chip hidden in some Arasaka Tower. Of course, it's also possible that Arasaka has already uploaded it to one of Arasaka's servers.

But in any case, as long as his consciousness is transferred into the Relic chip.

Then, insert it into a living body. Boom, the rock 'n' roll kid is back.

Mercer mimed a firework explosion with his hands, smiling as he looked at Roger: "At that time, you will be his savior, and Ultraman in cyberspace will no longer have anything to do with him, a guy who has been resurrected."

Ultraman is even more stubborn than you. When she asked me to do something, she acted like a cold-blooded and ruthless AI. You two are really alike in that respect.

Anyway, she definitely won't give Silverhand a friendly look.

When Silver Hand opened his eyes after decades, the only familiar person he could rely on was you.
Decades later, old lovers reunite after experiencing life and death separations. Wow, how wonderful!

Roger just stared at Mercer, and after a moment of silence, said with some displeasure, "I'm starting to dislike you. You remind me of an idiot I dealt with decades ago."

This kid's tone is so irritating, it reminds her of a stupid bastard named Bartmore.

"Hahaha!" Mercer laughed loudly, then became serious: "So, are you interested or not?"

He said calmly, "If you have no interest in saving Johnny Silverhand and are indifferent to his suffering in the chip or server, then I'm even less in a hurry to save him."

Three to five years later? Or ten or twenty years later?

I would never risk my life or pay a high price to save someone I have no connection with.

The reason I contacted you is that I felt this matter might be of great significance to you and could also bring me a good reward.

"If you don't want to, that's fine too. Just let Johnny Silverhand lie there for now. I'll save his life when I have time."

Mercer's words made Roger narrow his eyes: "I feel like you're threatening me."

"I'm just stating the facts. If even the woman he loved in his lifetime wasn't willing to lend a hand, then as an outsider, I have even less reason to rush to save him."

Of course, even if you don't help, I'll still bail him out when I feel the time is right—I'd be happy to have another stupid terrorist causing trouble for the company.

Not to mention, I can achieve some of my own goals through this matter.

Mercer slumped onto the sofa, looking utterly relaxed, and asked one last time, "So, can we talk about the details of the commission now?"

Frustrated, Roger took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

After a long while, she said through gritted teeth, "Talk! I agreed. We'll rescue that idiot together. Tell me, what do you want?"

"Leaving aside the compensation, I have two plans, each with only three steps, which is very easy."

Mercer sat up straight, a bright smile on his face:

"The first plan, the first step, is for us to find a way to get Arasaka to transfer Silver Hand's consciousness to Night City."

The second step is to find a powerful mercenary team to enter the Divine Carriage and use the Relic chip to re-download Silver Hand's consciousness onto the chip.

The third step is to find a suitable body, or rather, a corpse, and insert the chip.

Roger shook his head decisively: "Impossible. If this thing is placed at the Japanese headquarters, it means that Saburo Arasaka will definitely keep a close eye on him."

Furthermore, information is not shared between different shrine servers; Saburo Arasaka isn't foolish enough to give the enemy the opportunity to wipe out the entire shrine.

"Okay, option two."

Mercer then spoke of what he thought was the easiest solution to implement: "Alright, first step, Roger, you go and take care of Arasaka Yorinobu."

“I’ll fucking take care of you first!” Roger was completely numb.

Is this idiot even speaking human language?
"Arasaka Yorinobu? You want me to handle him? How? Kidnap him?" Roger was speechless and almost told him to get lost.

Mercer nodded: "Kidnapping? No, just to get your private contact information so I can talk to him."

This guy, Saburo Arasaka's biggest failure in life—born in Arasaka but a staunch anti-corporate fighter—is the key to our success in getting the chip.

Although I think he's pretty stupid, I have to say that if we're looking for someone qualified to obtain Johnny Silverhand's consciousness and bring it to Night City, then Arasaka Yorinobu is undoubtedly the best choice.

Don't be fooled by his tearful wailing at his older brother's grave after the Arasaka Tower nuclear explosion; it was all an act to survive and for his father. He never gave up on the idea of ​​destroying the company, and he always harbored a deep-seated hatred for Saburo Arasaka.

But this poor guy is just as afraid of his father as he hates him.

Ha, just an old man nearing the end of his life. If I were replaced by Arasaka Yorinobu...
I would have killed that old man ten or a hundred times over.

Mercer's words impressed Roger—don't be fooled by the fact that everyone seems to hate the company, if you ask others how they view Saburo Arasaka, nine out of ten mercenaries would be filled with fear.

You wouldn't usually brag like that.

Mercer's contempt was hard to fake; he genuinely despised Arasaka and Saburo Arasaka.

Disdain, huh? There really is someone who can have such an attitude towards Arakawa?

After making a few dismissive comments, Mercer continued, "But that doesn't stop him from having a high probability of helping us."

"Are you sure? You said it yourself, he obediently bowed his head and admitted his mistakes in order to survive, which is why Saburo allowed him to return to Arasaka."

Roger pondered as he sized him up.

Mercer simply said calmly, "Then give him a reason he can't refuse—the life of Saburo Arasaka."

"As long as he brings the chip containing Johnny Silverhand's consciousness, I'll help him completely kill Saburo Arasaka."

Roger couldn't help but lean his head back: "Are you fucking kidding me?"

She heard more ghost stories in one night than she had in the past year.

"Just kidding? Is that so hard?"

Mercer sneered: "A hundred-year-old bastard whose bones are all brittle, even I could strangle him to death with my bare hands."

"Do you know how strong Arasaka's security is? And you have no idea what it feels like to be hunted down by Arasaka!" Roger said seriously.

Mercer, however, simply replied casually, "Is that so? But what if it wasn't me who wanted to kill him, but Arasaka Yorinobu?"

Roger looked at Mercer with a somewhat horrified expression, while Mercer simply stared back at her calmly: "He's wanted to kill Arasaka Saburo for a long time, but he lacked the courage and a good opportunity."
"As long as we can make contact with Arasaka Yorinobu, I'll handle the rest."

"So, to put it simply, the first step is to make contact with Arasaka Yorinobu."

The second step was to establish a partnership with Yoriyuki Arasaka.

Third, Arasaka Yoriyuki brings the chip to Night City. I go and take Johnny Silverhand's consciousness chip, and then help him completely kill Arasaka Saburo.

With that in mind, the new bosses in Arasaka are all our own people, so what do we have to be afraid of? Who would cause us trouble for some old man?

Lai Xuan will definitely come up with a perfect reason; we don't need to worry about that. He won't let anyone know that he killed his own father.

In short, as long as an agreement can be reached with him.

Then Silver Hand will regain his freedom, and the world will have gained another outstanding anti-corporation fighter—who is also the head of Arasaka Corporation.

I got paid, and you got your old flame.

Mission accomplished, feeling relaxed and happy.

Mercer's words amused Roger: "So, what's the purpose of you coming to me? To help you persuade Arasaka Yorinobu to take action immediately? You're giving me too much credit."

“I told you, I need someone to help me connect with Arasaka Yorinobu.”

Mercer stared straight at her: "I know you have a wide network of connections. The reason you were able to return to Night City was because you reached some agreement with Arasaka. You must have a way to contact Arasaka Yoriyuki."

I don't want you to talk, I'll talk. I'll give Arasaka Yorinobu the courage to take action, and gently push him from behind.

All you need to do is give me a chance to talk to him, it's that simple.

Roger's breathing became much heavier. She took deep drags on her cigarette until only a single butt remained. After stubbing it out in the ashtray, she began to ask other questions.

"Are you sure that Relic chip can revive Silver Hand?" Roger looked at Mercer, starting to probe his background: "How do you know so much? How did you meet Ultraman? Why did you come to Night City?"

Mercer's heart was finally at ease—it was done.

If Roger wasn't interested in cooperating, she wouldn't have asked so many questions in the first place.

The fact that they've started investigating the details shows that Roger is interested in his proposal.

"First of all, there are not many people in this world who truly understand the Relic chip. Most people actually think it is just a soul killer program or a carrier of consciousness data."

As Mercer spoke, he took out a chip from beside his head and waved it at Roger, causing Roger's pupils to shrink sharply.

"But coincidentally, I am the one who knows it very well."

Mercer reinserted the chip into his head and said casually:

"After years of development, today's chips are essentially magical devices that can modify brain neurons. Once inserted into the brain, they can modify your brain neurons according to a program."

Using it to revive someone essentially involves inserting the chip into the brain of a dead person. The chip will then continuously modify the deceased's brain nerves until those nerves take on the form of the consciousness within the chip.

The modified body will first reject the original consciousness within it, then kill it, and finally, the consciousness within the chip will replace the original owner of the body, thus completing the resurrection.

The one in my hand, after I erased its original program—that is, the Soul Killer within—has become a miraculous brain nerve repair device.

As long as no programs are programmed or conscious data is implanted into it, it will only automatically repair my own brain nerves after detecting nerve damage.

"Where did you get this?!" Roger stared at him in disbelief. He had actually managed to get his hands on a Relic chip?!
Mercer shrugged: "Of course it's Arasaka. Don't be so nervous, Roger. It's not like you've never dealt with Arasaka's wanted criminals before."

"Damn it." Roger visibly grew anxious, but in the end, after cursing, he continued, "Go on."

"I was able to get this chip thanks to the stupid Arasaka Corporation's actions—they wanted to use the Soul Killer program to capture the old network's AI."

"However, to explain all of this, I must first explain my identity and the cause and effect of this matter to you."

As Mercer spoke, he slowly reached out and removed his mask, revealing a still-youthful face that shocked Roger.

(End of this chapter)