Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 41: Cooperation Achieved, First Encounter with V

Three years ago, Arasaka launched a clandestine project called "Project Star" at his secret base in Canada.

The project involved a group of hackers using access points from Canadian internet surveillance to directly infiltrate old networks and extract data from them.

The hackers they chose were all young kids like me—easy to deceive and control, and since most of them were orphans, they had no worries about using them.

Thus, a group of children, the youngest being ten years old and the oldest only twelve, became the mining cards used to mine old network data.

And I am one of them.

Mercer's words, along with his somewhat youthful face, silenced Roger.

She looked quietly at Mercer's face, her emotions complex, and her previous irritability seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

Mercer simply continued speaking quietly:

"This plan officially started a year ago, and in just over a year, half of our group of hackers were killed by attacks from the roaming AIs that kept appearing in the old network."

I am one of the survivors.

A month ago, we encountered a very powerful AI on the old network—OttCunningham.

Mercer spoke half-truthfully, without revealing the whole story about Bartmouth and Spider Murphy.

"It was Ottcanin's appearance that gave me the opportunity to escape from there."

The appearance of Ultraman caused Arasaka's servers to overload, which attracted attention. The higher-ups believed that the consumption and returns of the 'Stardust Project' were not proportional, so they dismissed the original project director.

The new project director is ambitious; she has set her sights on the roaming AI, hoping to use the Relic chip to capture Arasaka's old enemy, Ottcanion.

But the result is obvious. They want to use the Soul Killer program to capture its creator? That's a joke.

I negotiated the terms with Ultraman, and then, with her help, I took over the servers at the Arasaka base, killed all the guards, and escaped the base.

While casually looting the documents and the precious Relic chip inside, I also learned the truth about everything from Ultraman.

Mercer's words silenced Roger, who finally spoke with a complex emotion: "Ultraman has actually started using a child? Really."

"Ha, it's not really about taking advantage of each other, it's more about mutual help."

Mercer smiled and then continued, "So now you should understand that this whole thing wasn't just me making things up."

If you don't believe me, you can use your own connections to investigate for yourself—what exactly happened at the Arasaka base in the suburbs of Vancouver, Canada.

Many people died that day; I imagine it caused quite a stir. If your connections are reliable, they might corroborate some of what I said.

"Aren't you afraid I'll turn around and sell you to Arasaka?"

Roger stared at Mercer.

Mercer simply shrugged:

"That means I misjudged him. However, I do think..."
The woman who stormed Arasaka with Johnny Silverhand back then wasn't so fragile as to become a coward who only kowtows and works for the company just because she got older.

Aren't you curious about why I came to Night City?

I can tell you clearly right now that the reason I'm here is to do what you didn't finish back then!

His eyes gleamed with unwavering determination as he met the gaze of the legendary queen of Night City without yielding, his tone serious:
"I will burn this filthy city to ashes! I will ignite this city and bring new hope to the world."
"The hope for freedom!"

Roger rubbed his temples, feeling irritated and tired. Looking at the radiance on Mercer's face, he seemed to have returned to his younger days.

That year, she was young, just standing in the audience watching Johnny Silverhands stand on the stage, holding his guitar, and screaming at the top of his lungs.

He roared hoarsely—even if it meant setting the entire city ablaze, he would never allow the company's people to turn this place into a dead zone devoid of hope and freedom.

He's such an idiot.

Back then, she and he were the same kind of idiots.

"That Johnny Silverhand from back then is still alive, and now there's another underage terrorist in the city. That's fucking enough."

Roger lit another cigarette, but this time, her eyes were no longer cold and hard; instead, her gaze towards Mercer held an indescribable tenderness.

Mercer's appearance reminded her of her own child, something she hadn't thought of in a long time.

"I'll give it a try. It's not so easy to get Arasaka Yorinobu's private contact information. I'll contact you once I've got it."

"So, aside from this, you mentioned you had another request for me?"

Mercer nodded upon hearing this, put his mask back on, and then said, "I need a new identity, a perfect fake identity that Arasaka can find out about in the short term."

I need someone to infiltrate the Night City Hall's server room and insert a virus chip into the server to help me bypass the server's ICE.

After that, I will modify my Night City residency information online myself, and then openly begin my activities as a local.

Mercer didn't dare to directly hack into the network because he was very worried about the hidden force behind Night City, the Night Corporation.

He had researched online and found that the entire Night City's ancestral origin system and public servers were built by Night Corporation and Pyramid Corporation, and both of them had major pitfalls.

The former, Ye Shi Company, is very likely already a puppet controlled by a wandering AI, or even a group of wandering AIs.

The latter, Pyramid Networks, is associated with a troublemaker, namely Bartmouth.

Rumors have it that Bartmos founded Pyramid Networks, and that the actual management of Pyramid Networks, apart from Bartmos himself, consists of AIs he created.

And now that Barthemos is dead, it means the entire Pyramid Company might also be entirely made up of AI.
Mercer really didn't want to deal with AI anytime soon, and neither did Bartelmos. Although they didn't talk much, Mercer could tell that Bartelmos was a bit crazy.
Just like him.

Therefore, try to avoid getting involved if possible.

This is why Mercer chose to act offline. He would install the virus program into a chip, and then when the chip was inserted into the server, the virus program would help him directly obtain server privileges.

Then he can safely modify the household registration information remotely.

Uploading programs directly from inside the server is equivalent to bypassing network protection and spreading viruses locally. Even if there is AI, as long as it cannot prevent the chip from being inserted, it can only watch helplessly as the server is compromised.

If the usual procedures are insufficient, Mercer believes that the Death Wish can be invoked directly when necessary.

If he doesn't do this, and Mercer personally encounters an AI during his deep dive, even if he uses Death Wish, his brain's computing power probably can't compete with the AI ​​supported by large servers.

Even though the Death Wish program is incredibly powerful, it still requires computing power to run and to be cracked.

Roger thought for a moment, then said, "Two options. First, I'll get you the city hall's schedule and layout, and then you can arrange the manpower yourself."

The second option is to leave the chip to me, and you don't need to worry about the rest. I will find the most reliable people under me to do it.

I won't charge you for the former; consider it payment for telling me Johnny is still alive. For the latter, I can waive my commission for this job; you just need to pay the mercenary a lump sum for the operation.

It's probably around 50,000 euros.

Mercer asked curiously, "If it's the original price, how much do you usually get paid for this kind of commission?"

"Two hundred thousand for those you don't know well, and one hundred and fifty thousand for those you do." The price Roger gave made Mercer marvel.

So, the middleman makes money, right?
"What? You think I earn a lot?"

Roger chuckled, guessing what he was thinking, and then said:
"That's because you don't understand the process."

First, as the middleman, I need to gather intelligence and clear out potential threats—I need to determine if the client has any ulterior motives and whether there are any dangers beyond what the client has stated in the mission request.

Then, I also need to prepare mission intelligence and figure out the difficulty of the mission.

Secondly, I need to recruit manpower and find the most suitable mercenaries. Most of the current mercenaries are like idiots; they only know how to grab a gun and start fighting.

So to prevent them from doing bad things, I sometimes have to provide detailed action plans, match the difficulty level, and even consider whether the mercenaries' personalities are suitable for certain tasks.

Planning a comprehensive operation from start to finish, including evacuation, is far more difficult than simply picking up a gun and charging in.

Finally, Roger paused and said, "Networking, resource management, and intelligence planning—that's why I can earn so much money."

Mercer nodded, then looked at Roger with a smile: "You seem pretty reliable, huh?"

They are definitely much better than some stupid middlemen who don't even know what they're trying to steal.

Roger scoffed, too lazy to bother with him: "So, which one?"

"If the first method doesn't work, I'll ask you to try the second one."

Mercer made a decision.

He's going to hand this task over to one of his own people to verify its authenticity—V, it's you I've decided!
Give her five thousand euros, and she might be so happy she'd think she'd hit the jackpot.

“Okay, I’ll send you the intelligence once I’ve got it.” Roger said without any hesitation, “Is there anything else?”

"How about I just register my name with you? If you have any suitable projects later, you can come to me. It's not cheap, but I'm sure I can do a good job."

Mercer's attitude suddenly became enthusiastic, almost like he was making a sales pitch.
"I can provide services including network hacking, real-time network support, software development and design, ICE development and cracking. To be honest, 99% of the hackers in Night City are trash in my eyes."

You can think of me as a combination of Bartholomew and Ultraman from 2070—don't look at me like that, I'm not bragging, I'm a real genius!
"Do you believe I could hack your bar's server right now, even with my eyes open?"

Mercer was spouting nonsense without even thinking.

Roger was amused by him: "Wow, you're a combination of Bartmos and Ultraman, a stray AI created by the two of them, right?"

Okay, I understand. I'll contact you when there's a suitable task. But the first task won't be too difficult; we'll take it step by step and see how you're capable first.

Do today's young people really know how strong Bartmos and Ultraman are?

Mercer nodded, then continued to talk non-stop: "No problem! Besides, I'm not fighting alone."

I have Adcado's excellent drivers and a promising combat mercenary.

There's another hacker who's a bit less skilled than me, but far more skilled than most hackers you know, providing support from behind the scenes.

And frankly, with my hacking genius background, you're lucky you know me now; you got angel investment.

"Alright, stop bragging." Roger shook his head with a laugh. "I understand. In the future, when we need a 'genius hacker,' we'll give priority to using people from your 'team'."

However, remember, the next time you tell someone how awesome your team is, remember to include everyone on the team.

In Night City, nobody wants to invest in an empty promise.

Mercer just smiled without any shame: "Then let's see who's the best."

After saying that, he put his hands in his pockets and prepared to walk out, waving to Roger: "Wait for your news."

“Hmm.” Roger watched his retreating figure, remained silent for a moment, and then suddenly spoke: “Hey, kid.”

Mercer stopped and turned to look back.

"In this city, there are plenty of guys who want to burn the whole world to ashes, but only a handful will actually leave their mark."

You look far too inexperienced compared to your dreams.

Consider this a piece of advice from me—before thinking about how to burn this city to the ground, you should first see this city clearly and feel this city.

"Wait until you've truly lived in this city before you start thinking about whether or not to burn it down."

After Roger finished speaking, he stared at him calmly: "Don't easily say things you don't know the weight of, or go into rivers you don't know the depth of."

Some words, once spoken, cannot be taken back; some things, once done, cannot be undone.

Mercer simply nodded, then tapped his mask: "I know, so I'm still wearing a mask. Anyway, thanks, Roger."

Roger nodded, watched them leave quietly, and then slowly closed his eyes.

Those past events that she thought she had forgotten are now surging back into her mind.

When Mercer returned to the bar lobby, the first thing he saw was a beautiful woman with one side of white hair, who was standing stupidly at the door, asking around for questions, or rather, looking for someone to fight.
Do you know where A is?

Do you know A?

"Hey bro, aren't you that 'Bone Crusher'? You're awesome, man. I heard you single-handedly crushed the bones of everyone in the Whirlpool Gang's hideout. Really?"

"I am V! Remember this name, it will definitely make you famous in the future."

"Hey girl? You fucking want to die, don't cause trouble, and watch your mouth!"

"You filthy bitch? I think you're just a stupid idiot! You get horny every time you see a woman, huh?"

"Bang bang? Don't be fooled by your big arms, you're useless! I can rip your head off with one hand, you idiot!"

Mercer hesitated, suddenly feeling a little reluctant to go.

But V, who was in the distance, had incredibly sharp eyes. She spotted Mercer, who was so short, right out of the crowd in the bar.

"A? That's right, it's you with an A drawn on your face. Who else could it be but you? But we'll talk about this later. Let's settle things here first."

Seeing V shout and then rub his hands together, ready to fight the mercenaries, Mercer covered his face with his mask and sighed deeply.

It feels numb when you squeeze it.
Why does this "V" look so fierce?
(End of this chapter)