Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 78 David Martinez
The moment Rebecca opened the door, Mercer's instinctive reaction was to turn his head away.

But it only took him a second to realize—wait, this is my bathroom!
Mercer immediately and decisively turned his head back, then pursed his lips speechlessly. He saw Rebecca standing at the door with a smile, striking a seductive pose with her curves, but she was still wearing her clothes.

To be precise, it was black bodysuit.

Well, she's usually like this in her room, so everyone's gotten used to seeing her like this at night. It's like she's wearing a swimsuit. After seeing it so often, Mercer has become quite accustomed to it.

"A little disappointed?" She walked in with a grin.

Mercer clicked his tongue: "Are you determined to take advantage of me today?"

"Oh, it's not about that." She walked to the edge of the bathtub, her long green hair cascading down her shoulders, sat down on the edge of the tub, and splashed water on his face with a smile: "How about I join you?"

"Like a father taking a bath with his daughter?" Mercer muttered, but then, unexpectedly, she actually pretended to take off her clothes.

Mercer quickly said, "What exactly are you here for? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?"

The way he was trying to hide his hands in the water made Rebecca unable to hold back her laughter any longer. She first chuckled softly, and then burst into loud laughter.

"You say you're disgusted, but you clearly look really excited~" She pointed a finger at Mercer's cheek, and then, under his somewhat displeased gaze, suddenly became serious.

Rebecca looked intently into Mercer's eyes: "I'm saying, Mercer, you only took the priest's commission because of me, right?"

"Not entirely. Making connections with local leaders like the priest will also have many benefits for what we need to do later."

After Mercer finished speaking, Rebecca just looked at him. After a while, she suddenly leaned down and wrapped her arms around his neck.

To be honest, this position wasn't very convenient for him to hold her. She sat on the edge of the bathtub and held his head in her arms from above. A faint fragrance wafted into Mercer's nose.

"Thank you. Mercer, thank you so much."

She whispered, pressing her head against Mercer's and hugging him tightly: "You gave me a home, gave me more money than I could earn in several lifetimes, and now you're willing to help me get revenge at a time like this."
I really don't know how to thank you enough.

"That's good, I think that's enough to thank you now." Mercer's head was held in her arms, and his voice was muffled.

Rebecca chuckled: "Then I'll stay here tonight? I wouldn't mind sleeping with you."

"Hmm," Mercer was indeed tempted for a moment, but then Lucy's disappointed face flashed through his mind, along with a V-shaped face that inexplicably appeared, looking at him with disdain, which quickly calmed him down.

He broke free from Rebecca's embrace, his face still tinged with her fragrance, and said seriously, "Although I'm a little tempted, I'll pass. It's not that I..."

Mercer carefully chose his words, saying, "It's not that I don't have any ideas, but I feel it's a bit inappropriate right now, as if I'm taking advantage of someone's kindness."

"No, I really do like you. Haven't you always known that? Don't pretend you don't know. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you every day."

Rebecca was always straightforward and bold when they met alone. She looked at Mercer with tender eyes and reached out to touch his face: "But I can sense what you're hesitating about."

“What?” Mercer looked at her.

"Hmph." Rebecca chuckled smugly, but didn't say anything, then sighed: "But you're right, it wouldn't be good if it made the current team atmosphere strange."

Mercer glanced at her and realized she was pretty much right—he was indeed somewhat considerate of other people's feelings, such as Pila, Lucy, and V.

Or perhaps he simply hasn't thought it through yet, and hasn't made up his mind.

Although everyone in the cyberpunk world goes to great lengths, Mercer is surrounded by decent girls, and he's not the kind of bastard like Johnny Silverhand who abandons his lovers after getting what he wants.

This gave him a bit of a headache.

Especially since he is currently the nominal leader of the team, it would be really messed up if he ruined the team because of personal feelings. He doesn't want that to happen, so he can only wait, think about it some more, and let nature take its course.

Seeing Mercer deep in thought, Rebecca quickly composed herself and smiled brightly, "But this works too, anyway."

She leaned close to Mercer's ear and said softly, "When I can't resist anymore, I'll crawl into your bed, hee hee."

Mercer felt a tickle on his ear and tilted his head: "Alright, stop teasing me. If you just wanted to say thank you, I've already heard you."

"Do you want your sister to help you?" she chuckled softly, reaching out her hand as if to touch the water.

Mercer stared at her for a moment, then chuckled, "Do you know how red your face is right now?"

"Is the bathroom too hot? Did you turn on the ventilation?" Rebecca withdrew her hand, her gaze drifting away.

Mercer reached out and patted her on the back: "Come on, go to sleep. You have to come with me for a drive around the Valley District first thing tomorrow morning."

"Tch," she reverted to her roguish demeanor, but then suddenly turned around and unexpectedly kissed him on the cheek.

Mercer looked at her, blinked, and didn't say anything or move.

Seeing this, Rebecca couldn't contain her emotions. She leaned over and kissed him again before rising with a satisfied smile, saying, "This is a thank-you gift~"

"I think you just want to have some fun yourself," Mercer said irritably. "Go on, goodnight."

“What’s a kiss on the cheek?” Rebecca tossed her green hair, her eyes, alternating between orange and pink, sparkling with her smile, joy, and a hint of reluctance under the light.

She seemed to want to say something more, but the words caught in her throat.

Finally, Rebecca simply waved her hand and walked briskly outside.

When she reached the doorway, even though she had already turned the corner, she stopped again, peeked out from around the corner, and gave him a very bright smile, but her voice was only soft:
Goodnight, Mercer.

"OK, good night."

Hearing Mercer's reply, she glanced at him a few more times before turning away, putting on the pajamas she had tossed by the door, and leaving Mercer's room.

Mercer knew why she had glanced at him a few times—she probably wanted to hear Mercer try to persuade her to stay.

Mercer stretched out of the hot water again, sighed, got up, turned on the shower, rinsed off briefly, dried himself off, and went back to sleep.

It's time to seriously think about what to do next.
Mercer, unusually, tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep, and also unusually, woke up a little late the next day.

When he got up, packed his things, and prepared to leave, only Xingzi and Rebecca were still waiting for him at home.

Apricot is to remain at the base to monitor server performance and ensure no idiots have any ill intentions towards Mercer's base.

Rebecca, on the other hand, was already dressed and watching TV in the living room with her legs crossed.

"Mercy is so slow." She leaned back on the sofa, smiling to reveal a row of small white teeth. "What did you do last night? Why did you get up so late?"

Mercer glanced at her, merely raised his chin in the direction of the elevator, yawned, and then walked out with his hands in his pockets, putting the mask on as he did so.

"Hey, do you want to change your mask? It doesn't really suit you."

Rebecca sprang up from the sofa, grabbed her iron canister and slung it over her shoulder, then followed him briskly into the elevator.

"Change it? Forget it, I'll just make do with this. I'll get rid of this nuisance someday."

Mercer spoke lazily, leaning against the side of the elevator, and only pressed the up button after she entered the elevator.

"Aren't you going to take your Zhuoshi with you?" Rebecca looked him over.

Mercer simply pulled out his Qianxin from his lower back, waved it, and said, "We're going to scout, not fight. This is enough. Besides, even if something unexpected happens, my first instinct should be to hide and hack into the site."

“That’s true.” Rebecca stood beside him, holding the Iron Gallbladder behind her back with both hands, occasionally standing on tiptoe: “You haven’t eaten anything this morning, have you? Why don’t you go get something to eat first?”

“Synthetic fast food? Forget it.” Mercer said, then watched as Rebecca handed him a lollipop.

"Then eat some of this first," Rebecca said like a mother hen. "How can a hacker's brain work if he's not full?"

Mercer took it, amusedly lifted the mask, and popped the lollipop into his mouth: "Oh, watermelon flavor? That's rare."

"Really? I think it's pretty good." She said this very naturally and then put her arm around his. Since there were no guys around to bother them, she felt that today could be a 'paid date' with Mercer.

Mercer always took V out alone. She didn't say anything, but she had been jealous several times in her heart.

Mercer chatted with her as they got into the car. His prosthetic eye flashed, and then he placed both hands on the steering wheel. Rebecca looked at him with some surprise for a few moments before asking, "Autopilot?"

"It's AI-powered assisted driving—I had Qimingxing create a driving AI and flashed a new car infotainment system myself. If the test results are good, we can use AI to drive the vehicle from now on."

Mercer paused for a moment and continued, "Thanks to the use of 'crystal ball' technology, cars equipped with bulletproof windows have 360-degree real-time cameras to supplement the field of vision. AI can judge road conditions and driving strategies more accurately than humans."

As long as this AI doesn't malfunction, all our cars will be able to drive themselves in the future, and they might even come to pick people up on their own. Isn't that cool?

Rebecca asked curiously, "Can this AI talk too? Like the morning star?"

"Yes, welcome aboard the Morning Star." A lively female voice suddenly came from the speaker.

Rebecca exclaimed in surprise, "You seem much more active than you were at the base?"

"Because I am an independent sub-AI individual, specifically responsible for driving the vehicle, in essence, my relationship with Morning Star is similar to that of a mother and child, so it is only natural that our personalities are different."

As the car autonomously merged into traffic, it answered Rebecca's questions with great enthusiasm.

Rebecca shook Mercer's arm excitedly: "Hey, if that's the case, she shouldn't be called Morning Star anymore, right? How about we give her a new name?"

"I don't recommend that you invest too much emotion in it, because the stability testing of the sub-AI has only just begun, and I'm not sure if it will be formatted later."

After Mercer finished speaking, he touched the steering wheel and said, "But I believe that Venus's personality is fine, and the sub-AI she creates should not make any mistakes."

“Yes, you can always trust me!” The voice coming from the car was still full of energy and confidence: “I will never let you and Morning Star down.”

Mercer remained noncommittal, but Rebecca said enthusiastically, "Then do you want us to give you a name?"

"Of course! It would be wonderful to have a name of my own!" The car's voice even sounded a little surprised.

Mercer raised an eyebrow, seemingly lost in thought.

Rebecca, however, was already excitedly thinking about a new name for the in-car AI: "Let me think about Mercer, what do you think would be a good name?"

"Polaris? This star hardly moves in the Northern Hemisphere. Hopefully, it's a good omen and that it will stay."

Mercer suggested.

Rebecca liked the name quite a bit, or rather, it sounded better than the names she had just considered, like 'Bella' or 'Lily'.

Polaris immediately played a very rousing background music on the radio: "Fantastic! I love this name! Thank you, Master, and Miss Rebecca! From today onwards, I will be called Polaris!"

Rebecca looked left and right: "Can you see us?"

"Of course, as long as the dashcam is on, I can see what's going on inside the car at any time. If you don't want me to disturb your privacy, just remind me to turn off the dashcam."

"Polaris is speaking."

Rebecca found it all very amazing—it was her first time riding in an AI-driven vehicle. Sitting inside, she felt both nervous about driving and very curious about what the AI ​​could do.

Mercer said, "Because this car doesn't come standard with intelligent driving, Polaris can't fully control the details of the car. After confirming that the basic driving is fine, we'll have to modify the car to make it more suitable for AI's driving style."

Mercer and Rebecca chatted for a while about self-driving cars. Polaris drove his sports car autonomously, strictly adhering to the maximum speed limit as it weaved through traffic.

After connecting to the NCPD's traffic system via a server, it only encountered one short red light along the way.

Once the vehicle reached the river valley, it slowed down slightly and proactively asked for permission.

"We have arrived in the River Valley area, which is controlled by the Sixth Street gang. According to NCPD records, there is at least one shooting incident per day in this area on average. Please do not open your car windows."

After Polaris finished speaking, Mercer ordered, "Scan the Sixth Street Gang's members and strongholds, and highlight them for me in Righteous Eyes."

"We are marking dangerous targets for you using the camera." After saying this, Polaris began sharing the footage captured by the camera to the server in real time, where the images were then analyzed.

"Working with Venus to do this involves analyzing all the scanned targets and marking them on a map. Venus knows what I need to do."

After Mercer finished speaking, Polaris immediately replied, "No problem."

Rebecca felt a slight blur before her eyes, and then suddenly many buildings and figures, highlighted in red, appeared outside the window.

She clicked her tongue in amazement as she looked around and said, "If this trend continues, we won't even need to go out to conduct reconnaissance ourselves anymore. Just deploy a few drones and weapon-driven vehicles, and they can see the target's situation clearly for us!"

"Not only that, but the operation of weapons such as vehicle-mounted machine guns can also be done with AI. In other words, if Polaris performs well, I can prepare a separate server room for it and let it specialize in unmanned technology."

Mercer exclaimed, "AI's self-learning ability is just too fast. Do you know how long it took for the Morning Star to split into an AI like the North Star?"

"How long?" Rebecca turned to look at him.

"In just ten minutes, I created an AI that is one level less intelligent than myself, but has completely mastered autonomous driving technology."

After Mercer finished speaking, he added, "This is because the Morning Star has repeatedly tested its stability and has learned driving-related technologies from scratch."

After that, once Polaris has accumulated a lot of experience in autonomous driving, it can quickly begin fully driverless autonomous driving tests, simply by equipping it with a more advanced, interference-resistant network access module.

"You really didn't waste your money buying that three million server," Rebecca commented.

“Of course!” Mercer smiled, “Before the old network collapsed, even things like weapon design and development were actually handled by AI.”

Can you imagine? Even something as simple as technological advancement can be delegated to AI—if it weren't for the collapse of the old network, perhaps in the last few decades, human technology would have already broken through low Earth orbit and ventured into the vast universe.

After Mercer finished speaking, Rebecca just pursed her lips and said, "If you ask me, as long as the company is still around, no matter how many new technologies AI develops, the lives of ordinary people will not get better."

Humans can now even explore the moon, but look at us, we can't even eat a single piece of real meat every day.

“Things will get better,” Mercer said firmly.

Rebecca chuckled twice: "Although it seems unlikely, I believe you."

Ignoring the North Star's warnings, she opened the car window, enjoying the cool breeze, and gazed happily at the street outside.

Reconnaissance? AI handles all that. She only needs to look at the various buildings and people constantly highlighted in her eyes to know the distribution of the Sixth Street Gang in the neighborhood.

The car only circled around a few streets in the valley before heading towards the Santo Domingo area.

The core strength of the Sixth Street Gang is actually in the Santo Domingo area, and its overall strength is divided into several groups. Strictly speaking, the Sixth Street Gang in the Valley area and the Sixth Street Gang in Santo Domingo cannot even be considered as one group.

With a larger base and more manpower, violent organizations formed in a loosely structured manner, such as gangs, are bound to experience organizational chaos and splits.

However, considering that Mercer is targeting several key figures who are almost all core members of the River Valley district, it is necessary to consider whether there is a possibility that the people of Santo Domingo might come to the district to provide support.

However, just as the car reached the vicinity of the border area between Santo Domingo and the Valley region, Rebecca suddenly pointed out the window and said, "Mercer, look."

"What? You want to lend a hand?" Mercer only saw a group of teenagers who looked to be fourteen or fifteen years old, pushing and shoving and verbally abusing another lone boy.

In just a few words, those young men who looked very 'street-smart' kicked the boy to the ground, followed by a barrage of punches and kicks.

Rebecca hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at him: "It was just a small thing."

“Then give them a good whack.” Mercer laughed as she picked up the iron cannon she had placed beside her.

Rebecca took the Iron Gun with a grin, and Polaris cleverly understood their intentions, slowing down and pulling the car to the side of the road.

To Rebecca and Mercer's surprise, the boy who had been beaten up suddenly burst into laughter.

He was being beaten while laughing loudly, clutching his head, acting like a madman. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't have any cybernetic implants, everyone would probably have thought he was going to have a cyberbullying episode.

The group of thugs who were beating him looked at each other, and even softened their blows—they had seen people begging for mercy and going berserk, but they rarely saw guys going crazy like this.

"What are you laughing at, you idiot!" The tallest of the thugs was enraged. After a moment of stunned silence, he kicked the boy several more times in a fit of embarrassment and anger.

The boy just stared at his face and laughed even louder, as blood dripped down his face, his bright eyes fixed on the thug.

He didn't say a word, but for some reason, he made the thug feel a chill run down his spine.

"Damn, forget it, this idiot probably has something wrong with his head." One of the thugs thought that was enough.

But the guy who seemed to be the leader of this group of thugs felt like he had been provoked, and suddenly pulled out a cheap, disposable handgun from his back waist.

These disposable printed pistols look colorful and have cheap plastic casings, making them look almost like toy guns.

"Damn it, try laughing again!" The gang leader pressed a gun against the boy's head.

The boy was still smiling, but before he could speak, a loud roar of shotgun shells suddenly rang out from behind a group of thugs.

"Hey! You bunch of idiots, get the hell out of here before I blow your heads off!"

Rebecca's defiant voice rang out, the iron gun in her hand still smoking, the bullets blasting around a group of thugs, creating a dense crater in the ground.

One of the thugs was nearly hit by a bouncing bullet from the ground; he shuddered and his legs went weak.

"Who the hell are you!" The gang leader turned around and saw Rebecca's face, which didn't seem much older than his own. He raised his disposable pistol with a resentful expression.

But then he felt a sharp pain in his head, as if someone had burned his head with something. The needle-like pain made him scream involuntarily. His mind went blank for a moment, and when he came to his senses, he was already lying on the ground.

Mercer hacked his brain the instant he tried to raise his gun; the time it took Mercer to hack into this unprotected brain-computer interface was less than 0.1 seconds.

It was only because the puppet program also needed time to operate that he delayed lying down for a while.

Rebecca was even angrier when she saw this. She pushed open the car door, took a few steps over, and stomped on the thug's hand that was holding the disposable gun, along with the gun itself.

With a little force, the plastic pistol, along with the thug's hand, creaked under the foot.

"Ah!!" the thug screamed in agony, "My hand! My hand!"

"You dare point a gun at me? You fucking want to die, don't you!" Rebecca just continued to press down hard, until she crushed his hand and the disposable pistol on the ground to pieces.

This is no exaggeration; Rebecca really did crush the pistol by stepping on it first, and then all the parts of the disposable pistol ended up mixed together with the guy's hand.

Rebecca was genuinely angry—she wasn't afraid of being held at gunpoint, but Mercer was right behind her. If the brat accidentally fired, a stray bullet could hit Mercer, who wasn't even wearing subcutaneous armor!

Among the other thugs, one of them, upon seeing this, simply screamed and ran away.

Only three thugs remained, showing some loyalty, but they too were trembling with fear at the sight of the brutal Rebecca.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!! Please forgive me, it hurts so much, my hand!!"

The thug watched helplessly as his hand almost melted into the disposable pistol, letting out a terrified cry for mercy. The excruciating pain and fear made his whole body tremble.

Rebecca pressed the still-warm shotgun firmly against his head: "If I see you doing this on the street again, I'll blow your head off next time, you hear me?"

"I know! I'm sorry! I was wrong!" At this moment, this guy had no fierceness whatsoever; he just wanted to beg for forgiveness and go see a doctor as soon as possible.

Rebecca snorted and kicked him away.

The other two thugs seized the opportunity to quickly help him up, and apologized profusely, saying, "We'll leave right away, we're so sorry!"

Judging from their obsequious manner, Mercer suspected they might not have been this polite to their own mothers.

"A bunch of punks." Rebecca sneered disdainfully, then turned to look at the boy who was still lying on the ground, staring blankly at her and Mercer.

"Can you still get up?" she asked.

The boy wiped the blood from his nose and sat up: "Thank you, and thank you to that other guy too."

"It's alright as long as you're okay. Don't wander around outside aimlessly. Where are you from?" Rebecca looked at the dull-witted boy and felt that there was a strange clarity in his eyes.

“My home is in skyscraper H4, just two blocks from here,” the boy said.

"Then what are you doing here? Didn't your mother teach you not to leave your own street?" Rebecca lectured him in a condescending tone.

"Uh, I just wanted to come here to buy a Mewtwo," the boy said softly, then wiped the blood from his nose, making a mess of his face.

Rebecca clicked her tongue, casually pulled a few bills from her pocket, and stuffed them into the boy's hand. "Go find a prosthetic doctor to fix your nose. Don't touch it; your nasal bone is broken, touching it will only make things worse." "Thanks, I... I can fix it myself at home." The boy looked at the bills in his hand, somewhat bewildered, and subconsciously pushed the money back.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow, then laughed, turned to look at Mercer, and said, "This kid isn't bad."

In Night City, not everyone is willing to hand over the money they have, especially since this kid doesn't seem to be wealthy.

"Let him get in the car. Let this kid go home by himself now. I bet he'll be crooked in the nose until his mom gets home from get off work, and he still won't be willing to go see a doctor."

After Mercer finished speaking, the boy turned his head away somewhat embarrassed. He really couldn't bear to go to the hospital, and he had saved up for a long time to buy Mewtwo.

He also doesn't want his mother to worry, so he'll most likely go back and look it up online, and then try to straighten his nose bone himself.

"Let me think," Mercer opened the glove box and rummaged through it, finally finding only a pack of tissues, which he tossed to the boy: "Get in the car, Rebecca, sit here with me."

The boy hesitated for a moment: "Myself."

"Stop talking nonsense, just listen to what Mercer says!" Rebecca simply reached out and grabbed the back of his collar, pulling the man up with one hand as if he were a chick.

The boy struggled for a moment, and then realized that the hand gripping him was not human at all; it was like an unshakeable steel claw!

"A gorilla arm!?" The boy was so excited that another spurt of blood came out of his nose.

Rebecca let go of her hand with disgust: "Hurry up and block it for now. Just so you know, don't spill your nosebleed into his car. It'll be a real pain to clean up."

"Oh," the boy looked at her arm excitedly, hesitated several times before finally sitting obediently in the passenger seat.

Rebecca, all smiles, opened the driver's seat and squeezed into Mercer's arms.

"set off!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the car door closed automatically, and then the steering wheel turned by itself, and they got back on the road.

Polaris's voice rang out: "Automatic navigation to the nearest prosthetic doctor has been initiated. If you wish to go to a regular clinic, I will revise the navigation accordingly."

“The nearest one will do,” Mercer said.

"Understood, estimated arrival time at the destination is four minutes." Polaris's voice disappeared.

The boy became even more excited upon seeing this: "Is this AI driving?"

"You little rascal, you know quite a lot~" Rebecca chuckled as she sat comfortably in Mercer's lap.

Self-driving cars are great!

Mercer pinched her subtly to stop her from fidgeting.

"Wow. You guys are outlaws? Right?" The boy stuffed a tissue into his nose, swallowing a few mouthfuls of blood as he spoke, but he still couldn't hide his excitement and didn't feel any pain at all.

"Hmm!" Rebecca said smugly, "You have good taste."

"My God!" The boy exclaimed, flustered as if he had seen some kind of celebrity: "Can you tell me your names?"

“My name is Rebecca, and his name is A.” After Rebecca finished speaking, she proudly added, “He’s the leader of our Fireseed Squad. Let me tell you, kid, you’ve really hit the jackpot this time. You get to personally talk to someone from the future Legendary Squad.”

The boy racked his brain, trying to recall if he had heard their story somewhere before, and introduced himself: "My name is David, David Martinez!"

Mercer glanced at him a few more times, almost imperceptibly.

In fact, Mercer recognized him the first time he saw him.

Using the NCPD scanning program in the AI's eye, Mercer scanned David's household registration information as soon as he first saw him. After comparing it, Mercer was able to confirm that this guy was David, the protagonist of the animated series "The Edge Walker".

David, though only thirteen years old, already shows glimpses of his future potential, especially with his signature pompadour hairstyle, delicate features, and clear eyes that belie his local origins.

What he called "clear eyes" was, in other words, a kind of untrained naiveté that was clearly visible in him.

It's clear that his mother put in a lot of effort. In Night City, it's truly remarkable for a single mother to raise a child with such a personality; she's protected him exceptionally well.

Mercer didn't say anything, but Rebecca and David got happier and happier as they chatted—mainly because the emotional value David provided was really high.

The kid was very interested in fringe people and street stories. No matter what Rebecca said, David would exclaim in amazement, which perfectly satisfied Rebecca's vanity of wanting to show off.

Rebecca picked and chose her stories from the past, such as how she single-handedly swept away four strong men on the street with her two iron fists, and how she and her squad destroyed the Scavenger's stronghold in Dogtown. David's eyes lit up at every single one of them.

After the car stopped, David looked at Mercer with lingering interest: "Hey A, are you a hacker?"

"Ah."

Mercer simply grunted in agreement, but Rebecca proudly declared, "He's the coolest hacker in Night City. I'm not kidding. Do you know the Voodoo Gang?"
He single-handedly slaughtered those idiot Haitians so much that they didn't even dare to go online in Pacific State!

"My God!" David's eyes practically sparkled with admiration. "That guy who was beating me up just now suddenly collapsed to the ground. Was he attacked by the Puppet Virus? How did you do that?"

Mercer opened the car door and said with a laugh, "Fix your nose first."

Rebecca nimbly jumped out of the car, then looked around: "Where am I?"

“An illegal clinic.” Mercer said simply, then turned to David with a half-smile: “I reckon this was his original destination.”

David looked away somewhat embarrassed upon hearing this: "Uh, he sells some cheap Dreamy sunglasses here."

"Watch less of that stuff, or you'll become an idiot." Rebecca said succinctly, then turned to Mercer and said, "I suspect that Pila became like this because she watched too much of that stuff when she was a kid."

Mercer simply shrugged: "To be honest, it depends on the person. But David, I also advise you to watch less of this stuff. There's no point in using it to escape reality."

David gave a hesitant "hmm" and followed the two into the illegal clinic hidden inside the apartment building. The cyborg doctor inside was a somewhat sleazy-looking old man.

The old man had three prosthetic eyes, his right hand was an old-fashioned bio-technological prosthetic arm, and his white hair was messy and scattered on his head, making him look a bit bald.

"Hey kid, you brought an adult with you today?"

This prosthetic clinic is divided into two spaces, an inner and an outer one, which looks very similar to the clinic of the prosthetic doctor called "Finger Guy" in the game. The outer living room is used as a waiting room, and the inner bedroom space is the operating room.

At that moment, the doctor was outside chatting, smoking, and watching TV with a few thugs. When he saw David, he grinned, revealing a set of uneven teeth.

"no."

David didn't know how to introduce Mercer and Rebecca, so he could only say, "I ran into some trouble on the way here and got beaten up. These two brothers saved me."

"Oh, big brother." A thug who looked quite reformed sat on the sofa and said mockingly, "Which school are these two brats the bosses of?"

"Fuck you." Rebecca didn't say much, raising her iron gun to aim at the thug's head, baring her teeth: "If you can't talk, then shut your mother's mouth!"

The thug raised an eyebrow and sneered, "Little girl, want to play with us?"

"Fuck your mother," Rebecca said before she could finish.

"waste time."

Mercer simply said something casually, and then, all the thugs on the sofa suddenly started convulsing, sparks flying, which startled David so much that he took a step back: "What's going on!"

"Fix his nose first, is there a problem?" Mercer turned to look at the cyborg doctor whose face was filled with terror.

The prosthetic doctor simply opened the scanning program, glanced at it, and then nodded vigorously without saying a word: "No problem, David, come on, I'll fix your nose in five minutes, it'll be done in five minutes!"

“But, uh, I need to give this guy an injection first. I can already smell the burnt splatter of his brains,” the prosthetic doctor said hastily.

Mercer nodded, casually grabbed one of the still-twitching guys and tossed it aside, while Rebecca grabbed one in each hand and piled them up on the ground.

The cyborg doctor quickly set off, first turning off the cyborgs of the group of thugs who were still convulsing and unconscious on the ground, and then stabilizing their vital signs by giving them injections one by one.

Mercer wasn't particularly interested in the situation of these thugs. He simply sent them a quick hack package that combined sonic vibration with overheating of the prosthetic body. As for how overheated it would be, that would depend on their own luck.

Since it was right there in the doctor's clinic, Mercer didn't need to hold back; how much these guys had to pay for their medical bills was none of his business.

David was stunned. He first looked at the circle of smoking objects on the ground, then at Mercer, and stammered, "Wow... hackers are that good?"

This kind of street conflict was completely beyond David's imagination.

He had seen thugs who would start a gunfight while exchanging insults, but he had never seen a ruthless person who could make someone's whole body steam with just one glare.

“It’s his skill that’s impressive, not the hacker’s skill,” Rebecca said with a proud smile.

The cyborg doctor had no time to praise Mercer's skills. Knowing how formidable a hacker capable of this level was, he quickly ushered David into the operating room.

In the cyber world, having your nose broken is no different from getting a scrape. You just need to go in and have your nose scanned to check the extent of the fracture. Once it's confirmed to be just a fracture, the doctor simply picks up a cotton swab and forcefully snaps the nose back into place.

Then all you need to do is inject a nano-repair injection into the nasal bone area and you're done.

This nanotechnology-based filler, once injected into the wound, automatically repairs damage to flesh and bone, and strengthens the bone injury. In just one night, this minor injury can be mostly healed.

So simple, it only took three minutes. David didn't even know if his nose was broken or fractured before the doctor had already completed the surgery.

After confirming that he hadn't made a mistake, the cyborg doctor turned to Mercer with a forced smile and said, "How about this?"

“Okay.” Mercer nodded, transferred the money for the nano-repair injection to him, and then said meaningfully, “Is that enough?”

"That's enough, that's enough! Welcome to come again next time! I promise, I'm the most reliable prosthetic doctor in this area, and I will never let you down." The prosthetic doctor smiled ingratiatingly.

Mercer simply chuckled and then turned and left with David.

After leaving the apartment building where the clinic was located, Mercer looked around, then suddenly stopped. He pulled David back to the entrance of the apartment building and calmly instructed him, "Don't come here again, unless you're crazy, understand?"

David was a little confused: "Uh, why?"

"Because he's an idiot who partners with the cleaners, all the junk in the house came from the cleaners."

After Mercer finished speaking, David was still somewhat puzzled: "But everyone says this doctor is quite disciplined."

"He may be a man of the rules, but his cleaner friend is not."

Mercer said, glancing at Rebecca, who then grinned, understanding his meaning.

She clicked to confirm that the shotgun was loaded, then turned and walked towards the corner after leaving the apartment. A street thug standing at the corner had a slightly changed expression and tried to pull out a pistol without saying a word.

But Rebecca is much faster than him.

"boom!"

The shotgun blast killed the man instantly; its immense power reduced the thug's upper body to a mangled mess hanging on the wall, while Rebecca simply continued pulling the bolt with disdain.

With a swift movement of her gun, she blasted the window of a car parked on the side of the road, which was about to speed away, and even blew the driver's seat to pieces.

Then, Rebecca walked to the trunk of the car and, with just one hand, opened it with a metallic creak.

She looked down, then turned to Mercer and said.

"There's still a living person here! What do we do?"

David's adrenaline was surging. The sudden gunfight in front of him made his hands tremble slightly. He didn't know if he was excited or scared, he only knew that his breathing had become very rapid.

"W-what's going on?!" He looked at Mercer, bewildered.

"Those two idiot cleaners have been watching us ever since we went in. They were just calling for reinforcements. They probably think we look young but valuable."

Mercer gave a brief explanation, and David cautiously peeked out to look around: "How did you know they were cleaners?"

"NCPD's scanning program—these idiots have committed enough crimes to get them three life sentences, and there's still a 3,000 euro bounty on their heads. Too bad, I won't be able to collect it."

After Mercer finished speaking, he walked out. At that moment, Rebecca was taking a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl out of the trunk of the cleaner's car.

The girl was bound hand and foot, her mouth gagged, and she appeared to have been drugged. Even after Rebecca untied the ropes and the tape from her mouth, she could only dazedly whisper, "Help me."

Mercer glanced at Rebecca: "Let's go, the NCPD will be here in about two minutes."

"Can we really leave her here alone?" Rebecca glanced disdainfully at the two scavengers' corpses. "These scumbags!"

“It’s okay, I’m watching her with the camera. It shouldn’t be a problem for the NCPD to do this kind of cleanup work.”

After Mercer finished speaking, he got into the car through the automatically opened door.

Rebecca angrily shot the driver in the driver's seat again, leaving him with several pieces of flesh, before she returned to her own car, still somewhat unsatisfied, and squeezed into Mercer's driver's seat.

David, still looking somewhat dazed, got into the passenger seat.

It wasn't until the car had been driving for quite a while that he began to breathe heavily, his eyes growing brighter and brighter: "We just rescued someone who had been kidnapped by the Cleaners?"

"Your reaction time is way too slow," Rebecca said with a laugh.

David couldn't hide his excitement: "That's so cool! How can I become as strong as you guys?"

"You?" Rebecca looked him up and down. "You should just focus on your studies."

She could tell at a glance that this guy wasn't one of those street thugs.

David opened his mouth, but his high spirits gradually turned somewhat depressed.

Yes
I can't let my mom down.
He lowered his head and after a while said, "Thank you. Please drop me off at the corner in a bit."

Mercer simply said, "Wouldn't that take you half an hour to walk? Fine, I'll drop you off at your doorstep; it's only a ten-minute drive."

David could only say thank you again, solemnly.

The car fell silent for a moment, until they were almost home, when David finally couldn't help but ask, "Brother A, do you really think studying hard is useful?"

“It’s better to have something in your head than to have nothing,” Mercer said.

"What I mean is that my mom always tells me that I must study hard, because only by studying hard can I get a job at a big company and live a good life."

David lowered his head and said, "But I always feel like it's not going to help."

"There's no point in living on the streets. You can win countless times in the life of fighting and killing, but if you make just one mistake, your life is over."

After Mercer finished speaking, he paused and said, "At least the mortality rate of company dogs is lower. As for whether life is easy or not? Heh, that depends on how ruthless you are."

To get promoted in a company, both ability and ruthlessness are indispensable. If you're just dull and inflexible, even if you get into the company, you'll eventually be crushed and trampled underfoot by your competitors, becoming fodder for their own promotions and raises.

"Then what do you think I should do?" David turned to look at Mercer. He didn't know why, but he always felt that these two 'big brothers', whom he had only known for a short time, were very trustworthy.

"Who knows? But if I were you, instead of thinking about what to do in the future, I'd rather think about how to make my mom happier."

At least let's stop her from watching things like the "Blackie Dream" thing; let's give her less to worry about.

After Mercer finished speaking, the car had already arrived at the apartment building of skyscraper H4. He sent David his contact information and said calmly, "I like you, kid. If you run into any trouble, you can give me a call."

"Really?" David became excited again and quickly accepted his contact information and added him as a friend in his contacts: "Brother A, you can call me if you need anything. I... uh, I'm pretty good at running errands!"

Mercer nodded, watched David get out of the car, closed the door, and then patted Rebecca's thigh: "Go over there, my legs are numb from being pressed down by you."

"Oh? Which leg?" Rebecca chuckled, rolled over, and sat in the passenger seat, but then said seriously, "Do you think this kid is a good fit?"

"Well, he does have some talent. If you ask me, he might even have better physical talent than you."

After Mercer finished speaking, he looked at Rebecca, who seemed somewhat unconvinced, and then simply smiled: "But you're not quite at V's level either, so the difference between you and me shouldn't be that big."

"How come you meet someone who has more potential than me?" she said, sounding a little annoyed.

Mercer chuckled and reached out to pat her head: "But I don't think he's suited to be a marginal figure. He has a loving mother. For him, the best life would be to live a happy but ordinary life with his mother."

Rebecca angrily turned her head away: "Are you done with your work? Go back. You still have to go to Old Vi's place with V this afternoon. Just wait, I'm going in a few days too. We'll see if we can add anything else then."

“No.” Mercer rejected her suggestion decisively, and under her grimacing gaze, he simply smiled and flicked her forehead: “That’s enough, Rebecca. I believe you can protect me well enough.”

"Come on, why don't you say that to V?" Rebecca was still very unhappy, hugging her knees and shrinking into the passenger seat.

"Don't worry, even if it's her, I won't let her put all sorts of weird things on herself." Mercer reached out and poked her face with his finger.

"Treat me to dinner!" Rebecca turned her head away, huffing, "Don't say anyone is better than me next time."

“Okay, I’ll treat you.” Mercer agreed without hesitation, and she smiled – this girl is so easy to please.

In the afternoon, Mercer took V to Old Vie for another check-up. After discussing it with Old Vie for a long time, they finally decided to have V's muscles strengthened all over his body.

The main purpose is to reinforce and support areas prone to strain and injury, in order to prevent her from getting injured due to accelerated movement.

This was a very long and complicated surgery, since it wasn't a direct replacement with artificial muscles. Mercer was busy from a little after 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. before he could finally breathe a sigh of relief and finish upgrading V's body completely.

This kind of physically demanding work that requires patience and steady hands is really something only he can do. If it were Lao Wei, he would probably be sweating profusely after just two hours.

After his muscles were enhanced, V could be said to have truly reached the limits of human physical strength.

Without using Sianwaystein's acceleration, he could easily run the 100-meter dash in under eight seconds. The weight he would be lifting would likely exceed a terrifying 1,000 kilograms.
If Sinweistein is activated, V's speed can more than double. He's practically a monster among monsters.

It's safe to say that no artificial muscle on the market can match V's current physical strength. The only ones who can match her strength and speed are completely mechanized superhumans.

For example, in the cyber world, Olympic champions, those athletes specializing in sprinting, might even have jet engines added to their backs.
But aside from those specially modified individuals, V's current physical abilities can almost be said to be firmly at the pinnacle of human capabilities.

As for the internal organs that V wanted to have modified, Mercer and Old Vie were in unison and resolutely refused to do it for her.

These internal organ modifications are most likely to cause neurological discomfort, and the adaptation period is very long.

If V feels that the acceleration is too stressful and her internal organs can't handle it, Mercer would rather let her stay home and eat plain rice for a month or two to recover until her body has fully adapted to the strength of the muscles, and then gradually replace and synthesize her internal organs.

This process can be so long that it takes years—if rejection or mental abnormality occurs, it must be stopped immediately and the original must be replaced.

Mercer himself simply had some basic subcutaneous armor made to enhance his protection.

After the surgery was completed, Mercer and V went to the Keep-Silent Inn together.

When V carefully pushed open the door to room 307, clutching his pistol, he was startled by what was inside and instinctively pushed Mercer aside.

"What's wrong!" Mercer frowned, his prosthetic eye still scanning, but he didn't see anything unusual in the room.

V opened his mouth, then clicked his tongue and stepped aside: "It's okay. Or, I'll go in and look for it myself?"

Mercer peeked out from beside her and then let out a disdainful chuckle: "That's it? You're quite innocent, aren't you?"

It's just a standard room in a love hotel. At most, there are a few more toys and it's a bit messy. What's the big deal?

"Damn it! You little brat!" V clicked his tongue, watching him walk into the room without any politeness, and then stood at the door: "Then go in and find it yourself. That woman didn't use this room, did she?"

"Who knows?" Mercer kicked away the small toys on the floor, scanned for a while, and found a small storage chip that was deliberately placed in a conspicuous position on the side of the bed.

He picked up the chip, inserted it into his head, and checked it using the virtual disk in the network access module. Only after confirming its safety did he read the information from it.

After reading the contents, he finally smiled with some relief: "Got the information, let's go."

V waited for him to come out and asked curiously, "Did you get the military science's arrangements? What are the specifics?"

"Yes, I got it." Mercer said succinctly, "Fortunately, it wasn't too much beyond my expectations."

He said in a relaxed tone, "In short, the military force deployed this time consists of two Centaur armored vehicles paired with senior military soldiers, one military Behemoth, two Emperor armored vehicles, and one .Demon Lizard."

(End of this chapter)