"No!" Amy Anderson flatly denied it.
Mark Martinez saw the answer in his younger sister's urgent reaction, while John Carter on the side was speechless.
John didn't like to curse, but he now felt that Mark Martinez was somewhat problematic.
John looked at Amy's flushed and flustered face, wondering if she could really lead him to meet the legendary Lucy. After all, this didn't seem like something a childish young girl could do.
"My Little Princess, the deep dive is ready," Angela's voice came from all around.
Amy hesitantly got up, as if making some kind of decision. Suddenly, she stomped her foot, and with a determined gaze, looked at John as if she had made up her mind.
"Senior, let's go!"
John was startled by her expression. Why did it feel like they were going to war? Or perhaps infiltrating the Pentagon to steal top-secret information?
"Wait, wait, wait," Mark stood up and came between them, "Did I hear that right? You said 'you two'? You and this Mr. John Carter?"
"Otherwise?" Amy retorted.
"Oh~ This is ridiculous, absolutely not."
John frowned slightly; he couldn't understand anything that was happening. As an Executive Officer in the Kang Tao Executive Department, he found himself unable to comprehend or analyze their changes and words at this moment.
After hearing this, Amy crossed her arms, pouting her lips and raising her chin, looking as if to say, 'I want to, I'm willful, and you can't stop me.'
"Hmph~ Mind your own business! Calling you 'older brother' was just to make you happy. Believe it or not, I'll hack your system!"
Mark immediately broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, instinctively touching the back of his head. His sister was truly capable of such a thing. When they were kids and fought, Amy directly hacked his operating system and implanted a virus. He ended up being rescued by Trauma Team for three full days before barely clinging to life.
John was also startled by this remark. He never imagined that the usually gentle and compliant Amy could be so ruthless towards her own brother.
Actually, John didn't know that Amy's sweetness, gentleness, and compliance belonged only to him.
Seeing her brother intimidated, Amy smiled triumphantly, then linked arms with John and walked into the deep dive room. As for Mark, he was probably still immersed in the fear of having a virus implanted back then.
Upon arriving in the deep dive room, the previously confident Amy seemed to remember something and instantly transformed into a delicate young girl.
John observed his surroundings and found it to be an extremely professional deep dive room. To his knowledge, a professional and legitimate deep dive device would cost at least hundreds of thousands of Euros. And here, there were three of them.
Three bathtub-like deep dive devices were evenly arranged in the room. Directly opposite them were dozens of display screens and keyboards covering the entire wall, with the wiring on the floor neatly and orderly distributed. It was clear that the Angela artificial intelligence had activated all devices because it hadn't received a command from Amy specifying how many devices were needed.
The cooling beds (deep dive devices) were filled with water, with a layer of crushed ice floating on top, emitting a green light from below. This device was used to cool down deep divers. If it weren't for the huge deep dive interface at the head of the cooling bed, an outsider would truly mistake it for a household bathtub.
Amy looked around, but there was nowhere to discreetly change clothes.
Oh my god, didn't Dad consider this when he designed this place? Am I supposed to strip naked in front of Senior Brother? That would be too embarrassing! No, no, there must be another way!
However, when Amy looked at John, she found that he wasn't paying attention to her at all. He had already taken off his clothes and laid down in the cooling bed at some point. Moreover, his eyes had turned purple; John's world was now entirely composed of blue lines.
Due to the floating ice, Amy could only vaguely see John's strong pectoral and deltoid muscles.
Amy gave a wry smile; it seemed she had indeed worried too much. John was still John, completely uninterested in her.
So, Amy generously took off her clothes and placed them on the hanger. During this time, she occasionally glanced at John, finding that his eyes were still glowing purple, and his expression remained unchanged even after she was completely undressed.
"Why do you keep staring at me?" Amy was still a young girl, and even though she knew he couldn't see, being stared at while stripping naked still made her very embarrassed.
"Nothing, let's start when you're ready."
"Okay."
Amy gently dipped her foot into the icy pool. The sudden ultra-low temperature almost made her cramp, but she was an experienced deep diver, so she quickly took a deep breath and lay down in the cooling bed.
"Hiss~ This moment is always the most uncomfortable when entering!"
Amy tried her best to regulate her breathing. Once her breathing was steady, she began to give commands to Angela.
"Angela, you are responsible for guiding us into cyberspace. Whether in cyberspace or the real world, make sure to protect both of us. If anything happens, wake us up immediately. Also, I forgot to lock the door, so don't let anyone in."
"Yes, My Little Princess."
Amy and John uncovered the deep dive interface at the back of their heads and plugged in a data cable, twenty centimeters in diameter.
"Phew, I'm going in…"
Amy and John passed through a long blue tunnel. It was clear that John was not skilled at deep diving, as he almost flew out of the tunnel. Amy directly hugged John, helping him through the tunnel.
Soon, the two arrived in cyberspace, which was entirely blue, surrounded by various blue squares, constantly rising Arabic numerals, and English letters.
John looked around, and it was exactly as he remembered. In truth, John knew nothing about Cyberpunk, but he had once needed to hack into Arasaka Corporation for a mission, which was why he had installed a deep dive interface.
John looked at Amy. Although she was completely naked, in cyberspace, everyone was outlined by basic lines, so nothing could really be seen.
"Senior, follow me."
Amy lightly touched the space in front of her, and giant blue squares opened a path for her. The two walked along the path, and as they went, the blue characters began to fade, replaced by a void, with only the path beneath their feet still made of glowing blue squares.
Suddenly, John saw what looked like a person sitting at the end of the path. Given John's status, he should theoretically be able to remain calm at all times, but now, his breathing became rapid. This was because the woman sitting at the end of the path had gradient pink hair.
John stopped, and under Amy's puzzled gaze, he activated a holographic scan. However, something even stranger happened. In the holographic scan, the woman at the end of the path was obscured by black pixel blocks, with seven characters written on them: "Storage access denied."
Amy looked up at John, and she saw "panic" on the face of this Kang Tao Executive Department Executive Officer.
"Ms. Anderson, you seem to have brought a stranger without my permission."
The woman at the end of the path slowly turned her head, revealing a perfect and exquisite profile with blood-red eyes, where electronic circuits were constantly operating.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred at the back of John's head. John fell to the ground, and his holographic scan short-circuited. In the real world, John, lying in the ice pool, groaned in pain. Angela immediately tried to pull John out of cyberspace but found her programming modified, making her unable to perform the action.
"Senior Brother!"
Amy supported John while beginning to check his system.
The woman slowly walked over to them. John, enduring the pain, tried to lift his head to see her face, but he only managed to see a pair of slender calves before he could no longer lift his head.
"Master! Senior Brother is not a stranger!"
"Oh?"
The woman's eyes changed from blood-red to light blue. John's system short-circuit was finally repaired, but the pain still made it difficult for him to get up.
John struggled to adjust and repair his system; he had somewhat underestimated this woman. The only information he had about her was two things: she was a legendary Cyberpunk, and she deeply loved her deceased boyfriend, David Martinez. Beyond that, he knew nothing. He, who had once dominated the world of covert operations, never imagined that Kang Tao's highest-level security system could be so easily breached by this woman.
"John Carter, Executive Director of the Executive Department at Kang Tao Shenyang Headquarters," the woman said coldly, "What do you want from me?"
"Master, please don't misunderstand," Amy quickly explained for John, "He's not a bad person."
"Lu… Lucy," John struggled to get up, half-crouching as he said, "I just didn't expect you to truly still be alive."
John finally saw the woman's face, and her beauty made him gasp in admiration. Her figure was a perfect golden ratio, like a sculpted work of art, exuding a unique charm. Her appearance was remarkably beautiful, with a towering nose bridge on a sharp, chiseled face, like an exquisite sculpture. Especially her gaze, full of allure, as if it could penetrate one's soul. Logically speaking, such a beautiful and capable woman would have many, many admirers, making it hard to imagine her choosing to die for a man.
Lucy said nothing, her eyes still filled with the same killing intent as before. At this moment, she noticed the Single Molecule Wire installed on John's arm.
John also noticed her gaze. Although his cybernetics wouldn't be visible in cyberspace, it was clear that after hacking into his system, she already knew everything about him.
"This Single Molecule Wire is the same model as yours. I admire you greatly."
Lucy looked at Amy again, who nodded sincerely.
"You can leave," Lucy said impassively.
Was she already ordering him to leave? John felt a bit unwilling; he had so many things he wanted to say to this legendary woman.
"Master, don't be like that," Amy pulled Lucy's arm and gently pleaded.
"I'll talk to you later; right now, I need to kick him out."
Lucy's eyes turned blood-red, and the circuits began to execute. John understood that this might be his only chance; to get her help, he had to tell her everything.
"Adam Smasher…"
John uttered the name with difficulty. Lucy was clearly stunned upon hearing it, then she stopped executing her command.
"What?" Lucy gestured for him to continue.
But John's system kept popping up short-circuit warnings. Noticing this, Lucy's eyes turned blood-red again, and in just a few seconds, she repaired his system.
John stood up and stretched his neck. His body felt agile and comfortable, as if Lucy had never infiltrated him at all.
"Speak," Lucy said.
John looked at the woman before him, still so beautiful, even more beautiful than the legends, with a wisp of pink gradient hair draped over her shoulder. Her body was so pure and flawless, like a piece of jade meticulously carved by the most master craftsmen.
Lucy noticed John looking at her, but she didn't seem to care.
John adjusted his mindset, intending to speak more smoothly.
"Adam Smasher, after he was defeated by Night City's legendary Mr. V, Arasaka Corporation had no time to care about his life or death. He lay underground for several months until Arasaka Corporation announced its withdrawal from the North American market. Kang Tao Company then collected his remains, deciding to bring them back to Shenyang for further study. In Adam Smasher's memory, we read something interesting."
To John's slight surprise, Lucy suddenly became patient with him, perhaps sensing that this matter was related to her boyfriend.
John continued, "When he defeated your boyfriend, David Martinez, in 2076… Adam Smasher received a new order—to upload David Martinez's digital consciousness to Mikoshi."
When John said this, Lucy's pupils slightly contracted, and she clearly became dazed, though she quickly recovered. John had expected her to excitedly ask if it was true, but instead, she said:
"You dare to lie to me."
Lucy's eyes turned blood-red, and the circuits executed at an extremely high speed. Seeing this, John immediately raised his system's firewall to the highest level, but John himself knew that all of this was futile against Lucy.
Suddenly, Amy hugged Lucy's waist, pleading, "Master, no! Just let Senior Brother finish speaking!"
Lucy looked at Amy, and her eyes turned light blue again. John breathed a sigh of relief; in this short time, this young girl Amy had saved him countless times.
"Continue," Lucy said.
Amy knew that her master was an ice beauty, giving off a feeling of keeping people at a thousand miles' distance. This was how it was when she first met her; she was almost hacked into her operating system. If Amy hadn't been lying on the ground crying and crawling, begging Lucy with snot and tears not to kill her, she would have long since gone to see her great-grandmother. In truth, Amy didn't know that Lucy had once been a sweet and thoughtful girl, especially in front of her boyfriend, David Martinez, she was even more like a little bird.
John let out a long sigh and continued, "Why do you think I'm lying to you?"
"I've lived in the network world for 23 years, and I've tried to find his digital consciousness, but the result is, there is none. I know everything that happens in the real world clearly. David Martinez is simply dead."
Lucy said it with certainty, but John could tell that the more she said it, the more she hoped someone would overturn her conclusion and tell her: "Hey, you know what, David Martinez is actually still alive!"
John looked at Lucy; David Martinez was probably the only weakness of this powerful woman.