"Are you sure? You've been running around all day. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow morning?"
Beside the brand-new netrunner station, Lucy looked at Mercer with concern.
Mercer had already changed into his new netrunning suit and was excitedly checking the netrunner station's programs with his new laptop.
"Lucy, don't you want to deep dive and see Night City's network world?"
The expression on Mercer's face was as innocent as a child who had just gotten a new toy.
Lucy hesitated but finally said, "Then I'll sleep in your room tonight to keep an eye on you. I bet you'll be staying in that chair all night anyway."
Deep diving was dangerous work. Once a netrunner fully deep dived, they would almost completely lose awareness of the real world.
Moreover, if danger arose, someone needed to be there to pull the plug. Otherwise, if they couldn't log out in time, there was a high chance their brain would get fried in the chair before they could escape.
Emergency disconnection had its risks too, but deep diving was different from uploading consciousness to the Net. As long as the connection to the netrunner station was cut, at worst, only the chair would be damaged.
Many netrunners didn't actually die in Cyberspace.
Instead, after being attacked in Cyberspace, their brains would suffer shock and fall into a coma. Even if the netrunner station automatically disconnected for protection, if no one noticed the anomaly or could provide emergency aid, they would eventually face brain death.
"Uh, alright."
Mercer thought for a moment and didn't refuse. The netrunner station was quite comfortable to lie in anyway, definitely more comfortable than the crappy mattress the Aldecaldos had set up in the tent.
He ran one last scan of the programs, cleaning up the backdoor programs left by Zetatech.
"These big corporations never change their nasty habits. Backdoors in computers are one thing, but backdoors in netrunner stations? They even sneak backdoor programs into netrunning suits and cooling systems..."
Mercer complained as he shared the programs he found with Lucy, "Look, IP tracking, data logging. They even openly state in the user agreement that they collect customer information. If you don't agree to the terms, you can't use it.
Once you scrub the backdoors, you lose the warranty too. They're like parasites, desperate to crawl into your brain in ten thousand different ways."
Lucy just smiled, leaning halfway against the mattress as she watched him tinker. "But they still can't escape your notice."
"Of course. Their programmers might be good, but they're no match for me."
After saying this with a laugh, Mercer looked at her apologetically. "But your new netrunning equipment will have to wait a bit. These things are way more expensive than I thought."
"It's fine. I don't want to deep dive anytime soon... Don't you have any psychological trauma at all?"
Lucy sighed. Honestly, even the sight of a netrunner station made her nervous now. "I think just getting me an immersion pod would be enough, the kind with ice chips. Maybe that would make me feel better."
Mercer simply smiled at her. "Then you'd have to strip naked to get in, and don't forget we'll still be living together after this."
"...You don't think I'd care about that, do you?" Lucy looked completely calm, though the tips of her ears were slightly flushed.
She really hadn't thought of that detail. "That cheap stuff with ice cubes is useless aside from being cheap. If the netrunner station isn't good enough, there are high-end infiltration pods. They might look like big refrigerators, but they're still better than lying in ice water."
Mercer said this but didn't insist, only adding, "It's okay, Lucy. Before you're ready, I won't agree to you doing a deep dive even if you want to. Today's Cyberspace is a stage for geniuses only. Not to mention organizations like NetWatch monitoring Night City's network 24/7, the major corporations also have people monitoring the net. There are also a lot of assholes like the Voodoo Boys, who love to wait for newcomers in Night City's network to pull their cyber-extortion schemes. And, there's even the New United States. Trust me, although the FIA has officially withdrawn from Night City, they definitely have people keeping an eye on its network."
As Mercer spoke, he thought of a woman.
Songbird.
A favorite of the NUSA's new president, Myers, a genius netrunner with exceptional talent, and also a pitiful bird in a cage.
Right now, she was probably still in the early stages of being modified into a Net-nuke. He wondered if she was the one from the FIA responsible for monitoring Night City's network.
A hint of excitement suddenly appeared in Mercer's eyes, it would be great if it was her. He was genuinely curious about who was stronger, himself or the top netrunner under the current NUSA president.
After setting up the netrunner station and checking all the hardware and software, Mercer quickly lay down on it.
"Lucy, plug me in."
Lucy could only sigh, picking up the cooling line for him and connecting it to the netrunner station and his netrunning suit first, before plugging the data cable from the back of the station directly into the port at the back of his head.
Mercer immediately took a deep, comfortable breath. "It feels so good to have the boost of processing power again. My brain feels so relaxed."
"You're a typical internet addict," Lucy said irritably. "Don't you dare become one of those guys who lies in a chair 24/7, completely obsessed."
"You don't understand what it's like for a genius like me. It's like shedding heavy clothes from my brain. I feel so mentally active right now, like I'm swimming in a sea of data."
Mercer reveled in the feeling.
Lucy's attitude remained unenthusiastic. "Isn't that right? Your body temperature went up a degree the moment you plugged in. Be careful not to fry your brain again. We still don't know if the Relic is reliable."
"Right, remember to retrieve Daichi's and the others' chips. And those two Relics with the Soulkiller program must be kept hidden on you at all times.
This chip has great potential. Once I've figured it out, it might have other amazing uses. The risk of exposing this thing is huge."
Mercer paused for a moment before continuing, "After I get Daichi's and Leon's chips back, I plan to give them to the new members of the team.
The Relic isn't just a piece of hardware for repairs; the hardware itself has a large memory capacity and a very advanced micro-CPU to ensure the programs inside run smoothly.
With a few modifications from me, it can become a top-tier ICE, and I won't have to worry about it frying their brains.
Moreover, the biggest advantage of this chip is data sharing. Through the networked chip, I can see the world through your eyes and feel everything you feel. Of course, my main goal is to assist you. I can establish a network connection through the Relic, which is far more stable than a standard connection. Plus, the Relic can also..."
Seeing Mercer start rambling about the chip again, Lucy sighed. "Too complicated, don't wanna hear it. So, are you still going to deep dive?"
"Diving." Mercer pursed his lips. "Fine, don't listen. I don't share these secrets with just anyone anyway."
A faint smile tugged at Lucy's lips as she watched him close his eyes, the signal lights on his netrunner station flickering to life.
She gently patted Mercer's arm. "Mercer? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, but if I get busy, maybe not. You'd better communicate with me online."
Mercer's words were slurred, as if he were talking in his sleep.
Lucy felt relieved—the deep dive seemed to be going smoothly.
She stopped engaging with Mercer and quietly lay back on her bunk, pulling out her laptop to browse the web.
The only sound in the room was the hum of the cooling system, but Lucy didn't find it bothersome. She simply enjoyed the quiet moment, occasionally glancing at the operation panel of his netrunner station.
—--
Meanwhile, Mercer was already gleefully exploring the networks of Night City.
It was a metropolis woven from blue data streams.
For the occasion, Mercer had changed into an outfit reminiscent of Prototype's protagonist, A, and donned a grinning Legion mask from Dead by Daylight, strolling through this data-built urban landscape.
Each structure formed by data was essentially a server network of varying sizes, some resembled skyscrapers, while others looked like clusters of blocky data cubes.
Mercer wandered freely among them, with Deathwish, which he rarely activated, perched obediently on his shoulder, still appearing as a hairless cat.
Since the Deathwish program required significant processing power to run, even just keeping it active placed a burden on Mercer's neural capacity, so he usually kept it disabled by default.
Only when connected to the netrunner station did he have enough extra processing power to spare for the AI, and he preferred it that way.
Honestly, he didn't feel entirely comfortable letting an AI program he didn't fully understand run on his brain's processing power.
*Let's see...
This is Biotechnica's server. That one with the New US flag... yep, definitely Militech.
This one's Zetatech's? Oh, Kang Tao's server design is pretty distinctive, two stone lions guarding the entrance, huh.*
Mercer casually strolled through the network data, commenting on the eye-catching, massive icons.
These imposing data structures were often not the true form of the servers but rather decoys. The core server data was buried deep within these complex networks.
Some of this data was generated by employees' internet activity, some were bait set up by ICE programs, and some represented the companies' public-facing network data, such as official website information.
All these intricate data streams were assembled into abstract forms. Mercer had no intention of approaching recklessly, instead analyzing the other party's structure and server ICE architecture from a data perspective.
Typically, only corporate icons possessed aesthetically pleasing forms, this indicated deliberate adjustments by netrunners, showcasing the company's strength in Cyberspace.
Other fragmented icons, such as those from bars or hotels connected to public networks, generally appeared as rough approximations assembled from various data cubes.
After browsing around, Mercer spotted a few netrunners active in Cyberspace.
These netrunners tended to be extremely cautious; upon seeing Mercer's unfamiliar face, they immediately jumped IPs to escape rather than attempting contact.
The reason was simple: Mercer's appearance looked too "human-like."
In Cyberspace, the more details one displayed, the more it demonstrated abundant computational power and the greater amount of data the brain could manipulate.
Not only did Mercer have intricately detailed clothing, but he also wore a somewhat intimidating smiling mask and carried a conspicuously "intelligent"-looking cat on his shoulder.
Compared to those netrunners who sometimes appeared as pixelated mosaics of data, Mercer's getup was practically a bold declaration to everyone, "I'm powerful."
Mercer wasn't in a hurry to engage with these low-tier netrunners either. As he "toured" the Net, his mind operated at high speed, attempting to analyze the composition of these data streams.
When he'd had enough, he jumped to a server node and hacked directly into it, only after entering did he realize it was a server for a dollhouse.
But Mercer didn't mind; he was just borrowing the server's computational power to test a program and using the computer as his zombie, or stepping stone.
If anyone traced his data source, they would first find this server's IP, that was sufficient.
Mercer began using the dollhouse's server to study Deathwish.
He tested and observed Deathwish's data changes during attacks, the operation of its core code, and the behavior of its AI, among other aspects.
The more Mercer studied it, the more he realized how terrifyingly powerful Deathwish's programming was.
Bartmoss was truly a genius.
Despite its compact size, Deathwish's program contained the core code of dozens of different types of programs. It was less a single program and more an arsenal built from core code.
The AI was the heart that wielded these weapons, it would assess the opponent's form and effortlessly use specific core code to instantly construct corresponding programs.
Then, within milliseconds, it would continuously generate new programs from the core code based on the opponent's weaknesses, using these "custom weapons" to ruthlessly shred all their defenses.
No wonder Bartmoss said this cat would be his best teacher. These varied core codes comprehensively encompassed every technique a netrunner needed.
This included how to infiltrate server-level ICE undetected, how to silently alter data within an opponent's server, and how to seek out vulnerabilities in their programs.
Each core code, in fact, represented a solution provided by Bartmoss. Even Mercer couldn't help but feel the pressure.
Mastering this many weapons would likely take years, even for him.
Because this wasn't just about learning programs; it was about understanding Bartmoss's thought process and his compilation methods.
How did he create such exquisite core code? Why was this core code crafted to be so minimalist yet powerful? What was his programming philosophy?
Or rather, what were his compilation methods and programming language?
Bartmoss had his own unique way of programming. Within those strange and beautiful icons, countless code compilation methods hadn't even appeared in textbooks, almost as if he had invented a distinct programming language.
This made the programs he wrote nearly incomprehensible to ordinary netrunners. Even Mercer found them extremely difficult to decipher and challenging to learn.
It was as if Mercer had been handed a knife, he could see its form and vaguely understand some of its composition.
But he still had a long way to go before he could forge such a blade himself, let alone create an even stronger one using different materials.
As for the AI...
The more Mercer pondered the AI code of Deathwish, the more he wondered. Was this thing really written by a human?
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Bonus chapter @1800power stones