Shit shit shit shit shit!!
V muttered curses under her breath, her heart still pounding wildly.
She carefully dragged the Biotechnica soldier, whose neck she had twisted and who might or might not still be breathing, into a workshop along the hallway, gasping for air.
Meanwhile, Mercer looked completely calm, his eyes glowing faintly. "Well done. I saw it through the cameras. A beautiful series of stealth takedowns."
"Damn it! Is this how you do stealth? Making me go alone and knock out everyone who can see the elevator?"
Fine beads of sweat dotted V's forehead, partly from using the Sandevistan and partly from nerves.
Mercer grinned at her. "You did great, didn't you? Look, their biometric signals can't trigger alarms, and I've hacked the cameras. The guys in the monitoring room can only see the prerecorded loop of normal patrol footage. Right now, we have at least ten minutes to move safely."
"What kind of stealth is this?!" V was still shaken. She had almost lost control and snapped one guy's neck. She had no idea how to properly knock someone out; she only knew how to use brute force and hope for the best. But Mercer had insisted she only incapacitate them, not kill them, at least not until they finished stealing what they came for and got out. That had really put her on edge.
Mercer chuckled, shoving his hands into his pockets as he casually strode toward the elevator outside the door. "Has anyone spotted us yet?"
"No," V replied, cautiously scanning left and right as she followed him.
"Then it's settled. As long as no one notices, it's a perfect stealth operation."
Mercer's firm statement left V momentarily speechless.
It was now 2 a.m. Mercer and V had infiltrated through a side entrance of the Biotechnica building. "Infiltrated" might be an overstatement. Mercer had simply stood by the door and hacked the side entrance while also disabling all nearby surveillance cameras in one go.
Then, they strolled casually through the halls, hacking every camera and security measure they encountered, rendering them blind before any could sound an alarm.
Logically, the AI scanning systems in these smart cameras should have identified intruders in less than a second. But Mercer was simply too fast, so fast that even the camera designers and Biotechnica's security team probably never imagined someone could outpace the scanning speed by hacking face-to-face in real time.
Was he even human?
The only cost to Mercer was a brief moment of exhaustion, forcing him to hide in an empty room next to the elevator to catch his breath.
As for the human security elements, V took care of those.
Her job was to knock out all the guards stationed near the elevator and side entrance, then stash them in rooms.
Typically, these guards checked in with each other via voice comms at irregular intervals, but not too frequently. Mercer had timed their move right after one such report, ensuring that, barring some unlucky accident, no one would grow suspicious from sudden radio silence anytime soon.
"So next, we just take the elevator up?" V looked at Mercer, trying to steady her breathing.
Mercer glanced at her and pointed at her nose. "Nosebleed again. Have you been taking your meds on time lately?"
V just sniffed dismissively, turning her face away to wipe it casually with her hand. "I think I'm just too fast. You know what I mean."
"Seems like your artificial organs need to be scheduled soon too." Mercer sighed. "At this rate, before long, the two of us together won't have many original body parts left."
"What's the big deal? Even the rich replace their organs every few years. How else do you think they stay young?"
V spoke without a care. "Synthetic parts are way better than the original ones. These artificial organs usually don't put much strain on the body either. It's only because my body's tough enough. Who else could handle this speed with just some knee bones and ligaments replaced?"
"The rich are swapping in healthy human organs. They think cybernetic modification, even with synthetic organs, might have side effects, so they'd rather use organs from young donors. Heh, basically a bunch of idiots. They create all this tech, hype it up to the skies, but won't even use it themselves, afraid it'll affect their precious quality of life."
Mercer scoffed, then headed out with V to the elevator. He just stared at the display for a moment before the doors slid open automatically.
V watched in amazement. "How come you didn't even need to plug in? Most netrunners have to connect their data cables and fiddle around for ages."
"That's why they're just 'most netrunners,' and I'm your boss." Mercer smirked, stepping inside and pressing the button for the seventeenth floor.
"We're heading to Dr. Cuno's office. Her computer has direct access to the main server. We'll go in, hack the data, send it to my laptop, and then get out."
After a pause, Mercer watched as a red pop-up reading "Authentication Required" appeared on the elevator screen. His cybereye glowed briefly, and soon the message turned green: "Verified." The elevator began its ascent.
"You hacked that too?" V asked curiously.
"Not now. I did it earlier. I deep dived in from the public net and left some backdoors. It lets me remotely connect to the server anytime via the public net. Elevator controls don't run on the LAN; they're tied to their main server network."
Mercer paused, then added, "That main net is what most employees use daily. Elevators, some doors, all controlled by the main server. Saves me time. But for higher-security areas, important doors and such, they use separate intranet servers. Basically, the company's got a mess of big and small servers, each controlling key equipment, and they avoid interconnecting unless absolutely necessary. For example, each floor's security has its own subnet. If the main server goes down, they can cut the connection to prevent netrunner attacks."
Not that it necessarily helps.
Mercer thought of the Arasaka agents he'd taken out. They'd operated the same way. But faced with Mercer's terrifying capabilities, even with the aid of large servers and professional server cooling systems, they were all eliminated before they could even disconnect from the main server network.
Even if someone managed to disconnect in time, as long as Mercer could detect their network, he could forcibly hack into their subnet. At best, it would only delay the inevitable.
V gave a thumbs-up. "Not bad, A. Working with you feels way too easy."
"That's because I handled all the hard parts in advance."
As Mercer finished speaking, the elevator doors slowly opened.
Directly ahead was a corridor. V leaned forward to peek, but Mercer reached out and held her back. His cybereye glowed as he scanned the nearest camera and began hacking into it.
He hadn't even taken off his jacket. The heat expelled from his cooling system caused a faint hum as it circulated beneath the fabric.
Then, using the camera's perspective and its built-in scanning function, he observed the hallway.
"Four robots in the corridor. I'll just spoof an authentication. Let's go. They'll treat us as allies."
Mercer took the lead, stepping out first.
He glanced around, the floor plans Wakako had sent him quickly transforming into three-dimensional models in his mind. After comparing them with the corridor now in his field of vision, he quickly mapped out the room layout.
"The large rooms on the left are all labs. Damn, still working at 2 a.m.? You've got to be kidding me."
Mercer muttered under his breath as he used the camera feed to observe the situation inside the lab. After a moment's thought, he said, "Three employees inside, but no sign of Dr. Cuno. Given how late it is, there's a good chance their supervisor is watching nearby, so she might be in her office. Let me think."
Charge in directly?
It wasn't impossible, but would Biotechnica have some flashy alarm system? Unsure, Mercer pondered for a moment and decided to play it smart, minimizing risks as much as possible.
"Here's the plan. We'll keep a low profile and head to the restroom at the end of the hall. I'll trigger a false alarm in the lab, the kind that usually goes off during an experiment mishap or equipment failure. It'll definitely get reported directly to Dr. Cuno's office computer. If she's there, she'll most likely come out to check. It's only a few steps away, way more efficient than calling to ask. Once she's in the lab, we'll slip out of the restroom and sneak into her office. I'll disable any security measures inside first, then we'll ambush her when she returns, knock her out, and I'll use her terminal to hack into the server. Might as well plant a backdoor in her neural link too, see if we can squeeze some intel out of her with a little cyber-blackmail later. If she's not there, or doesn't come out, I can still monitor the situation through the lab cameras. Worst-case scenario, we take out the three employees first, and I try to brute-force hack her through the door. If we're lucky and quick, we can get in, grab the data, and exfiltrate the same way we came. If we're unlucky, and her office has some alarm I can't bypass in time... we rush in, I grab the data as fast as possible, then we take the elevator to the roof and extract via aerodyne escape."
Mercer first triggered the network signal from the trash can downstairs, causing the "Canopy" drone he had hacked at the garbage disposal station to receive the signal and "grab the order" for takeoff. Whether it would be useful or not, he treated it as a stability test.
The landfill was in the suburbs, but the drone landing station of the garbage disposal company was located in the city, right in Santo Domingo District. It wouldn't take long for the drone to fly over from the sky.
Mercer bent down and crept forward cautiously along the corridor with V. The laboratory faced the hallway with large glass windows.
From outside the window, one could see the situation inside, and those inside could also see outside, a design convenient for certain supervisors to observe the researchers' work from the corridor.
However, this very design now became an obstacle to Mercer's stealth approach.
Nevertheless, Mercer only waited patiently for a moment.
Once he confirmed through the internal cameras that no one was looking toward the windows, he waved his hand and relaxed his pace, quickly darting past that section.
After that, there was little danger. After all, few corporate drones were still working overtime at 2 a.m. Most people had already clocked out and left by around midnight.
Mercer and V reached the end of the corridor and slipped into the restroom. He immediately used the camera's scanning function to capture the instruments several researchers were operating.
After carefully studying the device's functions, Mercer tweaked some of the parameters inside, leaving the researchers utterly baffled.
"What's going on? Why did the pressure index suddenly spike?"
"Shit, shit! The sample... stop the machine and retrieve the sample!"
"The button... malfunctioned? What's happening?"
"It stopped, it stopped... Damn it, the safety alarm was triggered!"
The three researchers wore expressions of despair.
Well, there went this month's bonuses and overtime pay, not to mention the possibility of disciplinary action.
Suddenly, the office door not far away swung open, and a woman in a Biotechnica lab coat hurried over.
"What happened? Why was the alarm triggered?"
That woman was none other than the current Regional Deputy Director of the Technology and Development Department, as well as the technical advisor for the project team, Diana Cuno.
Seeing the woman step out of her office to check on the laboratory, Mercer made a quick decision and signaled V to begin their operation.
The two slipped out of the restroom, perfectly timing their move just as Diana pushed open the lab door.
Mercer and V swiftly reached the office entrance. This time, Mercer cautiously connected his palm data cable directly to the lock. A large data stream appeared on the door lock, but it took Mercer less than a second to crack it.
After pushing the door open, he maxed out his cybereye's capabilities, scanning all devices in the office while simultaneously hacking every networked device he could see to ensure no internet-connected alarm was overlooked.
In three seconds, Mercer had taken control of all electronic devices in the room. He let out a sigh of relief, pulled V inside, and gestured for her to keep watch at the door. He himself sat directly behind Diana Cuno's desk.
"Eight screens and three mainframes. Does she even know how to use all of them?"
Mercer muttered under his breath but quickly identified the one connected to the LAN after a brief glance. He directly inserted the data cable from his palm into the port and began using brainwaves to control the computer, effortlessly hacking into Biotechnica's servers to extract data.
This time, Mercer had learned from experience and had prepared a large-capacity storage chip inserted into his head in advance. Now, he only needed to pull it out and plug it into the computer to smoothly transfer all the critical data.
Let me see the "Super-soldier immunity agent"...Ah, this is what Wakako wants.
Mercer quickly located the data on the immunity agent and swiftly skimmed through it.
According to the experimental data, the effectiveness of this agent was surprisingly good, or at least, for the viruses they had tested, it achieved near-immunity levels.
Emilia, who had been discarded in the garbage dump, hadn't lied. Biotechnica was indeed using the people of Yucca Town to test viruses, and the immunity agent they developed was indeed highly effective.
At least, it was highly effective against the viruses they tested.
Mercer didn't dwell on it further. After saving the data, he immediately began searching for other information.
[Mercer: Morning Star, you join in too. Take a lap around their server.]
[Morning Star: Understood.]
Mercer had a sudden idea and enlisted his AI to assist. Morning Star used the LAN to infiltrate Biotechnica's server, leveraging the server's computing power to search for data.
Unlike Mercer, who, despite being able to use the server's data, was still limited by his flesh-and-blood body, requiring cooling and constrained by the capacity of the human brain, Morning Star, once granted access, could use the server itself as its "body," harnessing the entire server's computational power without any burden.
[Morning Star: 32 valuable project datasets located. Download to local storage?]
[Mercer: Let me take a look... Alright, filtering complete. Download all the data I've selected to the chip. If there's insufficient storage space, send it to my computer via the network. Be sure to erase any traces.]
[Morning Star: Understood. Download in progress.]
The data transfer process was entirely beyond Mercer's control, leaving him no choice but to patiently wait for the download and transmission to complete.
He didn't fully trust Morning Star's capabilities yet, so he also took the time to carefully search through projects Biotechnica had labeled as "discarded" or "failed."
Surprisingly, he actually found a keyword that piqued his interest in two of these failed projects.
[Cell-directed cloning program:
The ultimate goal of this program is to utilize cell-directed cultivation functions to add specified specialties to cloned subjects during the cloning process.
The aim is to significantly enhance certain attributes of the clones, enabling the mass production of super-soldier clones.
Program outcome: Failed.
Whether enhancing the physical strength or intelligence of clones, the process resulted in irreversible genetic diseases upon maturation, drastically reduced lifespans, and severe weakening of all bodily functions except the targeted specialty.
During rapid cloning, there was an 82% chance of clone death due to genetic diseases, cellular collapse, or other related causes.
However, the rapid cloning technology employed in the plan still holds significant reference value. (Technical data and archival materials have been transferred to the European headquarters; access requires approval after submission.)]
[Avenging Angel Clone Program:
This program aimed to target individuals with exceptionally outstanding physical attributes, with the goal of fully replicating their physical capabilities through cloning.
It intended to utilize derivative technologies from the abandoned "cell-directed cloning program," specifically rapid cloning technology, to rapidly clone and cultivate superior individuals.
The objective was to produce adult clone soldiers within three months.
Program Outcome: Failure.
Rapid cloning technology failed to allow the superior cells of the original host to fully develop. Soldiers produced using this technology could only achieve up to 50% of the prototype's attributes, suffered from short lifespans, genetic instability, and limited cellular strength.
When rapid cloning was tested on ordinary subjects, their genes could not withstand the intensity of the process.
Overall Evaluation: Due to the excessively high resource consumption of rapid cloning technology, the subpar quality of the products, and the need for further combat training and brainwashing control of the clone soldiers, the input-to-output ratio did not meet corporate requirements. Compared to directly recruiting and training soldiers, it lacked investment value.
The program has been shelved for now.
However, considering the possibility of revival after technological breakthroughs, experimental data and related technologies have been archived at the European headquarters.]
Human rapid cloning technology.
Mercer pondered thoughtfully. This technology was a failure for Biotechnica, but for him...
Could it serve as a safety net?
Could he use rapid cloning technology to prepare a secure body for himself? Even if the physical attributes were somewhat inferior, it wouldn't matter.
Upon reflection, the original Mercer's Intelligence attribute couldn't possibly have reached his current level of 21 points. So where did such high Intelligence come from?
Between humans, is the so-called gap in brain capability entirely determined by the brain as hardware, or is it determined by consciousness data?
Even if it's the former for ordinary people, could it be different for Mercer?
Mercer looked up more information on cloning technology. There wasn't much relevant technical data stored in Night City; most of it was preserved at Biotechnica's European headquarters, which disappointed him.
From the pieced-together information across various sources, Biotechnica's current human cloning technology remains immature.
Simply put, it can clone someone who looks exactly like you, but their physical capabilities are far from matching the prototype.
The more exceptional the prototype, the greater the potential of the cloned adult, but achieving identical physical attributes is nearly impossible.
Unless their technology advances to the point of directly cloning a perfect adult instead of developing from an embryo, this path has essentially reached a bottleneck, with breakthroughs unlikely in the short term.
In other words, it's completely impossible to take someone like V as a prototype and replicate ten thousand V-like super soldiers.
Essentially, cloned organisms suffer significantly reduced physical strength, whether in terms of mental capacity or physical potential. Moreover, the growth cycle of such slow-cloning replicants is essentially the same as that of humans. Spending over a decade to clone an ordinary person? What would be the point of that?
This is precisely why Biotechnica has become increasingly focused on projects like physical modifications, biological enhancements, and virus development these days.
But Mercer had a bold idea.
He now had the Relic chip in his possession!
What if he combined cloning technology with the Relic chip to achieve true immortality?
Not like Alt and others who could only exist in the Net, but by using the Relic as a tool for consciousness transfer, truly resurrecting from a cloned body!
Moreover, even if Biotechnica's rapid cloning technology had flaws they couldn't fix, Mercer might just be able to!
If he could get his hands on a prototype, Mercer could try improving the machine from scratch himself, creating one that could achieve perfect compatibility. No, even just rapidly maturing an ordinary body would suffice!
In a worst-case scenario where death was unavoidable, Mercer could use Soulkiller to extract and upload his consciousness, then complete an Edo Tensei revival in another body!
If he could pull this off... while opening Pandora's box, he would also truly render human mortality a thing of the past!
Gotta find a way to test this out.
Mercer couldn't resist the allure of this possibility. It would mean he never had to fear physical death again!
[V: She's coming back!]
[Mercer: Subdue her. I'll lock down her body's alarms and help you out. Just knock her out. I'll leave a program in her neural link to have a little chat.]
[V: Understood.]
V silently positioned herself by the door.
Meanwhile, Mercer simply crouched down, completely hidden behind the desk, obscured by both the desk and the monitor.
When Dr. Cuno stepped into the office, her face etched with irritation, she barely registered a shadow by the door before a tremendous force clamped around her neck.
She could only let out a faint, terrified gasp, her throat producing strained, guttural sounds. Within seconds, her brain succumbed to oxygen deprivation, and she lost consciousness.
The moment V made her move, Mercer hacked into her neural link, seizing control of all her cyberware.
"Done. How much longer do you need?"
After dragging Dr. Cuno into the office and dropping her to the side, V turned to look at Mercer.
Mercer checked the progress bar displayed in his cybereye. "Two more minutes. Don't rush me. I want to steal as much data as possible."
Having decided to launch his "Edo Tensei" project, Mercer needed to copy every bit of relevant technical knowledge and data for his future research.
He was feeling bold. Since he'd already come this far, why not push a little further? Maybe he could even pilfer some materials from Biotechnica's online education system.
Mercer signaled for V to bring Dr. Cuno over. He unplugged her personal chip from the neural link, briefly scanned the data stored on it, and emptied the few thousand eddies from her CredChip.
Then, using her computer access, he began searching for the entrance to Biotechnica's online courses.
Just as Arasaka had Arasaka Academy with its professional online learning programs, Biotechnica must have something similar. Soon enough, Mercer found the login portal for the online courses reserved for senior employees' training and further education on Dr. Cuno's computer.
It was clear that Cuno had maintained a consistent habit of self-improvement. Mercer checked and saw that she had already progressed to multiple "expert-level" courses.
Truly befitting a doctor; even at her level, she never stopped enhancing her professional knowledge. Perfect, then I'll borrow your learning access!
Without hesitation, Mercer began using Cuno's privileges to request offline materials for the network courses. Except for the expert-level knowledge, which could only be accessed via live online sessions and wasn't allowed to be downloaded locally, all other courses from beginner to advanced levels were available for local download.
Whenever identity verification was required, all he had to do was unplug Diana Cuno's data cable and connect it to the computer. With her high-level clearance, there was no need for any application or approval process.
Biotechnica probably never imagined that someone would be audacious enough to storm their headquarters, kidnap a regional Deputy Director, all just to steal training materials.
After all, these courses could be applied for through official channels, much like the Arasaka Academy where the anime protagonist David studied. If you really wanted to learn, you could just pay for it!
So the download process went remarkably smoothly. The only issue was the sheer volume and size of the files. It was impossible to finish downloading everything in a short time.
Mercer made a bold decision.
He left his AI behind on the computer.
[Mercer: Stay here and transmit the data to me in real time. Once it's all sent, come back.]
[Morning Star: Understood. I will send the courses directly to your laptop via the network. However, based on my assessment, it would be best to notify Miss Lucy now to connect a high-capacity external hard drive to your computer.]
[Mercer: I'll leave this to you. Run the process in the background and avoid detection. If Diana wakes up and checks the computer, evacuate beforehand. If they cut the network urgently, you could get trapped in their server.]
[Morning Star: Understood. I will never become their slave.]
That was an interesting way to put it.
Mercer unplugged the cable, stood up, and looked at V.
"Let's go, V. We'll handle the rest online!"
"Then let's hurry up and slip away."
V urged impatiently, her heart still pounding with tension and excitement.
After leaving a little surprise in the unconscious Dr. Cuno's neural link, Mercer calmly retraced their steps with V, slipping into the elevator and exiting the way they came.
Outside, Rebecca, who was waiting to provide backup, breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Mercer emerge safely. She waved at him like a thief; well, they were indeed acting like thieves.
Once Mercer and V got into the car, Mercer looked up and saw a garbage-collecting Canopy drone slowly descending from the sky.
It hovered for a moment before picking up a nearly empty trash bin and, following its programming, headed off to the landfill.
Mercer's backup plan was no longer needed, so the drone could go back to doing its intended job.
He didn't remove the virus hidden inside the drone because he found it surprisingly quite useful. Then let's keep it as a backup. As long as the corporation doesn't update their system, this drone will be Mercer's on-call ride-hailing service.
Or maybe even if they do update, it might not be able to detect and eliminate the virus Mercer has hidden.
"Is the plan going smoothly?"
Rebecca watched Mercer lost in thought as he gazed out the window and shifted her position. This time she had secured the advantageous spot in advance, leaving V to reluctantly take the passenger seat with a look of displeasure.
Mercer turned his attention away from the drone and smiled. "Of course! This stealth operation was a huge success!"
"That's good!" Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief. God knows how anxious she had been waiting outside.
"Hahaha, now everyone can start thinking about splitting the cash. Let me do the math..."
Mercer gestured with his fingers as if counting money. "We've got at least 300k eurodollars from Wakako, plus we scraped together another 430k in cryptocurrency from some 'generous' folks. The intel we got can also be sold to Rogue for a good price. On top of that, the other data we obtained is pretty valuable too. All together, we're looking at at least a million eurodollars!"
Mercer confidently threw out a number that left everyone speechless.
"A... a million!?" V stammered. She hadn't done the math carefully before, but now hearing Mercer summarize it... "Holy shit!"
Pilar, who was driving, had stars in his eyes, and his breathing grew heavy. "Once we split the cash, I'm fucking heading to Clouds to have some fun..."
"Drop dead, you bastard! If you dare waste all the money, I'll blow your fucking head off!" Rebecca kicked the back of his driver's seat hard.
She shook the shotgun in her hand and glared at Pilar. "You better use that money honestly to upgrade your cyberware. If you think you can freeload in this team, even if Mercer agrees, I won't!"
"Damn it! Whose side are you on? Is he your brother or am I your brother!?" Pilar turned his head and shot her an annoyed glare.
Rebecca raised her chin defiantly, her expression fierce. "What? Got a problem with that?"
"...Fuck, fine! I'll upgrade! But let's get one thing straight. You gotta leave me at least enough to have a good time at Lizzie's!"
Pilar grumbled, but when he glanced at V and Mercer, he wasn't actually that unwilling. Compared to V and Mercer, the gear he and Rebecca had was pretty trash. It was a miracle if they didn't hold the team back, let alone provide any real help.
Rebecca reluctantly nodded. "Fine! But only after we upgrade the cyberware first! The good stuff is expensive as hell."
"If you ask me, we should just scavenge the second-hand market... Fine, I'll buy the good stuff, okay?" Pilar's legs went a little weak as he looked at the shotgun Rebecca was pointing right at his face.
"Did you fucking load that thing?" Pilar stared in horror at the shotgun and Rebecca's finger resting near the trigger.
Rebecca lazily pulled the shotgun back. "Of course. We're not safely home yet. We're still in combat mode."
"Shit..." Pilar broke out in a cold sweat. This crazy girl!
Mercer laughed and tried to calm things down. "Alright, stop scaring your brother."
"I'm not scaring him. I'd rather blow his head off myself than watch him get killed by someone else." Rebecca snorted, speaking out of anger.
Pilar sighed as he glanced in the rearview mirror. "You're something else, Rebecca."
"So before I decide to blow your brains out, you better stay alive and well!" Rebecca muttered, her voice muffled.
Pilar blinked and fell silent, only to burst into laughter moments later. "I knew you still loved me~ Rebecca~"
"Disgusting! Just drive already!" Rebecca seemed to blush slightly, kicking his seat repeatedly while grumbling under her breath.
V couldn't help but chuckle. "You two really get along well."
"Who gets along with him?"
Rebecca mumbled but didn't deny it outright. Instead, she turned to Mercer and noticed the glow in his cybereye. "What are you busy with now?"
"Just checking whether the virus I planted in that doctor's mind has been detected. So far, it seems our Dr. Cuno doesn't know much about anything beyond chemistry and biology."
Mercer replied leisurely, his vision filled with streams of data and the image of Dr. Cuno, who had just regained consciousness and was now frantically examining her own body.
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5000 words.