Mercer looked at the girl whose rainbow-colored short hair was visible even in Cyberspace.
Her virtual image was almost identical to her real-life appearance, and she wore hacker glasses that obscured her eyes.
"Is this… a program you coded yourself?"
Lucy approached him with a complicated expression, alternating between looking at the cat and scrutinizing him—she had never imagined Mercer would do something like this.
Relaxing and playing with a cat in Cyberspace, specifically the Old Net?
This was truly… unexpected.
However, this only deepened the questions in Lucy's mind.
Everyone in the hacker training facility had been trained by Arasaka at the same institution before being sent into the Stardust Project.
While she hadn't known Mercer very well before, they had lived together for so long, exchanged many words, and even Deep Dived together numerous times.
She couldn't claim to know Mercer deeply, but she at least knew what kind of person he was.
But the current Mercer… Lucy didn't know how to describe it; it was as if, ever since his brain got fried, he had completely transformed into a different person.
More lively, more carefree, and also more mature… much more reliable.
In the past, although no one said it explicitly, anyone who looked into another's eyes could see the despair and confusion about the future.
The old Mercer was like that too, but now… Mercer exuded a feeling of suddenly possessing the confidence and composure to face anything.
This demeanor made him stand out among all the Little Hackers like a crane among chickens.
Not only that, but his demeanor, or rather his attitude, seemed to inexplicably instill a sense of calm and courage in everyone who looked at him.
Anyway… that's how Lucy felt.
In the past, her heart held only fear and confusion; the desire to survive almost overshadowed her longing for everything else.
But now, just seeing Mercer, seeing his calm demeanor, the fear and unease in her heart would miraculously subside significantly.
However, it was precisely because of such a drastic change in Mercer that Lucy felt he was a bit… dangerous.
In this world, there are many technologies that can alter a person's thoughts and consciousness, and in the network, it is generally believed that AI possesses the most powerful technology in this field.
Could he have been taken over by some rogue AI?
"Is it a small AI?" Lucy asked cautiously, still observing him.
"Hmm, you could say that."
Mercer smiled and patted the ground beside him. Lucy hesitated for a moment, then sat down.
"Go." He casually tossed the cat down, and the Cyberspace cat deftly flipped over, landing on the ground, and intelligently jumped onto Lucy's lap.
Lucy instinctively reached out, then was surprised to find that the cat felt incredibly good!
Even though her perception in Cyberspace wasn't particularly strong, she could feel as if she were truly petting a cat!
"That's amazing… What does this AI do?"
She asked curiously, gently stroking the cat's back, watching it purr contentedly. This made Lucy even more incredulous—cats could do that?
Lucy had never petted a living cat.
"It's specifically designed to deal with the Guardian AI on your body."
Mercer pointed to the faintly visible blue data on her body. Even though Lucy had manually hidden the Guardian ICE shell, with her abilities, some overflowing blue data would still occasionally pop out.
Why go to such great lengths to hide that majestic samurai form?
Hmm, Mercer guessed it was probably because she was afraid of being too conspicuous and being discovered by rogue AIs, so she compressed her data as much as possible.
"What?"
Lucy looked up; even obscured by the data-formed glasses, her shocked expression was evident: "You… this is your first time seeing Arasaka's Guardian AI, right?"
"Aren't we all experiencing it for the first time?"
Mercer smiled:
"It will still take a lot of time to find a vulnerability in that AI and kill it.
But with it, I believe it's only a matter of time. If we don't deal with this Guardian AI, we won't be able to use the server's power to handle security."
"…Then I'll leave it to you."
Lucy was now completely unable to imagine how high Mercer's hacking skills truly were.
The two didn't speak again. Lucy had too many questions but didn't know how to ask them, while Mercer was simply using the server's computing power to do mischief.
Although he hadn't cracked the Guardian AI yet, as long as he didn't engage in illegal activities, it was fine to secretly use the server's computing power to optimize his own software and try to create some programs.
It wasn't until Lucy had secretly glanced at him several times that Mercer finally looked at her: "If you have something to ask, just ask."
"Um… you, have you thought about where you want to go after you leave?"
Lucy finally asked.
Mercer looked at her speechlessly for a moment, then looked at the cat in her arms.
Death Wish's body suddenly transformed into a stream of data, surging into her body.
Then, the blue light on her body abruptly intensified, and a majestic armored samurai broke free from her body, taking on a human form.
The samurai let out a silent roar, its mouth wide open, and a Zhan blue katana appeared in its hand, savagely plunging into its own chest.
But the black hairless cat wandering inside its chest, nimble as a fish darting through its body, leaped onto its head in the blink of an eye.
The now black Death Wish looked far more ferocious than the samurai; at this moment, its mouth was wide open, and with each bite, it fiercely gnawed off a large chunk of blue data.
At the same time, its size would increase significantly.
The giant blue samurai initially stood tall, seemingly forty or fifty meters high, but after a few bites, it appeared to be only twice the size of a normal human.
Meanwhile, the cat-shaped Death Wish had already transformed into a terrifying giant beast over ten meters tall.
After it swallowed the entire ICE deployed by the Guardian AI with its last bite, it even let out a contented yawn.
Then, its form shifted again, and the black giant beast transformed back into a small cat made of blue data.
It stretched out on the ground, then bounced and landed back on Lucy's lap.
As for Lucy… she was already dumbfounded.
"You didn't think the ICE Arasaka set up for you was just a simple ICE, did you? This thing contains a sub-program of the Guardian AI, essentially a low-intelligence AI."
After speaking, Mercer paused, then comforted her: "But I don't blame you; with your skills, it's indeed hard to tell, after all, you've never encountered technology related to AI."
"I'm sorry, I, I thought…" Lucy felt that if this were in the real world, she would probably blush with shame—she had truly been too foolish this time.
However… "I just, um… feel that when I'm next to you, I don't have to worry so much." Lucy decided to tell the truth.
Mercer curled his lips, not hiding his mood: "Uh-huh, good explanation… Alright, let's continue with the previous question."
"I've decided to take my talents to Night City."
Mercer gave his answer.
"Night City? I've heard of it. They say it's pretty chaotic there because it's currently a neutral city, so Arasaka and Militech are fighting fiercely.
There's also Biotechnica, Night Corp, Kang Tao… and outside the city, there are Nomads and Wraiths."
Lucy was a little surprised. She had thought Mercer would go somewhere safer. Night City? That didn't seem like a pleasant place to settle down.
"Indeed, the corporations are fighting like dogs, and the gangs below are even more numerous and complex.
There are the Valentinos, formed by Heywood residents.
The 6th Street Gang, made up of a bunch of Americans.
The Maelstrom, a bunch of cyberpsychos, and the Voodoo Boys, a bunch of idiotic human traitors.
There are the Scavengers, who should be killed on sight.
The Wraiths in the badlands, Arasaka's attack dogs the Tyger Claws, and the Animals, whose heads are all pointy from taking too many drugs…"
Mercer rattled off the factions with simple descriptions, then laughed and said, "So, that's where we belong."
"Only there do we have a chance to rise up, and even deliver a big blow to a stupid corporation like Arasaka—remember the Arasaka nuclear bombing fifty years ago? That kind of thing can only be done in Night City.
Morgan Blackhand, Spider Murphy, Bartmoss… countless legends have written their stories there. Although the endings of those stories weren't always beautiful, believe me, some things can only be accomplished in Night City."
After Mercer finished speaking, he paused, then said to her with a smile:
"Even if you just want to hide… that's your best hiding place. Although Arasaka now dominates Night City again, there are plenty of people there who are working against them.
You, a small miner, if you go there, no one will bother to look for you.
Hmm… but if you're with me, it's hard to say, because I don't plan to just slink away."
Lucy looked into his eyes. Even in Cyberspace, his face was covered by a smiling mask, but in the flickering data light in his eye sockets, she could still vaguely see his confident and defiant eyes.
"Aren't you afraid…" She hesitated, wanting to say more.
"Afraid of Arasaka? Or afraid of death?"
The smile on Mercer's mask became even brighter:
"Since I'm alive in this world now, I have no intention of dying ignominiously.
Fortunately, I now seem to have the possibility, or rather the ability, to change these things. So of course, I'm going to turn things upside down before I die."
Lucy couldn't understand.
Right now… she just wanted to survive first. Other things like the meaning of life were too distant. However… "Understood… Then, I'll go to Night City too… Can you take me with you?"
She turned her face to look at the cat in her arms. The cat seemed to be full and digesting, dozing on her lap.
"Sure."
Mercer said with a smile upon hearing this: "Then I'll take you with me. Arasaka can't stop us, I said so."
"…You'd better not be boasting." Lucy inexplicably felt her face warm up. How strange, how could there be temperature in Cyberspace?
"So, what do you plan to do once you get to Night City?" She changed the subject.
"First, find a place to settle down, then switch to being a mercenary, earning money while raising my reputation, building connections, and gathering some like-minded partners."
Mercer described the future in a relaxed tone:
"Once I make money, I'm going to buy a luxurious mansion with a swimming pool. I've never experienced such extravagant pleasures in this life!
When I get to Night City and make a lot of money, I definitely have to enjoy myself first.
Oh, and I also need to continue improving my hacking skills, and research and develop technologies like cyberware.
Hmm… In short, my short-term goal is to become a legendary big shot in Night City first!"
After Mercer finished speaking, he turned to look at Lucy:
"You can also think about what you truly want… I know you're very afraid, afraid of Arasaka, afraid of death, and even more afraid of dying meaninglessly.
There's nothing wrong with that, but… I think, rather than constantly worrying about how to die or how to escape death, the meaning of life should be about what you truly want to do.
Only by first finding the meaning of living and an attitude towards living can the fear of death have meaning."
"Hmm…" Lucy nodded gently, not speaking, just lowering her head.
Mercer reached out and gently patted her head:
"You're still young, you don't need to overthink things all the time… At least, if you follow me, you can take things one step at a time."
"…You're only one year older than me." Lucy grumbled softly, a little displeased with his attitude of treating her like a child.
"Uh… in terms of psychological age, I think I'm at least ten years older than you."
Mercer said truthfully, but Lucy looked at him suspiciously. In the end, however, Lucy just nodded.
"You're the boss, you call the shots."
After she finished speaking, she let out a long sigh, then smiled: "Then, I'll leave these annoying things to you, Mercer, who is precocious in both body and mind."
"…Bite her."
As Mercer's words fell, Death Wish on her lap actually bit her, miraculously giving her a real sensation of pain, but without causing any data damage.
"Alright, you go gather everyone else. From now on, when we Deep Dive, we'll meet at the same IP, don't separate.
Near me, you generally won't encounter rogue AIs. Even if we do, the combined ICE from the Arasaka Guardian AI on us, plus my cat, should be able to stall long enough for us to safely withdraw."
Mercer instructed.
"Okay." Lucy happily rubbed Death Wish's head, then immediately got up and went to trace IPs to call people.
After she left, Mercer pondered for a moment, then secretly spat at Bartmoss—that old man must have intentionally sent him to Lucy's IP.
Dude, she's only thirteen or fourteen!
Are you guys in the Cyberspace world that intense? Aren't you afraid of the fist of justice!
Shaking his head, Mercer relaxed and lay down on the ground.
Continue to exploit it, while he could still use Arasaka's servers, he would use its computing power to write programs for himself!
What should he write first?
Hmm… I got it!
He would first write common offensive daemons from games, such as cyberware malfunction and synaptic burnout, and compress them into quickhacks!
Once he wrote a dozen or so super viruses, then when he opened his eyes, whoever he stared at would die, guaranteed to bring a little Cyberspace shock to Night City!
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