V wasn't lying—the server is indeed good-looking, with an Asian face, gentle and soft, very much fitting the Asian ideal of a pretty girl.
Seeing Mercer and his crew appear, the waitress, who was being pestered by some Animal Gang brutes, breathed a sigh of relief and quickly came over.
"Hello, what would you like to eat?"
The waitress felt really unlucky. Usually, it was just the Tiger Claw Gang that came by; even when they teased, it was mostly just verbal.
But these crude Animal Gang hulks, probably with their brains swollen from too much dosing, were almost about to lay hands on her!
"I heard your grilled chicken skewers are pretty good?" V licked her lips; with Mercer treating, she wasn't going to be polite.
"Of course! Our chicken skewers are 99% real meat!"
The waitress smiled, "How about a chicken skewer combo? One for each, plus a signature miso soup with fried rice."
"Sure! Add some tempura too." V said boldly.
Mercer didn't care about the money; saying it's 99% real meat, looking at the price, thirty-eight Euros for a meat skewer combo, what kind of meat could it be?
As long as it's not human meat.
Since an animal-induced plague in Night City in 2051, from 2061, Night City wiped out all poultry and birds, and unless you smuggled, there was no way to get real chicken meat.
"Alright, a tempura combo too."
This place was one of the few where you ate first and paid later; after placing the order, the waitress wanted to find a place to hide.
"V, take this chip."
Mercer leaned back in his chair, placing a chip on the table: "You'll need it for tonight's mission."
"Let's hear it," V's expression turned serious, while Qiwei sitting beside her looked a bit awkward, "Should I step away?"
"No need, if it were something that needed to be kept secret, I wouldn't talk about it here."
Mercer said lightly, "It's a simple job. Tonight at eleven, infiltrate the municipal building's underground server room, plug this chip into the server. Once the program is uploaded, you're done.
I'll give you the specific route of action, the building's blueprint, and I will provide you with real-time cyber assistance.
The entire municipal building after ten at night has only one fixed security system. In your area on the first floor, at most only three guards patrol.
Occasionally, there might be people working late, but they are mostly concentrated above the second floor in the office area, not the business handling area on the first floor.
The server room is on the third level below ground, and usually, the entire third underground level is managed by a network security specialist who gets off work punctually at eight every day, never working late unless something unusual happens.
The other security measures are handled online by professional hackers in the building, and I'll make sure they see nothing.
I'll handle the surveillance cameras and elevator permissions. All you have to do is arrive at the municipal building's back door at eleven, wait for me to unlock it, and then take the service elevator straight to the server room.
The chip will upload in no more than 10 seconds, then you retrace your way out, as long as you are not discovered, the mission will be complete."
After Mercer finished, V blinked: "That simple?"
"That simple."
Mercer said with a deep tone, "The information and intel I got from Rogue should pose no problems, and if anything unexpected happens, like being discovered...
You can just leave, no need to force it, safety first, I'll figure out another way if needed.
The reward is a total of 5,000 Euros—what do you think?"
"No problem!" Although V felt a bit nervous inside, she still agreed without hesitation.
5,000 Euros!
That's 5,000 Euros!
Being a mercenary definitely pays more than scraping by on the street! Hanging out with those Valodino Gang punks all day, you can't even fill your stomach for a month, but as a mercenary, one job brings in thousands of Euros…
That's a few months' rent! Truly fantastic!
Mercer looked at a now excited V and didn't know what to say... V, you are really cheap.
And just as Mercer finished saying this, a bang suddenly came from not far away; he instinctively reached for his gun holster in his right hand, grasping the Kenshin.
The bang wasn't from anyone else but the Animal Gang which Mercer and V noticed before entering.
A big guy slammed the table as he stood up, and at the same time, three other Animal Gang brutes stood up together; without a word, they surrounded the waitress who was about to bring food to Mercer's table.
"Where's our food? We haven't gotten everything we ordered, and you're serving someone else?"
A big guy with a fleshy face reached his hand towards her waist with a smile, the waitress tried to dodge with a forced smile: "Sorry, really sorry… I'll hurry the kitchen."
"Forget it, we don't like eating your Japanese food anyway, but..."
The big guy revealed a somewhat oily smile, and the surrounding Animal Gang members moved closer, quickly trapping her in the middle with no way out.
"Japanese girls are pretty nice."
After saying that, the big guy laughed and pointed at the seat: "Come, have a drink with us, and we'll leave you a tip."
"We, we don't provide drinking company services... you, you can go to an izakaya at Twist Street in the Kabuki District…"
The waitress forced a smile, but the Animal Gang was getting impatient.
"Damn it, how hard is it to have a drink? I just want you to have a few drinks with me today, can you give me that face?"