"Because he's too greedy."
Mercer showed a look of disgust: "His ambition is too big, but his skills are not enough. He thinks he's backed by Military Science and has hooked up with many big companies, so he believes he can really establish himself as a king.
Don't be fooled by how he's making Dog Town thrive now. These days, major companies, even those from Europe and the East, are conducting large-scale smuggling and transactions directly through Dog Town.
The politicians of Night City are all pleased by him...
But this is only because everyone needs a booming Dog Town, not an ambitious Hansen."
Mercer patiently explained the key to Lucy: "If one day, Hansen thinks he's strong enough, decides to truly become the boss of Dog Town, trying to gain stronger power and engage in higher-level games...
Death is all that waits for him.
No one would need a rigidly led Dog Town trying to become completely independent. What everyone needs is a place where anyone can freely do business.
It's somewhat similar to the original definition of Night City... All companies came to make money unrestrained. Who wants to be managed by you, damn Hansen? Follow your rules?
New America keeps him around because Military Science and New America still need a bridgehead to infiltrate Night City. If war resumes someday, Dog Town will be their starting point for attacking Night City.
Dog Town and he are just a nail that New America and Military Science drove into Night City.
That fool Hansen actually believes he's tough, that New America doesn't dare to touch him, but Military Science is just pacifying him."
After finishing, Mercer seriously said: "So, we absolutely shouldn't work for Hansen because once he discovers my true skills...
My end would be the same as New America's Lark.
You might have heard of her? A hacker who dominated New America back in the fifties, later targeted by Internet Supervision, was recruited by agents sent by New America early.
Now, she has become a dog for the President of New America, forced to work for them, even transformed into a network nuclear bomb...
My skills are far superior to Lark's. If that fool Hansen really finds out how brilliant I am, there's no telling what twisted ideas he might have about me, and I definitely don't want to be his dog, nor do I want to become a network nuclear bomb controlled by others."
After Mercer finished talking, Lucy finally realized and nodded, gaining a deeper understanding of the situation in Dog Town.
Seeing that she understood, Mercer laughed:
"So, we should choose Hans. Don't think his influence in Dog Town is weak now. In truth, backed by the Cuban crime syndicate, he's someone Hansen absolutely doesn't want to mess with easily.
With him backing us, no clueless Netherworld Dog will come knocking at our door in Dog Town.
We can help Hans with some small jobs to get a foothold in Dog Town.
When we don't need to hide and develop quietly in Dog Town anymore, we can go out openly, find a good place in Night City, and build ourselves a mansion.
By then, Hans can get lost.
Mercer finished his words, then patted Lucy's head, smiling as she looked at him displeased: "Trust my judgment, Lucy."
"I never said I didn't trust..." Lucy moved her head away, saying: "Fine... I can't help you with anything anyway."
"Oh, but you can, Lucy. You have a job to do."
Mercer revealed a mysterious smile.
Lucy visibly perked up: "What is it?"
"Raise a kid for me," Mercer said lightly.
"...Huh?"
Lucy was stunned.
...
After transferring Venus AI to Lucy and reminding her to strictly monitor whether Venus was learning online according to Mercer's settings, Mercer set out lightly and drove off.
First, he went to a bank in the European Community, opened an account, and purchased a personal storage chip.
This personal storage chip is equivalent to a specially encrypted USB drive, solely for data storage, and can be used to store digital currency, diaries, and fragmented records of conversations.
These things are originally equipped with a brain-computer interface, an essential part of everyday life for ordinary people, but since Mercer installed a network access vault and had a Relic chip plugged into his head, this chip wasn't installed.
Generally, a person has two data interfaces on the back of their neck for inserting chips.
With the Relic inserted, it takes up one slot, and the storage chip takes up another, leaving Mercer with no slots free.
But Mercer still decided to install it.
It's too painful to kill someone and not get a penny for it.
Now with a storage chip, he can directly transfer the money from the other party's virtual wallet chip.
This digital currency is uniquely authenticated and encrypted. As long as you have a chip with an opened virtual wallet, you can freely transfer money through data transmission, which is very convenient.
And virtual currency only retains local data; it doesn't go directly through a bank account, making it very convenient for private transactions. To deposit it in a bank, you just need to extract the data from the network into the bank.
Moreover, it's like giving Mercer's brain an additional hard drive, saving many data files he piled into the network access vault and brain-computer interface, and freeing up more space for entering programs into the vault.
As for what to do when the brain chip slots are all occupied?