"V, can you be a bit more reliable, damn it..."
Mercer looked at the disheveled V in the video call with speechless astonishment.
V responded weakly, "Huh? I'm fine, totally fine... Ugh..."
Qiwei's voice sounded helplessly, and in the video, she stood behind V, patting her back.
"Brother A, she was so excited when she got back yesterday, she drank a whole bottle of whisky by herself... and then puked till the heavens turned dark.
If you ask me, you'd better just let her sleep a little more."
Mercer rolled his eyes, "Is that your drinking capacity? Honestly, you're kind of pathetic. Just don't drink anymore."
"Come on, that stuff is pretty strong, okay?" V's voice, now soft and tender, surprisingly sounded quite pleasant.
Sadly, we don't usually hear V speak this way.
"Alright, enough with the bravado. I'll let Rebecca handle your task, just sober up properly."
After Mercer spoke, V panicked.
She immediately straightened up, "No way! Brother A, it's really not a big deal, I'll drink some water and I'll be fine!"
"I told you yesterday we have a task this morning, and you still dared to drink too much. Let this be a lesson. You've lost today's assignment." Mercer said bluntly, not giving her a chance.
V knew she was in the wrong and could only put on a miserable face, wanting to say something but unable to hold back a dry heave due to the hangover.
"Hanging up."
Mercer hung up the call directly but sent a message to Qiwei.
[Mercer: Look after her a bit, thanks.]
[Qiwei: No problem, I'm freeloading here, so what's a little work?]
[Mercer: I've given her money, so you're not freeloading. Feel free to put her to work. I haven't found a suitable task for you recently, so you'll have to wait a bit longer.]
[Qiwei: I'm not anxious. I still need a few days to study those materials you sent me.]
[Mercer: I've put them together myself. Some might be a bit challenging. If you don't understand, just ask me.]
[Qiwei: Okay... I feel like every time I talk to you, I end up saying thank you.]
[Mercer: That's a good thing. The old you probably would've suspected me of having ulterior motives.]
[Qiwei: ...You're a genuinely good person, Mercer, almost unrealistically so.]
[Mercer: The reality is you can always trust me, and I can trust you likewise, right?]
[Qiwei: ...I think, if it's you, that should be possible.]
[Mercer: Ha~ then I'm honored.]
[Qiwei: I'm the lucky one.]
[Mercer: XD~]
Mercer replied with a smiley emoji and then boldly video-called Rebecca.
"Good morning~" Rebecca's squeaky voice was refreshing—like the kind that gives you goosebumps.
Her early morning attire in the video was quite refreshing, making Mercer involuntarily avert his gaze a bit.
But the video image was projected into his prosthetic eye, so there was no escaping it...
Mercer could only reluctantly size up her compact but noticeable figure.
"Where did you learn this kind of weird tone... Has Pira heard you speak like this?" Mercer said speechlessly.
"Oh, I only speak like this to you... Calling me first thing in the morning, do you miss me?"
Rebecca giggled and even threw a flirtatious wink at him in the video.
Mercer just let out a grumpy snort, "There's a simple task for you, will you take it?"
"Take, take, take! What's the job? How much money?" Rebecca immediately became serious, her voice rising in excitement.
"Yesterday, I wrote a program for Old Captain in Santo Domingo. He tested it out himself and found it really useful, so he plans to make a quick buck by 'acquiring' a batch of used cars before those car companies update their systems.
He immediately thought of giving the job to me as a favor because this task is a rare opportunity with little work and lots of money.
Considering that I'll need some cars for team missions later, although the money isn't much, out of respect for his discount coupon for car purchases, I agreed.
The cars you steal, Old Captain will pay based on 60% of the secondhand market value of the car's worth, so you know, pick the nice ones to steal."
After Mercer finished speaking, Rebecca joyfully exclaimed, "I'm on it! Mercer, just leave this matter to me and Pira!"
Mercer chuckled, "I sent a penguin software over to you and Pira, it's my own encrypted communication system.
If there's any issue, open the communication software and send me a message, I'll immediately follow your situation through the software.
Also, I've optimized and updated this software, allowing me to temporarily connect to your prosthetic eye signal and share the feed, so your brain-computer interface will pop up an authorization agreement, just accept it.
Remember, be steady with the work, you're representing my Spark Team this time, don't let me lose face with Old Captain, Rebecca."
Upon hearing this, Rebecca patted her chest boldly, "Just trust me with this!"
Mercer looked on with appreciation for a while and nodded, "I know... You guys start off now, head to Santo Domingo. Old Captain will contact you upon arrival to provide you with the device to crack the car system.
The car theft list is also in his hands, just pick the expensive ones to steal. The money earned from this won't be shared with me, but 20% should be allocated to team funds.
Because this trip, you're leveraging the reputation of my team to take on private work.
This money will be used for team expenses, like paying for the base rent, purchasing vehicles for the team, acquiring equipment, and so on."