"Oh! I believe you, whatever you say goes, twenty percent it is, I've got no problem with that." Rebecca said with a cheeky smile, then turned around and kicked what seemed to be Pira lying on the couch.
"Pira! We've got work! Get up and get ready for the boss!"
As she kicked, Rebecca grumbled resentfully, "Useless brother, I really don't know when you'll ever be reliable."
Mercer watched this scene, unable to help but curl his lips into a smile, but then he said, "Go on, remember to stop by the gun shop on the way and buy some weaponry and gear, make yourself look professional.
I'll give you 10,000 Euros first, and then I'll deduct the amount I fronted from your payments.
My suggestion is to find the Old Captain as soon as possible, he knows other familiar mercenaries as well, and if you go late, the best vehicles might be picked by other mercenaries."
"Damn, Mercer... you..."
Rebecca was speechless and could only give Mercer a thumbs-up, her eyes almost shooting little stars: "Mercer! I love you!"
"Ha, alright, off you go, I'm hanging up now, contact me if you need anything."
Mercer hung up the phone and removed the mask from his face.
In the short term, he decided to maintain a bit of mystery—once everyone got more familiar, he'd take it off for a little surprise.
At this moment, Lucy, who had been watching him finish his call, looked at him with a slightly resentful gaze: "So, my data really can't be changed?"
"No, repeatedly altering the data, what if someone discovers it? I still have a virus program left there that's useful, it can't be discovered."
Mercer looked at her with a cheeky smile.
"So you just openly changed your own identity record's age to eighteen? Look at your face, Mercer, does it look like you're eighteen?"
Lucy said indignantly.
"Didn't you set your own age in the Night City records to sixteen? Neither of us should say anything about the other! You said you wanted to fill it out yourself, no regrets once it's done!"
Mercer laughed heartily, while Lucy sulked.
Yes, from today onwards, Mercer was a legal eighteen-year-old citizen of Night City.
Born in Santo Domingo, orphaned at a young age, with no educational background and no tax records—a typical Santo Domingo orphan's resume.
Mercer's information wasn't written carelessly, including the birth address, and the identity of his parents; he meticulously selected these difficult-to-verify details.
The parents were immigrants who had been confirmed dead by the NCPD a decade ago, and they indeed had a biological son.
But that eight-year-old child, after his parents died, was quickly declared 'missing.'
In all likelihood, that child had long since died, and in Night City, when you go missing, it's as good as saying you've lost even your body, probably turned into a pile of parts.
What Mercer did was use his new name to replace the missing child's identity records, whose father was from Texas and mother was from the East.
Lucy and their records were similarly chosen, just like there's an abundance of orphans declared missing in Night City.
It's just that...
Lucy, although she had a little intention to 'age up,' only dared to secretly set herself to sixteen.
While Mercer was much bolder.
If he said he was eighteen, then eighteen it was.
This was exactly the reason for Lucy's frustration—she thought she could openly claim to be Mercer's 'big sister' in the future.
The result now was truly set in stone that she was the little sister.
What's more... if she had known she could do this, she would have set herself to eighteen too, so Mercer couldn't use 'she's still a minor' to fool her.
Mercer hummed a tune, picked up the car keys: "Off I go, I've got to apply for a new account at the European Community bank, and then I can also open a virtual wallet for myself, so we can save and spend money openly in the future.
The European Community doesn't buy into that Arasaka Military Science stuff, even if we blow up Arasaka, they won't take a penny from our bank accounts."
Lucy was still sulking, only responding with an "Oh": "Can't you just do it online? Do you really need to go in person?"
"Don't you want to move to our new home?"
Mercer smiled, turning his head to look at her.
Lucy perked up: "You've found a good place?"
"Nope~ But I thought, renting a place, for Mr. Hans from Taiping Prefecture, it's just a trivial matter."
After Mercer finished speaking, Lucy looked worried: "You're saying let him find us one? Didn't you think he was unreliable?"
"It's very dangerous, danger and unreliability are two different concepts."
Mercer paused for a moment, then said: "But we have no choice, Dog Town is only so big, no matter where we rent, we can't hide from those who have an eye on us.
We're not looking for a shabby place just to sleep, but rather a concealed and secure squad base.
We have to go in and out of checkpoints controlled by the Netherworld Dog, and the vehicles we purchase for equipment transportation are also hard to keep out of everyone's sight.
Not to mention we plan to transform it into a production base to do some money-making business...
Such a big move, you simply can't hide it from someone who's keen on finding out about you.
So, to mix in Dog Town, we need to pick a side.
Either it's Dog Town's boss, Colonel Hanssen, or it's the middleman, Mr. Hans, who's ambitious and trying to take root in Dog Town."
Lucy asked curiously: "Why not choose Hansen? He's the one controlling Dog Town right now, if we really have to choose a backer, shouldn't we pick the stronger one?"