"Hmm, typical second-hand stuff might just cost tens of thousands, but this one's indeed a bit pricey."
After Old Wei finished speaking, V couldn't help but glance at Mercer: "Is he always this nice?"
"I thought you knew him better than I do."
Victor picked up the tablet and started setting up the program: "Alright, I need to take out your Pain Editor first, then replace it with the Brain-Computer Interface and Prosthetic Eye, and finally install the Sianwistan, inject the cell adapter; the surgery will take an entire afternoon."
"Got it."
V was a bit nervous, not because of the surgery itself, but just thinking about becoming one of those tough street women capable of running the Sianwistan made her a bit impatient.
However, before the surgery, Old Wei suddenly spoke to V in a slightly teasing tone: "The Sianwistan's fine, you just need it on your back, but for the cell adapter, you'll need to strip down for full-body injection...
Why don't you have Mercer do it? It's the simplest surgery; I'm sure he learned it at Arasaka—I could just head over to Misty's for a bit."
Mercer lifted his head with a baffled look, piecing together Old Wei's implication. A bit awkwardly, he scratched his mask and nodded, not sure why: "I don't mind... think of it as practice."
V suddenly turned beet red: "Old Wei! It's not like that between us... Mercer!"
"Then you choose who you want to do the full-body surgery?" Mercer righteously passed the decision over to her.
Old Wei found it amusing, watching the two young people act all coy...
He was actually just joking, never expecting V to turn red, and Mercer seemed a bit interested too.
Now, it looked like he really had to give up the operating table.
V was momentarily speechless, face flushed red. She really didn't have that kind of interest in Mercer...
Not that it was completely absent; she thought Mercer was a pretty decent guy, but perhaps just a faint fondness at most.
Who would like a short guy wearing a mask?
V thought she certainly wouldn't.
Kidding, the kind of guy she liked had to be muscular, handsome, and reliable... unlike Mercer, who liked saving pretty girls like some old pervert...
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Just... uh, V glanced at Old Wei, and then at Mercer.
Since it's just a surgery… rather than having the old man do it, might as well let Mercer handle it.
Though ideally one shouldn't have to worry about the doctor during surgery, if given a choice, she'd pick Mercer.
"Can you actually do it? Don't mess up and leave me a laughing stock on the operating table," V mumbled quietly.
Mercer replied seriously: "Performing surgery for subcutaneous Nanomaterial Armor isn't hard, as long as the nanobots are precisely injected under your skin, just seven or eight shots all over and it's done.
The rest is just monitoring to ensure the bots spread evenly, with minor guidance from surgical tools if necessary.
Relax, this kind of surgery was considered basic in the courses I took."
Mercer had to admit, thinking thoroughly, he didn't like the idea of V being seen by someone else, even if they were a doctor...
How to put it, a virtual wife is still a wife... he had to admit, he had a bit of a soft spot for V. Whether in the game or reality, this bold and beautiful chick was indeed appealing.
If there was no choice, then so be it, but it just so happened he could perform the surgery...
So why not do it himself?
Building up some experience for the future, in case he needed to operate on Lucy...
Qiwei on the side displayed a complex expression, starting to believe V's nonsense—was this guy really not just being nice to them because they were pretty?
"Ahem, I really just want some practice." Mercer's excuse made Old Wei and Qiwei burst into laughter.
V turned her head away, eyes darting around: "Fine, you do it... but you better be professional, no touching inappropriately...
I'm letting you gain experience with good intentions...
Yet if I wake up feeling something was off, I'll definitely flip out. The women from Haywood aren't ones to mess with."
Mercer exchanged a glance with Qiwei, feeling awkward under her complex gaze, but thought it over and spoke confidently:
"What do you take me for? My goal is to accumulate experience so that in the future, under better conditions, we can all have our surgeries carried out by our own people.
V, I'm a man with principles!"
"Mainly gaining experience for performing surgeries on girls... right? If it was Pira, you'd probably not even touch him," Qiwei remarked with a meaningful tone.
"Surgical matters should not be viewed so crudely!" Mercer declared righteously.
Victor teased in a humorous tone: "Is that so? Then I should keep an eye out."
"Geez, Old Wei, why are you jumping in too... good deeds don't pay off," Mercer grumbled.
V rolled her eyes, made up her mind, and decided Mercer should do the injection surgery: "Do I need to change into a surgical gown?"
"Yeah, go ahead and change in the restroom; come back once you've changed."
V got up, carrying the surgical gown to change into; when she returned, she saw Mercer engrossed again with tinkering on the Network Access Vault.
Her mind was a bit chaotic, not quite understanding how a straightforward surgery became troublesome—ever since Old Wei's remark, her mind was fixated on—being fully seen by Mercer.