"When I'm really not worried about you caring anymore, you'll think differently." He laughed.
"Is that so?" Lucy tilted her head, looked at him, and suddenly smiled, "When are you planning to inject me with the Nanomaterial Armor?"
"... Ask Old Wei when he's free, we'll go alone." Mercer chuckled.
"Alright, let me know in advance, I'll take a bath." She spoke casually, but her face turned red.
After a moment of eye contact, Mercer shifted his gaze: "I don't think it's necessary, when I'm operating, I have no emotions, just a cold surgical machine."
"Really? I don't believe you." She smiled, propping her cheek with her hand, her iridescent eyes sparkling: "But... never mind."
Mercer didn't ask what she originally wanted to say.
Upon arriving at the campsite, after getting out of the car, she put her hands behind her back and walked slowly with Mercer, softly saying, "With the new base set up, we'll probably have to live separately, right?"
"Yeah, why, got used to staying with me?" Mercer looked at her with a smiling face.
Lucy just looked at him, leaning slightly forward, her hands still behind her back, just bringing her face closer: "Yeah, most importantly... if you're not around, I don't want to deep dive."
"By then, there will be a dedicated hacker room, next to the server, we'll concentrate our deep dives together, looking after each other."
Mercer didn't respond.
"I see..." Lucy tilted her head: "But what if I don't want to use the hacker chair, and prefer one of those ice-packed deep dive capsules? It would still be placed there... for everyone to see?"
She smiled mischievously, seeing Mercer momentarily speechless and satisfied, she curled her lips: "But if you're by my side, I could reluctantly use the hacker chair."
"... Tsk." Mercer felt she had gotten the upper hand and quickened his pace: "Even Kyoko isn't afraid of using the hacker chair again, you're too timid."
"Ha~" She laughed lightly, didn't respond, just quickened her steps, moving with grace.
Laughing and joking like this, they returned to the tent at the campsite, where Mercer continued his deep diving to work on the program research she couldn't understand, while she sat quietly beside him, assembling program chips with a borrowed chip toolkit and her laptop.
Sometimes, Lucy really wished time would just stop here.
Even though the tent was small, the mattress was hard, and the workbench was just a pile of patched-up boxes.
No matter when, the distance to him was just a turn away - even when sleeping, she could fall asleep to the sound of his breathing.
But Lucy quickly changed her mind.
It was better for time to pass a little faster.
When her figure becomes tall and elegant, allowing her to openly nestle close to him like Rebecca, watching him blush and his heart race...
Tsk.
Thinking of Rebecca's shamelessly snuggling up close to him, Lucy suddenly stopped her actions, sighed quietly, and turned her head to watch his tranquil face during deep diving.
The competition is fierce...
...
"Help you contact the Red Ochre people?" Sol turned his head to look at Mercer, somewhat surprised.
The next morning, Mercer found Sol and brought up the matter of the Red Ocher Tribe.
Mercer was a bit surprised too; he thought with Pan'an's personality, she would've long told Sol about the Red Ochre affair, but now it seems, Pan'an kept the secret quite well for him.
Or rather, she still trusted him, knowing he would certainly inform the Red Ocher Tribe about the poisoning as soon as possible.
"Yes, we previously took on a job related to biotechnology, learning some rather unpleasant insider information."
Mercer paused, then said very seriously: "The biotech people bribed Red Ochre's 'Red Hand' to poison their water source."
"Are you sure!?" Sol's expression instantly turned very serious, and with unconcealed anger, he said: "Poisoning the water source? These corporate dogs really can think of anything so heinous!"
"It's probably a land dispute. Biotechnology wants to reclaim the land currently being farmed by Red Ochre, and the Red Ochre people definitely aren't willing... Such despicable tactics seem to be a traditional skill of biotechnology companies."
After Mercer finished, Sol immediately asked, "Do you have evidence?"
"There's a video, but I don't think it's actually needed — Red Ochre people must have recently fallen ill, and the reason they haven't noticed any land anomalies is probably because it's not the spring planting season yet.
When they realize something's wrong during spring planting, they'll be in big trouble."
After Mercer finished speaking, Sol nodded knowingly: "Yes, when they've spent most of their savings for spring planting preparations, only to find the seeds don't germinate... Biotechnology damn well deserves it!"
He didn't say more but directly stated: "I'll contact the head of the Red Ocher Tribe now."
Mercer nodded, Sol's prosthetic eye lit up, and he began explaining the situation via a voice call.
After speaking for only a few seconds, the other end hung up, and then Mercer received a contact.
Upon connecting the unknown call, an elderly man with graying hair, looking somewhat aged but with sharp eyes, wearing a Red Ochre necklace, appeared in front of Mercer.
"Hello, Mercer, I'm Derek, the leader of the Red Ocher Tribe."
The elder spoke with a sense of urgency, somewhat akin to Rogue's demeanor. After introducing himself, he paused briefly before continuing:
"I heard from Sol, understood the situation roughly, and heard you have video evidence. I wonder if you could let me see it?"