Venus, execute the program!
Mercer granted Venus a chance for live combat, and it immediately began using the rapid cracking stored in Mercer's access vault to hack into the enemy.
All the while, Mercer just provided it with as much computing power as possible.
In 0.5 seconds, electric sparks exploded over the heads of four members of the Vortex Gang, and then, the remaining three also had programs planted in their heads.
First to load was the fastest 'Sound Wave Shock', causing the Vortex Gang to be overwhelmed by a sudden, booming noise at their ears, leaving their minds buzzing and losing control of their prosthetics for a brief moment.
Next came Synaptic Fusion, forcing their brain-computer interfaces to overclock, with current burning through their brains, making some instinctively open their mouths in a silent scream.
But what followed was a Memory Erasure, akin to the dizzying feeling after taking a heavy blow, leaving their minds blank for an instant, during which they lost their final instinct to call for help.
Only one, equipped with a professional ICE, resisted for a moment longer, letting out a pitiful scream.
Mercer clicked his tongue, stepped forward, and leaped with effort, his eyes meeting with a Vortex Gang member about to see what was happening outside, through the security room window on the second floor. Instantly, the guy's head burst into flames, electric sparks flying.
The distance was too great, and the equipment inside was too numerous, causing Mercer's prosthetic eye's scanned signals to ghost. He had no choice but to rely on direct eye contact to precisely capture the signal on the other side before hacking in.
"Done?" Rebecca steadied Mercer as he landed and swayed slightly, the blue light from his prosthetic eye dissipating.
Mercer nodded: "I hope I didn't let the security room trigger the alarm..."
As expected, live combat is needed to discover problems.
Instantly killing the enemy, and preventing them from even making a sound before dying, are two entirely different levels of difficulty.
Especially since Mercer still had to rely on software hacking, and no matter how fast program loading was, it still required time.
If these people were all equipped with professional ICE, in terms of corporate resources, it was nearly impossible for Mercer to resolve their brains without a scream at the same time.
Mercer could only send 4-7 programs simultaneously, using all the RAM in the Network Access Vault, with the exact number depending on the memory occupied during program execution.
This was unchangeable, even with his strong intellect, as humans can't directly run programs in their brains without an intermediary.
Moreover, if you want to use the opponent's brain-computer interface to fry their brain, you must first run the program from within their brain-computer, and program execution takes time—neither roaming AI nor even the Black Wall AI can solve this problem.
[Venus: Sorry, I couldn't perfectly complete the task assigned to me.]
[Mercer: It's not your fault, this is the limitation of hacking techniques.]
[Venus: Very sorry.]
[Mercer: Next time I'll try to give you more computing power, I might have set the limits too low for us this time.]
Mercer didn't blame Venus; it executed the program with high precision, barely wasting any of Mercer's computing power, but the real-time response was still somewhat limited by technical reserves.
The few decryption techniques kept revolving around, essentially not escaping Mercer's rapid cracking framework, unable to flexibly adjust to each individual's ICE like Mercer could.
Perhaps it's time to hand over some core program code from Bartmos's 'Desire for Death' to it.
"Seems quiet."
V kept watch for a while, not hearing any alarms or footsteps, finally relaxing.
Meanwhile, Rebecca was still holding Mercer, looking at him worriedly: "Are you sure you're okay? It's been a while, and the cooling noise hasn't completely gone down yet."
"Not a big issue, if it's like the situation just now, I can hang on for about seven to eight seconds before needing a break,"
Mercer said.
Seeing him stand up straight, seemingly unaffected much, Rebecca let go: "Where to next?"
"I'll connect in first and see. If we're lucky, this security room might connect directly to their internal server, clarifying our next target."
Mercer said, passing through the still-operating machine room, glancing at the Vortex Gang corpses with burning heads, and shook his head involuntarily.
From the burn marks, it's clear that what burned were mostly non-biological structures—a pile of chaotic mechanical constructs. These people had even turned their mouths and throats to machinery. Speaking, for them, might be synthesized voice.
Above the nose, everything was styled with Vortex Gang's signature big red eyes—they loved to replace their faces with a cluster of red eyes, looking like a human head stuffed with a bunch of cameras.
No wonder in the Vortex Gang's exclusive club 'Dance of Death', their most famous cocktail 'Doomsday' includes bizarre ingredients like roach killer spray, antifreeze, and human blood.
Only these mechanical maniacs wouldn't drop dead immediately after drinking something like that.
"Compared to them, my level of augmentation is really entry-level..."
Mercer sighed, while Rebecca glanced disdainfully at that gang: "Don't try to imitate them, it's hideous."
"I agree on that... at least I should look like a person, right? Look at this lunatic, he added two auxiliary wheels under his legs... truly insane."