"What's the matter? Anyway, I can change my household information whenever I want."
Mercer said, and the two of them started playfully wrestling on the bed until she gasped for breath while surrendering by wrapping her arms around his neck: "I give up! Seriously, why don't you bully Rebecca like this? Stop tickling me!"
"She's strong." Mercer sighed, complaining, "I've been thinking about dismantling the Single Molecule Line and replacing it with Gorilla Arm for a while now."
Lucy huffed softly, "So you can only bully me, huh?"
She somewhat regretted mentioning Rebecca—she didn't want to talk about other girls during their rare time alone together.
Mercer simply held her tightly, blowing in her ear, "I've never bullied you... this is just the beginning~"
"Alright! Stop!" Lucy couldn't take it, shrinking her neck, but her face still showed a happy smile: "If you keep this up, I won't let you leave tonight..."
"Hmm? I wasn't planning on leaving anyway." Mercer looked at her with some surprise.
Lucy huffed softly, turning away, not looking at him: "Really? I thought I saw Qiwei winking at you just now..."
"You observed quite keenly... didn't you see me shaking my head?" Mercer laughed, hugging her tight, pulling up the blanket, wrapping them both together.
Lucy, a bit surprised, turned her head slightly: "Really not leaving?"
"No." Mercer smiled contentedly, holding her in his arms, "It's Christmas after all... spending it with you."
Lucy remained silent, her back facing him, and after a long pause, she whispered: "Time indeed flies. Last Christmas, we were still in Adcardo."
"But whether it's Adcardo or here, haven't I always been by your side?" Mercer recalled that day last Christmas when everyone got drunk at the camp, and Rebecca almost pinned him down by the bonfire...
Man, thinking about it still feels a bit odd.
However, Mercer remembered clearly, last Christmas, he held Lucy like this, wished each other merry Christmas, and fell asleep in each other's arms—perhaps feeling a bit sorry for Rebecca, but, Mercer had already decided back then.
From now on, he wanted to spend every Christmas with Lucy.
This girl, who seemed strong but was actually fragile, lacking a sense of security.
Don't be fooled by her tough talk, but if you leave her alone in the room on Christmas, chances are she'll shed little pearls due to loneliness.
Lucy didn't speak, but after a while, just like last Christmas, she softly said to him: "...Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas." Mercer smiled, closed his eyes, laid his face on her neck, inhaling her scent, and almost instantly fell asleep.
And after a while, Lucy carefully turned around, seeing him sleeping soundly, carefree, she couldn't help but sigh helplessly.
Last Christmas was in Adcardo, this Christmas in Dog Town, where would everyone be next Christmas?
Lucy let her thoughts wander, not knowing how long it took before she fell into a deep sleep, and when she woke up, the pillow beside her was already empty.
The dress had somehow been delivered and was sitting on the table in her room, and it was already noon.
She rubbed her eyes, washed up, and as usual, began to prioritize confirming Mercer's whereabouts.
The lab... empty, the workshop... empty, not in the living room either, she took the elevator downstairs, and finally found him in the server room, pretending she was just working as usual, opening her laptop.
"What are you busy with? You've rarely come here lately."
Mercer didn't even look up, frowning slightly, and said, "Nothing... Venus said it detected some anomalies, but couldn't confirm..."
"The ctOS System can't figure it out either?" Lucy was a bit shocked.
Mercer just shook his head, looking seriously at the screen, saying, "Can't confirm the specifics... the other party might already be aware of our capability to comprehensively monitor Night City, so they're being cautious. Venus only caught some faint traces."
He furrowed his brows, switching screens rapidly, discussing the situation with Venus in his mind, but couldn't figure things out.
Such situations were rare, as the current ctOS System had almost completely permeated the entire Night City. From cameras in roadside shops, even some people's prosthetic eyes, car surveillance footage, countless mails, and chat groups...
All this data is strictly monitored by Venus.
Generally, if Mercer wanted to know something, even the current mayor of Night City couldn't hide any secrets from him.
Yet all of this seemed ineffective against Takemura Goro, a senior agent of Arasaka, and his subordinates.
Venus had been focusing on these targets for a long time, but to this day, it had only seen these guys at a few Japanese restaurants and on paths in and out of the company.
Today, not even a trace of them heading to work was seen, as if these senior agents had not left the Ganbi Building since returning for a rest.
Venus issued an alert because since last night, surveillance cameras and security systems of both Arasaka and Night City Hall suddenly initiated an emergency update and repair.
This update affected a wide range of areas, including city cameras, the transport system, Arasaka's internal servers, and even the City Hall's server went through a rare downtime update.
Suddenly, a large part of the ctOS System's monitoring went dark.
For such a thing to happen at such a time.
Mercer had to prepare for the worst.
And the official update announcement made his heart skip a beat—because Arasaka's server update maintenance was Arasaka's own decision.
But the City Hall announcement clearly stated that 'Ye Corporation is conducting a comprehensive update of the city service system, estimated update time 6 hours...'
Why would Ye Corporation get involved in these matters at this time?
Coincidence?
On the very day he was attending the award ceremony?
Mercer's mind was on high alert, even contemplating canceling his attendance at the banquet—but obviously, Hansen, who had invited almost all the city's celebrities, made preparations early, and even invited TV reporters, wouldn't agree with his idea.
"I have to dive in deep and quickly work on the emergency update for the ctOS System, we can't fight this without preparation." Mercer said, then immediately lay down on the hacker's chair.
But before connecting, Lucy pulled his hand with a serious expression: "What if it's a trap? It's too strange, Mercer, don't go!"
Mercer was silent for a moment, furrowed his brow, and clicked his tongue: "Venus, you're up."
"Understood." Venus's voice was gentle: "No need to worry, leave it to me."
The server room started to buzz, cooling was activated, and Venus quickly entered working mode.
But just a few minutes later, Venus suddenly jumped back from another IP, even switching to local network mode: "It's a trap."
"You can't handle it!?" Mercer asked, astonished and uncertain.
Venus, in a rare serious tone, replied: "I saw traces of a similar kind."
"Traces of a similar kind!?" Lucy exclaimed, "You mean... a rogue AI!?"