Mercer didn't know which rogue AI was bothering him again or what the purpose of this was, but... fuck it, whatever the reason, go talk to my Desire for Death!
For the first time, he issued a directive to Venus full of murderous intent—find that AI that's bothering him, capture if possible, and if not, kill it!
Mercer had no time to rest, he quickly tidied his hair using the Octopus Arm, and then removed it, changing into the suit Lucy picked for him, walking out to the living room with a smile.
"Yo, MANO, wearing a suit, looks quite stylish!" Jack greeted Mercer cheerfully from the living room.
At this moment, everyone seemed as usual—even though they all knew something might happen, no one showed a trace of abnormality.
Mercer smiled and showed off: "Not bad, right? Do you know how much this suit cost? 23,000 Euros! Ha, consider me living large!"
"What about Lucy's outfit?" Rebecca was already armored, arms folded in front while manually loading bullets into her arm-mounted heavy machine gun, opening her helmet to look at him.
"Uh, women's clothes are more expensive, I remember it's 47,000 Euros." Mercer finished and shrugged: "Actually, it's not expensive for evening wear; in that store, each so-called master's creation costs tens or hundreds of thousands of Euros.
There's also jewelry rental, asking if I want to rent some for Lucy—damn it, each piece costs tens or hundreds of thousands of Euros... women's money is really easy to earn."
Rebecca snorted: "Tens of Thousands of Euros..."
"Your armor costs tens of thousands of Euros, what's there to compare." Mercer rolled his eyes and playfully patted her helmet: "It's all DIY by me."
Rebecca sighed, lightly elbowed him: "Hey, I heard you got a warning and went to the engine room early in the morning, what happened?"
After she asked, the relaxed expressions on the others disappeared, all turned towards Mercer.
Mercer merely spread his hands: "Arasaka made a move, in short, you just do what you always do, keep me safe, keep yourselves safe, respond accordingly."
"Alright then..." Rebecca could only nod, worried yet unable to show it.
V was also armored, sprawled out on the sofa watching TV casually: "Ah, it's fine, Mercer surely knows himself, instead of worrying about anything... why is the TV lagging! Is there a network problem?"
"I asked Venus to start a fight online, the whole Night City's network is fluctuating now."
Mercer said, then V turned to him, clicked his tongue: "You really aren't afraid of Internet Supervision."
"If they come, I'll first report the other side started it." Mercer said irritatedly: "Alright, stop watching, let's pack up, we need to go."
"What else do we need to pack, go check if your date is ready." V glanced at him, seemingly just mentioning casually: "You look pretty good in a suit, finally have a bit of manliness."
"Ha, getting a compliment from you doesn't come easy." Mercer said peevedly, what did he mean by finally have a bit of manliness?
After joking around with everyone as usual in the living room, Lucy came in a bit awkwardly from the corridor, already changed into her attire.
As soon as she came in, Pira exaggeratedly whistled: "Whoa~ where'd this big star come from?"
"Hmm, it's quite pretty..." even Rebecca had to admit, changed into evening attire, carefully styled hair, and with refined makeup, Lucy indeed looked stunning.
Lucy shyly reached to tuck her short hair, her cheeks blushing, revealing a slight smile: "Seems like I did pick well?"
Her slender figure wrapped in a blue gown, reflecting little starlight like crushed diamonds under the light, blue fur on her shoulders adding a touch of elegance and concealing her fair back and arms.
The blue fur contrasted with her fair skin, beneath her iridescent short hair, refined makeup gave her a mature elegance that Mercer couldn't help but admire:
"Really beautiful, prettier than those models and stars on TV."
Lucy curled her lips, spun around with a light laugh, then gave him a bright smile: "I told you my pick wouldn't be wrong...your suit looks great too."
"Just the clothes?" Mercer chuckled, also flicking his hair, styled to slick back along with his suit, making him look more mature.
Lucy then deliberately acted reluctantly: "Fine, today you look quite handsome too."
"Alright, alright... When are we leaving?" Rebecca hurriedly interrupted the two's flirting—what are they doing? I'm still here!
Mercer checked the time then directly said: "Now."
"Now? It's only 4:30 PM." Rebecca was a bit surprised.
But Mercer directly replied: "We have to go check Gem Cyan's security facilities, be prepared for any contingency."
Sasha stretched, saying enviously: "I heard you all have a star performance to watch tonight! Remember to record Mewtwo or something for me to see!"
"Sure, no problem."
Mercer agreed outright, and after everyone packed their gear and was ready to go, he seriously instructed Qiwei and the others: "We're leaving, you all be careful, if anything happens, remember, safety first."
Seeing Qiwei and others nod seriously in agreement, Mercer turned to extend his hand to Lucy, smiling.
Lucy hesitated not, placing her hand on it, linking arms with him and stepping forward.
V and Rebecca exchanged a glance, Rebecca fiercely showed her middle finger to V, who had a mocking watching expression.
Then she put on her helmet, huffed, hugged her gun, carried a suitcase with Mercer's Octopus Arm and weapons, and followed behind Mercer.
The others also packed weapons and gear, boarded the vehicles, heading to Gem Cyan Hotel.
As the convoy left the base, driving towards Gem Cyan Hotel.
In a rundown building near Mercer's base, a man's figure blurred in the air, watching the departing convoy, reporting coldly in Japanese.
"Target has departed."
The response he got was only a simple line in Japanese.
[Takemura Goro: Understood, proceed as planned.]
The cold wind blew past, the shadow at the window of the rundown building vanished like a bubble.