Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 117 Pyrrhic Victory? Crushing Defeat?
V let out a loud shout, and the instant Svensstein accelerated, he had already jumped out of the driver's seat. Flames erupted from the back of his armor, but just as he took off, a burst of blood appeared on his shoulder.

Half of her shoulder was almost blown off, and she was sent flying backward. If she hadn't seen the trajectory of the bullet while in the air and dodged in time, that shot would have killed her!

This anti-material electromagnetic sniper rifle could even be called an electromagnetic cannon. If she hadn't been wearing armor, nano armor, and a nano combat suit that absorbed most of the impact in time, half of her upper body would probably have been turned into bloody foam by now!
She didn't cry out in pain or hesitate. The mantis blades on her arms shot out and, the instant they landed, slashed fiercely at the air beside her.

A streak of blood appeared in the air, followed by a somewhat astonished Arasaka agent. The corpse, its head severed, was cut in two by her blade. The optical camouflage distorted in the air, outlining a body split in two.

"11 o'clock, sniper, seventh floor!"

The AI's voice prompt for V's armored 'Falcon' came through the squad voice chat.

"Where are our reconnaissance drones? Where are our cameras? Why didn't anyone discover the ambush?"

"It's optical camouflage! Many of them are wearing optical camouflage! Damn it, our communications are jammed too!"

Several ghostly hounds barked and quickly assessed the situation.

Mercer, however, was oblivious to all of this, because the RPG in the sky was aimed directly at his vehicle.

The armored vehicle was hit on the side by a rocket-propelled grenade—to be precise, it hit Rebecca.

She was equally fast. With the speed boost from the Berserk System and the armor, she managed to open the car door and rush in front of the rocket, taking the brunt of a missile for Mercer's vehicle!
Furthermore, the miniature missile launchers on the back were activated simultaneously, with half of them firing at the sniper's location and the other half at the location of the incoming RPG.

"Rebecca!" Mercer's head was buzzing from the shockwave, but he still hurriedly shouted to check on Rebecca's condition.

Rebecca was blasted into an armored vehicle by the shell, the impact almost causing the vehicle to overturn, but she simply lowered her arm and gave a thumbs up: "I'm fine!"

Mercer quickly reached out and pulled Lucy, who was in the passenger seat, to climb into the back seat.

Rebecca, propelled by the engine behind her, raised her arms and shouted as she fired at the flashes of gunfire around her.

Mercer's expression was extremely serious: "Watch out for high-level agents!"

“Seanwistan!” Mann in the front seat had already issued a warning.

Even faster than his warning was V, wielding his mantis blade and charging forward like a phantom.

Three high-ranking agents with S.A.S ...

But Jack and Mann were not without a chance to fight back. The Berserk System was slower, but that did not mean that the agents could push S.A.W.S ...

In an instant, gunfire erupted. Mercer instinctively activated the network access bay, but then felt as if his head had been struck by lightning. He let out a muffled sound as chaotic signal waves flooded into his mind, as if a thousand birds were chirping wildly inside.

Lucy did the same. After forcing a cry of pain, she picked up the box containing Mercer's octopus arm and guns that Rebecca had casually tossed into the car.

"It's a large-scale electronic warfare device!"

Lucy warned him, but Mercer didn't care anymore. He casually took off his suit and threw it aside, then roughly tore open his shirt to expose his back for ventilation.

A loud buzzing sound followed—data flashed before Mercer's eyes, and he was completely absorbed in electronic warfare.

“Don’t worry, I can handle it!” Mercer said, quickly starting to hack into the electronic countermeasures equipment, and making rapid progress.

As usual, as long as he can hold out and maintain the security of the squad's local area network, he can then hack into the enemy. V, Rebecca, and the others only need to stall until he finishes hacking before they can start cleaning up the battlefield.

However, before he could deal with the large electronic countermeasures device in the distance, a huge EMP shockwave followed and exploded in his path.

This attack was indiscriminate, affecting both friend and foe. Even Arasaka's own senior agents were forced to kneel on one knee, convulsing and unable to move. Sparks flew from everyone's cybernetic bodies, and Mercer's hacker cybernetic body even made a few buzzing explosions before emitting black smoke.

Nothing is more deadly than being hit by an EMP during a full-power battle! He felt like his network access pod had been blown to pieces, not to mention his sophisticated hacker prosthetic body.

"Grass"

This is a trap set for Mercer!

Mercer struggled to hold Lucy, whose head was crackling with electricity, beneath him. She was now unable to move and could only barely keep her eyes open, staring at him without moving.

Then he picked up the Zoro shotgun from the safe and took a look at it.

Fortunately, his briefcase was a high-end storage box that could shield various electromagnetic signals, and being inside the carriage was, in a sense, like a Faraday cage, which weakened the pulse to some extent.

This is how the contents of the box were protected from damage.

Mercer didn't hesitate and struggled to get up, while Rebecca, outside the car, became the first person to regain her mobility.

The heavy armor was no mere decoration. When Mercer designed the mech, he couldn't have ignored the defenses against electromagnetic and EMP weapons. After a brief short circuit, the components inside the mech quickly regained their mobility thanks to the shielding layer inside the armor.

Although the system has started to report errors, it still ensures that most functions can still be used normally.

However, Arasaka's real killer move came later.

A dark shadow appeared in the sky.

Rebecca looked up and saw a huge, armored man. Her pupils contracted slightly, and then she let out a fearless roar: "Adam Hammer! You stupid idiot!"

This remark immediately made Adam's hammer, which was in mid-air, realize who his target was—he didn't say anything, but just plummeted from the sky, crashing towards the ground.

Rebecca neither dodged nor evaded, raising both hands. Sparks flew from the machine gun on her right arm, while her left hand was raised, using the small shield on her arm as a shield against the impact.

"Get out of the way!" Mercer shouted instinctively.

In an instant, images he had seen in anime before his transmigration flashed through his mind.

In the scene, Rebecca is shooting into the sky, and then she is crushed into a pulp by a heavy hammer that falls from the sky.

Mercer's heart nearly stopped for a moment—but as Adam's hammer crashed to the ground, Rebecca was only knocked to one knee, and then roared as she smashed Adam's hammer away with her right fist. Mercer's heart finally settled down a little.

"Don't even think about it! Don't touch my people!" Rebecca roared, her engine revving as she charged at full speed toward Adam's hammer.

Adam's Heavy Hammer, which had been smashed away by a punch, merely showed an expression of interest: "It seems you guys have really made quite a few interesting things. But, with something like this, you think you can go toe-to-toe with me?"

Adam Hammer looked at Rebecca, who was speeding towards him, with disdain. Her straight-line speed was indeed impressive, but equipped with the Sinwidman, he was not afraid of this reckless, bull-like opponent at all.

Adam Hammer merely left a blur in the air before coldly raising his left hand and aiming it at Rebecca's head—his weapon was a super shotgun modified by Arasaka using the template of the Comtau Zoe shotgun.

It was filled with fully loaded miniature intelligent missiles. If they were to explode on his head at such close range, even he himself would not be able to withstand it, let alone Rebecca, a human being protected only by a helmet.

Even if they don't die in one blast, they'll definitely be dizzy and unable to fight back.

Seeing that Rebecca was still charging forward, while he had already appeared beside her, calmly raising his shotgun, waiting only to pull the trigger the moment they passed each other, a hint of boredom flashed in Adam Hammer's eyes.

It seems I chose the wrong opponent.

But then, Rebecca suddenly stretched out her left arm, which, like an iron rod falling at lightning speed, struck the back of the hammer's leg the instant the two crossed paths—Rebecca wasn't tall enough to hit his head, so she simply bent down and attacked his knee.

The hammer struck her almost without any reaction, sending her spinning 180 degrees through the air. Although the small shield on Rebecca's left arm was dented and battered from the impact, its edges remained incredibly sharp.

That chop almost severed half of his kneecap. If it weren't for the hammer's extremely quick reaction, using the momentum to make her spin in the air and dissipate the impact, that chop would probably have cut off his leg!

The prosthetic eye of the heavy hammer gleamed with a bloodthirsty light. Instead of becoming angry or serious, it became even more excited: "Interesting."

"V is way faster than you! You big idiot!" Rebecca laughed wildly, then suddenly flew upwards, intending to deliver a spinning aerial attack to the heavy hammer that was stuck in mid-air.

But Chongchui simply braced himself on the ground with one hand, then gracefully did a side somersault to kneel on one knee, and with his raised left arm, he fired a shot without even aiming.

With a single shot from the 'Eight-Star Gun' on his left arm, Rebecca was hit squarely, leaving her no chance to dodge. Although she managed to raise her left arm to protect her head, she managed to retaliate with the heavy machine gun on her right arm.

Heavy Hammer merely covered his face with one hand, making a few insignificant clanging sounds, but instead of giving chase, he turned and headed straight for the armored vehicle in the middle.

He knew exactly what his goal was: to take the people away first, and then have some fun with them—although his superiors had ordered him to leave as many survivors as possible, he didn't care about that.

The thrill of battle is the only meaning of his life.

Mercer, through the car window, could barely make out the speed of the heavy hammer. At that moment, he was trying to stick the still-usable octopus arm, which was preserved in the box, onto his shoulder.

Just when he couldn't plug it in no matter how hard he tried, a fair hand pressed down on his back and firmly pushed the octopus arm into the socket, and the connection was successful.

Lucy gave him a forced smile: "So, the consequence of being too lazy most of the time is that you can't even find the socket when it really matters?"

"Can't you see the smoke coming from my back? I can't even feel my own hands anymore." Mercer returned the smile, and in the blink of an eye, the car door was flung open by a large hand.

Adam Hammer, his half-human, half-machine face that looked more like a mask than a human, stared at Mercer and Lucy, who were embracing each other in the car, and said without emotion, "Looks like my timing wasn't quite right?"

"If you know you're disturbing us, then get lost, okay?" The moment Mercer finished speaking, the octopus arm on his shoulder sprang out like a spring and slammed into Heavy Hammer's face.

Heavy Hammer only had time to slightly turn his head and body to block the attack with his shoulder before being sent flying by the punch.

The unexpected speed and power even momentarily stunned him—where did this weird thing come from?! The speed of this strange arm was faster than his reaction time when he activated Sianwistan?!

Before he could even react, a white ghostly figure appeared beneath him as he flew backwards through the air, and a samurai sword pierced through his chest.

Heavy Hammer looked down and saw that the knife was still trying to tear him in two as it continued to move upwards.

With a blank expression, he gripped the blade with one hand and exerted force. Then, the shoulder cannon on his shoulder automatically rotated 180 degrees and fired with a roar.

V had no choice but to let go of the katana and dodge to the side.

"You should cut off my head." The moment Hammer's words fell, V replied with a cold laugh, "Then guess why I wouldn't?"

In the sky, Rebecca's brightly colored armor fell like a meteor. The Peacekeeper, which Mercer had given her and which she had picked up from somewhere, was now aimed at Hammer's head.

With each pull of the trigger, Rebecca yelled, "He's mine! V, I'm going to kill him with my own hands!"

For the first time, Chongchui's face turned truly ugly—you're actually being modest?

Rebecca's domineering attitude is just asking for trouble!

In fact, V had no intention of giving him a head. The only reason she didn't chop off his head was that her engine was broken. Even if she jumped up, she wouldn't be able to chop off his head when the heavy hammer was sent flying.

The more compressed and precise something is, the easier it is to be destroyed. V's armor, in order to reduce weight, certainly put a lot of effort into protecting against EMP and impact, but those few compression thrusters only had one layer of insulating coating.

The fact that she could still move in the face of such a super EMP that almost wiped out an entire convoy is already a testament to Mercer's skill.

The dragon breath bullets spewed by Rebecca's Peacekeeper forced Hammer to cover his head with his arms, as each bullet ignited a fire.

The flames not only forced the heavy hammer to protect its head, but also subjected it to the visual impact of the flames.

V wanted to help, but then two more Arasaka agents equipped with S.A.S ...

At this moment, gunfire could be heard everywhere around the battlefield. The soldiers of the Ghost Hound and Jackman and others were not idle either. More than 20 elite agents from Arasaka rushed out from the surrounding abandoned buildings, including many high-level combatants equipped with advanced cybernetic bodies such as the Berserk System.

They were already stretched thin dealing with these elite agents after the EMP attack, and the Ghost Hound soldiers were losing their lives almost every few seconds.

But Mercer remained in the car, suppressing his impulse, and did not immediately go out to help.

Where did Zhucun go?
Mercer had only one question on his mind.

His prosthetic eye was also damaged by the EMP, making his vision very blurry. In fact, at this moment, the enemy's electronic countermeasures equipment was still in use.

Electromagnetic interference disrupted the signal, causing Mercer to completely lose support from the Morning Star.

At this moment, Mercer's mind was racing, his eyes scanning the surroundings, searching for the possible direction of Takemura from the battlefield situation.

If he were Takemura, where would he appear from and start his attack?
He spent three seconds observing the battlefield, two seconds analyzing it, and then, at the sixth second, Mercer raised his Zoro shotgun and used his octopus-like arms to drag himself out of the car.

With only half his body exposed, he suddenly raised his shotgun to the right rear of his vehicle and, facing the empty streets and buildings, abruptly pulled the trigger.

After all the smart bullets were connected, Mercer evenly planned their automatic flight paths, and the bullets flew out into the distance like raindrops.

After three shots were fired in quick succession, several sparks suddenly lit up the air.

Goro Takemura's figure twisted and emerged from the air, his expression showing a hint of surprise, but this did not stop him from slicing the oncoming marbles with just a katana.

The other bullets that landed on non-vital areas of his body simply bounced off.

Without further ado, Takemura and Heavy Hammer's personalities are almost two extremes. Takemura held a knife in one hand and raised a pistol in the other, aiming at Mercer's location, and then pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Mercer neither dodged nor avoided the attack. He lost the network access bay, and even his synaptic accelerometer suffered a short circuit due to being hit by an EMP during electronic warfare.

But when he was focused on facing the enemy, his rapidly working brain still managed to vaguely see the trajectory of the bullet simply by overclocking his brain.

The octopus-like arm suddenly extended, deflecting several bullets heading towards his head. Then Mercer raised the Zoe shotgun and pulled the trigger, aiming it at Takemura's head.

Takemura's figure disappeared like a phantom, but the smart bullets relentlessly pursued him. However, Takemura remained calm and made two Z-shaped movements, causing the smart bullets to fall into thin air.

The angle at which a smart bullet can be tracked in the air is limited.

Then, without hesitation, Takemura charged at Mercer with a pistol and a hand knife.

If Takemura in the game is simply a highly skilled fighter who, after having his cybernetic abilities stripped away, can only rely on his physical body to fight, then...

So, Takemura now is a cold-blooded, ruthless high-tech killer whose entire body is cybernetically enhanced to its limit.

A burst of EMP electromagnetic shockwave suddenly erupted from his body—although not as powerful as the EMP that attacked the convoy earlier, the EMP that exploded at such close range was still extremely deadly to the enemy's cybernetic body.

Mercer's octopus arm twitched, and even his brain-computer interface sparked with electricity. Without hesitation, Takemura seized the opportunity, activated Sianwistan, and charged towards Mercer.

For Takemura, capturing Mercer would mean victory in the battle.

He reached out and grabbed Mercer, whose body was half outside the car and who was about to fall to the ground because of the loss of control of his octopus arm.

But what greeted him was a thin, black and red line.

Takemura stopped immediately. The sudden stop at such a high speed made his expression turn somewhat gritted, but fortunately he managed to stop in time. The flying thread brushed past him, only grazing the tip of his nose.

A slight pain immediately shot through his nose, and Takemura narrowed his eyes—a monomolecular line!
But as Mercer unleashed his monomolecular beam, he collapsed helplessly to the ground, and Takemura's lips still curved into a triumphant smile.

It was over. Without hesitation, he walked forward, grabbed Mercer with one hand, and immediately retreated.

"Mercer!"

V, who was in the distance, had already taken down two enemies equipped with Sianwistan, but when he turned his head, he saw Takemura grabbing Mercer and let out a cry of surprise.

Rebecca was also distracted and was sent flying by Adam's heavy punch. Adam then began firing the eight-star gun in his left arm.

V was caught in a dilemma for a moment, but instinct drove her to rush towards Adam's Hammer first—no matter how thick the armor was, the impact was real. If Adam's Hammer continued to fire at such close range, Rebecca would likely die inside her own armor.

Adam Hammer grinned, his entire body transforming into a phantom as he collided with V.

After taking only a few steps with Mercer in his arms, Takemura subconsciously turned his head and looked into the car. Lucy was barely able to sit up, her Kenshin pistol aimed at his head.

"Good taste." He praised his opponent's taste in using the Kenshin pistol made by Arakasaka, but unfortunately, this kind of pistol, which is pathetic without charged bullets, poses no threat to him now.

Lucy pulled the trigger several times but missed, while Takemura simply remained expressionless, intending to drag Mercer away at full speed—he had no interest in killing, completing the mission was his only goal.

But just as he dragged the seemingly unconscious Mercer away, Takemura's expression suddenly changed.

Because, in his mind's eye, a line of bright red prompt boxes suddenly appeared.

[Hacked]

The moment that line of text appeared, his ICE started running at full speed, but even his top-of-the-line personal ICE could only last three seconds in the face of this unknown hacking program.

It's his single-molecule-level fast crack! Damn it, even a script-level fast crack can break my own ICE?

In those brief three seconds, countless thoughts raced through Takemura's mind, including the idea of ​​simply killing Mercer. However, the mission's objective—to capture as many prisoners as possible and retrieve the Relic chip—made him restrain his impulse.

"Retreat!" Takemura made the decision immediately, using the precious three seconds to retreat dozens of meters away using the S.A.S ...

An Arasaka agent grabbed his arm and immediately restarted his program.

Once he regained his mobility, Takemura gave Mercer a cold look and said loudly, "Ten days. Hand over the Relic chip and surrender willingly, and we will forgive your past actions in consideration of your abilities."

But if you continue to be so stubborn, next time I won't care about your casualties, Mr. Mercer. For the sake of those around you, surrender as soon as possible.

Then, with some regret, he looked at Rebecca, who had rushed to Mercer's side and assumed a protective stance, before turning and leaving without looking back.

All the Arasaka agents responded to Takemura's decisions like robots; those who could disengage immediately did so, while those who couldn't sacrifice themselves to buy time for their comrades.

The once bustling battlefield was now reduced to just Adam's hammer still locked in a fierce battle with V.

The two fought at lightning speed, moving faster than human reaction time, with clanging sounds ringing out incessantly.

Adam Hammer only clicked his tongue in annoyance when he realized he couldn't take down V in a short time. He looked at Rebecca, who was now re-igniting her engine and charging towards him, and Jack, who was covered in blood but carrying a machine gun, and charged towards him.

Adam Hammer left with only a threatening statement: "We'll meet again."

Then, he suddenly bumped into V, turned around and left.

V wanted to keep him there, but Adam simply fired his eight-star gun casually in the direction Mercer was.

The moment the miniature missile was launched, V had to become a blur, slashing at the missile to save Mercer.

Rebecca also turned and stood in front of Mercer again—and when the missile exploded and the smoke dissipated, Adam's Hammer had turned into a black dot, running at full speed and crashing into an abandoned building.

After smashing a hole in the wall of that small building, they disappeared without a trace.

"Damn it!" V cursed angrily and was about to chase after them again, but Mercer's voice rang out: "Don't chase them."

V then had no choice but to stop in his tracks, filled with resentment.

"Go and turn off the electronic countermeasures device in that building." Mercer propped himself up and sat up, wiping his face. He didn't know where he had accidentally bumped into, as his face was covered in blood.

V glanced at him with concern, but seeing that Rebecca had already walked away, he didn't say anything more. Instead, he went to shut down the electronic countermeasures devices in the building and lifted the ongoing network signal jamming.

Rebecca rushed over, looking him up and down, and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, how about you?" Mercer looked at her cratered armor, reached out and pressed down on her helmet. Sure enough, Rebecca inside the helmet was covered in blood.

To be honest, it's already a bit unbelievable that she can still stand after withstanding a rocket and several micro-missiles.

Armor can withstand an explosion, but the fragile internal organs of a person may not be able to withstand such a large impact. Even though the armor has a cushioning and force-absorbing structure, the impact Rebecca received was still terrifyingly large.

Rebecca finally winced and felt the pain: "It hurts a little."

"It's okay, we'll go to the hospital in a bit." Mercer turned his head and looked at Lucy, who was still lying on the back seat, clutching her head and feeling dizzy and unable to get up. He then looked at Jack and Mann, who were waving to him in the distance to show that everything was alright.

Everyone was injured, but fortunately, none of them suffered any fatal injuries. The most seriously injured was Mann, but he only had an arm and a leg blown off—just an arm and a leg, which is not considered a fatal injury in the cyber world.

At this moment, Dorio was anxiously injecting Mann with a hemostatic agent and bandaging him, but Mann just calmly took out a slightly crumpled cigar, looking completely unperturbed.

Jack was riddled with bullet holes, his clothes were torn to shreds, but he just grinned and gave Mercer a thumbs up, blood still seeping from the multiple bullet wounds on his body.

But he simply leaned against the dilapidated armored vehicle, gave himself a pep talk, and then sat down, panting heavily, trying to calm his breathing.

This is thanks to the fact that each of them has heavy subcutaneous armor and a berserk operating system, which allows them to react and avoid vital points even when facing ordinary firepower, even if they cannot withstand it head-on.

The hounds responsible for protection also played a significant role—they may not have been as well-equipped as the Fire Seed Squad, but they didn't run away when the fighting started, providing crucial fire support.

The concentrated fire suppressed Arasaka's agents, buying precious time for Mercer and his group and delaying the retreat from Takemura.

At this very moment, reinforcements from the Netherhound were also rapidly arriving. While the battle itself may seem complex, it actually lasted only a little over three minutes.

After a large number of Ghosthound soldiers arrived, they immediately began searching the nearby buildings while cursing. At that moment, V turned off his electronic warfare equipment, clutched his shoulder, and walked over.

She was hit in the shoulder by an electromagnetic sniper rifle. If it weren't for the first RPG shot that gave her a warning, this electromagnetic bullet, with a firing rate higher than her reaction time, would have pierced her heart directly.

Even she could only barely dodge vitals when faced with such a terrifying weapon. One can only imagine what would happen if this bullet were to suddenly fly at her without warning.
Mercer glanced at her worriedly a few times, but V just nodded nonchalantly to him to indicate that she was alright, and then said angrily, "These bastards just ran away like that?"

"The explosion was so loud that even if they cut off communications, reinforcements would arrive in three to four minutes at most—they don't want a direct confrontation with the Ghost Hounds, and they're not here to kill anyone."

As Mercer spoke, he coughed twice, feeling a burning sensation in his lungs and a slightly burnt taste in his head.

This isn't an adjective; it means that after his hacker prosthetic body emitted black smoke for a while, the internal circuitry had melted but didn't catch fire, which is enough to show that the design of this thing is quite reliable.

The brain-computer interface also malfunctioned, probably because some of the circuits were damaged by the EMP. Mercer now feels weak all over, and his arms and legs are out of control. The network access pod was also destroyed by the EMP during electronic warfare.

It's fair to say that if Rebecca and V hadn't stopped Adam Hammer and the other agents equipped with S.A.S ...

"Director Mercer, we'll take you to the doctor right now," a ghost hound quickly came over to offer his concern. Mercer hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

He didn't quite trust the doctors in Dogtown, but it wasn't necessarily safe to have the trauma team take them out for treatment.

Takemura and his gang might not hesitate to go to the hospital to continue their attacks, so rather than taking that risk, they might as well get some basic treatment in Dogtown first.

What Mercer needs now is to remove the prosthetics that were damaged by EMP, especially to repair the brain-computer interface. Once he has regained some mobility, he can perform surgery on the team members himself.

Because their signal was jammed by electronic countermeasures equipment, they only just now sent an emergency medical request to the trauma team. Mercer simply chose to suspend the service directly, so the trauma team wouldn't have to make a wasted trip.

The soldiers of the Ghost Hound quickly arranged for a vehicle to take Mercer and the others to the Ghost Hound's prosthetic doctor. They first stopped the bleeding of Mann, who was the most seriously injured, otherwise his severed arms and legs would have caused him to die from massive blood loss in no time.

Mercer's first action was to have the prosthetic doctor give Rebecca a full-body examination. Sure enough, while she appeared to be in good health, she had multiple internal bleeding issues, including severe intracranial hemorrhage.

Mercer immediately had the doctor replace his brain-computer interface, which barely restored his mobility. After receiving multiple injections of stabilizers, he took over the surgical procedure.

Mercer personally performed major surgery on Rebecca, first opening her brain and then her chest, stopping the bleeding and then repairing her. Even for him, it took a full hour and a half to bring Rebecca back from the brink of death.

This shows that the prosthetic doctor was truly rubbish—when Rebecca said she felt a little dizzy, he actually took it as a minor injury.

Fortunately, Mercer was aware of the situation, which prevented any accidents from happening.

After Rebecca was wheeled into the ICU while unconscious, Mercer lay down on the operating table and, while conscious, had the prosthetic doctor perform an emergency repair on him, mainly repairing the neural circuits within the hacker's prosthetic body.

Otherwise, his hands would shake so badly that the stabilizer wouldn't be able to work.

After performing a simple repair surgery on himself, Mercer unceremoniously kicked the mediocre prosthetic doctor out of the operating room and continued to perform surgeries on Mann, Jack, V, and Dorio all by himself.

After working in the operating room for six hours straight, it was almost dawn when Mercer finally stepped off the operating table, walked outside, and took a couple of breaths of fresh air.

Looking at his hands, which were still trembling slightly and stained with blood, Mercer sat wearily in a chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

This was arguably the most dangerous situation the Fire Seed Squad had ever faced since its inception.

Furthermore, if the enemy's objective had not been clear—that they prioritized capturing the enemy alive rather than annihilating them—the Fire Seed Squad would very likely be finished.

Arasaka's strength is evident—moreover, it can be inferred from Takemura's words that this time, the opponent is not going all out.

This was both a probing attempt to capture the suspect alive and a warning.

"Mercer?"

Lucy's voice came through, and at the same time, she pressed a can of ice-cold cola onto Mercer's face, making him shiver from the cold.

"Hiss," Mo Se shrank his neck, then reached out and took the cola: "Haven't you gone to rest yet?"

“I went to check on Rebecca for a while. Her vital signs have stabilized, but she hasn’t woken up yet,” Lucy said softly, sitting down beside him. Her blue dress was now wrinkled and no longer as radiant as it had been the night before.

She looked at Mercer's profile with concern: "Are you alright?"

"Me? Of course I'm fine. And don't worry about Rebecca either. Her intracranial hemorrhage is quite severe, and she will need some time to wake up," Mercer said with a smile.

"I'm not talking about your health." Lucy shook her head and sighed. "So? Are you still thinking about fighting Arasaka to the bitter end?"

In fact, Lucy thought this ending was already lucky—at least no one died.

Mercer didn't reply immediately. Instead, he took a sip of his cola, and after a long pause, he smiled and said, "Scared?"

"The difference in strength is already quite obvious, isn't it?" Lucy retorted. "If the other side hadn't intended to capture us alive and issue a warning, we would all be dead by now. But Arasaka won't show mercy every time."

Mercer remained silent, staring at the bloodstains on his hands. After a moment, he spoke, "I know."

He turned to look at Lucy, a somewhat helpless smile on his face: "But some things still have to be done, don't they? Or do you want to go back to Arasaka with me and live the kind of life we ​​had back in the Canadian base?"

Lucy pursed her lips, then said, "But we've already escaped, haven't we? We can keep escaping. You must have a way. Even during the time we were wandering in the Badlands, we managed to get by, didn't we?"

She lowered her head, her expression grim. "It's better than this, isn't it? Can we really withstand Arasaka's second attack? Aren't you worried about V, Rebecca, me, or even yourself?"

Mercer didn't say anything, he just reached out and hugged her.

Lucy's voice trailed off abruptly. After a long pause, she weakly reached out and hugged him tightly, letting out a soft sob: "I thought I was going to lose you."

"I know," Mercer said gently, reaching out to stroke her short hair.

“When you were captured by Takemura, there was nothing I could do. I was so scared.” Her voice trembled as she sobbed, like a little dog shivering in his arms after being caught in the rain.

“I know,” Mercer simply repeated, gently rubbing his cheek against her forehead.

"I...I'm really scared. If you get captured by Arasaka, I don't know how to rescue you."

She spoke incoherently, while Mercer simply stroked her short hair repeatedly, comforting her with simple words, and held her tightly until she cried and could no longer speak, and until her sobs gradually subsided and she calmed down.

Mercer patted her on the back until she had completely calmed down: "I won't die, I won't be captured, and you won't die either, I promise."

"..." Lucy didn't know what to say. Her emotions wanted her to believe everything Mercer said, but the cold facts were right in front of her. Could Mercer really guarantee that everyone would survive the attack on Arasaka?
Mercer just smiled and said optimistically, "Hasn't this already exposed many of our problems?"

For example, there are many security vulnerabilities in Dogtown that need to be fixed; we lack the ability to resist and counterattack EMP attacks; and we lack a complete counterattack system when faced with a sudden attack.

Well, when things go smoothly for too long, it can give us the illusion that battles with the company don't require bloodshed, and that only those company dogs will shed blood.
But now that the illusion has been shattered, all that's left is to face the challenge head-on and fight to the very end.

He smiled and reached out to tug at Lucy's dress, straightening it to make it look neater: "Takemura has also revealed a lot of his trump cards this time. Perhaps he wants to show me his strength and achieve the goal of subduing the enemy without fighting."

But he underestimated my courage—he may have missed the best opportunity of his life; he should have chopped my head off with a knife when he attacked me, but he didn't.

And I will absolutely not give him a second chance.

Mercer seemed to have regained his usual confidence, smiling as he said, "He'll regret it, regret not wiping us out this time. And I won't thank him for showing mercy. If he thinks he can make me bow down and admit defeat, he's mistaken."

Seeing Mercer's expression, Lucy stared at his face for a long while. Afterward, all she could do was bury her face in his chest again. Finally, she whispered, "I know, but you have to promise me you won't get hurt, and we won't get hurt."

“Yes, I promise.” Mercer said earnestly, and Lucy could only force herself to believe him and everything he said.

Forcing herself to cheer up, Lucy tilted her head back, gently kissed his cheek, and then stood up: "You should also take a rest. I guess Hansen will come to find you soon. I'll go keep an eye on V and the others. If their vital signs change, I'll contact you."

Mercer nodded, and after watching Lucy leave, he sat back down in his chair, lost in thought.

Just as Lucy had said, Hansen sent a message after she had only been sitting and resting for less than half an hour.

[Hansen: A Pyrrhic Victory?]

Mercer: I think it was a crushing defeat.

[Hansen: Ha, if you still have the energy, come to the stadium now, we need to talk.]

Mercer had already prepared for the worst.

This is the weakest moment for the Fireseed team, and if he were Hansen, he would never miss such a good opportunity.

But after a moment of contemplation, he still resolutely gave his answer.

Mercer: Okay.

(End of this chapter)