Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 121 Taking Over Dogtown
The silence in the audience was quickly broken by Mercer's next cold command.

"Everyone, disarm yourselves and, as ordered, be temporarily placed under collective guard. I will then reassess your individual circumstances and reassign your positions accordingly."

As soon as Mercer finished speaking, the hound gritted its teeth and said, "We need to see Colonel Hansen before we make a decision!"

"Anyone else shares his opinion?" Mercer said bluntly after finishing his sentence, "Those who accept the order, stand on the left; those who do not accept the order, stand on the right."

As soon as the words were spoken, the ghost hounds exchanged glances. Some wanted to take action immediately, but others looked at the bloodstains that had not yet been cleaned up, as well as the menacing robots and AI-controlled tanks and armored vehicles around them, and their faces showed reluctance.

In fact, everyone knows that the talk about Hansen being attacked and taking over command is nonsense, because anyone familiar with the Ghosthound architecture knows that even if Hansen is dead, it is definitely not a researcher who will take over Ghosthound.

What are the consequences of laying down one's arms?
But if we resist now...
Some people gritted their teeth, a surge of impulse rising within them—pull the trigger! If they disrupted the situation now and forced the other hounds to fire, Mercer couldn't possibly kill them all, could he?

But just as one of the hounds suddenly raised its rifle, the robots surrounding the arena opened fire, hitting the hound in the head.

"shot!"

Suddenly, more than thirty ghost hounds in the arena raised their weapons.

Those hounds who didn't want to clash with Mercer were clearly at a loss. Some simply dropped their weapons, covered their heads with their hands, and lay down, while others simply turned and ran.

But how could Mercer not be on guard?

The moment the enemy pulled the trigger, his figure vanished from the spot.

V's movements were even a beat slower than his. Somewhat surprised, she activated the Sianweistan and, wearing the somewhat cumbersome tank armor, followed his actions without saying a word.

Automatic machine guns and drones hovering in the base opened fire instantly. Relying on their mechanical bodies, the robots disregarded conventional firepower and accurately pulled the triggers on the ghost hounds that were raising their guns to return fire.

At the same time, these robots chanted in unison in a cold, robotic voice: "Stop resisting, surrender immediately!"

Correspondingly, screams of agony echoed throughout the arena.

Mercer moved with incredible speed, and what was even more terrifying was that he didn't need to use conventional weapons to fight his enemies like ordinary Svenwiss users.

The hounds that had been firing back suddenly began to lose control of their bodies, sparks flying everywhere. Mercer, however, moved freely through the crowd, and almost every two seconds, the hounds would howl and collapse to the ground.

Mercer showed no intention of holding back.

Almost every remaining hound in the arena is facing a rapidly spreading, viral attack. Conventional firepower is extremely difficult to hit Mercer now, and even if it does manage to hit, it is only deflected by the armor.

"What kind of monster is this?" someone muttered to themselves, desperately putting down their weapon. But they were quickly deactivated and their prosthetic body was disabled. They screamed and lay on the ground, writhing and unable to move.

Only some of the Ghosthound soldiers who had never intended to fight Mercer in the first place, and who surrendered without a word, and who were lying on the ground, escaped unscathed.

But at this moment, they were just lying there trembling, clutching their heads, shaking uncontrollably—what the hell was this monster??
This isn't some run-of-the-mill thug!

How come they're like a flock of lambs to the slaughter in front of Mercer?!
Mercer remained silent, merely hacking in. With the support of the new Ghost Cry cybernetic body, he could almost be regarded as a true mobile humanoid AI, requiring no server computing power support and single-handedly eliminating the entire group of Ghost Hounds.

Once the ghost hounds were no longer standing, the cruel execution moment arrived.

When Mercer stopped, his body radiating white steam, and hovered in the air looking around, the robots all stepped forward and began to target and execute the hounds that Mercer had hacked.

Every single ghost that raised its gun at Mercer had its head smashed by a single shot, while those that tried to escape were roughly thrown aside and sorted.

The ghost hounds that surrendered immediately were ordered by the robot to walk to the other side, where they lined up in a trembling, empty-handed formation, too afraid to move.

Mercer counted the number of people and sighed inwardly.

There are only thirty people—and among these thirty, there are probably quite a few opportunists who are pragmatic and disregard loyalty.

Even with the addition of the Netherhounds from the Gemstone Blue Hotel, Dogtown will probably only have about a hundred people available.

A hundred men would be a considerable force on the streets, but in Dogtown, they would be nothing.

This is why Mercer has not yet taken action against Dogtown. A violent takeover would not only make it difficult to guarantee the loyalty of the people, but there are even more troubles to come.

The smuggling business in Dogtown was affected, which was fatal—if he couldn't continue doing business, not to mention his customers, Hansen's biggest financial backers, the Cubans, would definitely hate him to death.

For Junke and Arasaka, Mercer's actions were a great thing. Next, many forces will probably turn their attention to Dogtown. If Mercer shows any signs of weakness, the situation in Taiping Prefecture will change drastically.

Mercer's head was throbbing—physically, though he acted like a superhero, he was really more like an Ultraman, and now his chest was flashing red.

He had pushed his brain to its limit, and he even suspected that he would faint as soon as he closed his eyes, but at this moment, Mercer could only grit his teeth and bear it.

“You surrendered hounds, now pick up your weapons and come with me to the Sapphire Blue Hotel.”

As soon as Mercer finished speaking, the hounds dared not disobey and immediately answered in unison, "Yes, sir!" as required by their training.

But some people looked worried and said, "What on earth is going on? Director Mercer, are we rebelling?"

Some clever hounds wanted nothing more than to chop this idiot to pieces—duh! Did you even need to ask? Shut your mouth if you want to live!
Mercer, however, simply replied expressionlessly: "No, to repeat myself, Colonel Hansen was attacked and is currently in a coma with serious injuries."

The Arasaka Corporation infiltrated the Ghosthound organization, and I accepted Colonel Hansen's order to serve as the interim head of Ghosthound.

Right now, it's just a matter of eliminating traitors.

Dogtown will then be under martial law for a period of time, but it will be lifted soon. We'll discuss the specifics after we meet at Gemstone Blue.

Mercer looked around and picked one who looked good—a squad leader who was usually very polite to him, so he chose him.

"Captain Stephen, you are hereby appointed as the interim squadron leader, in charge of all the Netherhounds here."

After Mercer finished speaking, he immediately started walking outside.

The hound named Stephen was taken aback at first, then nodded excitedly and said, "Yes!"

Then, the guy named Stephen immediately turned around and shouted loudly with a serious expression, "Didn't you hear me! Line up! All of you, stay close to each other!"

V walked up to Mercer and whispered in the team voice chat, "Holy crap! How were you so fast just now? Your gear is amazing! How did you do that?"

Mercer didn't say much, only saying lightly, "I made some bold attempts at the stadium, and I'll tell you the details later."

His head was throbbing badly, and he didn't have the energy to chat with V—just thinking about what he needed to do left him unusually short of energy.

Instead of flying there, Mercer randomly chose an armored vehicle and drove directly from the stadium to Gemstone Blue.

At this moment, nearly a hundred ghostly hounds were gathering in the lobby of the Gemstone Blue Hotel.

V, now wearing a barely-fitting standard tank armor set, couldn't drive for him, so Mercer became the driver again.

Sitting in the back seat, she finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Are you alright? You seem a little..."

"I haven't been getting enough rest here lately. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep once I'm done with this." Mercer paused after saying that, then asked, "How's everyone doing lately?"

“What do you think? You’re not home, and you’ve gone to the stadium all by yourself. Who at home can sleep well and eat well?” V said.

"Soon everyone will be able to move into this gemstone-green place. Can you imagine? V, not long ago, we were a bunch of people crammed into the ground, and we had to rely on exhaust fans and air purifiers for air."

Mercer said softly, "We're going to move to the top floor. We'll open up the entire hotel floor and renovate it so that everyone can have a super-sized flat."

“What’s so important?” V should have been the happiest one—as a girl from the streets, being able to live in a mansion, drive a luxury car, and have face wherever she goes should have been her dream life since childhood.

But at this moment, she only looked at Mercer with concern.

Mercer, however, simply said softly, "Once we've dealt with Dogtown and resolved the assassination attempt on Arasaka's side, and once we get Johnny Silverhand's Relic chip, we can cooperate with Ultraman to take down Saburo Arasaka."

After that, no one dared to mess with us anymore.

"Hey, are you alright?" V keenly sensed that something was really wrong with him: "Hey, listen to me, are you under too much mental stress?"

"No. Well, maybe." Mercer didn't know how to describe his current state. He felt that he was frighteningly calm, as if he had entered a state of accelerated thinking after deep diving.

My brain started working at lightning speed and couldn't stop for a moment.

Although he was somewhat tired, both the amount of data being exchanged in his head and his stable body temperature indicated that he seemed to be in an optimal state.

Is this what a cyberbullying episode looks like? Mercer's mind immediately conjured up a whole bunch of medical literature. He shook his head and then said, "Alright, let's talk about it after I'm done with this and get some sleep."

V mumbled a few words, but it was impossible to hear what he was saying. Mercer chuckled twice and didn't bother to ask further—it was just some rambling anyway.

The car quickly arrived at the Gemstone Green Hotel. At that moment, more than a hundred Netherhounds were gathered in the lobby on the first floor, yet it did not appear crowded.

Rebecca, clad in armor, was already on the verge of losing her composure. Faced with a pack of ghouls posing a huge problem, if Mercer hadn't instructed her to patiently stabilize the situation in Hansen's name, the ghouls would probably have already started causing trouble.

Rebecca finally breathed a sigh of relief when Mercer appeared in his armor, followed by more than thirty hounds, and entered the Sapphire Blue Hotel.

Mercer calmly walked through the crowd, along the red carpet, up the steps, and onto the relatively high platform. Then he turned around and faced the hounds of the underworld standing in rows on both sides of the red carpet.

Rebecca secretly sent him a message.

[Rebecca: Damn, why did you take so long? I was about to lose my composure. These guys kept asking me what was going on, how was I supposed to know?]

Mercer: Where are Lucy and the others?

[Rebecca: They're still keeping an eye on the heavy firepower. Don't worry, if needed, they can activate the chimera tanks at any time and give these hounds a good beating!]

The Chimera Tank can be operated unmanned, just like Mercer's armor. It is more agile when operated by a human, but it can also act autonomously like a robot. If an advanced AI controls it, it may even be more efficient than human operation!

[Mercer: Thanks for your hard work, leave the rest to me.]

Rebecca watched Mercer walk onto the stage and silently survey the hounds in the hall, and she felt inexplicably calmer—besides, his equipment looked very powerful!
When Mercer walked onto the stage, no one spoke for a moment. Gago, who was now the financial director of the Ghost Hounds, was pushed forward by some Ghost Hounds to be questioned.

Since joining the Netherhounds, Gago has always taken the "Mr. Nice Guy" route. Many of the Netherhounds have a good personal relationship with him and know that he also has a good relationship with Mercer. So they simply pushed him out to ask Mercer about the situation.

"Director Mercer?" Gago had seen Mercer's armor being assembled in the workshop before. Now, seeing Mercer walking in with his blood-stained suit, helmet on, and six octopus arms taking turns replacing his feet, he felt a chill in his heart.

How could he not know the superficial harmony between Mercer and Hansen? Seeing Mercer walk in fully armed, he already guessed most of the truth.

Goodness gracious Gago knew very well how many traps and pitfalls Hansen had set up for Mercer in the stadium, yet Mercer had taken care of Hansen so easily.
"Line up, it's time for an important speech. I will explain the whole story."

Mercer's voice came from inside his helmet, and Gago immediately stood up straight. The other hounds had different thoughts, but they were still relatively calm at this moment.

"Director Hansen has been assassinated and is seriously injured. He is currently undergoing emergency treatment at the stadium. I have been appointed as the temporary leader of the Hounds and will temporarily take over all matters in Dogtown from Colonel Hansen."

Upon hearing this, the hounds below immediately began to murmur among themselves. One hound named Leon Lindell frowned and asked, "Impossible!"

“Nothing is impossible. The Cubans are gone. You know what I mean.” Mercer’s helmet visor only flashed blue data waves, but Leon felt that Mercer was staring intently at him, and his body inexplicably felt cold.

“This morning, I sensed danger in advance and reported it to Colonel Hansen, who then requested the Fireseed Squad to provide protection. Unfortunately, by the time V arrived at the scene, Colonel Hansen had already been killed.”

Mercer casually remarked, and before anyone could object or ask for details, he abruptly changed the subject, saying, "The stadium was also attacked, and more than sixty Ghost Hounds bravely sacrificed their lives. The only certainty is that this was yet another shameful attack by Arasaka."

Now, Dogtown, and the Hounds of the Underworld, are facing a life-or-death moment.

Mercer emphasized, "We must unite all our strength and will to overcome this challenge."

"Where's Captain Bennett?" someone asked anxiously.

Mercer simply opened his helmet, revealing an expressionless face, and looked at the ghostly hound, his voice low: "He's dead—Arasaka's hacker hacked his body, making him blow his own head off with his shotgun."

After martial law is lifted, we will hold a simple funeral for him to commemorate this excellent colleague. Any other questions?

More than a hundred Ghost Hounds looked at each other in bewilderment. Carl Robinson Dodge, or Dodge for short, a high-ranking member of the Ghost Hounds, asked coldly:
"As far as I know, the attack seems to have occurred shortly after V went upstairs, and then V took Colonel Hansen and flew directly away from Gemstone Blue, Director Mercer."

Before Daojie could finish speaking, Mercer coldly said, "There are some rumors circulating within the Netherhound organization that you've been secretly involved in things like drug trafficking, and it seems you've even set up a small base with your buddies."

Dao Jie's expression changed: "Director Mercer, you can't just say things like that!"

"So you understand this principle, then you'd better keep your mouth shut!" Mercer said sternly.

Daojie opened his mouth, then glared at him angrily, but didn't say anything more for a moment, though his eyes flickered.

"From today onwards, all units will obey my orders. The movement of weapons, equipment, and supplies must be approved online by me. I will monitor everyone's communications and actions in real time."

Before anyone could ask a question, Mercer emphasized, "Given the increasingly serious infiltration by external forces, I will also specifically target some suspicious individuals and deal with them according to the rules of the Netherhound."

Effective immediately, martial law will be in effect in Dogtown. Some key positions will be filled by my men until Colonel Hansen recovers and returns, at which point the final personnel changes will be officially confirmed.

Leon frowned: "Director Mercer, according to regulations, Dogtown is to be completely sealed off during martial law, and even commercial activities will be temporarily suspended." "What I mean is, a complete lockdown, not a single mosquito is allowed to fly out, and not a single cockroach is allowed to sneak in."

Any gangs, such as the Cleaners, must also abide by the curfew. All violations will be dealt with severely. The curfew will be announced every hour via Dogtown's public address system.

After Mercer finished speaking, Leon stared straight at him and boldly asked, "What if Colonel Hansen never recovers his health?"

"Before Colonel Hansen's incident, I had discussed some internal issues with him, such as the treatment of soldiers and officers, the uneven quality of personnel, and the numerous traitors and bastards."

Mercer stated directly: "Therefore, we will most likely sign a new labor contract with a 10% higher salary than before, and provide the Ghost Hound soldiers with new standard weapons and equipment."

Officer-level Ghosthounds will also receive a set of advanced individual armor and cybernetic modifications for free to enhance their overall strength.

"And if Colonel Hansen hasn't recovered by a week, martial law will be lifted, and Dogtown will return to normal. Do you have any more questions?"

Upon hearing this, many of the Netherhounds began to stir with interest.

Judging from the situation, Mercer doesn't seem to be just looking to 'temporarily take over' right now.
Leon pressed on relentlessly: "According to regulations, if the commander of the Ghost Hounds loses contact, a new leader should be established sequentially based on rank. Furthermore, any key personnel changes by the interim commander should be decided by a vote."

"To reiterate, Colonel Hansen has appointed me as the interim commander, and he is still alive and has not lost contact. The special terms do not apply to the current situation, understand?"

Leon looked at Mercer and asked in an unfriendly tone, "Director Mercer, we all know you're an excellent researcher, but what about the brothers of the Ghost Hounds?"

Mercer stared at him coldly, enunciating each word clearly: "Are you disobeying Colonel Hansen's orders?"

“Of course not, it’s just Colonel Hansen.” Before Leon could finish speaking, Mercer impatiently walked down the steps and stopped in front of Leon, who was standing on the side of the line.

Before Leon could react to Mercer's armored appearance, the octopus arm behind Mercer lashed out like a whip. He instinctively tried to activate his Sianwistan, but was horrified to find it was too late.

Activating Sianwistan takes time—and before the system even started, Mercer's octopus arms had already severed his legs.

Mercer, expressionless, used his octopus-like arms to take a standard-issue rifle from the hound beside him and pointed it at his head: "Are you saying I was falsely relaying Colonel Hansen's orders?"

Leon's breath hitched, and then he hurriedly forced a smile: "No, no, no! How could that be? I'm just worried that someone might have something on their mind. I'm just worried."

The cold octopus arms swayed in front of his face, cracking and popping their three claws, as if they could crush Leon's head with a flick of their wrists. At this moment, where did Leon get the courage to continue talking nonsense?

Mercer's displayed level of combat prowess had exceeded his expectations—damn it, his attention was entirely focused on V.

The other members of the Netherhound were also startled. What kind of power was this?
Isn't Mercer a hacker? How does he have speed comparable to S.A.W.S.A.?
Is it thanks to this armor? Unbelievable, what kind of equipment is this?!

"Disrupting morale, Captain Stephen, take him away and interrogate him thoroughly. See if he's among those who conspired with Arasaka to harm Colonel Hansen and cause the deaths of dozens of Ghosthound brothers."

As soon as Mercer finished speaking, Leon wanted to say something, but before he could finish, the octopus arm knocked him unconscious without any politeness.

Stephen, who had just taken over as the new squad leader, walked over without saying a word and dragged the unconscious Leon away—the hound beside Leon seemed hesitant to speak.

Faced with a bunch of gleaming gun barrels and Mercer's icy gaze, he didn't dare utter a single word.

Looking around, Mercer took only two steps with his octopus arms before returning to the steps on the first floor of the hotel, looking down at the hounds in front of him: "Now is the time for us to put aside our past grievances, work together, and overcome this difficult time."

Any soldier who undermines unity or disobeys orders will be subject to internal investigation and punishment by the Ghost Hounds. I hope you will all take this as a warning and not make the same mistake.

Mercer then turned to Gago and said, “Considering the situation of martial law, I will appoint V as the commander-in-chief of operations during the martial law period. All armed forces will be under her management. Gago, you will be her deputy.”

Gago sighed inwardly, but put on a kind and obedient smile: "Yes!"

"Next, we will announce some temporary personnel changes."

Security in Dogtown will be temporarily taken over by Mann, as the team leader Bennett and his deputy were tragically killed in the attack on Arasaka.

V will now serve as the team leader, Rebecca as the deputy team leader, I will personally be in charge of the cybersecurity and surveillance department, and Jack Wilson will be in charge of the checkpoints.

The original squad leader retained his title and rank, and will be reassigned after martial law is lifted.

Mercer said meaningfully, "If a soldier performs well during martial law, I will personally report him to Colonel Hansen and award him a rank after martial law is lifted."

Within the Ghost Hound organization, a promotion in rank means an increase in basic salary and benefits.

"If serious work errors occur during the martial law period, or if someone is suspected of betraying their own side, inciting chaos, or causing disorder, they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law."

After Mercer finished speaking, he paused for a moment, and then continued, "Everyone, stay alert. The enemy won't just stop after hurting Colonel Hansen. Colonel Hansen will pull through. If he's lucky, he might recover in three to five days."

He will continue to serve as the commander-in-chief, but I hope that you will not have any improper thoughts because I have been appointed to this position in a time of crisis. I believe that once Colonel Hansen recovers, he will also support my decision at this moment.

Dismissed. Everyone return to your posts. The specific details of the personnel changes will be sent to your personal terminals once the decision is made. Also, Gago, I know you've met quite a few people through Hansen.

Go tell our clients about the attack on Colonel Hansen and ask them to be patient and wait until he recovers from his critical illness; everything will return to normal.

After Mercer finished speaking, Gago asked cautiously with a bitter face, "If Colonel Hansen's condition does not improve, I cannot guarantee that our business will continue as usual."

He was very worried that Hansen was actually dead—although Gago was valued by Hansen and regarded as his advisor in the business world, Gago was ultimately just a subordinate, and Hansen was wary of him.

He can't take over Hansen's network of contacts and business partnerships right now.

"Things will get better. Even if things go the worst, Colonel Hansen will do his best to ensure a smooth transition and keep Dogtown going."

Alright, I've been appointed to this post in a time of crisis, and to be honest, there are many things to arrange. Please do your best in these matters for now.

Mercer sighed: "Dismissed. Those who received my message later, come upstairs for a meeting."

Mercer sent messages to some people he was relatively familiar with among the Netherhounds, and then led the group of mid-to-high-level and lower-level leaders of the Netherhounds to the conference room of Gemstone Blue for a brief meeting.

There wasn't much to talk about at the meeting; it was nothing more than personnel arrangements, reassuring people, promoting some, and giving others a warning.

It was obvious to anyone with eyes that Hansen's die-hard supporters had all died suddenly in the 'Ara-saka Attack', and there were no Hansen's die-hard supporters gathered in Gemstone Blue now.

Even Leon, whose legs were broken by Mercer just now, was driven by inappropriate thoughts—he realized that Mercer was probably planning to usurp the throne, so he openly questioned Mercer's legitimate leadership of the Hounds, all for his own ambition.

There are actually people joking about dreaming of being the boss of Dogtown, trying to establish a seniority system? Creating internal divisions, playing this game with Mercer?
With Mercer's decisive action demonstrating his stance, the other Ghost Hounds were well aware that Mercer would not show mercy to anyone attempting to create chaos at this time.

Even those who were dissatisfied or had their own ulterior motives temporarily accepted Mercer's arrangements, obeyed his personnel arrangements, and accepted his 'temporary command'.

The meeting ended after about an hour. Mercer didn't waste any time. After adjourning the meeting, he immediately sent Jack, Mann, and others to the stadium to change into their standard tank personal armor.

At the same time, Mercer opened the warehouse and distributed some of the heavy weapons stored by the Ghost Hounds to the Ghost Hound soldiers who were considered trustworthy.

After redistributing the heavy equipment, Mercer took stock of the available armed forces.

It has to be said that the Ghost Dog has a lot of good stuff.

One mobile missile launcher, equipped with advanced radar, can be used for air defense and long-range ground bombing. The vehicle carries four small missile launch units, each capable of carrying 12 missiles.

Furthermore, the four launch units can fire at different targets simultaneously, with each unit capable of launching two missiles per second. In Night City, possessing such a weapon is no laughing matter.

One Magic Lizard Armored Flying Vehicle, an old friend, no need to say more.

One Chimera tank, a six-legged, mechanical-like main battle tank equipped with an extremely comprehensive weapon system.

Missiles, heavy machine guns, artillery, laser weapons, and poison gas attacks that can be released at close range.
With its extremely thick armor, formidable firepower, and ability to be operated without human intervention, this equipment, which can be regarded as a large-scale bionic robot, is practically 'invincible' in Night City, where heavy firepower is restricted.

Only experts like V and Adam Hammer, relying on their superior individual equipment and strength, could possibly defeat this monster. The rest, even if they were organized groups of ordinary contract soldiers, even if they numbered in the dozens or hundreds, wouldn't be enough to withstand a single laser sweep from the Chimera.

There are eight Minotaur robots in total, plus Mercer's own combat robots that can be equipped with octopus arms. Together with the regular combat robots, there are a total of forty-two. Mercer will also modify the regular combat robots.

Besides long-range firepower, the most important benefit of robots equipped with octopus arms is that the two octopus arms will provide them with a huge boost to movement speed and strength, completely shedding their status as 'cannon fodder' and turning them into terrifying melee killing machines.

There are 6 large combat drones, 42 medium-sized drones, and a staggering 2190 swarm drones in stock.

Not counting the other firearms, armored vehicles, man-portable rocket launchers, landmines, and howitzers, there were even two large-caliber self-propelled artillery pieces.

An airship that floats 24 hours a day over Dogtown, serving as an advertising billboard and aerial deterrent. This old-fashioned symbolic deterrent has far greater significance than actual combat, but it is also equipped with multiple missile launchers and heavy machine guns.

In addition, there are four advanced armored airborne vehicles, twelve centaur exoskeletons, and a series of standard tank armor produced overtime.

Well, actually, many of them were originally intended to be sold by Hansen, but Mercer generously distributed them all. All the drones and robots will patrol 24 hours a day under the command of Morning Star to replenish the armed forces lost in Dogtown.

Meanwhile, under Mercer's arrangement, the octopus arm production line quickly resumed production, using existing materials to produce more robots and drones as soon as possible.

Mercer's ultimate goal is to have a much larger number of drones and robots than the number of hounds. This way, he can use more robots to perform tasks that should have been done by the hounds, greatly alleviating his manpower pressure.

He knew very well that these hounds were only useful, not reliable. If he hadn't said that Major Hansen was only seriously injured and unconscious and was receiving emergency treatment, some of the hounds would probably have disappeared without a trace when he announced the disbandment.

The remaining hounds weren't exactly obedient; they were merely observing the situation.

Mercer acted too quickly and too suddenly. Hansen never expected him to suddenly go crazy and attack. In his opinion, what good could Mercer possibly do by suddenly attacking him now?
If the Cubans lose Dogtown, they will send out assassins without restraint to take Mercer's life!

Besides Arasaka, is he going to provoke another group of Cubans who are now even more ruthless on the North American continent? Does he have a death wish?

The higher-ups of the Ghosthounds were clearly well aware that simply suppressing a group of Ghosthounds by force was of no use. The lifeblood of Dogtown was its global smuggling network and the supporters behind it.

So, rather than saying they've bowed down and cooperated with Mercer's arrangements, it's more accurate to say they're just waiting to see if Mercer has really gone mad.

Having settled these personnel arrangements and equipment allocations, Mercer immediately took Hansen back to his long-missed Fireseed base.

Mercer was momentarily dazed by the empty base—he had sent V, Rebecca, and the others out to stabilize the situation and impose an emergency curfew.

Even Xingzi was assigned a job: to stay deep inside the server, guard against hacker attacks, and assist Qimingxing with online work.

At this moment, Morning Star was also extremely busy, using both the stadium and the Sapphire Blue server at the same time, and its computing power was barely enough - it had to control tens of thousands of electronic devices and monitor all personal terminals in Dogtown in real time to prevent any internal traitors from causing trouble.

They were even still operating the ctOS system. To put it another way, the server's cooling was already at its maximum. When Mercer arrived at the server room, the noise from the servers sounded like construction work was underway.

Looks like the server needs to be expanded again.

As Mercer thought about this, a sudden inspiration struck him—to execute the Little Beidou Project, a huge server would be needed to provide computing power.

Given the current network conditions, the safest approach is to use a local server on a local area network (LAN) for the plan.

That server shouldn't have been dismantled by the military science department yet!
It seems that after I take over the Beidou facility, I might even be able to acquire a large server!

But the only risk is that server, which is very likely no longer secure—a group of fools trying to control the roving AI could very well be manipulated by it.

No one understood the power of these highly intelligent AIs better than Mercer.

Mercer shook his head, temporarily putting the troublesome matter of Little Beidou out of his mind.

Looking at Hansen, who had been injected with anesthesia by the robot and remained unconscious, Mercer rubbed his face, then perked up, took off his helmet, and waved his six octopus arms, replacing the mechanical hands at the ends of his arms.

After replacing the combat-oriented robotic arm with a multi-functional surgical tool arm, Mercer performed the same craniotomy on Hansen as he had on Evelyn, installing a neural slot.

After implanting a Relic chip in his head, Mercer devoted himself entirely to the crucial task of wrapping up the takeover of Dogtown.

Mercer is going to use the Soul Killer program on Hansen.

Unlike the Soul Killer program used on Evelyn, which deleted and modified her memories.

Mercer needs Hansen to retain his full consciousness, even all his memories, but he must obey him completely—in other words, this is not a mindset modification, but brainwashing and enslavement.

Can you do it?

To be honest, Mercer himself wasn't very confident either, as this was a completely different workflow from simple memory modification.

But he cannot fail.

If he fails, considering the numerous risks that follow, Mercer will not hesitate to devour all of the Hound's assets, then lead his team into exile and start all over again.

He even had to go into hiding, because those who would be hunting him down would not only be Arasaka, but also the Cubans whose influence extended throughout North America.

Mercer sighed, then without hesitation plugged the wires into his own head as well.

Now that we've stepped on the gas, there's nothing left to do but speed along.

Soul Killer!
start up!

(End of this chapter)