Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 64 Dogtown Base (1 votes needed)

[Hanz: A, your call came later than I expected.]

[A: If we're planning to set up shop in Dogtown, we need to raise some money first.]

[Hanz: I bet you were the one who robbed the biotechnology yesterday?]

A: You're very well-informed.

[Hans: Mainly because everyone knows who the powerful figures are in the city.]

[A: Alright, without wasting Mr. Hanz's time, I'd like to ask if Mr. Hanz could provide me with a safe, large enough base in Dogtown that's convenient for us to set up camp?]

[Hans: In Dogtown? This is no good place to settle down. To tell you the truth, there are New America's eyes and ears everywhere. Hansen's lackeys are eager to collect rent from every piece of land in Dogtown.]

There were also some shady criminals who committed crimes in Night City and then fled to Dogville.

[A: I just like messy places, places where the company won't just knock on the door and barge in. Anyone who wants to cause me trouble has to see if they're tough enough.]

[Hanz: I like confident guys like you, but look what a coincidence! I just happen to know a place that's perfect for you—secluded, low-key, yet full of hidden secrets.]

[A: This place is so nice, you're willing to give it to me directly?]

[Hans: Of course it's not free, but to show our sincerity, you can come to Dogtown and see for yourself how the place I'm showing you is.]

If you're satisfied, then we can discuss how to proceed with the transaction.

In business, you have to show me what you want to buy first before you're willing to pay a price, don't you think?

[A: You can give a brief overview first.]

[Hanz: An ordinary warehouse, or at least it looks ordinary.]

It occupies an area of ​​about three or four hundred square meters, and most importantly, it has a basement that is no smaller than the one above.

At first glance, it looks like just a storage warehouse, but it not only has an independent backup power supply system that can be used during power outages, but also a complete ventilation system, and the walls are ridiculously thick, with a standard fortress-level thickness.

This basement also has another separate emergency exit, which connects to the sewers below Dogtown.

If you're willing to spend the time clearing that passage, you could even use it to swim from Dogtown to Taipingzhou.

The location is a bit remote, in the southwesternmost part of Dogtown, near the high walls and also close to the Scavengers' territory.

[A: It doesn't sound like it was built randomly.]

[Hans: During the Metal Wars, Dogtown was full of similar buildings. My area doesn't belong to Arasaka, nor to New America, nor to Night City.]

[A: Cubans? It's not easy to take advantage of them.]

[Hans: You're very well-informed, A.]

[Hanz: But you guessed right, the Cubans originally had the same idea as Hansen, but due to some unexpected events, they missed their chance.]

But I think if you're willing to stand on my side, my Cuban friends certainly won't hesitate to part with a building that's not needed for the time being.

Mercer didn't reply immediately, but thought for a while.

Hanz's intention to curry favor was quite obvious; he wanted to directly recruit him to his cause.

This shows that Hans really doesn't have anyone he can use.

On the other hand, one could also understand what Hans meant—if he accepted his goodwill, then at least in matters concerning Dogtown, Mercer should not think about dealing with Hansen again, and if necessary, he would even have to do some dirty work for the Cubans.

does it worth?
After a moment's thought, Mercer sent a message to Hans.

[A: I won't stay in Dogtown forever; this is just a stepping stone for me.]

[Hans: At least in Dogtown, I think you won't refuse my request—things might be troublesome, but the money will be plentiful. As long as you do a good job, I guarantee Hansen won't dare to cause you any trouble.]

Don't worry, we're friends with Hansen now. At least he needs me to find people to handle some trouble and build connections for him in Night City, while I need him to make things easier for me in Dogtown.

[A: Okay, back in Dogtown, I'll be on your side. When I get out, out of consideration for our past relationship, I'm willing to help you out with anything that's not too difficult.]

[Hanz: Great! It's settled then. Rent is free. I can also arrange the renovations and workers you need, all at a friendly price.]

[A: I might need you to get me a discounted price for the materials, but I plan to have someone I know do the renovation work. I'll need your help to get me some permits or approvals.]

[Hanz: No problem, we'll be in touch anytime. I've sent you the address. The warehouse access code shouldn't be a problem for you either. Go in and take a look. If you're satisfied, then we've reached an agreement.]

[A: Then please give me and my friend a Dogtown pass first. I've sent you the relevant personal information.]

Mercer sent over the identity information that Night City had prepared, as well as V's information.

It's obvious to anyone with a brain that the Ghost Dog's identity authentication system must have followed the NCPD's approach, using a simple whitelist detection method—building a complete household registration information database from scratch.
Mercer guessed Hansen didn't have that ability.

Hanz replied to him in just over ten seconds.

[Hans: It's all taken care of.]

[A: Thank you. It's only fair. Now you can think about what urgent tasks need to be done, and I'll take care of them while I'm renovating.]

[Hans: Great! I'll hand over these big deals I've been holding onto to you right now. You can decide when to complete them yourself.]

[A: It seems I've arrived just in time.]

[Hans: That's right. After you finish these things, I'll invite you to my place for tea.]

A: I'll go check out the new place first, then I'll contact you.

[Hanz: I look forward to your good news.]

Mercer hung up the call, while V, who had been watching him for a while, asked, "How did the chat go?"

"It's going well so far. Let's go take a trip to Dogtown and see what our future new home is like."

Mercer said, starting the car and heading straight for Dogtown.

V looked out the window: "I've never been to Dogtown before. I've heard you say how great it is, and it's making me really look forward to it."

"I advise you not to get your hopes up too high. Apart from the stadium and the Gemstone Blue Hotel, there's nothing else worth seeing there."

Mercer paused for a moment, then said, "Think about how bad Pacific State is. Dogtown is only worse."

"Damn, you might as well not have said anything." V pouted and said, shaking her leg, "But even if it's bad, it can't be worse than where I live now, right?"

Mercer fell into a brief silence.

V's eyes widened slowly: "No way? Huh?"

When V looked at the somewhat dilapidated warehouse in front of him, gazed at the streets around him filled with drug addicts and thugs, and then looked at the abandoned buildings in the distance that were almost overgrown with grass and vines.

“A, can’t we stay separately? I mean, I think my motel is actually pretty good.”

V said some disheartening and hopeless words.

Mercer looked around, then smiled and walked to the warehouse. The warehouse looked square and plain, with no decorative colors. The thick concrete walls gave it a heavy feel.

The entire warehouse only had one window on each side, so you can imagine how dark and suffocating it must have been inside.

The electronic lock on the warehouse door was still lit up, so it seems that the power supply is still working as usual.

Mercer walked to the electronic door lock, put his hands in his pockets, and cracked the lock in a second. He pushed open the heavy warehouse door, revealing only a pile of garbage inside.

I don't know which bastards came in and lived here for a while. There's graffiti on the concrete walls, and some broken mattresses, used syringes, and discarded cigarette butts on the floor.

This is understandable; an electronic lock alone couldn't stop a group of homeless people curious about whether there were any treasures inside the warehouse.

Mercer waved away the dust, looked around, and said, "At least the place is big enough, and the walls are thick enough."

"This reminds me of prison—why are you looking at me? It's impossible for someone who hangs out on the street not to have been arrested and jailed by the NCPD."

My friend stayed in a detention center for a while, and that's pretty much what it's like there.

"Put a bunch of mattresses in, surround the room with guards, and replace the doors and windows with iron ones. Hmm, Mercer, if you like this style, just go and turn yourself in to the NCPD."

V said self-deprecatingly, kicking aside a soda can: "So Hanz found you this shabby place? I don't think he's sincere at all! Is he playing you for a fool?"

Mercer, however, was in no hurry. He simply continued to wander around the empty warehouse, which contained only four load-bearing pillars, walls, a roof, and two windows.

Too lazy to decipher it himself, he simply sent a message to Hans.

[Hans: You've arrived? Don't rush, I'll send you an authentication program. Stand by the leftmost load-bearing column at the far end, and you'll see what opens the basement.]

Mercer cautiously used the virtual disk in the network access pod to take over the program, tested it, and only after confirming that there were no problems did he run it and integrate it into his personal authentication.

In the cyberpunk world, everyone has a microchip for personal authentication, which can be loaded with various authentication programs, including vehicle authentication, property authentication, personal biometrics, etc. It is bound to biometrics and is almost impossible to counterfeit.

When he stood in front of that load-bearing column, a piece of plaster on the seemingly dusty, unremarkable column suddenly slid off without warning, revealing a control panel inside.

Text appeared above.

[Identity verification successful. Since no data has been recorded yet, please connect your personal data cable for user authorization and program settings.]

"This thing is pretty good. It even uses a special cover to block network signals. It will only automatically react and start connecting to the network after a special authentication signal is recognized by the device that is running offline. The Cubans really put a lot of thought into it."

Mercer exclaimed in admiration.

V's eyes lit up: "Wow, what's this? The switch for the secret base?"

"Almost." Mercer looked at the text on the screen and, following the instructions, unplugged his hand data cable and connected it.

Soon, the built-in program verified Mercer's personal information and transferred control of the warehouse to Mercer.

There aren't many things that can be controlled: the ventilation system, the power control system, and a hidden floor door leading underground.

Mercer turned his head and saw that a section of the floor had suddenly opened up, revealing a spacious staircase passageway large enough for two people to walk side by side down to the underground.

"I thought there would be an elevator." Mercer said with some regret. He felt that the way New American agents used to hide elevators to go up and down was much cooler.

"Holy crap! So cool! A! It's just like a spy movie!" V stopped complaining now. Before Mercer could speak, she skipped over to the top of the stairs and took a look.

"I'll go down first! I'll go down first!"

Without saying a word, V rushed inside.

Mercer's lips twitched, but he wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he first connected to the network and ran through the entire system of the hidden authentication program, checking all the code.

He didn't want to crawl in and find the door locked.

The heart of defense is indispensable!

Sigh, I really envy the joy of having an IQ of 6 without having to think.

After spending several minutes reviewing almost every piece of data and confirming that he had the authority to open and close the door, Mercer slowly descended.

At this moment, V was still excitedly wandering around in the underground space.

"Look! A, there's also an independent generator, water storage tank, and automatic water purification system here!"
They even have a drainpipe ready, but no toilet. There's also a computer and a small server. Wow, this place is really nice!
And central air conditioning! My goodness, with a little renovation, this place would look exactly like one of those secret bases in a spy movie, except for the lack of sunlight!

She excitedly greeted Mercer, gesturing and saying, "Look, these water pipes all have pre-installed pipe lines, so they can definitely be connected to the city's water pipes!"
This place must be about five or six hundred square meters, right?

There's also a 300-400 square meter area upstairs; this place is really nice!

"Not comparing it to your detention center anymore?" Mercer couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh dear! I had no idea there was such a big place down there!" V said stubbornly. "Actually, it's not that great. It must have cost a lot of money to renovate this place."

"But at least the rent is free now. With a little tidying up, a few concrete walls can be used as partitions to separate the functions of the rooms. The rest of the decoration is a matter of personal preference and shouldn't cost too much."

Mercer did a quick estimate and figured that such a large space could easily accommodate seven bedrooms, each 20 square meters. With some simple renovations and the low labor costs in Cyber ​​World, he estimated that each room, including labor and materials, could be easily done for 10,000 euros.

Set up several more workspaces, such as a server room specifically for servers, a hacker room for his hacking work, a storage room for storing weapons and equipment, and a workspace for modifying weapons and prosthetic bodies.
You could even create a large living room.

This whole process should be completed within 100,000 euros.

Of course, this only refers to the general renovation and wall construction of the house, excluding equipment and some soft furnishings.

However, Mercer wasn't quite sure about the construction speed in cyberpunk, and the construction conditions in his basement were also limited.

Mercer quickly estimated his needs and couldn't help but grin.

That's an oversimplification. Even without rent, this house would probably cost two or three hundred thousand euros to build before it's habitable, and who knows how long the construction would take.

This is Dogtown, so it probably won't be very convenient to carry out any construction work here.

After thinking for a moment, Mercer simply made a phone call to Parnan.

Panan quickly answered the video call.

"Wow, where did you go? Why is it so dark?" Panan was startled by the background of Mercer's video call.

"Dogtown. I want to ask you, if I hire Adka Multi-person Renovation for a place this big, to build six separate bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, 3-4 functional rooms, and a living room, how much would it cost and how long would it take to complete?"

Mercer asked.

Panan thought for a moment and said, "Wait a minute, I'll go ask the old man in charge of this at the camp."

She jogged over, chatted with someone for a few minutes, and then said to Mercer, "About ten days should be enough."

"So fast? My place is about four or five hundred square meters." Mercer was taken aback.

"It will take at most two days to finish the plumbing and electrical work, two days to finish the partitions, and another two days to paint and lay the tiles. Finally, you can move in the things you want to install and that will be it. The ten-day timeframe is just to account for any unforeseen factors that might delay the construction period."

Generally speaking, one of those tasks can be completed in a day.

Panan smiled and said, "All you need to do is rent a set of professional equipment for renovation. There are professional machinery rental companies in the city."

"And the price?" Mercer pressed. "You'll have to pay for the machine rental yourself. Generally, the rental fee for a wall-building machine is 1,000 euros per day. If you rent one of those exoskeleton construction semi-armor sets, it's only 500 euros per set per day."

The labor cost is only fifty euros a day. We'll find a professional to do it for you, and it'll be quick.

Panan was quite familiar with this: "When we used to build houses for people, we could finish one floor a day. Now the speed of mechanical construction is much faster. Even if we only use manpower, wearing those professional construction armor, we can achieve this efficiency."

However, in my experience, you already have a basic foundation there, and you can get all the hard furnishings done for around 10,000 to 20,000 euros. The rest is just the decoration work you do yourself.

Are you at your chosen place now? It looks a bit dark.

Mercer was getting a little cocky, so he first showed Panan the surrounding facilities before going up the stairs.

Panan was somewhat surprised: "You built a two-story building?"

"That's not all, that was an underground base." Mercer used his prosthetic eye to record the scene and showed her the switch for the hidden door in the floor.

Panan clicked his tongue enviously: "Not bad at all, it looks pretty cool. How much is the rent? It's so big, even in Dogtown it would cost seventy or eighty thousand a year, right?"

"It's free, I got it for free, but it's a bare shell, and I have to pay for renovations and decorations myself."

After Mercer finished speaking, Panan became even more envious: "Wow, this place is so nice! Who found it for you?"

"Hanz, only he could get his hands on such a secluded place."

After Mercer finished speaking, he said, "Then you should contact the people at the camp now. I'll talk to Hanz and get the details sorted out. Once we've done that, I'll contact you to start work and try to get everything done in half a month so we can move in."

“Okay, boss, you’re in charge,” Panan said.

"How about we reserve a room for you too?" Mercer asked tentatively.

Panan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "Forget it, I'd rather stay at home. I can come to your place occasionally, but you have such a big place, just leave me a sofa."

"Come on over, I'll even give you my room. I've gotten used to sleeping in the hacker chair these past few days anyway." Mercer laughed, chatted with her for a few minutes, then hung up the phone and started discussing the renovation with Hans again.

Hanz said that the house was his to use as he pleased, and even if Mercer moved out of Dogtown, the place would still belong to Mercer, since the Cubans had abandoned it.

If the Cubans decide to come to Night City to do business someday, it means Hansen is finished, and they will take over the Gemstone Hotel and become the boss of Dogtown again, so they won't need an abandoned warehouse anymore.

It has to be said that Hans was really generous to Mercer; it was like giving him a big house before even discussing any business.

Even though most properties in Dogtown are worthless and have long been abandoned and ruined, this attitude is still very pleasing.

At the end of the conversation, Hans gave Mercer a phone number, saying that he knew a construction company manager in Pacific State who could handle all the building materials and equipment rentals, and that the prices would be discounted through personal connections.

As for the checkpoints of the Ghost Hounds, that's not a problem either. Hans will issue Mercer a batch of temporary passes. Just put them in the car and show them to the Ghost Hounds when you pass through the checkpoint.

He also enthusiastically suggested that Mercer could send his personal information to any other friends who needed to apply for permanent passes, and he would handle the process.

Even Mercer, who already had some prejudice against Hans, had to honestly say thank you a few times; he was now indebted to him.

After Mercer scanned and recorded the building information with his prosthetic eye, he and V returned to Adcardo.

He chatted with Adcardo, an expert in the construction industry, for a while, and then took him to Dogtown for a site visit.

Later in Dogtown, Mercer and Adcado's experts discussed renovation plans in the warehouse and, following each other's advice, finalized a rough renovation plan.

After that, Mercer handed over all the details, including purchasing renovation materials, equipment rental, and transportation, to Adcardo's professionals to communicate with the company.

He doesn't understand the construction industry in the cyberpunk world. Leave the professional work to the professionals; he only needs to handle the basic general direction.

Of course, there's one more crucial thing—paying the money.

After receiving a payment of 100,000 euros, Adcardo's men also assured Mercer that they would use 20 people at a discounted rate of 40 euros per day to renovate and decorate the entire warehouse within a week.

This speed is ridiculously fast, and the price isn't expensive at all. Considering the wage levels in the cyberpunk world, the most ordinary, hardworking dockworker only earns about thirty euros a day.

Yes, in the cyberpunk world, an ordinary porter only earns 800 euros a month, and even skilled workers like Adcado's construction workers only earn 40 euros a day.

Of course, meals are not included, but water must be provided – water resources have always been a major problem in Night City, and a gallon of purified water costs an expensive 99 euros!

When construction is underway, the water purification system in the basement must be turned off first, because the workers don't want to drink tap water, as it could be fatal.

Mercer, unwilling to take advantage of his brothers, simply covered their meal and water expenses during the construction period, without bothering with bookkeeping and relying solely on the foreman's conscience to calculate the costs.

He had been in the camp for a while and knew that the people of Adcado, especially the workers, were living very poorly and had very little work.

Since they didn't need those few thousand euros, they simply raised the wages to fifty euros as well—which was the market price they would pay for working for outsiders—so they wouldn't take advantage of that favor.

There was only one requirement: to renovate the entire base for him as quickly and as well as possible.

Mercer thought that since they were going to do it anyway, they might as well completely change the entire warehouse, even the first floor, for example, replacing the hidden door with a hidden elevator.

He plans to convert the first floor into a mix of residential and commercial space. He intends to sell weapon modification parts and various chips in his shop, and also take on small businesses such as prosthetic program updates and weapon upgrades.

They can also use the surface shops to hide their true identities and the true purpose of the warehouse, thus concealing the underground base.

As long as Hanz and Adcado's workers don't leak the information, the Fire Seed Squad can safely hide in the secret base. Even if they are attacked, the enemy will not know that they actually live underground.

In a crisis, one can also evacuate through the uncleaned underground sewer pipe.

After leaving the renovation work to Adcardo, Mercer finally finished his busy work, breathed a sigh of relief, and invited the team to the afterlife to hold a proper celebration banquet.

By the way, maybe we can make some connections with Roger—it would be a huge loss to only sell the data and intelligence stolen from the biotechnology department to Wakako. Perhaps Roger has other ways to help him make more money, who knows?

But there was one piece of news that Mercer kept very well hidden.

That's about Joanna using a viral immunity agent to try and trick military technology into investing in the 'super soldier' ​​program.

He only gave the entire video of Emilia's interrogation to Diana Kuno, not because Mercer intended to hide the dirty secrets of biotechnology.

Instead, he planned to delete the part about 'Joanna trying to use the manufacture of immune agents to make empty promises to the military science community and deceive investors' and then release the video to other people with access to it.

The reason.
Of course, it's because Mercer is happy to see biotechnology severely undermine military technology.

Dr. Diana might even have to pay Mercer a hush money payment, since the initial investment in this project has already been made, and the dirt on her will definitely be exposed. If she doesn't get any returns at all...
Forget about her director position; she'll probably be sent to Antarctica to watch penguins.

Once the military science department falls for the trick, he can go and tell them that he has been deceived, and then make a hefty sum of money in intelligence fees and favors. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

When dealing with companies, you have to rip them off terribly. Otherwise, why would Mercer be hiding in Dogtown?
Moreover, Mercer hasn't even gotten the machine he wants yet, so he can't let Diana fall from grace so soon.

Night falls at the Next Life Bar.

When people saw the young Rebecca excitedly sitting at the bar, the mercenaries from the afterlife all looked a little tense.

What the hell is going on?
But when Mercer, wearing a mask, and Lucy, who was also wearing a fox demon mask, walked in, the mercenaries all tacitly looked away.

Of all the mercenaries present, who could confidently take down the berserk Fenrir in three to five seconds?

Because that cyberbullying incident was the only combat incident that had occurred in the afterlife in recent years, it unexpectedly became a hot topic among the afterlife mercenaries.

As a result, Mercer, a newcomer to the area, also became a 'celebrity' that many mercenaries had heard of.

Upon closer inspection, Mercer's body showed obvious signs of cybernetics, and the number of people in the team had increased significantly.

This gave many people the feeling that the Next Life Bar was about to welcome a new team that was about to become famous.

"Little Coke?" The moment Claire saw Mercer behind the bar, she couldn't help but smile with interest and took the initiative to greet him.

“Okay, let’s have a drink before we go find Roger. She should be done by now.”

Mercer said.

Claire gestured with her eyes towards his exposed neck: "What did you change it to? It's quite rare to see a prosthetic body with a modified neck, or is it just for looks?"

In the cyberpunk world, there are many people who modify their parts for aesthetic reasons. Some even plating their entire bodies in silver to make themselves look like metal people, describing that style as 'kitsch' and viewing it as a trend.

The shiny electroplated tattoos that Mercer and Lucy have on their faces are actually just one of the most common trendy prosthetic decorations in the world.

It's like the outfit V wears in the game, which has LED lights on the neckline; that also belongs to the kitsch street style.

"What I changed has to be kept secret, but I'm a hacker, so no matter what I change, it's all about this. If I had to say, I think I'm a typical 'entropy-increasing' type of person. As long as it's useful, I don't really care what the appearance changes to."

Entropy increase philosophy can be simply understood as pragmatism, which is the complete opposite of the style mentioned above.

After Mercer finished speaking, he paused and then laughed, "As long as my handsome face is still there, that's all that matters."

"Who knows if you're handsome or not?" Claire teased, glancing at his mask.

Rebecca suddenly perked up and looked up: "I think it's pretty handsome, I like it."

"Damn, wait a minute! When have you ever seen this before?" V's eyes widened.

Then, V turned to look at Lucy, then at Rebecca and Kivi, and finally said incredulously, "Am I the only one who hasn't seen what he looks like yet?"

"It's not that Rebecca took it off herself when I wasn't looking. It's not that I was deliberately being biased."

After Mercer finished speaking, V got angry: "You're talking nonsense! Don't think I don't know you have a synaptic accelerometer installed! You don't want anyone to see it. With Rebecca's speed, you could dodge it ten times!"

"The synaptic accelerator accelerates my brain, not my body! Let me make this clear, don't follow her example."

Mercer, seeing V's eagerness, quickly warned him, "You're not a child anymore."

These words actually worked on V. She pouted, glanced at Rebecca, and finally could only pick up a glass of whiskey with a sullen expression and gulp it down.

Claire couldn't help but laugh: "Your relationship has improved a lot."

"Yes, the people I brought here now are all official members of my team: V, Rebecca, Pila, Qiwei, and Lucy."

Mercer pointed to the people beside him: "The Fire Seed Squad, our squad's name will resound throughout the next life sooner or later."

“Yes, Fireseed Squad, I’ve got it.” Claire said with a smile.

However, Claire glanced at Rebecca, who was now gleefully chugging beer, and said, "But isn't the person you found a little too young?"

"They're all reliable people. In Night City, reliable people are always reliable, and unreliable people are always the same."

After Mercer finished speaking, Claire suddenly fell silent for a moment. She sighed, handed Pila a glass of wine, and then said, "You mean... there's no way to change an unreliable person?"

“You should have already known the answer when you asked that question,” Mercer simply said. “If you thought he would get better, you wouldn’t have asked that question.”

Claire shook her head: "I think he'll get better."

"I don't think so."

Mercer gave a seemingly arbitrary answer. He looked at Claire and said in a deep tone, "Don't let past love and gratitude influence your current judgment."

If people are trapped in the past, they cannot face the present, nor can they move towards the future.

Claire stared at him blankly for a moment: "How come it feels like you know everything even though I didn't say anything?"

"Some things don't need to be asked too much. You kept stroking your wedding ring while you were talking. You clearly had doubts about the other person, but you didn't dare to believe your own judgment and kept deceiving yourself by telling yourself that everything would be alright."
If a person has to resort to self-comfort and self-deception, then the situation has often deteriorated to a point where it's difficult to salvage.

After finishing his Coke, Mercer shrugged and said, "I'm just an outsider. Don't be too familiar with me. Think about it yourself, Claire."

But in my opinion, you're not a bad person, so the problem probably doesn't lie with you. Therefore, don't be too hard on yourself.

After listening for a long time, V finally understood what the two were talking about: "Relationship problems?"

“No, we’re talking about business,” Mercer said seriously.

V was taken aback: "What career? It doesn't sound like one."

“Hmm, it doesn’t sound like it to me either.” Mercer finished speaking and stood up decisively: “I’m going to see Roger. You can drink slowly.”

V clenched her fists and stared intently at him: "Let's have a good drink when we get back, okay?"

“Sure, I’ll have a Coke.” Mercer waved his hand and walked casually to the private room to find Roger.

V watched his departing figure with annoyance, then turned speechlessly to Lucy, who was wearing a mask and remained silent: "Why is he so annoying? Is he like that with you too?"

Lucy shook her head: "He likes to joke around sometimes, but he doesn't usually insult people like that."

"Damn it! They're targeting Sister V, aren't they! No way, I'm going to force him to drink a whole bottle today!"

V slammed his fist on the table in frustration: "Get me a bottle! I said get me a bottle of Rabbit God, I'm going to fight him to the death today!"

Qiwei said quietly, "Have you forgotten that after you drank a bottle last time, you swore this morning you'd never drink fast alcohol again? And because of that, Rebecca Pila earned tens of thousands of euros, and now you're home alone tonight?"

"Stop talking!" V hurriedly interrupted her, then said with some doubt, "Logically speaking, with your physical condition, you should have an amazing alcohol tolerance, right?"

“Yes, it does have a strong ability to metabolize alcohol.” Rebecca said smugly, “It drinks fast, digests fast, and gets drunk fast too.”

"Damn, so I sober up fast too!" V muttered. "Something's not right. I'll have to ask Old Wei."

The group chatted and laughed, while Mercer finally waited for Roger to finish his work.

After brushing past a few unfamiliar mercenaries, Mercer casually sat down on a sofa on one side of the Rogue's box: "As expected of the Queen of the Next Life, it seems you always have something to do."

"If a middleman has nothing going on at 7 p.m., I bet she's close to being washed up."

Roger remained unmoved by Mercer's teasing, simply picking up his glass and taking a sip with a calm expression: "Tell me, why did you come to me?"

"This is a list of data I obtained from a biotechnology server. I have labeled each data point with its name and a brief description. If you are interested, make an offer and I will give you the data."

Mercer used the same tactics he used with Wakako, handing the list to Roger.

Roger watched for a moment, then chuckled, "So this is the job Wakako assigned you."

"You knew?" Mercer asked, somewhat surprised.

"Hmm, why don't you guess again, who asked her to do this job?" Roger said meaningfully.

Mercer instinctively wanted to answer Arasaka, but after thinking for a moment, he gave a completely different answer: "Military Science?!"

(End of this chapter)