Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 79 Action
Dogtown, the living room of the Spark Base.

"So, what do you mean"

Pila stared at Mercer, her mouth agape in shock: "We not only have to deal with more than twenty specialized soldiers in biotechnology, but also a combat team in military technology?"
This group also included two elite soldiers equipped with centaur armor, a military Behemoth transport vehicle, and a lizard-like war chariot.

Pila almost laughed out loud at the absurdity: "I'm telling you, even if you sent Colonel Hansen, the boss of Dogtown, to deal with this level of transport security, he'd still wipe out half of his Ghosthound soldiers, right?"

"If we face this joint transport team head-on, I think we're in serious trouble."

Mercer then tapped the table and said seriously, "So, I think if we want to successfully steal what I want, we only have three ways."

"First, we will defeat them one by one."

Mercer said in a deep voice, "We must separate the security teams of Biotechnology and Military Science to deal with them. According to intelligence, Military Science's security forces will join Biotechnology in the border area of ​​Night City."

In other words, we have some time before they meet, which allows us to prioritize dealing with the military science or biotechnology teams.

I prefer to tackle the military science nut directly. If we can succeed, we might even be able to use their magic lizards to steal their biotechnology.

Then all we need to do is have the stolen goods secretly transported away by Adcado's men and left in the camp for the time being.

Afterwards, I will use a program to hijack the vehicle's infotainment system, creating the illusion that the convoy is heading towards Northern California or Mexico, in order to mislead the enemy and buy some time.

After that, we must quickly eliminate the biotechnology Diana, then go into stealth mode to see if our partner is reliable.

If things don't go smoothly, we'll retreat. We'll take everything we can through Adcardo's connections and head to Mexico, Cuba, or anywhere else—just to lay low for a while.

After Mercer finished speaking, he looked at everyone's expressions and then said, "If everything goes smoothly, this will all come to an end after Diana's death, and biotechnology will have to reluctantly compensate the military science."

Our newly appointed military science operations captain will also turn a blind eye to us. After receiving sufficient compensation, the military science team will not keep bothering us. As for the biotechnology side, I guess they don't have the ability to cause trouble in Dogtown.

We could simply stay in Dogtown and continue what we were doing.

"Keep a low profile for about a year to avoid the limelight, observe the situation, develop the base's business, and deepen cooperative relationships with all parties."

Pila frowned and asked, "This is quite difficult, isn't it? Not to mention what if we can't finish this quickly and the enemy gets reinforcements?"

What if the other party suddenly decides to change the meeting point before setting off, or even decides to meet in Southern California before departing together?

Mercer nodded, then said, "My second plan is to have them deliver the goods first, and then we'll steal them from the biotechnology company."

This time, Qi Wei frowned and said worriedly, "Once Diana finds out that we haven't made a move, she will probably realize that her secret cooperation with the Military Science Department has been exposed. If she tries to steal again, she will most likely run into a trap."

Furthermore, we can't use heavy firepower in Night City, otherwise the Terrorist Mobile Squad might be deployed again. Those lunatics in the Terrorist Mobile Squad are all modified to a degree no less than V-class.

"Then let's talk about the third one, which is also the craziest one in my opinion."

Mercer sighed, then said, "We'll just rob it from Night City."

"What?" Pila gasped. "You mean we should just rob them in the city? Wouldn't that still mean facing the Terrorist Squad?"

"Yes, we'll strike when they enter the city—due to the laws of Night City, neither military science nor biotechnology dares to openly bring in heavy firepower."

In other words, whether it's the Demon Lizard or the Centaur armor, they all have to be disarmed before entering Night City. What we'll be dealing with is at most a group of elite soldiers in armored vehicles.

Mercer emphasized, "I will improve the ctOS system as soon as possible and ensure that it is online before we take action. At that time, I will be able to control the traffic signals and command and dispatch of the entire city."

We finished the battle within ten minutes in the most remote suburbs possible, took the loot, split up and retreated, hiding the machines in the Badlands until things calmed down, then dismantled them into parts and brought them back to base.

"The NCPD can't possibly have only one communication system, right? And if the battle is taking place within the city, the support from military science agents and biotechnology agents will be very quick."

Lucy reminded Mercer with concern, "If it's found out that we were the ones who did it, I doubt Hansen of Dogtown would risk a direct confrontation with these two companies for our sake."

Even if we hide in Dogtown, we'll probably still be caught by those agents, or Hansen might even come and arrest us directly to ensure our safety.

Mercer did not make the decision alone, but discussed the three main plans in depth with everyone, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each option.

Ultimately, everyone made a decision.

"Then let's use multiple approaches in parallel. If the opportunity is right, we'll take action in the border area."

But if there's no opportunity in the border region, we'll find them near Night City and take action when they've neutralized their heavy firepower.

If neither of these options works, then don't bother looking for the equipment. Instead, kill Diana directly, and then take advantage of the chaos to steal the equipment. If that doesn't work either way, then just let it go.

Mercer finalized the action plan, arranging: "But no matter where we strike, we must deploy our maximum firepower, even at the risk of equipment being destroyed, to ensure the safety of our personnel as much as possible."

"As for how to keep our identities secret and extricate ourselves from this matter as much as possible," Mercer said, squinting as he began to sort out his thoughts.

First, how many people can be traced back to their identities through this incident?
V boasted to Mann's team in the bar about a biotech job they'd done, but which of these street mercenaries hasn't done a company-related job?

Therefore, from a street perspective, it is difficult to determine their identities.

As for the middleman, Roger is definitely trustworthy. If she wanted to sell Mercer, she could sell him to Arasaka now and make ten million euros.

Moreover, if they were to sell him to Michiko Arasaka, they might be able to make another profit from New America.

Therefore, Rogge will not betray him.

Wakako had no idea that they were planning something big. Even if someone asked her, all she would know was the details of Mercer's previous request.

The only risk is that if Diana Kuno tells others about this, and they want to trace the whole incident back to its source, those people might find a breakthrough through Wakako.

Did she tell anyone else about this?

Mercer wasn't entirely sure, but he was certain that Diana Kuno had absolutely no idea who he was, and she certainly wouldn't dare to secretly investigate Mercer and the others' identities at this critical juncture.

Because if any link in the chain leaks the news and Mercer finds out that someone is investigating her, then she will obviously be doomed.

So, at most, some people know that the group that Wakako commissioned had targeted Diana and threatened her to apply for a batch of equipment.

As long as Wakako didn't inform the military, his identity shouldn't have been noticed before or after the robbery. By the time others started investigating afterward, Mercer and his men would have already disappeared without a trace.

"We need to confirm whether Wakako will betray us."

As soon as Mercer finished speaking, Pila scratched his head and said, "I don't think so."

"Huh? You two are very close?" Rebecca scoffed. "Don't pretend you're such good friends with her."

"Please, Dad used to call her 'Auntie,' do you think she would just sell us off to the military science department like that?"

Pila, however, argued vehemently, "She's backed by Arasaka, not the Military Science Academy. If the Military Science Academy wanted to know our identities, I believe Wakako wouldn't sell us out because of this little bit of pressure!"
Even if they sold it, they would definitely have informed us beforehand so we could leave in advance.

Mercer pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "That makes sense. But just in case, after we finish this job and kill Diana, we should all go our separate ways for a while and lay low."

"Break up?!" Rebecca was the first to disagree: "No way, if we break up, where will Pila and I go?"

“I could go back to Haywood Street and enjoy myself for a while.” V frowned. “But where are you going after we break up?”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay here. When the time comes, Qiwei will go with you, and I’ll have Xingzi and Lucy go back to Adcardo for a while to avoid trouble.”

As soon as Mercer finished speaking, Lucy shook her head decisively: "If you don't leave, I won't leave either."

"What? This isn't some cliché scene from a movie where 'you guys go first, I'll cover the rear.'"

Mercer said with a wry smile, "Don't forget that our base has a secret passage. If things get complicated, I'll just dive through the sewers and escape."

Once I arrive in Pacific State, with my hacking skills, I could slip away unnoticed; even new American agents wouldn't be able to catch me.

"Then I'll keep it. If we're talking about running away, I'm much faster than you."

V said, staring at him one last time, her tone resolute: "Even if you want to stay, then let's both run away together."

"With your hacking skills and my combat prowess, even if those agents come in helicopters, we'll both be able to escape alive."

After a moment of contemplation, something popped into Moser's mind.

Behavioral feature-synchronized face mask – a cutting-edge technology from DLC in cyberpunk games that can perfectly disguise a person's physical details, facial features, and biological characteristics as another person after recording their information.

It's safe to say that once this facial recognition feature is enabled, even if you stand on the street and let the NCPD scan your face, they won't be able to find your true identity.

If we can get our hands on this, and things don't look good, we can just turn on the face-based system and run away.

But if we try to steal this thing, wouldn't that be like trying to evade the military science department's watchful eye, only to run right into the sights of the new America?
Furthermore, Mercer didn't even know if there was any stock of this thing in Dogtown. In the game, V obtained this thing through the channels of two high-ranking agents, Reed and Alex.

Even if he goes there himself and finds the prosthetic doctor who works with them, he might not be able to find the stock of face plates.

Mercer pondered for a long time, and finally tapped the table: "Let's not worry about this for now. I'll figure out what to do later."

"What equipment have you got your eye on? You've come this far, and you still won't give up?"

V, however, couldn't contain himself and asked, "If you ask me, we should just kill Diana."

"The more you stir things up, the bigger the mess becomes, and the more people are involved. You've dragged someone from a deputy director of biotechnology to the military science department, and now you're collaborating with a senior agent from the military science department."

"It's a rapid cloning device," Mercer decided to confess.

The others exchanged bewildered glances: "Cloning? What do you need that technology for?"

"It's not just cloning, it's rapid cloning—according to the biotechnology database, it can clone a complete adult body in a month."

While genetic failure is possible, the success rate becomes very high if the preset parameters are lowered to clone an individual with lower potential values ​​in various aspects of their own body.

After Mercer finished speaking, seeing that everyone still didn't quite understand, he simply asked directly, "Does anyone here know anything about Arasaka's 'Protecting Your Soul' project?"

“I saw it on TV. They said it could store a person’s consciousness so that they could communicate with their deceased relatives. But that thing has already been exposed online. It’s just a copy of a fake memory.”

As V spoke, his eyes widened slightly, guessing that Mercer might have some crazy ideas.

"Because the Arakawa-saka-made versions are all cut down."

Mercer paused for a moment, then said, "'Protect Your Soul' project's core technology originated from the super program 'Soul Killer' created by a genius hacker, or rather a programmer, Otto Cunningham, fifty years ago."

Qiwei unconsciously picked up a cigarette: "Is there really such a program? I saw it online, and I thought it was just some hacker who likes to talk about ancient times making things up."

"It's true. This program can completely upload and transform human consciousness into a data consciousness entity. Arasaka kidnapped Otcanian for this technology."

Her ex-boyfriend, Johnny Silverhand, stormed the Arasaka Tower twice for her sake, the last time triggering a nuclear explosion that plunged Night City into the 'Red Age,' a period plagued by red radiation for decades.

Mercer slowly recounted this urban legend-like story, earnestly stating, "Ottcanningen is still alive; her consciousness has become a very powerful AI in the cyber world."

Even in Hong Kong, which is already under AI control, she established her own 'Shangri-La' cyber kingdom, housing roving AIs and some consciousnesses uploaded by the Soul Killer program.

"You're not thinking of using the Soul Killer program in conjunction with this cloning technology, are you? Mercer, wake up! Saburo Arasaka has been researching this technology for decades! He's never even tried transferring his personality between different bodies. What makes you think you can?"

Lucy had already figured out what Mercer was planning, and at that moment, she spoke urgently, even standing up: "I disagree. If it's for that purpose, I refuse to carry out this operation!"

“I also refuse.” V said with a serious expression, “You’re already daring. I can’t even imagine how crazy you would be if you thought you could be resurrected at any time by transferring your consciousness.”

“I disagree too! What if something goes wrong? What if your consciousness transfer fails and you become an AI? Or what if you are uploaded as a madman? I disagree!” Rebecca also refused.

Mercer simply pressed his palm down slightly and then said, "Don't worry, do I look like some idiot who gets hold of new technology and can't wait to use it on himself for human experimentation?"

He smiled and then said, "I can assure you that this technology will never be used lightly; it will only be used for experimentation. Most importantly..."

Mercer said with great interest, "Have you ever considered that combining these two technologies could potentially resurrect someone who has already become a consciousness?"

"Why didn't Saburo Arasaka try it? Mercer, I think you're still too idealistic." Lucy still seemed very resistant.

She always felt that as long as she could snatch this thing, Mercer would definitely use it—that was just his personality; no matter how risky it was, he would do it if he thought it was possible, and he had been doing it ever since he escaped from Arasaka.

"First, because this technology must be used in conjunction with the Relic chip, and the Relic chip technology is not yet fully developed, it can currently only work on dead people."

"Second, consciousness transfer is different from loading an already uploaded consciousness into the body. The former means that after you upload your consciousness and begin the transfer, you enter an irreversible reincarnation process."

"That old bastard Saburo Arasaka, his body can still sustain him for a few more years. Of course, he won't rush to kill his own body while the technology is still unstable, gambling on an immature technology."

After Mercer finished speaking, he emphasized, "As for reviving others, how do you know that Saburo Arasaka hasn't tried it? The current Relic chip is doing just that."

However, using this technology on the dead carries too many uncertainties, because it means not only transferring consciousness but also replacing the original owner's consciousness, and ensuring the dead can be brought back to life.

Mercer laughed and said, "But with cloning technology, it's different. A human cloned quickly is a plant without consciousness. No matter how you modify him, he will not consciously resist."

"Why doesn't Arasaka collaborate with biotechnology companies? Or develop related technologies on its own?" Lucy countered.

"What consequences do you think would occur if Arasaka were to collaborate with biotechnology companies to develop this technology?"

Mercer sneered and said, "Let those people know that Saburo Arasaka is plotting immortality? Or do you want Saburo Arasaka to share the right to immortality with others?"
As for the self-developed cloning project, Arakawa is currently facing a talent gap, internal and external troubles, and even the 'security business' that supports the company's main revenue is almost a joke. Where would they find the resources, time and money to research cloning technology?
If Saburo Arasaka were a hundred years younger, perhaps he would consider pursuing both simultaneously. But now, Saburo Arasaka has no time for cloning. He's dying, and he must complete the Relic consciousness transfer project as soon as possible. Nothing else matters.

Mercer believes there is an even more important reason, which is Saburo Arasaka's emphasis on his own bloodline.

This old man was a staunch believer in the absolutes of bloodline, perhaps harboring a strong aversion to cloning. In Saburo Arasaka's eyes, resurrecting one's own son or grandson in their body was far better than living in a cloned body. Seeing the heightened opposition, Mercer simply reassured everyone, "I guarantee that unless absolutely necessary, I will never use this technology on our own people."

I will test it on other consciousnesses first, and I will never risk myself until the technology is confirmed to be feasible.

Lucy stared at Mercer in silence for a long while before suddenly asking, "Have you already decided which consciousness you want to resurrect?"

“Yes.” Mercer didn’t hide anything and nodded, “I want to resurrect Johnny Silverhand.”

“That idiot who detonated the nuclear bomb?” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “What’s the point of resurrecting him? If we could find Morgan Blackhand, I think it might be worthwhile.”

“He is Roger’s old lover, and also Ultra’s old lover. I once made a deal with Ultra: if I could rescue him, Ultra would owe me a favor.”

Mercer emphasized, "You may not know Ultra's current strength, but I can say this clearly: as long as she still owes me a favor, even if we nuke Night City again, we can all go to Europe or Hong Kong to live out our old age safely."

"And I think bringing this rock kid back to life would also help my dream."

Mercer sighed, "Although he's a scumbag and an idiot, there's no doubt he's a very charismatic guy who makes a lot of people willing to go crazy with him—if he came back to life, this city might come back to life too."

“Sigh.” Rebecca sighed. “You seem to have made up your mind.”

"Why don't we look on the bright side?" Mercer said optimistically. "If this technology succeeds, we might be the only people in the world who have mastered the technology of true consciousness transfer and resurrection."

"I don't think this technology will be a good thing. Mercer, you'll become another 'Ultraman' in the eyes of those rich people, and they'll go crazy for your technology."

Lucy said worriedly.

Mercer smiled optimistically and said, "By then, they will be the ones who are afraid. Just think about it, how terrifying would a Bartmouth who is not afraid of physical death be in this world of the Internet of Things?"
Only with this power do I have the confidence to realize my dreams.

“I don’t agree with your idea. But if you want to try, then give it a shot.” ​​V softened her heart.

Lucy hesitated, then just looked at him for a long while before saying, "Think of Murphy the Spider."

Mercer nodded and said, "I know, but consider it insurance. Think about what happened to Barthemos, I need to have a backup plan. What do you think?"

Lucy didn't speak, but after a moment of silence, she nodded, agreeing with his idea.

With Mercer's talent, unless he is willing to remain an unknown nobody, sooner or later he will become someone coveted by all ambitious people.

For a super genius whose hacking talent might surpass Barthemos and whose programming skills might surpass those of Otto Canningen, those big companies would only give him two choices.

Either make him one of our own, or ruin him—back then, Barthemos was recruited by countless companies, and no matter how much trouble he caused, some companies would still grit their teeth and recruit him to work for them.

Until everyone realized that Bartmos was an ingrate who could never be tamed, they tacitly began to choose another way to deal with him: physical destruction.

Back then, Arasaka even went so far as to try to kill Bartmos by covering an entire area with artillery fire, and if Mercer had gone that far...
Lucy thought that perhaps some company would choose to put a nuclear bomb on his head.

Mercer indeed had no choice.

He had to prepare a backup plan for when all else failed; Bartmouth's body was still frozen in the freezer, and he didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

Rather than inexplicably becoming a wandering AI after death, it's better to prepare for the worst while alive. Even if things go wrong, there's still a chance to live as a human again.

Instead of being forced to become a consciousness, separated from one's friends and family by death.

Murphy's situation has shown him what it would be like to fully embrace datafication. At that time, Mercer might become the most powerful AI in history, or even achieve mechanical ascension. But at that time, would he still be human? Would he still be himself?
As for Johnny Silver Hand
Although it sounds nice, take those claims about wanting him to reignite the city with a grain of salt.

Mercer was actually using him as a guinea pig, but saying it out loud was a bit too harsh—however, if Silverhand could be safely resurrected from the cloned body, Mercer felt that he could definitely do it too.

As for where the genes used to clone Silver Hand's body came from, that's something Ultraman or Rogue have to worry about themselves.

If you really can't find one, then you can only find a random gene to create a face and make do. Given Silverhand's personality, he probably doesn't care whether the body is original or not.

The group exchanged glances and tacitly agreed to temporarily stop discussing matters related to cloning technology.

Anyway, things might not be done yet. Even if we get the stuff, Mercer's technology might not be able to make it work. Let's leave the specifics for later.

After discussing this extensively, when the group talked about the Sixth Street Gang's business again, they suddenly felt less pressured.

Think about the magic lizards from the Military Science Department, and then think about those dozens of professional soldiers who are still waiting for them to deal with them. Compared to them, aren't these Sixth Street Gang members just a bunch of rotten fish and shrimp?

So, after a relaxed and pleasant meeting about the Sixth Street gang, Mercer announced the disbandment, letting V and Lucy figure out their own operational details, while Mercer's side would keep it simple and adapt to the situation.

He plunged into the server room to continue improving the ctOS system, while Qimingxing diligently monitored the network data, using NCPD's city surveillance system to keep a close eye on some of Mercer's recent targets.

To test the ctOS system's ability to collect big data, Mercer added people he knew, including Mann's team, Old V, Misty, and Jack, as well as enemies like Diana Kuno, to the Morning Star's watchlist.

Qimingxing will monitor their situation in real time through information collected from city surveillance and various networked devices.

If an unexpected event occurs, or even before it happens, the system can predict what might happen using data and then report to Mercer what needs to be addressed and monitored.

Mercer is constantly optimizing the algorithm and improving the ctOS system in this way, hoping that one day the ctOS system can be used to achieve city-wide monitoring and analysis, and then AI can automatically report any major events that have happened or may happen.

If this step can be achieved, then the ctOS system is complete. The next step is to let the AI ​​continuously optimize the algorithm itself.

As for other supporting functions such as traffic control, they are all based on the authority of the city hall and NCPD over urban public facilities, and there is no technical difficulty involved.

Time flew by, and before nightfall the following day, Mercer and Rebecca packed their weapons and equipment and quietly drove a very inconspicuous, ubiquitous Thunderbolt Colby to the next block of their destination.

Mercer's first target was John Weir, the head of the Sixth Street gang's hidden pharmaceutical factory in a two-story building.

He installed Sianwistan, arguably Mercer's most troublesome type of enemy—but fortunately, this time he was in the shadows while the enemy was in the open, allowing him to freely choose the appropriate battlefield and launch the first attack.

Mercer and Rebecca sat relaxed in the car and waited quietly until V sent a signal. Only then did Mercer use Polaris to autopilot the car towards the block of the two-story building where their target was located.

More precisely, his goal was to drive the car onto the main road leading from that neighborhood to the canyon area.

[V: We've started our operation.]

Mercer: Be careful, stay in touch.

[V: Received, you too.]

Mercer: Hmm.

After briefly confirming the intelligence, Mercer waited patiently for the target to appear.

Meanwhile, V sent out a battle report in about thirty seconds.

[Qiwei: The first floor is safe.]

[V: Please remove the security camera at the corner on the second floor.]

[Lucy: Hack in progress.]

[Lucy: The security server connected to the second-floor camera is the main server. Qiwei and I need to go back to the hacker car to provide you with remote support.]

V: Understood.

This time, everyone used a web chat software that was moved to the server for combat communication. Mercer monitored their battle situation in real time in the group and knew their progress at a glance.

After waiting for about a minute, Qimingxing, which had been monitoring the situation through city cameras, sent out a warning.

[Morning Star: Target John Weir has led Sixth Street Gang combatants out of the target building. The enemy's total size is: three vehicles and nine combatants.]

The specific member analysis is as follows:
The target vehicle is an Alvarado V4F 570 mission, and is estimated to arrive at your intersection in one minute and thirty seconds.

Mercer glanced at Rebecca, who seemed a little nervous beside him, and said, "The target will arrive in one minute and thirty seconds. They're driving an Alvarado, with two other cars behind them, and a total of nine people."

"The lead car is Johnwell's. When he comes, I'll first slow down the cars behind to disrupt their formation, then hack Johnwell. You just need to buy me time to hack in."

"Understood. Don't worry, if he wants to cause you trouble, he'll have to get over my dead body first."

Before she could finish speaking, Mercer tapped her on the head: "Don't say such unlucky things. With your abilities, he doesn't have that kind of skill."

"Hehe." Rebecca relaxed, gripping the iron bladder, not angry at him for hitting her head, but focused intently on the street: "Alright! Then watch carefully!"

Mercer hummed in agreement, took off his coat beforehand, and sat up straight.

The pre-activated cooling system began to hum, and Mercer's prosthetic eye started to flash as a luxurious two-seater came into view.

Once all three cars were within Mercer's 32-meter range, Mercer decisively took action, sending a virus to the last car that would floor the accelerator and a virus to the middle car that would brake to a standstill.

After the virus was deployed, Mercer focused his attention on the open window of the lead car, where he could clearly see a middle-aged white man sitting in the passenger seat.

"alert."

The moment Mercer finished speaking, Rebecca suddenly kicked open the half-closed car door and pulled the trigger of her iron gun without hesitation.

The moment Mercer finished speaking and began hacking, John Will, sitting in the passenger seat of the luxury car, looked over with murderous intent and, with a speed too fast for the naked eye to see, pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Mercer.

At this moment, Mercer, Rebecca, and John Will all entered an accelerated state. What is one second for ordinary people is slowed down to five, six, or even longer for them.

Rebecca's Krenzikov has been pushed to its maximum level, and the Berserk System has begun using nanotechnology to enhance her muscles.

The power surging from the gorilla's arm made her even faster at raising and firing her gun than S.A.S.S., who was accelerating his entire body!

The powerful Ironclad Bullet fired, but because John Will had opened the car window, the car's bulletproof system was no longer a function.

The bullet flew in through the passenger window without any obstruction, blasting the driver in the driver's seat into a pile of half-eaten flesh stuck to the driver's seat!

As for John Will?

Less than 0.1 seconds after Rebecca fired, he raised his gun to return fire, ducked, opened the car door, and jumped out of the car at incredible speed, starting to run down the street at an S-shaped pace.

John Will held a pistol in one hand, not even glancing at Rebecca, and simply pulled the trigger rapidly towards Mercer's driver's seat. His firing speed was extremely fast, and the sound of the gunshots was like a series of firecrackers to ordinary people.

But with his other hand, he flicked out a mantis knife, aimed at Rebecca, and swung it with anticipation.

At this moment, Rebecca's smile was somewhat ferocious. Her shotgun required her to pull the bolt before firing, which required her to master the timing of the shot.

The reason she didn't immediately continue firing was that she realized John Will's target was Mercer, so after firing the first shot, she immediately used her feet to hook and close, or rather, smash the car door shut.

John Will's bullets clattered against the car door. The bulletproof glass and body of the car meant that his pistol could only leave a few cracks in the glass. The only bullet that managed to penetrate the glass was severely degraded in speed.

Mercer, who was also accelerating to the limit at that moment, easily dodged it by slightly tilting his head.

John Will gritted his teeth, wanting to try another approach to take down Mercer, but then his expression suddenly changed.

The crimson words 'hacked' and 'ICE ineffective' flashing in his eyes made his heart seem to stop for a moment amidst this high-speed game.

"Impossible! My military ICE!"

Before he could finish speaking, a shotgun was shoved into his mouth. Rebecca laughed maniacally as she pulled the trigger, while John Will, whose prosthetic body had been abruptly shut down, could only watch helplessly as the world returned to its original speed.

The image of Rebecca pulling the trigger became the last thing he remembered before he died.

"boom!"

The violent Ironclad shot blew John Will's head apart, but his body continued forward due to the inertia of S.A.W. Steinstein.

After taking just one step, the headless corpse lost its balance, crashed into the car, and bounced away as if it had been thrown into the air, rolling away into the distance.

At this moment, some of the Sixth Street Gang members in the remaining two cars still didn't understand what was happening.

Mercer continued to maintain the brain-computer interface overclock, but deactivated the synaptic accelerator. With a sigh of relief, he quickly uploaded the magic puppet to the opposing group.

For Rebecca, however, the task was much simpler.

She stood by Mercer's car door, holding the iron cannon, aiming at the two cars that had suddenly gone out of control—one slamming on the brakes and stopping in place, the other losing control of the accelerator and crashing hard into the rear of the car in front—and kept pulling the trigger.

The people in the car in front had their windows smashed by Rebecca's two sprays and their cabins shattered by her three sprays. The passengers in the car behind didn't even have time to fight back before they were convulsing and bursting into flames inside the car.

When Mercer took over the three vehicles, Rebecca went to check them one by one with a shotgun. In less than five seconds, all three vehicles and nine people were reduced to a pile of gruesome corpses.

"Whoa!" After Rebecca confirmed that all the targets had been eliminated, she excitedly returned to give Mercer a high-five, only to find upon opening the car door that...
She used too much force to close the car door for Mercer in time; the door closed, but it was welded shut.
But Rebecca quickly changed her mind and decided to use brute force to pull the car door out. After getting into the passenger seat, she used all her strength to 'reattach' the door.

"Thank goodness this car isn't worth much," Mercer grumbled. "Next time I guess I'll have to replace your doors with detachable ones so you can carry them out."

Rebecca imagined herself lifting the car door off the road and bursting into laughter: "Wouldn't that be great? Just use it as a bulletproof shield, wouldn't that be cool?"

Mercer slammed on the gas pedal—this car was an old one he'd hastily acquired from the old captain, lacking a reliable vehicle control system, so he couldn't enjoy Polaris's autopilot.

"Now... shall we go to the casino?"

Rebecca took a deep breath; the hot barrel of the gun was still emitting wisps of smoke.

“Mm.” Mercer nodded, meeting her gaze. “Let’s go to the casino and get revenge for you.”

(End of this chapter)