The excavation of the Cynosure facility progressed much faster than Mercer had anticipated. In less than fifteen days, he had not only cleared a passage using unmanned equipment but also preliminarily disabled the internal defense systems.
However, before Mercer could remotely locate the servers inside and insert the chip containing the program Alt had given him, a series of bizarre incidents occurred.
First, the AI of the bot malfunctioned. For two full days, it circled aimlessly around the entrance structure, a basic underground level seven meters deep, utterly failing to locate the descent point. The true core server room and laboratories of the Cynosure facility lay dozens of meters underground. Mercer had seen it in the game: a conspicuously large area accessible via a massive rail elevator, impossible to miss.
After retrieving the bot, Mercer meticulously analyzed its data logs and arrived at two troubling conclusions. From the moment it breached the access control and entered the facility, the bot had been subjected to significant signal interference. Mercer strongly suspected it wasn't mere interference but an active hack.
He halted the exploration of the Cynosure facility and instead conducted a thorough screening of the bot's programming. As expected, he found traces of the hack. The fact that it could silently breach the ICE he'd installed in the bot, leaving the built-in AI completely unaware, was alarming.
Refusing to give up, Mercer deployed an advanced Minotaur mech. After disarming its weapon systems, he equipped it with a large ICE device, rewrote a high-level ICE program, and sent it into the facility. This time, it smoothly located the rail elevator leading deep underground. After restoring power, the Minotaur mech was dispatched into the depths of the subterranean facility.
But then, something even more terrifying occurred: shortly after descending, the Minotaur mech began experiencing signal interference. When the signal finally restored, the mech had not only returned to the surface on its own but also exhibited extreme aggression, indiscriminately attacking the Barghest soldiers and bots sent to retrieve it. Fortunately, Mercer had preemptively removed its weapons, preventing any casualties.
A detailed examination of the subdued Minotaur mech confirmed Mercer's suspicions: its AI had been deliberately corrupted, its core logic hacked and altered. Out of caution, Mercer erased and completely rewrote the AI.
It became clear that continuing to deploy drones underground amid such persistent signal interference was nearly impossible. The attacker first jammed signals to sever the bots' external network connections before striking, meaning if Mercer sent people down, they would lose contact too.
Exercising caution, Mercer still refrained from personally investigating the Cynosure facility. Instead, he had Maine recommend an elite, relatively trustworthy Barghest squad, accompanied by a technical expert, to conduct an in-depth survey of the facility. Surprisingly, the operation proceeded smoothly. Not only had this group found the rail elevator and ventured underground to locate the server mainframe, but they were subsequently forced to retreat the same way after failing to breach the Cynosure facility's permissions.
Mercer wrote the program left by Alt onto a storage chip and sent the same Barghest squad back in to insert it into the computer; yet the mainframe unexpectedly rejected the program installation, triggering an automatic security lock that forced the system into protection mode.
The Barghest technical expert dispatched underground struggled for hours before eventually leaving in disappointment to report the situation to Mercer.
"The mainframe controls the secure access routes to the server room. The server mainframe we managed to reach has locked out program installations and won't read the chip. As for the mainframe's protection protocols... we couldn't breach them."
The technical expert looked somewhat embarrassed: "Even using the quickhack program you wrote didn't work."
Beside Mercer, V slapped her forehead and said: "Why not just blow the damn door open? Get some breaching charges, blast your way to the server room, then plug the chip into the server. Simple!"
"Theoretically feasible, but we're concerned the servers might have anti-tampering security locks. In emergency situations, they could automatically wipe data... There might even be self-destruct protocols in the facility. These are all possibilities."
The technical expert stated bluntly: "I think you'll probably need to go down there personally. The place is covered with Militech logos; I doubt any ordinary netrunner or tech specialist could crack this system."
These Barghest soldiers didn't know they were excavating a secret Militech facility, only that it was a mysterious underground installation Mercer had "accidentally discovered" and were required to maintain strict confidentiality.
It wasn't until they entered and saw the Militech logos on the walls that they realized whose territory this actually was.
"Understood. I'll go myself." Mercer nodded, not giving the Barghest squad any trouble.
After rewarding them with substantial bonuses, Mercer personally began formulating a plan to enter the Cynosure facility.
His task wasn't particularly complicated, either enter the server room to install Alt's program directly, or breach the mainframe's security locks to transmit the program to the servers through the mainframe.
Yet Mercer felt uneasy. What if this was a trap laid by the AI inside?
What if it had deliberately let the scouting Barghest team pass, only to lure him in personally?
This possibility couldn't be dismissed.
But this only further confirmed the facility's dangerous nature. After long consideration, Mercer ultimately decided to take the risk.
Since the facility remained operational, it meant both power systems and servers were still running. This also implied that if any rogue AI currently controlled the Cynosure facility, it could potentially use the servers to access Night City's networks, even Dogtown's.
Letting a potentially highly dangerous AI quietly wreak havoc beneath their feet? Better to defuse this bomb sooner rather than later for peace of mind.
After finalizing the plan and equipping specialized anti-AI defensive gear, Mercer cautiously geared up with selected members of the Kindling Squad and personally entered the underground through the excavated entrance. The core structure of the Cynosure facility lies thirty meters underground. After entering the building approximately six to seven meters below the surface, one must take an internal rail elevator to descend deeper before officially reaching the heart of Cynosure.
To be honest, Mercer felt a twinge of greed seeing how well-preserved the facility was.
The place was simply too impressive. Despite being abandoned for years, the entire underground base remained spotless, with nearly all internal facilities intact. Though many devices had been removed, numerous advanced research equipment had been left behind temporarily.
Building such an imposing underground base from scratch would cost at least a billion eurodollars, an unthinkable expense.
Unfortunately, Mercer couldn't risk Militech discovering his intrusion into Cynosure just yet. Suppressing his greed, he led V and the others to the entrance of the facility's core area.
After pressing the rail elevator button, a massive elevator ascended from below and halted before them. Mercer checked the system protocols before stepping onto it first.
Geared up, Jackie, V, and Rebecca followed closely behind.
The rest of the team had been left on the surface as a contingency plan. Maine, his partner, along with a group of netrunners and Pilar, remained topside. If everything went smoothly, Mercer estimated two hours would suffice to gain full control of Cynosure.
But if they encountered traps and failed to delta safely within two hours, the external team would initiate emergency protocols: cutting power and network access, then launching a full-scale assault with heavy weaponry.
At that point, Mercer wouldn't hesitate to let them dismantle the entire facility.
"This place is like a maze. It's clean, sure… but it's creepy how a space this huge has zero people around," Rebecca muttered as the rail elevator descended deeper. She glanced around curiously, peppering Mercer with questions: "So this is Militech's decades-old secret base? Gotta admit, it's fancy! They just abandoned a prime spot like this? Damn, how many eurodollars went into this…"
V watched their surroundings warily. "Stay alert. The fact that we've made it this far without trouble feels wrong to me."
"Ugh, don't jinx it…" Rebecca retorted, though her expression tightened. Everyone knew V's hunches tended to be accurate.
Mercer, however, remained calm. "Relax. Previous incidents were concentrated underground. Given that Cynosure lacks serious firepower, just some outdated bots, there's no need to panic."
The real danger would likely emerge in the net. That's why Jackie carried a bulky signal booster on his back. Even in his Tank armor, which made him loom over 190 cm tall, the booster still resembled an oversized, heavy backpack. This signal booster is still connected via an optical fiber, allowing physical connection to the server. This design avoids network signal interference, enabling Mercer to temporarily plug in and mobilize server computing power to enhance his cyber combat capabilities.
Mercer didn't dare bring Morning Star along. Facing a place that might possess the ability to corrupt an AI, it was better to keep his precious AI at a safe distance. If it got hacked, he would genuinely be heartbroken.
The rail elevator swiftly descended underground through the passage. As the group stepped out, they couldn't help but turn their eyes uniformly toward Mercer.
Just as the elevator went underground, the previously well-lit Cynosure facility abruptly lost power.
Only a few red emergency lights and the multicolored standby indicators from idle equipment illuminated the pitch-black underground space.
Even so, the sudden darkness made this mysterious underground base feel eerily unsettling.
Jackie couldn't help muttering under his breath, "Damn, this feels like a horror movie. Mercer, what do we do? What's going on here?"
"Don't worry about it. Either our enemies have noticed we're here, or it's just a power shortage... Turn on your low-light night vision goggles and keep moving. We need to locate the main server."
Mercer projected some map data previously collected by Barghest soldiers in this area into everyone's cyberoptics.
According to the underground guide map of the Cynosure facility, the area was divided into five zones. The server room was located deepest underground, flanked by the management office and security room. The engineering department occupied the largest area, followed by dedicated living quarters.
Mercer's team aimed to reach either the management office or the server room; the former had already been scouted by Barghest soldiers, while the latter's access route remained completely undiscovered.
Following the route provided by the Barghest soldiers, Mercer moved decisively through the complex underground base: "Follow me. We'll head to the management area first."
The dim corridor was sporadically lit by flickering blue emergency lights. While they provided some illumination, the eerie blue glow made the entire base appear even more unsettling.
It really felt like the atmosphere of a horror movie was dialed up to the max.
Rebecca unconsciously moved closer to Mercer. "Why is this place so maze-like..."
"True." Mercer agreed wholeheartedly; just getting from the elevator to the management office required navigating multiple corridors and turns before reaching the main entrance. The layout was far from logical.
The group found themselves chatting frequently about trivial matters, seemingly relaxed, but in reality, the quiet, oppressive atmosphere was genuinely unnerving. Unlike the tension of life-or-death situations on the battlefield or during missions, this place felt strangely eerie.
Leading the team along the mapped route to the main entrance, Mercer frowned. "It's locked down."
"Can't hack it?" Rebecca glanced back at him.
"No power. It's auto-locked. We'd need to restore power first to attempt a hack."
After Mercer's explanation, Jackie grew uneasy, cautiously scanning their surroundings. "So we have to backtrack and head to the engineering area on the other side?"
"Theoretically that's the procedure. We'd need to go to the engineering zone to activate the backup power, or identify where the malfunction is to restart the power system, but..."
Mercer let out a cold laugh. "Let me try the simple way."
The six Octopus Arms dormant on his back suddenly sprang to life, metal claws digging into the door seam before exerting force in unison.
The metal door emitted a sharp screech, followed by dangerous red lights flashing throughout the base.
But Mercer continued undeterred, ignoring the warnings completely. After tearing a crack in the thick metal door, his Octopus Arms gained better leverage and violently pried open a large gap.
Rebecca and Jackie immediately stepped forward to help. With their combined Gorilla Arms and armor-enhanced strength, they finally forced the door completely open, likely breaking its mechanical structure in the process; it wouldn't be closing again.
"Let's go. Be careful, there are things similar to Militech Cerberus bots in here. Not particularly dangerous, but better safe than sorry."
After speaking, Mercer took the lead and entered through the damaged doorway.
However, the moment he stepped inside, a massive dark shadow pounced from the ceiling. But before Mercer could react, V beside him moved like a phantom, her high-frequency katana humming as she slashed at the attacker without hesitation.
The shadow revealed itself as a bipedal robot with four spider-like legs assisting its movement and attacks. Mercer recognized it immediately, exactly the Militech Cerberus he had just mentioned.
Admittedly, the thing was quite sneaky, hiding above the entrance ventilation duct and launching an ambush the moment Mercer entered.
But against V at full capacity, this level of robot posed little challenge.
With what seemed like casual ease, V thrust her blade through the robot's head, piercing straight through its sensors and cameras. Before the damaged robot could go berserk, Rebecca charged over and slammed it to the side of the passage.
Simultaneously, her shoulder cannon flashed, firing a shot that reduced the robot to scrap metal bursting into flames.
"Shit! Scared the hell out of me!" It was hard to tell whether Rebecca was dealing with an enemy or simply venting frustration. Mercer scanned their surroundings warily, his eyes locking with a security camera.
He immediately launched a Quickhack against the camera, but almost simultaneously, the camera's light flickered before shutting down and disconnecting from the network.
"Last desperate struggle," Mercer commented, though he cautiously slowed his pace. At that moment, a female voice echoed in their ears.
"The Cynosure facility reminds you not to randomly damage base property..."
"Alert! Alert! Unidentified intruders detected..."
V frowned. "What now? Is this damn place sending warnings to Militech?"
Mercer replied expressionlessly, "Don't know. But if it is, we'll blow this whole place up later, better than leaving a threat for Militech."
The moment he said this, the alarm repeated once more before abruptly cutting off.
Without hesitation, Mercer headed toward the main server room in the administration area. Along the way, every closed door fell victim to his brute force methods, but no further attacks occurred. When they reached an office, Mercer stopped: "This is the mainframe, connected to the server room. Let me try; if all goes well, we won't need to hunt down the server room."
Rebecca watched him pull out a very retro wrist-mounted cyberdeck, essentially a laptop-sized device strapped to his forearm, and connect it to the room's computer. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Does that antique even work? I rarely see you type on a keyboard."
"The difference is just efficiency. Before neural links existed, netrunners used these." Mercer multitasked, rapidly tapping the on-screen keypad while casually responding, "Dealing with someone who's hiding and still refusing to show themselves, I have to be careful. This cyberdeck isn't afraid of any hidden viruses..."
Seeing Mercer enter work mode, the group tacitly began guarding the surroundings. But this time, Mercer's work took unexpectedly long; a full ten minutes passed before he stopped typing and stretched his fingers. "Tricky one."
"No way, even you can't handle it?" Rebecca sounded incredulous.
"Manual coding is inefficient compared to a neural link... but hacking isn't just about programming speed; it's about skill." Mercer spoke confidently, watching the progress bar slowly climb. "I've found the ICE vulnerability. Now, it can either open the network connection properly and face me head-on, or wait for me to breach the mainframe and hunt it down in the server."
V pointed at the dialog box that popped up on the screen: "Doesn't that say administrator permissions are locked?"
"Let it lock. Once I upload the software, it won't have a say." As Mercer spoke, a new dialog box suddenly flashed on the screen.
[Cynosure Facility: Who are you? I've requested backup from headquarters. Cease your illegal occupation and intrusion of this Militech facility immediately.]
Mercer sneered, "Stop pretending. If you were really Cynosure's AI, I'd eat this computer; what the hell are you? Hiding like a coward?"
After flickering briefly, the dialog box abruptly shifted to a pale crimson.
[Cynosure Facility: Stop now! This won't benefit you! State your purpose!]
Mercer replied coldly, "You think you're in charge here?"
The breach program continued its methodical advance, but the red alert lights and blaring alarms in the base grew increasingly urgent. V, standing nearby, frowned tightly. "There are a lot of footsteps approaching!"
"Form a defensive perimeter." Rebecca didn't hesitate, striding straight to the doorway and raising her right arm to reveal the heavy machine gun integrated into her armor.
Meanwhile, V drew her katana. Against robotic steel frames, this metal-cutting blade was far more effective than bullets.
Jackie dutifully positioned himself in front of Mercer, acting as a shield.
"You don't actually think the scrap metal left in this base can stop us, do you?" Mercer taunted, manually accelerating the hack. At that moment, the unknown rogue AI could no longer restrain itself. The instant it rebooted the network, it immediately launched a hacking attack against Mercer and his companions.
However, what the rogue AI never expected was that the moment it took action, several people who had never communicated before simultaneously and tacitly shot out the surrounding cameras with perfect coordination.
Having lost its network transmission devices, its hacking attempts became rootless and impossible to execute. It could only begin supporting the host's ICE, pushing back Mercer's breach progress bar significantly.
But at that very moment, Mercer swiftly inserted a chip and picked up the optical fiber connected to the signal amplifier on Jackie's back, plugging both into the host's network interface.
The moment the network connected, even though the computer refused write access, the chip entered a networked state. A massive data stream surged through the optical fiber as attack programs automatically began breaching the computer.
Initially, the AI appeared unconcerned about Mercer's networking action, even eagerly attempting counter-hacks. From its perspective, Mercer daring to give it external network access was like an old man hanging himself; wouldn't it immediately invade Mercer's server and teach him a lesson?
But then, it discovered to its shock that the chip inserted into the host was merely a positioning program. As it actively established the network connection, a terrifying presence immediately followed the positioning and stormed in.
Visible lag appeared on the computer host as countless dialog boxes and program codes flickered several times before the host completely froze, then automatically rebooted.
After restarting, only a red woman's avatar remained displayed on the computer host screen.
[Alt: I'm here.]
"Taken over the server?"
[Alt: Working on it... That guy wants to delete traces... Indeed related to Lilith, huh? Also connected to Night Corp?]
"Night Corp?"
Mercer's eyebrows suddenly furrowed tightly.
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