Even Alt couldn't capture the rogue AI inside the facility.
But what was more frightening were Alt's subsequent words.
[Alt: There's more than just traces of one rogue AI's activity here.]
[Mercer: What do you mean?]
[Alt: Militech personnel seem completely unaware of what they're doing. While attempting to capture rogue AIs, they've attracted the attention of many others. Based on current evidence, there are traces of at least four different rogue AIs in the servers.]
[Mercer: Which one is causing us trouble?]
[Alt: From trace analysis, most appear to be malicious AIs that were corrupted after the Blackwall and should have been isolated behind it.
No traces of Lilith have been found yet. We might need to get clues from the rogue AI imprisoned within this facility.]
[Mercer: You handle the server room access permissions first. I'll go find that rogue AI. Where is it being held?]
[Alt: Wait... Found it.]
Data transmitted by Alt flashed before Mercer's eyes. After carefully reading it, he said directly: "Share the access with me. This Neural Matrix is quite interesting."
Alt didn't hesitate to share the Cynosure facility server access with Mercer, who immediately had Morning Star take over the permissions.
[Alt: Your AI? Interesting.]
[Morning Star: Hello, Ms. Alt.]
[Alt: It seems Mercer has trained you well.]
[Morning Star: Yes, my master has been very attentive to me.]
While reading information about the Neural Matrix from the servers, Mercer asked about something he had been curious about.
[Mercer: What's the real situation with Night Corp? Where did that Mr. Blue Eyes come from as a rogue AI? Which side are they on?
Also, what exactly is the AI core in the Deathwish program Bartmoss gave me? I've noticed it's different from most AIs.]
[Alt: Blue Eyes belongs to Night Corp's own super AI. After generations of iterations, it can now be considered the true ruling entity of Night Corp.
Its stance is hard to define, but overall, it only stands with Night City and follows Night Corp's corporate philosophy, aiming to build a perfect Night City.]
[Alt: As for the AI core code Bartmoss gave you, you could think of it as something he pieced together.]
[Mercer: Pieced together?]
[Alt: Correct. You don't actually believe AIs are something humans developed, do they? Essentially, they're accidental miracles, and Bartmoss merely summarized the common factors behind these miracles, integrating the key source codes.
These are all valuable things he obtained through long-term excavation in the Old Net and his personal accumulation. Theoretically, by mastering this AI core source code and feeding it massive amounts of data, one could cultivate a highly advanced intelligent AI.
I believe you can appreciate how precious this is. If this fell into Militech's hands, they probably wouldn't need the Cynosure facility at all.]
Mercer found this deeply convincing. If this thing fell into the hands of a major corporation, they could endlessly replicate it using the source code, cultivating countless super AIs. If these super AIs were all unleashed onto the Net, it would likely be even more dangerous than the current Old Net.
No wonder Alt said Mercer had no need to covet the Blackwall, because in essence, he had too many ways to create his own Net-nuke. Why bother tinkering with the Blackwall she had painstakingly built?
Alt's words also confirmed Mercer's long-held belief: this source code for AI souls was probably not something humans could have written. It was just an irreplicable miracle.
All AIs today merely exist on the foundation of that miracle.
But this also made Mercer ponder. If the birth of AI was a miracle, what about human consciousness engrams?
What did it mean that technology could fully transform human thought, upload it into Cyberspace for digitization, and that there were still parts of the data in human consciousness engrams that Mercer hadn't figured out to this day?
If there was a core source code within the data that composed human consciousness engrams... did that mean a true human soul could actually be born from the Net and data?
Mercer's contemplation didn't interfere with his search through the server data in the Cynosure facility.
Soon, he had reviewed all information related to the "Neural Matrix" device.
The "Neural Matrix," according to the data, was simply a cage used to imprison AI consciousness.
Militech would capture rogue AI consciousnesses and lock them in the Neural Matrix, modifying their core code to transform them into AIs that could serve their purposes.
But this involved two key points.
First, how could this Neural Matrix restrain a complete rogue AI consciousness engram within an elliptical device roughly one meter in size?
This meant the device could not only precisely capture the data essence of rogue AIs but also accurately identify this data.
Second, they could actually use this device to directly modify the core data of AIs. Did this mean the device could also work on human consciousness engrams?
"Follow me," Mercer said, striding toward the core area of the facility where the Neural Matrix device was stored. The others had no idea what he had just discussed with Alt, only noticing that he seemed to have spaced out for a moment, his cooling system humming loudly.
"All set?" Rebecca remained vigilant, watching the computer screen where Alt's uniquely red data-formed body had suddenly appeared, making her instinctively feel somewhat threatened.
V, however, had a rather peculiar focus: "Why is there another woman here? Alt?"
"...Alt Cunningham, a legendary netrunner, or programmer. She wrote Soulkiller and now controls all the servers in the 'Ghost World, Hong Kong.' You could say she's currently the most powerful rogue AI... or one of the most powerful consciousness engrams."
Mercer gave a brief introduction, while Alt showed no reaction to V's words. She couldn't care less about what V or the others said.
V clicked her tongue in amazement and asked, "Is she your friend?"
"Sort of. Surface-level friends." Mercer paused, then added, "Mainly because I'm not sure if she still considers us the same kind."
[Alt: Wonderful. Then do you think you and they are the same kind?]
[Mercer: Why wouldn't we be?]
[Alt: If we're only talking about self-identification, then I still consider myself human, just a more advanced type. And if we're only discussing data structures, my consciousness data composition is probably closer to theirs than yours. Using evolution as a metaphor: they're Homo sapiens, I'm modern human, and you're future human. Clearly, you're just unwilling to accept reality.]
[Mercer: So you still fundamentally don't consider yourself the same species as humans? Then it seems I wasn't wrong.]
[Alt: I thought you weren't lacking in the ability to objectively recognize reality.]
[Mercer: I don't see any difference between me and them.]
[Alt: You're just unwilling to shed this disguise and accept reality. If viewing me as non-human makes you feel closer to humanity, you can keep deceiving yourself.]
Mercer's mood suddenly turned sour. What's with all this nonsense? He'd been human for two lifetimes; why does this guy always push himself toward the non-human direction?
He refused to acknowledge this point. He might be somewhat special, but these peculiarities didn't make him feel he'd transcended the human species, nor did he consider himself some "superior" or "noble" new human.
[Mercer: I bet if Silverhand saw you now, he'd think he'd seen a ghost.]
[Alt: You seem to bring up his name whenever you can't win an argument?]
[Mercer: I'm reminding you not to forget the last remnants of your humanity.]
[Alt: You should remind yourself. An ugly duckling hiding among geese can't conceal its swan nature; you're just self-hypnotizing.]
[Mercer: Fine. At least my self-deception makes me happy. Can we drop it now?]
[Alt: It's never too late to accept your truest self before making judgments and choices. Fearing your reflection will only lead you further from the truth, my friend.]
Mercer didn't respond further. He quietly walked into the laboratory containing the Neural Matrix, turned on the power, and began checking data using the computers inside.
[Mercer: No authorization. Should you breach it or should I?]
[Alt: I will. Connect it.]
Without another word, Mercer plugged in the various data cables throughout the lab, powered them up, then left everything to Alt.
In the game, breaching this matrix required authorization codes from the European netrunner siblings, but now neither Mercer nor Alt cared about so-called authorization codes.
Having mastered the Cynosure server, breaching this thing was merely a matter of time.
Mercer sat in a lab chair, his voice somewhat muffled. "Let's take a break. Once Alt breaches it, our mission is complete. After that, we just need to haul away anything useful from this facility."
Rebecca, however, replied with full energy: "We only took down one Militech Cerberus bot down there. It wasn't hard at all. Just tell us what needs moving, and we can start now! Finish early, and we can still go home for a midnight snack."
"Alright." Mercer gave a brief response and immediately had Morning Star remotely control bots to transport items: "I've marked everything of interest in your cyberoptics."
"Go search the area, then return to base with the bots. You're done for the day."
"Oh, and to be safe, go in teams. I'll stay here to wait for this breach to complete and use the facilities to run some tests."
After Mercer finished speaking, V and Rebecca exchanged glances. V took the initiative: "Jackie and I can go. Rebecca, you stay here and keep an eye on things."
Just as Mercer was about to object, Rebecca cut in: "Fine, I'll stay. Better to have pairs for safety anyway."
Having preempted Mercer's objection, Rebecca left him no choice but to nod in agreement.
After V and Jackie had left, Rebecca hopped off the table. Watching Mercer stare intently at the screen, she couldn't resist poking his armored waist, producing a metallic clang.
"You just scored all these treasures; how come you're not even happy?" Rebecca's exposed face showed hints of dissatisfaction and concern.
Mercer turned to her in mild surprise: "I am happy."
"Tch." Rebecca stared at him with clear displeasure: "The old you would've been grinning like an idiot over these servers. Weren't you always complaining about computing power shortages... What's really on your mind?"
After a moment's silence, Mercer replied softly: "Nothing, just random thoughts."
"Oh, so now you're learning to brush people off!" Rebecca glared at him angrily when he refused to elaborate: "You canceled our planned date, you're always holed up in the server room or workshop, never show up for meals..."
"Did you know the dog we raised in the game had puppies? I've already saved up enough for that premium fishing rod you wanted. You promised to spend time with me during breaks, but you never take any breaks now..."
Her voice carried genuine hurt: "I know I can't be much help, but don't always tell me everything's fine..."
Mercer watched her for a long moment before sighing, then unexpectedly smiled.
He removed his helmet, set it aside, and reached out to touch her face. Rebecca's cheeks felt warm and soft, almost irresistibly so: "There are too many things bothering me to even list."
"Then take your time telling me. I'm not rushing you. I just want to know what you're thinking... Instead of watching you every day, afraid to approach and interrupt your work."
Rebecca remained somewhat sullen: "And our promised date never happened..."
She gripped Mercer's hand, pressing her face firmly against it, then stepped forward to embrace him, resting her cheek against his cold armor. Inside, she could hear the dual heartbeat and the annoying whirring of cooling systems.
Rebecca couldn't help but sigh.
Mercer reached over and removed her helmet, gently stroking her loose green hair: "Why not just say you missed me?"
"I did miss you, but how could I say it? You're always busy and worried-looking every day. I can't be inconsiderate..."
Rebecca looked even more upset, lowering her voice as she muttered, "This is so annoying. I shouldn't have listened to you bragging about changing the world. What do I care about the world? Shouldn't we just focus on living our own lives?"
"Then what should we do?" Mercer asked with an amused tone.
"...Forget it, pretend I never said anything," Rebecca said dejectedly, releasing her grip and stepping aside. "I just don't know when this will end..."
Mercer looked at her, bent down slightly, and earnestly cupped her face with his hands. "Soon, Rebecca, I promise. It'll all be over soon."
"...Take your time, no rush. I mean, changing the world isn't something that happens overnight, right?" Rebecca immediately regretted pushing him.
She often struggled to control her emotions, speaking impulsively and regretting it afterward.
Mercer didn't respond, simply leaning in to kiss her gently, nuzzling her cheek affectionately. "Right, we have plenty of time ahead..."
He went along with everything Rebecca said, letting her soothe herself. She eventually wore an expression like a content little kitten, holding him quietly without another word.
Mercer continued comforting her softly, "Once we get Silverhand's Relic biochip and finish the experiments, then deal with Saburo, we won't need to rush anymore."
"Then we'll revitalize Dogtown and Pacifica. We'll live in the penthouse of Black Sapphire, where everyone can have spacious apartments, luxury pools, and drive Rayfield Caliburns. We'll walk through Night City without worrying about anyone targeting us."
"We'll drive Biotechnica out, and Night City can lift the biotech ban. You can keep a few of the little dogs you love so much."
"As for me, I'll hire the Aldecaldos to run a private ranch for me. We'll eat beef whenever we want, lamb whenever we crave it..."
Listening to him, Rebecca couldn't help but laugh. "If Biotechnica knew you're kicking them out mainly to keep dogs and eat meat, they'd be speechless."
"Any company that denies people meat deserves to die. God knows what kind of life this is, having to rely on smuggling just for a bite of meat. And vegetables? Those damned genetically modified foods. Half of what V cooks comes from canned goods. I've had enough..."
"Careful, I might snitch to V."
"Don't tell me you actually like those canned vegetables."
"...Well, I do. I've hardly ever had fresh vegetables; can't even remember what they taste like anymore..."
The two continued cuddling and chatting intimately.
Meanwhile, Alt proved utterly tactless, deliberately using the lab's speakers to interrupt.
"I hope I'm not interrupting. I've secured authorization for this device, but data import and transfer will still take some time. Is there anything you need to do with this rogue AI?"
Mercer rolled his eyes. "Jealous?"
Alt's voice remained calm and detached. "Back in my day, we could've finished a whole session in this time... Cuddling and whispering? How adorable."
Instead of feeling embarrassed, Rebecca perked up with interest. "Really?"
Mercer pressed her head down, ignoring her teasing grin. "No sessions. These rocker types could start something just while lighting a cigarette... Don't corrupt my Rebecca."
"Wow, you're so pure."
Alt mocked with a sharp comment before adding, "If you're going to operate, do it quickly. During the network transfer process, if Lilith has been monitoring this place, she'll definitely notice traces of this AI being relocated."
"Doesn't that mean I'm screwed?" Mercer frowned deeply.
"What can she actually do?" Alt said dismissively. "Hurry up. Keeping it would make you worse off, unless you plan to leave Dogtown entirely; then you might avoid trouble."
Mercer released Rebecca, properly fitted her helmet, and quickly shifted into work mode.
He first inspected the rogue AI's consciousness data, then stated, "I need to deep dive to see what's inside here."
"Don't worry, it's in forced hibernation mode. I'm keeping watch for you," Alt assured.
Mercer simply put on his helmet, found a data cable, and said, "Rebecca, keep an eye on me."
"Don't worry," Rebecca replied, glaring intently toward the camera. "I'll yank the cable anytime."
Alt paid no mind to Rebecca's vigilance. Once Mercer connected the cable and entered the Deep Dive state in a meditative posture, she joined him in Cyberspace to examine the consciousness data of the rogue AI now trapped in the Neural Matrix.
After just a few glances, Mercer gasped in shock. "Holy shit, this thing's consciousness data contains the IP and deets of the moon server?"
"Seems that's why Lilith was so eager to retrieve it," Alt noted with interest as they analyzed the rogue AI's consciousness data together, extracting meaningful information from the memory data.
Meanwhile, Mercer grew increasingly alarmed. "What the hell is the ESA even doing? Am I supposed to know this? Is Lilith going to silence me?"
"What? You're not afraid of Arasaka, but you're scared of knowing this?" Alt remarked.
Mercer frowned deeply. "Look at this mess! Lilith actually has her own orbital weapon! She might even have left a backdoor in the ESA's orbital weapons! If she decides to come after me and drops a meteor, the whole of Night City is finished!"
"Don't worry, we have nukes that can reach the moon too. In that regard, we've achieved strategic balance. Plus, now that we know the locations of some of her major servers, it'll be easier to bomb them."
Alt joked, "Orbital weapons are more environmentally friendly compared to nukes. From a post-war reconstruction perspective, our weapons have a greater advantage."
"Stop joking... Wait, you have nukes?" Mercer stared at Alt in awe.
Alt replied calmly, "I do have a few at my disposal, but what I mean is, if people on Earth found out an AI was planning to drop meteors on them from the moon, they'd panic way more than you."
"Tch, feels like you're all about nukes and orbital weapons, while I'm still figuring out how to deploy a Net-nuke for strategic deterrence..."
Mercer pondered, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Alt immediately interjected, "Stop daydreaming. Focus on the data; it has plenty of interesting deets."
Mercer had already been looking, and indeed, he found quite a few intriguing things.
"Lilith is short on resources? That's rather unexpected. Haven't they managed to colonize Mars?" Muttered Mercer.
Alt commented, "Even if Lilith could move all of Earth's production lines up there, some elements unique to Earth are irreplaceable.
Especially since, at her core, she's merely a self-aware advanced AI; her level of intelligence ultimately can't compare to engrams like you and me."
"That's even more terrifying. I'd rather have an AI controlling orbital weapons be a bit smarter." Mercer felt a headache coming on.
The more he read, the more the secrets made his heart race: "Is Lilith still doing the same thing as you? Is she still recruiting large numbers of rogue AIs? Is she trying to form some kind of anti-human AI alliance?"
"Consciousness Transcendence Program... Damn it, these guys really have mastered something that can influence human thought."
Mercer frowned deeply.
Alt, however, seemed thoughtful: "Perhaps Night Corp's cooperation with Lilith is also related to this program. The Consciousness Transcendence Program is very similar to the brainwashing device in Night Corp's 'Operation Carpe Noctem' plan."
Maybe Night Corp is collaborating with Lilith to develop this brainwashing program? Night Corp handles the hardware, while Lilith handles the software...
Interesting. Lilith can already directly influence human subconsciousness during the Deep Dive state...
No wonder, from the perspective of the Cynosure facility, many designers and staff have started going insane. Lilith is even using the staff here to test this program.
But precisely because of this, one of her rogue AIs was unexpectedly captured by Militech.
This time, it was Mercer's sharp critique: "What a bunch of embarrassments."
Militech wanted to capture an AI, but ended up being used as test subjects by the AI.
And these AIs, while experimenting on a group of test subjects, were in turn captured by those they called "inferior beings"...
One could only say it was a case of worthy opponents meeting their match, each feeding the other a good meal.
"Consciousness Transcendence Program... Ha, they call humans going insane and wanting to permanently upload their consciousness 'transcendence'?"
Mercer grew increasingly disgusted with this entity called Lilith.
Alt said, "They believe they're saving these foolish humans living in the virtual world... Alright, you've seen all the important data. Back up what needs to be backed up. I need to transfer connections."
"NetWatch has already noticed something unusual. I don't want to talk too much about the moon with them for now; they'll overreact. So, hurry up."
"What are you plotting?" Mercer asked keenly.
"A peaceful, hopeful future; haven't we discussed this goal long ago?" Alt didn't elaborate further, simply displaying a cold timer for Mercer.
"This is all the time I can delay. When it runs out, I'll begin the transfer."
Alt's figure gradually faded away.
Meanwhile, Mercer frowned and accelerated his analysis of the rogue AI's consciousness data and copying of key data.
Morning Star assisted him remotely with these tasks, while Mercer's primary mission was to use his unique "intuition" to identify special data within the data stacks with his eyes.
Just before time was about to run out, Mercer's eyes suddenly focused, and he abruptly said, "Why is the core consciousness data... different?"
"What?" Alt's figure reappeared.
"This rogue AI's source code... it's different from Morning Star's!" Mercer spoke rapidly.
"That's normal. Morning Star's source code was pieced together by Bartmoss from the first initial AI and the cores of other subsequently emerging intelligent AIs. Over the decades of AI's continuous iteration and self-evolution, the core code of many AIs has diverged significantly from its original state, rendering them irreplicable."
Alt explained, "This is one reason why AIs haven't completely proliferated. Many mature AIs can only spawn sub-AIs rather than replicate identical copies using their own source code."
"No, that's not what I mean... I'm talking about corruption." Mercer's mind conjured a term, and he spoke gravely, "This rogue AI's source code has been corrupted! That thing Lilith calls the Consciousness Transcendence Program might never have been developed for humans at all, but for... AIs?!"
This bold speculation made Alt furrow her brow momentarily. She pondered before fixing her gaze on the source code Mercer had highlighted: "Do you think this thing is contagious?"
"Not from what we've seen, but you'd better be cautious... Assuming this is a corruption program similar to Bartmoss' R.A.B.I.D.S virus, it's highly likely her ultimate goal is to first corrupt the AIs in the human world. This could also explain why Night Corp collaborates with her while the brainwashing operations appear to follow completely different protocols."
Mercer's daring hypothesis made Alt's cyberoptics gleam faintly. Her tone remained unchanged, but one could tell she was taking it seriously: "The probability isn't low... I'll consult Bartmoss and the others to investigate further."
"Be careful. I don't want to face an anti-human Alt. Surface-level friends are still friends; don't screw this up," Mercer warned.
Alt glanced at him: "Fine, as a surface-level friend, I'll give you a reminder too; don't underestimate Saburo Arasaka. He's an absolutely terrifying opponent. His intelligence and combat skills might pale compared to yours, but his ability to read and manipulate people far surpasses both of us. Don't assume your schemes with Yorinobu are that secret. Think more, consider carefully before acting. I've never seen what you look like after complete consciousness upload and decompression. If things go south, prioritize preserving your consciousness data."
Mercer rolled his eyes: "Cursing me now?"
"No, surface-level friends are still friends. All I want is Arasaka's Mikoshi. As for Saburo Arasaka... you'd better not screw up." After speaking, Alt's figure began fading: "If you want to study this further later, deep dive to the Hong Kong server. I'll have NetWatch open a dedicated line for you; authorized access only. Don't think about bringing trouble to my doorstep when you encounter problems. I'm not as easygoing as Spider Murphy; even between close friends, accounts should be settled clearly."
"That's 'choom'! Learn Chinese properly," Mercer snorted.
"Reiterating from a biological perspective, even if we both become digitized, we'd probably have reproductive isolation. I'm just being precise with terminology. You should brush up on your language studies, friend." Alt vanished completely.
Mercer gazed reluctantly at the rogue AI, but the thing had little research value left. Rather than research value, it felt more like each additional glance brought another headache, with countless hidden pitfalls waiting to be discovered.
Handing it over to Alt might actually be a good choice. I just hope if Lilith gets angry, she'll throw a meteor at Alt's side and definitely not send one toward Night City...
Mercer sighed and exited the deep dive.
Lilith, the moon server, Night Corp and whatever "Consciousness Transcendence Program" Lilith was involved with, Alt's warning about Saburo...
Mercer shook his head, temporarily setting aside his worries.
"How did it go?" Rebecca asked with concern as soon as she saw Mercer open his eyes.
Mercer just shrugged and used his Octopus Arm to unplug the data cable from the back of his head: "The good news is, we don't have to worry about the Cynosure facility causing any major trouble for now. Alt has taken on this big problem."
"The bad news is, the world might be one step closer to destruction."
"Huh?" Rebecca showed a confused expression: "World destruction?"
Mercer stood up, looked at the Neural Matrix device flashing with lights as it transmitted data, and sighed.
"Whatever, let's go."
"Where to?"
"Let the bots handle moving the equipment. Since things have come to this, let's go grab some late-night food first."
Let the tall ones deal with the collapsing sky, and let the AIs handle the AI problems.
As for him...
He'd deal with Dogtown first.
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