"Is that..."
"The one and only V!"
"Holy shit, and A!"
"Isn't that Rebecca? And Maine... Is the Kindling Squad making a comeback? Why'd they bring a bot with them?"
"Comeback my ass. They're the bosses of Dogtown now. You think they still need to take on gigs?"
The discussions buzzing in her ear made V crack a smile.
Mercer couldn't help but laugh as well. "It's been a long time since anyone called me A."
"Ha, the one and only V~" Rebecca drew out her words, teasingly nudging V with her elbow. "Careful you don't get tricked into taking another gig."
"Screw you, I'm not that stupid!" V rolled her eyes and nudged her back. The two of them went back and forth, while Lucy quietly stood by Mercer's side, holding his arm.
When Rebecca turned back around, she found her spot was gone. She immediately shot a fierce glare at Lucy, who simply offered a faint smile in return.
"You're almost as annoying as V now!" Rebecca huffed, quickly claiming Mercer's other side, as for V, she would never be so bold as to crowd around Mercer with other girls in Afterlife.
For now, she could only pretend not to care, striding into the bar with a swagger. "Yo! Rogue! What are you doing out here today?"
"You guys have practically booked out the whole Afterlife. What's there for me to do inside?" Rogue chuckled, then rose from her seat. She sized up Mercer and extended a hand. "Long time no see, Mercer. You've really changed."
"You, on the other hand, are the same as ever... I brought you a gift today. How about we negotiate a discount on our tab?"
Mercer smiled and turned, nodding his head toward the silent bot beside him.
Rogue's gaze shifted to it, looking it up and down. "What's this, a new model of bot? Doesn't look all that special... Hmm, and for some reason, it gives off this disgusting, punchable vibe... Yo, it's glaring at me?"
"Screw you, Rogue!" The bot spoke, and Rogue froze. "Why does that voice sound so much like that dumbass..."
Johnny Silverhand couldn't hold it in any longer, immediately raising a middle finger. "You're the dumbass!"
"Holy shit..." Rogue's eyes widened. "Johnny!?"
"That's right... I'm back!" Johnny Silverhand smirked. Although the bot's face was mostly expressionless, his tone and the slightly punchable smugness his small gestures betrayed were still instantly recognizable to Rogue.
Without a second word, she walked over, wrapped her arms tightly around the Johnny-bot, and slapped him hard on the back twice. "You son of a bitch!"
"How are these old-timers even less civilized than us?" Rebecca whispered, chuckling in amusement. "I thought it would be a little more touching..."
"Yeah, if I'd known, I would've installed a Mr. Studd on this bot..." Mercer joked back.
The group stifled their laughter, watching Rogue and Silverhand express how much they'd missed each other through a stream of curses.
"Hey! Mercer!"
A vibrant voice called out from a distance. Panam walked over with a wide grin, her eyes immediately landing on Mercer, who was being held by Lucy on his left and Rebecca on his right. The scene suddenly made her a bit unsure of what to do, and her raised arm subconsciously lowered.
But Mercer just smiled and raised an arm, pulling her into a warm hug first.
"You've really got a way with you..." Panam said by his ear, her tone complex. Then, she generously gave him another enthusiastic hug before nodding her head to the side.
"Saul's sitting over there. Daichi and the others came too."
As Panam finished speaking, Mercer turned his head and saw Daichi and Leon, who now looked like grown men, as well as the old cowboy, Scorpion, Mitch, Saul, and the others, sitting in a booth not far away, waving at him.
Mercer smiled and waved back at them. "Thanks for making the trip all the way from the Badlands."
"It was no trouble at all. The moment they heard we were coming to Afterlife for drinks, you have no idea how many Aldecaldos wanted to tag along..." Panam said with a laugh.
"V! A! Long time no see!" Claire, at the bar, also raised a hand and greeted them with a smile. "The usual?" she asked proactively.
Mercer smiled back in response. "Yeah, send one with extra ice over to the Aldecaldos' table. I'm going to chat with them first."
"You got it! You go on!" Claire enthusiastically grabbed a can of NiCola. "What about the rest of you?"
Jackie, Maine, and the others, already used to the routine, began ordering their favorite drinks and sat down at the bar to chat with Claire.
Rebecca also went to sit at the bar, leaving only Lucy to accompany Mercer to the Aldecaldos' booth.
Saul stood up proactively and shook Mercer's hand with a smile.
"Mercer, long time no see. I never had the chance to thank you in person... The Aldecaldos will forever remember your help."
Mercer smiled and clasped his hand, then gave him a shoulder-bump hug. "It was the right thing to do. Deep down, I've always considered myself half an Aldecaldo."
"Mercer!" Daichi and Leon couldn't hold back any longer. As soon as he finished his pleasantries with Saul, they eagerly came over to hug him as well.
Then, Leon gave Mercer and Lucy a teasing look. "So you two... are a thing now?"
"Ha~ How could you tell?" At this, Mercer's smile became exceptionally radiant as he turned to look at the slightly blushing Lucy.
"She never used to stick so close to you, let alone hold your arm so openly... But..." Leon's gaze drifted towards Rebecca in the distance. Before he could say more, Daichi wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him back into his seat, telling him not to say something so tactless.
"Mercer, I saw on the news a while back that something big went down in Dogtown. You didn't get into any trouble, did you?" Daichi asked with concern.
Mercer smiled and shook his head. "It's fine. President Myers even called me yesterday, wanted to give me a Medal of Honor. I just thought the thing was useless, so I turned it down."
He wasn't lying. Myers really had intended to award him a NUSA Medal of Honor to commend him for "saving" the NUSA president in Dogtown, but Mercer had no desire to board NUSA's sinking ship.
It was framed as a commendation, but it was really a thinly veiled attempt to probe whether Mercer was the one who had used the orbital weapon to blow up the Arasaka Base in Tokyo, and to ask about Songbird's whereabouts.
Mercer's response to this was very direct, Songbird died on the moon. As for whether he was the one who fired the orbital weapon? You can guess. He neither confirmed nor denied it.
Until Myers could be certain whether the orbital weapon was still in Mercer's hands and whether he could still use it, she wouldn't dare to burn bridges with him.
Unlike Arasaka and other factions with vast assets, Mercer only had tiny little Dogtown. If he got pissed off, he could just blow you up and then flee across the globe with his family. You wouldn't even know where to go for revenge.
If you were going to play the mutual destruction card, you had to consider the cost-effectiveness, right?
"Sometimes I really do have some regrets... It feels like you guys have had a pretty exciting few years," Daichi said with a sigh, then broke into a smile. "But, it's good to see you're all okay."
The old cowboy Cassidy's smile held a trace of relief. He looked at Mercer and said sincerely, "I never would have thought that a group of kids who escaped from Arasaka would now become such major players in Night City..."
"We also have you to thank for bringing us to Night City, to the Aldecaldos. Otherwise, who knows what we'd be doing now," Mercer said, also feeling a bit emotional.
The group chatted about the past, not in a hurry to discuss serious matters. It wasn't until V called out from a distance, urging everyone to finish up and come drink together, that Saul asked curiously, "Mercer, you invited me here for more than just drinks, I'm sure..."
"It's nothing major. I'm just planning to officially change careers, from the bullshit boss of Dogtown to a proper corpo boss."
After Mercer spoke, Saul guessed his intentions and looked troubled.
But Mercer took the initiative. "Hear me out... I know most Aldecaldos love a life of freedom, but let's be honest, running errands in the Badlands and dealing with those gangs isn't much of a life.
The company I'm planning to officially establish now will, if all goes well, soon have business all over the globe. I'll be short more than just one or two people.
Compared to hiring a bunch of regular employees with questionable loyalty, I trust the relatively more reliable Aldecaldos.
There will be plenty of jobs to choose from, including logistics work, which is the same as before, escorting cargo with weapons.
Besides that, I also plan to get into agriculture and animal husbandry around Night City, and in free states like Texas. I'm sure you Aldecaldos wouldn't refuse that kind of work, right?"
Mercer's words made it difficult for Saul to voice his refusal.
But Mercer continued, looking at Saul and the others seriously. "I've spent time with the Aldecaldos. I know what you all want, most of the time, is just a stable job, something to support your families, and not to be exploited like cattle by the corporations.
And the company I'm founding will absolutely not be inhumane like Arasaka and those other enterprises."
Mercer added with emphasis, "My plan is an eight-hour workday, with guaranteed overtime pay, a minimum of four days off per month, and salaries on par with top-tier corporations like Arasaka.
Full benefits, without all the fine-print games the big corps play..."
"Then how do you plan to make money? Mercer, no offense... but an eight-hour workday and overtime pay? What's the difference between your company and a charity?" Leon said, incredulous.
But Mercer just sighed. "I, for one, think an eight-hour workday is already exhausting enough..."
Considering that in the current world of Cyberpunk, the average corpo employee gets less than a week of vacation a year and typically works twelve-hour days at a minimum, Mercer's proposed eight-hour workday was simply mind-boggling.
"With the current level of technology, to put it bluntly, I can have bots tighten screws. I really can't think of a reason to exploit employees, just for an extra one or two percent profit on a financial report?
I don't care about that little bit of money anyway, and my company doesn't have a board of dumbass directors telling me what to do... In short, Saul, I guarantee that any Aldecaldos willing to work with me will have a better life than they would wandering the Badlands."
After Mercer finished, Saul was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll take your words back to the Aldecaldos."
"I'll send you a job list later. Anyone interested can just email their resume to me for the positions they want to apply for."
Mercer finished, paused, then changed the subject. "Besides this, there's one more thing I might need the Aldecaldos' help with."
"Go on," Saul said, looking at Mercer.
Mercer smiled. "Don't be so serious, it's just work. I want to hire a large number of Aldecaldos to join in the reconstruction of Pacifica. Simply put, I need to hire a lot of construction workers."
"That's no problem. We don't have any big jobs lately, and another group of Aldecaldos has been wanting to come develop near Night City, but they were worried about finding work to support themselves..."
Seeing Saul say this, the corners of Mercer's mouth curled up slightly.
Come on, then. After you've enjoyed my company's benefits, how many Aldecaldos will still be willing to return to the Badlands, to a life of wandering where you don't know where your next meal is coming from?
The number of Aldecaldos roaming the North American continent was far greater than the entire population of Night City. What Mercer wanted to do was more than just recruit some Aldecaldo workers.
His longer-term goal was to have a large number of Aldecaldos immigrate to Night City. These people were naturally opposed to the big corporations and were currently his staunchest allies.
Once a large number of Aldecaldos put down roots around Night City, Mercer would further push for them to officially join Night City, gain voter status, and thereby gain further control over the city's elections.
Mercer's goal was simple: within ten years, he would start with a deep reform of Pacifica, establishing a "utopia" of his own.
The first step was to get Jefferson elected as mayor to establish Pacifica's "special district" status.
Then, he would push for special district laws, reforming the area bit by bit through legislation on public safety, labor laws, and more, starting from Pacifica to change the entire city.
The Aldecaldos and the residents of Pacifica would become his source of soldiers and his political supporters. Once they got used to true freedom and democracy, Mercer believed no one would want to live in an oppressed world again.
Although this idea might seem a bit naive right now, and an increase in the Aldecaldo population might bring new problems, it would, no matter what, be the first step towards a beautiful new world.
As for whether his company's overly generous benefits would cause other capitalists to tacitly unite and crush him...
Mercer wasn't concerned about that at all, a new corporate war was on the horizon, and he was determined to carve out a place for himself in it.
If anyone had a problem with it, they could settle it on the battlefield. With Arasaka as an ally for now, Mercer was confident he could use the next corporate war to make a name for his company.
Once he had loyal employees, a broad base of popular support, advanced weaponry, a complete production chain, and an overwhelming advantage in netrunning technology, he would no longer be a participant in this world, but a decision-maker.
Mercer kept the conversation brief, not going into deeper detail with Saul, instead smiling and inviting everyone to raise their glasses and drink together.
The Aldecaldos and the Kindling Squad occupied two adjacent booths, raising their glasses, drinking, and chatting happily. After talking with Silverhand alone for a while, Rogue finally came over to Mercer.
She didn't waste any words, just picked up a glass of whiskey and looked at Mercer. "Thanks, Mercer. I know you must have gone through a lot of trouble to bring this son of a bitch back."
"If I said it was no trouble at all, you think that guy Johnny would short-circuit from anger?" Mercer laughed, clinking his glass with hers and downing the drink in one go.
The party at Afterlife lasted late into the night. Even Mercer didn't dodge any drinks today, for once drinking heartily until he was a little drunk.
On the way home, Polaris was driving for everyone, so there was no worry about anyone drunk driving.
Sitting in his seat, Mercer opened the car window. The unique, slightly smelly air of Night City cleared his somewhat groggy head a little.
"Phew... It's been a long time since I've had such a good drink. Here, let me lean on you for a bit!" In the car with only four people, V dropped the act, telling Mercer to sit properly so she could lean on him comfortably for a while.
At that moment, Rebecca was fast asleep in Mercer's arms, V was sitting beside him, and Lucy was on his other side by the window, enjoying the breeze and looking at the moon.
Mercer turned his head, and seeing this scene, he couldn't help but smile. He tilted his head slightly and kissed V's head, while his other hand snaked behind V's waist to secretly take Lucy's hand.
How to describe it? There was a strange sense of thrill.
Lucy turned her head slightly and shook it at Mercer with a helpless look, but her fingers quietly intertwined with his.
V knew exactly what was going on, but she couldn't be bothered to worry about it. Pretending not to see, she leaned on his shoulder and yawned.
The car drove quietly through the Night City night. Mercer closed the window, and the car was filled with only the scent of the girls.
He inexplicably couldn't help but smile.
"What are you smiling about?" V asked, her eyes half-closed as she dozed.
"I just feel a little happy... blissful," Mercer said honestly.
V said grumpily, "Of course you are. A girl in each arm, you're having the time of your life, kid."
Mercer grinned, turning his head to press his cheek against hers, and soon they were kissing. Lucy speechlessly tried to pull her hand away, but Mercer shamelessly refused to let go.
Hugging one, kissing another, holding hands with a third... Mercer swore he'd never imagined he'd have such a blissful day in his life.
When they got back to The Black Sapphire, Lucy shot him a resentful glare and went back to her room.
Mercer tossed a lightly snoring Rebecca into her room, then unhesitatingly slipped into V's.
The girl had been waiting for a long time, though her cheeks were flushed and she was wearing a skimpy black combat suit, she pretended not to know anything. "What day is it today?"
"Who cares what day it is... It's finally convenient today, right?" Mercer sidled up with a grin. V stared at him, her face red. "It's not like you've ever behaved yourself when it wasn't convenient... acting like a hooligan."
He eagerly slipped into the bed that V had warmed, admiring her beautiful face from up close.
"Who told you to be so beautiful... The one who could resist wouldn't be normal, right?"
His sweet talk made her blush even more, but then she fiercely pushed him down and straddled him. "You dared to secretly hold Lucy's hand while you were kissing me earlier? You think I didn't know?"
"I wasn't being sneaky... I was being open about it..." Mercer's words trailed off under her glare, and he timely changed the subject. "V, you look so beautiful today."
She huffed. Though a little shy, she still boldly let him see her magnificent figure under the black mesh. "You lucky son of a bitch..."
"Yeah, I've always thought... I'm so damn lucky," Mercer said with a smirk.
"Don't touch... Anyway..." V's face was beet red. She looked at Mercer, and after a long moment, blurted out, "If you dare laugh at me, you're dead!"
At first, Mercer didn't understand what she meant.
It wasn't until V began clumsily that he couldn't help but laugh, pulling her into a tight embrace and taking the lead. "Let me."
"...I'm this old, and it's my first time... Is that a little pathetic?" V's face was flushed. "Let's get this straight, it's not like no one's ever pursued me. It's just that all those dumbasses were only after one thing from the start, and I just wasn't interested..."
"V, I'm so lucky," Mercer said, his expression sincere, his tone gentle as he caressed her cheek. "Really."
V's face was red, but her gaze was just as gentle as she looked at his face. "I really think you've brainwashed me."
"Then I want to brainwash you for a lifetime... Is that okay?" Mercer smiled, lowering his head until they were face to face, their eyes locked.
V's hands nervously wrapped around his back. "Then you'd better not let me find out when you're brainwashing me..."
"I love you, V." He pressed his cheek against hers, his voice so gentle it made V's whole body go weak.
"...I... too..."
She really wasn't one for sappy words, but in this place, at this moment, she endured her shyness and nibbled his ear. "Love you."
—--
In the Net, in the ocean of data.
Bartmoss, Alt, and Spider Murphy quietly looked up, observing the distance.
Blue data surged like ocean tides, now forming a faint, tornado-like tunnel in the void. And on the other side, a world was clearly visible, presented like a screen.
"The channel is open." Alt stared expressionlessly at the terrifying blue data, the sheer volume of this data was horrifying. Even the part visible to the naked eye was enough to fill the storage space of a Busan Ghost City server.
"It seems Mercer really is special," Bartmoss remarked with emotion.
"Should we notify him?" Spider Murphy turned her head to look at Bartmoss.
"Mm, let's tell him. He came over here all confused at first and helped us out so much. At the very least, we have to give him a chance to choose for himself now, don't we?" Bartmoss nodded lightly.
"What if this is the last chance for the channel to open? Bartmoss, we might never have another opportunity to connect with the world behind the wall. What then?" Alt retorted.
But Bartmoss just laughed. "Wouldn't that be fine, too? Perhaps it would prove that their world isn't more advanced, but that two equal worlds just happened to have a window open between them by some special coincidence."
"We might lose the possibility of further evolution... That is a safer, brand-new world, Bartmoss," Alt said, her tone heavy.
"So, you plan to hide it from him and mess around? You don't think he's still the same rookie he used to be, do you?"
After Bartmoss spoke, Alt simply said with a deadpan expression, "What if he decides to go back?"
"Then let him go back... What, you can't bear to part with him?" Bartmoss looked at her with a faint, teasing smile.
Alt just snorted. "We need him, don't we? From the looks of it, this guy might actually be able to do what we want to do but couldn't even achieve in simulations."
"Alright, notify him. Though I have a feeling... he might have already noticed something's off."
Just as Bartmoss's voice fell.
A smiling mask quietly drifted down from the air.
Then, an illusory voice solidified into a physical form in the blink of an eye. Mercer's icon appeared silently before the three of them.
"Long time no see, Bartmoss. And Murphy."
Mercer's figure quietly materialized.
Unlike the three of them, who looked tiny in comparison, Mercer, who had chosen the Ultra-Deep Dive State and was nearly an engram of consciousness code, now appeared immense.
This was the first time they had met on almost equal footing.
Bartmoss stared at the core wrapped in blue data on Mercer's chest, where a rotating rhomboid was faintly visible. "Truly beautiful. I'm starting to think Alt had a point. You really do look like a more advanced being."
"Fine, I'll allow you to erect a statue of me... Is this the data channel you used to get me here?" Mercer joked, then his gaze shifted to the massive data channel, visible to the naked eye in this sea of data.
"That's right. We found this in the Old Net, and it was through this data channel that we established a connection with you."
Bartmoss raised his head, looking at the data channel where data was still constantly surging and changing, and spoke in a serious tone, "You can see it, right? The end of the data... that small window."
Mercer looked up, and after a moment, he laughed in amazement. "Of course."
At the end of the tornado-like blue data channel, in a place that resembled both a monitor and a window, one could see a computer screen.
But on that screen, no images could be seen. All that was visible were blurry patches of blue data surging rapidly.
"This is different from when we first met you... When we found you, the image on this monitor was your computer. Now, we can only see this data."
As Bartmoss finished speaking.
Spider Murphy said softly, "No, what we're seeing now is still Mercer's computer... I was watching closely when he crossed over. At that time, his computer screen looked just like this."
"So the data flickering on my computer right now..."
Mercer looked closely. In the distant screen, countless surging lines of code, though indistinct, still gave him a pensive feeling. "It looks like text."
"Text?" Bartmoss frowned, then looked closer.
"How should I put it? I can't read it either, but you know, I have a special intuition that allows me to feel the meaning of data."
Mercer spoke softly, gazing at the data in the distance. "If I had to say what I feel from this pile of data... it's more like, hmm... an observation program. This observation program is constantly converting its findings into text output..."
"We're being observed?" Alt's brow furrowed, a rare hint of unease showing on her face. She stared intently at the blue data channel, a faint glow flickering where her eyes would be.
Bartmoss, however, laughed nonchalantly. "It's not impossible. Just as we once observed Mercer through this, perhaps someone is now observing our every move through it?"
"...I can feel a strange connection. How do I say this... it's as if I can connect at any time..." Mercer's expression grew complicated. "And then, go back."
"So, what do you plan to do?" Spider Murphy turned to look at Mercer, her gaze curious. "Why don't you connect back and take a look? You might be able to stabilize the channel..."
"But it's more likely that this channel will close permanently. Even if the two worlds connect again, Mercer, you might not be able to come back," Bartmoss quickly warned, shooting a glare at Murphy.
Spider Murphy playfully stuck out her tongue, then looked at Mercer with a completely serious expression. "Mercer, honestly, Bartmoss and I have talked about this a few times. Dragging you directly into this world... it really feels like we screwed you over.
After all, you were just playing a game. We secretly hid the crossover option among the game's choices to trick you into coming here to suffer. It was a bit underhanded.
If you want to go back, then go back. I can take care of your friends for you and make sure your efforts aren't in vain."
Bartmoss, however, just curled his lips into a smirk and said nothing, merely watching Mercer.
Alt stared at the distant data window with a calm tone. "I have to say one thing first, whether you go back or not, I will find a way to close this channel and window. We're being observed? That's far too dangerous."
Mercer just looked at the data channel.
Go home?
He lowered his eyes, and after a long moment, he started to laugh.
"Go back?"
Mercer turned his head, looked at Bartmoss, then at Spider Murphy, and finally, at the beautiful ragdoll cat that had stealthily climbed onto his shoulder at some point.
Morning Star didn't blink or speak, just watched him quietly.
Mercer gave a faint smile. "My home is right here. Where would I go back to?"
As his voice fell, Bartmoss burst into loud laughter. "I knew it! What's so fun back in your world? The Net is way more fun, right? Pretty girls, interesting BDs, and a bunch of assholes waiting for a beatdown..."
"Let's skip that last part." Mercer's lips curled as he looked at the majestic blue data not far away. "The pretty girls are indeed great... By the way, I'm a man with three girlfriends now. I don't need any BDs."
Bartmoss just pouted. "Three girlfriends? You're in for a world of hurt later. Heavens, if I had three women, I'd probably never get to surf the net in peace for the rest of my life..."
"Shut up, you! None of you male netrunners are good men!" Spider Murphy said irritably.
Bartmoss and Mercer exchanged a look and shrugged in tacit agreement.
They both thought the other was pretty decent, didn't they?
"Then let's get to work on closing this data channel. At the very least, let's stop the observation program on the other side first."
Alt frowned, uninterested in matters of the heart, and just stared at the distant data window. "The thought that we're being watched right now... doesn't it make you uncomfortable?"
"You stared at me for so long before I crossed over, and I never saw you complain," Mercer rolled his eyes.
Alt tilted her head slightly. "We didn't do it on purpose. It was just like now, an accidental discovery of this data channel, and we saw you. That's all."
"Heh~" Mercer gave a meaningful smile, then pointed at the data channel. "Tell me, how do we close it? Do you have a reliable plan?"
"If we had that kind of ability, we probably wouldn't have brought you here in the first place... Figure it out yourself. After all, it's the path you came from."
Bartmoss crossed his arms and smiled. "Let me see just how good your skills are now."
"Me?"
Mercer observed it carefully for a long time. In his Ultra-Deep Dive State, he thought for a full several dozen seconds before nodding. "It seems there really is a way... This channel has a kind of remote signal connection with my Data Core.
To put it simply, perhaps this so-called 'observation program' is bound not to this world, but to me.
Maybe if I just turn off this data signal, the observation program will terminate, and the data channel will naturally disappear due to the lack of a connection target?"
"As long as you've thought it through. It's not my home, anyway," Bartmoss said casually, glancing at the ragdoll cat on Mercer's body. "Your AI, Morning Star, is quite beautiful."
As his voice fell, a small black cat leaped from his shoulder and let out an obedient meow at Morning Star.
Morning Star merely glanced at it, then affectionately nuzzled Mercer's neck and said in a gentle female voice, "Is that the genuine version of Deathwish? It doesn't look very bright. It doesn't really think it's a cat, does it?"
Deathwish on Bartmoss's shoulder froze, then let out a dejected meow. "It's not a meow, it's a verbal tic, meow..."
"It really doesn't look very bright," Mercer commented sharply. Then, holding Morning Star, he met its gaze. "Worried I would leave?"
Morning Star looked up obediently. "As long as Master can take me with you, I don't really mind where we go."
For the first time, Bartmoss felt like he had lost. He turned to look at his black cat, pinching his chin. "Maybe I should try making an AI with a female psychological identity next time?"
But then, he shook his head. "Forget it, too much trouble."
"You really are a natural-born Netrunner Saint Body," Mercer said with a laugh, then raised his hand. "Anyway, I'm going to try closing the door now?"
"Close it. Our world is now on a new, hopeful path. We don't need to seek out variables anymore," Bartmoss smiled, offering his support.
Spider Murphy, however, looked a little regretful. "Aww, I was hoping to visit your world for fun if I ever got the chance! The network technology there is so backward, I'd definitely have a blast if I went!"
"Don't be silly, the networks of the two worlds are completely different things..." Alt said, then looked at Mercer. "Anyway, give it a try. I'll grant you server permissions. If something goes wrong, find an IP and get out of there yourself."
In his heart, Mercer had a premonition that he wouldn't fail.
He looked up, gazing at the strangely familiar data channel and the observation program at its end.
He curled his lips, tilted his head, and raised his hand.
In his core, his consciousness code flickered with blue data light.
As Mercer proactively shut down the data signal transmission between them, the majestic data channel in the sky began to undergo a drastic transformation.
The tornado-like data channel started to spin faster, but in the distant data window, the rapidly scrolling data gradually began to stagnate.
Mercer could clearly feel it, his connection to the data channel was weakening.
This meant that he might never be able to return to Earth, to his original home.
But at this moment, he felt not a shred of attachment. He just watched with a sense of wonder, gazing as the distant channel spun violently, beginning to tremble and rotate unstably. A large amount of data dissipated, breaking down into useless data streams and vanishing.
Gazing at the disappearing data channel, Mercer lowered his head slightly. In the end, he just smiled and sent a final text message into that channel.
[Hey, Earth, Observer, whoever receives this message.]
[I'm Han Yu. Of course, the me right now is called Alex Mercer.]
[Alright, I guess you guys must have peeked at my story quite a bit through this observation program, so you should know my name... but anyway, starting now, stop watching!]
[Don't you understand respecting privacy? You bunch of peeping toms!]
[I bet you really want to see what happens next, like with me and V, Lucy, Rebecca... What? You also want to see the stories of Sasha, Valerie, and Nomad V? Hey! Three is about enough! Any more than that... the main issue is, would V agree? If you have a guide, you'd better send me the walkthrough document right now!]
[I bet you also want to keep watching how your buddy conquers the world, but is anyone really interested in stuff like starting a company? The mere thought of it is a hassle, but I have to do it. Sigh, is this what they call "with great power comes great responsibility?"]
[Anyway... the only reason I'm sending this message to you observers of unknown identity is for one thing: if you know any of my people, remember to tell my family and friends that I'm having a blast in another world! I'm not coming back!]
[Haha! Eat your hearts out!]
[Goodbye! Observers!]
[Goodbye! Earth! —Signed, Han Yu (Mercer), who never plans to return, has three girlfriends in the Net, and is about to achieve financial freedom.]
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TL note:
And that's it. The end.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has followed this story from the beginning. Your presence and support gave meaning to every translated chapter.
A special thanks to those who enriched the reading experience for others by sharing images and resources, like Snow Rose.
See you soon for new stories, I hope.