Mercer and the three little hackers hurried into a dilapidated house before the enemy got close. The house was basically put together with some synthetic material panels.
Although it now seemed to have been tidied up a bit by the Chaotic Blade Association, the place was littered with bottles, cigarette butts, and half of the sofa was torn, with the sponge sticking out.
Mercer leaned against the window, his prosthetic eye flashing with light. He zoomed in on the scene, observing the convoy approaching from afar.
Leading the way was a two-door sports car, though it had been modified with bulletproof glass, a bulletproof body, and an extra headlight installed at the front.
In the scan results from his prosthetic eye, this car's model seemed to be called the "Falcon: Wild Wolf".
In the world of 2077, this kind of bulletproof glass, or rather a one-way data metal plate material, is quite magical.
At first glance, it looks like thin metal, yet this metal plate can transform into a magical one-way glass by activating a program.
When looking from the outside in, only the metal surface is visible, but from the inside, one can clearly see outside.
This material made Mercer marvel a bit, but right now, it indeed hindered his observation of the driver's seat.
In the middle of the convoy was a modified Villafort Company Columbus V340-F freighter, a two-seater van with a quite large rear space, commonly used for cargo transportation.
Mercer found it familiar, and after racking his brain, he finally remembered that this car seemed to be the one in the game that was transformed into a mobile hacking station when it transported Lark to the airport.
Following the van was a Mykino "Giant Column" big pick-up, its hood spray-painted with a skull.
Further back were two fairly modified but still shabby-looking Ganari "Vipers".
Five vehicles in total, fewer than Mercer imagined. He thought that maybe it's because these people were out making money during the day, and this group of Chaotic Blade Association members was the first to finish and head home.
Leon beside him got nervous, about to raise his gun, but Mercer swiftly pressed down on his gun barrel, shook his head gently, and sent him a message.
[Mercer: No hurry, let them pass first. Their pick-up has a machine gun mounted. Hidden inside the car, my prosthetic eye can't capture the signal... patience.]
Leon nodded heavily, setting down the authentic assault rifle in his hands, leaning cautiously by the window watching.
The cars whizzed by from far and near, drove past Mercer's broken house, and stopped outside an abandoned restaurant in the town center.
In their prosthetic eyes' sights, as those Chaotic Blade Association members got out of the cars, their figures were quickly marked one by one.
Even through walls, they could see their scanned signals from the prosthetic eye.
It was done by Kyoko from afar; she was the only one with such a good view.
[Kyoko: Don't rush! They have a hostage!
Doesn't look like he's with them...
Probably kidnapped during a robbery, what a bunch of scum. I've marked the hostage in the prosthetic eye, if possible, we might save his life.]
Mercer neither agreed nor disagreed, simply watched the situation quietly, then issued orders.
[Mercer: Wait until they're all inside to rest, then we'll start the operation.
Daichi, Leon, you go behind the building opposite the restaurant, find a way in.
Once ready to open fire, you must launch a fierce attack from the front immediately. Lucy, give them the throwing weapons you have.
Your goal is to inflict as much damage as possible while creating a commotion first. We'll sneak over from the other side of the restaurant, try to use quick hacks to silently take out key figures, and launch a pincer attack.
Don't overly concern yourselves with the hostage, our safety comes first.
Wait for my signal.]
[Daichi: Got it!]
[Leon: Understood.]
Mercer gestured behind, everyone then retreated from the window to the back of the house. Daichi and Leon went to the left while Mercer took Lucy to the right.
After reaching a slightly distant position, they quickly crossed the central road of the town, reached the other side of the road.
He pulled Lucy to lower their footsteps, the prosthetic eye patiently scanning the ground to avoid triggering any mines or stepping on anything noisy.
As they rounded the restaurant's side, Mercer raised an eyebrow, looking at the antenna on the restaurant's roof, suddenly stopping.
[Mercer: I see a network receiver...
Hold on, I'll connect to it, see if I can directly link into their subnet. These guys' network is likely connected to this network receiver.
If so, then when I hack into the subnet, I'll greet them with a Sorcery Puppet Virus package.]
[Lucy: You're not connected to a server nor cooling down now, be careful, don't burn out your brain again.]
[Mercer: No problem.]
He whispered, tiptoeing to the back of the restaurant.
[Mercer: Give me a hand, help me up.]
Lucy intuitively walked behind the wall, crouched down in a horse stance, placing her hands on one knee—this was the benefit of Arasaka's elite education.
They all underwent professional military chip training and assessment.
Mercer took a step back, then accelerated, stepping onto her knee with one foot while pushing hard. Lucy also exerted force, helping him grab the edge of the more than three-meter-high roof.
Mercer gritted his teeth and used his arms, fortunately, his body was quite light as well, his physical potential was decent enough that even without much dedicated training, he could propel himself up.
Climbing onto the roof, Mercer went to the rooftop antenna, opened the signal antenna's maintenance box, plugged in the data cable he held, and directly connected into the subnet.
Then, he clearly sensed a pile of signals beneath his feet.
[Mercer: It's done, seems these guys haven't been hit by hackers before, indeed, all connected to the same subnet...
Prepare to attack, Lucy, hold your gun crouched behind, if there's a fish that slips through trying to exit through the back door, shoot immediately.
Kyoko, maintain the data tracking signals in the prosthetic eye until confirming the opponent's death.]
[Kyoko: Understood.]
[Lucy: Okay.]
Then Mercer immediately closed his eyes and threw all his focus into the network.
Although he couldn't dive deep into Cyberspace, at this moment, his intense concentration seemed to slow down time, with streams of data flickering before his eyes.
His Brain-Computer Interface was slightly warm, and the quick-crack program stored in the Co-processor was first exported, then immediately began integrating a virus package.
The program was deployed into this subnet and automatically started uploading into the opponent's personal network.
Normally, hackers widely execute this operation, needing to prepare a Virus Chip that can cause widespread damage, allowing the program to consume chip computing power to run automatically.
Otherwise, they can only 'poison' one by one, but Mercer can use only his brain to simultaneously send multiple virus packages, and even manipulate the program at any moment for 'precision infection-style dissemination'.
This is an expression of extremely terrifying brain computing power.
Even when a large amount of data surges into view and his brain power is pushed to the limit, he can still issue clear orders.
[Mercer: Take action!]
The moment the words fell, the sound of precision rifle triple-point shots rang out from across the restaurant, dah-dah-dah, dah-dah-dah, the sound like music playing.
The glass in the room shattered, and screams from men and women erupted almost simultaneously.
"There's a hacker! There's a hacker!"
"Across the street!"
"Watch out for Hand Grenades!"
"Ah, ahhh!!"
Chaotic Blade Association members shouted in a panic, Mercer took a deep breath, continued confirming the situation downstairs in the subnet, and within a short seven or eight seconds, the subnet signal below became incredibly quiet.
[Mercer: You three, confirm the situation, Lucy, sneak in through the back door. What about the hostage? Was it killed too?]
[Kyoko: My vision isn't that good, I can't see behind the bar inside the restaurant.]
[Tetsuya Daichi: No signs of enemy movement in my view.]
[Leon: I saw the hostage just ran to the bar during the chaos. Be careful.]
[Mercer: I'll send him a warning message... Wait, be careful, I can't find his signal!]
But Lucy had already sneaked in through the back door with a Pistol, quickly pointing the gun at the guy hiding behind the restaurant bar, sending a message.
[Lucy: His hands are still tied, his attitude is cooperative, it's safe, you can come over.]
Mercer then disconnected, rubbing his temples, feeling lucky — these guys are all in the same subnet, saving the effort of cracking it.
With his skills, he could easily hack a wide area; only one in the group had a Network Access Vault, equipped with ICE.
That one with ICE wasted a bit of his time, the rest became like his plaything once hacked, doing as he pleased.
If not for letting Daichi and others have some involvement, he wouldn't even need them to fire; he could wipe out all these guys alone in seconds.
Mercer climbed down from the roof edge, re-entered the restaurant through the back door.
At this moment, Tetsuya Daichi and Leon also came from across the street, properly giving the dead a few extra shots as taught in Arasaka courses.
"Save some bullets, these poor fools mostly have powder rounds in their guns, our armor-piercing rounds and tungsten-tipped bullets will run out quickly here, there are no military tech or Arasaka gun shops to resupply."
Mercer checked the situation, nodded in satisfaction — at least the two by the window were shot dead.
This meant that Daichi and Leon didn't miss their shots when firing initially.
Then, he took Lucy's position, pointing his Kenshin Pistol at the unfortunate hostage inside the bar.
Casually, he pulled a small round stool from the bar and sat opposite the man, waving the gun muzzle at him.
Though this man had his hands tied, he wore a gray cowboy hat, a plaid shirt, a scruffy beard, dirty jeans, and worn cowboy boots.
He had to be in his forties, with greying hair and beard, yet his physique remained strong, having an empty holster at his waist.
He seemed to have almost no cybernetics, only the basic Brain-Computer Interface.
Frankly, dealing with someone like this can be troublesome even for Mercer because this type often defaults to disabling the network of Brain-Computer Interfaces, opening it only when needed.
If some hackers without direct combat capabilities face this type, it often proves quite tricky.
Because relying on a virus to deal with them requires plugging the connection cable directly into their head.
No wonder Mercer couldn't find his signal; this guy instantly shut off his network function upon noticing hackers' infiltration.
This guy doesn't need the Brain-Computer Interface to control cybernetics, so he can directly disconnect the network.
Unlike those modified with cybernetics, disconnecting needs special plugins; otherwise, cutting the network leads to cybernetic shutdowns.
"So, tell me about yourself. Maybe I'll decide whether to let you live, poor fellow."
At this moment, the man with tied hands stared in disbelief at Mercer and Lucy's figures.
What a joke! A bunch of teenagers fixed a group of Chaotic Blade Association thugs in five to six seconds?
"Don't shoot! I'm just a Wanderer; the Columbus outside is my vehicle. I was targeted by Chaotic Blade Association — they thought I was carrying goods!
They wanted to rob, but realized my car had nothing but junk, so they got angry and kidnapped me for ransom."
The man quickly explained his situation.
Mercer lightly tapped the bar with his pistol: "Be specific. Name, origin, where you came from, where you're going, and why."
"...I'm Cassidy, an Adcardo Wanderer."
As Cassidy spoke, he saw Mercer's eyebrows rise.
"Adcardo?"