"Alright, alright, Dr. Kyoko." Mercer smiled and obediently sat down.
Then, he turned his head and noticed Kyoko's red eyes.
Before Mercer could speak, Kyoko started to mutter through gritted teeth:
"Leon deserved it, it's all his fault for saying those unlucky words on the hovercar... he needs to learn a lesson."
As she spoke, tears trickled down.
"Don't cry, it really doesn't hurt." Mercer smiled and comforted her.
"I..."
Kyoko bit her lip, sobbed, and her hands didn't stop: "I'm sorry... I couldn't really help much..."
"You came too?"
Mercer shook his head, reached out, and patted her still damp head, her freshly washed hair seemed to be a waste of effort:
"You've done really well, you helped us locate those guys and provided fire suppression...
If we count it, your assists in both matches were quite high, and now you're helping me treat my wound...
When did you learn this?"
Kyoko grabbed his hand and put it back: "Don't move, the wound is bleeding again... I started learning from the day you said we were leaving."
"Hmm, Kyoko has been working hard too..."
Mercer thought of Lucy's conversation and decided not to talk to her like a child, and said seriously:
"You've indeed done a lot, in every battle, there's a possibility of someone getting injured, even dying.
You can't think you contributed nothing just because you weren't hurt.
It's not like only those who are injured have the right to take credit, right?
Otherwise, Daichi, who drove Leon, would be a freeloading dog with a 0 KD, wouldn't he?"
"Freeloading dog... hehe, I'll tell him that later." Kyoko forced a smile.
"I won't care if you get beaten." Mercer teased, and soon changed the topic to Sailor Moon, which indeed, quickly energized her.
By the time the wound was treated, Kyoko's mood had returned to normal.
Compared to the sensitive or rather insecure Lucy, Kyoko was a true optimist.
In this world, a personality like hers is actually a remarkable gift.
It wasn't until almost nine at night that the sandstorm finally subsided.
Cassidy made a pot of Wanderer-style 'canned meat stew' with a portable stove, Mercer dared not scrutinize the meat's origin, but it surprisingly tasted pretty good.
After eating and drinking, the quiet night finally allowed everyone to sleep soundly.
The next morning, under Cassidy's organization, they tidied up the house, and then resumed their journey.
The Chaotic Blade Association's cars and corpses were left to local Wanderers, whom Cassidy contacted, to be taken care of. He discussed with Mercer about using the car sale money to first repair the house.
The surplus would be transferred to his bank account, and later, when Mercer had a bank account, it would be reimbursed to him.
Mercer didn't refuse, he just said to keep a clear account and split the money fairly when the time came.
They drove from Montana, sometimes on highways, sometimes rushing through the wilderness.
Cassidy wasn't lying, after calling a few old friends and sorting out the route, their subsequent journey felt as easy as a vacation.
They didn't encounter any more enemies, nor many people at all.
Only when the food supply was about to run out did Cassidy contact a few Wanderers—those Wanderers reliably delivered food, water, fuel, and other supplies right to the wilderness.
And Cassidy settled the bill with the income previously seized.
This made Mercer often marvel at his own luck; saving Cassidy's life perhaps saved them all, or else, they wouldn't know how many troubles they'd have faced along the way.
At first, all the kids except for Mercer had trouble sleeping or couldn't sleep comfortably in the car.
But once they got used to life in the starry, dusty wilderness, everyone soon immersed themselves in this long journey.
Even though the world is grim, the stars are always beautiful. In the rare gloomy weather, they've smelled the fresh air of the wilderness after rain and seen drifting snowflakes.
In this cyberpunk world, even the weather becomes nonsensical, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, rainfalls in November, snow in December.
Still, each scene was so beautiful that the young hackers couldn't help but exclaim.
They experienced the misfortune of the car skidding on icy roads, leading to a breakdown after crashing into a dirt path.
They also experienced the thrill of being chased by border patrol while smuggling across the border, and finally, by December,
they successfully reached California.
After detouring from Southern California to Northern California, Night City was within reach.
Technically, Night City is situated right in the middle between Southern and Northern California, existing as a neutral city not belonging to any state or country.
But before entering, Mercer still needed a temporary, safe place outside the city.
A place to stay while sorting out the Night City residential record and residence needed for disguise.
Predictably, that place could only be a nearby Wanderer camp around Night City.
And the name of that group of Wanderers naturally could only be one—and that is Adcardo.
Led by a man named Sol, with a girl named Pan'an in the Wanderer family.
Mercer was prepared, not in a hurry to rush into Night City when they reached the camp, but wanted to see his wife from the game first.
In the game, if choosing the male protagonist, the only female character the protagonist can romance is Pan'an.
As someone not interested in bromances, Mercer almost always completed Pan'an's questline first when playing as a male character just to romance Pan'an.
He had repeated the experience of getting to know and falling in love with her many times, and was overly familiar.
This time he finally got the chance to see her in real life, and he had been eagerly anticipating it early on.
But not even Mercer had anticipated... his meeting with Pan'an would be much sooner than he had imagined.
...
"Mercer! There's a gunfight ahead, looks like some Wanderers are clashing with the Chaotic Blade Association! I have to help out! Might be our pickup!"
Through the car's intercom, Cassidy's shout came through.
Mercer's prosthetic eye scanned into the distance; not far into the wilderness, a total of six vehicles were speeding - a fair 3V3 showdown, with both sides racing and pouring firepower on each other.
"No problem, let's go together, remember to call out on the public channel."
After Mercer finished speaking, he swiftly stepped on the gas and fired the Kenshin wildly at the Chaotic Blade Association.
Once within his network's range, his eyes lit up as he began hacking.
The battle process was light and pleasant.
Over the long journey, by studying his people's car system, he had long devised quick-hacking programs specifically for ordinary vehicles, such as 'engine overload', 'full speed ahead', 'emergency brake'.
The Chaotic Blade Association guys found their car suddenly with a locked throttle, screaming as the car flipped into a ditch.
Or suddenly had the brakes slammed, causing the entire car to lift and flip over from a big drift.
Another vehicle's engine directly caught on fire—the occupants had no time to save themselves before they were shot to pieces on the driver's seat by the Wanderers wielding vehicle-mounted guns.
Mercer and his team's car gradually slowed to a stop, while the Wanderers parked opposite them.
A group of people disembarked, led by a middle-aged man. Mercer glanced once before shifting his attention—not familiar.
But those behind the old man made Mercer slightly widen his eyes.
Oh crap...
Scorpion, Mitch, and... Pan'an!!