If this accident was caused by Arasaka entrusting Ye Corporation to disrupt his intelligence gathering capabilities, then this is definitely just the first step of Arasaka's operation.
And after? What is Arasaka's next target?
Mercer began to try putting himself in the shoes of Arasaka's operations head—after crippling the target's intelligence gathering abilities, what's the next step?
Taking the opportunity to directly strike the target?
But Arasaka's target isn't to kill them, it's the Relic Chip... so they need to ensure they can retrieve all the Relic Chips, or gather intelligence on the Relic Chips.
The base?
Mercer halted in his tracks, his brows furrowing deeper—attacking the Gem Cyan Hotel was just a last resort, the place was crawling with Netherworld Dogs, and killing people wasn't Arasaka's goal. Wanting to capture them from the Gem Cyan Hotel and interrogate them about the Relic Chip was unrealistic.
So their target might be the Spark Team base a distance away from the Gem Cyan Hotel!
Especially tonight, Mercer has to attend the Gem Cyan banquet, and most of the Spark Team's current forces have to respond to Hansen's call and participate in the banquet security.
This means the base's security level will instead drop to its lowest point... If he were the operation leader of Arasaka, he might consider taking advantage of this opportunity to raid Mercer's base—and the Relic Chip is indeed stored here!
Mercer suddenly saw the light.
Yes, the base is their target!
That night, all they need is to wait for the banquet to start, when Mercer and the focus of the Netherworld Dogs are at the Gem Cyan Hotel, and launch an assault on the base.
First, try to find the Relic Chip, and even if they can't find it, they can still destroy the server and completely cripple Mercer's hacking ability!
Or rather, intelligence gathering ability! Doing a reduction of Mercer's overall strength.
Clearly, they have already investigated and discovered that the core of Mercer's intelligence gathering capability lies in the current base, showcasing a server room valued at tens of millions of euros, combining the Sea God Server and constantly upgraded over time!
Should V and others be left at the base to ensure its security?
Can they manage?
What if their actual target is to force Mercer to focus his combat power on the base, while their real goal is Mercer himself, at the hotel...
"Mercer... Mercer!" Qiwei's voice brought Mercer back to his senses.
She looked at Mercer with gentle eyes: "Is there anything I can do?"
"I need to think." Mercer sighed deeply, sitting in the hacker chair.
Qiwei just looked at him with concern, said nothing, and after a moment, stood up: "Should I get you a coke? And lunch..."
"Sure, I need some alone time." Mercer said.
Qiwei nodded, walked to him, hugged his head, gently stroked his head, lowered her head, and kissed his forehead lightly: "Take your time, we'll be outside."
Mercer averted his gaze, and she smiled softly, stroked his face, gave him a somewhat reluctant kiss, and then walked outside.
When the server room was left with only Mercer, he sighed deeply, directly picked up the server cable on the hacker's chair, and used his Octopus Arm to connect himself, diving deep into the server.
He needed to use accelerated and calm thinking in the Cyber World to think faster about how to break out of this situation.
But even with Venus assisting in calculations, the conclusion reached was still somewhat pessimistic.
In fact, after Arasaka decided to act against Mercer, a thorny issue was confronting Mercer.
That is, if Arasaka showed an unforgiving attitude towards Mercer, Hansen would certainly be suspicious—what's driving Arasaka to risk conflict with Dog Town just to trouble Mercer and others?
After a long contemplative period in the Cyber World with eyes closed, Mercer finally opened his eyes and made a firm decision.
Things have reached this point, it's going to be a fish versus net, a do-or-die situation.
He disconnected from the deep dive state, and upon returning to reality, he noticed the cold iced coke still steaming on the distant table.
Getting up, taking a sip to cool himself down, Mercer immediately began to take action.
There's only two things Mercer can do.
The first thing, he activated all security measures within the base, preemptively initiated the standby mode of backup power sources to prevent a blackout.
The second thing, he immediately called Hansen.
As soon as Hansen answered the call, he knew Mercer wasn't calling for chit-chat: "What's up?"
In the video call, Hansen was rarely seen dressed in formal attire, seemingly busy at the moment, with the background showing the entertainment hall being arranged in the Gem Cyan Hotel.
Mercer, without hesitation, said directly: "Something might happen."
Hansen, without a word of protest, gestured to the others before promptly relocating to a quiet corner of the hall, his expression a bit tense: "What's the matter?"
"I suspect Arasaka's people might be causing trouble for me."
As soon as Mercer finished speaking, Hansen laughed out loud: "You know this is Dog Town, and tonight, socialites from Night City, New America, even Europe will be here, correct?"
The implication is he doesn't believe Arasaka's people would dare to come to Dog Town, especially on a day like today, to cause trouble for him.
Tonight, the Gem Cyan Hotel not only invited numerous media outlets, but also famous singers to perform, besides Night City's politicians, many European tycoons and company representatives are attending.
If Arasaka causes a disturbance in Dog Town at such a time, and harms some key figure, even Arasaka might get themselves into significant trouble.