After leaving the suite, Lark's expression was no longer as suppressed as the one she had put on earlier; she couldn't wait to lower her voice: "Mercer! What's next?"
Mercer's voice came from under the helmet: "Keep quiet, we'll talk in a moment."
Carrying Lark directly to the stadium, Mercer stopped, waited for a moment, and then Rebecca and V arrived one after the other.
V's complaints came faster than her landing speed: "Mercer, we're really in deep trouble this time! It was the damn President of New America! Damn it, if I had known, I might have agreed earlier to go to the Moon with you to kill that AI!"
Lark cast an odd glance at Mercer—didn't he explain the situation to his people?
But upon hearing V say that, she immediately reverted to her previous terrified demeanor, pretending to keep silent.
Mercer simply said softly: "Now I need you all to quickly restore the situation in Dog Town and stabilize the situation as soon as possible."
"What about this Lark? Did that rogue AI specifically ask for her?" V asked. "I think President Miles is not planning to hand her over."
"She has no choice now," Mercer said coldly from beneath his helmet, "All this trouble is brought to us by Military Science and New America. What she needs to consider now is how to redeem herself."
V clicked his tongue: "Are you serious? Are we going to extort the New American President?"
"What do you think we'll gain by letting her go now?"
Mercer retorted and then said: "Gratitude from New America? This woman is even more cold-blooded than you think; she might even backstab us and give me a medal of bravery, forcibly affiliating me with New America.
Now that we've reached this point, we have no choice but to act according to the situation."
V sighed irritably, while Rebecca unusually remained silent; her small face under the helmet squinted, but nothing could be discerned. In the end, she merely said: "What do we do next?"
"I'll talk to her first, see what's really going on; Rebecca, you go with V."
As Mercer finished speaking, he took Lark directly to the underground base beneath the stadium.
V wanted to say something, but Rebecca suddenly interrupted him and said ahead, "Okay, got it."
After finishing, she interrupted V, pulling him to organize the Netherworld Dog operation.
The unmanned devices have mostly regained control, but due to the sudden martial law, a careful check is still necessary. The defensive facilities need to be redeployed before martial law can be lifted.
Lark was taken by Mercer into the underground base, accurately speaking, she was hidden in the high-grade server room that originally belonged to the Little Beidou Facility within the stadium.
Upon entering, Lark didn't even have time to speak before she saw a silver-haired girl sitting on a hacker chair, scrutinizing the two of them.
Upon seeing Mercer arrive, the girl merely glanced at them with a complex look and then walked out without a word.
Mercer removed his visor: "Lucy, thank you."
Most of Dog Town's unmanned devices are controlled by Venus, but it still requires some manual coordination, and the person for this role is naturally Lucy.
"You handle the main business first," Lucy said without much expression and then directly left, leaving the room to Mercer and Lark.
Once the door closed, Lark spoke in an excited, relaxed tone: "Another pretty girl?"
"You seem to think the situation is settled?" Mercer expressionlessly took off his helmet and set it aside.
Lark immediately curbed her emotions, her smile carrying a hint of tension: "I did everything as you asked..."
"I know." Mercer interrupted her and then calmly said: "The dangerous part has just begun... you haven't forgotten what our next target is, have you?"
"I know... contact Lilith, arrange a manned rocket, then go to the Moon..." Lark had just finished speaking when Mercer nodded and continued, "Then, it's your task now, go contact Lilith."
However, Lark did not take action immediately; instead, she asked cautiously: "Are you sure? Now? What about President Miles... and what about the return flight?"
Mercer, however, did not say much, simply stating: "Those concerns aren't for you; first contact Lilith and let her arrange a rocket for your evacuation as soon as possible."
After saying that, he pointed to the hacker chair: "I've prepared a private network for you, go ahead."
Lark's eyes flickered slightly, but eventually, she obediently sat down, picked up the neural connection line of the hacker chair.
But before she entered the deep dive, Mercer inserted a chip into her Brain-Computer Interface: "Don't worry, it's just to record your conversation."
Lark merely nodded silently and inserted the chip before diving deep to contact Lilith.
Meanwhile, Mercer immediately started communicating with Venus.
[Mercer: Everything goes smoothly?]
[Venus: Everything is smooth, Black Light Virus launcher is ready, space armor accessories are ready, network interception program is running.
The clone life indicators are normal, Relic Chips are functioning well, Lady Otter reports everything is normal as well.]
[Mercer: No anomalies in the Sky Net System?]
[Venus: No anomalies.]
Once he briefly confirmed the situation, Mercer sat aside and waited for Lark to respond—soon, she recovered from the deep dive status.