Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 22 Surprise Attack! Adcardo?
Mercer and the three young hackers slipped into a dilapidated house before the enemy could get close. The house was basically made of some kind of synthetic material.

Although it seems the Chaotic Knife Society has tidied things up a bit, bottles and cigarette butts are scattered everywhere in the house, and the sofa is half broken with the foam sticking out.

Mercer leaned against the window, his prosthetic eye gleaming as he magnified the image, observing the convoy approaching in the distance.

Leading the pack was a two-door sports car, but it had been modified with bulletproof glass, a bulletproof body, and an additional headlight installed at the front.

According to the results of the scan by the prosthetic eye, the prototype of this car should be called 'Hawk Wolf'.

In the world of 2077, this bulletproof glass, or rather, the material of the one-way transparent data metal plate, is quite magical.

Although it looks like a thin piece of metal at first glance, this metal plate can be transformed into a magical one-way glass by activating a program.

Looking in from the outside, you can only see the metal surface, but from the inside you can see the outside clearly.

Mercer was somewhat amazed by the material, but it was currently hindering his ability to observe the driver's seat.

In the middle of the convoy was a modified Villefort Columbus V340-F cargo van, a two-seater with a fairly large rear space, commonly used for cargo transport.

Mercer thought the car looked familiar. After racking his brain, he finally remembered that it was the same car that had been converted into a mobile hacking station when he took the lark to the airport in the game.

Behind the van was a Mazda 'Giant Pillar' pickup truck with a skull painted on its hood.

Further on are two Canary Vipers, which, although modified quite a bit, look dilapidated.

There were five cars in total, fewer than Mercer had expected. He thought about it and figured it was because these people had all gone out to make money during the day, and this was a group of members of the Chaotic Blade Society who had finished their work and were heading home first.

Leon, standing beside him, nervously raised his gun, but Mercer quickly reached out and pressed down on the barrel, gently shaking his head as he sent him a message.

[Mercer: No rush, we can let them pass for now. Their pickup trucks are loaded with machine guns, and they're hiding inside. My prosthetic eye can't pick up any signals there. Be patient.]

Lyon nodded emphatically, put down the genuine assault rifle in his hand, and leaned against the window, watching cautiously.

Cars roared in from afar, driving straight past the dilapidated house where Mercer was, and several cars stopped outside an abandoned restaurant in the center of town.

As the group of members of the Chaotic Blade Society got off the vehicle, their figures were quickly marked in the prosthetic eyes of the group.

Even through the wall, they could see the signals being scanned through the telescope.

This was made by Xingzi, who lives far away; only she has such a good view.

[Kyoko: Don't panic! They have a hostage!]

They don't seem to be part of their group.
They probably robbed and kidnapped him; they're a bunch of scum. I've already marked the hostage in the ward. If possible, we might be able to save his life.

Mercer remained noncommittal, simply observing the situation before issuing the order.

Mercer: Once they've all gone inside to rest, we'll begin our operation.

Earth, Lyon, go behind the building across from the restaurant and try to sneak in.

Once you're ready to fire, launch a fierce frontal assault immediately. Lucy, give them all the projectiles you have on you.

Your objective is to kill as many targets as possible as possible while making a commotion. We will sneak over from the other side of the restaurant and try to assassinate the important figures first using a quick hacking technique, then launch a pincer attack.

We don't need to worry about the hostage; our safety must come first.

Wait for my signal.

[Earth: Received!]

[Leon: Understood.]

Mercer pointed behind them, and everyone retreated from the window to the back of the house. Earth and Leon went to the left, while Mercer led Lucy to the right.

After walking a short distance, we quickly crossed the road in the center of the town and reached the other side of the road.

He pulled Lucy to a lower gait, his prosthetic eye patiently scanning the ground to avoid triggering any landmines or stepping on anything that might make a sound.

As he circled around to the side of the restaurant, Mercer raised an eyebrow, looked at the antenna on the restaurant's roof, and suddenly stopped.

Mercer: I saw a network receiver.
Don't rush, I'll connect and see if I can connect directly to their subnet. Their network is most likely connected to this network receiver's network.

If that's the case, then I'll hack into the subnet and give them a Puppet virus package.

[Lucy: You're not connected to the server right now and there's no cooling, be careful not to overheat your head again.]

Mercer: No problem.

As he spoke, he tiptoed to the back of the restaurant.

Mercer: Give me a hand, help me up.

Lucy immediately understood and walked behind the wall, squatted down in a horse stance, and placed her hands on one knee—this was the benefit of Arasaka's elite education.

They have all undergone professional military chip training and assessment.

Mercer took a step back, then sped up, stepping on her knee with one foot and leaping forward. Lucy also used her hands to help him grab the edge of the three-meter-high roof.

Mercer gritted his teeth and strained with both arms. Fortunately, he was quite light and had good physical potential. Although he hadn't trained much, he was still able to get himself up there.

Climbing onto the roof, Mercer walked to the rooftop antenna, opened the antenna's maintenance box, plugged in the data cable, and directly connected to the subnet.

Then, he clearly felt a cluster of signals beneath his feet.

Mercer: It's done. Looks like these guys haven't been hacked before; they're all connected to the same network.
Prepare to attack, Lucy. You take the gun and crouch in the back. If any stragglers try to escape through the back door, just shoot them.

Kyoko, continue maintaining the data tracking signal in the artificial eye until the other party is confirmed dead.

[Apricot: I understand.]

Lucy: Okay.

Mercer then immediately closed his eyes and focused all his attention on the internet.

Although he couldn't dive deep into cyberspace, time seemed to slow down as he focused intently, and a series of data flashed before his eyes. His brain-computer interface was slightly warm; the fast-tracking program stored in the coprocessor's memory was first exported, and then immediately began integrating a virus package.

He deployed the program into this subnet, and it automatically began uploading to the other party's personal network.

Normally, when hackers perform this kind of operation, they need to develop a virus chip that can kill a wide area beforehand, so that the program consumes the chip's computing power to run automatically.

Or one could only 'poison' one by one, but Mercer could send several virus packets at the same time using only his brain, and could even control the program at any time to carry out 'precise infection-style transmission'.

This is an extremely terrifying demonstration of brain computing power.

Even when a large amount of data emerges in his field of vision and his brain's computing power is pushed to the limit, he can still clearly issue commands.

Mercer: Do it!

The moment the words were spoken, the sound of a precise rifle firing in three bursts rang out from across the restaurant, the sound like music.

The glass in the room shattered, and the screams of the man and woman rang out almost simultaneously.

"Hacker! Hacker!"

"Across the street!"

"Be careful with grenades!"

“Ah, ahhhhh!!”

The members of the Chaotic Blade Society were called a group. After taking a deep breath, Mercer continued to check the situation downstairs in the subnet. In just seven or eight seconds, the subnet signal downstairs became completely silent.

[Mercer: You three, confirm the situation. Lucy, sneak in through the back door. What about the hostage? Were they all taken out?]

[Kyoko: My vision isn't as good as it used to be; I can't see behind the bar in the restaurant.]

[Tetsuya Daichi: I see no signs of enemy activity.]

[Leon: I saw the hostage run behind the bar during the chaos. Be careful.]

[Mercer: I'll send him a warning message. Wait, be careful, I can't get his signal!]

But Lucy had already slipped in through the back door with a pistol in hand, and soon pointed the gun at the guy hiding behind the restaurant bar, sending him a message.

[Lucy: His hands are still tied, but he's been cooperating fairly well, so he's safe. You can come over now.]

Mercer then unplugged the cable, rubbed his temples, and felt that he was actually alright—he was lucky, these guys were all in the same subnet, saving him the trouble of cracking the subnet.

With his skills, he could easily hack into a large group of people. Among these guys, only one had a network access pod and ICE in his head.

Only that one guy with the ICE took up some of his time; the rest, after he hacked their networks, were like his sex slaves, to be played with however he wanted.

If it weren't to give the Earth and the others a sense of involvement, he wouldn't even need them to fire; he could have wiped them out in seconds by himself.

Mercer clung to the edge of the roof and jumped down again, entering the restaurant through the back door.

At that moment, Tetsuya Daichi and Leon walked over from across the street, and, in a proper and orderly manner, followed the instructions taught in Arasaka's lessons to finish off the dead.

“Save your bullets. These poor bastards probably only have gunpowder bullets in their guns. Our armor-piercing and tungsten-tipped bullets are becoming increasingly rare. There’s no military technology or gun shops in Arasaka to replenish them.”

Mercer glanced at the situation and nodded in satisfaction; at least the two thugs smoking by the window would be shot dead.

This means that at the very first moment of firing, neither Dadi nor Lyon missed their targets.

Then he took Lucy's place and pointed his Kenshin pistol at the unfortunate kidnapped man behind the bar.

As he casually pulled up a small round stool from the bar and sat down opposite the man, he waved the gun at him.

Although the man's hands were tied, he was still wearing a gray cowboy hat, a plaid shirt, a beard, dirty jeans, and cowboy boots.

He must have been in his forties, with gray hair and beard, but he was still quite fit, with an empty gun holster at his waist.

It appears to have almost no prosthetic body, only a basic brain-computer interface.

To be honest, even Mercer would find it troublesome to deal with this kind of person, because these types of guys usually turn off the brain-computer interface network by default and only turn it on when they need it.

For hackers who lack direct combat capabilities, dealing with this type of guy can often be quite troublesome.

Because if you want to deal with this kind of guy using a virus, you'd have to plug the connection cable directly into his head.

No wonder Mercer couldn't find his signal after that; the moment he discovered the hacker intrusion, he immediately turned off his internet connection.

This thing doesn't need a brain-computer interface to control the prosthetic body, so it can disconnect from the internet directly.

Unlike those guys who have modified their bodies, they need special plugins to disconnect from the internet, otherwise the connected bodies will stop working as soon as the internet is disconnected.

"Tell me about yourself, introduce yourself, and I'll consider whether to let you live, you poor thing."

At this moment, the man with his hands tied was staring at Mercer and Lucy with an incredulous expression.

Are you kidding me?! A bunch of thirteen or fourteen-year-old kids took down a bunch of thugs from the Chaotic Knife Gang in five or six seconds?

"Don't shoot! I'm just a vagrant. That Columbus outside is my car. I was just targeted by the Chaotic Blade Society—they thought I was a cargo courier!"

So they wanted to rob me, but when they found my car empty except for a bunch of junk, they got angry and kidnapped me, intending to extort a ransom.

The man quickly explained his situation.

Mercer simply tapped the bar next to him lightly with his pistol: "Be more specific, name, background, where you come from, where you're going, and why."

“My name is Cassidy, the wanderer of Adcardo.”

As soon as Cassidy finished speaking, Mercer raised an eyebrow.

"Adcardo?"

(End of this chapter)