Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 60 Yucca Town (1.4 votes requested)

2072年，1月1日，13:22分。

A sturdy Mackinac La Rimoir van passed through the checkpoint and arrived in the town of Yulan.

This is a small town, with at most a hundred households.

It's only about a two-hour drive from the border station, surrounded by wilderness and Gobi Desert, and looks rather barren overall.

There was only one bar/hotel in the whole town. After parking the car, Panan looked around and sighed, "This place doesn't look good either."

The group didn't get out of the car; they just chatted inside.

"How so?" V asked curiously. As a street kid born and raised in the Haywood district of Night City, this was her first time leaving the city.

"Before Dogtown existed, people would discuss any shady deals they had in Yulan."

As Panan looked around, he remarked with some emotion, "This area isn't part of Night City, so the people doing business here are a diverse bunch."

Smugglers heading to Night City pick up their goods here, or deals that need to be made discreetly outside the city's watchful eyes are finalized here. Homeless people, Night City gang members, and even corporate dogs all come here.
In short, it's quite lively. The tavern is fully booked 24/7, and you can't make a reservation at the inn upstairs without calling ahead. The two-story building across the street used to be an inn, but it's closed down now.

Panan paused for a moment, then said, "Now, if anyone has a similar need, they all go to Dogtown. Small-scale smuggling doesn't require negotiation; they just load up the goods here, turn the truck around, and head into town."

Night City checkpoints also know that the big deals all go to Dogtown, and as long as you pay a little money, you can easily get through with no risk at all.

This little town of Yucca is practically deserted at this hour. If you ask me, it'll probably be completely gone in a few years.

Unless Dogtown suddenly disappears, there's little chance of survival here.

V nodded, glanced around warily, then turned to Qiwei: "What do you think we should do next?"

Qiwei remained calm: "According to Mercer's intelligence, the biotechnology people only come here about twice a week, usually arriving promptly at 3 PM."

The leader will first meet with people at the bar.

Afterwards, once she has finished her business, she will go outside to organize the participants to get into their cars, where they will take the injected medication. About an hour later, the biotechnology team will leave.

If we only want drug samples, then we just need to hijack the car before the biotechnology can drive it to Yucca.

But according to Mercer, he was also very interested in who was using the drugs and wanted to dig deeper into the details of the matter—in short, he felt that biotechnology was not just about drug testing.

We also need to keep an eye on the Red Ochre tribe. Panan, this is up to you. Find out if this matter is related to the Red Ochre tribe.

Panan readily nodded: "No problem, wanderers can recognize wanderers. Besides, the people of the Red Ochre Tribe are actually quite easy to recognize. Each of them wears a piece of jewelry made of red ochre, such as necklaces, earrings, or rings."

"So next, V and Panan, you two need to get into the bar before the biotech people go there, and then there's a miniature listening device."

Qiwei picked up something that looked no bigger than a finger and handed it to V: "This is something Mercer bought from the military. You just need to hide it in the bar, somewhere we can see each other's faces."

It has an automatic audio enhancement system that amplifies the sound so you can hear conversations clearly even from a distance.

After you're done, don't rush out. Have a few drinks and a snack, then act like a normal customer and don't arouse suspicion.

This bar closes at 2 PM and does not accept outside customers until 3 PM when the biotechnology people arrive and finish their conversation with the mysterious person inside.

You can go to the bar again during opening hours and retrieve the camera.

I'll stay in the car, using team voice chat to keep in touch, and I'll check the surveillance footage on the computer to make sure you don't place the cameras at an angle.

After listening, V thought it was quite simple and nodded, saying, "Okay, that's settled. When do we go?"

"Wait, someone's coming," Qiwei said alertly.

Panan glanced at the rearview mirror and scoffed, "Never mind that, I'll talk to him."

"Knock down."

Someone knocked on the car window.

Panan rolled down the car window, looking annoyed. "What is it?"

Standing outside the window was a middle-aged man in a police uniform. His sharp eyes scanned the car, glancing at V and then at Qiwei sitting in the back seat.

"What are you here for?"

"What else can homeless people do here? Talk business, make deals." Panan said irritably, "Sheriff, do you have anything else to say?"

“Don’t cause trouble on my turf. I remember you; you weren’t driving this car before.” The sheriff’s gaze sharpened as he stared at Panan.

Panan looked at him without flinching: "Now even what kind of car Yulan drives is being regulated? That's great, no wonder there are fewer and fewer people in this town."

"Heh," the sheriff sneered, but said nothing more, only turning his gaze away: "Your two friends don't seem easy to get along with. You'd better keep an eye on them."

"Then I advise you not to piss off my two difficult friends. If you're looking for trouble or to make some extra money, you've picked the wrong target."

Panan made no attempt to hide his threat, and the sheriff sneered twice more, but this time he didn't say anything, taking a step back with his gun slung over his shoulder: "Don't cause trouble, I'll be watching you."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Panan squinted and thought for a moment, then rolled up the window and turned to the two people in the car, saying, "Something's not right. I have Adcardo's logo on my car. Logically speaking, he wouldn't come looking for trouble on his own initiative."

I think he might have been paid to act as a warning to certain people.

"You mean, biotechnology?" V's expression turned serious.

After pondering for a moment, Qiwei suddenly said, "It seems that Mercer's guess might be correct. Perhaps what happened here is indeed related to the Wanderer Tribe."

"You mean, they found us stopped here and suspected we were the people from Adcardo's Ochre disguised as Adcardo's?" Panan asked doubtfully.

"It could also be to be wary of all the homeless. They're worried that we've discovered something and then share information, since homeless tribes are more or less connected."

After Qiwei finished speaking, she paused and then asked, "Haven't you been here recently? Has anything similar happened?"

“I remember Mitch and Scorpion came to deliver some things last week, let me ask.”

Panan's prosthetic eye lit up, and he made a phone call to Mitch.

In just a few words, she found out what was going on.

"Mitch said they weren't checked last week, but they arrived around 9 a.m. and left around 11 a.m., maybe because of the time?"

Panan glanced at the time; it was about 1:30 a.m.

Qiwei said, "It's very likely, so we'll go in and out quickly. You guys go now, put your things away, and then come out. We'll move to a more distant place to avoid being watched by him."

Panan said, "Okay, let's go now."

She opened the car door, V took the camera Qiwei handed her and put it in his pocket, and the two of them pretended to be thirsty and went to a bar for a couple of drinks.

Qiwei opened the car window, leaving a crack, lit a cigarette, and stared coldly at the police chief sitting in the police car not far away, who was watching them.

Panan and Qiwei entered the bar, where there was only the owner who also worked as a bartender.

"We will close for a break at 2:30 pm and will reopen at 3:30 pm. Do you want to eat, drink, or stay overnight? Staying overnight can only be arranged after 3:30 pm."

The bartender looked her over and saw Panan, whose face was somewhat familiar. He recognized her as one of Adcado's people and lowered his guard a bit.

"I'm so thirsty, have a couple of sips of ice-cold ale." Panan said, sitting down on the bar counter.

V pretended to look around the bar's decor, but her prosthetic eye had already started scanning. Mercer's new prosthetic eye was indeed very useful; it scanned all the cameras on the first floor of the bar in just a few seconds.

She discreetly sat down in the far corner of the bar, against the wall, a blind spot for the security cameras.

The bartender nodded and turned to get the beer from the freezer.

At that moment, V activated Sinweistein.

For a moment, the bartender's movements almost froze. V swiftly turned and jumped, placing the camera that Qiwei had given her on the top shelf of the liquor cabinet on the side of the bar, hiding it between two bottles.

Then he casually sat back in his original seat and stopped.

The whole process was so fast that even the second hand couldn't keep up.

This S&P 500 has a maximum power output that can reduce time by nearly 70%, which means that one second for someone else is almost three seconds for the V.

The bartender only felt a soft thud behind him. When he turned around, he saw V and Panan still sitting in their seats, looking at him and waiting for him to get the drinks.

V urged him on, saying, "Hurry up, I'm dying of thirst."

"Okay." The bartender didn't waste any words, taking out two bottles of ice-cold beer and placing them on the table: "Would you like a glass with ice?"

"No need, I can easily finish this in a few bites."

Panan waved casually, then feigned curiosity: "I remember this place used to stay open in the afternoons too? Why is it now closed for a break?"

"It was temporary, a private event, you know what I mean." The bartender didn't hide much about it.

Panan clicked his tongue: "This service wasn't available here before."

"There's nothing I can do. In the past, this place could be packed with several tables of customers at this time in the afternoon. Everyone wanted to book the whole place, so I had to give up my business."

But now, only two people stay there each day. The townspeople only start arriving around 5 PM to have a drink and a bite, so if someone pays, I make a little money.”

The bartender, or rather the bar owner, sighed: "Business is tough. How about you guys? I haven't seen many people from Adcado lately either."

"It's not great either. Business is getting worse and worse. It's all been robbed of its market share by that stupid place, Dogtown."

Panan cursed, and the boss, understanding perfectly, offered a small dish of snacks for free—cold fried potato chips: "You're right. Consider it my treat. It's been a long time."

“But these days it’s rare to see someone book the whole place to do business,” Panan said, and the bar owner glanced at her.

"Don't test me, you know, I won't betray my customers, especially troublesome ones." The bar owner gave Panan a friendly warning, subtly telling her that the customer who was coming later was not someone to mess with.

Panan pursed his lips: "I was just asking casually. Thanks."

She didn't say anything more. The three of them chatted for a while, finished their potato chips and beer, and then Panan paid the bill and got up: "Let's go. We've finished the business deal. Let's come back for another drink this afternoon."

"Okay, come after 3:30." The boss nodded and smiled as he said goodbye.

Panan and V went out together, got back into the car, and drove away into the distance.

"Don't go too far. This camera's stable wireless transmission range is only five kilometers," Qiwei reminded her.

"Understood." Panan didn't plan to go too far, so he drove to the entrance of Yulan Town, turned into the wilderness, and took the dirt road.

After walking two kilometers, she parked the car in the shade of a small earthen mound: "This is it. We used to observe the cars coming and going on the highway from here. It's secluded and cool in the afternoon."

Qiwei opened her laptop, connected to the internet, and operated it for a while before nodding: "No problem, the device is working properly. The V is placed in a very good position, high up, with an unobstructed view from the side."

"Ha, having Sianwistan is really awesome. I suspect if I punched that boss in the back, he'd think he just had a backache when he sat back down."

V said smugly.

Panan also exclaimed in admiration, "That's fucking fast! Much faster than that Fenrir. I could at least catch a glimpse of that guy, but with what you just did, I didn't even realize it until you were back in your seat!"

"Of course! My sister hasn't even installed any muscle enhancers or tendon strengtheners yet. As for Train King, he just replaced his original parts with a sturdy and durable synthetic part."

"Once I get that kind of prosthetic body, I feel like I can run faster than the Sword in the Stone."

After V finished speaking, Qiwei calmly said, "Stop bragging. You guys go keep an eye on the highway and see what kind of car the biotechnology company drives."

“Okay~” V opened the car door, stood by the small hill, and his eyes automatically widened to observe the highway in the distance.

Panan looked at her enviously: "You got a new prosthetic eye?"

"Of course! The 10x zoom Qilusi's all-seeing eye, plus the scanning plugin, can even scan out the car's manufacturing date." V chuckled, extremely satisfied.

If Mercer hadn't been so quick with her assignment, she would have made a few trips to the Heywood district to show off. Just those genuine high-end prosthetic eyes from the Crossroads would have made those street kids drool with envy.

Panan could only honestly use a telescope to look, as her prosthetic eye wasn't that advanced or easy to use.

After waiting for a while, around three o'clock, V suddenly spoke up: "A Behemoth Biotechnology logo has arrived. That's right, they drove a Behemoth here!"

Beacon is a heavy armored personnel carrier developed with military technology. As a military armored vehicle, it is not allowed to be sold commercially and can only be supplied to authorized companies and governing entities.

Its excellent 3.8-centimeter-thick armor, along with its huge storage space that can transport a platoon or an entire tank, makes it the first choice for many companies for road transport vehicles.

V suddenly felt a bit tricky: "I've surveyed the terrain along the way, and the only way to stop this behemoth is from the highway. We need to be quick, grab the loot, and leave. This won't be easy."

"It's really not easy. To overturn such a big guy, you'd need anti-tank mines," Panan said, somewhat astonished, realizing it wouldn't be a good task.

It might be possible to overturn this vehicle with heavy firepower, but what if the drug samples inside are damaged? Wouldn't that mean all our efforts would be for nothing?
Therefore, it's best to find a way to stop it. What methods can be used to stop it?
This is a highway outside Night City. After looting, they'll have to disappear into the wilderness, circle around, and then go through the checkpoint to get back.
Or could we deal with the car at the checkpoint? That way, we could turn around and head into Night City, and if we were quick enough, we could switch cars and transport the goods to Adcado.

"The car has entered the town and we've lost sight of it. What do you think? Should we go check it out, or just leave it?"

V said.

Qiwei simply stared intently at the camera feed and said, "While you guys were out drinking, I hacked into a few of the street cameras. We don't need to go over there; just watch the camera footage to see what's happening on the street."

V gave a thumbs up: "You're awesome!"

"It's the fast cracking program that Mercer gave me that's really powerful," Qiwei said truthfully.

Most hackers on the street are actually script kiddies. All they need to do is insert a program chip into their access module or put the program in the access module, and then send the program when they encounter an enemy, acting as a tool to provide computing power.

What she did better than those street kids was that at least she knew what program she was using and could even expand on its usage. For example, right now, she connected the quickly hacked camera to her computer.

"Biotech people have gone into bars."

Qiwei suddenly said something.

Panan and V then moved closer to her, craning their necks to look at the screen.

At that moment, a senior biotechnology employee dressed in a suit pushed open the bar door and walked straight to the bar counter.

It was a woman. Qiwei zoomed in on the hidden camera's surveillance footage, took screenshots of the scanned images and information, and sent them to Moser.

Mercer quickly sent a message to Qiwei.

Mercer: Give me some time, I'll find out who she is.

[Qiwei: I'll give you the whole video in a bit, go through it.]

Mercer: Okay, be careful.

[Qiwei: Don't worry, we're very careful.]

Mercer: That's good.

Qiwei closed the chat window displayed in her prosthetic eye and continued to observe the screen.

After waiting for a while, a man dressed in tattered clothes and with one hand smeared red with paint suddenly came down from the second floor of the bar.

Qiwei zoomed in and took a screenshot, but Panan suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! I think I know him!"

Panan frowned, thought for a while, and then suddenly exclaimed, "I remember now! This guy is from Red Ochre! I remember him, he's quite famous, known as the Desert Red Hand, a well-known battle maniac in Red Ochre."

How did he get involved with people in biotechnology?

Qiwei patiently adjusted the data: "Don't rush, you'll understand once you listen."

The built-in recording device of the miniature camera started working and quickly amplified the faint sounds it had collected.

At this moment, the bar owner consciously opened the door, walked out of the bar, and locked the door, leaving space for the people inside to talk.

The man sat down at the bar, went behind the bar to get a bottle of whiskey, and without pouring it into a glass, took a couple of sips from the bottle.

"You shouldn't have forgotten that we're here to discuss business."

The female employee from the biotechnology company gave the man a disapproving look.

The man just looked at her coldly and mockingly: "What's wrong? You have a problem with that? Then go find someone else."

"Let me tell you, Red Hand, you'd better figure out who you're talking to. If your collaboration with me gets exposed, what do you think will happen to you?"

The woman's expression grew increasingly hostile: "My meeting with you twice a week has already aroused the suspicion of many people. The higher-ups are pressing me hard, and I need a result as soon as possible."

"I don't know what you're in such a hurry for. Can't we just meet once a week? Do you think you can get things done by nagging me every day? Don't you even know what kind of stupid work you're asking me to do!"

I told you, I've already put the medication in here, and the samples I get for you every week are all here too. What else are you complaining about?

Red Hand slammed the bottle down on the table: "You want to report me? Come on, let's see who dies first. I can still go back to the Chaotic Blade Society and leave Night City. What about you?"

"Now that this is out, we're all doomed! So stop talking nonsense, hand over the money, I'll give you the samples, and once this is over, the promised company exemption and European airfare—not a word less!"

The woman stared intently at him, and after a long while, she softened her tone and said, "Don't worry, I won't shortchange you on what I promised, but precisely because this matter is so important, you also need to take it seriously!"

"I've been fucking serious enough. You think it's that easy for me to run away twice a week? I also have to stay in town for you."

Redhand, wary, didn't finish his sentence, only saying angrily, "We agreed that I would just throw the stuff in the water and that would be the end of it, but now you want me to collect samples for you every week."
Damn it, do you even know how sick my little brother is now because of your mess?

Where is the antidote? Where is it?

"Don't worry, I'm using volunteers from the town to make improvements every week, right? Trust me, this drug will be successfully tested soon."

The woman continued to soothe him, while handing him a chip: "Alright, ten thousand euros. Where's the stuff?"

Red Hand took the chip without any hesitation and then said, "It's upstairs, wait there."

He turned and went upstairs.

The woman muttered a curse under her breath: "What an idiot, he should have taken it off from the beginning. He wasted my time."

After waiting a while, Red Hand came down carrying a sealed box and casually tossed it onto the table: "What you wanted, plant samples, soil samples, and blood samples are all inside. You'd better hurry up, your family has already noticed something is wrong!"

"Don't worry, at most two weeks, two more visits, and this order will be closed."

The woman picked up the box and put down an injection: "This is the latest experimental drug, theoretically 20% more effective than before. Don't forget to wait three hours after your friend finishes using it before taking his blood sample."
I already said not to come into direct contact with the virus; the diluted form is very dangerous.

"Damn, who knows if it's your problem? We all did this wearing protective suits! You better make sure it works. I've been feeling a bit unwell lately too."

Red Hand looked angry, while the woman's expression changed slightly. She simply nodded and quickened her pace to leave.

Qiwei switched the camera and saw that as soon as the woman went out, she picked up a disinfectant spray and sprayed herself a few times before returning to the Behemoth truck with a gloomy expression.

The truck's cargo compartment was opened, revealing that it had been converted into a mobile medical station. The camera angle was too narrow, so all that could be seen was the woman going inside, changing her clothes, and then standing outside cursing.

Many people in the town also came out of their homes and gathered behind the truck to line up. They then got into the truck one by one, and those who came out pressed their arms with cotton swabs, indicating that they had been given an injection.

In about half an hour, more than 30 volunteers completed their tasks.

The truck didn't leave. After waiting for half an hour, they were asked to go back in. Then the truck closed its doors and rumbled back into the city.

After confirming that there were no problems, Qiwei told Panan to drive back to the bar. She retrieved the camera that had been placed there using the same procedure, then got back into the car and contacted Mercer via the team chat.

Unlike one-on-one messaging, Mercer created a temporary chat group for each squad using the QQ software, which made it easier for everyone to communicate and enable squad voice chat when necessary.

[Qiwei: Mercer, have you seen the video? What should we do?]

[Mercer: I've seen it. Come back first, but before you go back, go to Old Vina for disinfection and take some antibiotics.]

[Qiwei: This is troublesome. Do you think biotechnology is releasing viruses?]

Mercer: Don't worry, it's probably not a highly contagious or deadly virus, otherwise they would have all died long ago. I guess it's a chronic virus that requires close contact to become infected.

Unless there is direct, large-scale contact, there should be no danger. The woman didn't wear protective clothing, so there shouldn't be any major problems.

They may be researching a miracle drug.

The matter concerning Red Ochre needs further investigation, but it sounds like they're poisoning the water source for the Red Ochre people.

[Panan: Holy crap, has Red Hand gone mad? He poisoned his own people? Mercer, I have to tell the Red Ochre people!]

Mercer: Of course we should talk to them, but you have to stay calm and not let them ruin our plans. Who knows if biotechnology has any other informants?

But don't worry, I've already found out about that woman. Emilia Morton is currently the regional project manager for the technology department at a biotechnology company.

It seems there are indeed many secrets to uncover in this job; a supervisor wouldn't normally be required to handle such a task personally.

I checked, and above her are only two regional deputy directors of the technical departments and one regional director, which is not a low level.

Let's move on to the next step. After we seize the drug samples and capture this woman, we'll pass the message to the Red Ochre people to do them a favor and get them to clean up their own mess.

[Qiwei: Are you planning to arrest everyone involved?]

Mercer: Of course, I want to get more information from her before I think about hacking into the biotechnology server.

In short, if she's useless, just get rid of her later.

[Qiwei: Understood. We'll disinfect the car and then go back.]

[Mercer: Relax. If it were a virus that contagious, even they would be terrified. But safety first.]

Qiwei: Understood.

Panan restarted the car and drove back, looking somewhat annoyed: "We drank beer there. Hopefully we won't be that unlucky."

"It shouldn't be a big problem. Look at that boss, he's been fine for so long, what's there to be afraid of?" V tried to appear calm.

The three of them went to Old Vie's place for a visit, got checked out, and only after confirming that they were not infected with any virus did they breathe a sigh of relief and return to Adcado.

Mercer borrowed a large tent from the camp staff, the kind used for meetings, to use as a temporary base, so that everyone wouldn't have to squeeze into his small tent.

When V brought Qiwei and Panan to Mercer, they saw Lucy and the others who had gone out to survey the market that morning giving Mercer a report in the large tent.

"I went to look at the Puppet Virus program chips on the market, and the chips sold in the Kabuki district were of the highest quality."

His programming skills are roughly at the level of an average advanced hacker—not bad, but not particularly good either.

Secondly, there's the merchandise sold by the Voodoo Gang in Taiping Prefecture. They're not very friendly to outsiders, the prices are high, and the quality of those chips is even worse than the batch from the Kabuki district. It feels like they weren't properly made, and you have to buy them to see the program.

I bought one and tested it on my own computer. It had a bunch of backdoors inside. I can't figure out if they're selling fast-cracking chips, or backdoors and hidden viruses.

Overall, the price of chips in the low-end market is generally around three thousand euros, and most of them are simple programs such as prosthetic overload and rapid intrusion.

Mid-to-high-end hacking chips are all plug-in products that can be directly inserted into the network access module to run. It seems that if we want to enter the program market, we need to get a batch of high-end program chips.

Most of the people who buy these chips are not buying them for research purposes, but for plug-and-play functionality. Moreover, their skill level is generally average, and they basically rely on the computing power of the program chip and the network access module to run programs.

Unlike you, who likes to put things in an access pod and run the data yourself using your brain, Mercer, I've found that most of those 'script hackers' actually rely on external hardware to hack in.

In other words, we might still be able to work on the hardware, assembling advanced programmable chips to raise the price.

The only products that can be considered high-end are those sold by voodoo groups and in the Kabuki district. These products have built-in program chips that ensure the programs run automatically, requiring no computing power from hackers most of the time, and the programs are also quite sophisticated.

The price of this chip starts at around 10,000 euros, and depending on the hardware and software, the highest price can reach 30,000 to 50,000 euros, but there are no more expensive ones.

After Lucy finished speaking, Rebecca casually added, "The low-end market is basically made up of hackers writing their own code, which is then sold by shops over there."

These shops don't have any special power; they basically just pay protection money to the local authorities wherever they open the shop. It's that simple relationship.

So anyone who wants to sell their goods to them can do so; they usually just sell other goods along with them.

Several shops that specialize in selling programmable chips are basically directly controlled by local gangs. For example, the chip shop in the Kabuki district is being watched by the Tiger Claw gang.

As for the source of the goods, I made some inquiries and found that the mid-to-high-end chip market is basically dominated by the Voodoo Gang, who have almost achieved a monopoly. However, I heard that the supplies in the Kabuki district come from Dogtown.

The shipment from Dogtown doesn't seem to be from the same group of voodoo thugs in Taiping Prefecture.

After Rebecca finished speaking, Lucy added, "The total market shipments are around five million euros. I asked about the sales figures, but the other party was quite wary, so I didn't ask any more questions."

But I observed the foot traffic at the entrance. There weren't many buyers in the Kabuki district, but considering the chip prices there, I estimated that just a few sales a day would easily earn me tens of thousands of euros.

Mercer quickly went through the details in his mind and finally decided that he had to take a bite out of this deal and get a piece of the pie.

Even if you only get 30% market share, you can still sell at least several hundred thousand euros a month, which is no small amount of money!
Even if a portion of this money is distributed to the shop, a portion to the hackers who wrote the program, and the chips still need to be assembled, the pure profit, even if we only consider the team's income, can still earn at least 100,000 euros in public funds for the team each month.

Moreover, the lion's share of the income goes to the hackers who write the programs, allowing them to upgrade their equipment, improve their skills, and become self-sufficient.

This is enough.

Mercer didn't intend to take over all of this business himself; he would just write a few of the best high-end programs on the market and then use them as business cards to sell.

Even if only a few people buy this high-end product each month, considering the price, he can still earn at least 100,000 euros.

Sure enough, compared to the grueling work of a mercenary who risked his life for money, it's much more lucrative to make money doing business with technical skills.

It's estimated that the Voodoo Gang was able to occupy a building in Taiping State and build their own "Poseidon Server," which was quite famous in Night City, supporting a large group of Voodoo Gang hackers.

Besides, the illegal profits they make from extortion are probably only about equal to the profits from selling chips.

The Voodoo Gang has about a hundred people to support, so the daily expenses of the server are probably not small. As we all know, the cost of a server is not just the purchase price; electricity is actually the biggest expense.

Seeing that Mercer was deep in thought, the others did not disturb him.

Rebecca was still angry with V. She glanced at her, snorted, and turned her head away, angry that V hadn't let her force herself on Mercer yesterday.

Although she was actually a bit dazed for a while after sobering up, once she calmed down and thought about it carefully, wouldn't it have been a good thing if she had actually gotten things done while drunk?
This is a cyberpunk world, so what's wrong with being bold when you meet someone you like? You might just be dead tomorrow! Of course, you should enjoy it as soon as possible!

This V doesn't eat it herself and doesn't even share it with her sisters, what kind of person is she!
Mercer quickly stopped thinking and said:

"Alright, let's put this matter aside for now. You can familiarize yourselves with how to tinker with programmable chips. Hand-crafting programmable chips is a technical skill, so start practicing now."

Once I'm done with the biotechnology stuff, I'll talk to Wakako and see if we can sell our products from the shops in the Kabuki district.

"Making money selling goods still relies on monopolies. Next, we need to figure out how to sweep away all the Voodoo Gang's stock and negotiate with local shops to sell only our products. That will make us much more profitable."

Mercer was well aware of Night City's market rules: selling programs well is not as important as having a firm grasp on the market. Previously, no one dared to, nor did anyone have the technology to, compete with the Voodoo Gang for the market.

But from now on, the voodoo gang won't have a monopoly on this market anymore.

"Have you scouted suitable locations for ambush biotechnology along the way?"

Mercer turned to look at Qiwei, while Qiwei turned to look at Panan.

Panan nodded and said, "I've looked at a few places. Wait while I get a map."

She quickly got up to get the map, but Mercer waved her hand and pointed to the computer: "It's in here."

Panan walked over to him, looked at the map Mercer had brought up, leaned down, and pointed to the two places beside him: "I think there are only two suitable places."

The first thing we did was after they left the city and got to the highway where the biotechnology protein farm was located.

It's less than half an hour's drive from the Night City checkpoint, and there aren't many vehicles coming and going, so we can make a quick decision and then drive straight into Night City.

As long as we don't run into biotechnology reinforcements, once we enter the city, it will be easy for us to disappear without a trace if we prepare an evacuation route in advance.

The only downside to doing this is that we are unsure of the speed of biotechnology support, and it may also trigger a manhunt by the NCPD, potentially leading to a tough battle.

Secondly, I think the location of this point, which is the midpoint between the checkpoint and Yulan Town, is quite good.

Surrounded by the Gobi Desert, with no village or shop in sight, we managed to slip past the checkpoint before they noticed anything amiss and stopped us after we dealt with them.

The advantage is that we can most likely avoid reinforcements. After we enter the checkpoint, we can simply circle around the wasteland.

Panan paused for a moment and said, "These are probably the two most suitable places to make a move."

Mercer pondered for a moment and decided to take the route inside the checkpoint—there were too many variables outside the checkpoint, and if he got stuck there, there would be a lot of trouble.

“We’ll start with the protein farm,” Mercer decided.

"How do you plan to deal with the Behemoth armored vehicle?" V asked a new question. "I took a look, and that thing is not easy to intercept."

“Use hacking techniques.” Mercer confidently raised his head: “I’ll go with you, hack it on the way, then unlock the car door, V will just rush in, leaving only the female manager behind.”

If I'm quick enough, I can also intercept their alarm signal. After taking the stuff, I'll drive the Behemoth to the farm on autopilot. By the time they realize something's wrong, we'll be long gone.

"Can you do it? I'm not kidding, the military-grade Behemoth comes with its own professional military ICE, which is different from ordinary cars."

On her way back, V looked up some information online. Behemoth's exaggerated numbers and promotional slogans gave her a headache for a while, and she couldn't come up with a solution.

"Don't worry, I know that ICE is difficult to handle. An ICE mounted on a vehicle is much better than an ICE placed in a person's brain, but that's only because I can only use my own brain, so it's more difficult to handle."

If I also had a hardware device capable of providing computing power, things would be much easier. As long as the hardware isn't compromised, I'm confident I could take it down within five seconds of hacking in.

Mercer chuckled and said, "Isn't it a coincidence? I just wrote a hardware design for the old captain, specifically to support the hijacking software I wrote for him."

If I can get my hands on the hardware he's assembled and borrow it, I can modify it into a hacker car, then I'll sit in the car and hack Behemoth directly.

Then you take care of the rest, get the stuff, and leave with the supervisor. It's that simple.

Mercer paused for a moment, then said, "Then, on the same day we got the stuff, we made our move on the biotechnology building."

"To get access to the servers of this giant corporation, I think, V, it'll be up to you to infiltrate again. But this time, we might be working together."

Upon hearing this, Rebecca quickly raised her hand: "I want to go too!"

“You and Pila will provide backup outside. The fewer people inside, the better,” Mercer said, rejecting Rebecca’s suggestion.

V said worriedly, "Why don't you just wait outside and help me remotely like last time?"

"We're going to a biotechnology company in Night City, not some hotel like the Azure Tower. I estimate that the cameras there are very difficult to hack remotely, and there are multiple security doors, elevators, and the like."

I could find almost no information online, and even after trying to hack in, it was very difficult to get into their local area network.

Large companies have very strict management; almost no one makes mistakes. Security servers and main servers are not connected to the public network.

If I still can't find a solution in the next few days, I'll have to set off with you. Within a 32-meter range, my eyes can help me detect signals from networked devices. I need to get close enough to hack into them in order to gain control of the security equipment.

Even so, I estimate that the company's equipment is likely controlled by two or three secure servers working in tandem. These days, large companies are incredibly wary of hackers, afraid that a ghost might sneak in.

Mercer sighed.

He had already tried—silently hacking into the biotechnology server from the public network and connecting to its mainnet.

But after he went inside, he was disappointed to find that the public server could only connect to and hack into some insignificant personal computers and network devices.

Even ICE, Mercer felt was nothing special. It only took him less than half an hour to quietly break through ICE's defenses and gain control of the main server. It was not challenging at all.

The truly valuable treasures were all completely hidden within the local area network by biotechnology. Mercer could only try to gather information through devices connected to the public network, attempting to find a way to access the local area network.

For example, he might try to use some of the company's hacked computers to hack into computers with local area network access.

But the result was somewhat disappointing. People in large companies protect computers with LAN access very well. In order not to alert the enemy, he did not dare to send emails to phish the enemy directly like he did with the City Hall.

Based on the experience of large companies, it is very likely that they will be fishing for fish but instead fishing for mines. If the other party notices this and sets up a trap, then they will be finished.

The others looked at Mercer with concern, but Lucy simply said, "Why don't I go? I can handle the simple hacking of cameras and cracking of security programs. You can just watch me from behind and give me instructions using the chip."

"You're worried about me getting into trouble, but I'm worried about you. I'll go. I've upgraded from a slingshot to a cannon, buddy."

Mercer chuckled and tapped his chest: "Even if I accidentally expose myself and attract attention, with V around, I can buy them a second or two and hack them all."

Upon hearing this, V smiled and said, "Hehe, don't worry, I'm not afraid of anyone now! Even if that Adam Hammer guy comes, I'd dare to fight him!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Mercer tossed her a chip.

"What the hell?"

V was too naive to distinguish between good and bad; he just thought the colorful chips looked pretty.

"A good thing that Arasaka would send agents to silence you overnight if he found out about you."
"Put it in your head. I've written a complete ICE program inside, ensuring that even a top hacker can't hack your brain in a short time."

Mercer said, while V's eyes lit up and without saying a word, he stuck the thing into his head.

After he finished inserting it, Mercer let out a few soft laughs.

"What are you laughing at?" V was completely bewildered.

"I bet Lucy that after I give you the chip, you idiot will stick it in your head without even thinking."

Mercer laughed heartily.

V rolled his eyes: "Damn! You mean I should be wary of you?"

“V, you need to think more about things that are inserted into your head.”

Mercer said earnestly, "These days, you might just be casually looking at a Mewtwo on the street and end up getting stripped naked and sent to the Cleaner for cooking."

Not to mention anything that's inserted into your head. You can use my things as you please, but if someone else gives them to you, given your level of intelligence, never put them in your head.

My suggestion is, if that doesn't work, we can buy a phone or laptop that can accept SIM cards.

"Damn, do you think I'm that stupid?" V said, dissatisfied. "Is it wrong for me to trust you?"

“I’m just worried that you trust everyone so much,” Mercer said earnestly.

V snorted: "You're overthinking it. Your sister V is smart. Come on, stop looking at me like that. Old V already said that intelligence is not the same as IQ!"

But Lucy said, "You must never tell anyone about this chip. I mean, if someone takes it out of your head, you should destroy it immediately rather than let anyone find out about it."

Seeing that even the usually taciturn Lucy had said this, V nodded and promised, "Okay, I promise, unless we suddenly die, I'll crush this thing before I die."

“No need, your life is far more important than this chip.” Mercer paused after saying this, then added, “It has many uses. Not only have I modified it into an awesome ICE plugin, but it also has many other applications.”

In short, I'll tell you all about it after I've figured it out. For now, just treat it as a powerful ICE chip and use it for now.

"It would be too ridiculous if you, as our most important fighting force, were to fall into the hands of hackers."

He looked around and finally made up his mind: "I'll start making preparations in the next few days. I'll contact the old captain and see if I can borrow his hijacking equipment first."

Then, when the biotechnology team returned to Yucca, we hijacked their car and broke into the building that night.

Don't go out and cause trouble these next few days. Rest and recharge. Once this deal is settled, we'll all go to the Afterlife for a good drink, and then we'll move to Dogtown.

As Mercer finished speaking, everyone else smiled. With Mercer around, the once indestructible Behemoth armored vehicles and the group of professional biotechnology soldiers became like insignificant minions.

Seeing that Rebecca was dawdling and had no intention of leaving, V snorted and went over to put his arm around her neck without saying a word: "Let's go, let's go back, and have a meal together while we're at it."

"Damn it! Don't pull me! I can walk by myself!" Rebecca glared at her angrily.

"Really? Don't bother Mercer, let him prepare properly." V ​​let go of her hand, not afraid of her getting angry at all.

Rebecca stared at her for a moment as if grinding her teeth, and snorted, but then turned her head away.

She glanced at Mercer, but she didn't seem as intoxicated or bold as she used to be. With so many people watching, even she felt a little embarrassed.

"Alright, then I'll go back and rest. After we finish this job, we'll celebrate together and chat." Rebecca chuckled, winked at Mercer, and then turned to call Pila to leave.

V was a little annoyed, but couldn't quite put her finger on why. In the end, she simply passed the buck to Mercer, glared at him, and pulled Qiwei away.

Lucy sat in the chair with her arms crossed, turning her head to look at Mercer with a wistful expression: "Looks like you're quite charming."

“Of course,” Mercer said without any politeness, picking up his laptop and standing up. “Rebecca is straightforward; if she likes someone, she likes them; if she has feelings for someone, she has feelings for them.”
Even if I had a girlfriend, she'd be the type to act impulsively and passionately, isn't that great?

"Why is she suddenly so enthusiastic?" Lucy was a little confused. "You've only known each other for a few days."

"Who knows?" Mercer shrugged, unsure. "Isn't that how kids are? Feelings come quickly and heat up fast. She's much more naive than you think."

“Here we go again,” Lucy said, pursing her lips. After getting up, she said, “I advise you to be more careful. These girls who hang out on the streets might be trying to get close to you for some reason.”

In short, what else is there for us kids to do?

Mercer looked at her with a half-smile for a while, then said, "That's all, but you can start trying to write some fast cracking programs and learn to tinker with chips."

Lucy felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, nodded, and turned to leave.

Sigh, Mercer is good in every other way, but in this respect he always talks nonsense and I don't know what he's thinking.

Lucy sighed inwardly, but didn't want to think about it any further.

Right now is not the right time to talk about feelings, and she believed that Mercer was aware of that as well.

Lucy went out the door, turned around and walked to the other side of the camp. Making chips requires specialized equipment, and she had to go to the camp to see if she could buy some.

After she left, Mercer thought about it and couldn't figure out why Rebecca had suddenly become so enthusiastic towards him.

Although I had some feelings for them before, I felt that it was just the kind of feeling of liking someone who is kindred spirits.

Could it be that after she got drunk yesterday and had a good time touching me, she decided to have sex with me after she sobered up?
But to be honest, it felt pretty good to be publicly admired by a pretty young girl. Mercer happily picked up his notebook and went back to the tent to chat with the old captain.

[Mercer: Is your carjacking setup up and running yet? I need to hijack a good car right now, looks like I'll have to ask you for a hand, Captain.]

[Old Captain: They're having someone knowledgeable fix it up right now, it'll probably take another day or two to get it done. Is that enough time? Also, what kind of nice car is it? My business's been booming lately!]

[Mercer: We should have enough time. I have a Behemoth, can you handle that?]

[Old Captain: Holy crap, you're trying to hijack a military technology vehicle?]

Mercer: No.

[Old Captain: We can't take it, we can't take it. This thing can't be driven on the road without a permit. The poor folks in the badlands don't need this flashy iron lump for transportation. If we buy it, we can only dismantle it and sell the parts.]

This thing is too conspicuous; no matter how you modify it, it won't sell well or be profitable. My suggestion is, if you don't want trouble, just leave it on the side of the road. I guess you're not there for the car.

[Mercer: What a pity, this car costs millions of euros.]

[Old Captain: It's not about the money. Even if you get me a Sword in the Stone or a Lake Maiden's Sword, I can modify it and sell it for whatever price it's worth.]

But I don't want to touch this military stuff. If you're so capable, send it to Dogtown; maybe someone will take it.

But to be honest, Hansen in Dogtown is a real bastard. If you take this thing in, he can steal your car first, then sell you back to the company—I bet you robbed a big company this time.

[Mercer: Fine, looks like we're going to have to burn through millions of euros.]

[Old Captain: If you want to borrow my equipment, I won't charge you. Consider it a free test. If it can even take down a Behemoth, then the carjacking equipment you drew up for me is truly amazing.]

Mercer: If you were to give it to a newbie, or rely solely on the hardware to run the program, it would probably be quite troublesome. This time, I'm personally handling it, just lending you the hardware, so the result is naturally different.

Therefore, you'd better not overestimate the capabilities of this equipment.

[Old Captain: Got it, Brother A is really something! Once this batch of goods is sold, or if I see anything good, I'll ask your people for help again. Let's all make money together!]

Mercer: Okay, if you're free, I'll earn some extra money here. You can also contact me if you have any big jobs.

[Old Captain: No problem! I'll message you once I've got my equipment set up.]

Mercer: Thanks.

[Old Captain: Haha~ I like making friends with capable people, so don't hesitate to ask if you need anything.]

Mercer: You too.

After hanging up the call, Mercer took off his coat, leaving only his black customer service uniform, sat cross-legged on the hacker chair, plugged in the cooling and connection cables, and went back into deep dive.

He will continue to try to loiter around the biotechnology servers to see if there is any opportunity. Even if there isn't, he can take this opportunity to verify the information Wakako provided.

Wakako not only provided him with information about the biotechnology convoy, but also gave him architectural blueprints for the biotechnology company, as well as security information.

But Mercer still decided to watch it himself as a precaution.

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. When the biotechnology vehicle once again drove out of Night City and headed towards the town of Yucca beyond the border.

The entire Spark team was ready and began their well-prepared ambush targeting biotechnology.

(End of this chapter)