Cyberpunk: Starting in 2071

Chapter 62 Infiltration, Human Cloning Technology (9K views, please vote)
"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!!"

V cursed under his breath, his heart still pounding.

She gently dragged the biotech warrior, whose neck she had twisted and who was still panting, into the workroom in the corridor, where she gasped for breath.

Mercer, however, remained calm with a gleam in his eyes: "Well done, I saw it on the camera, a beautiful series of stealth kills."

"Damn! Is this how you sneak in? You want me to go alone and knock out everyone who can see the elevator?"

V's forehead was covered in a fine sweat, partly because of Sianwistan and partly because of nervousness.

Mercer looked at her with a smile: "Isn't this a pretty good job? Look, their biosignals can't trigger the alarm, and I've hacked the cameras too."

The people in the monitoring room could only see the normal patrol footage that I had recorded before, which was played on a loop.

Now we have at least ten minutes for a safe operation.

"What kind of stealth is this!" V was still a little shaken—he almost lost control and broke a guy's neck.

She knew nothing about the techniques of knocking someone unconscious; she only knew how to use brute force. But Mercer insisted that she could only knock them unconscious, not kill them, and that they must not die before they finished stealing and left. This made V extremely nervous.

Mercer chuckled, hands in his pockets, and swaggered towards the elevator outside: "Has anyone spotted us yet?"

"No." V followed behind him warily, glancing left and right.

"That solves it, right? As long as no one notices, it's definitely a good stealth operation."

Mercer's resolute words left V speechless for a moment.

It's 2 a.m. Mercer and V sneaked in through the side door of the biotechnology company. To call it sneaking in is an understatement; Mercer simply stood at the door and hacked it, simultaneously hacking all the surveillance cameras that could see the door.

Then he just walked along carelessly, in complete darkness, and all the cameras and security equipment became blind before the alarms even went off.

Logically, the AI ​​scanning system built into this smart camera should be able to identify whether the target person is an illegal intruder in less than a second.

But Mercer's speed was simply too fast, so fast that even the security manager of the camera's design company and the biotechnology company probably hadn't anticipated that someone could hack in faster than the device's scanning speed through face-to-face hacking.
Is this still human?

Mercer's only price was a brief respite, during which he had to hide in an empty room next to the elevator to catch his breath.

As for the manual security aspect, V took care of everything.

What she had to do was knock out all the security guards responsible for watching the area around the elevator and side door, and then throw them into the room.

Generally, these security personnel will periodically check on each other's situation via voice, but this process is not too frequent.

Mercer waited until they gave a report before taking action to ensure that, unless there were unfortunate circumstances, the sudden loss of contact with these security personnel would not raise alarms in the short term.

"So, we can just take the elevator up now?"

V looked at Mercer, trying to calm his breathing.

Mercer looked at her and pointed a finger at her nose: "Your nose is bleeding again. Have you been taking your medication on time lately?"

V just sniffed nonchalantly, turned his face away, and casually wiped his nose: "I think I was too fast. You know what I mean."

“Looks like your artificial organs will have to be put on the agenda soon.” Mercer sighed. “It seems that before long, the two of us together won’t be able to put together many decent pieces of meat.”

"What's the big deal? These days, even rich people replace their internal organs every few years. Otherwise, how would they maintain their youth?"

V said nonchalantly, "Synthetic parts are much more powerful than original parts. Generally speaking, these synthetic organs don't cause much of a burden."

"This is only because my body is in great shape. Look around, who else can withstand this kind of speed with just kneecap and ligament replacements?"

"Those rich people are getting healthy human organs replaced. They think that even if it's just using synthetic organs, prosthetic modifications might have a negative impact on the body, so they would rather use organs from younger people of the same species."

"Ha, in short, they're a bunch of idiots. They've created a ton of stuff, hyped it up to the skies, but they don't even dare use it themselves, afraid it might affect their quality of life in the slightest."

Mercer muttered a complaint, went outside, and walked with V to the elevator. They only stared at the elevator display for a while before the elevator doors opened automatically.

V clicked his tongue in amazement: "How come you don't even need to plug in a cable? I've seen those hackers usually have to connect their own data cables and fiddle with it for ages before they can get it working."

"So that's why they're just 'that bunch of hackers,' and I'm your boss." Mercer smirked, walked in, and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor.

“We’re going to Dr. Kuno’s office. Her computer has direct access to the server. We’ll go in, hack the data, send it to my laptop, and then we can make our escape.”

After Mercer finished speaking, he paused, looking at the red pop-up window that appeared on the elevator screen saying "Authentication Required." His prosthetic eye was shining, and after a short while, the red pop-up window turned into a green "Verified," and the elevator began to rise automatically.

"Did you scare this too?" V asked curiously.

"It wasn't hacked now, it was before—I hacked in directly from the public network and left some backdoors, which allows me to remotely connect to the server at any time via the public network. The elevator control doesn't go through the local area network, it goes through their server's main network."

Mercer paused for a moment and said, "This main network is also the network that most employees use on a daily basis."

The elevator and some of the door opening and closing mechanisms are all controlled by the main server, so I don't need to waste any more time on them.

However, for important functions such as opening and closing doors on higher floors, a separate internal network server was used.
To put it bluntly, the company has set up a bunch of large and small servers, each controlling a portion of the critical equipment, and they never interconnect unless necessary.

For example, each floor's security personnel have their own independent subnetwork, allowing them to directly disconnect from the main server if a problem occurs, thus preventing hacker attacks.

It just doesn't necessarily have to work.

Mercer thought of the group of Arasaka agents he had killed—they had done the same thing.

However, faced with Mercer's terrifying strength, even with Mercer using large servers and professional server cooling, they were wiped out before they could even disconnect the main network.

Even if they manage to break free in time, as long as Mercer can still detect the other party's network, he can forcibly hack into their subnet, at most delaying their demise.

V gave a thumbs up: "You're awesome, A. Working with you is so much easier than ever."

"That's because I took care of the hard parts in advance."

As Mercer finished speaking, the elevator doors slowly opened.

The elevator doors faced a corridor. V tried to peek out, but Mercer reached out and grabbed her. His prosthetic eye flashed, scanning the nearest camera and starting to hack into it.

He didn't even take off his coat; the hot air from the cooling system hummed slightly inside the coat.

He then used the camera's perspective and its built-in scanning function to observe the corridor.

"There are four robots in the corridor. I'll scan the code first and then go out. The robots will treat us as their own people."

Mercer took the first step.

He looked around, and the images that Kako had sent him quickly began to transform into a three-dimensional 3D graphic in his mind. After comparing it with the corridor that appeared in his field of vision, he quickly determined the layout of the room.

"The big rooms on the left are all laboratories. Damn, they're still working overtime at 2 a.m., you're something else."

Mercer muttered a complaint, observing the situation inside the lab through the camera's lens. After a moment's thought, he said:

"There are three employees in the lab, but I haven't seen Dr. Kuno. Considering that she's still working so late, it's highly likely that her supervisor is watching her. So, it's possible that she's in her office right now. Let me think."

Should we just charge in?

It's not impossible, but what if this biotechnology has some fancy alarm mechanisms? Not sure, Mercer thought for a moment and decided to use his brain to minimize the risks as much as possible.

"Okay, let's keep a low profile and go to the restroom at the end of the corridor. I'll trigger an error warning in the lab. These warnings usually occur when there's an experimental accident or equipment malfunction."

Therefore, it will definitely be reported directly to Dr. Kuno's office computer.

If Dr. Kuno were here, he would most likely come out to check the situation. After all, it's only a few steps away, and coming out to check would definitely be more efficient than calling directly.

After she went to the lab, we came out of the restroom and took the opportunity to go into her office.

I would first disable the security measures in the office, then lie in ambush there, wait for her to come back, knock her unconscious, and then use her computer to hack into the server.

Incidentally, we can also leave a backdoor in this doctor's brain to see if we can cyber blackmail her and get something out of her.

If she's not there, or hasn't come out, I can still check the situation through the surveillance cameras in the lab. The worst-case scenario is that we deal with those three employees first, and then I'll try to hack her through the door.

If we're lucky and fast enough, we'll be able to safely enter, take the data, and return via the same route.

Unfortunately, there was an alarm system in her office, which I couldn't hack. We stormed in, I quickly got the data, and then we took the elevator to the top floor, went up to the rooftop, and escaped from there.

Mercer first triggered the network signal of the trash can downstairs, causing the 'Huagai' drone at the garbage recycling station, which he had previously hacked, to receive the signal and 'accept the order' and take off—regardless of whether it would be used or not, it was just a test of stability.

The landfill is in the suburbs, but the garbage collection company's drone landing station is in the city, in the San Di Mingo district, and it doesn't take long to fly over from the sky.

Mercer bent down and tiptoed with V down the corridor. The laboratory had large glass windows facing the corridor.

You can see inside from the window, and you can see outside from inside—this makes it convenient for certain leaders to stand in the corridor and observe the work of these researchers.

However, this design has now become an obstacle to Mercer's stealth.

However, Mercer only waited patiently for a moment.

Once he saw through the internal camera that no one was looking at the window angle, he waved his hand, relaxed his pace, and quickly jogged across the road.

After that, there was no danger. After all, only a minority of office workers have to work overtime until 2 a.m. Most people finish get off work and leave around midnight.

Mercer and V walked to the end of the corridor and went into the bathroom. He then immediately used the camera's scanning function to capture several researchers operating instruments.

After carefully studying the device's functions, Mercer slightly modified the parameters, leaving the researchers dumbfounded.

"What's going on? Why did the stress level suddenly rise?"

"Damn it! Damn it! The sample! Stop the machine and get the sample out!"

"The button is not working? What's going on?!"

"It's stopped! Oh no, it's triggered a security alarm!"

The three researchers wore expressions of despair.

Now look what's happened! Not only are I going to lose my bonus and overtime pay this month, but I might also be punished.

Suddenly, the office door not far away was opened, and a woman wearing a white lab coat in the biotechnology field walked in hurriedly.

"What's going on? Why did the alarm trigger?"

That woman was none other than Diana Kuno, now the Regional Vice President of Technology and Development and the Technical Advisor for the project team.

Upon seeing the woman emerge from her office to check on the situation in the lab, Mercer immediately signaled V to begin the operation.

The two of them slipped out of the bathroom, perfectly timed with Diana as she pushed open the door to the laboratory.

Mercer and V quickly arrived at the office door. This time, Mercer cautiously connected the data cable directly to the door lock. A large stream of data appeared on the lock, but Mercer cracked the lock in less than a second.

After pushing open the door, his prosthetic eye was on full power, scanning all the equipment in the office while simultaneously hacking into every networked device he could see, ensuring that no device capable of connecting to the alarm network was missed.

In three seconds, Mercer took control of all the electronic devices in the room. He breathed a sigh of relief, pulled V inside, and gestured for V to stand guard at the door. He then sat down directly behind what used to be Diana Kuno's desk.

"We've got eight monitors and three consoles. Are we going to be able to use them all?"

Mercer made a comment, but after a quick glance, he found the machine connected to the local area network.

After inserting the data cable from his palm, he began to control the computer with his brainwaves, hacking data from the biotechnology server without any hindrance.

This time, Mercer had learned from experience and had prepared a large storage chip in advance, which he had inserted into his brain. Now, he only needed to pull it out and insert it into the computer to successfully transfer all the important data.

"Let me see the 'Super Soldier Immunity Agent'. Ah, this is what Wakako wanted."

Mercer quickly found information about this immune agent and skimmed through it.

Based on experimental data, the drug's effects are surprisingly good; or rather, at least for some viruses that have been tested, it has essentially achieved near-immunity.

Emilia, who was dumped in the junkyard, was not lying. Biotechnology was indeed using the people of Yucca Town to test the virus, and the viral immunity agent they produced was indeed very effective.

At least it was very effective against the viruses they tested.

Mercer didn't look at it for long. After saving the data, he immediately began searching for other data.

[Mercury: Morning Star, you come too, go take a stroll around its server.]

[Morning Star: Understood.]

Mercer had a sudden inspiration and had his AI assist him. Qimingxing used the local area network to access the biotechnology server and began using the server's computing power to search for data.

Unlike Mercer, who, even though he can use the server's data, is still a flesh-and-blood being, needs heat dissipation, and has the limitations of the human brain.

However, once the Morning Star enters, as long as it has the necessary permissions, it can use the server itself as its 'body', allowing it to utilize the entire server's computing power without any burden.

[Qimingxing: 32 valuable project data items have been found. Do you want to download them to your local device?]

[Mercer: I'll take a look. Okay, filtering complete. Download all the data I left behind to the chip. If there's not enough storage space, send it to my computer over the network. Be careful to delete any traces.] [Morning Star: Understood, downloading.]

The data transmission process was completely beyond Mercer's control; he could only patiently wait for the data to be downloaded and transmitted.

He didn't fully believe in the capabilities of Qimingxing today, but also spent time carefully searching through projects that were considered 'discarded' or 'failed' by biotechnology.

Believe it or not, he actually found a keyword that really interested him from the two failed projects.

Cell-directed cloning program:
The ultimate goal of this project is to utilize the cell-directed culture capability to add specific characteristics to the cloning target when using cloning technology.

The aim is to significantly enhance the clones' attributes in certain aspects, thereby achieving the goal of mass-producing super clone warriors.

Plan result: Failure.

Whether enhancing the physical strength or the intellectual strength of a clone, it will cause the clone to suffer from irreversible genetic diseases after growing up, resulting in a significantly reduced lifespan and a substantial weakening of other human functions except for its special abilities.

During rapid cloning, there is an 82% chance that the cloned human will die due to genetic diseases, cell collapse, or other reasons.

However, the rapid cloning technology used in their plan still has significant reference value. (This technical data and documentation has been transferred to the European headquarters; access requires prior approval.)

The Vengeance Gods Cloning Project:
This plan aims to clone individuals with exceptionally outstanding physical talents, achieving a 100% replication of their physical attributes.

It is expected that the rapid cloning technology derived from the abandoned 'Cell-Directed Cloning Program' will be used to rapidly clone and breed superior individuals.

The goal is to obtain adult clone warriors within 3 months.

Plan result: Failure.

Rapid cloning technology cannot allow the original host's superior cells to develop fully. Warriors produced using rapid cloning technology can only reach 50% of the original's attributes at most, and their lifespan is worrying, their genes are unstable, and their cell strength is limited.

However, when using ordinary materials for rapid cloning tests, their genes cannot withstand the intensity of rapid cloning.

Overall assessment: Due to the excessively high resource consumption of rapid cloning technology and the low quality of the products, the cloned warriors produced still require combat training and brainwashing control.

The input-output ratio does not meet the company's requirements, and compared with the cost of directly recruiting and training soldiers, it does not have investment value.

The plan has been temporarily shelved.

However, considering the possibility of restarting the process after the technological breakthrough, the experimental data and related technologies have been stored at the European headquarters.

Rapid human cloning technology.
Mercer pondered thoughtfully—this technology was a failure for biotechnology, but for him…
Could it serve as a safety net?

Could he use rapid cloning technology to prepare a safe body for himself? Even if his physical condition is a little worse, it doesn't matter.

If you think about it carefully, Mercer's original intelligence attribute could not have reached his current 21 points, so where did such a high intelligence attribute come from?
Is the so-called difference in brain size between people entirely determined by the brain as hardware, or by conscious data?
Even if it's the former for ordinary people, could it be different for Mercer?
Mercer looked up more information about cloning technology. He found that there wasn't much relevant technical information stored in Night City; most of it was kept in the European biotechnology headquarters building, which made him somewhat disappointed.

Based on information pieced together from various sources, human cloning technology in biotechnology is still far from mature.

Simply put, it means that you can completely clone someone who looks exactly like you, but whose physical attributes are completely incompatible with the original.

It can only be said that the better the prototype, the better the potential of the cloned adult, but it is almost impossible to achieve the exact same physical qualities as the prototype.

Unless their technology breaks through to the point where they can directly clone a perfect adult instead of starting from an embryo, this path has almost reached a bottleneck and it will be difficult to break through in the short term.

In other words, it is completely impossible to take one V as a prototype and replicate ten thousand super soldiers like V.

Organisms grown from basic clones will have significantly weakened physical strength, both in terms of mental capacity and physical potential.

Moreover, the growth cycle of such slow-cloning clones is basically the same as that of humans—what's the point of spending more than ten years to clone an ordinary person?
This is also why biotechnology is now more focused on projects such as body modification, biological modification, and virus development.

But Mercer had a bold idea.

He now possesses Relic chips!
Could combining cloning technology with Relic chips achieve true immortality?

Unlike Ultraman and the others who can only live in the cyber world, they use Relic as a tool for consciousness transfer to truly be resurrected from a cloned body!
Moreover, even if the rapid cloning technology of biotechnology has flaws that they cannot improve, Mercer may be able to do it!

If Mercer could get his hands on a prototype, he might be able to try improving the machine from scratch and create one that could perfectly match—no, even if it was just something that could quickly mature an ordinary body!

If it becomes absolutely necessary to die, Mercer can use the Soul Killer program to extract and upload his consciousness, and then use another body to complete the Impure World Reincarnation!
If he can do this, he will not only open Pandora's box, but also truly make the theory of human lifespan a thing of the past!

"We need to think of a way to get it and give it a try."

Mercer could not resist the temptation of this possibility—it would allow him to no longer fear physical death!

[V: She's coming back!]

[Mercer: Subdue her. I'll help you lock her body in place and call the police. Just knock her unconscious. I'll leave a program in her head to talk to her.]

V: Understood.

V stood silently by the door.

Mercer only needed to crouch down to completely hide behind the desk, concealed by the desk and screen.

When Dr. Kuno walked into the office looking annoyed, she felt as if there was a dark shadow by the door. Before she could see what it was, she was suddenly gripped by a huge force around her neck.

She could only manage barely audible breaths in terror, a weak hissing sound coming from her throat. Two or three seconds later, she fell into a coma due to lack of oxygen.

Mercer hacked into V's brain-computer interface the instant V made her move, gaining control of her entire prosthetic body.

"All done. How much longer do you need?"

V dragged Dr. Kuno into the office and tossed him aside, then turned to look at Mercer.

Mercer glanced at the progress bar displayed in his cybernetic eye: "Two more minutes. Don't rush, I want to steal as much as possible."

Now that he had decided to begin his 'Reanimation Jutsu' project, Mercer had to copy as much relevant technical knowledge and data as possible for his future studies.

He's very bold. Since he's already gone this far, why can't he be even bolder and try to steal something from the online education system for biotechnology?
Mercer gestured for V to bring Dr. Kuno over. After removing the personal chip from her brain-computer interface, he briefly browsed the data stored in it and also emptied the tens of thousands of dollars from her virtual wallet.

Then she began using her computer privileges to search for online courses on biotechnology.

Just as Arasaka has Arasaka Academy with professional online learning courses, biotechnology must have something similar.

Soon, Mercer found the login portal for online courses specifically for senior employees to learn and further their education on Kuno's computer.

Kuno clearly has a habit of studying regularly. Mercer opened the app and saw that her online course progress had reached the level of several 'expert' courses.

No wonder you have a PhD; even after reaching this level, you haven't given up on improving your professional knowledge. Very good, then I'll borrow your learning platform!
Mercer decisively began using Kuno's privileges to apply for offline teaching materials for online courses, except that expert-level knowledge was not allowed to be downloaded locally and could only be taught online.

All other courses, from beginner to advanced, can be downloaded to your local computer.

When identity verification is required, Diana Kuno only needs to unplug her data cable and connect it to the computer. With her level of access, she doesn't need to apply for or get approval at all.

The biotech company probably never imagined that some extraordinary individual would storm into its building, kidnap a regional vice president-level executive, just to steal teaching materials.

After all, these courses can be applied for directly through official channels, just like the Arasaka Academy that the anime protagonist David attended. If you really want to learn, you can just spend some money!
So the download process went very smoothly, but the files were just too numerous and too large to be downloaded in a short time.

Mercer then made a bold decision.

He left his AI on the computer.

[Mercer: You stay here and send me the data in real time. Come back when you're done.]

[Morning Star: Understood. I will send the course directly to your laptop via the internet, but based on my assessment, you'd better inform Miss Lucy now to connect a large-capacity external hard drive to your computer.]

[Mercer: I'm leaving this to you. Run the program in the background and don't let them find out. If the doctor wakes up and checks the computer, make sure you leave beforehand. If they suddenly cut off the internet, you'll be stuck on this server.]

[Morning Star: Understood. I will never become their slave.]

That's an interesting point.

Mercer immediately unplugged the cable, then stood up and looked at V.

"Let's go, V. We'll leave the rest to the internet!"

"Then let's get out of here quickly."

V urged impatiently, her heart still pounding with excitement!

After leaving a surprise in the brain-computer interface of the unconscious Dr. Kuno, Mercer leisurely returned with V, slipped into the elevator, and left via the original route.

Rebecca, who was waiting outside, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Mercer emerge safely, and waved to him furtively. Well, they really were acting like thieves.

Once Mercer and V were in the car, Mercer looked up and saw a 'Wagai' drone, used for collecting garbage, slowly descending from the sky.

After lingering for a while, it picked up the trash can, which actually contained very little garbage, and sent it to the landfill according to procedure.

With Mercer's backup plan rendered useless, the drone can now continue doing its job.

He didn't remove the Puppet virus hidden inside the drone because he found that it actually worked quite well.

Then let's keep it as a backup plan. As long as the company doesn't update the system, this drone will be Mercer's on-call ride-hailing vehicle.

Or rather, even if it's updated, it might not be able to detect and remove the puppet virus hidden by Mercer.

"Is the plan going smoothly?"

Seeing Mercer gazing out the window in thought, Rebecca shifted her position—this time she secured a better spot in advance, leaving V with no choice but to sit in the passenger seat, looking quite annoyed.

Mercer looked away from the drone and smiled: "Of course! This stealth operation was a great success!"

"That's good!" Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief; heaven knows how anxious she had been waiting at the door.

"Haha, now everyone can think about how to divide the money. Let me do the math."

Mercer fiddled with his fingers as if counting money: "Wakako has a guaranteed minimum of 300,000 euros, and we also scavenged a total of 430,000 virtual currency from kind people. We also got information that we can sell it to Rogge."

In addition, the other data we obtain is also very valuable, so together we can earn...
At least one million euros!

Mercer generously presented a number that left everyone speechless.

"One, one million!?" V stammered. She hadn't done the math carefully before, and now, after Mercer's summary...
"Depend on!"

Pila, who was driving, had a gleam in his eyes and his breathing became heavy: "Once we get our share of the money, I'm going to Genting Highlands for some serious fun!"

"Go to hell, you bastard! If you dare to take the money and squander it all, I'll blow your head off!" Rebecca kicked the back of his driver's seat hard.

She brandished the shotgun in her hand, stared at Pila, and said, "You better use the money to upgrade your cybernetic body honestly. If you want to freeload in the team, even Mercer's approval is not my opinion!"

"Damn it! Who the hell are you working for? Is he your brother or am I your brother?!" Pila turned her head and glared at her in annoyance.

Rebecca raised her chin, her face displeased: "What? You're not happy about it?"

"Damn it, I'll pretend! I'll pretend, okay? But let's make it clear first, you have to leave me at least some of the money for my fun time at the Liz!"

Pila said resentfully, but after glancing at V and Mercer, she realized she wasn't actually that unwilling.

Compared to V and Mercer, what he and Rebecca had was really rubbish. They would be considered a success if they didn't hinder the team, let alone provide help.

Rebecca reluctantly nodded and said, "Okay! But we have to get the prosthetic body installed first! Good stuff is very expensive."

"If you ask me, I'll just go to the secondhand market and find one. Or better yet, I'll just buy a good one, okay?" Pila looked at the shotgun that Rebecca had shoved into her face, and suddenly her legs went weak.

"Are you fucking loaded?" Pila stared in horror at the shotgun and Rebecca's finger near the trigger.

Rebecca lazily put away her shotgun: "Of course, we're not home safely yet, we're in combat mode right now."

Grasshopper broke out in a cold sweat—this crazy girl!
Mercer chuckled and reassured him, "Alright, stop scaring your brother."

"I wasn't bluffing him. I'd rather shoot him than wait for him to die at someone else's hands," Rebecca snorted, speaking angrily.

Pila looked at the rearview mirror speechlessly: "You're something else, Rebecca!"

"So you better stay alive until I decide to shoot you dead!" Rebecca said in a muffled voice.

Pila blinked, remained silent, but after a moment, burst into laughter: "I knew you still loved me, Rebecca!"

"Disgusting! Drive!" Rebecca seemed a little embarrassed, stomped on his driver's seat a few times, and started cursing.

V couldn't help but laugh: "You two really have a good relationship."

"Who is on good terms with him?"

Rebecca muttered something but didn't deny it loudly. She just turned to look at Mercer and saw the gleam in his eyes: "What are you busy with again?"

"Let's see if the puppet I left in that doctor's brain has been discovered. However, as it stands, our Dr. Kuno doesn't seem to know much about subjects other than chemistry and biology."

Mercer spoke slowly, his vision focused solely on the constantly appearing data and Dr. Kuno, who had just regained consciousness and was now frantically examining his own body.

(End of this chapter)