Lucy nervously touched Mercer's forehead, watching the red lights blinking on the hacker chair.
The whirring sound of the fan scraping against her ears caused a faint cold sweat on her forehead. Her hand hesitated near the back of Mercer's ear, but the message she sent still hadn't received a reply.
Ten seconds ago, the hacker chair had issued a warning alert. Mercer, unaware of what he encountered, instinctively activated brain-machine overclocking, and after overclocking, the contact communication Lucy sent was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any response.
She wanted to forcefully unplug Mercer, but the numbers displayed on the hacker chair indicated that while Mercer was in an overclocking state, he hadn't reached his limit.
Lucy hesitated to make a decision, fearing she'd ruin Mercer's work. Fortunately, all this only lasted for ten seconds, and the safety numbers on the hacker chair started to drop.
Mercer then took a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes: "Why did you send me so many messages? You're not asleep yet?"
"Why didn't you reply?" Lucy retorted, "With your brainpower, taking a moment to send back an emoji should be easy, right?"
"Ran into Internet Supervision. The other side used a lockdown program, completely freezing the network there, data couldn't get in or out...pretty neat trick, taught me something new.
As soon as I handled Internet Supervision, I immediately erased the traces and came back to talk to you.
So don't be mad. I know you're worried. Let's just say I was too excited today. I'll be more careful in the future to make sure you don't have to worry."
Mercer spoke in a light tone, touching his own head: "It's okay, I think it's only thirty-nine degrees."
"You..." Lucy didn't even know what to say to him.
She's never seen someone go looking for trouble like this.
She sat back on the mattress, staring at him: "What on earth were you doing tonight? Not only did you overclock several times, but you also pissed off Internet Supervision?
The feeling of the overclock half an hour ago was fine. Although the temperature was a bit high compared to ordinary hackers, for you, it was still normal.
But just now with Internet Supervision...your hacker chair triggered an alarm!"
"I did a good deed, saved a poor girl, killed quite a few people—a bunch of scum selling women, forcing girls to work as sex dolls to make money for them.
Turns out one of the clients I killed was a corporate dog, not at a low level. It's likely the company's monitoring program on their side triggered an automatic alarm because his biometrics disappeared, and they reported it based on his last IP address.
As a result, both the NCPD and Internet Supervision came.
The Internet Supervision people are quite skilled, at least those two had a large server and felt about your current level.
I originally wanted to escape directly, but they pursued too hard. To avoid data leakage, I had to teach those two a lesson."
Mercer said nonchalantly: "Anyway, everything's sorted out now. If the Internet Supervision guys don't want to get killed, even if they contact me in the future, they'll have to be a bit more respectful."
"What if they think you're an extremely dangerous criminal and deploy those high-level agents?"
Lucy frowned with worry: "Mercer, we just escaped from Arasaka to Night City... if we flee again, where would we go?
That's Internet Supervision! And we still have Arasaka's warrant on our heads!"
"Don't be afraid." Mercer's tone was gentle as he sat up, looking from the hacker chair to Lucy on the mattress.
He smiled, confident yet surprisingly tender to Lucy: "Even if something unexpected happens, I promise... I will make sure you survive."
"...If even you die, where would I go if I were alive? Arasaka's agents might be a quick fix for you, but for me..."
Lucy looked at his eyes: "You're not alone anymore, Mercer. You said I could follow you, so you have to take responsibility and stop being so recklessly crazy!
I asked Pan'an, you almost died today at Rebirth!
... I knew you couldn't be honest online, which is why I came to keep an eye on you, but even so..."
She lowered her head, burying her face in her knees: "Even if you don't consider me, think about Kyoko. She's only going to be 12 next year. If something happens, she won't have anyone to rely on.
You have the spare time to save a sex doll, can't you be more considerate of our feelings? Be a bit selfish, Mercer, you're only human too."
Mercer, somewhat troubled, rubbed his own head and finally could only come down from the hacker chair, squat down, and touch her head: "Alright, actually, I'm pretty confident..."
"Bartmos was also very confident, but what happened to him? He got blown up by Arasaka.
Otter Cunningham was also very confident, but what about her? She's now just a wandering AI.
And those legends like Johnny Silverhand you always talk about? Where are they now? Weren't all of them extremely confident back then...
Mercer, I know you're truly a genius, but even if I'm begging you, even if it's for my sake, can you tone it down a bit? Let's take it one step at a time."
Lucy looked imploringly, her beautiful iridescent prosthetic eyes filled with tears.
Mercer was most affected by this—especially since Lucy still looked like a little girl now, which made it even more effective on him.
He could only nod obediently, then said: "I understand, safety first...
Unless it's for work, whenever possible, I'll lay low, even if it's for you, alright?"