"Your reaction speed is way too slow," Rebecca said with a smile.
David couldn't hide his excitement, "Awesome! How... how can I become as strong as you guys?"
"You?" Rebecca sized him up, "You better stick to reading your books."
She could tell at a glance that this guy wasn't the typical street kid.
David opened his mouth, but his high spirits slowly dampened.
Yeah...
Can't let Mom down...
He lowered his head, and after a moment, he said, "Thank you guys, just drop me off at the corner later."
Mercer replied, "You wouldn't have to walk for half an hour, right? We'll drop you off at your doorstep, it's just a ten-minute drive."
David had to sincerely say thank you once more.
The car fell silent for a moment until they were almost at his home. David couldn't help but ask, "Brother A, do you think studying hard is really useful?"
"Having something in your head is always better than being empty," Mercer said.
"I mean... My mom always tells me that I must study hard, only by studying hard can I work at a big company and live a good life..."
David lowered his head, speaking, "But I always feel like it's useless."
"Being on the streets doesn't work either. Living the life of fighting and killing, you can win countless times, but just one mistake and life is over."
Mercer finished and paused: "At least the death rate of company dogs is a bit lower. As for whether life is good? Well, that depends on whether you can be ruthless enough.
To get promoted in a company, both ability and ruthlessness are indispensable. If you just remain this naïve, even if you get into a company, sooner or later, your competitors will crush you beneath their feet, turning you into their nutrition for promotion and raises."
"Then what should I do?" David turned to look at Mercer, and for some reason, he felt that despite knowing these two 'big brothers' for a short time, they were worth trusting.
"Who knows... But if I were you, rather than thinking about what to do in the future, I'd consider how to make your mom happier.
At least steer clear of stuff like Black Mewtwo, so she won't have to worry so much."
After Mercer finished, the car had already arrived under the apartment building H4. He handed David a contact method, calmly saying, "You seem like a good kid. If you run into any trouble, feel free to call me."
"Really?" David became excited again, promptly accepting his contact information and adding him as a friend on his contact list, "Brother A, you can call me if you need anything. I'm... um, I'm a pretty diligent runner!"
Mercer nodded, watched David get off the car, and close the door before patting Rebecca's thigh, "Let's go over there, my leg's going numb from you sitting on it."
"Oh? Which leg?" Rebecca teased, then flipped over to sit in the passenger seat but spoke seriously, "Do you like this kid?"
"How to put it, he does have some talent, maybe even a bit better than your physical talent."
After Mercer spoke, he saw Rebecca looking a bit unconvinced and just smiled, "But not to the level of V, and probably not too far from you."
"Why does every person you meet have more potential than me?" She was a bit peeved.
Mercer chuckled and reached out to pat her head, "But I don't think he's suited to be an Edgerunner; he still has a mom who loves him. As far as he's concerned, the best life should be a happy yet ordinary one with his mom."
Rebecca pouted and moved her head away, "Are you done? Let's go back, you still have to meet Old Wei with V this afternoon. I'll be there in a few days to see if there's more to add."
"No way," Mercer flatly refused her proposal, under her glaring eyes, he simply laughed and flicked her forehead, "It's enough, Rebecca, I trust you can protect me well."
"Sure, why don't you say this to V..." Rebecca remained sulky, hugging her knees on the passenger seat.
"Rest assured, even for her, I won't let her install random stuff on her body." Mercer extended a finger to poke her face.
"Treat me to a meal!" Rebecca turned her head, grumbling, "Next time, don't say someone's stronger than me."
"Alright, I'll treat you," Mercer agreed without hesitation, and she broke into a smile—this girl is really easy to cheer up.
...
By the afternoon, Mercer took V to Old Wei's place for a check-up, discussed it for a long time, and finally decided to enhance V's entire body's muscles.
Mainly focused on reinforcing and supporting areas prone to wear and tear, aiming to prevent any physical damage due to accelerated movements.
This was a very lengthy and tedious surgery; after all, it wasn't about simply replacing with synthetic muscles. From a little past 1 PM until 7 PM, Mercer finally breathed a sigh of relief and completed V's body upgrade.
This kind of physical task that tests patience and steadiness couldn't be done without him. If left to Old Wei, he'd probably be sweating buckets within two hours.
After the muscle enhancement, V truly reached the limit of human physical capability.
She can run a hundred meters in under eight seconds without using Sianwistan to accelerate, and her lifting capacity is likely over a thousand kilograms...
If Sianwistan is activated, V's speed would more than double... She's practically a monster among monsters.
All the synthetic muscles on the market can't match V's current physical strength, and only a fully mechanized superman would have more power and speed than her.
For instance, the Olympic champions in the Cyber World, who specialize in short sprints, may even add jet engines to their backs...
But aside from such specially modified individuals, V's physical condition is practically at the pinnacle of human capability.
As for V's desire to modify her organs, both Mercer and Old Wei firmly refused.
Such modifications to organs are the most likely to cause neural discomfort, and the adaptation period is very long.
If V feels pressure from acceleration and her internal organs can't handle it, Mercer would rather have her eat plain rice at home for a month or two to properly adjust until her body completely adapts to the muscle strength before gradually replacing with synthetic organs.
This process might even be long enough to be measured in years—any sign of rejection or mental issues would require instant cessation and revert the original parts.
As for Mercer, he merely installed some simple subdermal armor to enhance himself a bit.
Once the surgeries were completed, Mercer and V headed to Mum's the Word Inn.
When V carefully pushed open the door to room 307, grasping her pistol, she was startled by what was inside and instinctively pushed Mercer aside.
"What happened?" Mercer frowned, keeping his prosthetic eye's scanning program active yet saw nothing unusual in the room.
V opened her mouth, clicked her tongue, then stepped aside, "It's nothing... Should I go in and take a look by myself?"
Mercer leaned in from beside her and let out a disdainful laugh, "Really? Still innocent, huh?"
It's nothing more than a standard room in a love hotel, maybe just a few more toys, a bit messy, what's the big deal.
"Damn you..." V clicked her tongue as she watched him walk into the room without hesitation while she stood at the door, "Then find it on your own, the chick wouldn't have used this room, would she?"
"Who knows?" Mercer kicked away the toys on the floor, scanned for a while, then found a small storage chip placed conspicuously on the side of the bed.
He picked up the chip and inserted it into his head, using the Network Access Vault's virtual disk to first check, confirm safety, then read the intelligence within.
Upon seeing the content, he finally showed a somewhat relaxed smile, "Got the information, let's go."
When V waited for him to come out, she curiously asked, "Got the Military Science setup? What's the situation?"
"Yeah, got it," Mercer succinctly replied, "Luckily, it wasn't much beyond my expectations."
He spoke with a relaxed tone, "In simple terms, the forces Military Science deployed include two Centaur Armors paired with advanced soldiers from Military Science, one Military Behemoth, two Emperor Armored Vehicles, and one... Demon Lizard."