At the end of the corridor on the second floor was a room labeled as the manager's office.
Mercer scanned the room with his prosthetic eye at the door and nodded.
"He's inside."
Then, Mercer extended his hand and signaled a countdown: three, two, one. When the countdown ended, the door was opened, and Rebecca shot inside like an arrow.
In the luxurious office, William James only had time to let out a sharp question: "Who is it!?"
Then he saw a short figure suddenly appear in front of him, stepping on his desk, and grabbing his neck with one hand, lifting him entirely upwards.
William James reacted quickly, but before he could reach for the pistol on the desk, Rebecca had already violently broken his hand with her other hand.
He didn't have time to scream before his mind went blank, like being hit by a punch, and only then did Mercer leisurely walk into the office and close the door.
"Alright, don't rush."
Mercer was afraid Rebecca might accidentally kill William; he was counting on making some extra cash from the casino.
"Who... are you!" William James struggled to speak while Rebecca held his neck, gritting her teeth and staring him down: "Do you remember me, William James?"
"Who are you!?"
William James looked at the young-looking girl in front of him, genuinely unable to recall who she was.
"Sunrise Dad! You bastard, do you remember his name?" Rebecca threw him forcefully into his chair, and William James nearly fell over with the chair, barely managing to stabilize himself.
"Sunrise Dad?" William James was genuinely taken aback for a moment. After thinking for a while, he exclaimed in surprise, "You're his... oh, his daughter?"
"That's right!" Rebecca shoved the Iron Gall aggressively against his face.
"You came for him? Why? I had nothing to do with his death!" William James cried out for innocence: "It couldn't be because of my debt collection, right? Debts must be repaid, that's the way it is!
Please, remember I never hurt you back then..."
"Debts must be repaid? You beast, how could Dad possibly owe so much money that you'd empty our entire house! You forced me to live on the streets..."
Before Rebecca could finish, William James loudly protested in grievance: "How was I supposed to know how much his stuff was worth? The value of collateral depends on how the creditor sees it..."
"Then your life belongs to me to appraise now!" Rebecca angrily struck his face with a gun, causing blood to flow freely from William James's head.
Mercer could see that William James truly believed he had done nothing wrong. Perhaps in his mind, just taking the money and not treating Rebecca and Pira as 'collateral' was already decent.
"Now, tell me the combination to the vault and the safe." Mercer didn't intend to waste any more time.
William James pointed to a safe in the corner of the room without saying a word: "My personal safe can be opened directly, but the vault's safe I..."
"If you can't open it, you'll die." Mercer didn't give him a chance for nonsense.
William James gritted his teeth and looked at Mercer, but he only saw Mercer's cold blue eyes. In the end, he could only nod grudgingly: "Then you have to spare my life! Otherwise, I'd rather die than let you have it for free..."
"Rebecca."
Mercer was too lazy to talk any further, and with a command, Rebecca smiled grimly and grabbed one of his arms, crushing his bones bit by bit with just her palm, like a compactor.
William James screamed in agony as Mercer approached the safe in the corner: "The code."
"I, I'll tell!" he cried out in a wretched voice: "79615281!"
Mercer's fingers rested on the keypad of the safe, and before pressing the unlock button, he suddenly turned his head and said: "You're a tough guy, huh?"
Rebecca was taken aback, then angrily lifted William James again, pulling back her power to punch his face, sending a tooth flying.
"I-I didn't lie..." he continued to argue, but Mercer just shook his head, and Rebecca punched him again.
The lie detector program they acquired from Arasaka worked wonders, and William James had no idea how Mercer could tell he was lying.
Until William James felt he was really going to be beaten to death, he weakly corrected himself: "The last four digits are 5283."
"Ah, that's better. There are different ways to die, and you can't take the money with you anyway. Cooperate a bit and suffer less, isn't that nice?"
Mercer's words left William James ashen-faced; the other side didn't even bother to lie to him. He was truly doomed now.
He could only try a harder approach to find a way out: "Aren't you afraid of the Sixth Street Gang..."
"Idiot, I've already come into your office; why would I be worried about the Sixth Street Gang?" Mercer scoffed, opening the safe and pulling out lots of valuable items.
An antique branded mechanical watch, which he immediately put on his wrist, several large gold bars, a pile of cash, and even a storage chip kept in a box.
And also some IOUs, which Mercer didn't bother to take. Just the cash in the safe amounted to tens of thousands of Euros, with various bills of 20, 50, and 100 Euros stacked high.
Perhaps to facilitate a quick escape in case of danger, this pile of money was stored in a large black briefcase, which was convenient for Mercer.