But Mercer is not having any illusions—in fact, just like this encounter with an ambush, Mercer believed he was adequately prepared.
Not only had Netherworld Dog security led the way the entire time, but also Netherworld Dog patrolled hourly around ambush-worthy areas near his evacuation route. Mercer himself employed reconnaissance drones for regular patrols, coupled with surveillance from Venus cameras...
It can only be said that infiltrating ambushes is always easier than defence. Unless there's a technological gap offering a significant advantage, there's absolutely no such thing as absolute security.
This is also why Mercer eagerly threw himself into Netherworld Dog, disregarding whether he could smoothly take over Dog Town.
Now, facing Arasaka's attack, defence is certainly not feasible—though they could hold on tight for a month, what about next month? The month after? Takemura is certainly not lacking patience, and Dog Town is definitely no impregnable fortress.
Instead, why not change the approach, using attack as defence—Mercer made up his mind, even if it throws Dog Town into chaos, even if he cannot fully take over Hansen's operations and its protective umbrella, potentially offending certain forces behind him.
He must get himself moving.
Even though this might leave many in Dog Town homeless, and may create new opportunities for Takemura's actions, as a steady approach has been proven unreliable...
Mercer can only press the accelerator, and then, it'll be a matter of you surviving or me perishing.
Over the next two days, Mercer stayed at the base and went nowhere.
Until Hansen swiftly delivered new cybernetic parts and components, enabling Mercer to perform surgeries again on V and Rebecca, repairing the damage to their armor, ensuring the team entered the recovery process.
Mercer then went alone to the stadium. At Hansen's enthusiastic invitation, he moved into his new home—a dorm with almost identical style to that at the Arasaka Base, just larger without any difference.
Later, Mercer immediately launched three production plans concurrently in the Netherworld Dog's equipment workshop.
The first production plan was about accelerating personal armor manufacture, this time he didn't hold back from Hansen, fully exerting his capabilities and talents.
Through modular production and assembly line operations, he reduced the production time for individual armor to an astonishing three days. Of course, this level of armor was just the most basic tank model armor.
The second production plan was for multifunctional Octopus Arms.
Mercer's excuse to Hansen was—these Octopus Arms could be computer-controlled, preset workflows, achieving fully-automated assembly-line-style production, a multifunctional production device he had independently developed.
But in fact, apart from being entirely AI controlled, the crucial point of these Octopus Arms is their modular design, already adapted for armor.
He wasn't just aiming to increase production efficiency but also preparing for his personal armor.
The third production plan was a modification and development program of his own cybernetic body, supporting equipment, undertaken personally by Mercer with several elite researchers participating.
In name, Mercer applied for funding under the guise of 'manufacturing new cybernetic bodies and equipment.'
Hansen was actually well aware but considering Mercer was under his nose, with development progress and equipment information obvious, he turned a blind eye.
Anyway, in Hansen's view, everything Mercer developed ultimately belonged to Netherworld Dog.
Initially, Hansen was very satisfied with Mercer's diligence; in his view, Mercer should have been working hard long ago.
But soon, Hansen suddenly felt somewhat overwhelmed by Mercer's sudden surge of enormous productivity.
The speed he was consuming resources while increasing capacity... was unbelievably fast.
Initially, Hansen waved grandly, even when his own money wasn't enough, also taking a bank loan of twenty million Euros, specifically to provide Mercer with the needed production materials, with more than a dozen containers smuggled in daily at the stadium just to supply Mercer.
In his perspective, what he purchased was enough for the stadium to run for three months, so he simply announced that this quarter's research funding was entirely prepared for Mercer.
But in reality, these materials were used up by Mercer in just over ten days.
Because once the first multifunctional Octopus Arm was produced, Mercer started crazily expanding the Octopus Arm's production capacity.
When Hansen saw the Octopus Arm production workshop two days later, he was so stunned that he couldn't speak—you can imagine?
In a production workshop, humans are merely responsible for moving raw materials, while those strange, octopus tentacle-like agile Octopus Arms seemed to have their own consciousness, assembling another Octopus Arm.
And once a new Octopus Arm was assembled, it would be immediately grabbed by other Octopus Arms, inserted into a nearby reserved slot, and once powered, it would instantly join in the work, then at a faster pace would produce a new Octopus Arm...
It's like a monster self-replicating!
Once the number of Octopus Arms satisfies the workshop's requirements, the produced Octopus Arms are dispatched to the armor assembly workshop and Mercer's equipment development workshop where he spends at least 18 hours a day.
Just need to connect to a computer, plug into the supporting bracket slot, and these Octopus Arms quickly join the relevant production workflow.