"You're really something, learning to fool people now!" Rebecca angrily glared at him when he didn't speak: "You broke off the date you promised earlier, and usually you just disappear into the server room and workspace, not even showing up at mealtime..."
"Do you know that the dog we raised in the game had puppies? I even saved enough money for that fancy fishing rod you wanted, you said you'd play with me when you rested, but now you don't even rest..."
As she spoke, she seemed genuinely upset: "I know I can't be much help, but don't keep telling me that there's nothing going on..."
Mercer looked at her, sighed after a moment, then burst into laughter.
He took off his helmet, placed it to the side, and reached out to touch her face. Rebecca's little face was warm and soft, irresistibly tender: "I have too many bothersome things to even begin explaining."
"Then explain them slowly, I won't rush you, I just want to know what you're thinking... instead of being terrified to approach and talk to you every day, afraid of interrupting your work."
Rebecca still felt a bit gloomy: "The promised date isn't happening..."
She clutched Mercer's hand, rubbed her face against it firmly, then walked forward, embraced him, and rested her face against his cold armor, listening to the heartbeat of the two hearts inside, along with the annoying hum of the cooling system.
Rebecca couldn't help but sigh.
Mercer reached out and took off her helmet, tenderly caressing her flowing green hair inside: "You should just say you miss me, shouldn't you?"
"I do miss you, but how do I say it? You're busy and gloomy every day, I can't not be perceptive..."
Rebecca seemed even more upset, speaking softly: "So frustrating, if I knew earlier I wouldn't have listened to you bragging about changing the world. What does this world have to do with me anyway, as long as we live well ourselves, right?"
"So what should we do?" Mercer asked amused.
"...Forget it, pretend I didn't say anything." Rebecca said dejectedly, letting go of him and standing aside: "I just don't know when this will end..."
Mercer looked at her, bent slightly, and earnestly cupped her face in his hands: "Very soon, Rebecca, I promise, it will be over soon."
"...Take your time, no rush, I mean, changing the world isn't a one-day thing, right?" Rebecca regretted hurrying him.
She often couldn't control her emotions—saying it and then regretting it.
Mercer didn't speak, just leaned down and kissed her, rubbing face-to-face with her affectionately: "Yes, we have all the time ahead of us..."
He agreed with everything Rebecca said, and she managed to comfort herself, showing an obedient kitten-like expression, holding him without speaking further.
Mercer comforted softly: "Once Silver Hand's Relic chip is in our hands, and the experiment is done, then we deal with Saburo, and we won't have to rush anymore.
By then we'll redevelop Dog Town and Taiping Prefecture, we'll live on the top floor of Gem Cyan, everyone will be able to live in spacious apartments, with luxury pools, driving Sword in the Stone sports cars, walking in Night City without fear of envy.
We'll drive out the bio-tech companies, and by then Night City can lift the bio-ban, and you can raise a few of the pups you love."
As she listened to him, Rebecca couldn't help but laugh: "If bio-tech knows you're kicking them out just to raise dogs and eat meat, they'll definitely be speechless."
"Companies that don't let people eat meat deserve to die, who knows what kind of life it is trying to smuggle meat to eat here, and vegetables, damn GMO food, half of the meals V makes every day are canned veggies, I'm sick of it..."
"Be careful, I'll report back to V."
"Don't tell me you love those canned veggies."
"...I do quite like them, I haven't had fresh veggies often, can't even remember what they taste like..."
The two continued talking intimately.
Ultraman seemed quite oblivious to their romance—purposely speaking directly through the lab's speakers.
"Hope I'm not interrupting you both, the authorization for this device is complete, but data import and transfer will still need some time, anything you want to do regarding this runaway AI?"
Mercer rolled his eyes: "Jealous?"
Ultraman's voice was calm and cold: "If it were me before, this time would be enough for us to play a round... whispering secrets close together? Really adorable."
Rebecca, hearing this, wasn't shy but instead eager: "Really?"
Mercer held her head down, ignoring Rebecca's teasing smile: "Play what play, those rock-and-roll types can fire a shot even while smoking... don't corrupt my Rebecca."
"Wow, you're so pure."
Ultraman mockingly commented and then said: "If there's anything to do, do it quickly, during the network transfer process, if Lilith keeps monitoring here, she will definitely discover traces of this AI being transferred."
"Then I'm really unlucky?" Mercer furrowed his brows.
"What can she do, anyway?" Ultraman replied indifferently: "Hurry up, leave it and you'll be even unluckier, unless you plan to leave Dog Town, maybe you can escape a misfortune."
Mercer released Rebecca, put her helmet back on, and quickly went into work mode.
He first checked the awareness data of the runaway AI, then said: "I have to deep dive to see what's inside."