"There are some new unmanned devices that can be linked to your armor, remotely controlled through a built-in AI program..."
Mercer looked at Lucy, turned his head and laughed:
"The hacker's single soldier armor is almost developed, its appearance is similar to my own Devil May Cry series armor, mainly focusing on hacking tools and unmanned devices. It greatly improves cooling performance, and can even allow a person to directly dive deeply into the net..."
After Mercer finished speaking, Lucy responded indifferently with a simple "Hmm," then picked up her coffee: "I'm full."
Watching Lucy turn her head and go upstairs to the room, Mercer stopped talking, seeing V's teasing and playful look, he could only shrug: "Anyway, that's about it."
V, being fairly considerate, didn't hit him where it hurt, and brought up the Relic matter: "About the Relic... I didn't have a chance to hear you out yesterday, what's the situation now?"
"Basically, Yoshinobu thinks his situation is dangerous and doesn't dare to hand this thing to us voluntarily, we might need to 'take' it ourselves.
But then... I'm a bit worried Yoshinobu might betray us, if he feels he's suspected by Saburo, for self-preservation, betraying us isn't off the table."
Mercer spoke frankly: "So we need to assess the situation, the worst possibility might require us to flip the order of our actions."
"Flip the order..." V was stunned, then asked in astonishment: "Are you saying we take action against Saburo first?"
"Yes."
Mercer's expression turned serious: "At present, it seems Ultraman is quite willing to provide us with some assistance in dealing with Saburo.
Considering this, saving Silver Hand doesn't seem worth it — rather than getting Silver Hand, only to be targeted by Saburo and possibly stepping into a trap.
I prefer to move directly against Saburo, while our weapons and equipment are upgraded, the enemy hasn't yet fully guarded against us, and even Saburo hasn't figured out our ultimate target is him... to strike directly.
As long as we take care of Saburo, I believe solving the Silver Hand and Divine Chariot matters won't be difficult. Perhaps with a word to Yoshinobu, we could get hold of the item and complete the deal with Ultraman.
Afterwards, I'll use this favor to further exchange resources with Ultraman and Yoshinobu, if everything goes smoothly, our territory wouldn't just be a small Dog Town."
Mercer set down his bowl and chopsticks, turned his head to look out the living room's floor-to-ceiling window, the high-rise buildings outside the open-air balcony appeared somewhat small in comparison to the top floor he was on.
"Previously deciding to first take Silver Hand's Relic was because I couldn't gauge Yoshinobu and Ultraman's attitudes. If we could make Yoshinobu voluntarily trade the Relic with us, it might force Yoshinobu to side with us.
But now it seems, Yoshinobu hasn't had the courage to make this choice, since he doesn't want to submit the pledge, we can't trust him anymore."
Mercer spoke regretfully: "Missing out on such a top-tier insider, the difficulty of assassinating Saburo only increases... but as things stand now, this seems to be our highest success rate option.
If we can't find the timing or opportunity to assassinate Saburo, I'd rather choose to abandon it."
Mercer calmly made a judgment: "Ultraman, Divine Chariot, Silver Hand, Yoshinobu, to hell with them, I need to take care of you guys first, even if Saburo's goal is world destruction, it's none of my business anymore."
This was the decision Mercer had ultimately reached.
The reason he wanted to save this city and change the world was because he hoped to live a better life together with everyone.
But if it means risking everyone's lives and taking on the gamble of losing everything to play the superhero... Mercer couldn't do that.
Watching Rebecca give him that smile in the morning, Mercer already understood — these girls didn't care about Saburo, Yoshinobu, world crises or anything like that.
Rebecca just wanted to be with him, V wanted all the family to happily gather together, Lucy only craved a sense of security, not knowing where else to go if she left him, hence she could only cling to him for peace of mind.
Jack had his own mother, his own girlfriend, his dream was only to be a famous boss, then to form a happy family.
Pira always only had lustful thoughts, if not for sticking with everyone, he might have played himself to death at Liz.
As for Mann Doliu, he was also very satisfied with life now, Sasha only hated the biotechnology company, Kyoko was still just a young girl who hadn't thought about her own life future...
Mercer couldn't selfishly drag everyone with him back into the fire circle.
Thus, he has now resolved: "So, for now, you don't need to worry about too much. I will assess the risks, if I don't see hope for success, or if the possibility of success is too low...
We'll just live our own lives well, earn enough money, and if worst comes to worst, we can leave Night City together for a safer place..."
V looked at Mercer, her expression was somewhat complex, after a while she nodded: "I'll listen to you."
Usually it's others who take the initiative to say this, but it seemed to be his first time expressing retreating intentions.
Mercer nodded, then shifted the topic: "I've been studying a new operating system recently, partly because Rebecca, Mann, and Jack actually have the potential to equip Sianwistan, but the burden on their nerves from Sianwistan might be too heavy, they might not bear it mentally.