He looked seriously at Lucy and said earnestly, "If we can't resolve Lilith on the Moon, then we have to destroy all her servers near the Moon and Earth, trapping her on Mars!
On the Moon, we don't have any handy weapons or equipment, we can still only rely on the network... I must ensure that all servers are destroyed, guaranteeing that Lilith can't connect to Earth in the short term."
After Mercer finished speaking, he paused and said, "During the battle with Lilith, because I estimate most of the combat will take place in Cyberspace, V will also be there to watch over me for a while.
And no matter what happens afterward, I'll have V immediately bring Lark back — otherwise, I'm very worried that Lilith will sever our path back to Earth.
As for Arasaka, I do indeed plan to deal with it alone; if all goes well, I'll take care of Saburo, find Arasaka's Moon Material Pusher, and give a surprise to Saburo, who is currently in Tokyo, whether it's his real body or a substitute...
If something unexpected occurs, I'll detonate the nuclear bomb at Arasaka Base, ensuring that both Saburo and I are eliminated at a physical level, and then immediately use some of the missile launch systems controlled by the Sky Net System to launch a devastating attack on Arasaka's Tokyo Base."
Mercer's words made Lucy feel dizzy for a moment: "What about you? How will you return!?"
"Haven't you figured it out already?"
Mercer looked at Lucy, a slight smile on his face.
The car stopped in the parking lot near the biological laboratory at the stadium, and Mercer opened the door, holding out his hand to Lucy.
She was silent for a moment, her expression complex, but without hesitation, she reached out and followed his steps.
After passing through the disinfection procedure and entering a dimly lit room, Lucy's pupils slightly trembled as she surveyed her surroundings.
Here lay body after body placed in petri dishes, floating in liquid, resembling Mercer in appearance and stature, yet seemingly completely different...
Corpses.
"Are these all failed clones!?" Lucy's voice was almost trembling — the sight of these bodies, somewhat resembling Mercer, made her skin crawl, as if trapped in a nightmare.
Mercer just gazed emotionlessly at the bodies: "No, strictly speaking, these aren't 'clones' made by copying my DNA."
"Then what are they?" Lucy forced herself to calm down and tried to observe.
Indeed, these bodies varied in height and build; some appeared to be in their twenties, others in their teens, and some in their thirties or forties, with slightly different features.
"I'm creating my body."
Mercer calmly narrated the astonishing words: "You know? Due to a sudden whim, I discovered something really fascinating.
Human consciousness can be datafied, and you can even see the data core — I've previously attempted to crack it in various ways, but without success. Yet a sudden whim allowed me to see some very interesting things inside...
Some data codes, once decrypted and deciphered, actually look like DNA's genetic chains...
Mercer turned his head to look at Lucy and said softly, "So, I tried synthesizing these seemingly coincidental DNA elements at the core of my consciousness, and attempted to clone them, or rather, 'produce' them using rapid cloning devices.
As a result, embryos grew into this group of guys who somewhat resemble but don't quite resemble me, because the technology and equipment for synthesizing human DNA aren't mature enough, and rapid cloning itself tends to produce inferior products.
But I will succeed soon, and these failures have already accumulated a lot of experience for me."
He tapped on a petri dish, then, his eyes deeply fixed on a familiar yet unfamiliar corpse, he slowly began, "I'm not cloning my body; I'm making a body truly belonging to me...
Mercer lowered his eyelids, looking at the 'self' in the petri dish, a somewhat complex smile on his face.
"I'm not preparing for an emergency consciousness transfer."
"I'm gearing up for a rebirth... Perhaps, when that time comes, the core of my consciousness data will no longer be in a completely closed-compressed state, and I won't need to datafy my consciousness to feel my real self anymore."
Mercer withdrew his gaze, turned around to look at Lucy, and tapped on his metal-modified upper body, the metallic prosthetics giving off a crisp sound.
She just looked at him with a silent, tacit understanding in her eyes.
After a while, he grinned at her: "In any case, I promise you, I promise..."
"I will come back, no matter what form, even if just as a string of code, data, I will jump into your network receiving bay and reunite with you."
Mercer looked at her with gentle eyes: "I know you're timid and lack security, so even if it kills me, I won't leave you alone in a place like Night City to suffer alone...
Trust me, and wait for me, that's what I hope you can do for me, so... will you still try to stop me?"
Lucy remained silent, but finally, in a helpless yet sorrowful tone, she said, "If you're lying to me..."
"Hmm..." Mercer scratched his chin, wearing a thoughtful expression: "How about you go online and post a rant about me — with my bad temper, even if my consciousness data is shattered into bits, I'd surely get triggered by a post criticizing me..."
"Don't say such unlucky things!"
Lucy's volume increased, yet she just reached out and hugged him, burying her head into his embrace, her voice filled with a hint of tears: "You'd better not be lying, if you don't come back, I'll go to the Moon to find you, if I can't find you on the Moon, I'll go to Mars..."
Mercer held her, chuckling softly, hugging her tightly, only uttering a hum.
He would return, and in a way that has never been seen before, in his full glory.
This was a strong premonition.
And fortunately, to date, Mercer's premonitions have never been wrong.