In a sense, Arasaka Yoshinobu is far more dangerous than Saburo; at least the latter's actions can be analyzed from a profit perspective, while Arasaka Yoshinobu's goal is only destruction, whether it's enemies or himself."
Mercer fell silent, while Venus continued persuading him: "We need more resources and a chance for a reshuffling of world powers, so we can seize the opportunity to sit at the table.
Considering the Black Light virus we currently hold and our absolute leading advantage in AI and autonomous device technology, the Fifth Company War might be a great opportunity for us to escape Dog Town and become a new corporate giant."
Mercer did not say a word, just sat in the chair thinking for a long time.
Venus did not urge him, just waited quietly. In fact, in its analysis, Mercer's answer was already abundantly clear.
"...Sometimes, I really think Lucy and the others are not wrong about me—am I really a bit too crazy?"
Mercer sighed long, but his eyes became somewhat sharp. He slowly sat up from the hacker chair, picked up the neural connection line, ready for Super Deep Dive, softly saying: "Round and round, fate seems already destined."
"The major trends of the world are often inevitably caused by the superposition of many factors, but do not worry, because we have sufficiently large and numerous variables."
Venus's voice was gentle, yet carried a hint of unyielding determination: "We will succeed."
"I hope so." Mercer didn't waste words; upon entering Super Deep Dive, he began calculating the crazy plan Venus presented.
When the calculation was over, Mercer exited the deep dive, slowly opened his eyes, after a moment of silence, reluctantly but decisively issued the order.
"Then let's do it, Venus."
"Understood, please name the code for this action plan." Venus's tone remained calm.
Mercer was silent for a moment, then spoke out a name.
"Shadow of the Past."
Mercer whispered softly, setting the name for the entire plan.
"Understood, I have named this plan—Shadow of the Past."
"Do you want to immediately start executing and advancing this plan?" Venus inquired.
Mercer closed his eyes, as the worst possibilities rapidly flashed through his mind, but in the end, he only nodded.
"Start."
"Understood."
Venus's voice disappeared from Mercer's ears.
Meanwhile, in the latent network, the ubiquitous Sky Net System subtly began weaving a large net.
...
August 27, 2076, 5:25 PM.
Above the calm Dog Town, a plane named Air Force One, the private plane of the New America President, suddenly plummeted rapidly from the clouds, the piercing engine roar slashed through the sky like a bleak air raid siren.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! Our engine is malfunctioning! We suspect a network attack!"
Inside the plane, the pilot shouted incredulously, the voice spreading through the cabins via broadcast: "We need technical support!"
"Lark!" Miles, the current New America President, turned his head with an expression of disbelief, shouting at Lark who was sitting in the hacker chair, constantly connected to the plane's network, providing its protection.
"..." Lark didn't reply, but her whole body was already trembling slightly. Miles could see the display connected to her hacker chair, all readings soaring at that moment, even her life safety detection prosthesis was starting to trigger alarms.
"Mayday! Mayday! We're going to make an emergency landing! Prepare for impact resistance! Protect the President!"
The captain's voice trembled slightly, meanwhile, this utterly advanced private plane quickly switched to manual mode, disengaging the intelligent autopilot.
However, what amazed the captain was—although the smart control had been turned off and automatic driving canceled, strictly speaking, the whole plane had entered a manually controlled offline stage.
Yet inexplicably, the engine still didn't respond to commands, as if it had its own life, moving erratically on its own.
"Check!"
"Left engine is out of control!"
"Right engine is out of control!"
"Error code: 3371!"
"Instrument readings are wrong! All red codes!"
"Pull the lever, we can't make an emergency landing at this speed! Pull up! We need to pull up!"
"It's useless! The control lever is out of control!"
"Damn it, reverse thrust! Reverse throttle! Slow down!"
The captain and co-pilot attempted all operations they could try, but the plane seemed to have its own life, even the basic mechanical structure determined by the wing controls seemed to have a great delay at this moment.
And the most critical propulsion engine had completely lost control, the instrument panel totally plunged into chaos, as if suffering massive electromagnetic interference.
"We may be doomed..." the co-pilot murmured.
"Hmm." The captain replied with resignation: "I think so too."
However, just as they almost despairingly gave up resistance, Lark's sharp voice sounded in their headphones.
"Quick! Quick emergency landing!"
No complete words were needed, the captains immediately noticed the operation system seemed to start recovering normal, they desperately began to manipulate the engine for reverse thrust, and all vertical lift propulsion devices were opened.
"Emergency landing! We're going to make an emergency landing! Prepare for impact resistance!"
The captain was elated, began with the co-pilot to save the flight trajectory with all efforts, narrowly avoiding a floating airship over Dog Town, then headed for relatively open areas, avoiding buildings for emergency landing.
But even though they had exerted all efforts, the terrain of Dog Town inherently lacked conditions suitable for the safe landing of a private plane.
The moment the plane finally touched down, dreadful sparks shot off, the cabin started dragging noticeable flame marks on the ground, the propulsion device worked desperately, until the whole plane caught fire, finally barely stopped on a relatively straight road.
The alarm of Dog Town sounded subsequently.
"Enemy invasion! Enemy invasion! All residents return home immediately and seek shelter under emergency martial law provisions!"
"Warning! Warning! Martial law..."
"I am Mercer, the person in charge of Dog Town, all Netherworld Dogs please note..."
The slightly fuzzy, seemingly signal-interfered broadcasting sound interrupted the original martial law broadcast.
"We have suffered an unprecedented network attack, a large number of autonomous devices have been hacked, all Netherworld Dogs, immediately gather at Gem Cyan, please beware of nearby drones and robots!"
"Repeat! I am Mercer, the person in charge of Netherworld Dogs, we have suffered a network attack from an unknown source, a large number of autonomous devices are out of control, we need to gather, immediately head to Gem Cyan to gather..."
The broadcast sound transformed into Sasha's electric current sound—upon hearing this, the faces of all Dog Town residents involuntarily changed.
No elaborate explanation was needed, everyone immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.
Something big has happened!