Chapter 19: Departure for the City of Night!

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【Name: Lucyna Takeda】
【Age: 14】
【Place of Birth: Warsaw, Poland】
【Family Background Investigation: Father, Kenji Takeda (red-flagged), is the Security Department Head for Arasaka’s Warsaw branch; Mother, Shim (red-flagged), is a core member of the former Polish hacker collective 'Squad 404'.
The employee was voluntarily enrolled in the Juvenile Hacker Training Institute by her father for specialized training. Due to her father’s own evaluation submitted to the company, labeling her as 'unstable,' 'rebellious,' and 'not in line with the Arasaka spirit,' she requires close observation.】
【Ability Assessment:
Juvenile Hacker Training Institute Score: 92 (Excellent).
Arasaka Spirit Rating: 51 (Recommendation: loyalty re-education within the facility).
Psychological Stress Tolerance: 72 (Mediocre).
Comprehensive Evaluation: Highly gifted, but due to personality flaws and instability in stance, she lacks the potential to assume significant responsibilities.】
【Training Institute Assessment of Post-Graduation Placement: Meets the requirements for hackers in certain high-risk projects.】
【Assigned to the Vancouver Experimental Base in July 2070 to execute Project Star.】

Mercer reviewed the red-flagged data.
【Kenji Takeda: An outstanding employee during the Fourth Corporate War. He performed excellently in local cleanup operations in Poland and suppressed opposition forces for a long period. He possesses high loyalty to the company and is trustworthy.
Specific action records are classified as Level II; access is prohibited.】
【Shim: This individual did not work for Arasaka. Investigation suggests the image of a housewife loyal to her family. She is a specially recorded talent involving the keyword 'Squad 404'; there are no records in this server.】

Mercer closed the files, deleted them, and then looked at his own record.
It was no different from what he remembered: mediocre evaluations, a cold personality, and a family background of being an orphan sold directly to Arasaka by foster parents for 50,000 Eurodollars.

After half a second of thought, and two more seconds spent scanning the files of all the young hackers and key employees, Mercer memorized the important information and purged all data that needed to be deleted.
Finally, after confirming the server’s programmed settings, he quickly scanned the situation with the security cameras. A scene that made him furrow his brows caught his attention.
Sakata Yu, who had chosen to be an informant, was currently pounding desperately on the door of another young hacker’s room on the basement level.

Mercer watched him silently through the camera for a moment, unlocked the door of the hacker hiding in the basement, and then chose to disconnect from the server, ending his deep dive.

When he returned to reality and opened his eyes, a sudden wave of nausea hit him.
Damn...
He felt dizzy, his head throbbing with a sharp pain, just as uncomfortable as when he had first transmigrated back.
Moreover, it wasn't just physical discomfort; there was a stifling sense of emptiness mentally.
The feeling of omnipotence he had while connected to the server vanished rapidly. It was as if a god who could do anything had suddenly lost all divine power and become a mortal.
The massive gap between the mental and physical sensations left his body feeling weak.
He stumbled up like a drunkard and walked out, gasping for air.

A robot was waiting at the door, holding the custom Kenshin pistol belonging to the Director.
Mercer took the pistol, racked the slide, and had the robot help him into the elevator. Leaning against the wall, he pondered for a moment, pressed the button for the basement level, and focused on breathing heavily to recover his state.

Deep diving was truly dangerous... Ordinary hackers were one thing; even when connected to servers in cyberspace, there wasn't much they could actually do, usually limited to the peak of their own brain's capacity.
But Mercer was certain he had been performing far beyond his limits.
That performance had definitely exceeded his current brain’s capabilities—damn it, he felt like he had fried a part of his brain again.
He could even smell a hint of something burning coming from his neural interface.

The biological monitoring self-check program sent him the data: it proved that after entering the server, he had quickly entered a state equivalent to brain-machine overclocking.
Fortunately, the excellent server-grade cooling saved him; otherwise, he wouldn't have survived. Not many hackers managed to do this to themselves.
Most hackers only reached this state when passively receiving too much data, whereas he had simply been manipulating too much data too aggressively, pushing his brain too hard.
In the cold yet inexplicably exhilarating state of cyberspace, he hadn't felt that these minor injuries were worth worrying about. And in fact, he was still able to walk and think, it was just...
It hurt.

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The elevator reached the basement level quickly. When the doors opened, Sakata Yu was there, nervously brandishing a monowire, staring daggers at him.
"You... what did you do! Why are all the rooms locked? Where are Lucy and the others? You're trying to escape... aren't you! You're trying to escape!?"
Sakata Yu’s hands were shaking. Finally, he shouted in a shrill voice, bordering on tears: "Why didn't you take me with you... if you knew you could get away... why didn't you tell me in advance!"

"And wait for you to betray me? Save it, kid. Please move aside; I’m not here for you. The security is gone now. If you want to run, just run. Arasaka will definitely be chasing us; you’ll have a chance to survive no matter where you go."
Mercer said, his voice weak. When Sakata Yu saw that Mercer needed an unarmed robot to support him and couldn't even grip his gun steadily...
Sakata Yu’s breathing became heavy.
In a brief blink of an eye, he made his decision. Escape? And wait for Arasaka’s hunt? No, he would climb to the heights of Arasaka, no matter the cost!
As long as he could capture Mercer, he would surely—he tried to lash out with the monowire, but it felt heavy as lead in his hand.
His eyes widened in shock, and the red warning prompts in his cyberoptics flooded his entire field of vision.
"No... no!"
He stuttered two sounds that were half-gasp, half-scream, then collapsed to the ground, his body rigid.
By the time Mercer passed his kneeling form, his brain was already burning, like a human torch on the floor.
"I gave you a chance, more than once, kid."
Mercer’s voice caused him to let out a shrill scream in his final moments.

Mercer walked to the room of the last young girl hacker who remained.
He clearly remembered her name from his memory, and he recalled her history from the files he had scraped from the server.
"Lii, are you coming? Let’s leave together."
After a brief silence in the room, the child’s voice replied.
"Where can we go?" Her voice trembled.
"Wherever we go, as long as we keep moving forward, we are heading toward freedom." Mercer’s voice was gentle.
"Does freedom even exist in this world?" Lii’s voice carried a faint sob.
"Freedom isn't in this world; it's in your heart, child." Mercer’s tone grew even softer. "Go now, the world outside is vast, and everyone can find a place to belong."
"...Freedom."
Lii’s voice became inexplicably calm. Then, a sharp intake of breath came from the room: "Mercer, thank you... truly, thank you."
Then, a faint, rustling sound of a monowire being pulled out echoed from inside.
Mercer’s brow furrowed slightly. He instinctively placed his hand on the door handle, which he had already unlocked from the server.
In truth, he could have opened it with a slight push, but after hesitating for a moment, he chose to wait quietly.
After a few seconds, the door opened. On a pale, small palm sat a tiny wind chime.
"Send this into the winds of freedom; this was Shadow Bear’s dream... As for my dream, my freedom..."
Mercer took the wind chime.
Then, a sound of something slicing through the air came from the room, followed by the sound of a heavy weight hitting the floor, something crashing against the door, accompanied by a liquid-like rustling sound and the girl’s garbled, gasping groans.
"I finally... feel... free."
Her weak voice was eventually drowned out by the annoying, ceaseless whir of the room’s ventilation fan.
"May your soul rest in peace."
Mercer clutched the wind chime and turned to leave. The robot helped him into the elevator, and he pressed the button for the first floor with a calm expression.
In this desperate world, the right to choose how one dies is also a manifestation of freedom.
He could have saved her, perhaps he could have guided her, but would that not have been stripping her of the freedom to choose?
Trying to encourage her to overcome all these difficulties, to endure all this torture, was that not just imposing his own ideas on another’s life, a form of self-satisfying benevolence?

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Mercer felt like he had thought for a long time in that instant, feeling lost for the first time about whether what he had done was right or wrong.
But when the elevator reached the first floor, Mercer immediately stepped out and sent a program to have all the robots in Director Tano and Secretary Inoue’s rooms return to their original positions.
Then, he ordered all security equipment in Director Tano’s room to trigger an electromagnetic short-circuit.
He needed to create the illusion that Secretary Inoue had neutralized the robot security, killed Director Tano, and escaped.
The concerned inquiries from the other young hackers echoed in his ears. He sent a brief group reply saying he was on the way, then headed straight for the cargo bay where the AV was docked.
The sight of the corpses along the way, however, made him feel like vomiting again.
Especially that burnt smell... he figured he wouldn't be able to eat barbecue for a long time.
In cyberspace, seeing those corpses had been as insignificant to him as game NPCs, and killing felt like nothing more than tapping on a keyboard.
But back in reality, looking at the bodies on the floor, a sense of guilt and horror bubbled up uncontrollably.
He laughed at himself. A moment ago, when he saw the faces of Anzu and Lucy pale, he had thought they were being dramatic, but when it was his turn... honestly, he was about to puke.
What kind of stone-cold killers were those protagonists in novels? He considered himself someone with strong adaptability, steady nerves, and a carefree personality.
But now he realized he still had a long way to go before he could truly adapt to the cyberpunk world.
Regarding life and death, justice, and the path he had to take...
He needed a period of stability to digest and reflect before he could find the answers.
But for now, he had to endure it all and stand tall for these kids. A big brother had to act like one.

"Mercer... Mercer!?"
In the distance, Lucy, who had been standing by the AV with a Kenshin pistol in a defensive stance, saw Mercer’s swaying figure approaching from afar.
Her expression turned tense, and without a second thought, she ran toward him.
Daisuke Tetsuya stopped Leon and Anzu, who were also about to run over, giving them a look that suggested they should be sensible, though his own eyes were filled with concern as he looked at Mercer.
Lucy instinctively supported Mercer, seeing his pale face: "Are you okay?"
"My brain is a bit fried... get me a Relic chip. I haven't told you yet, but I’ve finished the decryption program for the code inside.
In a bit, I'll flash it for you. After that, you can keep the chip plugged in; it can actively initiate neural repair and passively activate after the host dies to save your life."
Mercer smiled, not refusing her help. With her support, he moved a bit faster.
She was quite small, but she was surprisingly strong.
"Don't talk now. We'll deal with the flashing later. You should rest..."
Lucy said, but Mercer shook his head.
"No, I still have to drive. It's fine, I'm just uncomfortable, not an invalid. I'll be back to normal in a couple of days."
As he spoke, he refused Lucy’s suggestion to sit in the back and rest. He took the chip that the quick-witted Anzu offered after hearing him, having already opened the case containing the Relic chips.
He then plugged the chip directly into his head and used the program Ot gave him to quickly wipe the Soulkiller inside.
After that, he activated the chip’s built-in neural repair function, opened the cockpit door of the AV, and crawled inside, inserting his personal link into the vehicle's system.
Only then did he let out a long sigh, leaning back in the seat as he watched the vehicle pass authentication.
"Get back and sit down, we're leaving. Remember to keep an eye on our guest; don't let him wake up halfway. He needs to sleep all the way to the final stop."
Lucy bit her lip hard as she looked at him, but finally nodded firmly and returned to the passenger cabin.
After closing the door, she kicked the unconscious Secretary Inoue, who was lying in the way, aside.
Then, the AV’s engines roared to life.
Due to the structure of the AV, those in the passenger cabin could only see each other; the cockpit was shielded by metal, and they could only hear Mercer’s voice through the vehicle's intercom.
"Stop looking so gloomy... this is the taste of freedom that so many people dream of! Get ready, buckle up! We’re heading out!"
"Next stop, Night City!"