Chapter 32: The Down-and-Out V

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Question: How to get V's contact information?
Answer: You don't need to.
Ha...
This idiot, who in the game would openly use a black braindance and plug any random chip straight into her skull, had absolutely no intention of keeping her personal information private.
Mercer simply used some keywords to automatically search a few websites and found an eye-catching post.
[I am V, an elite mercenary from the Heywood district. Sharp marksmanship and efficient execution. Those interested can contact me at... Task commissions depend on difficulty.]
Mercer hacked directly into the forum's garbage server to access the backend, and with that, he obtained the IP address and personal registration information used by this girl when she posted the message.
Judging from the photo in her personal profile—the classic shaved-side hairstyle paired with a rebellious face—there was no doubt. This V was the protagonist from the game!
This female V even used the exact same character creation data he had used for his own female street-kid V, right down to the white hair color that was a special trigger for him, an old-school anime fan.
Damn, this face really is something...
It was no wonder he had spent so much time painstakingly tweaking the settings based on online guides when he first created his character.
But precisely because of that, this moron had essentially given away her personal information for free!
Anyone could get her contact info.
Mercer even knew where she lived now; he had even taken a peek at her rent price...
How should he put it? Miss V was truly down on her luck right now!
Megabuilding H4—the cheapest residence in the game.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't even an apartment; it was a motel that could be rented long-term!
Mercer casually hijacked the motel's server by riding the connection of some idiot who was streaming movies online. After retrieving the tenant information, he couldn't help but sigh.
Poor Miss V was already a week behind on her motel rent.
It was no wonder that in the game, V eventually decided to head to Atlanta after a few years, only to fail there and come running back...
The V before him now was visibly green.
But that was fine. Re-experiencing the "V-Titan" growth journey in reality—hey, that wouldn't be too bad!
Mercer shook his head and dialed V. After only a few breaths, a somewhat irritable female voice rang out from the other end.
"Hello? Which moron is calling me? I don't want insurance, and I don't want to buy anything!"
"You must be the famous V... I have a job. Are you interested?"
Mercer lowered his voice, stifling a laugh.
The voice on the other end immediately became polite and accommodating: "Ah... a client, right? Interested! What kind of job is it?"
You agreed before asking what the job was... Anyone could tell you're truly desperate.
No wonder a few thousand eddies were enough to trick you into fighting your way in and out of hell... But it doesn't matter. With a good buddy like me around from now on, no one is going to fool you into working for a few thousand eddies again!
Look at how hungry my V has been driven!
"Tomorrow night, 8:30, meet me at the Afterlife, V."
After Mercer finished speaking, the breathing on the other end became heavy: "Afterlife? Are you talking about..."
"What? Want to change to something more your speed? Lizzie's Bar? The El Coyote Cojo?"

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Mercer couldn't help but be a bit sharp-tongued—Sister, pull yourself together. You are my favorite V-Titan! Don't lose your dignity!
"Cough... Fine, the Afterlife then. But, um..."
V's voice suddenly sounded a bit unsure:
"Are you sure you're looking for me?
Uh, I mean, what exactly is the job?
Let's get this straight, I don't do anything shady. I only do what a mercenary is supposed to do!"
Mercer sighed and finally said, "Stop overthinking it. We'll talk when we meet. I won't ask you to do anything beyond your capabilities."
"...Alright, how should I address you?" V asked cautiously, looking as if she were terrified the deal might fall through.
"A. It sounds a lot like your name. Just tell the bouncers you're with A when you get there, and they'll let you in."
Mercer had already figured out how to con her.
How to say it? After being devastated by Panam's "kid" remark, he didn't plan on revealing his true appearance to anyone anytime soon.
First impressions are crucial. If the first impression was that of a powerful "A," they wouldn't look down on him when they finally met in person.
But if the first thing they saw was his current delicate and handsome boyish look...
It would be a real hassle to change that perception later.
"Got it! A... see you tomorrow then!"
Anyone could hear the excitement in her voice.
Mercer hung up and couldn't help but shake his head. Sigh, if nothing else, he had to find her some work first, at least enough to cover her rent...
Perhaps the commission he originally intended for Rogue should be given to V instead?
Thinking about it, her asking price would definitely be much cheaper than Rogue's. No middleman skimming off the top... that was pretty good too.
At this point, several of his sent emails had received replies.
These fixers were quite efficient; then again, it might be because not many people dared to message them like that.
[Wakako Okada: I'm not used to doing business with strangers, especially those who approach me out of the blue with no background—my office is behind the Pachinko parlor in the Kabuki district. If you're willing to send someone to talk in person, I might consider throwing a few jobs your way.]
[Muamar "El Capitan" Reyes: Uh-huh, sounds like someone with skills. I do need a new vehicle-hijacking software. My requirements: fast lock-picking, quick authentication bypass, and preferably some mobile-hijacking functionality. I mean, the kind where you can hijack a car's system while it's on the road, so you can just ask the driver to step out and drive it away. If you can pull it off, I'll pay based on your skill. Send the file over; I'll have a professional evaluate it.]
[Mr. Hands: Oh? I do have work that requires a hacker... but I never cooperate with people I don't know. Mr. A, I will find you; we can discuss work then.]
As for the others, they didn't reply at all, probably dismissing him as some arrogant kid trying to promote himself; they weren't short on staff and couldn't be bothered.
The first two were easy to handle. Once V was settled, he'd have her meet Wakako, and he'd write a program for the Captain—job done.

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But as for this Mr. Hands...
He was, after all, backed by the Cuban criminal syndicate and dared to snatch prey from Colonel Hansen.
He actually wanted to "dox" Mercer in return just because of a few words—he was definitely putting on an act, but Mercer really wanted to see what he was capable of.
Thus, he immediately replied to each of them.
[A: Ms. Wakako, I will send someone to meet with you as soon as possible.]
[A: Send me the vehicle systems you need cracked, the original versions will do. The universal lock-picking software is 10,000 eddies without updates; the vehicle authentication bypass is 50,000 eddies. This part doesn't include updates, but I guarantee that for the software versions you provide, it can achieve rapid, alarm-free cracking. The remote hijacking software is 100,000 eddies (idiot-proof version), bypassing system brute-force protections. It will be permanently effective unless the corporation patches the vulnerabilities and deploys specific countermeasures. Once the data is sent, I will deliver within three days.]
[A: Mr. Hands, backed by the Cubans—truth be told, if I wanted to, you would never find me in your entire life. Whether you go to the voodoo boys in Dogtown or seek out Cuban experts, the result will be the same. I didn't come to Night City with plans to leave; this city will know my name sooner or later. So, if you want to cooperate, you can skip the useless posturing. Name a target, I'll do the job, you pay once it's done. It's that simple. If I were to connect with Colonel Hansen, I think that would be a bad idea for you, Mr. Hands. By the way, I am seriously considering making Dogtown my base of operations. If you have any sincerity, Mr. Hands, it might be a good start.]
After sending the messages, Mercer stopped replying for the time being. He had spent the entire afternoon on the computer handling all of this, and to be honest, it made Mercer a bit irritable.
If he had a hacker's fridge or a hacker's chair for deep-diving into cyberspace, he could have done all this in less than half an hour.
Using a computer or a direct neural interface to go online required converting brainwaves into data for upload, and then converting the data from the network back again. The latency was high, and it wasn't intuitive at all.
If the target was close by, it was relatively easy.
But to operate across the entire Night City network via a computer, the latency was even higher, and the computational demands were greater.
If he were deep-diving, his own consciousness would essentially become data within the network, and he would see everything as intuitive models made of data.
No matter how strange or abstract it looked to an outsider, to a hacker, everything in cyberspace was an intuitive data structure.
Moreover, deep-diving allowed for mental acceleration, moving through the cyber world to get close to certain data entities for zero-latency viewing and hacking.
Not to mention the accompanying cooling equipment and computational boosts that could further unleash a hacker's brain power.
"Looks like I need to increase the priority of getting a hacker's pod or chair."
Mercer made his decision.
He used to surf the net using Arasaka servers; lately, he felt like he was running a marathon while wearing a weighted vest in the network—it was exhausting.
It was also annoying not having a server's computational boost; this laptop's CPU felt like it was about to smoke every few minutes.
But if the CPU didn't smoke, his brain would have to. Sigh, startups are always troublesome.