Chapter 34: First Encounter with Old Wei

Mercer had Panam pull the car directly in front of the clinic—a somewhat dim alleyway. Both sides of the lane were lined with buildings that carried a sense of age. After stepping out of the vehicle, Mercer couldn't help but look around with a touch of nostalgia.

To the left of the alley stood the building housing the esoterica shop where Misty, Jack’s girlfriend in the game, worked. In the game, the protagonist V and Jack would usually disembark on the street near that shop, pass through it, and walk down the alley to reach Doc Viktor’s clinic. Since Mercer was currently hauling a car full of heavy-duty contraband, it naturally wouldn't be convenient to parade the goods through that route. He had no choice but to squeeze the car into the alley and park right at the entrance. To his right, the stairs leading to a semi-basement structure marked the entrance to Viktor’s clinic.

Mercer sent a message to Vic first.

【Mercer: Vic, open up. I’ve got a lot of stuff, I’ll need to make a few trips.】
【Viktor: Sure.】

Viktor’s reply was prompt; he must have been waiting for him, and he didn't mention anything about Mercer being late.

Panam, while exerting herself to help carry the refrigerated containers holding the cyberware, looked around and muttered, "This is the place? Doesn't look like much."

"Back-alley doctors are always tucked away in corners like this... but his skills are definitely top-tier."

Mercer also struggled with a large crate, carefully navigating the stairs to the door, which slid open automatically. Standing there was a sturdy, middle-aged man wearing sunglasses—the very person Mercer had come to see: Viktor Vektor.

Viktor looked down and saw a boy whose head barely reached his shoulder, struggling to hold a massive crate. The sight made him instinctively reach out.

"Kid, just hand that to me... Where’s that Mercer guy? Sending a child to do the heavy lifting?"

Viktor frowned as he placed the crate on the floor of the clinic, then turned to see a woman walking in carrying more supplies. Mercer smiled helplessly at Viktor. "I am Mercer."

"...Ha..."

Viktor stared at Mercer, the only sound he could muster being a sigh that sounded like a mix of exhaustion and wonder. He then took the initiative to help carry the rest, asking, "So, is this gear for your sister?"

"She’s my friend and the driver helping me out today; she’s with the Aldecaldos. The cyberware is for me."

As Mercer spoke, he studied Viktor. He didn't look much different from his game counterpart. Viktor’s features weren't particularly striking, but he looked clean and tidy. His black hair was tied back, and his arms were well-defined, showing almost no signs of cybernetic modification, save for the faint shimmer behind his sunglasses. He was a man who looked inherently reliable.

"Hmm... I won't ask where you got this, but you don't look like a local."

Old Vic looked Mercer over while they moved the crates. The boy, who looked no older than fourteen or fifteen and had a lean build, carried a strange sense of maturity in his expressions and speech. Arasaka optics, monowire, neural interfaces, network receivers, and even the ports at the base of his skull for large-scale servers... It was all pure Arasaka-grade cyberware. Even the high-end refrigerated containers they were moving were emblazoned with the Arasaka logo.

"But this haul is too pure... it’s all Arasaka stuff. Stolen? Or looted? Regardless of which, I don't recommend you install these."

Viktor spoke frankly: "You’re too young. Installing too much cyberware will affect your development, and these parts are usually designed for adult frames."

"It’s fine. Let’s take a look and install as much as we can," Mercer said, appearing completely unconcerned.

Viktor sighed internally, but knowing better than to overstep, he kept his thoughts to himself. Once everything was moved inside, Panam crossed her arms and sat in an empty spot in the clinic. In the back-alley clinics of Night City, you had to have someone with you when getting cyberware installed. If you went alone, there was a high chance the surgery would inexplicably fail. You would end up a corpse, and your body parts—along with the very cyberware you intended to install—would end up on a shelf for sale.

"You guys talk, pretend I’m not here."

Panam played the role of a bodyguard with professional precision, but Mercer just smiled.

"It’s fine, Panam. You haven't eaten this morning, right? Go grab something in Little China nearby. Across the alley is Misty’s esoterica shop; she’s the part-time receptionist for Vic’s clinic, though the shop is her main gig. They say her fortune-telling is quite accurate; you should give it a try. I don’t know how long this will take, and watching it will be boring for you."

"Are you sure?" Panam stared at Viktor with a warning look. "Doing surgery alone with him?"

"Ha, don't underestimate Old Vic..." Mercer pointed to the trophies and certificates lining the wall. "If you had come a few years earlier, Viktor would still be a professional boxer. Back then, they called him 'Viktor the Unarmored.' He was the best boxer in all of Night City. He could knock people like us out with a single punch. Don't let the lack of cyberware fool you; in his retirement match, he went twelve full rounds against a guy decked out in high-end corporate chrome! Both sides had a knockdown, but unfortunately, he lost on points. That was a true display of man versus machine... Now you know what Dr. Viktor is capable of, right?"

"You even know that?" Viktor couldn't help but smile. "I thought nobody remembered."

He truly loved boxing, but he had been forced to leave the ring because it had become a mere exhibition for cyberware. Deep down, he felt more pride in his boxing skills than in his medical expertise. But... this kid really had dug up everything about him! Where did this little monster come from?

"No way... for real?" Panam found Viktor even less trustworthy now—a boxer who traded his gloves for medical textbooks? Was he actually competent?

"Don't worry, Vic is one of the few reliable, good people in Night City. Go ahead, and if you're bored later, come back, have a beer, and watch some TV. I'll treat you to something interesting once I'm done here."

After Mercer said this, Panam didn't press the issue. She sighed. "Sometimes you seem so complex, but other times, you seem so simple... Fine, I'll go grab breakfast. What about you?"

"Did you eat, Vic?" Mercer asked, acting quite familiar.

"Uh, I’m good. You should eat something, though. I need to take a look at your gear... what exactly is all this?"

Vic opened a crate and his face immediately wrinkled. Inside were broken Sandevistans, mantis blades stained with dark red blood, and various loose components...

"Oh, those are things I plan to repair and sell. See if you can lend a hand with those... the ones I want to install are the others."

Mercer pointed to the other crates. Vic opened one, frowned, and raised an eyebrow. "New models?"

"Laboratory-grade prototypes. Goodies from the Arasaka Cyberware Research Center in Canada." Mercer stood beside Vic, smiling. "I sent you a file containing the relevant data I pulled from the Arasaka servers. I’ve already read through it; aside from the network receiver that needs more study, the rest shouldn't be hard to install."

"It’s not about whether it’s hard or not..." Vic turned to look at Mercer, his expression serious. "Do you have any idea how much neural load these parts place on a human brain? It’s no exaggeration to say that even those lunatics from the Maelstrom gang, who are covered in chrome, wouldn't last three months without having a breakdown! Even the cooling system has to connect to your neural nerves. The people who designed this set didn't care at all about the pressure it puts on the user!"

Panam, who hadn't left yet, looked worried and patted Mercer on the shoulder. "I know you want to do big things, but be realistic. Don't forget there are people who rely on you. Think about Lucy..."

"Alright, go eat, sister." Mercer rolled his eyes.

Panam stared at him, speechless. "You don't appreciate good intentions." She turned to leave. "Just keep your head on straight and listen to the doctor... what do you want to eat?"

"I want steamed buns, deep-fried dough sticks, tofu pudding, meat-filled flatbreads, pancakes, dumplings, potstickers..."

Before Mercer could finish, Panam laughed in exasperation. "Then you better wait, I'm going to China to find those for you." She stormed off.

Viktor shook his head and gestured for Mercer to sit on the surgical chair. "Some of the things you mentioned, I’ve never heard of... meat-filled flatbreads? Like a burger? Meat inside bread?"

"No, it's meat inside a crispy flatbread, without all the messy greens. I like it pure. The meat is braised for hours until it falls apart; the flavor of the meat and the sauce mixed with the bread..." As Mercer spoke, he began to drool—he hadn't had a decent meal in ages. In this world, meat was synthesized from insect protein; the price of real animal meat would make your heart stop just looking at the menu.

"Hmm, sounds good... are you mixed-race?"

After helping Mercer lie down, Vic pulled up a chair and sat beside him, using a special, glove-like external cybernetic interface to tap at the screen. He chatted gently with Mercer while checking the data. "Kid, I need to perform a check-up first to see the state of your body."

"I understand, go ahead... I don't know if I'm mixed-race. I couldn't find who my biological parents were in the Arasaka files, but I’m fairly certain I was Chinese in my past life."

As Mercer spoke, he cooperated with Vic to insert the neural interface cables—secretly hacking into the equipment to observe the data flow. It had become an instinct; his first reaction whenever his brain connected to a device was to tear through its source code.

"Don't move... the data is unstable. You can study it later if you're interested." Vic could keenly sense the lag in the instruments, which meant a program was stealing the system's processing power in the background.

"My bad, it’s a habit. Arasaka loved plugging things into people's heads; I get anxious if I don't understand what's going on inside." Mercer didn't hide it, smiling. "Think of it as an occupational hazard."

"Hmm... your past sounds pretty painful." Viktor looked at him with pity and sighed. "Those corporate suits... how old were you when Arasaka took you in?"

"Eight? They trained me for a few years, then treated me like a disposable resource."

As Mercer spoke, Vic applied sensors to his body, scanning and checking him over. After a few minutes, the basic data collection was complete.

Suddenly, Viktor froze. He stared at the numbers on the screen, dazed.

Is this data correct?
That can't be right, can it?
Is it really right?
No, no, no...
Is the machine broken? It shouldn't be...
So it is right? But how could these numbers be correct?

Viktor fell into a long, deep silence—what the hell!