Chapter 37: A Windfall of Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand!

Old Vic noticed that Mercer had woken up.

"Hmm... don't rush. You woke up faster than I expected. That’s the last eye. Let me see... the data is normal, I'm putting it in now."

Mercer lay still, enduring the sensation. As Old Vic placed the eyeball into his socket, a strange, tingling sensation rippled deep within.

Operating the instruments, Old Vic spoke after a moment: "Good, the neural signal connection is normal. Try rotating the eye... excellent, no issues. Do you feel anything special? The anesthesia hasn't fully worn off yet, but there should be some response."

Mercer moved his eye, feeling it out carefully: "My vision is a bit blurry, but it's adjusting. My wrist feels a bit swollen... I suppose this monowire is too thick; I need to get used to it. Hmm... the brain-machine interface also feels a bit burnt. Was a hot-connection method used for the surgery? Signal reception... it's normal. As expected of high-end gear, the data latency has dropped significantly. My perception of the cyberware has also strengthened. The physical operation feels a bit awkward, though; I'll need to adapt."

Victor asked gently: "Try it out. If your arm feels swollen often, you'll need further cybernetic modification... Sigh, I really don't want to see you become like that. Just think about it... A person's cyberware shouldn't just be installed on the top and not the bottom, unless you want to be a roly-poly toy. Once you start down this path, your arm flesh, leg flesh, pectorals, back muscles, and abs might all end up needing muscle-enhancement components. And once the muscles are enhanced, your underdeveloped bones might not be able to take the strain, and in the end, even your bones will need to be plated with iron. Imagine what you'll look like then: a child's head on a grown man's body... And all this cyberware will require stronger internal organs to support it. It never ends. You know, Mercer, I’ve seen too many people lose their humanity and flesh exactly like this. Constantly adding cyberware to get stronger, and then modifying their bodies to adapt to that cyberware. In the end, every single one of them was driven mad by these augmentations."

Victor sighed, offering earnest advice: "If you can't adapt, it's best to take it out. Wait two more years, focus on building your body, and it won't be too late to install them then. These parts of yours will remain top-tier for a decade; you don't need to worry about them becoming obsolete."

"Thanks, Old Vic. Keep an eye out for muscle-enhancement components for me... I didn't say I was installing them... alright, fine, don't look for those. Just keep an eye out for subcutaneous armor and leg cyberware. Even if I can't beat others, I at least need to be able to run fast. If I get killed by a stray bullet someday, there won't be much of a future to talk about."

Mercer’s words made Old Vic sigh deeply, but he only nodded. "We'll discuss it next time you come. Take the rest of your things back; you won't need them for now."

"If it's convenient, could I leave them here? You have professional equipment, we could study that network adapter together..."

Mercer's words made Old Vic shake his head: "You still haven't given up, have you... These things of yours aren't cheap. To be honest, they're worth enough to buy my clinic. Are you really sure you can just leave them with me?"

"Of course. If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have come to you in the first place."

Mercer laughed heartily. Old Vic helped him up. After standing straight and adjusting for a moment, Mercer pulled out the monowire.

The black monowire looked more discreet than the standard red ones. Mercer didn't dare to try powering it up; the sharpness of this thing was no joke.

Afterward, Mercer tested the new functions of his cybernetic eye, such as the 32-meter wall-penetrating perspective that he had been coveting. As data flickered in his vision, countless clear signals appeared before him. Even better, this pair of eyes could not only see network-connected devices within 32 meters, but also outline the vague figures of people by analyzing signal fluctuations. Of course, these figures weren't perfectly stable, only helping a hacker determine whether the target was a human or a network device. At the same time, Mercer could use the signals he saw to initiate remote hacks directly.

This meant Mercer now possessed the ability to perform rapid hacks on enemies within 32 meters through cover in the real world. He no longer needed to rely on his cybernetic eyes to physically see the target or capture their signal to send a quick hack. Previously, to remotely hack, he had to connect his consciousness to a camera to capture the target's exact network signal, or hack into their subnet. Now, as long as they were in range and he activated the eye's scan mode, targets could be scanned through walls and hacked directly. This was a massive boost to Mercer's safety in close-quarters combat.

Mercer checked himself in the mirror—wow, blue cybernetic eyes, looking really cool. His pupils seemed to have blue stardust flickering and dancing within them. This high-end gear even saved him the cost of colored contact lenses.

"...Alright, I don't know if you're like this with everyone." Victor stared at him as he excitedly experimented with the cyberware, nodding helplessly. "I'll study them when I have time, and see if I can try to make those augmentations less of a burden on you."

"It's not a big problem. My brain is better than a server's CPU. Also, I don't trust just anyone like this. Have a little confidence in yourself, Old Vic." Mercer laughed and touched the back of his head. "The interface at the back of my head was replaced with a new cover, right? Old Vic, how much do I owe you?"

"The parts were all yours; I just earned the surgery fee. Give me two thousand eddies. It’s mostly for the drugs and materials."

Old Vic's price made Panam, who had been watching Mercer with concern, gasp—this doctor was truly decent.

"This bottle is an anti-inflammatory. Three times a day. Besides inhaling, you can spray it on areas with severe inflammation; the pain-relief effect is very obvious. This other bottle is an injectable. For you, try not to use it, as it's mildly addictive. Unless the pain is unbearable, try to endure it. It's mainly to relieve post-operative nerve pain. I recommend using it right before sleep so you can get a good rest. Watch the dosage; press it once for a single dose. Don't press it too much by accident; there are five doses inside. All symptoms will begin to subside within three days. Depending on your constitution, you'll recover completely within seven days at most. If it takes longer, contact me anytime to check on your condition. Oh, and your monowire... You're a hacker, you know more than I do. Your monowire has a slot for quick-hack programs. Just connect your brain-machine interface and use this program to transfer it into the wire. However, this monowire with the codename 'Neural Mayfly' comes with a built-in virus program. I didn't dare mess with it; your skills might be better than mine in this regard, so you research it yourself. It takes up quite a bit of neural load, and the passive, continuous operation of the program will consume your brain's computing power. I wanted to add a switch, but the nanotechnology inside is very advanced, and I was worried that shutting it down would kill the self-replicating nanoviruses, rendering the program useless, so I didn't turn it off. If you feel the 'Neural Mayfly' program isn't very useful for you right now, I suggest deleting it. It's impossible to repair if it breaks, anyway. The nanobots inside are Arasaka's specialty—the fact that they can adhere to a monowire... it’s truly impressive technology. Alright, that’s all. Right, the brain-machine interface. Your current interface is at least two versions higher than the previous one. You'll find that the speed of receiving data will be very, very fast. Don't be careless when connecting directly to the network; it's easy to fry your brain... It's hard to imagine how powerful the compatible network receiver must be. These two things combined are not meant for ordinary hackers. Once opened, the amount of data your brain receives will be terrifying! You could say that without professional cooling, that network receiver cannot be turned on. Otherwise, even in standby mode, your body temperature would rise above thirty-eight degrees within a minute..."

Old Vic rambled on, and Mercer listened quietly. Even though he already knew all this, he listened patiently until the end.

"Don't blame me for being long-winded, kid. If it weren't for your persistence... I never perform surgery on children, whether they want it or their parents do. You made me break my rule." Victor looked conflicted. "I don't know if I did the right thing."

"Thanks, Old Vic. Whatever the future holds, that’s the path I chose for myself. You helped me, that’s all. No matter what happens, I’ll be grateful to you." Mercer patted him on the shoulder, then smiled. "Teach me how to box when you have time. I like watching boxing too."

"Alright." Old Vic looked at the transfer record appearing in his cyber-eye, then turned to point at the 'dead man's cyberware' freezer case that he found somewhat repulsive: "Are you going to sell the things inside?"

"Yes." Mercer nodded and added, "I plan to sell the parts that were removed from me as well."

Old Vic pondered for a moment and said, "The parts removed from you, although corporate-grade, aren't 'hot.' You haven't used them for long, so they're quite new. I can buy them directly, even that Mantis Blade. I checked the Arasaka supplier list earlier; although that thing is a laboratory model, it's actually mass-produced for high-level agents. I have plenty of customers here who would like it. But that Sandevistan is a no-go. I can help you fix it, but I can't buy it."

Mercer readily agreed: "That's great, Old Vic. If you can help me fix it, let's set the fee at ten thousand eddies... Don't decline. I've calculated it; just the cost of that circle of dissolved neural wiring is four thousand, and that’s using mid-to-low-end off-the-shelf biotech parts. Even if it shouldn't take much effort, it'll still take an hour. You'd only be earning two or three thousand. If you cut the price further, I'd feel embarrassed."

"Deal." Old Vic had to accept. He began to calculate.

"For the monowire, I'll give you one hundred thousand. Arasaka monowires are valuable, and you've already flashed the cyberware programs, so it's plug-and-play without worrying about backdoors. The Mantis Blade is one hundred and fifty thousand; it's a rare thermal Mantis Blade. Actually, it could be worth more, but I can't afford a higher price. People who come to me to install parts rarely have two hundred thousand eddies to spend on top-tier items in one go. I’d have to find someone else to sell it to if I kept it. Hmm... as for the rest, the cyber-eye is five thousand five hundred eddies. Adding the other odds and ends, I'll round it up to three hundred and sixty thousand eddies in total."

Old Vic explained, "Although the market price for your cyber-eye isn't low, since it's a high-end one that hackers can use for connections, in the cyber-eye field, everyone only recognizes Kiroshi as the top-tier brand; the rest are considered 'generic.' Even the pair you're using now, I think its overall performance is slightly worse than Kiroshi's high-end custom gear."

"I understand, Old Vic. Your price is fair. If you didn't hate stuff stripped off dead bodies, I'd be tempted to bring you a batch of goods whenever I had free time..."

Mercer’s words made Old Vic laugh and shake his head: "Don't do that... I never deal with Scavengers or their ilk."

"Unh-huh, funny enough, I don't like that scum either... Don't worry, I'm not a murderer."

Mercer stood up, feeling light, and looked at Panam. "Old Vic, I have to go. I need to see Misty for a reading, buy some things, and I have things to do tonight."

"Hmm, be careful on the road... Right, I changed the names of your cyberware and wiped the logos. If someone scans your cyberware with a cyber-eye, they'll only see it as a special laboratory model. You can rename the cyberware in the programs yourself, so that when others scan the data, it looks like custom gear. I've already taken care of the backdoors; you can clean them up slowly yourself."

After Old Vic finished speaking, he noticed he had received a file from Mercer via his brain-machine interface.

"Sent you a program. It's the 'Freedom Killer V1.0 Official Version' that I use. It can directly hack and wipe backdoors from ninety-nine percent of cyberware. Install it on your machine and use it. The one you're using doesn't clean thoroughly; it affects the cyberware's efficiency. Consider it a gift for our meeting. Oh, and this... is your brain capacity enough? Or should I send it to your computer?" Mercer joked.

Old Vic shook his head: "I'm not used to putting data in my brain. Send it over; I'll download it on the computer."

"Alright." Mercer blinked. "It's a dedicated enterprise-grade ICE. Ninety-nine percent of hackers would scratch their heads seeing it, and the rest would find it troublesome. Unless it's a badass hacker of my level, or someone plugs a thumb drive directly into your clinic's server computer, your clinic will be absolutely safe."

"Thanks, Mercer." Old Vic didn't stand on ceremony. That's how friendships are built.

"I'm off then."

Mercer waved at Panam. Panam handed him his t-shirt. Mercer looked down at his slightly gaunt physique, feeling dissatisfied. His body's muscle strength should have been decent, his potential wasn't low... it must have been the lack of good food on the journey. He needed to eat more!

"Go on, kid. Contact me if you need anything." Old Vic said warmly. "Exercise more when you have time; it's good for accommodating your cyberware."

"Hmm, bye."

Mercer and Panam walked out together.

Once they were outside, Panam, who had been holding back for a long time, finally spoke freely: "Damn, Mercer, that wire in your arm can sell for one hundred thousand!? And that piece-of-junk Mantis Blade, one hundred and fifty thousand!? We just walked here casually carrying hundreds of thousands worth of stuff? My god..."

"Unh-huh. Arasaka hacker-grade monowire—even though it's a mass-produced item, the market price starts at one hundred and twenty thousand. Mine is a new version, so it's one hundred and fifty thousand. The Mantis Blade is even more expensive. Thermal Mantis Blades are basically black-tech. Even the Max-Tac doesn't have gear this good. If you really wanted to buy it from Arasaka, it would start at three hundred thousand, and that’s if you have the connections." Mercer said, feeling quite satisfied as he watched the numbers in Cassidy's bank account skyrocket.

"And that Sandevistan, I plan to dump it on the black market for two hundred thousand. Sigh, thinking about it, it's such a loss... It's a pity. If I had a way to find a client who wouldn't expose me, that thing is worth at least three or four hundred thousand." Mercer suddenly had a thought: "However, if it's for someone on my own side..."

Could V handle it? But giving her such top-tier gear... she might think Mercer was trying to keep her. It was enough to buy her life ten times over.

"I'll keep it for now and see if I can get along with the current V. If V is willing to work for me, I'll sell it to her on credit and let her work it off—wouldn't that be gaining both a person and money? Even if I only valued it at two hundred thousand, it's like hiring V to work for me for two hundred thousand eddies. With V's personality, she wouldn't run off with the money, right? That's much better than selling it on the black market. Selling on the black market might lead to trouble."

The more Mercer thought about it, the more he felt it was worth a try.

"Don't mess around with yourself." Panam rolled her eyes and entered Misty's Esoterica on the other side of the alley with him, advising: "Are you really not afraid of going cyber-psycho?"

"I didn't say I was using it for myself... Have you had your fortune told here? How was the reading?"

Mercer and she walked into Misty's shop. Misty had been waiting for a long time. The crystal ball on the table had been pushed aside, and a stack of tarot cards lay on the table. She had also brewed two cups of steaming coffee for them.

"Uh..." Panam's expression was complex. "Something about the Hermit, the High Priestess, the Wheel of Fortune..."

"It's the Hermit reversed, the High Priestess reversed, and a magical Wheel of Fortune." Misty smiled gently. "Please, sit."

"Basically, it said I was very unlucky, that I would lose my way, leave my family, and fall into long-term confusion and wasted time. But suddenly, a Wheel of Fortune appeared to reverse all of this. It means that if I start thinking carefully now and make wise decisions, I can change my original fate and walk down another path... That's about it."

Panam seemed skeptical about the reading. If Mercer hadn't told her that Misty's readings were accurate, she would have thought Misty was about to try and sell her some trinket to 'change her fate.'

"Hmm, that's about it... However, I must say, this kind of reading result is very rare. Because the reversed High Priestess often represents the result after careful deliberation, while the reversed Hermit card symbolizes a powerful, unchangeable reality. A Wheel of Fortune appeared after these two cards... I've been doing readings for so long, and this is the first time I've seen this situation. It means Miss Panam has met a person of truly powerful fortune, and it is this person who has changed her fate."

Misty's smile and voice were gentle and ethereal. She stared at Mercer, looking a bit eager: "I think that person of powerful fortune might be you... Want a reading? I'm very interested in your fate!"

"Bring it on."

Mercer felt a small shock—it was actually quite accurate! He watched as Misty shuffled the tarot cards and spread them out.

"Please choose three cards," she said.

Mercer chose three cards carefully. Misty placed them in order, and he looked at her with great anticipation.

Come on! The moment to reveal fate has arrived!