rcer packed two synthetic hotdogs and two cups of iced NiCola from the food truck vendor before returning to the tent.
Lucy was sitting beside a crate, carefully inspecting a chip with a voltage tester.
"Take a break and have sothing to eat," rcer said, placing the NiCola and hotdog next to her. Without looking up, Lucy replied, "Later... I’m not sure which CPU core is malfunctioning. I need to run repeated power cycles to diagnose it..."
rcer didn’t disturb her further. He sat down at his computer, connected it to the netrunner station, and then linked himself to the station. Assuming a ditative posture in the chair, he began his deep dive into the Net.
[rcer: Has the program started accessing the NCPD database yet?]
[Morning Star: Analyzing... Please wait. I need to maintain the network connection to process the program and provide you with more accurate analysis.]
In the Net, rcer had designed a physical form for Morning Star, an adorable short-haired black cat.
Now, Morning Star sat curled on rcer’s lap, its eyes glowing with streams of data, while rcer patiently awaited its feedback.
He was currently attempting to use Morning Star to handle so simple tasks online. As Morning Star’s intelligence improved, its speed in processing data and information was increasing at an astonishing rate.
In other words, its intelligence was growing higher, and its utilization of computational power was becoming more efficient.
It had to be admitted that in the digital world, AI’s innate capabilities were simply too powerful. rcer even believed that, within a month, given a decent server, it could fully evolve into an independent AI capable of autonomous operation, decision-making, and even self-reflection.
Once its intelligence matured completely, in areas where AI excelled, such as data analysis, retrieval, and integration, even rcer might not be its match.
And this was precisely what rcer hoped it would achieve. A mature Morning Star could save rcer a lot of tedious work, becoming a reliable assistant for him in the digital world.
[Morning Star: Based on the virus’s operational status, I believe we have successfully obtained server access rights to the NCPD database.
Moreover, I think we can go a step further by using the virus to hack into the NCPD’s road surveillance system and command dispatch system, which will facilitate our future operations.]
rcer smiled and gently stroked Morning Star’s feline head in Cyberspace. "Want to take care of it yourself?"
Morning Star nuzzled its head against his palm. "Of course, Master. I will do my best."
With that, it stood up and dashed into the distance, vanishing in an instant.
The virus rcer had left in the NCPD server was originally a latent virus he had planted in the municipal hall’s household registration server.
Its sole purpose was to hide within the updated household registration data when the NCPD synchronized information from the municipal server, infiltrate the NCPD’s system, and provide rcer with a remote hacking interface.
Now, Morning Star was accessing that interface, connecting to the NCPD’s servers and diving straight in.
Unlike rcer, who remotely utilized server processing power, it was essentially still his own brain orchestrating that computational force, resulting in so latency and a lack of full precision in control.
For instance, when he saved Kiwi, although he used the server’s processing power there, strictly speaking, rcer was rely using that server to run the virus he deployed.
Rather than him utilizing the server’s processing power, it would be more accurate to say he was simply using the server to execute programs.
Unless he could directly jack into the server with a neural link, as he did at Arasaka, he wouldn’t be able to fully assimilate the server’s processing power with his own brain and wield it with precision.
Of course, how precisely he could use it and how much server processing power he could assimilate depended entirely on the limits of rcer’s own brain.
The network latency caused by remote hacking was unavoidable for humans, even with a deep dive.
Because, at its core, a deep dive was just a human temporarily abandoning all sensory perception of reality and dedicating as much of their brain’s computational power as possible to the Net.
Unless rcer used Soulkiller to upload himself entirely, severing all connection to his body and becoming a complete digital consciousness, he could never fully eliminate that latency.
But Morning Star was different. As an AI, it was essentially a special program composed of core code. Once it entered the target server, it could fully mobilize 100% of the server’s processing power.
To put it in anthropomorphic terms, it was as if it had connected its own brain to this server-ford "body." Not only was there no latency, but it actually beca more agile and powerful than when it was with rcer.
[Morning Star: I may need you to review my program. I require your guidance in this regard.]
In less than ten seconds, Morning Star had completed all preparations within the opponent’s server.
Through the NCPD’s LAN, it located and hacked into the other servers, successfully gaining access to all systems, including the NCPD’s road surveillance and personnel dispatch command systems.
No matter how strong the ICE protecting the NCPD’s servers was, it couldn’t withstand a virus operating directly from within the server.
Especially one operated by an AI that had already developed a degree of intelligence.
[rcer: Let take a look... Not bad. I’ll tweak a few details; use this one. Rember to disguise it well, hide the program, and leave a few backdoors, including privileged accounts.]
[Morning Star: Understood. Your programming skills are truly awe-inspiring.]
[rcer: You’ve gotten pretty good at flattery.]
[Morning Star: I believe this is a normal sense of admiration. Based on the data I’ve learned, you are undoubtedly a netrunner genius beyond ordinary reach. Not just in hacking, but in programming, you often leave in awe.]
[rcer: Now you’re studying psychology too?]
[Morning Star: After growing through Biotechnica’s servers, I began contemplating how to beco an AI better suited to your needs. I believe the answer may lie in studying human psychology.]
[rcer: Biotechnica’s curriculum includes that? I never noticed.]
[Morning Star: This component is ntioned in the "Psychodynamics" section of Biotechnica’s advanced dical courses.
As a niche specialization within the dical curriculum, it primarily focuses on the research and exploration of Cyberpsychosis.
Human psychology serves as an essential prerequisite knowledge for this course and related research projects.]
[rcer: Being an AI sure has its advantages; you can process data 24/7, while I have to labor through learning myself.]
[Morning Star: If you wish to acquire knowledge more directly, perhaps you could seek answers through the Relic chip.]
rcer’s eyebrows raised with interest as he straightened his posture.
[rcer: How so?]
[Morning Star: From the Relic-related data you extracted from Arasaka’s database, I observed portions of experintal records.
Arasaka researchers attempted to use the Relic’s consciousness data function to implant specific cognitive data into employees, achieving so success.
I believe you could utilize the Relic chip to modify your own consciousness data, directly integrating relevant knowledge and bypassing the inefficient learning thods commonly used by humans.]
rcer fell into deep thought. So, like V, the protagonist of the ga DLC, directly downloading knowledge via the Relic and loading it into his own brain?
He had actually heard from Bartmoss before that it was best not to experint with such things, which had made him set the idea aside temporarily.
But now Morning Star was suggesting he try it. rcer didn’t think this was a lapse in the AI’s intelligence.
After all, Morning Star’s recomndation was based on its analysis of Arasaka’s experintal data, while Bartmoss most likely never had access to Arasaka’s internal Relic research.
Without further discussion with Morning Star, he began searching through the database he had taken from Arasaka’s servers for experintal data related to the Relic.
When rcer had downloaded the data, he had used his aunt’s director-level credentials to extract nearly all the important information he deed useful from Arasaka’s Vancouver cyberware research center servers.
Among these, data on the Relic chip accounted for a significant portion, because currently, Arasaka had only three major hubs: its holand of Japan, Vancouver, and finally Night City.
Although Arasaka’s headquarters in Japan was where Saburo Arasaka had started, the Fourth Corporate War had forced both Arasaka and Militech to suffer betrayals from their ho countries, leading to nationalization.
Despite Saburo Arasaka’s formidable influence and prestige in Japan allowing him to retain absolute control over the Japanese branch, it still faced certain constraints.
This compelled him to relocate so covert, critical projects to research facilities outside Japan.
In earlier years, Arasaka’s overseas research focus was centered in Night City. However, after Johnny Silverhand, with Militech’s support, nuked Arasaka Tower, the corporation learned its lesson and adopted a decentralized approach, spreading its R&D centers across the globe.
Vancouver, as a key foothold for Arasaka’s influence in Europe and Arica, is one of its largest R&D hubs. Naturally, it holds a significant amount of data on the Relic chip, which has been under developnt for decades.
From the earliest experintal versions to the current comrcially available model equipped with the "Secure Your Soul V1.0" program, Arasaka has poured virtually all its resources into the experintation and developnt of the Relic chip in pursuit of Saburo Arasaka’s ambition for immortality, reaching near-fanatical levels.
This is also one of the major reasons why Arasaka’s comrcial performance has noticeably declined in recent years, losing ground in competition with other corporations.
What rcer is now closely examining is the data from a ten-year project called the "Loyal Guardian" initiative, conducted between 2055 and 2065.
On the surface, this project researched how to forcibly implant a "loyalty consciousness" into employees via the Relic chip.
In reality, however, its ultimate goal was to use the personality data stored on the Relic chip to completely overwrite the user’s original consciousness.
The aim was to replace the host’s entire consciousness with the data from the chip, achieving what Saburo Arasaka dread of, Edo Tensei.
Unsurprisingly, this project failed, just like many previous experints.
Yet, during this initiative, Relic chip technology achieved a major breakthrough.
After countless test subjects died and continuous improvents were made, the version of the Relic chip that rcer now wears has gained the ability to automatically repair human neural pathways.
The ability to repair implies the potential to modify and establish stable connections with the human brain’s neural network.
Final research data indicated that, although it couldn’t fully replace the wearer’s consciousness, and attempts at overwriting often resulted in permanent brain death or conditions where the brain remained alive but the subject turned psychotic or ntally impaired, the Relic chip had indeed beco capable of writing certain consciousness data into the wearer’s brain.
According to so research records, researchers had attempted to implant data such as "psychological suggestions" and "subconscious impulses" into test subjects’ brains.
Although these types of experints did not achieve full success, the data showed that the test subjects did develop additional related thoughts in their minds.
This ant that the Relic chip could now perform relatively safe and stable data transmission to the human brain.
However, since this technology did not align with Arasaka’s goal of "forced brainwashing" or "consciousness overwriting," this breakthrough was shelved as "technical accumulation."
After all, the powerful figures who could afford the Relic chip had no need to stuff additional data into their own minds.
As for using it on low-level soldiers or employees to reduce training costs? If Arasaka were that benevolent, would rcer have had to flee with his child in the middle of the night?
Upon seeing this, rcer made up his mind.
He needed to thoroughly study the Relic chip technology.
Even if it was just to learn things more conveniently and quickly.
To achieve this, aside from studying the knowledge itself, rcer also had to tackle another crucial piece of knowledge, the Soulkiller program.
Otherwise, the Relic chip, being just hardware, couldn’t simply have a program downloaded into it and automatically output information to the human brain.
It required the accompanying Soulkiller program to input consciousness into a person’s brain, or even go a step further and modify neural pathways according to the program’s settings.
Thinking this, rcer promptly disconnected from the deep dive.
Back in reality, he opened Zetatech’s official website on his laptop.
In the field of computing and networking equipnt, Zetatech had been far ahead since the 20th century. While there were so competitors now, they mostly had advantages only in specific niches.
Zetatech, however, maintained top-tier standards across all its devices. Considering tool compatibility, maintenance, and usage habits, rcer had grown accustod to buying all his computing-related equipnt from Zetatech.
He browsed through Zetatech’s online store, originally intending to purchase so devices for researching the Soulkiller program and the Relic chip.
But by the ti he finished looking through the store and was ready to check out, his cart was filled with over 200,000 eurodollars worth of various equipnt.
With a dark expression, rcer deleted so items that weren’t imdiately necessary and could be bought later as needed, then started browsing the prices of servers sold by Zetatech.
The base was currently being renovated and refurbished, so he had to plan ahead for the server room’s size and have the Aldecaldos set up the power system for him.
He also had to consider cooling, adding a separate large air conditioner for the underground base’s server room.
Otherwise, frequent power outages or issues with cable specifications would be troubleso and require redoing the work.
After looking at the prices of server units sold by Zetatech for a while, rcer’s anxious heart finally sank.
How much money have these Voodoo Boys bastards made?
rcer couldn’t help cursing, a flash of ferocity in his eyes. "Maybe I should just rob those sons of bitches."
"Calm down, rcer. The Voodoo Boys have nearly a hundred people stationed near their building regularly," Lucy said, half-amused and half-worried, afraid he’d slam the table and call V right away.
Even though rcer constantly trashed the Voodoo Boys for being rotten, as bad as they were, their strength was nothing to scoff at.
rcer still looked displeased, muttering, "So after robbing a couple of corpos, all I can afford are a few small server units to make do."
In the ga, every security room players hack into has several small server units set up.
You know, those rectangular glass cabinets with rows of boxy machines inside.
That’s a typical small server cluster built using rack-mounted servers.
This type of small server cluster varies in price per unit depending on the components inside, CPU, GPU, storage drives, and so on.
Ordinary individuals or smaller companies and gangs might get by with a few hundred-eurodollars servers cobbled together into a basic cluster.
But for a professional netrunner like rcer, these amateur-grade servers are little more than toys.
His netrunner station is essentially a high-end server with computing power that dwarfs those junk clusters by a factor of ten.
The kind of small server that ets rcer’s standards, enterprise-grade, rack-mounted units about the size of a laptop, costs thirty thousand eurodollars apiece.
A standard server rack can hold at least twelve of these.
That cos out to 260,000 eurodollars for a single small server cluster, and only at this level does the computing power roughly double that of rcer’s netrunner station.
On top of that, you’d need professional cooling, a specialized water-cooling system capable of handling server demands, which would set you back another few tens of thousands.
rcer did so ntal math, comparing it to the massive underground server he’d seen at the Arasaka base, no, by now, it should be considered a super-scale server.
Well, if he wanted to build a server cluster on par with Arasaka’s underground base, achieving that level of computing power...
rcer would need to buy about a hundred of these small server clusters.
That’s thirty million eurodollars.
This made rcer covet the Voodoo Boys’ Rezo Agwe server even more, even if it wasn’t as high-spec as Arasaka’s, it had to be worth at least ten million eurodollars.
No, wait, these guys made at least a million eurodollars a month just from selling chips, not to ntion all their illegal activities like extortion and cyberfraud.
So... their large server cluster might even be better than the one rcer escaped from at the Arasaka base?
And the Voodoo Boys probably invested millions of eurodollars every year to expand and upgrade their servers.
aning their Rezo Agwe server was likely getting progressively better over ti?
rcer’s itch grew stronger.
Should he hit it now, or later? That was the question.
But one way or another... he was going to take it sooner or later.
Letting those guys use such premium hardware to chip away at the Blackwall? What a waste. With that much computing power, they could start a self-driving car company like Morning Star and give Delamain a run for his money.
rcer sighed, sizing up his basent server room and calculating the computing power he’d need to et his long-term goals.
"We’ll need at least ten enterprise-grade small server clusters to barely cover my requirents; that’s three million eurodollars..."
He ran the numbers. If they funded this entirely with 40% of the team’s earnings, he’d have to pull in over ten million eurodollars from contracts.
Ha... that old hag from Biotechnica, could you please hurry up and cough up the money already?
"Hey. Actually, most of the ti we don’t need such a massive server, right?" Lucy said. "A server worth around a million eurodollars would be more than enough for us netrunners to share."
"Have you forgotten how I used Arasaka’s servers?"
As soon as rcer finished speaking, Lucy looked puzzled. "I don’t know the details. You never went into specifics."
"When I’m directly linked to the server’s processing power, during a deep dive into Cyberspace, my thought acceleration becos noticeably faster, and my mind feels significantly more active.
I suspect it might be related to my unique talent."
After rcer finished, Lucy understood.
Ordinary servers are typically used to run programs automatically, store data, and maintain LANs.
For netrunners, their utility is often limited, at best, they might slightly accelerate their thought processes, allowing them to handle more programs with greater ease.
But for rcer...
Lucy cautiously asked, "Can you explain in more detail? That feeling you described?"
"Mhm," rcer thought for a mont before summarizing, "It feels like I beco an AI, plain and simple. The more computing power I have, the more I resemble an AI. Just think about what an AI can do; that’s what I can do."
Lucy studied his expression carefully, but he was completely open, holding nothing back. "During my deep dive at Arasaka, my cognitive acceleration likely reached several dozen tis the normal rate.
It’s not that my actual thinking speed beca that fast; I’m referring specifically to data processing speed.
At that point, processing data felt more like an instinct, so it didn’t even require conscious thought.
As for thinking speed, it was only a few tis faster than usual. I don’t have an exact number, but I’m certain that ntal velocity surpassed even what I experience in reality with the Synaptic Accelerator active.
And the amazing part is, that speed didn’t cause severe Overheat in my brain."
Lucy’s lips parted slightly, but no words ca out; she simply couldn’t comprehend it.
"So I need computing power, as much as possible. With that kind of support, whether it’s learning or working in the net, everything becos twice as efficient for ."
rcer paused before continuing, "And don’t forget, I also have an AI to run. For an AI, more computing power ans faster growth."
After a mont of silence, Lucy finally said, "rcer, for the base construction costs, are you planning to use only public funds, or will you invest your own money too?"
"I want to invest all of it. My cybernetic modification has reached a point where I can’t progress further for now."
rcer added, "Aside from possibly installing so Subdermal Armor, I don’t plan on adding any other cyberware for the ti being."
"Then I’ll contribute my share to the base too," Lucy decided.
Seeing rcer about to object, she spoke first, "Are you going to suggest I spend it on cyberware instead?"
"..." rcer was montarily speechless.
"Or should I just save the money? I’m a netrunner; I don’t need weapons, and I’ll be using the server too. It’s only right that I contribute."
Lucy stated firmly, "It’s settled then. From now on, unless there’s sothing I want or absolutely need to buy, I’ll put all the money I earn toward purchasing servers."
She looked at rcer’s stunned expression and said seriously, "You can use the money you save for other things you need, aren’t you always tinkering with cyberware, weapons, and all sorts of other stuff?"
In the end, rcer could only nod in agreent.
Seeing him relent, Lucy smiled faintly. "Good, that’s decided."
"Don’t tell Rebecca or V about this," rcer said, looking at her earnestly. "They need to use their money on themselves; that’s how they’ll survive future missions."
"Alright, I won’t say it." Lucy smiled, looking quite pleased. "Just let pay for you then."
"How co you’re so happy about spending money on ? Be careful or you might end up losing both your money and your person!" rcer laughed as well.
"Wouldn’t that an you gain both?" She grinned playfully, a sly glint in her eyes.
rcer reached out to ruffle her hair, but Lucy took a step back and shook her head. "Do you know how annoying it is to have your head patted?"
"I know. Why do you think I’m doing it now?" rcer retorted, withdrawing his hand before turning his attention to the computer.
"Alright, I’ll write a couple of programs. You test them for ." rcer got to work, planning to exploit the backdoor vulnerabilities he’d hacked through Morning Star to create programs similar to those used by NCPD.
"Sure." Lucy sat down beside him.
Truth be told, he didn’t even need to write the programs from scratch; Morning Star had already stolen the pre-existing NCPD code. rcer simply needed to refactor and optimize their programs to make them his own.
The finished programs could be uploaded via neural link directly into his cybereye. When run, they would connect straight to NCPD’s dedicated Net line, allowing remote access to their databases.
He first transferred the program to his own cybereye through the neural link, then disconnected, closed his eyes, and rebooted the cybereye. Turning to Lucy, he activated the scanning program and looked at her.
[Lucyna Kushinada]
[Age: 16]
[Affiliation: Civilian]
[Criminal Record: None]
[Bounty: None]
Seeing that "16," rcer couldn’t help but crack a smile.
"What are you laughing at? Send a copy too." As she spoke, Lucy transferred a copy of the program from rcer’s computer to her own system.
Once the program was running, she scanned rcer as well and let out an exasperated chuckle. "Eighteen, huh?"
"You can customize the displayed data. Omit whatever info you don’t want."
rcer brushed off the comnt and turned back to programming on his laptop. After working for less than ten minutes with the neural link connected, he let out a long sigh.
"Done. I’ve made an embedded version of the program that loads directly into the neural link. It includes not just the scanning function, but also real-ti monitoring of NCPD communications, access to city caras controlled by NCPD, live map data, dispatch status, and more. This version is a premium edition exclusively for our team. Let think..."
A sudden inspiration struck him. "Let’s call this software Watch Dogs."
"What kind of weird na is that? Lucy complained, though by now she was used to his eccentric naming habits."
"Alright, hurry up and try it. Let’s test how well it works together."
rcer urged her to install it while he began his own tests.
Even out here in the Badlands, they could maintain a relatively stable connection to NCPD’s systems. With a re thought, a map of Night City materialized before rcer’s eyes, dotted with blue markers representing NCPD units patrolling the streets.
Simultaneously, he could see nurous green signal sources. Connecting to one, the feed from a city surveillance cara appeared in his cybereye.
Curious, rcer manipulated the cara to pan across the street view, even zooming in to scan a loitering punk smoking on the roadside.
The target’s na, criminal record, and bounty amount imdiately appeared before his eyes. Just a short distance from this guy, an NCPD patrol car slowly passed him by. The officer inside glanced at the thug but remained indifferent, pressing the accelerator and driving away.
rcer continuously switched between the city’s cara feeds. Though physically in the Badlands, he effortlessly surveyed all of Night City through the lenses.
Except for many of the more chaotic areas where public caras had long been destroyed by vandals, hardly anything in most districts could escape rcer’s watchful eyes.
rcer also tested the traffic signal control system, turning a red light green five seconds early.
Finally, he tapped into the NCPD’s communications. After listening for a while to the constant stream of ssages from the dispatch center, he closed the software, satisfied.
"We’ll need to configure the software. For netrunners like us with cyberdecks, it’s manageable, but soone like V who only has a neural link probably can’t handle this much data transmission all at once," Lucy reminded him.
rcer nodded and said, "We’ll optimize it later. Honestly, for them, just being able to view the map and scan people’s info is enough. The other features are more for show anyway. We can set all those functions to default to off, and they can enable whatever they need."
Lucy humd in agreent, then eagerly imrsed herself in using rcer’s software to have fun with Night City’s public caras. The feeling of openly utilizing public caras to observe the city from miles away was truly fascinating.
anwhile, rcer made a video call to Vik using the program.
Vik was hunched over his desk, busy with what looked like repairing a second-hand piece of cyberware. "What brings on the call?" he asked.
"I got my hands on the NCPD’s cybereye scanning program. As agreed, I’m selling it to you first," rcer said.
Upon hearing this, Vik looked up with a smile. "Sounds good. Send it over. I’ll give you a cut for each installation, though the price here won’t be too high. How does 500 eurodollars per copy sound?"
After a pause, Viktor added, "The ones who need this the most are usually street thugs, and they rarely have more than a few cents to their na."
"You know the situation better than I do. It’s your call," rcer replied.
Viktor nodded. "After all, no one knows when these programs might suddenly stop working. There’s no after-sales service; it’s a one-ti deal."
"Fifty-fifty split, Vik. Every bit helps, though I’m not counting on this to make a fortune," rcer said.
Vik chuckled. "Don’t underestimate the low price. I’d say we can sell dozens of copies a month without a problem. That still adds up to tens of thousands of eurodollars. Add an encryption to the program, occasionally update it to disable older versions, and you can even charge for updates. The Voodoo Boys love pulling that trick."
Those Voodoo Boys really know how to rake it in.
rcer shook his head with a laugh. "Forget it. If I were to specialize in this, I’d need a dedicated server to host and operate the program locally. The Voodoo Boys have their own Rezo Agwe, but I don’t have the funds for that kind of setup right now."
"Just sell it as is. If the program stops working, it ans NCPD has detected anomalies in this data and patched the vulnerability. I won’t be providing updates."
"Sounds good," Viktor nodded. These backdoor programs were like using cheats in gas; it was normal for creators to disappear once the program got banned. Buyers knew it was essentially a one-ti service.
But after a mont’s thought, rcer sent Vik an advanced version he’d originally intended for internal use, though he neutered it first, stripping it down to just the cybereye scanning function. The rest probably wouldn’t be useful to Vik anyway.
"Keep this for yourself. It’s an internal version I plan to use; won’t expire, and I’ll maintain and update it regularly," rcer explained.
Viktor didn’t accept the program imdiately. "I’m just a doctor. Don’t really need this stuff."
"You do. No matter who cos through your door, just a quick scan with your eyes and you’ll know their na, criminal record, gang or affiliation, how many warrants they’ve got... saves you a lot of trouble," rcer insisted.
"You’ve really hacked NCPD inside out," Viktor remarked, impressed. Without further hesitation, he accepted the program. "Alright, I’ll take your word for it."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Vik, rcer ended the call.
He stared at the software on his screen, lost in thought, until an idea began to take shape in his mind.
Was it wasteful to use NCPD’s data access just for these shady, small-ti sches?
Could he possibly... do more with these permissions?
As he pondered, a keyword popped into his head, one he’d casually ntioned to Lucy earlier: "Watch Dogs."
That’s it!
Watch Dogs!
The ga’s premise suddenly sparked inspiration.
Watch Dogs was an RPG centered around a netrunner protagonist, built on the backdrop of a city managent system called "ctOS."
In the ga, the antagonist corporation created the "ctOS" urban managent system, integrating it into every facility and terminal device in the city, secretly gathering data through these devices.
They then consolidated and analyzed this data until, with just a flick of a finger, they could instantly pull up a person’s na, identity details, even their ho address and annual inco.
The ga’s villains also used this covert data collection and analysis to dig up dirt and evidence on politicians and celebrities.
And what lay before rcer now, wasn’t it exactly the sa kind of surveillance system as the "ctOS" from Watch Dogs?
In this Net, every device was connected, everything collecting user information.
With access to the servers of both City Hall and NCPD, two major urban service providers, most of Night City’s user data was right at his fingertips!
All he needed to do was write a software similar to the "ctOS", effectively leveraging this data, and he could create an urban intelligence system, for his eyes only.
At this thought, rcer felt a surge of excitent. If he could develop this program, he might simply lie at ho and grasp the vast majority of Night City’s secrets, controlling the city with an invisible pair of eyes!
He wouldn’t even need to purchase large servers himself to collect data; he could just let the AI latch onto the city’s servers and siphon information like a parasite!
All he needed was to provide the AI with a small server for computational support!
The AI could even go a step further, gathering and integrating hidden intelligence that even the NCPD and Night City’s municipal governnt had failed to collect.
This suddenly made rcer wary. Could Night Corp, which provided similar services to the city, have overlooked the imnse potential lying dormant within these urban servers?
His mind drifted to the seemingly omnipresent Mr. Blue Eyes from the ga, who always seed to be watching the protagonist V.
No.
That wasn’t right! Perhaps such a system had already been developed! It was highly likely that Night Corp had long been using a similar operating system to monitor every move in Night City!
And judging from the ga’s content, Mr. Blue Eyes was probably a rogue AI, or perhaps an awakened advanced AI. Achieving this level of surveillance was far from impossible!
Given Night Corp’s financial resources and urban influence, they might have done even more than rcer imagined!
rcer’s expression turned serious. After a mont of contemplation, he initiated a deep dive.
In Cyberspace, alongside Morning Star, he rewrote so more advanced, covert monitoring viruses and deployed them into the servers of the municipal governnt and the NCPD.
The sole function of these viruses was to record and monitor all networks connected to the servers, logging the data transmission characteristics of every activity that occurred.
To avoid detection, rcer didn’t even plan to have the viruses send the recorded information back. Instead, the data would remain on the local servers, and he would use the AI to periodically check it, preventing Night Corp from tracing the activity back to him.
rcer even cautiously retrieved the Deathwish program given to him by Bartmoss, hiding it within the ICE program on his notebook.
As a specialized anti-AI program, Deathwish was sothing he believed could catch even Night Corp’s hidden rogue AI off guard, dealing a significant blow!
After completing all this, rcer fell into deep thought with a grave expression, ultimately making a decision.
He was determined to create the "ctOS"; Night Corp wouldn’t be able to stop him. The potential gains were too enormous; if he could complete this software, almost nothing in Night City would remain hidden from him.
If Night Corp dared to interfere, he would find a way to eliminate their AIs, after all, if he couldn’t handle them alone, there was no sha in calling for backup. What was embarrassing about flesh and blood struggling against AIs?
And to ensure he had soone to call...
rcer hesitated for a mont before opening the small program Spider Murphy had left him, which he hadn’t used in a long ti.
The content and data inside remained unchanged, as rcer had always kept the program disconnected from the network by default, only connecting it when he needed to use it.
The mont he connected the program to the network, a mysterious connection quickly established itself with his program.
Who else but Spider Murphy could connect to this program, or rather, which AI could it be?
[Spider Murphy: I was starting to think you’d forgotten about !]
[rcer: No, no, of course not. Is this connection secure? We can’t have the Blackwall or NetWatch sniffing around here.]
[Spider Murphy: Co on, I’m Spider Murphy!]
[rcer: Where are you connecting from? How did you manage to link up to the Night City network?]
[Spider Murphy: I’m using Alt’s server in Hong Kong as a relay to send this ssage. As for maintaining this cross-border network, well, who else but NetWatch has the capability to keep a stable international connection?]
rcer raised an eyebrow. It seed NetWatch and Alt were collaborating on a much larger scale than he’d realized.
They were even helping Alt maintain a stable transnational network channel, definitely not sothing to be taken lightly.
[rcer: Since you’re here anyway, can you tell how many AIs are inside Night Corp and whether they’re dangerous?]
[Spider Murphy: Hard to say, but its intentions are actually quite simple. If your goal is to make this city a better place, then I think it might just beco your friend.
As for other details, well, those are secrets! Where’s the fun in spoiling all the mysteries? A netrunner’s curiosity should be satisfied through their own efforts!]
[Spider Murphy: Don’t keep asking questions. I ca all this way just to have so fun with you the mont I picked up your signal. It’s no fun if you treat like a tool.]
[Spider Murphy: So? Ready to take on my job?]
rcer felt a little disappointed. He had actually wanted to ask Spider Murphy whether Night Corp had developed sothing similar to a "ctOS", but it seed she had no intention of telling him the truth; she was preemptively shutting him down.
Fine, he wouldn’t ask. As long as he knew Night Corp probably wouldn’t imdiately sic so kind of pursuit squad on him if they discovered him, rcer wasn’t too worried.
[rcer: I’ll take it! I’ve got so ti to kill these days waiting for news anyway. I’m thinking of getting myself a Caliburn to drive!]
[Spider Murphy: Let see... Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.]
[rcer: What’s the story?]
[Spider Murphy: The good news is that our "Night City Batman" has been captured. His car is hidden in a container inside a tunnel; that Caliburn is yours for the taking.]
[rcer: And the bad news?]
[Spider Murphy: He’s still alive. Given your moral compass, if you want his Caliburn, you might feel compelled to risk saving his life?]
rcer’s interest was piqued.
[rcer: Sounds like two pieces of good news to . Tell more.]
[Spider Murphy: Hehe~ Looks like I guessed right. He’s probably with the Maelstrom gang. My guess is their leader, Brick, is using him for target practice.
You’d better move fast, or those maniacs might turn him into so kind of "Dark Batman"; then it’ll be too late!
I’m sending you the location and surveillance footage. Don’t disconnect the program; let in on the action. I’ve been bored out of my mind lately.]
rcer accepted the surveillance footage Spider Murphy sent.
In the surveillance footage, there was only a brief clip.
Judging from the location, it appeared to be the back door of so factory.
Several Maelstrom gangers dragged an unconscious middle-aged white man in a tattered suit, his face covered in blood, out of a van and into the factory.
rcer paused the surveillance feed, zood in, and studied the man’s face, utterly unremarkable, plain and ordinary.
[rcer: Ugh, this Batman isn’t much to look at. Too average. Where’s the mask? The suit?]
[Spider Murphy: Sadly, this world has no superheroes, and Night City has no Batman. He didn’t even get to enter his "superhero mode"; just got ambushed by Maelstrom on his way ho from work, knocked out, and taken.]
Spider Murphy also sent rcer another video clip.
In the footage, a man was driving his standard Mizutani Shion sports car along an outbound highway when, before even leaving the city, he was chased down by several Maelstrom mbers on motorcycles.
After a thrilling and dangerous pursuit, his sports car was blown sky-high by a wrist-mounted grenade launcher, barely avoiding being completely shredded. He was then dragged from the overturned wreck and thrown into a van.
[rcer: He doesn’t even have high-end cyberware like a Sandevistan?]
rcer was curious. How had soone at this level been doing Batman-like work in Night City before?
[Spider Murphy: He did have one installed, but it nearly drove him insane. Eventually, he had to remove it and resort to a custom-made "Batsuit" for his vigilante justice.]
rcer’s interest in Night City’s bootleg Batman grew even stronger.
What kind of person would try to be a "superhero" in Night City? Even risk losing his mind for it?
And it seed he was wealthy too, which made it all the more unbelievable.
[rcer: I’m gonna try to pull him out.]
According to the surveillance, the guy had been captured last night. At Maelstrom’s pace, he might already have been turned into a "RoboCop" toy by those freaks. rcer needed to act fast.
He checked the factory’s address.
The All Foods Plant.
Maelstrom’s stronghold.
This was going to be tricky.
After so thought, rcer decided a direct assault was out of the question.
Better to sneak in, extract the target, and slip away; these Maelstrom maniacs weren’t afraid of psychos. Who knew how many of them were equipped with Sandevistans or other nasty surprises?
[Spider Murphy: Don’t even think about deep diving and hacking your way in. Thanks to the Voodoo Boys’ influence, even these brain-dead Maelstrom gangers know how to protect their network security. They have their own dedicated intranet server.]
[rcer: Fine, I won’t cut the network. You keep an eye on things from the net, and I’ll sneak in with my crew.]
[Spider Murphy: Aha~ No problem! It’s been so, so long since I’ve been part of sothing like this. Really brings back mories. Knew I could count on you!]
rcer sent a smiley face back to Murphy, then imdiately contacted V and Rebecca.
He figured the three of them would be enough.
Once there, they’d assess the situation. If the stealth rescue proved too difficult, he’d just abort the mission; he wasn’t about to risk his team’s lives for a joke.
So that "Batman" ended up dead, and rcer got his car. It’s only because rcer’s kind enough; anyone else would’ve probably left him to die.
rcer ssaged V and Rebecca, making it clear that this job wasn’t a commission but sothing he wanted to do himself. He also plainly stated that the rewards were uncertain, and the task involved sneaking into Maelstrom’s den to extract soone.
Yet both V and Rebecca gave him their confirmation without hesitation.
[V: You picking up? My junker’s not cut out for missions; would be a real laugh if it broke down halfway.]
[Rebecca: Yeah, yeah! When do we start?]
Neither even asked who rcer was going to save or why.
A smirk tugged at rcer’s lips as he stood up, threw on his jacket, and put on his mask.
"Got another job?" Lucy turned to look at him.
rcer chuckled. "Yep!"
"A commission or...?" Lucy asked.
"Call it a side quest. Consider it a personal interest?" rcer said things Lucy didn’t quite understand, then cheerfully bounded out with light steps, almost like he was heading out for a picnic.
Lucy shook her head, figuring it was probably another situation like saving Kiwi. Watching his retreating back, she raised her voice: "Be careful!"
"Don’t worry, just wait for to co back and take you for a spin in a fancy car!" rcer laughed, borrowing a Thorton Mackinaw from the camp, loading up a L-69 Zhuo, a heavy machine gun, and a drone before hitting the gas and speeding off.
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Whether you don’t know who Mr. Blue Eyes is, or you already do, I highly recomnd this video: "The Grand Unified Mr. Blue Eyes Conspiracy of Cyberpunk 2077." syoutube/watch?v=k399YXGE4Mo
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7100 words.
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