Chapter 8: Cyber World

What is it like to dive deep into cyberspace, the network world?

It begins with a sense of emptiness.

You lose the perception of your heartbeat; you cannot hear the propagation of sound, and there is no sense of touch, taste, or smell.

Yet, once your consciousness has finished uploading, all these senses return to your body in a peculiar way.

First, there is vision.

As the profound darkness surrounding you begins to shimmer with blue light waves, countless blue lines of code assemble into blocks, spreading out like rising and falling architecture.

Looking up into the distance, a wall composed of red lasers, seemingly descending from the heavens, isolates everything from afar, bisecting the entire cyber world.

Between these laser beams, one can see only endless darkness, and it is within that boundless void that the legendary Old Net exists.

Mercer turned his head, only to see a towering, gargantuan Japanese-style city.

To be precise, it was an ancient Japanese fortress city, resembling the shape of Azuchi Castle. Atop the highest structure, the Arasaka Corporation logo was etched.

This was the manifestation of the firewall constructed by the Guardian AI utilizing the servers.

Just as he was observing the cyberspace, a majestic, massive stream of blue data projected from the giant ancient city.

Mercer hesitated for a moment but did not move. As expected, after the blue data stream rushed toward him, it transformed into a suit of massive armor made of blue data, encasing his entire form.

Data coalesced into a mirror before Mercer’s eyes, allowing him to observe his own image—or more accurately, he was running a self-diagnostic program.

In this cyberspace, however, all data and program operations are transformed into things that humans can perceive more intuitively.

The Mercer in the mirror looked quite dashing. The massive blue armor attached to his body made him look like a Gundam protecting him from within; or more accurately...

Mercer felt it looked a bit like the Susanoo from Naruto.

Because after the blue data stream converged, it formed the shell of samurai armor, and he stood at the center of the samurai’s brow, looking down at this cyber world from on high.

His own virtual avatar looked somewhat plain—just a blue silhouette where one could vaguely make out facial features, and beyond that, it felt as if he weren't wearing any clothes at all.

This meant that in the cyber world, he possessed neither weapons nor defense.

After pondering for a moment, Mercer attempted to borrow the server's computing power to dress himself up.

Without triggering any violations, the immense computing power provided by the server allowed him to instantly change the look of his virtual avatar.

First, a smiley-face mask appeared on his face. This mask was actually a simple sensory module that could help him perceive surrounding data streams more accurately.

Next, a trench coat identical to that of Dante, the protagonist of *Devil May Cry*, appeared on his body. This was a self-constructed ICE.

He also gained two guns in his hands; these were simple puppet programs.

One gun was black, representing a pure virus attack; the bullets fired were equivalent to sending violent viruses capable of destroying programs.

The other was white, loaded with a pure data attack; the bullets fired could combine with computing power to infect the enemy with a large number of self-replicating, low-level malicious programs.

Similar to a DoS attack, a hit could slow down their operational speed.

But, in truth...

It looked cool, but such things could only deal with hackers in cyberspace. If one expected to use this to fight an AI...

It was nearly impossible.

Unless he had a server with terrifying computing power backing him up, or he developed even more powerful programs.

Mercer’s expression grew slightly solemn.

Having personally experienced the blue data stream on his body, he was finally able to accurately assess the current computing power of the server, while also gaining a preliminary sense of the strength of this newly installed "Little Guardian AI."

To be honest, if people like Lucy were to come here, they would likely never stand a chance of escaping.

Because this level of computing power combined with an AI was simply not something an ordinary hacker could contend with.

To launch an attack on the personnel inside the Arasaka organization using the server's computing power, one must first obtain authorization to use that power freely, and to do that, one must first breach the server's defensive AI.

If the original defense was merely a cold, mechanical castle with only sporadic guards on patrol—where one could find vulnerabilities with enough patience—then the server's ICE, now loaded with an AI, was like the entire castle transforming into a giant samurai possessing cold, murderous intelligence.

Although it still appeared as a castle for now, Mercer knew very well that this was only because the AI had not yet been activated.

Once an attack was initiated, the towering cyber Arasaka ancient city behind him would instantly transform into a massive samurai, or a stream of data in the image of countless warriors and monsters, launching a devastating assault upon them.

As Mercer pondered this, he stepped toward the Blackwall. In that instant, he had initially abandoned the idea of relying on his own programming to defeat an AI of this intensity.

Lacking support from computing power, he would either have to develop a super-virus himself to destroy the AI directly, or he would have to rely on external forces; it was absolutely impossible to crack it using conventional hacker methods, at least not for him as he was now.

The former required absolute talent and a flash of inspiration—much like the "Soulkiller" created by Alt.

Or, the "Rabies" virus created by the god of hackers, Bartmoss, which destroyed the entire Old Net and corrupted countless AIs single-handedly.

And the latter...

Mercer thought of the Blackwall.

In the *Cyberpunk 2077* DLC *Phantom Liberty*, the reason Songbird is called a human-shaped nuclear bomb is that she can launch attacks using the Blackwall.

What she could do, Mercer felt he might be able to attempt... though using the Blackwall was by no means a good idea; while destroying enemies, he would inevitably harm himself as well.

Thinking this over, Mercer strode forward, approaching the Blackwall.

For some unknown reason, the closer he got to the Blackwall, the more a sense of inexplicable fear arose in his heart.

To the vast majority of humanity, it should have been a guardian deity, but in his perception, it was like a terrifying monster coldly staring at everything, selecting its prey.

This immense pressure made him so nervous that even his virtual avatar fluctuated with tremors.

Mercer took a deep breath, trying to calm his thoughts, and gently touched the Blackwall.

The next moment, the image before him seemed to have its aspect ratio adjusted, contracting violently. He felt as if a massive suction force was pulling him, and in the blink of an eye, he had traversed an unknown distance.

It was not a pleasant experience. To him, it felt like stepping into a portal, only to be compressed, spun, tumbled hundreds of times in a washing machine, and then spat out like trash.

What appeared in his field of vision next was an endless expanse of darkness—within which one could faintly see dangerous red data streams drifting and flickering aimlessly like mist.

Mercer knew that by now, he had arrived at the Old Net.

The moment he looked around, he suddenly felt his entire body go numb.

No, this was not the Old Net he was familiar with! This was some place even deeper within the Old Net!

Because at this very moment... he could neither see nor sense the Blackwall at all!

Countless blue data streams were running rapidly.

[IP detecting...]

Mercer was shocked to discover that he could not even resolve the IP address of his current location. At the same time, perhaps his data had attracted attention.

The red mist that had been drifting in the distance of the Old Net began to aggregate. This meant that certain dangerous data, previously only in a detection or default running state, had begun to execute, forming a program!

Damn it, damn, damn, damn...

Mercer’s curses could not even be converted into sound waves in the cyber world before he began, without hesitation, to perform an IP transfer jump; he had to return to the vicinity of the Blackwall as soon as possible!

Otherwise...

Even if he logged off immediately, he might leave his IP for that unknown program; who knew if it was an AI or some virus from the Old Net.

But, it was ineffective.

Because the speed at which he transferred his IP was too slow.

Or rather, the moment that program discovered him, it had already completed the lock-on and subsequently used superior computing power to pin him down.

After several consecutive IP jumps, crimson chains suddenly appeared all over Mercer’s body. The blue armor provided by the Arasaka AI was instantly tightly bound by the chains.

Countless blue data streams collapsed and dissipated, like the plates of armor being crushed.

Now he was done for.

Mercer rolled his eyes and stood rooted to the spot, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Come on then, if I'm dead, I'm dead. Come out, let me see your true form."

[Don't be afraid...]

[I am...]

[Helping you...]

A voice echoed faintly in his ears. Following that, those red chains completely crushed the blue armor on his body.

The red chains even relentlessly devoured all the dissipated blue data, converting it into red data to strengthen themselves before dissipating into the void.

Then, a massive figure of a red man appeared at the far end of his vision.

He flew over slowly, looking somewhat sluggish in his movements, but in reality, he had jumped his IP position countless times in an instant, finally standing tall before Mercer.

"You arrived slower than I imagined, Han Yu—or should I say, Mercer."