The reason Mercer was able to establish a company that met Night City standards in such a short time, and was directly included in the 'Outstanding Local Enterprise Support' program, enjoying ultra-high tax exemption and ultra-low tax rate support from Night City Hall.
All of this, of course, couldn't have happened without the strong support of a gang—the Voodoo Gang.
Yes.
When you open the network in Taiping Prefecture and even see posts from small-time crooks in the Animal Gang complaining like 'The Voodoo Gang has gone too far recently, I just bought a protein supplement and got scammed out of 300 Euros.'
You can tell just how much trouble the Voodoo Gang has been stirring up recently.
Starting from Taiping Prefecture, the Voodoo Gang went on a rampage, attacking Night City's public networks.
They infiltrated various companies and gangs' intranets, stealing secrets, openly attacking major companies' public websites, hijacking online shopping interfaces to scam money, cyber extortion...
Then they would swagger through the Cyber World, riding the Sea God, and rumor has it even Internet Supervision agents have suffered big losses at their hands.
Even though the Voodoo Gang repeatedly denies it, claiming they are being framed, the fact is, not many believe their nonsense, because everyone knows 70% of Night City's network crimes come from the Voodoo Gang. They say it's not them? Nonsense!
So, in this atmosphere, someone finally couldn't hold back and sent a signal of cooperation to Mercer, planning to once and for all solve this menace that is the Voodoo Gang.
Surprisingly, the ones coming to cooperate were not company executives, or the Animal Gang with territorial disputes with the Voodoo Gang, nor any intermediaries, but someone Mercer never expected.
Internet Supervision.
When Internet Supervision sent a message to Mercer, his first reaction was—who's the idiot that hacked your grandpa?
But after Venus traced the email address, Mercer was sure, well, it really was Internet Supervision coming to discuss cooperation.
And, probably knowing that their reputation among hackers is less than stellar, they very sincerely applied for a face-to-face meeting with Mercer in Dog Town.
The time and place were left for Mercer to decide, they just requested it be as concealed as possible.
Mercer pondered for a moment, then simply invited them to the base for a meeting.
The other party agreed without hesitation and promised to only send one agent over.
Just after agreeing on the meeting, Internet Supervision eagerly set the meeting time for the next afternoon.
Mercer vaguely felt that the purpose of these guys must not be simple, but he still agreed without hesitation.
So, the next afternoon, a low-profile black car stopped at the entrance of Mercer's base.
The 'retail service' originally planned for Mercer's base had been abandoned; the originally designed storefront lobby had now been turned into a simple reception room.
Occasionally, soldiers from the Netherworld Dog would come by to relax, or team members like V, who enjoyed socializing, would entertain some unknown friends, watching TV, having a drink, and boasting in the reception room.
And naturally, Mercer's meeting with the Internet Supervision agent was also set in this location.
...
"You must be the notorious V? I'm the person scheduled to meet with A, Bryce Mosley."
V, tasked with welcoming at the door, recognized himself as soon as the agent named Bryce Mosley spoke, holding a smart submachine gun, pressing down the corner of his mouth to appear cool, scanning him with his prosthetic eye, said, "Come in."
The Internet Supervision agent was wearing a suit, and his advanced prosthetics were somewhat similar to Mercer's, but seemed more exaggerated in modification, with metal components from his neck to the back of his head, even his arms were metal.
Just by looking at his prosthetics, you could tell this guy was absolutely strong in network technology and held a high status, this kind of gear wasn't casually obtained.
As V opened the door, a relatively clean reception room came into view, a few large sofas, and a coffee table. At this moment, Mercer, wearing a mask, was sitting on the sofa, lazily watching TV, sipping on iced cola through a straw.
"Hmm..." Bryce unconsciously curled his lips slightly—hackers usually act like mice in front of Internet Supervision, but not Mercer.
No wonder he got a 'Smiling Monster' wanted notice the first time he went online, and to this day, he's repeatedly taken down Internet Supervision agents online...
Interesting.
He maintained a smile, speaking in a refined manner, obviously an elite intellectual: "Nice to meet you, A, I'm Bryce Mosley, a senior agent responsible for the Night City division of Internet Supervision."
"A, or just call me Mercer." Mercer just waved his hand, and then V extended his hand, picked up a chip, and without hesitation aimed it at Bryce's head.
Bryce instinctively wanted to resist, but after calming down to think for a moment, he remained motionless and let V insert the chip into his head.
As a series of data flashed before his eyes, permissions were shut down or locked, Bryce could even speak in a relaxed tone: "It's always us doing this to others... haha, this feels pretty unique."