Lucy ultimately remained silent about Mercer's choice.
She couldn't agree with Mercer's decision, but in her heart, she couldn't bring herself to oppose it—just as Mercer said, some things are best left unknown, but once known, it's impossible to stay uninvolved.
Especially when Mercer actually has the ability to solve these issues, Lucy found it even harder to easily tell him to give up.
If not Mercer, then who else could do it? In this world today, who else has the guts to launch an assassination against Arasaka Saburo?
Who has the courage and the ability to duel with a super AI hiding in the background, controlling Orbital Aviation and High Knight, on the Moon?
Lucy didn't want Mercer to do this at all, but Mercer's words weren't entirely unreasonable—just thinking about Night City becoming a battlefield in the Fifth Corporate War.
Everything they've painstakingly built would be in vain, and they'd have to start wandering for survival again, or even be mercilessly crushed by the wheels of war.
And then consider what if Ye Corporation or Lilith's brainwashing technology steps up a notch, unknowingly turning oneself into a puppet controlled by others...
Compared to these possible outcomes, Mercer's decision seems to be right—he's no savior, but the best way to save everyone, knowing that the apocalypse is impending and hard to avoid, is to prevent the apocalypse from happening.
Lucy no longer forcefully tried to sway Mercer's choice but instead always looked at him with a sad and helpless expression, staying by his side.
She wanted to use this way to make Mercer understand how much she's afraid of losing him, but Mercer, knowing her feelings, no longer had any thoughts of escape.
The Sky Net System, backed by super servers, was collecting crucial intelligence from all over the world at an astonishing speed and efficiency, but the results of these assessments and analyses were not optimistic at all.
Mercer finally understood why Bartmos and Ultraman and the others initially felt that his appearance in the Cyberpunk world was so important—the situation of the world was visibly heading towards the brink of collapse.
Mercer couldn't tolerate his life just beginning to be dragged to hell by this world, nor did he want Mann, Jack, Rebecca, Lucy, and others whose destinies he had rewritten, to once again face their originally tragic fates.
Therefore, he had no choice but to act—even if it was a seemingly insane plan, even if the hope was so slim.
And once Mercer made up his mind to execute the lunar landing plan, everyone who initially thought Mercer was just talking began to subtly sense that something seemed a bit off.
Rebecca first tried to influence him subtly, and when that didn't work, she even went to Kyoko and Qiwei to persuade him, but Mercer was unmoved.
Rebecca even rarely had a serious argument with Mercer, claiming 'to go and stay at Pira's base for a few days' as if saying 'I'm going back to my parents' house,' but as a result, Mercer's attitude still didn't change one bit.
It wasn't just his attitude—Mercer began frequently performing acts of disappearance from the public view.
Sometimes for a day or two, other times for a whole week.
This was all to lay the groundwork for the upcoming lunar landing plan, to prevent Netherworld Dog from falling into chaos after briefly losing Mercer's leadership, and also to prepare for a future identity wash.
After careful consideration, Mercer solemnly promoted Mann to the position of second-in-command, partly because V was going to the Moon with him, and partly because V wasn't interested in managing Dog Town or Netherworld Dog.
Mann's military career, and his role as the chief instructor of Netherworld Dog, had earned him considerable prestige within Netherworld Dog, and his same background with Colonel Hanssen created a kindred connection with everyone.
Mercer believed that if he unfortunately lost contact for a short time on the Moon, Mann would surely stabilize the situation swiftly and ensure the normal operation of Dog Town.
As Mercer began procuring equipment, manufacturing, and making detailed analysis and planning for the lunar mission.
Lark also started fighting desperately for her life.
Her health was deteriorating, especially when using the Black Wall, she had already felt several times that she was approaching a point where she was about to be reversed and devoured by it.
To survive, the first thing Lark had to do was find a way to escape New America.
But as a 'humanoid network nuclear warhead' of Military Science and New America, Lark wasn't even allowed to leave the base in her daily life and had only the bare minimum freedom.
How to escape from Washington and reach Night City became the first problem Lark had to solve.
She sought Mercer's help, but Mercer's assistance was limited, and he could only provide help with intelligence as much as possible; the rest was up to her.
It must be said, Lark was crazy enough—the first idea that popped into her head was to steal a plane and find a way to fly over herself.
And to ensure her safe departure, she even boldly discussed with Mercer the possibility of kidnapping Miles...
Yes, she was audacious enough to want to kidnap the President of New America to help her escape! And this plan was just part of her crazy plan!