He needs money, a lot of it, and resources, the kind that money can't buy. Only with these can he at least remain neutral, or have a seat at the negotiating table in the upcoming fifth corporate war.
"..." Lucy just looked at Mercer and opened her mouth, "Then why do you have to bear all this? Silver Hand's chip is what Ultraman wants, why doesn't she go herself?
The threat of rogue AI is also something Internet Supervision needs to deal with, why don't we leave it to them to take responsibility?
Even Saburo, considering Arasaka Yoshinobu's own life, shouldn't just act like nothing's wrong right now and dump all the trouble on you..."
Mercer just shook his head and sighed, "Believe in them? Or expect them to make a difference? If they really could change, save this world, maybe..."
Mercer fell silent for a moment, looking at Lucy, he reached out and gently held her hand, speaking earnestly, "Do you know? Ever since I escaped with you from Arasaka, I've been thinking about what I really want to do with my life.
Become a savior? To be honest, I'm not that noble of a person. All those words about saving humanity, the world, they're all bullshit.
I just want to live well with everyone, it's that simple—but in this fucked-up Night City, living well is the most extravagant wish. To really achieve it, you can't rely on escapism, or luck...
Just like even though we were well-prepared, when Takemura ambushed us, we almost got killed. Since then, I've been thinking about how to make sure we don't repeat the same mistake...
And now, the only solution I can think of is this."
He looked at Lucy, his gentle voice tinged with determination: "That is, not waiting for trouble to come to us—if these bastards are demons set to destroy the world, then I have to send them back to hell first!
I can't think that far ahead, I don't even know yet how to deal with the inevitable fifth corporate war, how to keep Night City away from the battlefield, keep us away from the flames...
But at least, right now, I have an opportunity."
Mercer looked at Lucy, speaking in a resolute tone: "In fact, this mission, I asked V to come with me, not actually to assist in the operation."
"What do you mean?" Lucy was taken aback.
"My plan is really simple—Lark, a top hacker from New America, found me and sought my help. In exchange for saving her life, I need her and Lilith to pretend to reach an agreement and send me to the Moon.
And to make Lilith lower her guard, Lark herself has to go to the Moon as well. The reason I'm bringing V is for one purpose only, and that's to have V bring her back.
I made a promise, I have to keep it. I can't be that kind of bastard who goes back on his word and uses people like doormats, right?"
After Mercer finished speaking, Lucy looked at him with an incredulous expression: "What about you!?"
"I have to stay there." The moment Mercer finished speaking, Lucy immediately raised her voice: "No! Are you crazy? You want to stay on the Moon?"
"I have to ensure the safe operation of the Black Light Virus—the entire Moon might become a testing ground for the Black Light Virus."
Mercer spoke in a somewhat cold tone: "I used Cleaner Fish and some low-level AIs to test the practical effects of the virus, but the nature of AI means that this Black Light, destined to be a killing virus program AI, has a very high risk of corruption.
I can't just throw the virus there and leave it be; I have to ensure its successful deployment, and then until it either gets taken down by Lilith or it takes down Lilith."
"Why do you have to stay on the Moon!?" Lucy gripped his hand tightly, squeezing it so hard it hurt, "With your skill, the whole cyber-offensive and defensive process wouldn't even take a day..."
Mercer shook his head, saying: "I simulated with Venus in a Super Deep Dive state—at worst, I might need to enter a Super Deep Dive on the Moon, maybe even into a digitized consciousness state, to have confidence in dealing with Lilith.
I must ensure the Black Light Virus is successfully deployed, and at the same time, make sure it never falls into Lilith's hands due to any accident.
And once it reaches the stage of consciousness digitization and battling Lilith, it's a tug-of-war without any concept of time.
If I choose to engage from Earth to the Moon, or even from a server on Mars, with Lilith in the Space Station, the huge delay would likely cause me to miss the chance and let the opponent escape...
Therefore, I must go to the Moon, as close as possible to her server, leaving her nowhere to run.
And once the battle starts..."
Mercer sighed and said, "Take Arasaka Base, for example, I'm confident I can break in and kill Arasaka Saburo, but I honestly have no guarantee I could make it out intact—with Arasaka Saburo's nature and the intelligence analysis I've done with Venus...
This old bastard might have prepared a nuke for the Arasaka Moon Base, just in case, to go down together."
Lucy looked at Mercer with trembling eyes: "So you've decided, once you reach the Moon, you'll handle the Lilith issue, and then have V bring that Lark guy back.
After that, you'll go handle Arasaka Saburo alone, and the worst-case scenario is that you and he trigger a nuclear explosion at Arasaka Base?"
Mercer smiled: "Or even worse—who knows if Lilith might have some plan with Orbital Aviation? Like if things go south, she'll take out a nuke or something..."