Bartmos lifted his head, gazing at that data channel where data continued to surge and transform, and said seriously, "Can you see it? The end of the data... that little window."
Mercer looked up, after a moment, he chuckled with an exclamation, "Of course."
At the end of the blue data channel, like a tornado, resembling a display screen and also like a window, what could be seen was the screen display of a computer.
But on that screen display, no images could be seen, only a blur, as blue data surged rapidly.
"This is different from when we first encountered you... When we found you, the display in this screen was your computer; now, we can only see this data."
Bartmos finished his words.
Spider Murphy softly said, "No, we can still see Mercer's computer... When he crossed over, I was watching closely, and at that time, his computer screen was like this."
"So the flashing data in my computer now..."
Mercer looked carefully, in that distant screen, countless flowing codes, unclear but still provoking thought: "Like text."
"Text?" Bartmos frowned, then looked carefully.
"How to say this... I can't read it, but you know, I have a special intuition, I can sense the 'meaning' of data."
Mercer said softly, staring at the distant data, "If I say what I felt in this data... it's more like, hmm... an observation program, this observation program, continuously converting into text output..."
"We are being observed?" Ultraman knitted his brows, rarely showing a bit of unease, staring hard at the blue data channel, his eyes flashing with faint light.
Bartmos, however, laughed unconcerned, "It's not impossible—just like we once observed Mercer through here, perhaps someone is observing our every move through it?"
"...I can feel a strange connection, how to say it, as if I can connect at any time..." Mercer's expression became somewhat complicated, "and then, go back."
"So, what do you plan to do?" Spider Murphy turned to look at Mercer, watching him with some curiosity, "Why don't you connect and go back? Maybe you can stabilize the channel..."
"But there's a bigger chance that this channel will be permanently closed, even if the two worlds are connected again, Mercer, you might not be able to return."
Bartmos quickly warned and glared at Murphy.
Spider Murphy playfully stuck out his tongue, then looked earnestly at Mercer, "Mercer, honestly, I've talked with Bartmos a few times, pulling you directly into this world...
To be honest, it always felt a bit of a trick.
After all, you were just playing a game at the time, we sneakily hid the crossing option in the game options, lured you over to suffer, it's kind of unscrupulous.
If you want to go back, then go back, I can take care of your friends for you, make sure your efforts won't be wasted."
Bartmos just hooked his mouth into a smile without saying anything, just looked at Mercer.
Ultraman spoke calmly, staring at the distant data window, "I must say upfront—whether you go back or not, I will find a way to close this channel and window.
We are being observed? Such a thing is too dangerous."
Mercer just watched the data channel.
Go home?
He lowered his eyes, after a moment, laughed.
"Go back?"
Mercer turned his head, looked at Bartmos, and then at Spider Murphy, finally at the beautiful ragdoll cat that somehow sneaked onto his shoulder.
Venus didn't blink or speak, just silently watched him.
Mercer showed a faint smile, "My home is here, where should I go back to?"
After his words, Bartmos laughed heartily, "I knew it, what fun stuff is there back home for you? The Cyber World is much more fun, right?
Pretty girls, interesting Mewtwo, and a bunch of idiots waiting to be cleaned up..."
"Let's skip the latter ones..." Mercer smirked, looking at the nearby vast blue data, "Pretty girls are indeed nice... By the way, I'm now a man with three girlfriends, don't need any Mewtwo."
Bartmos just shrugged, "Three girlfriends? You'll be in trouble later, heavens, if I had three women, I probably wouldn't have any quiet time online in this life..."
"Shut up, you bunch of hacker guys aren't any good!" Spider Murphy said irritably.
But Bartmos and Mercer just exchanged a glance and shrugged knowingly.
They both thought each other was not that bad?
"Then let's get to work on closing this data channel, at least, stop the observation program on the other side."
Ultraman frowned, not interested in emotional matters, just staring at the distant data window, "Thinking about how we're being watched now... don't you feel uncomfortable?"
"I was watched by you for so long before crossing over, and I didn't hear you complain." Mercer rolled his eyes.
Ultraman slightly tilted his head, "We didn't do it on purpose, just unexpectedly discovered this data channel and saw you, that's all."
"Ha~" Mercer laughed meaningfully, then pointed at the data channel, "So, how to close it? Do you have a reliable plan?"