"Fuck, fuck! Where the hell am I!?"
When Silverhand's consciousness returned, he could only see the surrounding flicker of blue data, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
As his cognitive abilities recovered, memories flooded in like a tide—quickly, he realized his current situation and almost instinctively burst out swearing.
"Arasaka! Fuck you, let me out now!"
"I knew he'd definitely start swearing, so I win—you're cooking me Chinese food today." A strange male voice rang out from behind Silverhand, who whipped around to see a group of virtual people with different appearances.
Among them, one person's image was the clearest, visible with a flamboyant smiley-face mask, while the others looked like low-quality pixelated figures, barely showing a blurred human shape.
As the smiley face man finished speaking, a girl's voice came from behind him: "Jesus, this guy really does start off with profanities... oh well, Chinese food it is."
"Who the hell are you?" Silverhand glared at the group, irritably running his hand along his waist but couldn't find his familiar pistol.
"Your rescuer, Silverhand. Considering I killed Saburo to save your dumb ass, can you cut the cursing a bit?"
As Mercer finished speaking, Silverhand froze for a moment, then burst into unrestrained laughter: "You killed Arasaka Saburo? Don't kid me, pal... fuck!"
As he finished speaking, Silverhand turned to see an expressionless Arasaka Saburo standing dumbly at the side: "What the hell is this old ghost!"
"Well, you're not wrong, he is an old ghost... this is the true consciousness of Arasaka Saburo, looking foolish because I extracted all his memory data; he's now basically a senile old man."
Once Mercer finished speaking, Silverhand immediately went over and punched Arasaka Saburo twice, but in the Cyber World, his actions only made Saburo's figure appear more phantom-like, with no practical effect.
"Who are you really?" Though Silverhand had a fiery temper and often acted rashly, he wasn't an idiot. Now, with narrowed eyes, he turned vigilantly toward Mercer and the others.
Mercer shrugged and straightforwardly said: "Alex Mercer, beside me is V, Jack, Sasha, Kyoko... they're the only ones interested in you, diving deep specifically to see the legendary resurrection of Johnny Silverhand."
After Mercer finished speaking, Jack behind him excitedly exclaimed: "Damn, just like the photos, that metal arm, big sunglasses... my god, when he revives in person, I've got to get him to sign my Martial Servant Band jacket!"
"...You guys are my fans?"
Silverhand was about to show a cocky grin, but then saw Mercer spread his hands: "Are you sure? Your current fame probably doesn't match up to a Japanese idol singing chicken skewers."
Chicken skewers? Silverhand filled his head with question marks.
"Alright, no point in conversing further—simply put, Ultraman commissioned me to get you out of Arasaka's grasp, and Rogue helped too. Ultraman doesn't give a damn if you're alive or not, but Rogue likely wants to see you.
Since she helped me quite a bit before, helping us establish ourselves in Night City, I decided to get you out of the Relic chip, give you a body, and send you to Rogue, repaying her past assistance.
I know you've probably got a ton of questions, and your memory is messed up—but that's not my fault since you were shot to hell at Arasaka Tower by Adam's Hammer when you stood up.
Luckily, Murphy stuck a chip in your head back then, otherwise you'd not even be a consciousness data entity now."
As Mercer finished speaking, Silverhand promptly retorted: "Don't bullshit me, what do you know?"
"Ha, in your mind, your memory must make you feel quite heroic, huh? Don't kid yourself, Silverhand. You should ask Rogue about specifics, and don't get obsessed with false memories in your head.
They were beautified by you when you were about to kick the bucket, and the last memories were distorted as a result."
After Mercer finished speaking, Silverhand disdainfully replied: "Heh, so whatever you say goes, huh."
"Stubborn old geezer... alright, let's cut the crap, now I give you two choices."
Mercer held up two fingers: "You can opt to wait about a month on the server, and when the cloned body is ready, we'll transfer you directly into the new body, reviving you.
If you're impatient, I can freeze your data for now, making it like you took a nap, and when you wake up, you'll be in a human body."
"What's the second option?" Silverhand asked impatiently.
"I'll get you a robot body to use first, just right for you to familiarize yourself with the changes in Night City and see how the world has evolved. You can wander around, and once your body clone is ready, we'll transfer your consciousness into it."
As soon as Mercer finished speaking, Silverhand rushed to make his choice: "The second one! Damn, how long have I been dead?"
"It's 2076 now... Johnny Silverhand, welcome back to Night City."
Mercer curled his lips, then Silverhand only felt a flash before his eyes, his thoughts coming to a halt.