[Lilith: Don't worry, if you're worried about having nowhere to go, Orbital Aviation can become your new home. Your hacking skills are enough to make you an official High Knight, giving you residency on the Moon or even Mars.]
[Lark: What about my friends? They've risked their lives with me, I can't leave them behind.]
[Lilith: We also welcome other capable humans to join Orbital Aviation.]
[Lark: Alright, I'll take that as your guarantee...]
The conversation continued for a while, but Lark found an excuse to hang up. Later, Lilith noticed the surveillance cameras inside the rocket were starting to function normally again.
Through the camera feed, you could see Lark sitting there with Li De and V.
At this moment, the three of them were having an anxious chat, discussing whether Lilith would keep her promise once they reached the Moon Base.
Seeming to notice that the surveillance devices were operating, Lark suddenly stopped talking, waved at the camera, and then hacked it off.
[Lark: Give us a bit of privacy, will you?]
[Lilith: You know the cameras are set to default operation to better ensure the passengers' safety.]
[Lark: Then activate them when we're about to land.]
[Lilith: As you wish.]
...
At this moment, aboard the manned rocket, Lark breathed a sigh of relief and only spoke after Mercer gave her a thumbs up, indicating that the communication had been cut off: "Chatting with this roaming AI feels terrible."
"Like you might be seen through at any moment?" Mercer could somewhat understand her feeling.
Lark nodded: "Isn't it? I don't even know if playing this act can fool her..."
"Whether it does or not doesn't matter. If she hasn't received the files, we'll take a hard approach."
Mercer spoke while admiring the view on the display screen inside the cabin.
At this moment, the screen showed a familiar yet unfamiliar scene of the Moon.
He had once run, raced, or sat on a dirt hill holding hands with Lucy here in Mewtwo.
V seemed a bit tired of it, yawning: "Let's sleep a bit more, still a few more hours to go, right?"
"If you're tired, then sleep," Mercer kindly handed over a pair of noise-canceling earbuds. V reached out for them but didn't hurry to put them on, instead looking at Mercer for a moment before saying, "Didn't they send you a message?"
"They did." Mercer stretched, then leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes: "They're sending one nearly every hour or so.
Aside from Rebecca and the others, there's a ton of people who are concerned about us.
Pan'an, Old Wei, they all sent messages, worried that I might cause big trouble over Miles's issue..."
At this moment, Mercer's emotions were unexpectedly calm and at ease.
Right now, Night City was in complete chaos. The plane carrying the New American president Miles had an accident and landed in Dog Town but hadn't left yet. This was no small matter.
Although Miles cooperated with media interviews and placed the blame on the Moon's Lilith, others sensed something strange, like why Miles hadn't left Dog Town?
Night City was by no means a safe place, especially for someone like Miles.
But for Mercer, all the outside disturbances were now matters far, far away.
He suddenly thought of the past, the journey from Arasaka Base to Night City.
Back then, it felt just like now—only the person beside him wasn't Lucy but V and Lark.
The scenery along the way wasn't the barren wilderness of the Evil Land, but the dead stillness of the cosmos.
But besides that, the feeling of nearing the destination, increasingly overwhelmed with excitement as if opening a door to a new world, was intensely similar.
"You must have quite a network... I didn't receive many messages." V sighed, lamenting, "Do you think if I die, how many people would always remember my name?"
"Why are you suddenly saying something so unlucky?" Mercer glared at her.
V just chuckled, "I just thought about what you used to fool me with—an unknown nobody? Or become world-famous? Do you think I'm a legend of Night City now? If I died, would Night City remember a mercenary named V?"
"Of course, but after tomorrow, what the hell does a Night City legend count as? We've even stormed the Moon!" Mercer hesitated for a moment, but still reached out, catching V by surprise as he grabbed her hand resting by the seat.
"But you won't die, V," Mercer looked at her seriously and whispered, "We haven't yet left our own drinks in Rebirth. After we return this time, I'll take Silver Hand and personally leave our names in Rebirth.
After that, I swear, not just Night City, but everyone in this world will remember me, remember you, true legends from Night City."
V was silent for a moment, then merely laughed boldly, casting him a disdainful look, "Get real, don't think I don't know that what we're doing this time is another shady business. Nobody's gonna know what we're up to. Even if we succeed, the credit won't be ours."
Mercer shrugged, "One day, I'll write an autobiography, or maybe you will? Then we'll write down every big thing we've done, letting future folks know that we were the super heroes who saved the world."