[V: Are you planning to make a run for it alone?]
V turned his head; his expression was invisible behind the mask, but Lark shivered all over. She could only turn to Mercer with a helpless and pitiful look.
[Lark: Mercer, I'm not much use. Bringing me along is just extra baggage for you...]
[Mercer: Alright, stop scaring her. Her mission is complete.]
[V: So it was all about tricking Lilith into receiving your virus?]
[Mercer: And helping her escape and regain freedom—I always keep my word.]
[V: Ha...]
[Lark: Thank you, Mercer, really!]
The three of them chatted in the squad's voice chat, but the Orbital Aviation staff leading the way were growing increasingly anxious.
They frantically searched for every oxygen pack visible along the way and gestured continuously, seemingly trying to restart the room's oxygen facilities, but unfortunately, all attempts failed.
When they reached the server room and saw other Orbital Aviation employees in spacesuits clustered around the computers, their anxiety peaked.
By this point, someone had reestablished the local server's communication network, allowing them to talk via the microphones inside their spacesuits.
But the conversations were all bad news.
"Even after restarting the server, it doesn't work!?"
"No! All the switches on the facility are unresponsive! Plus, there's abnormal data on the server now, and when we connected the network..."
"What about the repair team?"
"They said they can't manually restart; they're troubleshooting the malfunction!"
"Can we still launch the rocket?"
"Have we asked the Space Station in Moon's orbit for help!?"
"What about nearby Moon bases from other companies? We have a few Moon vehicles; if we organize the oxygen equipment, maybe they'll last until we get there!"
"Why have those robots gone rogue again? Damn, I saw those robots killing people!"
The group chattered chaotically, but upon Mercer and the others' arrival, an odd silence descended immediately.
"Don't, don't kill me!" someone screamed, turning to flee in a panic.
Another, trying to maintain composure, attempted to initiate a voice call with Mercer: "Hello, do you know what's going on? We must cooperate now..."
Mercer simply pushed them aside, walking to the computer in the server room and starting his operation.
His action was singular: after opening the server's local area network, he completely unleashed the Black Light Virus trapped inside.
And he issued a full-scale hacking command.
Soon afterward, the entire base's equipment was taken over by Black Light.
Following the complete restoration of the local network, the Orbital Aviation employees around him fell eerily silent.
First, they shuddered involuntarily for a moment, and then the group of Orbital Aviation employees, like robots, silently staggered away.
[V: Damn, what just happened to them? It's like they suddenly got possessed! Just crazy!]
[Mercer: It's Black Light.]
[V: Your virus... can actually kill people!?]
[Mercer: More or less, but right now, they're not dead yet, just controlled by Black Light to prevent interference later on.]
With a complicated look, Mercer gazed at the nearby staff now wandering aimlessly like lifeless husks, uttering no words, and sighed.
If given the choice, Mercer didn't want to kill everyone in the Orbital Aviation base.
But unless they could restart the oxygen facilities in time, they were doomed.
At this moment, Venus suddenly sent Mercer a message.
[Venus: My network signal with Lilith was interrupted.]
[Mercer: Why?]
[Venus: She shut down the satellite network; after taking the Black Light Virus to Mars, she initiated locally built signal jamming equipment, completely blocking all extraterrestrial communication signals.]
[Mercer: So now Black Light is running autonomously?]
[Venus: Yes, unless we can immediately find a way to restart network connections to halt Black Light over there. Otherwise, the current Black Light program will surely continue according to the default setting until Lilith is overtaken by its virus.]
[Mercer: Alright.]
[Venus: Sorry, from now on, we'll have to rely on the Black Light program itself.]
[Mercer: No need to apologize... Is there still hope for this base?]
[Venus: Checking...]
[Venus: Restart failed. I suspect Lilith might have directly overloaded and damaged these devices, requiring hardware-level repairs.
I can use robots controlled by Black Light to try and find the necessary components within the base for emergent repairs, but estimating the repair time is challenging at the moment.
I suggest you prepare to leave immediately to avoid needing to upload consciousness once the oxygen runs out—you still have unfinished business, don't you?]
[Mercer: Got it.]
Mercer sat up, turned to V and Lark, and shook his head.
[V: Is it hopeless?]
[Lark: So, should we retreat?]
[Mercer: Let's go, check the rocket launch center. Venus, is the remote ignition fix ready?]
[Venus: Checking... failed, suspect network components also overloaded and burned. I'm dispatching robots for hardware checks.