Mercer's prosthetic eye gleamed, as Venus transferred documents into his Network Access Vault.
[Mercer: Next time, you can just tell me directly, no need to wait for me to ask you.]
[Venus: Okay, I will increase my activity a bit.]
[Mercer: I know you're smarter than I imagined, so you can show some initiative. My willingness to let you handle the ctOS System is a testament to my trust in you.]
[Venus: Understood, I'm just worried you might not like AI that's too 'human-like' and overly proactive.]
[Mercer: I'm your creator. In a sense, you're my child. I worry you might stray, but this doesn't affect my expectations and trust in you.]
[Venus: Got it, I'll proactively find ways to be a better assistant for you.]
[Mercer: I look forward to it.]
Mercer ended the call, looking at the information Venus had sent—unsurprisingly, it had already accessed a lot of information about Faraday and this mission via the ctOS System.
It was just waiting for Mercer to ask on his own initiative.
It wasn't because it was too dumb to understand the importance of these matters, hence not reporting proactively.
On the contrary, Venus was too smart, smart enough to know Mercer would eventually find out the problem and require information, so it didn't proactively remind him, continuing to 'play' the role of a diligent assistant.
It could even discern Mercer had a cautious attitude towards AI and a significant degree of control desire, so it responded passively to Mercer's requests as much as possible, unlike the proactive Polaris.
It was actually through the currently auto-driving AI Polaris for Mercer that he confidently concluded that creating such a smart and active AI meant Venus's AI intelligence was undoubtedly mature.
Mercer shook his head, feeling he might need to spend some time carefully observing Venus's growth and 'psyche.'
But for now, after reviewing the information Venus sent, he immediately started drafting a plan.
"Rebecca, today you and V, plus Qiwei as technical support, go seize Arasaka's vehicle, get the armor on hand. I reckon this is just a formality, won't encounter any danger.
The likelihood is high that Arasaka will intentionally create opportunities for you to snatch it. But remember to activate the anti-camera program in your prosthetic eye and mosaic your faces."
After Mercer finished speaking, V nodded confidently and said, "No problem, just leave it to us!"
"I'll send you the intelligence Faraday provided, you can discuss the details of the operation yourselves later."
After saying this, Mercer paused and continued, "Venus gave me a list of potential mercenary squads that might be Faraday's fallback, I'll go with Mann to confirm which one it is."
Due to the ctOS System being newly completed, even though there was a testing phase before, the analysis data left behind is still limited, so manual verification is still needed.
But Mercer is confident that as the ctOS System runs longer, the information needing manual verification will become increasingly rare.
"You better be careful. Without me and V, Mann might not be able to protect you," Rebecca advised.
Mercer just chuckled, turning to glance at Mann: "Who's protecting whom remains to be seen."
Mann just smirked and gestured toward his arm: "Miss, don't underestimate me just because my prosthetic is a bit old, my skills aren't bad."
"If things don't work out, you could bring Pira to shield you from bullets," V teased.
Rebecca immediately glared at V, feeling this older woman's remarks indirectly implied her figure was small.
"No need, Mann's build is big enough to thoroughly shield me."
Mercer shared a few jokes with them, then earnestly said, "Although it's mostly likely robbing the equipment won't be difficult, it's possible it involves some internal Arasaka power struggle.
So be cautious, and contact anytime for support if needed."
V and Rebecca nodded, then looked at Mercer and asked, "Shall I take you two somewhere?"
Mann suggested: "You can have A sit at my place for a while, discuss how to uncover Faraday's fallback, and I'll drive him back to you afterward."
"Alright," V agreed, and the car's Polaris automatically changed the route, heading towards Mann's place.
Mann couldn't help but be amazed: "Your smart driving is impressive. Did you write that smart driving program yourselves?"
"To be precise, it's AI Driver," Polaris's voice chimed from the speakers.
Mann reclined back tactically against the seat: "Are you guys tinkering with AI?"
In these times, AI is heavily regulated to minimize rogue AI appearances.
Moreover, from a technical standpoint... Mann had never heard of anyone making AI; such creation methods are tightly controlled by major corporations, with very mysterious technical principles.
Most visible AI in the market seemingly have intelligence, but are basically ordinary AI tools, not real intelligent AI.
And even if intelligent AI appear, they are often companies purchasing from others who can still 'create' AI, or simply captured 'wild' rogue AI transformed.