In the evening, at Jiang Heng’s apartment, everyone gathered.
Lucy, Sasha, and Kiwi, the three hackers, began researching David’s Dream Machine.
Their mission was to do their best to write a virus tonight and implant it into the Dream Machine, then return the device to David tomorrow. During his classes, the virus would quietly steal the Arasaka school’s teaching resources.
However, to implant the virus, they first had to break through the Dream Machine’s ICE.
Why didn't Jiang Heng and the others directly infiltrate the school, connect to Arasaka’s network, and hack into the server ICE to steal data, like they did with the biotechnology?
The goal was six words: without a trace.
Connecting to the Arasaka school's server required finding the port, and they didn't know where it was, so they needed to investigate.
Moreover, stealing data might attract the attention of net dogs, causing a huge commotion and leading to consequences similar to the biotechnology incident.
Overall, it was easier and safer to cooperate with David.
The biggest flaw in this plan was David himself. If he betrayed them, everything would be lost.
However, Jiang Heng knew David’s character well, so this flaw could be ignored.
Of course, whether the virus could silently steal Arasaka’s school data was also crucial, but before the operation, Jiang Heng had concluded that this wouldn't be a problem. They had a key figure on their side: Lucy!
Lucy was a hacker trained by Arasaka. She was intimately familiar with their ICE. Breaking it would be simple.
That's why, even after all these years, Arasaka hadn't abandoned their pursuit of Lucy. The threat posed by a super hacker who understood their own company's ICE was simply too great.
…
“How are you doing, Lucy? Can you handle this device?”
After observing the three for a while, Jiang Heng asked.
Lucy: “I'm very familiar with Arasaka's ICE. Breaking it isn't difficult, but the device's encryption method is unique, so it might take some time. It would be great if we had a Dream Master on our team.”
“Dream Master, huh…”
Hearing Lucy’s words, Jiang Heng suddenly thought of a woman – a genius in the field of Dream.
This woman was none other than Judy, a favorite among countless gamers.
Judy had extraordinary creativity in Dream. She even invented dual-player Dream.
It was a waste of talent for such a Dream Master to be a video editor.
Jiang Heng wanted to find Judy, but he couldn’t. He visited Lizzie's Bar, but didn’t find Judy or Evelyn Parker. He figured Judy hadn't joined Mox yet.
…
“Alright, you guys keep working. I’ll go get some delicious food to reward you.” Not thinking about Judy anymore, Jiang Heng told the three girls.
At the mention of good food, Sasha immediately looked up at him, her eyes filled with anticipation. “What kind of food?”
Even Kiwi, who was usually taciturn and seemed aloof, stopped her work.
“Hehe, you’ll see.” Jiang Heng said with a smile.
“Ha! Then you better hurry. I'm full of energy now, and we might finish the work soon!”
Motivated by the promise of food, the cat girl instantly became enthusiastic. She rolled up her sleeves and said.
“Don't worry, I'll make you happy.” With that, Jiang Heng didn't stay any longer. He knew nothing about hacking, and staying would only be a hindrance.
…
When it came to late-night snacks, nothing beat barbecue.
If there were no surprises, everyone wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Although only Sasha, Lucy, and Kiwi were working, they were all part of a team. It wouldn't be right to only have them stay up all night. It was more like a united team if everyone stayed up together.
The weather had cleared up after the rain, so having rooftop barbecue would have a nice ambiance.
However, they needed to take care of a few things to have a barbecue. The most important was the equipment. In Night City, they couldn’t use charcoal for barbecue because wood was expensive, let alone charcoal. They could only settle for an electric grill, which wasn’t difficult to find.
With a grill, the next consideration was the ingredients. They had enough vegetables at home, with plenty in the greenhouse. But they didn’t have enough meat, considering so many people were there.
Going outside, Jiang Heng immediately told Rebecca’s brother, Pierla, “Pierla, I have a task for you.”
“Ah? What task?” Pierla was using his giant cybernetic hand to perform for everyone. He immediately looked at Jiang Heng in confusion when he heard him.
“Go get some meat. Chicken, duck, fish, anything.”
“You want to make delicious food?” Hearing Jiang Heng, Pierla immediately thought of food.
Jiang Heng didn’t hide it. He said directly, “Yes, whether we can eat good food tonight depends on you.”
“Leave it to me!” For a bite to eat, Pierla was willing to go all out.
Manne beside him immediately said, “I'll go too!”
Where would they go to get ingredients at night, especially in Night City, where fresh meat was illegal?
The truth was that they had to get these things at night because they were easily caught during the day.