Little Head, Big Question Mark

TN:Today chapter and a extra to make up friday

Extortion is a technical job.

The second-in-command had a trusted subordinate who was a sergeant and was unclear about the first-in-command's rumors. There was more money than expected in the bag, and the sergeant couldn't afford to overthink it.

But the sergeant was reluctant to take action himself; otherwise, he wouldn't have thrown the cannon over — it was just that the knife was a bit difficult to borrow.

Leo was a firsthand witness; cooperating with the second-in-command of the gang to take him down would be as easy as executing a gangster-style coup against a corrupt leader.

Although digging up past grievances to take him down alongside the company was not very honorable, the degree of honor or dishonor mattered little to a living person.

When money could solve the issue, who would gamble on it?

"But there's one thing I can't understand."

"Speak."

V scratched her head, filled with questions after hearing how Leo made this money.

"Why didn't he notice the first time?"

"He was using a phone to answer the call. With the phone in between, it's hard to catch the problem just by listening."

"Then why did he use the phone?"

Leo looked at V helplessly: her big eyes were full of confusion, and she even tilted her head slightly, exuding a certain intensity of beauty.

Signals are transmitted infinitely and then received through devices, modulated, and converted into electrical signals, which are transformed into text, audio, and images.

In the cyber era, this process of receiving and modulating signals itself was an exploitable hacking channel.

Of course, this required high hacking skills, but who would think they were always safe if they could reach the level of a gang leader?

The cheapest protective measure was just to prepare a phone; if it got hacked, so what? It was just a broken phone.

So even by 2076, phones had not been eliminated.

In the cyber era, people who casually answered calls from unknown sources generally didn't end up well—

V was the type of person who never used a phone.

Forget about phones; she looked like the kind of idiot who would pick up a super rare magical artifact off the street and dare to wear it.

"Little V, you're different from others; don't waste time on these useless technologies."

After saying that, Leo prepared the stimulant for Tina and gave her an injection.

After hearing Leo's words, V proudly raised her head: "Indeed, fiddling around like this is no match for the combat skills honed through experience!"

After saying that, she swung her fist in the air, making a whooshing sound as it hit the air. Jackie also became interested, and the two exchanged punches on the side, sharing their experiences.

The drug flowed through Tina's arteries to her heart, then to her limbs, and finally to her head.

She opened her eyes—

Due to visual disparity, she saw two fierce-looking people beating a corpse!

"Don't shout!" Leo raised a finger to block Tina's mouth. This girl's bionic chin had cracked, and she was hanging by it.

Leo reached out and supported her chin back into place.

"Are you in biotechnica? Still employed?"

Tina nodded vigorously: "Biological farm number three, biochemical operations specialist, employee number—"

"Stop, stop, stop! I'm not interested in your company identity. Are you from Santo Domingo?"

"Yeah, I just got my license two years ago. Please, big brother, let me off! I'm just a small fry; you can take ten percent!"

What does ten percent mean? Enjoying 12 hours of work during the day, then going home at night to be a free slave.

This girl was indeed scared silly.

"I'm not here to collect protection fees—but you really need to find someone to collect your protection fees. Do you know El Captain?"

"Uh, I think he's a middleman?"

Leo leaned over the computer: "Right, you can talk to him yourself. What's the access key?"

"DinaF_$322548+60."

[Authentication successful]

[Welcome to use Biotechnica Software. Ver 2056.14.1]

[Subnet connected devices: Biochemical synthesis table, petri dishes, centrifuge, biochemical analyzer]

The equipment in the warehouse lit up — not to mention, Tina was indeed talented.

This small workshop had everything it needed. Against the wall were cloning cell culture media, and the cultivated protein tissues would be sent to the next processing device via a conveyor belt.

Centrifuges, chromatography columns, liquid chromatographs, electrophoresis… and other purification devices would separate proteins and tissue cells of different densities, sending them in batches to the mixing area.

Then Tina would mix these materials with food additives, flour, and other auxiliary materials according to the actual situation, based on the best chicken texture ratio, before making final appearances and adjustments.

After synthesis, they would be sent to vacuum sealing machines.

The upper layer of the room had automatic tracks, carrying packages of fresh synthetic meat, sealed in vacuum packaging, waiting to be shipped out.

Although this process relied heavily on machines, it still required a substantial amount of knowledge from the operator—

First, this system used a eukaryotic expression system for cell cultivation. Although the target was chicken meat, no animal cell type in the world was simple.

After selecting the appropriate host cells, expression vectors needed to be constructed, host cells transfected, and only then could cultivation begin.

If problems arose during cultivation, the synthesized proteins could even carry lethal toxicity, and post-synthesis, protein purification was required to obtain the target protein.

Even if the protein was correctly synthesized, balancing real meat and auxiliary materials was also a technical job.

Leo copied a set of materials into the biological laboratory — he believed Professor Connors would wake up tomorrow, see these materials, and fall into self-doubt.

"Your skills… not bad. Does the biological farm also teach these?"

Leo was in a very stable mood, while V and Jackie realized they were just exchanging boxing and fighting experiences, and Tina was no longer so afraid.

She rubbed her hands and said shyly, "I have a good relationship with my supervisor; I learned this from him."

"Did you prepare the cell agents for cultivation yourself? It seems there are no trimming devices here?"

"That's not the case. The farm sometimes processes some subpar cell agents — it's just that they ran into problems when they were sent over, some of them were spoiled.

But all the proteins I sell go through strict verification, and there absolutely won't be any food safety issues!"

Tina patted her chest, looking somewhat proud.

She had the credentials to be proud; she sold a good amount of this meat, and she hadn't heard of any problems so far.

Moreover, Leo checked Tina's email: it appeared she had been supplying synthetic meat to food shops in Santo Domingo at a low price.

This synthetic meat might not match the big brands, but it was cheap, and local restaurants were quite happy about it.

Who wouldn't eat if there's meat available?

Business was gradually picking up, which was a win-win situation.

Some subpar scraps with less appealing taste were also given to welfare institutions or street children, suggesting that her good deeds caught the El Captain's attention, who could happen to take care of her.

"So you're a conscientious businessman. Where did you get these devices?"

Tina scratched her head: "I bought them all with loans. It took a lot of connections to get them. I still owe over two hundred thousand, but at this rate, I estimate that in seven or eight years, I can pay off most of it."

Seven or eight years.

People's perception of time can differ.

For solos like Maine and his crew, a year is a hurdle, two and a half years is another hurdle, and hurdles are everywhere—

But if you honestly work in a company, even if life is tougher, not much will change in ten years.

Unless the company plans to go to war again, or some legend is about to prove themselves.

"I've copied the equipment information and technical specifications. Consider it a commission fee. You handle the store's matters yourself."

Leo waved his hand, and the three of them got into the Mackinaw and drove away—

Tina watched the Mackinaw leave, the dreams of the Subaru WRX crashing down, as the massive Mackinaw drifted and sent it flying.

"Wow, that Mackinaw is really cool."

The traffic camera at the intersection flickered red, recording all of this.

Cyber Space—

This is a virtual world composed of data.

A raven flew back from the area symbolizing Santo Domingo, crossing the complex network of Night City, returning to its owner's hand—

And brought back a piece of footage.

In the footage appeared a Maquinó and three people.

The raven's owner took on the most traditional human form but wore a mask, which displayed his identity:

[Network Monitor]

[Raven #0236]

He repeatedly observed the scene of the Mackinaw drifting and firing bullets, especially those smart bullets.

[Smart bullet circuit analysis complete]

[Miss rate: 0%]

He frowned tightly.

He rewatched the entire process, especially the moment V and Jackie started punching.

His tightly furrowed brows relaxed.

After watching, he began to write a report.

[.]

[Summary report: No signs of cyber space intrusion detected; daemon cross-reduction completed; program redundancy is high but efficient; program logic highly matches human behavior]

[.]

[Target: King (V), Big Shot]

[Overview: Does not seem like a hacker]

[.]

[Target: Burger King]

[Possibility of associating with roaming AI: Low]

[Note: High probability of being a high-potential mental worker.]

[Suggestion: The target has rich practical experience; consider assigning tasks for further observation.]

[Network access permit number has been uploaded.]

TN:Netwatch?