Holy Crap!

Rosanne was scared out of her wits for a reason—

Multitasking was one aspect, but the other reason was that although the Militech software system was an outdated version, cracking it in a fraction of a second was virtually impossible!

Leo was able to pull it off entirely because of his incredibly powerful brain, absurdly large RAM, and the fact that he had encountered higher versions of ICE, specifically military-grade ones.

Although he hadn't directly tried to crack a military-grade ICE before, he had at least seen it.

To build the network barriers, Leo had been studying the basic principles and common architectures of ICE for a while, which reminded him of that Behemoth.

Sure, he didn't understand much back then, but that didn't mean he couldn't memorize it.

Even though the versions differed by hundreds of iterations, the logic hadn't changed much; it was mostly about stacking resources.

So, breaking through was quick and efficient—but from Rosanne's perspective, it was completely different.

To her, Leo wasn't just a cyberpsycho; he was a cyberpsycho who knew network tech!

Well, to be precise, he wasn't entirely a cyberpsycho, but that made it even scarier:

Imagine one day, you're suddenly harassed by an escaped mental patient. At first, you're just trying to humor him.

Then he suddenly pulls out a textbook on advanced mathematics and starts explaining it in detail, even talking about mathematical analysis you've never studied—

Then he pulls out an ID card and says he's actually a professor from the university next door! Here to help you catch up on your math grades...

"Holy crap! That was insane, Leo!"

Jackie's eyes were practically sparkling.

V, who was driving, grumbled, "Insane? More like crazy! You two would've been toast if you'd been a second slower!"

Leo continued to shake his head nonchalantly, "Seemed extreme, but I had it under control. You wouldn't understand."

V shot a glance at Leo in the passenger seat and then gave him a solid smack on the back—

Slap.

V made a face, shaking her hand, "Geez, you're drenched in sweat, dude."

"You don't get it. This is the heat from high-speed processing!"

Leo wasn't lying; in that split second, even the tension from the machine guns aiming at him was mitigated by [Heart of Evolution].

Tension? No way, everything was just part of the normal flow.

However, to V and Jackie, this wasn't a 9/10 risk; it was at least a 10/10 gamble.

"Alright, alright! Damn it! Why do you love showing off so much?"

"Showing off is good, showing off is great!" Jackie was still excited, "Did you manage to record it? I need to see how badass we looked!"

"Actually, I did." Leo waved the data shard in his hand, "We'll review it later. For now, let's see where Rosanne was delivering those goods to the Six Street Gang."

As Leo waved the shard, V couldn't help but glance at it enviously.

It was hard to tell if she was just annoyed that she hadn't been the one to show off this time.

The car headed towards the Badlands.

Yes, their target was in the Badlands.

There wasn't anything particularly special in Rosanne's ledgers; to be fair, in the arms dealing business, she was relatively ethical.

Her main clients were the poor farmers of Colorado Ranch, some Six Street Gang rookies, and a few broke workers.

Though the goods she sold weren't cutting-edge, they were reasonably priced and reliable.

As for herself, she held a B-level technical specialist license, capable of repairing and modifying guns, setting up defense systems, and even selling off almost-scrapped cars to Nomads.

With her skills and knowledge of the rules, the Six Street Gang maintained a delicate balance with her.

As for Kang Tao's weapons, she truly couldn't handle them well—she had no ties with any corporations, and her clients and suppliers were all broke folks who saw trash as treasure.

To move such goods, she would have to rely on the Nomads' smuggling routes, but even they seemed to be out of the game lately.

But more importantly, Leo left behind some breadcrumbs in the network to prepare for building his data walls.

"I'm sending you both a program for your systems, to help cover our tracks."

"Got it."

They both replied in unison, accepting the file Leo had designed.

"And here are some suspicious chat logs from Rosanne's database. If you're interested, take a look, but I've already marked the target on your maps."

In Rosanne's database, there was a recent communication record with the Six Street Gang.

...

January 1st: "Rosanne Kaplan: The Red Ocher guys are all sick. Most of my routes are down. You'll have to send your own people."

"Gelf Sharabi: Why not get other Nomads?"

"Rosanne Kaplan: The other Nomads don't want to come to the city; there's a plague going on, remember?"

"Gelf Sharabi: Fine, I'll handle the delivery myself."

January 3rd: "Gelf Sharabi: Another shipment crossing the border in three days. Everything set up?"

"Rosanne Kaplan: What are you moving this time? Why the big deal?"

"Gelf Sharabi: Don't ask stupid questions. If you don't want the Six Street Gang sending you a bullet, just do your job. If word gets out, you'll regret it."

"Rosanne Kaplan: Transporting goods under a citizen's name without telling them what it is? Which old American law is that?"

"Gelf Sharabi: Screw you, it's the Defense Production Act!"

"Rosanne Kaplan: Fine, got it. High-value classified military goods... Just hope Militech doesn't come knocking."

"Gelf Sharabi: They won't. And if they do, I'll blow your head off!"

"Rosanne Kaplan: Haha, blow my head off and see how your 'military court' handles it when the goods don't arrive."

January 6th: "Gelf Sharabi: Smuggling's not that hard. If you're short on hands, call us. Ditch the Nomads; we're old friends, and we keep it in the family."

"Rosanne Kaplan: No way. Don't think you can get cozy with me. Who considers you family?"

"Gelf Sharabi: Whatever, smuggling will be frequent in the coming days. The next shipment is in two days."

...

Clearly, the Six Street Gang had an ongoing deal with Rosanne, using her name to secretly transport goods into the city.

This route had been busy lately, with the next shipment happening tomorrow.

Leo took some time to plant a few backdoors into Rosanne's database and hacked into the traffic system on Woodhaven Street, keeping an eye on her in case she did something foolish.

After all that, the three of them headed towards the Badlands.

V turned down the radio volume, "So we're going to hijack this convoy—but I don't get it. Why use Rosanne's name for the transport?"

"To prevent exactly what's happening now—obviously for cover. Everyone knows that Lamar's Armory isn't affiliated with the Six Street Gang, so their enemies would naturally be misled."

This old-school trick was actually quite effective and commonly used.

It seemed that the Six Street Gang was pulling out all the stops to take over Valentino's business, but Padre wasn't stupid; he must have noticed something was off.

Now, the Six Street Gang was in for some trouble, with three fierce predators on their tail.

"The next shipment should be crossing the border soon. We'll intercept them in the Badlands. Double-check the map, and ask if you have any questions."

"Got it—anything else, boss?" V replied with mock politeness.

"Yeah, turn up the A/C; it's cold in the Badlands at night."

With that, Leo pulled out his Yinglong submachine gun.

This time, he needed to test out his new implants and this fine Kang Tao weapon.

...

Six hours later, under a starry sky.

"Achoo!"

Five Villefort Columbus V340 cargo trucks maintained their formation on the highway.

These were the most common cargo trucks in Night City, favored by mid- to low-tier transport companies.

But the people inside didn't look like they worked for a transport company.

They were all dressed similarly, in work pants, bulletproof vests, and cool-looking sunglasses, with stars and stripes or bald eagle patches on their shoulders.

Each of them held a reliable weapon, mostly long guns.

"Damn, it's cold. The Badlands suck—hot as hell during the day, freezing at night."

In the lead truck, the man in the passenger seat, wearing a beret, had a cybernetic arm that gleamed menacingly.

"Chief," the rookie driver called out.

"How many times have I told you, don't call me Chief—I'm a squad leader! We're soldiers, got it?!"

"Uh, squad leader, the rear car reports that there's a Rattler following us."

"Let it follow. It's just a piece of junk, probably another Nomad coming into town to buy meds. Don't get all jumpy.

Do you really think that car's going to suddenly sprout a Shingen submachine gun, with Kang Tao soldiers popping out to shove grenades down our throats? Get real, just drive, and don't let those Red Ocher idiots die on us, or there goes our bonus!"

"Got it."

Before the rookie could finish his sentence, he saw the Rattler floor the gas pedal and pull up alongside the convoy—

Then, the passenger pulled out a Shingen submachine gun!

"Holy crap! A Shingen!"

Bang! The Shingen's bullets precisely hit the tires of several trucks, the deafening sound of blowouts echoed through the night—

The convoy was instantly thrown into chaos!

"Ambush!!!"

The truck spun out of control, the rookie screamed at the top of his lungs, when suddenly something blocked his mouth—

He saw the squad leader lifting his foot, looking at him in terror, "Oh crap! A grenade!"

Boom!