Chapter 304 

2-IN-1 chapter

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After parting ways with Jackie.

Leo, V, and Lucy boarded another pickup and returned to Tijuana. To avoid attention, each of them bought distinctly different touristy clothes at separate shops in San Diego. Leo also rented a yellow SUV in the city, planning to avoid using the Salamanca Cartel-issued pickups.

Leaving the city behind, they drove into the sparsely populated outskirts. There, each changed into their new outfits, donned hats and black sunglasses, transforming into the appearance of foreign tourists heading to Tijuana.

They crossed the California‑Mexico border again with ease, arriving in Tijuana by midday—this time noticing a palpable shift in atmosphere. Members of the Salamanca Cartel were everywhere, cruising in pickups and glaring at civilians, who respectfully avoided them as if they were plague‑carriers.

The trio parked outside a taco stand, each ordered food, and took a seat. V spoke quietly over the comm-link, "Leo, now that we're back in Tijuana, what's our next step?"

Leo bit into a taco. "First, we need to find Hector Salamanca's residence."

Lucy shook her head. "I looked online. Tijuana has an upscale neighborhood, but it's full of city officials and army officers. No cartel people live there."

"Right," V said, deflated. "Hector won't live in a wealthy district. He'd need enough space to hide his gunmen."

V sighed: "I'm not from here—I don't know. Lucy, you're a netrunner—can't you find something online?"

Lucy tucked her hair behind her ear. "As I said, he's not in the affluent area. There's nothing online."

"So what do we do?" V sounded discouraged, then looked at Leo, hoping.

Leo gave a sideways nod and made a subtle gesture. V and Lucy instinctively looked over his shoulder at the next table, which held several low-level Salamanca thugs. They had been speaking loudly in Spanish since the trio arrived, not realizing Leo's team had language translation implants.

One thug—claimed to be a big shot—kept bragging that his cousin was a perimeter guard at Hector's estate. He described what perimeter guards were—cannon fodder, unimportant, often the first to die—yet still something to brag about for low-level thugs.

"That's them," Leo whispered, as he devised a new plan to find Hector's residence based on overheard intel.

Leo gave V and Lucy a small gesture; the three of them quickly finished their tacos, stood up, and walked to the counter to pay.

The small-time thugs at the restaurant only glanced at Leo and the others at first—foreign tourists like them were a common sight in Tijuana and they had long stopped being curious.

But the cartel's higher-ups forbade anyone from harassing foreign visitors—not out of goodwill, but out of fear of damaging Tijuana's tourism industry—so the thugs dared not make a move; at most, they glanced a little longer.

And those extra moments of attention were enough to make their eyes linger.

Leo pulled out a black leather wallet streaming with thick euro notes, and the card slots were filled with credit chips—seven or eight, at least.

In 2025 in Leo's previous world, electronic payments couldn't be said to have completely replaced cash, but for the most part, few people still carried wallets with cash in them.

However, in 2077's cyberpunk world, electronic payments were mainstream—but not the only method; cash still hadn't been replaced.

The reasons were simple: electronic bank accounts still had glaring security and confidentiality issues, and the public's distrust of them wasn't baseless. After all, hackers had infiltrated cyberspace in droves, and there were countless cases of hard‑earned savings being drained. Even if the odds were low, no one wanted to risk becoming the next target.

So many people preferred cash over more convenient electronic banking.

Another major reason was that powerful groups like the Salamanca Cartel used large amounts of cash. Electronic accounts were controlled by corporations—once you let someone else hold your money, if you fell out with them or they decided to sanction you, your funds could disappear overnight.

Though these corporations insisted they were "completely neutral," it was naive to believe that.

But cash had its disadvantages—it was inconvenient. When you needed millions, you had to haul trunks of money everywhere, which was even more troublesome.

This is why credit chips had come into being. You could think of a credit chip as a USB stick—but it stored money instead of files. No password required: just plug it into a terminal and transfer funds between the chip and your electronic bank account.

Because the chip wasn't connected to any network, its security and confidentiality were assured. The only way to withdraw money was via a terminal, and remote hacking was impossible.

Because the same reason applied, major corporations couldn't just wipe funds from your credit chip at will, which meant that credit chips were often treated like massive bundles of cash.

Now, these street thugs could see that Leo's wallet bulged not only with crisp bills but also with numerous credit chips, each containing at least several thousand euros, possibly more. Combined with the cash, the total exceeded at least €$100,000. To put that in perspective: those low‑level goons, now working for the Salamanca Cartel, were only making a few hundred euros a month—some had never even seen €$100,000 in their entire lives.

When the thugs exchanged looks, they saw that same greed mirrored in each other's faces.

They watched Leo and the others pay their bill and head back to the SUV parked outside, and without hesitation they scrambled up and followed.

Once they were driving just behind Leo's SUV, one of the thugs finally asked, "Are we really going through with this job?"

Another quickly retorted: "Why not? Are you blind? Didn't you just see how much that guy had in his wallet?"

"And those two girls—they've got cash too, though we didn't see it yet."

Even the thug bragging about his cousin scoffed: "Hell yeah. If we're lucky this time, we'll hit the jackpot."

This wasn't eleven or a hundred euros—it was hundreds of thousands. Split evenly, each could walk away with at least ten grand. That was serious money—a true windfall. If they let this opportunity slip, they could never undo it, and regret would eat them alive.

The first thug, hesitating, said, "But didn't the Salamanca Cartel say not to touch foreign tourists, or they'll flay us alive? What if those guys go to the cartel and snitch?"

The cousin‑bragger rolled his eyes. "You dumb? After we do this, we just move cities. Mexico's huge—there's always somewhere to hide. The Salamanca Cartel might rule Tijuana, but they ain't emperors—they can't reach our turf elsewhere."

He paused, then added, "Listen up: if we pass up over ten grand, and stick with a few hundred euros a month, you're dreaming. My cousin told me once this job's only temporary—after this, the cartel will cut back on manpower, we go right back where we came from. Don't expect this to last beyond one more payday."

These guys were street scum, just cannon fodder to the cartel—only hired because it was a crisis. Paying a few hundred euros a month, that was all they were worth. Realizing they'd never get 'permanent' jobs, they dropped their scruples and decided to go all‑in.

"Alright! Let's fucking do it!" one screamed.

"That's what I'm talking about!" said the cousin‑bragger, satisfied.

"Later we'll find a spot off the main roads—hit them there, grab the money, then leave Tijuana before Salamanca even knows what hit them. Where would they find us?"

......................

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Through the rear‑view mirror, Leo saw the bait take the hook. He keyed the comm channel to speak to V and Lucy, then deliberately drove toward a more secluded neighborhood.

The thugs grew excited—they thought no one would witness their crime and it would be easy.

When they deemed the moment right, one honked his horn, overtook the SUV, rode alongside, and shouted for them to pull over.

Leo slowed the SUV and pulled to the curb. He told V and Lucy to stay inside. He stepped out himself, carrying the Tsunami Defense Systems power pistol Nue—the semi‑automatic .45‑caliber sidearm equipped with an LED chamber indicator—crafted by the Japanese weapon manufacturer "Tsunami " known for their elite-level firearms.

That's right. The Nekomata tech sniper rifle, the Ashura smart sniper rifle, and the "Nue" Power Pistol were all made by this single Japanese company.

Although it lacked the cutting-edge tech found in the Ashura and Nekomata, its lack of innovation was more than compensated for by precision craftsmanship.

Elegant, reliable, and deadly—the Nue was undeniably the front-runner in the handgun market.

Leo didn't close the SUV door. He kept it open intentionally so he could conceal the arm holding the Tsunami Defense Systems kinetic pistol, Nue, behind the vehicle door.

The thugs had already pulled their vehicle in front of the SUV. One by one, they stepped out, grinning viciously as they approached Leo.

In their eyes, these foreign tourists were already trapped—an easy catch.

Their payday was right in front of them!

Then, just as they neared, Leo suddenly raised his gun arm from behind the door.

He aimed at the first thug—and fired.

The leading thug took a bullet to the forehead, still daydreaming about robbing the rich foreigners when his life blinked out instantly.

Blood sprayed onto the face of the thug beside him, who reflexively shut his eyes. He felt something warm and sticky and reached up to touch it—only to discover it was blood.

His mouth opened instinctively, likely that he wanted to scream.

But nothing came out—because Leo's second shot struck his throat.

The gunfire and the sudden collapse of their comrades jolted the remaining thugs from joy to shock, then into blind panic and fury.

Of the three left, one turned and ran without hesitation. Another dashed sideways, trying to use the SUV as cover.

The last thug fumbled for his gun, but it got stuck in his holster.

The more he panicked, the harder it was to draw.

The one circling the SUV to flank was the first to be dropped by Leo with a clean shot.

Next was the one fighting with his holster—Leo rewarded him with multiple bullets.

The last thug, the one who bragged about having a cousin working as a lookout for Hector, managed to get back to his car using the chaos and bodies of his friends for cover.

But before he could start the engine, Leo leapt forward and landed hard on the car's hood.

The impact caved the hood in with a deep, metallic crunch.

The thug fumbled to draw his pistol, but before he could even aim it at Leo—

The power-armored fist punched straight through the windshield, grabbing the unbuckled thug and dragging him out of the vehicle with ease.

The thug was already terrified out of his mind, no longer thinking of resistance—only begging for his life in a panicked, incoherent stream.

Leo didn't waste time listening. He pulled out a signal jammer and shoved it into the neural port on the thug's neck, then dragged him back to the SUV.

V stepped down from the back seat and cleared a spot.

Leo shoved the thug into the back, then got into the front seat with V. He started the engine and drove off.

Several blocks away, Leo used his tactical goggles to scan the area. Once he confirmed it was secure, he instructed Lucy to begin hacking the neural link of the only one left alive.

Someone from 2023 might wonder: could a street thug even afford something as advanced as a neural link?

But by 2077, neural links had become as commonplace as smartphones were in 2023. Fully integrated into everyday life.

Rich people could spend tens of thousands on premium models, but even those with no money could scrape together enough—by borrowing, financing, or taking on debt—for a cheap, basic model. Because in everyday life, not having a neural link was a massive inconvenience.

Lucy pulled a black interface cable from her wrist and plugged it into the spare neural slot on the back of the thug's neck.

Her eyes glowed red as she dove into the thug's neural systems, searching for anything useful.

Outside the vehicle, Leo suddenly slapped his forehead as if he had just remembered something.

"There's something I almost forgot. While we've got time, I might as well take care of it."

V looked over. "What is it?"

Leo smiled, but didn't answer immediately. He motioned for her to stay quiet for now.

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