Chapter 53: Chapter 51 Racing Against Time (Please Follow~)

Roshan Kaplan, the only arms dealer for civilians in the Colorado District, operated a shop called Lama Armory.

As an arms dealer, all her security devices were connected to her private network, completely isolated from the external network.

Moreover, this woman was exceedingly cautious, with no external cameras to be found—meaning sneaking in from the outside was unlikely. An access point from inside the building had to be found.

Inside, however, Lille didn’t even need to think about it; there would definitely be 360-degree turret machine guns with no blind spots.

A direct assault would alert the Six Street Gang, which would defeat the purpose, but if they planned to quietly take out Roshan, those machine guns wouldn’t be there just for show.

Click—

The double doors opened automatically; Roshan was a young-looking Mexican, dressed in a white gym smock and camouflage military trousers, with a camo headband wrapped around her head.

Typical Six Street Gang style, although she wasn’t actually one of them.

She stood behind a bar enclosed by a wire partition, cautious as arms dealers are.

"Welcome... oh, a Valentino?"

Her enthusiasm diminished the moment she looked up.

No help for it, Jack had a look that was equally gang-specific: tattoos covering his arms, a large gold chain hanging on his chest, and...

All of them were Mexican.

Yet she wasn’t scared—her confidence came from the turret machine guns in every corner of the house.

If this big guy made any sudden move, the turrets could shred him to pieces in an instant—no hyperbole included.

Hisss—

The turret began to rotate.

With the dark muzzles pointed at him, Jack hadn’t even spoken yet, but his attitude had already shifted slightly.

Lille stepped forward from behind Jack, and only then did Roshan notice the skinny frail shadow trailing behind the big guy.

"First off, my brother isn’t with the Valentino Gang right now, just here to talk."

"This again?"

"How’s business lately?"

Roshan rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up, "People in Night City would rather starve to death than walk the streets with last era’s weapons.

Not to mention under the current circumstances—speak plainly."

"I’ve got some hot merchandise here, can you move it? It’s corporate stock, dubious origins."

Roshan observed Lille and Jack, then shook her head: "You are Valentinos; if the Six Street Gang finds out I helped you, they would skin me alive."

Yes, she didn’t believe Lille’s pretense at all—if this big guy wasn’t a Valentino, she’d eat him!

Meanwhile, V had spotted a route as soon as Lille entered.

Roshan’s cabin had only one front door, like a fortress, which it essentially was.

But maybe to make living a bit less suffocating, she had a small balcony on the side of the house’s first floor and the back of the second floor, barely enough for a person to stand on, sealed off by the main door.

This height and distance would be impossible for an ordinary person, but an easy jump for anyone with enhanced prosthetics.

"Don’t know what’s so beautiful about this view..."

V swiftly jumped up to the second-floor balcony, looking out to see a junkyard, and just beyond it, a protective dam almost a hundred meters tall.

Built by the petrochemical industry, and on the other side was the real "trash lake."

V scanned the iron door with his Prosthetic Eye—bad news; it was a traditional iron door, locked with a nitro lock.

Unhackable—and V was certain that opening it would trigger an alarm behind the door.

"Bad news, this door... it’s too old."

On the other side, Lille heard the news without changing his expression, but the situation was indeed tricky.

No wonder this woman had managed to thrive here; her security was exceptionally good.

What else could be used? 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Lille looked towards Roshan’s computer behind her—the 30x zoom of the Qilusi Eye easily saw the small text in the bottom left corner of the 14-inch control screen.

"Military Technology Civil ICE Ver.196.36352"

Lille still remembered the operating system version number on the military technology Bimong he had driven, which was Ver.526.523.

Judging by the update speed of military technology, Roshan’s system was probably about a decade old.

It seemed Roshan was confident in the physical firewall she had erected, skimping on software updates—either to save money or because she couldn’t get anything better.

This version of the software, Lille could hack in less than a second; civilian ICE and military were completely different concepts.

He quickly visualized the entire house’s dimensions in his mind; from its appearance, the second floor was the same size as the first, forming a perfect rectangle.

According to V’s speed, from entering the door, to locking onto the devices inside, and then moving next to the device to connect...

It would probably only take 2 seconds, and if Krensky was activated, it could be shortened to about 1 second.

Roshan’s fixed turrets were something Lille had seen in Arasaka’s technical expert courses—

The machine gun was a MK26 model, and though the mounting stand was an unfamiliar type, there was a display case in the shop indicating that it was also an item sold by Roshan.

Turning speed...locking speed...minimum firing time...

Lille’s mind swiftly integrated all the data from the moment V burst through the door until the alarm was triggered—

The iron door wasn’t network-connected, so the alarm trigger must be a physical one, with a reaction time of at least 1 second.

It took 1 second for the signal to reach the server and be processed, and for Roshan to respond to the information.

Issuing the command to the machine gun firing took another second.

If they forced the door violently, he and V had 3 seconds of action time, but under extreme conditions, they only needed 1.5-2 seconds to complete the operation.

If they could distract this guy’s attention elsewhere, they could have even more spare time.

"V, break the door, connect to the LAN at top speed; I’ll handle the intrusion," Lille said.

"Break the door? But the machine gun..."

"That’s why we need to be fast; if we’re slow, Jack and I are going to be sieved—listen to my command; I’m about to start talking tough."

"Damn, you’re insane..."

While sending the message, Lille put his hand on the counter, "Forget about the Six Street Gang, from now on, you’re listening to me."

Roshan smirked, pointing at the corner machine gun, "Why should I? Just because you say so? Want to take a look at the machine guns in this house? I’m not just living off the Six Street Gang..."

While Roshan was still speaking, Lille gave V the signal.

"Go."

Bang!

Although V still thought it was a foolish plan, after such a long time, she had developed a good habit of trusting Lille.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous—on the contrary, she believed Lille wouldn’t deceive her.

If she messed up, both of them would really become sieves!

In the first second, the handgun Final Night shattered the door lock, and V kicked down the door, activating the pressure sensor behind it, beginning the signal transmission.

At 1.5 seconds, V spotted the server terminal emitting a blue light across the room, Krensky started up, and in an instant, she was at the server, making the connection.

Simultaneously, the alarm went off, Roshan’s complexion changed drastically, the machine gun pivoted, beginning to warm-up—

Lille received the data synchronized, the Qilusi Eye interface for intrusion protocols appeared—indeed, the opponent’s ICE version was 196.35362.

By the second second, Roshan’s reaction and the machine gun’s start-up speed were a bit faster than Lille anticipated; the first bullet was chambered, Jack clenched his teeth, positioning himself behind Lille and raised his pistols.

But the LAN gateway had already been breached.

Bang!

The terrifying firepower of the MK26 easily shattered the shop’s shelves and concrete, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Four bullets nearly hit the duo’s location, but at the crucial moment, Lille froze the mount’s pivoting, the bullet was discharged, but it missed its mark.

The green light on the machine gun turned red, then aimed at Roshan.

Lille hadn’t moved throughout the entire process.

When the dust settled, he merely tapped on the table, "This is a warning. These toys are indeed nice, but hey, I’m not some cyberpsycho who starts with violence."

Click...click-click-click.

The mounted turret suddenly shook violently, the internal circuits surged, belching black smoke, components fell off.

Roshan watched the spectacle in horror, not daring to blink!

Seeing that he hadn’t died, Jack finally opened his eyes, and after realizing all the machine guns had exploded, he turned around.

He meant to swear to vent his emotions, but seeing Lille’s demeanor, he swallowed his words and stealthily patted his body to confirm it wasn’t an illusion.

Lille patted Jack and took a handgun from Jack’s stunned hands, then scored a line on the rusty iron table.

Hiss—

A white line appeared on the table.

"Listen, this isn’t negotiable, no haggling—I’m drawing a line here, from now on, without permission, you can’t do business here.

The Lama Gun Shop is out of business. As for when it will open, wait for the notification, understand?"

Roshan nodded quickly, seemingly with tears swirling in her eyes.

Lille seemed disappointed as he sighed, then glanced around:

"Here’s the thing, you scared me today. Fetch me a box of hand grenades, and we’ll call it even."

Roshan was still nodding, she had never shaken her head this much in her life; she felt like she was about to break her neck.

But that did not cover up her inner panic—

She saw one of Lille’s eyes flickering with the blue light that indicated data flow, while the other eye remained unchanged—

This man’s vision system was split! He was multitasking!

And you say you’re not a cyberpsycho?!