Gearbound: Cyberpunk 2077-Chapter 113

Note: Got to go somewhere so an early update today!

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A few measly thousand eurodollars were hardly enough to excite Leo. He planted several charges in the truck, and once the group was a safe distance away, he detonated them. A brilliant firework exploded across the desolate landscape.

Watching the blaze flare in the wasteland, V suddenly voiced a concern: "Jotaro Shobo isn't stupid. After this, his division will definitely alter their transport routes. What do we do next time?"

Lucy raised a hand. "I can dive into their subnet again and grab any updated routes."

Jackie shook his head. "No way. That's too dangerous. Even you could get trapped in there."

Leo just smiled. "It doesn't matter if Jotaro Shobo changes how they transport Glitter. Our next target is the core of their division's operation."

...

*Watson District, Kabuki: Inside the Phoenix Casino*

"Baka yarou!"

"Hai!"

A foot slammed into the henchman, knocking him over. He scrambled back to his feet in a flash, snapping to attention as if nothing had happened. Still fuming, Jotaro Shobo struck the same underling with a string of vicious slaps, leaving him bruised and bloody, teeth knocked out.

Finally, after venting his rage, Jotaro Shobo dropped heavily into a chair and took a swig of sake to soothe his throat.

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"All right, talk. What happened? Who leaked our intel?"

The henchman hung his head. "No idea."

"No idea?" Jotaro Shobo slammed the bottle down so hard it shattered into shards, soaking the floor with sake. "We lost a fortune, and you can't even tell me who the traitor is?"

They'd already lost an entire squad of men in the botched chase after Chihiro—and Jotaro Shobo had been chewed out by the Tiger Claws higher-ups for losing the so-called "Dragon of Masafusa." If word got out that this latest shipment of Glitter had also been hijacked, those higher-ups might decide to demote him.

Inside the Tiger Claws, failure had consequences. No amount of connections would save him if he kept screwing up. That was how the gang had expanded from Japan to Night City in the first place—strict discipline, and ruthless methods.

Falling from his current position would make climbing back up nearly impossible. A black mark on his record meant all his future efforts would yield half the results. Jotaro Shobo's face twitched. He couldn't risk any more screwups. As for the lost shipment, he'd have to cover the cost from his own pocket to keep the bosses from finding out.

...

Seeing that their boss had calmed down somewhat, one of Jotaro Shobo's subordinates mustered the courage to speak. "Mr. Shobo, could it have been that woman, Chihiro, who leaked our intel?"

Everyone inside the Tiger Claws already knew how Chihiro, one of the gang's trained killers, had defected. She had not only escaped but also wiped out every squad sent after her, humiliating them.

Jotaro Shobo's first thought was the same—Chihiro. But then he shook his head.

"No. Absolutely not."

In his mind, if Chihiro had really survived, she would have fled Night City long ago. Even if, by some miracle, she was still here, she'd be living like a rat in a sewer, not foolishly making moves against them. If Chihiro was acting alone, Jotaro Shobo might have worried a bit—but she had a daughter. It was like a man with a wife and kids, trapped in a miserable job but forced to endure it for his family. In his eyes, Chihiro would shelve any grudge just to ensure her child's safety.

Besides, during her time with the Tiger Claws, Chihiro had never been allowed near any vital details of the Glitter operation—locations, supply routes, production sites. She couldn't possibly know enough to sabotage them.

"Mr. Shobo," the henchman ventured, "we don't know how the transport route got out, but if it did, there's a high chance the production sites have also been compromised. Should we...maybe..."

Jotaro Shobo had already considered that. But the situation wasn't so simple. Glitter was contraband—a product they couldn't just openly sell or advertise. Their three production labs in Kabuki's slums were hidden in the dingiest corners possible. Finding suitable replacements wouldn't be easy. Even legitimate businesses spent a lot of time choosing the right location.

So until he secured a new place, Jotaro Shobo had no choice but to stay put. He couldn't let anything disrupt the flow of Glitter. The Tiger Claws wouldn't forgive the losses. After some thought, he decided to go with a two-pronged plan: reinforce the three labs while sending people out to scout new sites. The minute they found a good spot, they'd move everything.

...

While Jotaro Shobo was fretting over the ambushed truck, Leo, Lucy, Jackie, and V were already at the entrance to a slum in Kabuki. Night City's slums came in many forms, but the most common was what lay before them—makeshift expansions of corrugated metal and scavenged materials built atop existing roofs.

Lucy's hacked intel indicated that the Jotaro Group had one of its labs hidden here. Altogether, they had three production labs in Kabuki. The challenge was to take them all out at once, hitting fast and giving Jotaro Shobo no time to react. To do that, they needed simultaneous strikes on all three locations. With only four people, there was no way they could split up effectively—they had no "clone jutsu," as Jackie had joked.

That was where the Mox came in.

On the way over, Leo had placed two calls: one to the Mox, one to the mayor's hotline. The Mox would handle one lab, while an anonymous tip to the NCPD would guide them to another. Mayor Lucius Rhyne, busy with upcoming elections, would jump at the chance to grab votes by leading a high-profile crackdown on a drug ring.

Why not just tip off the NCPD for all three sites and skip the risk altogether? In theory, that might be safer. But Leo worried that with so much money at stake, the mayor or his people might be tempted to turn a blind eye or even collude with the Jotaro Group.

Campaigns cost eddies—lots of them. It was better to let the mayor handle only one lab, to limit the risk of corruption.

...

"Stop right there! This is private property—civili—"

A Tiger Claws guard at the entrance barely got out a few words when Leo's blade flashed. In the blink of an eye, Leo strolled right past him, leaving the man's headless body collapsing to the ground.

"Enemies at the door!" someone inside shouted. "They're attacking us!"

The lab's Tiger Claws scrambled for their weapons and charged out, triggering a storm of gunfire. Jackie hefted his heavy machine gun and unleashed a barrage across the upper floors.