Chapter Summaries

Chester Bennett attacked Carl and Reid at the stadium, believing they were Intelligence Bureau agents, while they fought their way toward the warehouse exit. Carl escaped Bennett’s Sandevistan ambush by catching his bullets, leaving him to realize she was not with the Intelligence Bureau.

• Chester Bennett recognized Carl and Reid as likely thieves and ordered Barghest to attack them with full firepower.
• Carl disabled a combat robot with an EMP Grenade and a charged Nue shot, then identified the warehouse as their route out.
• Reid flipped into the warehouse, and Carl evaded an incoming grenade to join him on the second floor.
• Bennett activated his Sandevistan and fired four bullets at Carl, then charged her with a combat knife.
• Carl caught all four bullets in her hand and vanished into the warehouse, leaving Bennett stunned and convinced she was not Intelligence Bureau.

Carl and Reid explored an abandoned underground garage and found evidence of an active smuggling route and a destroyed Chimera robot. They encountered a Hellhound, a heavily armored old-world machine, as it approached with weapons deployed.

• Carl found a recent smuggling marker, and Reid realized the underground passage was still being used to move goods between Dogtown and Night City.
• A falling metal fragment led Carl to discover scattered pieces of a destroyed machine in the passage.
• Reid identified the wreckage as a Chimera, one of Militech’s urban combat robots that had been deployed to Dogtown during the Unification War.
• Mechanical sounds drew Carl and Reid’s attention to a Hellhound approaching them through the darkness.
• Reid explained the Hellhound’s old-world design and formidable armor as it extended spinning claws and a terminal jack.

Carl defeated a Militech Cerberus robot by disabling it with Haruko’s EMP Knife, then dismantled it and recovered a component containing its behavioral patterns. The component was intact and potentially useful as Carl and Reid continued their investigation.

• Carl shot at the Cerberus’s sensor eye with Qianxin, but its armor deflected the bullet.
• Carl evaded the Cerberus’s pounce and used Haruko’s EMP Knife to disable it.
• Carl tested the Cerberus with her Monomolecular Wire and found that its limbs were easy to cut apart.
• The Cerberus began moving again after the EMP effect wore off, but Carl dismembered it before it could react.
• Carl found a Behavior System Component inside the Cerberus, and Reid explained that it stored the robot’s behavioral patterns.
• Carl kept the component in her pocket.

Carl and Reid escaped Dogtown through a smuggling tunnel, and Carl arranged for the Night City Police Department to contain the Barghest checkpoint. As the mission ended, Reid realized he still had to report to his city security job.

• Carl and Reid emerged from the tunnel after spending half the day navigating the route out of Dogtown.
• Reid recognized that he had grown to trust Carl, then pushed those feelings aside and followed her into the sunlight.
• Carl warned Reid that Barghest might track them and showed him messages revealing she had arranged a pickup.
• Night City Police Department officers arrived and sealed off the area, keeping Barghest troops at the Dogtown checkpoint.
• Carl offered Reid a ride back to the city, and Reid checked the time and realized his work was not over yet.

After returning from Dogtown, Carl planned to get dinner with Oliver and T-BUG before sleeping. Blanca invited him out and teased him during a video call while he showered, leaving Carl to realize he should not take video calls in the bathroom again.

• Carl returned from Dogtown and asked Oliver where Jack and V had gone, learning they were challenging boxers around Night City.
• Carl and Oliver decided to invite T-BUG out for dinner while Jack and V were away.
• Blanca messaged Carl with an offer to take him to dinner, but he declined because he was tired and had plans with Oliver and T-BUG.
• Blanca called Carl on video while he showered, teased him about appearing shirtless, and asked whether he would do the same around the Arasaka heiress.
• Carl finished showering and realized he had forgotten to use body wash, deciding he should not take video calls while bathing again.

Carl and Oliver heard that Carter had retired and Johnson had become the new Night City Police Department director, then discussed how the department’s recent changes had affected the city. Carl acknowledged her small role in that progress but credited Johnson and the officers who had sustained the department’s ideals.

• A news broadcast announced Carter’s retirement and Johnson’s appointment as director of the Night City Police Department.
• Oliver calculated that Johnson had joined the department at about eighteen and spent sixteen years as a patrol officer in Santo Domingo.
• Two restaurant patrons praised the department’s improved equipment and discussed how a special operations unit was said to work for KK.
• Oliver questioned Carl about the rumors that gangs and corporate security had changed their behavior because of her influence.
• Carl said Johnson and the officers who had carried on the ideal of helping others deserved the real credit for making Night City better.

Jack and Carl cleared out a Scavenger hideout before V called them to help find an armored transport the Aldecaldos had lost in a sandstorm. The pair agreed to join the search for the missing Basilisk.

• Jack burst into the Scavengers’ hideout and killed the five men inside while Carl accompanied him and T-BUG disabled the sensor traps remotely.
• Carl warned Jack not to joke about T-BUG’s mood after he speculated about the reason for it.
• V called Jack and Carl for help locating a missing Militech Basilisk that the Aldecaldos had bought through the Sixth Street Gang.
• V explained that a sandstorm had scattered the convoy and the Basilisk’s self-driving truck had gone out of control, while Militech left the Aldecaldos to recover it.
• Jack and Carl agreed to help V search for the Basilisk.

Carl, V, and Jack were trapped in a Badlands sandstorm while searching for the missing Basilisk, unable to contact Saul and the others or safely move their car. As they waited with V’s energy bars for supplies, Jack spotted a big truck approaching through the storm.

• Carl failed to contact Saul and the others after the sandstorm cut off their communications.
• V refused to start the car because blowing sand could damage it and the storm made navigation impossible.
• V revealed he had stocked energy bars and water to sustain them for several days.
• Carl forced herself to eat an Octopus Pancake Energy Bar and complained about its taste.
• Jack heard an engine and saw large headlights approaching through the sandstorm, realizing they belonged to a big truck.

Carl, V, and Jack encountered a runaway Militech truck during a sandstorm and stopped it before it could crush Panam’s car. The truck came to rest in a pit, and Carl went to check whether its cargo had survived.

• Carl recognized the truck as a lost Militech vehicle carrying Basilisk components and ordered everyone out of Panam’s car.
• Jack threw grenades ahead of the truck, blasting a pit into the ground.
• The truck plunged into the pit, and its own weight crumpled its front end until it stopped.
• Carl, V, and Jack confirmed that Panam’s car was safe, and V praised Jack’s quick thinking.
• Carl approached the truck to inspect its cargo for damage.

Carl, V, and Jack inspected the wrecked Militech truck and confirmed it carried only part of the Basilisk components. As the sandstorm cleared, Maelstrom vehicles appeared and headed toward them, leaving the group facing a likely confrontation.

• Carl found the truck’s verification chip and confirmed it was the Militech vehicle that had gone missing.
• V explained that Saul’s people had already obtained the other Basilisk parts and said the wrecked truck would need to be hauled away or scrapped.
• Carl, V, and Jack waited as the sandstorm began to die down and their communications gradually returned.
• V spotted vehicles approaching and identified them as Maelstrom, who had learned about the cargo and were heading toward the group.

After Maelstrom goons fled from V, Carl revealed that Johnny Silverhand had come along in BallBall’s body. As the Aldecaldos convoy approached, Carl arranged difficult mercenary work for herself and Johnny to test the newcomer.

• V fired a warning shot, and the Maelstrom goons turned around and fled.
• Jack put away his RPG, and Carl contacted Saul as the sandstorm began to clear.
• Carl pulled Johnny Silverhand from the vehicle, revealing he had traveled with them in BallBall’s body.
• Johnny Silverhand said he had hoped to rescue the group and repay his debt, but they had managed without him.
• As the Aldecaldos convoy drew near, Carl messaged fixers to find a difficult job for two people and test Johnny.

Carl and Johnny Silverhand met Rogue at the Afterlife to discuss a new job, and Rogue revealed that it involved Hanako Arasaka. The chapter ended with Johnny reacting excitedly to the Arasaka name while Carl considered what the assignment might entail.

• Rogue welcomed Carl and Johnny at the Afterlife and recognized why Carl had become less selective about jobs.
• Johnny told Rogue he trusted her to find him a challenging job and insisted he wanted to prove his skill.
• Carl agreed to put up with Johnny’s temperament as a fellow squad member and asked Rogue what job she had.
• Rogue said the assignment would not involve ordinary street trouble and named Hanako Arasaka.
• Johnny grew visibly excited at the Arasaka name, while Carl recalled Hanako’s position in the Arasaka family.

Rogue explained that Hanako Arasaka would attend the Arasaka Saburo memorial festival in Japantown, where tight security would surround her. She gave Carl and Johnny Silverhand a job: enter Hanako's resting room inside the Float Platform during the parade and copy her Activity Recorder.

• Carl described Hanako Arasaka as a cultured woman who lived under the protection of Arasaka's Ninja Hundred, then asked whether the job involved helping or targeting her.
• Johnny Silverhand reacted angrily to the Arasaka name, and Rogue asked whether the team knew about the festival commemorating Arasaka Saburo.
• Rogue explained that Hanako had arrived in Night City aboard the White Whale and would ride a Float Platform through heavily surveilled, locked-down Japantown.
• Carl became interested in the job, and Rogue decided that he and Johnny were the right people to handle it.
• Rogue gave Carl and Johnny chips containing the instructions to enter Hanako's room inside the float and copy her Activity Recorder before she returned.

Carl realized Rogue’s request for a copy of Hanako Arasaka’s Activity Recorder data likely came from Arakawa Michiko and was meant to learn Hanako’s recent movements, not harm her. After reading the detailed parade intelligence from a chip, Carl contained her phone’s explosion in her hands, and Rogue told her to begin the mission.

• Carl reasoned that the person behind Rogue wanted Hanako Arasaka’s itinerary and suspected it was Arakawa Michiko.
• Carl inserted Rogue’s chip into her phone and began reading its detailed map of the parade route, surveillance points, sniper positions, and access points.
• The phone overheated and began to smoke as it processed the data.
• Carl memorized the intelligence, dropped the phone as it ignited, and contained its explosion between her palms.
• Rogue recovered from the shock and told Carl to begin acting on the plan.

With the Float Parade three days away, Carl and Johnny Silverhand prepared to infiltrate Arasaka Industrial Park and weaken the parade float’s defenses. As Johnny entered the park, Carl watched news of rising tensions between Arasaka and Militech and encountered a stray cat that she took as a possible good omen.

• Carl and Johnny Silverhand surveyed Arasaka Industrial Park and planned to plant a virus in the parade float before the Float Parade.
• Carl challenged Johnny to infiltrate the park alone, and he leaped from the construction site and headed inside.
• Carl watched Arakawa Sesen accuse Militech of provocation during a News Channel 54 broadcast, but the channel cut him off after he mentioned Arasaka Saburo’s assassination.
• Carl offered an Octopus Pancake Energy Bar to a Canadian hairless cat, which ate it and rubbed against her before leaving.
• Carl wondered whether the cat’s visit was an auspicious sign of good fortune to come.

Carl and Johnny Silverhand waited in Japantown for Arasaka Saburo’s funeral Float Parade, while Carl considered the value of its lavish flower decorations and ate street food. The parade platform arrived, marking the start of the festival.

• Carl and Johnny Silverhand walked through Japantown, where Arasaka’s funeral decorations filled the streets with flowers.
• Carl noticed that the real flowers were valuable and thought about taking some home after the festival, while locals eyed them as potential treasure.
• Carl and Johnny Silverhand waited at a roadside stall, where Carl ordered ramen, tempura, and grilled chicken skewers.
• Carl ate the synthetic street food, found most of it unpleasant, and finished enough to fill her stomach.
• The parade platform arrived as Carl put down her chopsticks, and Arasaka Saburo’s memorial festival began.

Carl used compromised cameras to map Arasaka's festival security and guided Johnny Silverhand through a plan to infiltrate Hanako Arasaka's float. With V and the others nearby as backup, Johnny began eliminating the guards, successfully taking out the first sniper.

• Carl connected to the hidden cameras and discovered that every camera he had planted was still intact.
• Carl identified Adam Smasher as Night City's security chief and used the camera footage to map the route to Hanako Arasaka's float.
• Oliver, V, Jack, and T-BUG checked in from around Japantown and offered backup, while Carl told them he and Johnny could handle the job.
• Carl reviewed the positions of the drones, snipers, and Arasaka operatives, then instructed Johnny to begin the infiltration.
• Johnny climbed through a billboard gap and neutralized the first sniper during a brief communications window.

Johnny Silverhand eliminated Arasaka snipers while Carl directed him toward the hacker managing the float. Carl overheard a furious dispute over Hanako Arasaka’s security, ending with Adam Smasher dismissing her bodyguard Oda Sandayu’s demand to halt the festival.

• Johnny Silverhand took out a fourth sniper and eagerly followed Carl’s directions to eliminate the hacker in an abandoned building.
• Carl intercepted an Arasaka communications channel and heard Hanako Arasaka’s bodyguard demand that the festival be suspended for a security inspection.
• Carl realized Hanako Arasaka had few loyal forces in Night City and wondered why she had come despite her precarious position.
• Adam Smasher rejected Oda Sandayu’s security concerns and insisted that the festival’s precautions were adequate.
• Oda Sandayu argued that Hanako Arasaka should evacuate and challenged Adam Smasher’s priorities, but Adam ended the transmission.

Carl realized Oda Sandayu was secretly inspecting the parade float and would target Johnny Silverhand, so he abandoned the original plan and rushed to warn him. Oda confronted Johnny at the hacker’s location, and Johnny narrowly dodged his first attack.

• Carl identified Oda Sandayu as a capable guard who was likely handling security threats himself.
• Carl spotted a distortion in the surveillance footage and recognized Oda’s optical camouflage near Johnny Silverhand.
• Carl warned Johnny to abort the operation and leave immediately.
• Oda appeared before Johnny in black armor and attacked him with thermal Mantis Blades.
• Johnny dodged Oda’s strike, and Oda prepared to attack again after realizing Johnny was a robotic dog.

Johnny Silverhand narrowly evaded Oda Sandayu’s Mantis Blades as Oda learned his movements and damaged one of his legs. Johnny used a projection to distract Oda and escape a few steps, though Oda immediately recognized the trick and turned back toward him.

• Johnny Silverhand dodged through the ruins while Oda Sandayu pursued him with thermal Mantis Blades.
• Oda decided against using his Sandevistan and predicted Johnny’s escape route.
• Oda slashed Johnny’s hind leg, damaging its armor and slowing its movement.
• Johnny raised his claws to distract Oda while projecting a pistol-wielding image beside him.
• Oda struck the projection, recognized it as a trick, and saw Johnny scamper farther away.