Chapter Summaries

The Psycho Squad members who still had their senses turned against their cyberpsychotic former teammates, while Carl helped eliminate another attacker. The fighting continued as Carl promised compensation for the dead squad member’s family and erased his employment records to preserve his service history.

• The sane Psycho Squad members followed their duty and attacked their cyberpsychotic teammates, but their smart bullets failed to penetrate the former officers’ military-grade armor.
• A Psycho Squad woman used her Dusk Mantis Blades to kill a cyberpsycho and showed Carl her loyalty.
• A cyberpsycho ambushed Carl with a glowing Mantis Blade, but Carl dodged and severed his head with Monomolecular Wire.
• Carl erased the dead cyberpsycho’s employment records to make it appear he had been fired the day before, then promised compensation for his family.

Jack, Oliver, and Johnny fought Cyberpsychos alongside Psycho Squad, killing the attackers as they advanced through the hall. The battle left few enemies standing, and Oliver surveyed the smoke-filled scene.

• Jack killed a Cyberpsycho by crushing him and twisting his head around.
• A captain-level Cyberpsycho charged Jack with a katana, but Johnny shot him through the chest before he could strike.
• Jack praised Johnny's shot, and Johnny boasted about his past exploits and current strength.
• Oliver shot a ceiling-crawling Cyberpsycho through the head with his charged Nekomata rifle.
• Oliver surveyed the hall and saw that only a few Cyberpsychos remained, relieved that the fight had been easier than expected.

After the Psycho Squad eliminated twenty-five Cyberpsychosis cases, Melissa Rory offered the squad's loyalty to Carl, who told them to keep doing their jobs and promised rewards and new equipment. Melissa accepted the reprieve while privately reflecting on how much the Night City Police Department resembled the people it called crazy.

• The Psycho Squad and cooperating Night City Police Department officers eliminated twenty-five Cyberpsychosis cases in five minutes and twelve seconds.
• Melissa Rory offered the Psycho Squad's loyalty to Carl, declaring that they followed the strong.
• Carl said she did not care whom they served as long as they did their jobs, and she refused to treat them as brothers or friends.
• Carl praised the squad's work and promised to request bonuses and provide them with the latest military-grade cyberware and armor.
• Melissa recognized Carl had given the squad a second chance, then cursed the department for being as crazy as the people it condemned.
• The surviving Psycho Squad members collected the Dog Tags of their fallen colleagues.

Carl met rookie officer Emily and promised to visit her grandfather's hotdog stand, but Lillian interrupted Emily before she could invite him out. Lillian learned Andy was too busy to meet and decided to find him herself, while Emily resolved to ask Carl another time.

• Carl recognized Emily and promised to try the new flatbread at her grandfather's stand that weekend.
• Lillian interrupted Emily and asked Carl whether Andy was free to meet.
• Carl explained that Andy was overwhelmed with work as the Psycho Squad resumed operations.
• Oliver confirmed Andy was busy, and Lillian called him a workaholic before deciding to find him herself.
• Emily agreed to handle the remaining work and resolved to invite Carl another time.

With the NCPD’s control of the Psycho Squad restored, corporations treated KK as the power behind the department while avoiding direct interference. Carl then began investigating Biotechnica’s activity in the Badlands and Dogtown for the mysterious Mr. Blue Eyes.

• Major corporations discussed Commissioner Johnson, Andy, and KK, and came to believe that KK effectively owned the NCPD.
• The corporations chose to leave the NCPD outside their control rather than risk upsetting Night City’s balance of power.
• Carl sensed that someone was talking about her, then dismissed the feeling and continued gathering information for a client.
• Carl accessed a hidden data slot in an alley to retrieve information prepared for her investigation.
• Carl recalled that Mr. Blue Eyes had asked her to track Biotechnica’s personnel, equipment, and movements through abandoned facilities in the Badlands and toward Dogtown.

Carl investigated Biotechnica for Mr. Blue Eyes under strict secrecy and chose to begin with the company’s transport routes and low-security warehouses. She found vehicles making unusual detours to a warehouse and watched its workers leave for the night.

• Carl considered how to investigate Biotechnica without alerting the company or leaving traces.
• Carl surveyed Biotechnica’s farms and warehouses in Santo Domingo’s Coronado Farm area.
• Carl hacked public traffic surveillance and found Biotechnica vehicles making regular detours between headquarters and the Badlands.
• Carl noticed that one detour led to a low-security warehouse she had been watching.
• Carl watched the warehouse workers leave at 10:20 PM, leaving only the night-shift guards behind.

After work, Carl followed a group of warehouse employees to a barbecue joint, hoping their relaxed conversation might reveal information about suspicious goods at the warehouse. He settled in to order grilled meat, leaving his investigation for later.

• Carl noticed several young warehouse employees heading to a barbecue joint after their shift.
• Carl followed them downstairs and joined their group, planning to listen for useful information while they ate and drank.
• At the Coronado Farm shop, Carl surveyed the customers and noticed that the owner appeared to be a veteran of the Unification War.
• Carl sat near the employees and considered what meat to order.

Carl ate at a barbecue joint while secretly listening to warehouse workers discuss recent security failures and their supervisor’s frequent inspections. She left with a lead pointing her toward Warehouse B Sector, while the dreadlocked worker she had compromised slept beside the table.

• Carl grilled and ate synthetic meat while watching the young people at the next table and listening to their conversation.
• The workers described security systems in Warehouse B and C Sectors misidentifying staff, triggering turrets, and administering electric shocks.
• The workers said the supervisor had been inspecting the warehouses repeatedly, especially B Sector, where she visited seven or eight times a day.
• The dreadlocked girl noticed Carl and considered flirting with him, but she suddenly grew dizzy and collapsed asleep.
• Carl recognized B Sector as useful intelligence and realized the girl had been knocked out by her data breach.

Carl infiltrated a half-abandoned warehouse and discovered that B Sector was protected by unusually advanced security. She slipped past its traps during a sandstorm and entered B Sector, leaving whatever lay inside unknown.

• Carl halted just before a hidden pressure plate and spotted traps and Dynamic Identification Systems guarding the approach to B Sector.
• Carl recognized the advanced security as evidence that B Sector contained something suspicious and waited for a forecast sandstorm.
• Carl used Haruko’s knife to disrupt the security devices for one second and crossed the trapped corridor without triggering an alarm.
• Carl retrieved the knife, checked the entrance for detectors, and opened the B Sector door.

Carl investigated the freezing warehouse and discovered biological tanks containing engineered muscle tissue suited for cyberware-enhanced Gorilla Arms. As she prepared to inspect the rest of the facility, the door began opening behind her.

• Carl entered B Sector and found the warehouse unnaturally cold, with its shelves concealed beneath tarps.
• Carl lifted a tarp and discovered rows of biological storage tanks beneath it.
• Carl examined abnormal muscle tissue in a tank and recognized its explosive strength and reserved ports for cyberware.
• Carl inferred that Biotechnica was developing powerful living organisms, possibly for use as bionic pets and bodyguards.
• Carl prepared to inspect the remaining shelves, but the warehouse door slowly opened behind her.

Semir and Daws inspected a warehouse after a sandstorm-related signal disruption, where Semir explained his childhood dream of reviving dodos. After the researchers left, Carl emerged from hiding with a lead about biological test subjects being sent to Dogtown.

• Daws and Semir entered the warehouse with mechanical guards to investigate signal interference and complained about their superior.
• Semir told Daws that he believed the dodo gene recombination experiment could bring back an extinct bird he had mourned since childhood.
• Semir revealed that the company planned to sell modified extinct creatures as high-end custom pets, while Daws mentioned test subjects for military-grade cyberware headed to Dogtown.
• Semir noticed a strange shadow but dismissed it as his imagination, and he and Daws left the warehouse.
• Carl watched the researchers leave and decided the dodo project sounded interesting, while noting that the Dogtown test subjects gave her a lead for Mr. Blue Eyes.

After Biotechnica’s extinct-species research sparked an idea for reviving Johnny, Carl considered how a new body could truly become him and found a researcher who might help. She told Johnny about the lead, and he eagerly embraced the possibility of returning to life.

• Carl considered the limits of cloning and wondered what it would take for a new body to become Johnny Silverhand rather than merely resemble him.
• Carl found Arasaka records identifying Semir Dark, a junior researcher working on dodo revival and custom-pet projects, and planned to investigate the research in Pacifica.
• Carl told Johnny about Semir and the possibility that he could help bring Johnny back to life.
• Johnny welcomed the prospect, saying he wanted to smoke with real lungs, and Carl ended the call.
• Carl inspected Semir’s private folder and found annotated sketches of extinct species alongside a note about letting a revived dodo taste a real mango.

Carl tracked a suspicious Biotechnica transport truck through the rapidly changing Pacifica and infiltrated its hidden underground facility. There she discovered that its cargo was a living-looking Triceratops, an unfinished experimental specimen.

• Carl struggled to identify Biotechnica's cargo transport amid Pacifica's newly crowded streets and decided to scan vehicles for abnormal temperatures.
• Carl spotted a cold white truck disguised as a synthetic-meat delivery vehicle and followed it through Pacifica.
• Carl traced the truck to a construction site and discovered a concealed lift leading to an underground passage.
• Carl slipped past the facility's security during a brief surveillance gap and entered a vast underground ecological dome.
• Carl watched Biotechnica researchers unload the refrigerated chamber and found a Triceratops inside.

Carl watched Biotechnica’s bionic Triceratops defeat a modified gorilla and learned that the winning specimen was destined for Hansen. The researchers revealed that Hansen had ordered its intelligence core destroyed, leaving Carl to suspect a deeper purpose she could not yet identify.

• Carl watched Biotechnica’s researchers activate a bionic Triceratops and realized they considered it a breakthrough specimen.
• A modified gorilla entered the eco-park, and the Triceratops fought it before the researchers’ observation window.
• The Triceratops defeated the gorilla by impaling it with its horns, while both creatures sustained damage.
• Biotechnica’s director said the Triceratops would be sent to Hansen after its data was recorded.
• Carl overheard that Hansen had requested the bionics’ intelligence cores be destroyed and wondered what he intended to do with them.

Carl completed his Biotechnica intelligence job and delivered far more information than Mr. Blue Eyes had expected, then returned to Watson for cyberware maintenance. Misty gave Carl a divination that hinted he had outgrown easy jobs and would keep seeking broader change.

• Carl hacked Biotechnica’s Pacifica laboratory and sent Mr. Blue Eyes personnel records, equipment details, experimental data, footage, routes, and the lab’s coordinates.
• Mr. Blue Eyes praised Carl’s work and paid him, saying the information far exceeded the agreement.
• Carl realized he had overworked himself, considered the coming conflict between Hansen and Rosalind-Myles, and returned to Watson by Delamain.
• Misty stopped Carl outside her shop and handed him a divination predicting that his jobs would no longer challenge him and that he would seek change beyond the city.

After leaving Old Vic's Clinic, Carl kept thinking about Misty's warning that enclosed spaces brought bad luck while open spaces brought good fortune. She then watched an NCPD officer take a bribe to close a wanted man's case and made him share the money with her, leaving with a hot-dog windfall.

• Carl left Old Vic's Clinic and tried to make sense of Misty's warning about enclosed and open spaces.
• Carl noticed several wanted people on the street, including a burly man with a 500-Eurodollar bounty.
• An NCPD officer approached the burly man, accepted a stack of cash, and had the bounty board mark the case closed as a fine paid.
• Carl revealed herself to the officer and demanded a share of the bribe to buy herself a hot dog.
• The officer gave Carl money and said he could brag about the incident when he got back.

Carl learned that the Pheasant Faction planned to rescue Hanako Arasaka using the Ninja Hundred, ninety of whom had secretly infiltrated North America. Suspecting that a digitized Arasaka Saburo might be directing them, Carl decided to act through Akechi and assist the Ninjas.

• Akechi Goro contacted Carl on an ordinary phone line, and Carl had him reconnect through a secure channel.
• Akechi told Carl that the Pheasant Faction's Japanese leaders planned to rescue Hanako Arasaka after Yorinobu's supporters had weakened them.
• Akechi explained that Takemura Goro refused to help and that Sesen had removed several Pheasant Faction members from the Board of Directors.
• Akechi revealed that ninety members of the Ninja Hundred had secretly infiltrated North America, while ten remained at the Arasaka estate.
• Carl reasoned that a digital copy of Arasaka Saburo might have commanded the Ninja Hundred and decided to assist them through Akechi.

Akechi led the Pheasant Faction’s rescue planning after revealing Hanako Arasaka’s location and the villa’s heavy defenses. Carl and Arakawa Sesen then agreed to use the rescue as a trap to expose the force behind the faction, with Carl planning to pose as an Arasaka operations squad member.

• Akechi met the Pheasant Faction’s core members and was given command of the operation to rescue Hanako Arasaka.
• Akechi revealed Hanako’s location in a North Oak villa and showed the group its extensive security systems.
• Akechi set a forty-eight-hour deadline, warning that Hanako might be moved again if Arakawa Sesen discovered their plans.
• Carl told Arakawa Sesen that the Pheasant Faction’s knowledge suggested the involvement of a deceased man who had understood Arasaka well.
• Carl and Arakawa Sesen agreed to lure out the hidden mastermind, with Sesen offering himself as bait if needed.
• Carl planned to use Arasaka’s Second Operations Squad as cover and joked that tungsten rounds could serve as funeral money.

Akechi coordinated a planned rescue of Hanako Arasaka during Arakawa Sesen’s press conference, intending to use the operation to weaken Hanako’s faction while protecting his own people. David prepared to join the mission with Carl’s group, and Akechi arrived at the designated location the next morning.

• Akechi told his allies that Arakawa Sesen’s press conference would create the best chance to rescue Hanako Arasaka and assigned them to support the operation.
• Akechi and Arakawa Sesen arranged the operation so that a staged counterattack would cause heavy casualties among the Pheasant Faction and Ninja Hundred while sparing Akechi’s people.
• Carl, acting as Akechi, asked whether the group could get up in time, and David insisted on staying with the Second Operations Squad.
• Oliver praised David’s growth, while David reassured him that he had checked in with Maine, Lucy, and his mother.
• V reminded David to stay safe and rely on his companions if trouble arose.
• At nine the next morning, Akechi arrived at the designated location.

Akechi and a small team began the plan to rescue Hanako Arasaka from the guarded Arasaka villa, while Oliver, Carl, V, David, Jack, and Johnny entered the restricted zone. Hanako gave them permission to proceed, and V prepared to fight as security forces closed in.

• Akechi assured the Pheasant Faction commander that his small team was enough and ordered the operation to begin.
• Oliver drove the group toward the villa, while the Ninja Hundred used Optical Camouflage to evade its surveillance.
• Carl, V, and Johnny discussed Johnny's growing familiarity with Yorinobu as the vehicle passed the security scan.
• Hanako spoke over the communication channel and told them to go ahead.
• V confirmed that the approaching forces were spies and security robots, then gripped his blade to engage them.