Recaps

Okada Wakako accepted that Rogue had retaliated against the Tiger Claws Gang, while Su Xiao and his crew prepared to meet Dexter about their job. At the Afterlife, Su Xiao noticed a lone Nomad working with a man, then joined V and Jack to meet Dexter.

• Okada Wakako recognized that Rogue had struck back after her side provoked her, and she swallowed her anger despite her losses.
• Dexter called Su Xiao after he and T-BUG finalized their plan, and Su Xiao sent Lucy to stay at the Wolf Bar while the crew prepared.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack arrived at the Afterlife, where Jack admitted his mother’s worries made him nervous but insisted he would not abandon the job.
• Jack ordered Claire a drink recipe to save for him, while Su Xiao noticed a Nomad woman meeting a man on Rogue’s behalf and arranging work with the Sixth Street Gang.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack entered Dexter’s private room at the back of the Afterlife.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack prepared to infiltrate Azure Tower under fake identities and steal the Relic, while Saburo Arasaka traveled to Night City and recounted the events that shaped his life to Goro Takemura. The chapter ended with Saburo reflecting on how he had transformed Arasaka after taking control of the company.

• Dexter and T-BUG explained the Azure Tower plan, including using the Flathead to reach the surveillance room and disable the penthouse security.
• V asked about Adam Smasher, and T-BUG said she could monitor his and Yorinobu's biosignals once the Flathead entered the hotel.
• Dexter questioned Su Xiao about Evelyn Parker, but Su Xiao denied having anything more to say about her.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack donned bespoke suits, took the Flathead, and left the Afterlife in a Delamain Taxi for Azure Tower.
• Saburo Arasaka asked Goro Takemura what he would do if he had a son like Yorinobu, then recounted his wartime injuries and the revelation that led him to pursue power and build Arasaka.

Saburo Arasaka reflected on his failing health and sought Goro Takemura’s promise to serve Yorinobu after his death, while Su Xiao, V, and Jack arrived at Azure Tower for the heist. The crew entered the hotel without weapons, carrying the Flathead in a replacement case Su Xiao had prepared.

• Saburo Arasaka told Goro Takemura that his body was failing and expressed regret over Yorinobu’s choices.
• Saburo Arasaka asked Goro Takemura whether he would serve Yorinobu after Saburo’s death, and Takemura pledged loyalty to the Arasaka family.
• T-BUG checked the crew’s comms as they approached Azure Tower, and Su Xiao challenged her use of Aristotle’s quote by discussing Aristotle’s privileged background.
• The Delamain Taxi dropped Su Xiao, V, and Jack at Azure Tower, where the three left their weapons in the car.
• Jack retrieved the Flathead in a replacement alloy case that Su Xiao had prepared, though Jack and V did not understand why he had switched cases.

Su Xiao, Jack, and V entered Azure Tower under cover to use the Flathead to disable the penthouse suite’s security, while T-BUG supported them remotely. They checked in without alerting Taki Kawa, then rode the elevator toward their room as Su Xiao warned Jack to be careful around the hotel’s surveillance.

• Su Xiao and Jack passed Azure Tower’s security scanner, and Su Xiao persuaded the manager to let Jack bring the Flathead inside despite the alarm.
• Su Xiao checked the group in under the name Yang Weili, while T-BUG reminded them of the plan to send the Flathead through the vents and disable the penthouse security.
• When the receptionist offered to notify Taki Kawa that they had arrived, Su Xiao stopped her and intimidated her into completing the check-in without calling him.
• Su Xiao explained to T-BUG that he had only given the receptionist advice, then reminded Jack that Azure Tower monitored its guests as they passed the bar.
• Su Xiao, Jack, and V entered the elevator and headed toward their reserved room.

Jack, Su Xiao, and V infiltrated Azure Tower by using Flathead to kill the Arasaka hacker, but T-BUG needed several hours to break through the tower’s ICE. As the crew waited, Dexter prepared a backup escape plan and Saburo Arasaka arrived at Arasaka Tower.

• Jack controlled Flathead through the ventilation ducts, and the robot killed the Arasaka hacker in the surveillance room.
• Jack became sick after disconnecting from Flathead, while T-BUG told the crew that breaking through Azure Tower’s ICE would take several hours.
• Su Xiao ordered food for the crew as they waited, and he discussed the power of corporations with Jack and V.
• Dexter learned from T-BUG that the ICE would take hours to breach, ordered a car to the Silent Motel, and booked a seat on the next morning’s spacecraft.
• Saburo Arasaka arrived at Arasaka Tower, where a medical team hurried to meet him.

Jack questioned why Raijin Arasaka had abandoned his privileged life to join the Steel Dragons, while Su Xiao speculated that Raijin returned to destroy Arasaka from within. After Raijin arrived at Azure Tower and T-BUG disabled the penthouse security, Su Xiao secretly had V shut off the cameras in their room before the group set out.

• Jack recalled how his abusive father, Raul, had made his family poor and how Jack eventually fought back and drove him away.
• Su Xiao explained that the Steel Dragons were a Japanese Nomad family and suggested Raijin may have returned to Arasaka to attack it from within.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack saw Raijin Arasaka and Adam Smasher fly past in an AV, and T-BUG reported that the penthouse security was disabled.
• Before leaving, Su Xiao secretly asked V to disconnect the cameras in their room, which caused T-BUG to notice the feed had gone black.

Su Xiao used optical camouflage to follow V and Jack into Raijin Arasaka’s penthouse while T-BUG helped them crack the safe. They recovered the Relic and left the penthouse, but unidentified AVs arrived at Azure Tower in the storm as they escaped.

• Su Xiao revealed his Falcione’s Thermal Camouflage Armor, turned invisible, and followed V and Jack out of the Lapis Suite while T-BUG objected to the change in plan.
• V and Jack reached Raijin Arasaka’s penthouse, where Jack triggered the safe and V connected her personal link as T-BUG cracked it.
• T-BUG reported that Yorinobu was on the first floor with Adam Smasher while Jack found a pistol in the bedroom.
• Su Xiao spotted unidentified AVs flying toward Azure Tower through a sudden downpour, but his scan could not identify their occupants.
• V opened the safe, Jack took the refrigerated case containing the Relic, and the three left the penthouse by elevator.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack escaped Raijin Arasaka and Smasher by switching elevators and sent the Flathead to hide on the hotel’s first floor. On Azure Tower’s top floor, Saburo Arasaka confronted Yorinobu, whose anger erupted when Saburo compared him to Kei Arasaka.

• After T-BUG warned that Raijin Arasaka and Smasher were approaching, Su Xiao stopped the elevator on the forty-second floor and led V and Jack out.
• V disabled the cameras, and Su Xiao told her to send the Flathead through the vents to hide on the first floor before helping it escape.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack reentered the elevator after it carried Raijin Arasaka and Smasher upstairs, then continued toward the lobby.
• Goro Takemura and Smasher left Saburo Arasaka and Yorinobu alone in the Tavernier Suite.
• Saburo Arasaka rebuked Yorinobu and asked why he could not be like Kei Arasaka, prompting Yorinobu to angrily challenge his father.

Yorinobu confronted Saburo over Arasaka’s ambitions, the Relic, and his mother’s death, then killed him in a burst of rage. He quickly concealed his guilt by declaring that Saburo had been murdered, leaving Goro Takemura and Adam Smasher to find the body.

• Yorinobu accused Saburo of clinging to an outdated vision and rejected the Relic as Arasaka’s future.
• Saburo invoked Yorinobu’s dead mother, prompting Yorinobu to seize him by the throat and kill him.
• Yorinobu panicked about being blamed for Saburo’s death, then devised a plan after noticing the liquor on the table.
• Yorinobu activated Azure Tower’s Red Alert and told its artificial intelligence that his father had been murdered.
• Goro Takemura and Adam Smasher returned from the rooftop terrace to find Saburo’s corpse, and Yorinobu claimed someone had poisoned him.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack passed Azure Tower’s security scan, but a sudden red alert sealed the hotel exits and stopped them from leaving. As guards blocked their route to the elevator, Su Xiao prepared for a violent confrontation.

• Raijin Arasaka questioned Goro Takemura’s duty, and Takemura chose to keep protecting him rather than investigate Saburo’s death.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack passed through the hotel scanner without raising suspicion.
• Azure Tower went into a red alert and sealed its main entrance with blast doors.
• Su Xiao led V and Jack toward the elevator to reach the underground parking garage.
• Guards refused to let V and Jack leave, and Su Xiao concluded that he might have to kill them.

Su Xiao fought his way through Arasaka Tower with V and Jack, overpowering guards and trying to reach the locked elevator. When Arasaka’s Special Assault Unit arrived, he slaughtered the soldiers and forced the survivors to flee.

• Su Xiao killed the guards threatening V and Jack, then led them to an elevator locked down by the red alert.
• Su Xiao learned from a receptionist that only senior management could unlock the elevator and knocked her unconscious.
• V’s grenade and Jack’s gunfire failed to break the blast door, and Su Xiao dented it with a punch.
• Arasaka’s Special Assault Unit and additional guards rushed into the lobby, so V and Jack took cover while Su Xiao attacked them.
• Su Xiao used guns and tactical daggers to kill more than half the attackers, causing the survivors to flee.

Su Xiao escaped Azure Tower with V and Jack by blasting through a wall, but Adam Smasher intercepted their Delamain taxi and left V injured and unconscious. Su Xiao treated V and faced Smasher after deflecting a shell, while Jack recognized the feared cyborg.

• Su Xiao blew through Azure Tower's outer wall, eliminated the courtyard guards, and called V and Jack out to the Delamain taxi.
• The taxi sped away, but Adam Smasher dropped in front of it, causing a collision that flipped the car and injured all three occupants.
• Su Xiao freed V from the wreck, treated her thigh wound, and called Delamain for another taxi.
• Smasher fired a shell at Su Xiao, who deflected it with his sword.
• Jack crawled from the wreck and recognized Smasher, fearing the cyborg's arrival.

Su Xiao and Jack fought Adam Smasher after refusing to flee, using a Delamain Taxi and coordinated gunfire to create an opening. Smasher brought out his Jet Greatsword and attacked Su Xiao, whose Muramasa cracked Smasher’s armor as their weapons clashed.

• Jack told Su Xiao to escape with V while he held off Smasher, but Su Xiao refused to abandon his companions.
• A Delamain Taxi rammed Smasher, and Su Xiao and Jack attacked him with guns while Del helped from the vehicle.
• Smasher survived the gunfire and fired back, forcing Su Xiao to defend himself with Muramasa.
• Smasher summoned his Jet Greatsword and attacked Su Xiao with his Sandevistan activated.
• Su Xiao dodged the descending sword, rushed Smasher, and cracked his left arm’s armor with Muramasa.
• Smasher swung the Jet Greatsword at Su Xiao, and the two weapons clashed repeatedly.

Su Xiao defeated Adam Smasher and escaped the Azure Tower courtyard with V and Jack. Their Delamain Taxis then stopped at an Arasaka Special Assault Unit blockade, leaving them surrounded by heavily armed forces.

• Su Xiao broke Smasher’s Jet Greatsword with Muramasa and inflicted a deep wound that brought Smasher to his knees.
• Smasher lunged at Su Xiao, who dodged and severed both of his arms.
• Su Xiao dragged Smasher to the overturned Delamain Taxi and pressed his face against a spinning tire until he stopped struggling.
• Su Xiao and V left the courtyard in separate Delamain Taxis, with Jack accompanying V.
• Both taxis stopped at a roadblock where Arasaka soldiers, Walking Mechs, and armed AVs blocked their route.

Su Xiao destroyed Arasaka’s roadblock and armed AVs, allowing him, V, and Jack to escape Azure Tower with the Relic. They changed disguises in a Chinatown night market and drove toward the Silent Motel, leaving their pursuers behind.

• Su Xiao used missiles, time-slowing, gunfire, and his blade to break through Arasaka’s position and destroy its armed AVs.
• The Delamain Taxis carried Su Xiao, V, and Jack through the shattered blockade and into Chinatown.
• Goro Takemura arrived at the wreckage, struck a surviving soldier, and ordered his forces to find the escapees.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack left the damaged taxis, changed clothes in the night market, and killed the thugs who followed them.
• Jack drove Su Xiao and V toward the Silent Motel in a sports coupe.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack discovered that damage to the Relic’s case was rapidly destroying the chip’s data, and Evelyn advised them to install it in a neural slot. The chapter left them weighing that risk until Su Xiao proposed placing the Relic in a machine’s slot instead.

• Jack noticed bullet holes in the Relic’s cooling case and found that the chip’s integrity was falling.
• Su Xiao called Evelyn, who said the Relic needed a stable environment and advised one of them to put it in a neural slot.
• A driver confronted the stopped coupe, but Su Xiao pointed a Tech Revolver at him and sent him running.
• Jack volunteered to take the Relic, but Su Xiao offered to try storing it in a machine’s slot instead.

Su Xiao and Jack discovered that the relic chip had not responded when plugged into the flathead, then learned Saburo Arasaka had died, making the chip far more dangerous to sell. At the Silent Motel, Su Xiao grew suspicious of Dexter’s behavior and realized Dexter planned to flee Night City by shuttle.

• Su Xiao inserted the relic chip into the flathead, but it showed no reaction, and he reassured Jack that the chip might still be valuable.
• The car radio reported Saburo Arasaka’s death in the Azure Tower, and Su Xiao and Jack worried Arasaka would intensify its search for the relic.
• Su Xiao left V and Jack in the car outside the Silent Motel and went alone to meet Dexter in Room 204.
• Dexter asked where the relic was, showed brief panic when Su Xiao said it was in the car, and claimed a transport contact could help them.
• Su Xiao overheard Dexter arrange a shuttle from Spaceport Platform 4 and confronted him about leaving Night City.

Su Xiao confronted Dexter, who blamed him for Saburo Arasaka’s death and tried to kill him. Su Xiao disarmed Dexter and accepted half his savings before ordering him to leave, but Dexter was shot as he reached the door.

• Su Xiao caught Dexter’s goon’s sneak attack and knocked him unconscious with a punch.
• Dexter drew a pistol and accused Su Xiao of causing Saburo Arasaka’s death, then fired at him.
• Su Xiao blocked the bullet with Muramasa, cut Dexter’s pistol apart, and held the blade to his neck.
• Dexter begged for his life and offered his savings and a route out through the spaceport; Su Xiao agreed to take five million eurodollars.
• Dexter transferred 2.5 million eurodollars, and Su Xiao let him go without explaining why.
• A gunshot struck Dexter’s leg as he reached the door, and another shot hit his arm when he tried to grab the doorknob.

After killing Dexter for betraying them, Su Xiao reassured V and Jack and arranged for them and T-BUG to meet at a safe house in Northside. The group reached Su Xiao’s fortified hideout, where its turrets recognized Jack and let them pass.

• Su Xiao killed Dexter after Dexter tried to silence him and the others, then V and Jack entered the room.
• Su Xiao told V and Jack that Dexter had betrayed them, and reassured Jack that he had anticipated the danger.
• T-BUG rejoined the team’s voice channel, revealed she had fled her old location, and learned that Su Xiao had killed Dexter.
• Su Xiao sent T-BUG the address of a safe house and arranged for them to meet there.
• Su Xiao led V and Jack to his Northside hideout, where concealed Sentry Turrets identified Jack as friendly and lowered their weapons.

Su Xiao and the others secured the safe house, gathered weapons, and reassured Lucy that they had escaped Azure Tower. While they waited and prepared for trouble, Jack and T-BUG talked about what they would have done with their payment, including T-BUG’s plan to leave Night City for Crete Island.

• Su Xiao showed V, Jack, and T-BUG the safe house’s weapons and supplies, and they each chose weapons suited to them.
• V urged Su Xiao to call Lucy, and he told her that the team was safe but could not return yet.
• Lucy told Su Xiao that she and Mrs. Wells were staying at the bar, and he asked her to pass along his regards to Mrs. Wells and reassure her that Jack was safe.
• V took Su Xiao’s hand to comfort him after the call, and the group settled into the safe house.
• Jack asked T-BUG how she would have spent the job payment, and she said she planned to leave Night City for Crete Island.
• V watched the outside cameras and helped load magazines while Su Xiao began making Smart Weapons.

Su Xiao and the others watched Arasaka and New America trade threats after Saburo Arasaka’s death, then learned Arasaka had issued no bounty notices. Rogue believed Su Xiao when he denied killing Saburo and began recalling an earlier assault on Arasaka Tower.

• Su Xiao, T-BUG, V, and Jack spent time in the safe house before V showed them Raijin Arasaka’s announcement that he would double Arasaka’s Special Assault Unit presence in Night City.
• V played a broadcast of President Myers warning that New America would respond to Arasaka’s provocations.
• Su Xiao wondered why Arasaka had not issued a warrant for the people who fought their way out of Konpeki, then called Li Nali to check for bounty notices.
• Li Nali confirmed that Arasaka had issued no bounty notices and teased Su Xiao about the Konpeki incident.
• Su Xiao called Rogue, who believed his denial that he and his companions had killed Saburo Arasaka.
• Rogue enjoyed seeing Su Xiao surprised, then recalled that Johnny Silverhand had led one of three assault teams during the Fourth Corporate War.

After three days without any sign that Arasaka was pursuing them, Su Xiao decided to return to their apartments with V and Jack. Meanwhile, Raijin Arasaka learned that Takemura was investigating and that Adam Smasher’s backup engram was missing, while Su Xiao’s group headed first to his apartment in The Glen.

• Su Xiao checked with Li Nali and Rogue, confirmed that Arasaka had issued no wanted notices or bounties, and decided to test whether it was safe to return.
• Su Xiao brought V and Jack along in a Delamain Taxi, carrying an empty refrigerated case and a silver briefcase containing Falcione.
• Raijin Arasaka learned that Takemura was heading to Watson District and that surveillance footage of the Azure Tower killers was obscured by anti-detection jammers.
• Raijin Arasaka discovered that Adam Smasher’s backup engram was missing from Mikoshi, but declined to launch a search amid factional tensions.
• Su Xiao tossed the empty refrigerated case onto a pile of trash and directed the Delamain Taxi to his apartment in The Glen.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack searched their homes for surveillance, only to find Goro Takemura waiting in V's apartment to capture them. As gunfire tore through the room, Su Xiao shielded V while Takemura also took cover beneath the windowsill.

• Su Xiao, V, and Jack checked Su Xiao's apartment, Jack's home, and the Wolf Bar, finding no one watching them.
• Su Xiao, V, and Jack entered V's apartment and found Goro Takemura emerging from the armory.
• Goro Takemura said he intended to question them and attacked, firing at Su Xiao while his nanomachines deflected V and Jack's shots.
• Goro Takemura struck Jack with Satori, but Su Xiao donned the Falcione Exoskeleton Armor and forced him back with a powerful slash.
• Su Xiao spotted a red dot on Takemura and shouted for V to get down as a barrage of gunfire shattered the window.
• Su Xiao shielded V beneath his body, while Takemura crouched beneath the windowsill with the nanomachines gone from his head and hands.

Su Xiao led V, Jack, and the wounded Goro Takemura through an Arasaka ambush and out of the megabuilding in a Delamain Taxi. Arasaka ninjas pursued them on motorcycles, firing on the taxi as their escape continued.

• Su Xiao discovered that Arasaka had remotely disabled Goro Takemura’s cyberware and erased his accounts and clearance, then shot the attackers across the street and led V and Jack toward the stairs.
• Goro Takemura called a temporary ceasefire, and Su Xiao gave him a Pneumatic Syringe before the group descended together.
• Su Xiao wiped out an ambush by Arasaka soldiers and killed an Arasaka ninja from the special execution unit called “Troy”; V and Jack helped fight through further attackers.
• In the underground garage, Su Xiao warned Goro Takemura that his car had probably been sabotaged and cut down the soldiers waiting there.
• Jack called a Delamain Taxi, and the group escaped the garage as Arasaka ninjas pursued them on motorcycles and fired at the vehicle.

Su Xiao, V, Jack, and Goro Takemura escaped Arasaka's Troy assassins in a Delamain Taxi, and Takemura revealed that Arasaka had remotely disabled his cyberware. The group remained wary of Takemura, who offered to pay them for answers as they considered where to go next.

• Su Xiao used the taxi's weapons and an anti-armor missile to kill the pursuing Arasaka ninjas.
• Takemura treated his bullet wounds in the moving taxi, then identified the attackers as Troy, Arasaka assassins used against its own people.
• Su Xiao explained that Arasaka had remotely disabled Takemura's cyberware, leaving V and Jack stunned.
• Su Xiao questioned Takemura about his earlier plan to take them to Yorinobu, while V and Jack aimed their guns at him.
• Jack said the group had a safe place but would not take Takemura there because they did not trust him.
• Takemura offered to pay the mercenaries for answers and asked them to name their price.