Chapter Summaries

Su Xiao met with Yorinobu Arasaka and offered to trade economic aid for help consolidating Arasaka. He proposed that Yorinobu eliminate his rivals, leaving the deal—and Yorinobu’s response—unresolved.

• Yorinobu met Su Xiao and demanded that he state his business directly.
• Yorinobu’s Hawk Faction, Hana Arasaka’s Pheasant Faction, and Michiko Arasaka’s Dove Faction remained divided, with the latter two factions aligned against him.
• Su Xiao offered to provide economic aid to Dawn Military Company’s country in exchange for helping Yorinobu unite Arasaka.
• Su Xiao revealed that he planned to become Bolivia’s president, surprising Yorinobu, who had thought Dawn Military Company wanted only the country’s resources.
• Yorinobu asked how Su Xiao would help him consolidate Arasaka, and Su Xiao proposed eliminating all his opponents.

Su Xiao agreed to help Raijin Arasaka assassinate Hana Arasaka and Michiko Arasaka in exchange for his support. Raijin supplied detailed intelligence and opened Arasaka’s resources to Su Xiao, who discovered materials needed to manufacture more Falcione exoskeleton armor.

• Su Xiao argued that eliminating faction leaders through direct violence was a practical way to win corporate conflicts.
• Raijin explained why he could not use Arasaka’s Troy unit or security forces to kill his sister and niece in Japan.
• Su Xiao promised he could complete the assassinations if Raijin provided accurate intelligence, and Raijin agreed to fund the operation.
• Su Xiao and Raijin reached an agreement, with Raijin offering Dawn Military Company money, weapons, cyberware, and access to Arasaka’s warehouses.
• Su Xiao found materials for manufacturing Falcione exoskeleton armor at Arasaka Waterfront.

Su Xiao secured Arasaka’s rare materials for transport to Bolivia, while Hana Arasaka and Michiko Arasaka’s attempt to enlist Militech against Yorinobu failed. The chapter left Hana looking for another private military company to help them.

• Su Xiao asked Yorinobu’s representative to send all the rare materials to Bolivia, and Yorinobu approved the request and arranged transport aircraft with fighter escorts.
• Hana Arasaka learned that Rosalind Myers refused to send Militech troops against Yorinobu, unwilling to risk responsibility for his assassination or a new war.
• Hana and Michiko discussed killing Yorinobu but recognized they could not use Arasaka’s security forces or openly order an assassination without losing their claim to lead the family.
• Hana asked Michiko whether she knew of any other reliable private military companies in New America.

Hana Arasaka chose Dawn Military Company to kill Yorinobu and offered its president double whatever her brother had promised. Su Xiao refused her offer, leaving Hana’s plan and the company’s allegiance unresolved.

• Michiko Arasaka recommended Dawn Military Company to Hana after describing its success in Bolivia and its record of eliminating threats.
• Hana asked Michiko to contact Dawn Military Company and rejected High-Tech Military Industry because she distrusted the Russians.
• After ending the call, Hana wondered whether Dawn could kill Yorinobu, then Su Xiao appeared inside her guarded residence.
• Hana realized Yorinobu had already hired Dawn and offered Su Xiao twice his payment in exchange for killing her brother.
• Su Xiao recalled Yorinobu’s promised resources and refused Hana’s offer.

Su Xiao killed Hana Arasaka and fought his way out of her mansion, leaving survivors to spread the account of his attack. Adam Smasher then appeared in a heavily modified mech, and Su Xiao began assessing its abilities as the fight continued.

• Su Xiao killed Hana Arasaka, destroyed her corpse with the Crusher Kinetic Shotgun, and confirmed her death with his Tactical Goggles.
• Su Xiao used Militech logos on his armor to frame the attack, then fought through Hana Arasaka's guards and reached the courtyard unharmed.
• Su Xiao spared the wavering guards so survivors could report what happened and later serve Raijin Arasaka.
• Adam Smasher crashed into the courtyard in a five-meter mech, and Su Xiao recognized him as the man he had killed before.
• Smasher used a Magnetic Field Generator to seize weapons and fire at Su Xiao, then unleashed a Gravity Field and charged when it failed.
• Su Xiao dodged Smasher's attacks and studied the mech's defenses, flight, and cyberware as the battle continued.

Su Xiao defeated Adam Smasher, escaped with his allies, and acquired the improved War Machine Mech blueprint. After Hana Arasaka’s death triggered a public declaration of war against Militech, Raijin Arasaka secretly sent supplies to Bolivia, where Saul and the others had uncovered Captain Cuatro’s hidden treasury.

• Su Xiao tore off both of Adam Smasher’s thrusters, took him to the coast, stabbed his head, and dropped him into the sea before escaping by submarine.
• Su Xiao spent 3,000 Potential Points on the War Machine Mech blueprint and learned how its design improved on Smasher’s experimental body.
• Surveillance footage of Hana Arasaka’s murder spread worldwide and appeared to identify a Militech killer, while rumors also accused Raijin Arasaka of arranging the assassination.
• Raijin Arasaka denied sending the killer, mourned Hana publicly, and declared that Arasaka would seek revenge against Militech.
• Raijin Arasaka secretly arranged for Arasaka transport forces to deliver supplies to Bolivia, while Saul and the others used Flores’s Cyberbrain intelligence to find Captain Cuatro’s hidden treasury.

Su Xiao and Raijin Arasaka benefited from Hana Arasaka’s hidden fortune as Raijin united Arasaka and prepared for war with New America. President Myers failed to secure support from the Western States, Texas, and the Pacific Alliance, and Arasaka’s forces began their invasion by landing in Canada.

• Su Xiao and Raijin Arasaka used Hana Arasaka’s wealth to strengthen Bolivia and consolidate Raijin’s control of Arasaka.
• President Myers mobilized Militech’s forces and sought support from the Western States, Texas, and the Pacific Alliance, but they all remained neutral.
• President Myers offered economic aid and other concessions, but the three powers still refused to join New America.
• Arasaka assembled its forces in Japan and sent nearly all of them toward North America in February 2079.
• Raijin Arasaka’s forces bypassed Night City, entered Canada through the Juan de Fuca Strait, and landed at Vancouver.

As Arasaka and Militech prepared for war, Su Xiao visited Meredith in Night City and urged her to leave Militech before the conflict consumed her. He offered her a ministerial position in Bolivia, but Meredith had not yet accepted as Su Xiao argued that her lack of elite connections left her vulnerable within Militech.

• President Myers and the Pentagon generals redeployed troops to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and New York while keeping forces near Texas and the Western States.
• Su Xiao entered Militech's tower in Night City and persuaded Meredith to speak with him privately.
• Su Xiao warned Meredith that Militech had left her in Night City as an expendable asset and offered her a ministerial position in Bolivia.
• Meredith questioned Su Xiao's claims and warned that she could inform Militech about his plans with Texas and Bolivia.
• Su Xiao argued that Meredith's lack of an elite background made her prospects for advancement at Militech poor.

Militech trusted Meredith’s report and redeployed its forces to stop Arasaka’s advance on Washington, believing the danger had passed. The chapter ended with Texas unexpectedly invading New America, leaving President Myers and the generals stunned and questioning Meredith’s loyalty.

• Su Xiao left the Militech building, went to the Arasaka Waterfront, and ordered Saul, Mitch, Skar, Panam, V, Lucy, Mann, and the others to unload equipment.
• Meredith’s encrypted message convinced President Myers and the generals that Arasaka’s reinforcements were traveling through Canada, so they sent troops to cut the railway and defend Ogdensburg.
• Arasaka captured Ogdensburg and advanced toward Washington, but Ohio troops joined the scattered New York forces and stopped the advance.
• Wisconsin troops intercepted Arasaka’s reinforcements, while Michigan troops joined them instead of attacking Arasaka’s advance force from behind.
• President Myers and the generals believed Militech had gained the upper hand and joked about Raijin Arasaka’s strategy.
• Texas suddenly attacked New America, sweeping through Oklahoma and Arkansas into Tennessee, prompting President Myers and the generals to wonder whether Meredith had betrayed them.

Dawn Military Company’s War Machine Mechs annihilated New America’s Oklahoma forces at Nashville, clearing the way toward Washington. President Myers and the generals learned of the defeat from civilians’ online footage, and some argued that they should flee before the enemy arrived.

• President Myers and the generals discovered that Bolivia’s army had used Texas’s transit rights to enter the war, and they assigned Oklahoma’s forces to stop Dawn Military Company.
• The Oklahoma commander chose to wait for Dawn Military Company’s attack rather than strike first, and the two sides began exchanging artillery and air fire on February 22.
• Dawn Military Company’s War Machine Mechs smashed through the Oklahoma defenses, and its combined forces wiped out all twenty thousand enemy troops at the Battle of Nashville.
• Su Xiao equipped Arasaka’s fighter pilots with enhanced Combat Augmentors, helping their aircraft defeat New America’s air force.
• Dawn Military Company advanced toward Washington without further resistance, and President Myers and the generals learned of the Oklahoma forces’ destruction from online videos.
• Some of the generals urged President Myers to flee before Dawn Military Company reached the capital.

The Dawn Military Company overwhelmed New America's defenses and captured Washington, forcing President Myers and the generals to meet Su Xiao. Su Xiao left the war room after securing their cooperation and allowing them to retain much of their wealth.

• President Myers recalled thirty thousand troops to defend the capital and hired local mercenaries because other private military companies had few forces at home.
• Su Xiao warned V that capturing Washington would weaken Militech but that the Dawn Military Company needed a swift victory to avoid a costly war of attrition.
• The Dawn Military Company launched a nighttime assault, destroyed most of New America's air force and artillery, and seized control of the skies.
• War Machine Mechs disarmed New America's soldiers, many of whom surrendered or mutinied against officers demanding resistance.
• President Myers rejected fleeing because enemy aircraft controlled the skies, and he and his generals remained in the Pentagon as the Dawn Military Company advanced.
• Su Xiao entered the war room with Goro Takemura and negotiated with President Myers and the generals, then left satisfied after allowing them to keep much of their wealth.

Su Xiao established the Humanity Innovation Alliance and improved its citizens’ working conditions, while its technology and industries flourished. Two decades later, the Alliance’s prosperity helped spark worldwide labor protests, and the chapter ended with Biotechnology’s executives arguing over the deadly Bloody Valentine crackdown.

• After New America surrendered, Su Xiao absorbed its troops into the Dawn Military Company and divided its territory with Raijin Arasaka, who later consolidated control of Arasaka and became Japan’s prime minister.
• Su Xiao became Grand President of the Humanity Innovation Alliance and announced a four-day workweek with an eight-hour workday and a forty-hour weekly limit including overtime.
• The Alliance developed nano-medical robots and bio-components, then expanded into advanced industries and age-reversing medicine, eventually dominating high-end markets alongside Kang Tao and Arasaka.
• As the Alliance became one of the world’s happiest countries, workers elsewhere staged protests for better treatment, and corporate security forces violently suppressed them in an event called Bloody Valentine.
• At a Biotechnology Corporation meeting, executives argued over how to handle the victims of Bloody Valentine, and the conference-room lights suddenly dimmed.

The Humanity Innovation Alliance used its space battleship to force corporations to improve workers’ conditions, bringing corporate rule to an end and uniting the world. Thirty-one years later, Su Xiao, V, and Lucy reunited with Jack in Night City, where Jack chose to join them again.

• The Humanity Innovation Alliance’s warship shielded itself from Biotechnology’s missiles, then destroyed its conference room with a missile strike.
• The Humanity Innovation Alliance demanded that corporations improve employee welfare, and it destroyed Zeta Tech’s headquarters from low Earth orbit after the company resisted.
• Most corporations were acquired by the Humanity Innovation Alliance, declining countries joined it as member states, and global unification followed.
• Su Xiao, V, and Lucy visited the Afterlife bar thirty-one years later and learned that Rogue and Johnny had gone traveling.
• Jack met Su Xiao, V, and Lucy and decided to leave his private military company to work with Su Xiao again.