Chapter Summaries

Joanne ordered her convoy to kill Su Xiao after he refused to leave, but he shot at them and lured their pursuit deeper into the Badlands. He disabled one SUV’s Auto Turret with a sticky bomb as the soldiers fired back.

• Joanne told her driver to kill the nomad following the convoy, and Su Xiao drew a Kinetic Handgun and fired three shots at them.
• The driver braked to evade the bullets, and Joanne ordered the soldiers to catch and kill Su Xiao.
• Su Xiao sped away on the Brennan Apollo, drawing two Armored SUVs after him before Joanne ordered the entire convoy to follow.
• Su Xiao led the vehicles deeper into the Badlands and slowed down until the SUVs’ Auto Turrets locked onto him.
• Su Xiao braked, maneuvered between the SUVs, and attached a sticky bomb to the right SUV’s Auto Turret, destroying it.
• A soldier lowered the SUV’s bulletproof window and fired at Su Xiao.

Su Xiao used his Sandevistan and sticky bombs to destroy two Armored SUVs, then drove Joanne’s convoy into a trap. An Electromagnetic Pulse Mine disabled the vehicles and incapacitated the convoy, leaving the major and his people stranded.

• Su Xiao used Time Zero to evade gunfire and killed a soldier in the passenger seat of an Armored SUV.
• Su Xiao dodged the Auto Turret’s fire, causing it to shoot into another Armored SUV, then planted sticky bombs under a vehicle and destroyed it.
• Joanne and the major realized Su Xiao had a Sandevistan and ordered the convoy to withdraw toward Night City.
• Su Xiao pursued the convoy but stayed back under its covering fire.
• An Electromagnetic Pulse Mine disabled the convoy’s vehicles and communications and left the major and the others unable to move.
• The major realized Su Xiao had lured them into the minefield as his people asked what to do.

Su Xiao and Mann’s team ambushed Joanne’s convoy, killed its security forces, and executed Joanne after she tried to bribe them. Several days later, Biotechnology was distracted by Joanne’s death and its falling stock price, while Su Xiao and the others returned to their quiet lives.

• Mann, Dorio, and Jack attacked the disabled convoy, and the EMP-damaged Biotechnology soldiers were quickly overwhelmed.
• The major threatened Su Xiao’s group, but Su Xiao shot him dead.
• Joanne offered money and company positions to buy her freedom, but the mercenaries shot her dead.
• A Night City broadcast reported that Biotechnology’s stock had fallen eleven percent amid renewed Nightingale Project revelations.
• Several days later, Su Xiao reflected that Biotechnology had little reason to pursue Joanne’s killers, and Mann’s team had resumed their peaceful lives.

Su Xiao advanced his weapon-making skills, strengthened his body and defense, and grew his crew’s reputation across Night City. Six months after arriving, he accepted a rescue job from Okada Wakako to recover a corporate employee kidnapped by the Scavengers.

• Sasha returned to Mann’s crew, which continued building a successful partnership with Old Captain.
• Su Xiao arranged to use a Mox Gang warehouse and raised Firearm Maintenance to LV9, then successfully built a Shingen smart submachine gun.
• Su Xiao decided to manufacture stripped-down smart weapons for sale while reserving the best models for his allies and crew.
• Su Xiao raised Strength and Block to LV9, tested his increased punching power, and reflected on the physical demands of operating powerful equipment.
• After six months in Night City, Su Xiao, Jack, V, and Lucy had established a reputation across the city and received more jobs than they could handle.
• Su Xiao accepted Okada Wakako’s request to rescue a corporate employee kidnapped by the Scavengers.

Su Xiao’s team accepted Wakako’s job to rescue Sandra Dorset after Scavengers blocked her Trauma Team signal, while Arasaka investigated a stolen relic and Saburo Arasaka decided to travel to Night City. The chapter ended with Su Xiao, Jack, V, and Lucy searching a rundown Westbrook apartment building for Sandra.

• Arasaka counterintelligence identified Raijin Arasaka as the prime suspect in the disappearance of Saburo Arasaka’s relic after finding his emails to NetWatch.
• Goro Takemura offered to retrieve Raijin and the relic, but Saburo Arasaka chose to go to Night City himself.
• Two Arasaka representatives asked Mayor Lucius Raine and Vice Mayor Wilton Hort to lock down Watson District, and they negotiated a limit of one week.
• Su Xiao explained that Sandra Dorset, a Platinum Trauma Team member, had likely been kidnapped by Scavengers using a Blocker Chip to jam her signal.
• Su Xiao, Jack, V, and Lucy entered a rundown Westbrook apartment building and headed toward room 1237 to find Sandra.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack infiltrated a Scavenger hideout and found that the gang had already harvested one hostage, while their rescue target remained alive in the bathroom. After V silently killed a Scavenger, the team reached the living room and overheard two gang members discussing the hostages and their implants.

• Su Xiao scanned room 1237 and confirmed that the rescue target was alive among the Scavengers’ captives.
• The team found a mutilated corpse on an operating table and realized the Scavengers had already harvested one hostage.
• Su Xiao warned the others about a Scavenger by a bathtub, and V killed him quietly by forcing his head underwater and shooting him.
• The team hid outside the living room, where two Scavengers discussed their three captives and planned to sell the implants and the corpo hostage’s cyberware.

Su Xiao and his companions wiped out the Scavengers and found Sandra Dorset in their hideout, barely alive after being used to transport glitter. Lucy removed a signal-blocking chip and summoned Trauma Team, while V stabilized Sandra as they waited for help.

• Jack opened fire on the Scavengers, while V and Lucy helped kill the rest from behind cover.
• Su Xiao deflected a burly Scavenger’s machine-gun bullets with Muramasa and killed him.
• The group found Sandra Dorset in a bathtub beside a corpse whose organs and cyberware had been removed.
• Lucy resisted a neural virus, removed the blocker chip from Sandra’s neural expansion port, and sent an emergency signal.
• Trauma Team confirmed Sandra’s location and began its three-minute arrival countdown.
• V injected Sandra with a Pneumatic Syringe to keep her heart beating until help arrived.

After rescuing Sandra, Su Xiao and his companions headed back, but learned that Watson District was under an unusually swift NCPD lockdown. They were stopped at the district cordon, where they encountered Li Nali, an officer Su Xiao had rescued before.

• Trauma Team recognized Su Xiao as the man who had saved their team and took the critically injured Sandra away for treatment.
• Jack celebrated the rescue payout, and Su Xiao called Wakako, who warned him that the NCPD was sealing off Watson District.
• Su Xiao, V, Lucy, and Jack decided to travel together toward Watson District despite the lockdown.
• The group reached the bridge and found patrol cars and Militech Walking Mechs guarding the cordon.
• Officer Li Nali recognized Su Xiao and Lucy at the checkpoint, and they greeted her.

Su Xiao met Jack outside Misty's Divination Parlor and learned that Dexter DeShawn had offered them a major job, though Jack did not know its details. Jack brought Su Xiao to meet Dexter, who was waiting in an armored Chevrolet Thrax.

• Su Xiao left the hotel and ran into Jack, who told him Dexter DeShawn had offered them a big job.
• Su Xiao questioned Jack's decision to work with Dexter and asked what the job involved, but Jack admitted he did not know.
• Jack revealed that Dexter was waiting nearby and wanted to meet Su Xiao, and Su Xiao agreed to go.
• Su Xiao approached Dexter's Chevrolet Thrax, passed his bodyguard, and saw Dexter in person for the first time.

Su Xiao met with fixer Dexter, who wanted him to retrieve a combat robot called Flathead from the Vortex Gang as a prelude to a larger job. The chapter ended with Su Xiao demanding to know the payment before agreeing to anything.

• Dexter questioned Su Xiao about whether he wanted a quiet life or fame, but Su Xiao argued that ordinary people in Night City had little chance of living peacefully or growing old.
• Dexter explained that the Vortex Gang had stolen Flathead from a Militech convoy and that he had paid Brick for the robot before Royce took control of the gang.
• Dexter said Meredith Stout was searching for the person who had leaked the convoy route and had detained a suspect who still had not confessed.
• Su Xiao asked Dexter how much he would pay to retrieve Flathead and challenged him for withholding the details of the larger job.
• Dexter questioned whether Su Xiao’s bluntness would cost him the opportunity, while Su Xiao said he would not blindly trust a promise of future work.

Su Xiao’s team planned to use Meredith Stout to scout the Vortex Gang before retrieving Dexter’s robot. Su Xiao contacted Meredith, who was busy ordering someone to be gagged and put in a trunk, and he told her he did not have what she wanted.

• Dexter agreed to pay Su Xiao’s team the going rate to retrieve the robot from the Vortex Gang.
• Su Xiao warned Jack that Royce would not hand over the robot easily, and Lucy suggested using Meredith Stout to scout the gang’s hideout.
• V arrived at the Divination Parlor, and the group headed out in Jack’s new coupe to contact Meredith.
• A suspicious man stood smoking near Jack’s car, then hurried away when Jack confronted him; Su Xiao watched him leave, feeling that something was off.
• Su Xiao called Meredith Stout, who shouted orders to have someone gagged and put in a trunk before asking whether he had what she wanted.
• Su Xiao told Meredith that he did not have what she was looking for.

Su Xiao met Meredith Stout in the Northside Industrial District to negotiate over the stolen Militech goods, while Jack, V, and Lucy stayed nearby. Meredith’s apparent willingness to talk turned out to be a setup when one of her agents suddenly attacked Su Xiao.

• Su Xiao explained to Jack why Meredith needed his help, and they drove toward the Northside Industrial District while Scavengers followed them.
• Su Xiao threw a Flashbang Grenade into the pursuing van, then used a rocket to destroy it when the blinded Scavengers stopped.
• At the overpass, Su Xiao sent Jack to stay behind with V and Lucy, who prepared sniper rifles to cover him, and took Fenrir to meet Meredith by another route.
• Meredith waited with two armed Militech agents and greeted Su Xiao, but one agent swung a gun butt at him as he moved to shake her hand.
• Su Xiao dodged the surprise attack, and Meredith stepped back, lit a cigarette, and dropped her friendly pretense.

Su Xiao confronted Meredith after disabling her agents and learned she had captured a suspected Militech mole. He offered to help recover the hijacked convoy in exchange for the Flathead robot, leaving Meredith asking why he wanted it.

• Su Xiao severed the hands and lower legs of Meredith’s two agents, then slapped Meredith in retaliation for her attempted deception.
• Meredith found Revival-Kang Type 3 syringes in her SUV and treated her injured subordinates after a noise came from the trunk.
• Su Xiao confirmed Meredith had captured a former mid-level Militech executive and declined to inspect him.
• Su Xiao pointed out that Meredith would be punished if she failed to recover the hijacked shipment, and she agreed to hear his information.
• Su Xiao said a local gang had hijacked the convoy with help from a mole and asked for the Flathead robot in return for cooperation.
• Meredith recognized Flathead from the cargo manifest and asked Su Xiao what he wanted it for.

Su Xiao convinced Meredith to work with him to recover the stolen robot, then led V, Lucy, and Jack to Royce’s Vortex Gang at the Dance of Death Bar. After entering the gang’s territory, they reached the bar’s elevator as Jack explained the Vortex Gang’s fixation on cybernetic modification.

• Su Xiao persuaded Meredith to give him the robot and a tracker, agreeing to signal her when he reached Royce’s location.
• Meredith drove away, and Su Xiao reunited with V, Lucy, and Jack before they set out to retrieve Dexter’s robot.
• At the Dance of Death Bar, Su Xiao cut a Vortex Gang thug’s belt and intimidated the gang members guarding the entrance.
• Su Xiao and his companions entered the hotel elevator, while a gang leader notified the people inside of their arrival.
• Jack told Su Xiao that the Vortex Gang was notorious for its obsession with cyberware and cybernetic modification.

Su Xiao and his crew reached the Dance of Death Bar to buy the Flathead from Royce. Royce brought out the bot for inspection, leaving the deal poised for negotiation.

• Dexter called Su Xiao to remind him that he had paid the Vortex Gang ten thousand for the bot.
• Su Xiao persuaded the Vortex Gang guards to take them to Royce by pretending to walk away.
• Su Xiao, V, Lucy, and Jack met Royce, who ordered Jack to sit before agreeing to discuss business.
• Dum Dum brought out a case containing the Flathead, and Su Xiao confirmed that it was the correct model.
• Dum Dum inserted a chip into his neural port and began demonstrating the Flathead's features.

Su Xiao and his team confronted Royce over the Flathead, but Militech's arrival sparked a firefight at the Dance of Death Bar. The group used the blackout to strike back as Militech closed in.

• Dum Dum demonstrated the Flathead's camouflage and wall-climbing abilities, and Su Xiao agreed to take it after Royce demanded payment.
• Royce drew his gun and demanded that Su Xiao's group pay again, then threatened to keep the Flathead and take their eddies.
• Meredith tracked the missing convoy and led Militech's armored force toward the Dance of Death Bar.
• After a Vortex Gang member warned that Militech was storming the bar, Su Xiao, V, and Jack attacked Royce and his gang.
• Lucy shut off the bar's lights, and Su Xiao's group fired back at the gang's glowing cybernetic eyes.

Su Xiao and his team slaughtered the Vortex Gang in the Dance of Death Bar, but Royce returned in a stolen Walking Mech. After the team destroyed Royce and the mech, Militech soldiers stormed the bar and surrounded them.

• Su Xiao, V, Jack, and Lucy killed the Vortex Gang members in the bar while sparing the unarmed customers hiding there.
• Royce burst through a wall in a stolen Walking Mech and opened fire on Su Xiao's team.
• V and Jack damaged the mech's cockpit, while Lucy hacked its missile controls and stopped Royce from launching missiles.
• Royce charged Lucy, but Su Xiao cut off one of the mech's legs and then blew up its ammunition compartment, killing Royce.
• Militech soldiers entered the devastated bar and surrounded Su Xiao and his companions.

After Su Xiao’s team recovered the bot, Meredith let them leave with the Militech case and gave them an armored SUV. They headed to the Afterlife to meet Dexter, while Su Xiao asked Lucy to stay in the car, suspecting Dexter’s big job might involve taking on a corporation.

• Meredith offered Su Xiao work with Militech, but he refused to join a corporation and said he would consider jobs if the pay and terms suited him.
• A Militech soldier tried to stop the team from taking the case, but Meredith angrily declared it empty and ordered the matter closed.
• Meredith let Su Xiao’s team go, and Su Xiao asked for an armored SUV; she gave him the keys, and he passed them to Jack.
• Su Xiao called Dexter, confirmed they had recovered the bot, and agreed to meet him at the Afterlife.
• At the Afterlife, Su Xiao stopped Jack from getting out and told Lucy to stay in the car while he, Jack, and V went inside.

Su Xiao, V, and Jack delivered the Flathead to Dexter and learned that his next job was to steal Arasaka’s Relic biochip. They hesitated to accept and asked to discuss it, leaving Dexter waiting for their answer.

• Su Xiao sent Lucy to wait in the car while he, V, and Jack went to meet Dexter at the Afterlife.
• Jack showed Dexter the Flathead, and Su Xiao explained that Meredith had helped them defeat Royce and the Vortex Gang.
• Jack prompted Dexter to reveal his next job, and Dexter asked them to retrieve a prototype biochip.
• Su Xiao recognized the chip as Arasaka’s Relic and explained what it was.
• Dexter assured them he had planned for the risks, but Su Xiao, V, and Jack asked to discuss the job before deciding.
• Dexter left the room for a drink and said he expected their answer when he returned.

Su Xiao and V debated whether to accept Dexter’s dangerous Arasaka job, while Jack argued that the payout could help him build a secure future with Misty and support his mother. Su Xiao offered Jack a safer, well-paid role in his business, leaving the job decision unresolved.

• Su Xiao warned Jack that losing their lives was not worth the money, while Jack feared Dexter might not let them back out.
• Su Xiao explained that Arasaka would not act on a vague report about Dexter, and V said she would follow Su Xiao’s decision.
• Jack described his years as a mercenary and his determination to give Misty, their future children, and Mrs. Wells a better life.
• Su Xiao offered to bring Jack into his business with Padre as a security consultant so he could earn money without risking his life as a mercenary.