Chapter Summaries

Lier encountered Garry spreading conspiracy theories outside Misty's Esoterica, then drew the reversed Hierophant during a Ta Lo reading before visiting Vic to prepare for his licensing exams. Vic agreed to provide tool hands, and Lier remained confident he would pass his first exam.

• Lier confronted Garry outside Misty's Esoterica and told him that faulty cyberware was likely feeding his conspiracy theories.
• Lier asked Misty about Ta Lo divination, then drew the reversed Hierophant, which she interpreted as a warning about misinformation and malicious counsel.
• Lier went to Vic's clinic and requested tool hands for installing cyberware and modifying equipment ahead of his exams.
• Lier told Vic that he planned to take the Class A licensing exams the next day and said he would pass on his first try.

David joined Maine and Dorio in a raid on the Scavengers and used his newly installed Sandevistan for the first time, killing six enemies before suffering its side effects. After Thiago warned him about cyberpsychosis, David reunited with Lucy, while V and Jackie discussed David’s success and V’s uncertain feelings about Lier.

• Regina sent David to the Kabuki District slums to deal with Scavenger Lee Jae-hyun, and David prepared for the raid with Maine and Dorio as Thiago coached him over comms.
• When Scavengers opened fire, David activated his Dynalar Sandevistan, overcame his initial hesitation, and killed six enemies while helping his team advance.
• After the fight, Thiago gave David an Airhypo and explained how losing loved ones and purpose could lead someone like Norio Akuhara toward cyberpsychosis.
• David watched Thiago reunite with the rescued girl, then Lucy warned David to get checked by a Ripperdoc as his nose began bleeding and his head grew foggy.
• V and Jackie ate noodles near the slums, learned from Regina that David had completed the job, and discussed V’s uncertainty about Lier and her New Year’s wish.

Dario showed Roxxon’s investors its vast, automated Houston industrial complex and described a future built on pollution, debt bondage, and corporate control. As the visitors approached the central refinery tower, Tony proposed demonstrating Singularity Particles while Dario prepared to reveal Roxxon’s next advance.

• Barnes delivered an election victory speech, but Lier’s global demonstration drew more attention and made Barnes’s appeal seem weak.
• Dario toured investors through Roxxon’s 500-square-kilometer Houston industrial complex, where automated factories produced goods, weapons, satellites, and rockets amid deadly pollution.
• Dario said indebted workers were fitted with Brain-Computer Interfaces to make them work and repay their loans, while investors approved of the profit opportunities.
• Dario worried about Atlas’s rapid growth and influence, and an investor questioned the cost and legal risks of the Brain-Computer Interfaces.
• Tony told Dario that Atlas had dangled nuclear fusion before the United Nations and proposed showing the Singularity Particles.
• Dario led the visitors toward the refinery tower and promised to show them Roxxon’s real future.

Dario demonstrated Roxxon’s high-energy concentrated oil, which opened a strange view into another world, and used the breakthrough to rally investors behind a plan to seize lasting political power. He left them anticipating an authoritarian takeover, the removal of Barnes, and a United Nations aircraft carrier that could fly.

• Dario explained that Roxxon had developed high-energy concentrated petroleum by studying a refinery explosion and refining the fuel through controlled detonations.
• Dario demonstrated that fuel above 90% purity could capture gravity particles and reveal a distorted opening onto another world.
• Dario showed investors a 98%-purity experiment that produced a moment of apparent blackness and left everyone shaken.
• Dario secured an investor’s support and proposed amending the Constitution so Ellis could remain president indefinitely.
• Dario said Atlas would kill Barnes, then outlined plans to invoke a new law, impose martial law, and suppress opposition.
• Dario revealed that his United Nations contacts had prepared a flying aircraft carrier for a future gathering.

After Atlas’s successful exhibition, Skye celebrated her new role while Lier prepared to receive an honorary doctorate at New York University. In the car, Maya told Lier about the love and ordinary happiness that had led his parents to have him, and he reassured her that he loved her too.

• Skye celebrated the exhibition’s worldwide audience and received Lier’s approval to take the day off, though he warned her that the network would stay busy.
• Lier and Martin discussed the Osborn memorial, which preserved victims’ stories and showed how revenge could give way to protecting others and building a better life.
• Lier controlled his body remotely through the Brain-Computer Interface and Sandevistan while Maya adjusted his clothes for the honorary doctorate ceremony.
• Maya explained how her life with Lier’s father had made hardship feel happy and the world feel safer, and she told Lier that his parents had loved him.
• Lier told Maya that he loved her, and she asked him to stay safe and always have a home to return to.

Lier told students how his parents found love amid hardship and explained Atlas’s ethical approach to technology, work, and education. After the ceremony, he worried that the missing Professor Bruce Banner might have developed the Hulk serum and decided to discuss moving his mother somewhere safer.

• Lier turned his parents’ difficult lives and love story into a speech about their choices and his own understanding of being born.
• Lier defended Atlas’s limits on automation, its support for displaced workers, and its educational programs while answering students’ questions.
• Lier urged the students to help build a better future, then greeted Professor Connors, Doctor Otto, Doctor Adrian, and other scientists who had joined Atlas.
• Lier noticed that Professor Bruce Banner was absent and worried that his Hulk research could threaten New York.
• Lier asked Maya to walk with him after his medical checkup so he could discuss something with her.

Lier’s condition had deteriorated beyond the reach of current gene therapies, and Connors told him they could not keep pace with his illness. Lier proposed replacing every part of his body that could be replaced with cyberware to extend his life and monitor his cancer.

• Connors examined Lier as his body deteriorated without the Lizard Serum and concluded that the cancer was too complex and advanced to treat in time.
• Connors connected Lier’s spinal implant and other cyberware to his rapid decline, though the technology also allowed him to live and function.
• Connors shared a detailed report with Lier and admitted he felt ashamed that they could not save him.
• Lier identified the Roxxon waste and his use of the Sandevistan and Lizard Serum as factors in his illness.
• Lier asked Connors to replace every part of his body that could be replaced with cyberware.

Michael presented Lier with safe and aggressive plans for full-body cybernetic conversion, and Lier chose to prepare for surgery while reserving the decisions for himself. After discussing research, business, and his mother’s future, Lier left the ward to speak with Maya, who had learned how grave his condition was.

• Michael recommended that Lier consider experimental third-generation cyberware and outlined safe and aggressive conversion plans.
• Connors, Michael, Otto, and Adrian debated the risks and possible benefits of reconstructing Lier’s nervous system.
• Lier chose to prepare for surgery and said he would design the operation himself, while also sharing industrial data and announcing changes to his business strategy.
• Lier restarted his artificial heart, left the ward, and went to discuss where Maya would stay.
• Maya listened quietly after seeing Lier’s implants and learning about his condition, while Lier worried that he might have to send her back to Latveria.

Lier arranged for his mother, Maya, to leave New York for a hidden village in Latveria, believing the move would protect her from the danger surrounding him. His visitor Martin revealed a frightening black-and-white transformation and introduced himself as Mister Negative.

• Lier considered Africa’s military vulnerabilities and identified Latveria as a safer backup location for his people.
• Lier told Maya that New York was no longer safe for her and explained that a hidden village had been established in Latveria.
• Maya agreed to leave New York and asked Lier to remember that he always had a home to return to.
• Lier arranged for Maya to travel secretly aboard a European Union civilian ship, with Christopher meeting her along the way.
• Martin visited Lier, transformed into a menacing black-and-white figure, and introduced himself as Mister Negative.

Martin revealed that his Negative Energy could reverse cancer, but using it to treat Lier might exhaust his power. Before committing, Martin asked Lier to confront his past and prove he could withstand the loss of restraint the treatment might unleash.

• Martin demonstrated his weakening Negative Energy and explained how his divided personalities and power had shaped the Demon Gang and Lee Financial Group.
• Martin told Lier that his energy could turn cancerous cells normal, a discovery made during Osborn's experiments.
• Martin warned that treating Lier could consume all his energy because his power came from the conflict between his good and bad selves.
• Martin said he was willing to sacrifice his power to save Lier, but questioned whether Lier could resist becoming a tyrant without his usual restraint.
• Martin spread Negative Energy across the table as he asked Lier to be honest about who he was and what he had done.

Lier recounted a remembered world war that began with an accidental nuclear launch and gradually destroyed society. He revealed that after losing his home and loved ones, he deliberately launched the remaining nuclear arsenal and chose to destroy that world.

• Lier described how trade conflicts escalated into military clashes, nuclear threats, and an accidental launch that triggered retaliatory systems.
• He recalled that the first bombardment collapsed the global economy and left him and others building weapons for a war they expected to come.
• Martin questioned how Lier could have become brutal when he had seemed like a victim, and Lier admitted that he had started the all-out war.
• Lier explained that the initial launch destroyed his city and killed his family, students, teachers, and classmates.
• Lier said that he and others chose to launch the 250,000 nuclear weapons they had built, pressing the button of destruction.

Lier recounted how, in his lucid dream, he had led humanity into a devastating global war that ended in destruction, regret, and no future for him. Martin understood Lier’s restraint and aggression, helped him resist Negative Energy, and gained the Axis of Good and Evil ability before deciding to support him.

• Lier described how he had launched an all-out war that escalated from Earth’s surface to underground cities and even the moon.
• Lier explained that the Automated Agenda and Forced Evolution Virus had sustained the war and population despite the destruction.
• Lier told Martin that he had remained lucid while destroying the world and had wished someone would stop him, but there had been no aftermath for him.
• Martin recognized that Lier’s restraint and aggression both came from regret, and the Negative Energy settled as Lier resisted its influence.
• Martin acquired the Axis of Good and Evil ability and Negative Energy, then told Lier that they could work together to make good things happen.

After receiving Martin’s Negative Energy, Lier gained heightened insight into consciousness and realized he might be able to interpret and replicate neural signals more precisely than Soulkiller. Back in Night City, he joined V and Jackie as they prepared to launch a surprise attack on the Voodoo Boys.

• Lier discovered that Negative Energy had cleared his mind, healed his cells, and made him more sensitive to other people’s thoughts and emotions.
• Lier realized he could match changes in consciousness to electrical signals from cyberware, potentially allowing him to replicate consciousness more precisely than Soulkiller.
• Lier returned to Night City and rejoined V and Jackie at the Grand Imperial Mall.
• Jackie beat Sasquatch at arm wrestling, and V called Lier over as the group prepared to leave.
• V, Jackie, and Lier set off to launch a surprise attack on the Voodoo Boys.

After a nuclear electromagnetic pulse nearly destroyed the Voodoo Boys’ hideout and left Brigitte badly injured, she and Placide captured Dexter DeShawn and punished him for trying to flee. Lier and Savage King arrived at the Batty Hotel, where Lier asked Mait if he was short on cash and offered him a job fighting the Voodoo Boys.

• The nuclear electromagnetic pulse burned through the Voodoo Boys’ equipment and injured Brigitte while she was in Cyberspace.
• Placide dragged the captured Dexter DeShawn into the Batty Hotel basement, where Brigitte shot off his shoulder and Placide tore away his arm.
• Savage King asked how Lier knew the Batty Hotel was the Voodoo Boys’ headquarters, and Lier said he had intel.
• Lier asked Mait whether he was short on cash, then offered him a job involving the Voodoo Boys.
• Mait pointed at himself in disbelief and asked if he was supposed to fight the Voodoo Boys.

Mait entered the Voodoo Boys’ territory to report strange people near the beach while Lier’s crew tried to reach their internal network. At Bati Hotel, Brigitte learned that someone had spotted the mysterious Burger King crew and ordered Dexter DeShawn to handle the situation.

• Lier sent Mait toward Bati Hotel because the Animals, Jackie, and V could not safely connect to the Voodoo Boys’ network.
• V killed a trafficker who approached Mait, and Lier reminded him that he would earn 1,000 Eddies for the job.
• Mait entered the Voodoo Boys’ forbidden zone and shouted that he had information, warning them not to shoot.
• Brigitte confronted Dexter DeShawn over the dangerous job that had entangled the Voodoo Boys with Arasaka, Network Watch, and the nuclear blast.
• A subordinate told Brigitte and Dexter that a kid had seen strange people near the beach and something crash down.
• Brigitte inserted a Shard into Dexter’s Brain-Computer Interface and told him to handle the situation.

Mait reached Dexter DeShawn outside the Bati Hotel while the Voodoo Boys tried to use Dexter to lead them to the site where someone had fallen from the sky. Lier, V, and Jackie watched from nearby and prepared to attack, but Mait offered to race toward a camera in exchange for more money.

• Dexter left the Voodoo Boys with his wrist severed and agreed to help them, while Brigitte ordered him to connect with Mait and take him to the beach.
• Mait passed the Voodoo Boys’ security scan and met Dexter outside the Bati Hotel, where he said he wanted food and hoped to join the gang.
• V and Jackie recognized Dexter as a prominent fixer, while Lier and the others considered using his connection to breach the Voodoo Boys’ network.
• Lier spotted the cameras behind Dexter and prepared V and Jackie to fire as Mait approached, tense but unharmed.
• Mait offered to run to a camera in one go for 2,000 to 5,000 Eddies, and Lier accepted.

Mait ran through gunfire to smash his Personal Link into Bati Hotel’s camera, triggering Muramasa’s Firmware and disabling the Voodoo Boys’ equipment. After the assault, Lier praised Mait and promised to pay him, while Savage King took Dexter DeShawn away.

• Mait used Dexter DeShawn as a shield and sprinted toward Bati Hotel as V killed two Voodoo Boys with sniper shots.
• An MK31 heavy machine gun fired on the hotel, suppressing the Voodoo Boys as Mait reached the entrance camera.
• Mait smashed his Personal Link into the camera, and the resulting current burned out the hotel’s remaining equipment and disabled the Voodoo Boys.
• The Animals entered Bati Hotel and found the Voodoo Boys incapacitated, while Savage King carried away the terrified Dexter DeShawn.
• Lier helped Mait to his feet, praised him, and promised to pay him with interest.

Lier and Muramasa crippled the Voodoo Boys’ network and captured their surviving members. After Brigitte regained consciousness in Cyberspace, Lier confronted her about her interest in the Blackwall and AI.

• Muramasa used the surveillance equipment’s electrical supply to infiltrate the Voodoo Boys’ Sea God network and overwhelm it with attacks.
• Placide survived with severe damage, and Lier ordered him taken to the bin for the living while gunshots finished off other Voodoo Boys.
• The Voodoo Boys’ leader, Brigitte, suffered cerebral paralysis, so Lier amputated part of her head to restore her consciousness in Cyberspace.
• Lier told Muramasa to link Network Watch’s vehicles to repair the antenna while he prepared to speak with people in the Badlands.
• Brigitte woke in Cyberspace, and Lier taunted her about her interest in the Blackwall and AI.

Lier interrogated Brigitte and uncovered evidence linking Dante to brainwashing equipment and Mr. Blue Eyes, while David’s search in the Badlands found traces of a powerful energy strike. The chapter ended with Lier asking David to hack a nearby Militech station as Lucy and Kiwi helped establish the connection.

• Lier revived Brigitte and questioned her about Dexter DeShawn, Dante, and the equipment Dante had installed in Night City.
• Brigitte revealed that Dante had set up equipment in the tallest unfinished building in the Pacific State, and Lier found the Voodoo Boys’ records of its signals.
• Lier and Muramasa identified the signal as technology for manipulating human brainwaves and connected Dante to Mr. Blue Eyes’ effort to control Peralez.
• Lier suspected that the hacker Dante and the mercenary Dante trapped by Soulkiller were the same person, despite the conflict in their timelines.
• David’s team and the Aldecaldos searched the Badlands, found only Peter’s charred shoes at an impact site, and spotted traces of an extremely powerful energy strike near a Militech station.
• Lier asked David to hack the Militech site while Lucy and Kiwi provided a bridge.

Lier, Kiwi, Lucy, and David uncovered a lunar agent’s desperate attempt to send intelligence about Wilton Holt, only to learn that the Moon had killed him with an orbital strike. Saburo Arasaka learned of Lucy’s presence and ordered his agents to watch her.

• Lier and Kiwi hacked Militech’s power distribution station and found Peter Feldheimer’s attempt to contact the Moon.
• Lucy and David joined Lier’s data trace, which revealed that Peter claimed to have secret intelligence about Wilton Holt and Arasaka.
• The lunar base refused to recognize Peter as an agent and killed him with a precise orbital strike before he could send his intelligence.
• Panam reported that the Aldecaldos found no body or tire tracks, and Lier told them to leave the area.
• Saburo Arasaka’s agents reported that the Aldecaldos might recover information, and Saburo ordered them to watch Lucy.