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Chapter 335 c
🕑 Added 2025-07-29 15:17:57 +0000 UTCChapter 335 c
2-in-1-chapter
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A loud shout rang out!
River couldn’t even see Leo’s movement—only a blur before his eyes.
By the time Leo slid his blade back into its sheath, the rolling door at the barn’s entrance already had a gap cut wide enough for a person to pass through.
Though worry for Randy gnawed at him, River was still stunned by Leo’s swordsmanship.
That speed—faster even than Psycho Squad lunatics.
Now River finally understood why Leo could know Rogue, and why Rogue would actually talk and laugh with him.
The strong always found ways to stand together.
….................................
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“What the…”
As the three stepped through the cut entrance and into the barn, the sight inside froze both River and Lucy in place. Only Leo, who had known what awaited, remained calm.
Two neat rows of mechanical incubation pods, glowing green, stretched along both sides. Thick tubes ran into them, connected to humming machinery, all bathed in sterile green light.
The system was fully automated. With preloaded settings, plus steady supplies of food and water, it could continue running even with no one present.
The problem was that the pods didn’t contain plants or seedlings.
They contained children.
More precisely—the missing children.
Each pod held a child, clothed only in shorts, a hood over the head, tubes plugged in like livestock being force-fed.
At that moment, Leo understood what Anthony Harris had meant in the email he sent Randy—when he called himself a farmer tending cattle and sheep.
It wasn’t a metaphor.
He really had been treating the kidnapped children as livestock.
“Randy!”
River shouted in the dim, echoing aisle.
No response.
Of course not.
The children were all unconscious; the ones who weren’t were already dead. How could anyone reply?
It was Lucy who finally used her Kiroshi optics to scan the surroundings and pinpoint Randy’s location.
“There. He’s over there.”
Randy was strapped to a heavy iron frame, the same hood and feeding tubes over his face.
But by a stroke of luck, though unconscious, he was still alive.
Leo quickly assessed the situation and gave instructions.
“Lucy—the inner room should be the control room. Shut down the system.”
“River—call NCPD. It’s not just Randy here; there are more children. Have their parents come for them… or for their bodies.”
If NCPD had done nothing so far, at the very least the cleanup should be their responsibility. What else were taxpayers paying them for?
Lucy hurried toward the control room, while River activated his comm implant.
“10-52, I repeat, we have a 10-52 at a farm in South Night City.”
10-52—NCPD code for medical assistance required, including Trauma Team backup.
“Sending coordinates… Hurry—dispatch a squad. No, more than one. Get them here fast!”
As River finished, the monitors on the pod systems all went dark.
Lucy’s voice came through. “I’ve shut it down.”
“I see it. River, come—help me lift this frame.”
Leo and River each grabbed a side of the heavy iron rack.
“I’ll count to three. One! Two! Three!”
They heaved it up. Leo noticed that once raised, it locked into place, not needing to be held. It made sense—otherwise, how could Harris have restrained children on his own?
River yanked the hood and tubes off Randy, pried open his eyelids, and, seeing nothing seriously wrong, finally let out a long breath.
“It’s alright now, Randy. You’re safe.”
When Leo saw Lucy returning, he said, “Lucy, let’s check the others.”
River stepped forward. “I’ll help too—”
Leo shook his head. “No, River. Stay here with Randy. Lucy and I will handle it.”
The two split the rows of pods.
Just as with Randy, they removed the hoods and tubes from the children.
Some survived. Some didn’t.
“This one’s gone.”
“This one too—no breath.”
By the time they finished, out of the seven kidnapped by Harris—including Randy—two were dead. Five remained alive.
Leo felt no guilt, no crushing weight of failure.
Not because the children deserved it, but because letting despair break him now would serve no purpose.
Not saving them all wasn’t his, Lucy’s, or River’s fault.
The blame lay with Anthony Harris. If anyone should be tortured by guilt, it was him.
Good people shouldn’t have guns pointed at them.
As Benjamin Franklin once said:
Don’t look at the glass as half empty—see it as half full.
The same principle applied here. Don’t dwell on the ones lost—focus on the five who were saved.
…............
An hour later.
Leo and Lucy leaned on the railing, watching as NCPD finally arrived, swarming the farm.
For once, they were fast. It had taken only an hour.
Soon after, Trauma Team showed up—NCPD had called them in.
Two Trauma Team AVs lifted off one after the other, carrying Randy and the other four surviving children away from the farm.
As for the two who hadn’t made it, their bodies were being transported in a medical center’s mortuary vehicle.
Not long after, two news vans rolled up to the scene.
Lucy recognized the logos. “WNS News, and Channel 54’s here too.”
Leo wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“Of course. That’s the job of a reporter—to uncover facts and report the truth. Night City’s press might not always live up to that ideal, but when it comes to nose for news, they’re second to none.”
“NCPD isn’t going to rein them in?” Lucy asked.
Leo chuckled. “Why would they? This is the perfect chance for NCPD to build momentum. Think about it—who captured Anthony Harris? NCPD. And who rescued those missing kids? NCPD again.
“As long as Fort isn’t an idiot, he won’t let this opportunity slip. And with the media blasting it all over the place for free, I can already picture him sitting smug in his office.”
Lucy glanced over to where River was giving his statement to his colleagues.
“So that means River’s suspension will be lifted too, right? Even if Jerry Fort doesn’t like him, he wouldn’t dare make trouble for a hero at a time like this.”
Leo nodded.
“Exactly. Not only will they cancel his suspension, they’ll likely promote him. Right now, Fort and River are tied to the same boat—if one rises, so does the other; if one sinks, both sink.
“They need to keep River steady and his mouth shut. Otherwise, those reporters with noses sharper than a bloodhound will sniff something out.”
Lucy hesitated. “But if that’s the case, will River still come with us to Rocky Ridge?”
It was clear that Fort wouldn’t hesitate to reward River this time. And if River worked a little harder, a promotion to police inspector within a few years wasn’t out of the question.
Compared to that, what Leo could offer—even if good—still wasn’t the same as a position inside the system.
After a pause, Leo said, “Whatever River decides, I’ll respect his choice.”
As if sensing the thought, River turned his head mid‑statement and gave Leo a nod.
About half an hour later, River finally finished his report.
“Thanks, Leo. For everything.”
“No problem,” Leo replied, then cut to the chase. “River, NCPD made you promises, didn’t they? How do they plan to reward you?”
River seemed to have expected the question. He didn’t hesitate or dodge.
“They’re letting me return to the force. My suspension will be erased. Not just revoked—erased. No record, nothing on file.”
“And Fort promised me a one‑rank promotion.”
Leo nodded.
A little stingy, but fair enough—not a bad deal. If he were in Fort’s position, he would’ve offered better. After all, it wasn’t just River’s glory; the whole NCPD had basked in it. In an age where corruption was the norm, a man who could still shine was worth a lot.
If you didn’t pay more, why would talent stay with you? Out of sentiment?
“Well then—congratulations,” Leo said, and it was genuine, not sarcastic.
A promotion depended not only on effort, but on luck, timing, and circumstances.
River’s timing had come. Seize the chance, combine it with effort, and you rose. Miss it, and who knew when—or if—the next chance would come.
But River’s response was unexpected.
“And I turned it down.”
Leo smirked. “Not enough pay?”
“Not exactly—but yeah, that’s part of it. Even with the promotion, the salary wouldn’t come close to half of what you’re paying me.
“In the system, it’s not just about money—it’s about stability, and other benefits.”
He spread his hands.
“Fort said the same thing. But the truth is, I need money, Leo. You know what kids are like these days.
“When we were young, we grew up poor—but we still managed. Now? If you don’t have money, kids go bad fast. They end up with crime and glitter.”
And in Night City, what River said held a lot of truth.
