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Chapter 325 c
🕑 Added 2025-07-19 15:00:13 +0000 UTCChapter 325 c
2-in-1-chapter
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At that time, the entire North Oak would be under lockdown and martial law.
Therefore, they needed to escape before North Oak was sealed off.
But this wasn’t much of a problem.
Leo retrieved the signal jammer and, together with V and Lucy, sprinted several hundred meters into the darkness. Far behind them, from the Tanaka estate, a loud explosion suddenly erupted.
Leo knew it was the laser tripmines they had planted being triggered.
No one looked back. The three of them kept running forward.
Then came the first explosion from within the house.
That should have been caused by them disturbing Tanaka’s corpse.
When they emerged from the forest and reached the main road, a Delamain luxury sedan was parked by the roadside.
As soon as they came out of the woods, Panam opened the car door: “Hurry up and get in!”
When they began the operation earlier, the Delamain cab had waited some distance behind Panam’s position. Once Panam withdrew, she ran down a small slope, got in the Delamain, circled around, and parked here.
The three of them jumped into the vehicle, and the Delamain cab immediately accelerated, carrying them out of North Oak from another route.
Watching the scenery recede quickly past the window, Leo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
For quite some time ahead, it was foreseeable that Arasaka would not let this go. They would start suspecting that other corporations were responsible for the deaths of Tanaka and his son.
And it was precisely to steer them in that direction that Leo had made sure everyone involved in tonight’s operation used Militech weapons and gear exclusively.
As for David, that small figure would simply be forgotten.
After all, who would believe the story that “a student expelled from Arasaka Academy for injuring Tanaka Katsuo later gathered a crew and killed both Katsuo and his father on the same night”?
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Back at Rocky Ridge, the four of them returned to their respective quarters and slept.
Nothing happened that night.
The next day, Leo did nothing else—he stayed glued to the television all day.
As expected, all major news channels reported that senior Arasaka R&D executive Tanaka and his son had been found dead in their home.
Just as Leo predicted, Arasaka’s spec-ops teams locked down North Oak, and Arasaka itself initiated an internal investigation.
But Leo wasn’t worried they’d trace anything back to them.
First, Night City’s streets were sparsely covered by surveillance cameras, unlike the dense networks found in many Asian countries.
And in a place like North Oak, home to executives and elites, they certainly wouldn’t tolerate extensive camera coverage. So it had even fewer cameras than many areas in Night City.
This wasn’t just about so-called privacy or human rights excuses.
The real reason was that they had too many dirty secrets.
Install cameras everywhere? What if those cameras captured something they shouldn’t have? That would be problematic, right?
And what exactly counted as “something they shouldn’t capture”… well, anyone who spent even a lick of time in Night City knew some of what the rich folk were up to sometimes. There was a reason gangs like maelstrom still existed.
Second, Leo hadn’t used an armored SUV—he had deliberately hired a Delamain cab.
Even though Delamain provided premium services and it was expensive, plenty of people in the city still used them.
Most importantly, Delamain had an exceptional privacy policy. No matter how familiar you were with him, he would never disclose customer information.
And being an AI, he wasn’t intimidated by power.
There was simply no way to pressure him.
Finally, they used only Militech standard-issue weapons and ammunition throughout the operation. Even if Arasaka started suspecting Militech, they wouldn’t suspect Leo and his crew.
And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.
Leo stayed at Rocky Ridge for a week—nothing at all happened.
In fact, the lockdown at North Oak lasted only three days before Arasaka’s spec-ops team withdrew.
The internal investigation quietly fizzled out.
Leo had guessed that too.
North Oak wasn’t just home to Arasaka executives—it housed top brass from other corporations as well.
A senior Arasaka executive had died, so everyone gave them some respect, allowing the three-day lockdown. If they could find something during that time, good for them. If not—well, they couldn’t blame anyone else. Time was money after all.
North Oak wasn’t Arasaka’s private estate. Everyone living there was wealthy and powerful—nobody was beneath anyone else.
Also, Tanaka was an R&D department executive. Now that he was dead, plenty of people were eyeing his position.
Compared to uncovering the truth, those people cared more about who would succeed Tanaka.
Even if they didn’t say it aloud, in their hearts they were probably thankful to the assassin who killed Tanaka.
Otherwise, who knew how long it would’ve been before Tanaka vacated that position?
This was the downside of Arasaka’s “ant farm” internal politics.
Seeing the storm settle on Arasaka’s side, Leo had Mitch and Scorpion dismiss the Aldecaldos they’d brought in for security.
Of course, the agreed-upon €$500 daily wage per person was all paid out in full.
Even though the original plan had been to have them guard Rocky Ridge for only two days, they had stayed nearly a week in the end.
Leo honored the agreement completely—paying for every day they worked without deduction.
As a result, not only were the paid Aldecaldos grateful, but even Panam, Mitch, and Scorpion—all formal employees under long-term contracts—felt proud to be working under Leo.
Everyone felt they’d chosen the right leader.
As for David’s troubles, Leo considered them resolved.
Just as he was preparing to take David to the Trauma Team hospital to check on Gloria’s condition, his phone suddenly rang.
It was River calling.
“Hey, Leo, I need your help.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Straight to asking for help, huh? I thought you’d at least treat me to a meal after last time.”
He was joking, but River on the video call didn’t laugh.
So Leo dropped the smile as well and asked seriously, “What’s wrong? Trouble?”
“This isn’t something I can explain over the phone,” River said. “Let’s meet in person.”
“Alright. How about at Capitán Caliente?”
That was where they’d met last time—and their first meeting spot.
But River suggested a different plan.
“No, come out to the Badlands. I’ll send you the exact location.”
“Fine. See you soon.”
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That evening, Leo drove to the meeting point.
From a distance, he could already see River’s signature big pickup truck parked by the roadside.
Leo approached and knocked on the window.
River, sitting behind the wheel and seemingly lost in thought, was startled by the knock.
When he turned and saw it was Leo, he unlocked the door.
“Hop in.”
Leo got into the passenger seat and didn’t say a word at first—just studied River carefully.
River was still wearing the same long coat as before. The clothes were fine, but the man himself clearly looked drained—like he was carrying a heavy burden, worn down and exhausted.
River gave a tired nod in greeting.
Leo nodded slightly and said, “How did you end up like this?”
Then, as if he thought of something, he continued, “Could it be that the thing Mayor Rhyne was investigating has caused trouble for you? But I remember you weren’t planning to escalate that case, right?”
Lucius Rhyne, who had fought for Night City’s independence, had died not long ago.
Though the news claimed he died at home due to issues with his implants, in truth, someone had deliberately tampered with his braindance wreath to kill him.
The culprits were many, and far beyond the reach of a detective like River.
At that time, Leo had advised River not to report their findings—otherwise, he’d only be harming himself.
Though it had pained River—going against the very reason he’d joined the NCPD—in the end, he had taken Leo’s advice.
After that, they hadn’t been in contact.
That’s why Leo was puzzled.
If River had really let go of the investigation as planned, his superiors shouldn’t have made life difficult for him.
So what was going on with River now?
“It’s not about that case, it’s something else. I’ll show you.”
River then sent Leo a video.
It was a WNS news report.
“Good evening, I’m Arif Iqbal, and this is WNS News.”
“Tonight’s headline: during a routine inspection, NCPD officers inadvertently captured a dangerous kidnapper and murderer.”
“The incident took place at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 15th Avenue. The following footage was recorded on an NCPD patrol vehicle dashcam.”
The video switched to bodycam footage from an NCPD cruiser.
The footage showed two NCPD officers approaching a car stopped ahead of them, guns drawn.
“Get out of the car! Hands in the air!”
The driver inside, his speech slurred as if drunk, replied, “It’s fine, officers, no need to worry…”
“Shut up!”
One officer moved nervously to the driver’s side window, the other to the passenger side.
When the officer looked inside, he gasped sharply.
Then he radioed in: “We’ve got a 10-53 and a 10-54. Repeat, 10-53, 10-54.”
Those were NCPD codes used to prevent panic or leaks—10-53 for unconscious persons and 10-54 indicating a potential corpse.
At that moment, the driver flung the door open and bolted.
But he didn’t get far—the officer on the driver’s side reflexively fired and dropped him instantly.
The officers exchanged glances. Only after confirming the driver lay motionless did they cautiously approach.
The bodycam footage ended there. The broadcast returned to the WNS studio.
“The man in the footage was Leval Martinez, age 17. His parents had reported him missing over a month ago.”
“The NCPD had been searching for him without success.”
“Until today, when an attendant at a gas station called it in—reporting that a customer’s vehicle seemed suspicious. Officers responded, leading to the events captured on video.”
“Unfortunately, by the time Leval was transported to the hospital, his life couldn’t be saved. He suffered severe septic shock—his body couldn’t hold on.”
“Forensic reports show that the boy had been injected with massive amounts of hormones, anabolic steroids, and stimulants.”
“The NCPD also recovered personal belongings and DNA from seven other missing boys inside the car.”
“Tragically, no further leads have been discovered.”
“The driver’s name was Anthony Harris, though he was better known by his alias: Peter Pan.”
Peter Pan—the character from Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan.
A boy with a mouth full of pearly baby teeth, dressed in clothes made of leaves and tree sap. He refused to grow up and would never grow up—a symbol of carefree childhood innocence.
In the story, Peter Pan led runaway children to the strange island of Neverland, where they had all sorts of adventures, enjoying freedom and a life without restraints.
Sounds like a beautiful fairytale, right?
But in the original version, it wasn’t so sweet.
Or rather, it was cruel, a dark fairy tale.
In that early version, Peter Pan still brought children to Neverland, but he couldn’t tolerate his friends growing up.
That was against the rules.
So the number of children in Neverland always changed—not because they returned home, but because Peter Pan, in a chilling twist, killed them when they grew up.
Even worse, Peter Pan himself never realized that what he was doing was murder—nor did he see it as wrong or cruel.
That was Peter Pan’s original character setting.
Now this criminal, who had abducted missing children, had chosen to give himself the nickname “Peter Pan.”
It was impossible not to worry about the fate of the other missing children who hadn’t been found.
“Although this criminal known as Peter Pan survived the shooting, he remains in a coma and has yet to regain consciousness, so he cannot be interrogated at this time.”
“For continued updates, stay tuned to WNS News.”
The video ended. After watching it, Leo looked at River and asked:
“So this is what’s driving you crazy? But the kidnapper’s already caught, right? What’s there to worry about? You think he had accomplices?”
River’s reply only made Leo more puzzled.
“No. Actually, before this video, I didn’t even know this man existed. I’d never had any contact with him.”
Leo frowned.
