Chapter 334
2-in-1-chapter
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"It's not just farms in Night City—it's every farm out in the Badlands."
Facing River's confused look, Leo continued his explanation.
"Harris couldn't possibly have kept Randy and the other kids inside the city. Not only because running a farm in the city requires a huge amount of funding, but also because the population density makes keeping secrets much harder."
"But in the Badlands, it's different. Land out there is dirt cheap—costs practically nothing to buy a plot."
"Even if you don't have money, you can still grab some remote land. NCPD won't go outside the city limits anyway."
"And once you're out there, you don't have to worry about anyone discovering those kidnapped kids. It's killing two birds with one stone."
River suddenly felt a headache coming on.
If it were a farm inside the city, he could have thought of some methods. After all, while Night City was big, there were districts where building a farm was impossible, so the search area could at least be narrowed down.
But if it was outside the city…
"I'll go ask Joss. As long as we can find the package Harris sent to Randy, we can trace the sender's address and know exactly which farm it came from."
Leo stopped River. "Don't bother—it's useless."
River froze. "Leo, what are you saying?"
"Joss doesn't know anything about Harris. That proves the package was handled by Randy, and most likely he disposed of it. And even if you did manage to find the box in the trash, it'd be useless. Harris wouldn't be dumb enough to put his real info on the shipping label."
In Santo Domingo you had to fill in the sender's name, address, and ID number when mailing something, but in Night City that wasn't required.
Take for example the most famous logistics company, Liverpool Shipping Inc. They allowed senders to omit all personal info, so long as the shipment wasn't contraband—and if the sender paid double the standard fee.
Of course, if you paid enough, even contraband could get through.
Harris was a cunning, cautious psychopath. He would never leave real information on a package.
So River didn't need to look. Even if he found something, it would be worthless.
Leo frowned, thinking deeply for a while. Then suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind.
"Lucy, can you hack this site?"
"Of course," Lucy replied instantly.
"Once you're in, seize the administrator's privileges."
With admin privileges, they could access the IP addresses of all registered users—including the site admin himself.
And once they had the IP, they could trace it back.
Lucy's skills as a netrunner were beyond doubt. After all, she was a rare survivor who had ventured beyond the Blackwall multiple times and come back alive.
In under a few minutes, she bypassed the hidden site's ICE, slipped into the subnet, and seized administrator access.
Sure enough, she pulled the admin's IP—the one tied to Harris's home.
Lucy cross-referenced the IP with a map of Night City's outskirts and quickly pinpointed the location.
"Got it. It's southeast of Night City."
At her words, Leo immediately strode for the exit. "No time to waste. We're moving now."
Following behind Leo and Lucy, River felt strangely unsettled.
He was used to the NCPD's endless delays, inefficiency, and red tape.
Used to needing stacks of reports, applications, and approvals just to act.
Used to having all the rough edges ground smooth.
Now, with all the obstacles gone, he almost didn't know how to adapt.
River could hardly believe it.
A case the NCPD had failed to crack for so long—they had solved in just two hours.
It made River even more certain: he couldn't keep staying with the NCPD.
He looked at Leo's back.
He couldn't live out his belief in justice with the NCPD.
But maybe—if he followed this young man—he could.
"Let's take my car."
"No. Too slow by car. I'll borrow a hovercar from Rogue. You two wait by the bar."
As Leo walked off quickly, River asked in surprise, "Leo… he knows Rogue?"
Of course River knew who Rogue was.
But what shocked him was the ease in Leo's tone—as if the two weren't just acquaintances, but close partners.
"Of course."
At that moment, Claire walked over and leaned on the bar, greeting Lucy.
"Hey, Lucy. Been a while. Want a drink?"
Lucy raised three fingers. "Three glasses of ice water. We've still got business—alcohol's not convenient."
Claire shot a quick glance at River.
"Is this your new partner? Looks like someone straight out of the NCPD."
"I'm River Ward."
"You can call me Claire."
Three glasses of ice water were quickly brought over. Lucy paid the bill just as Leo came back.
"Damn it—Rogue says every one of her AVs is loaned out. The only thing she can give us is some ancient helicopter."
Lucy replied flatly with a dry joke: "Strictly speaking, Rogue's old enough to be your grandmother. So maybe don't complain if she's giving you her antique toys."
Leo: "..."
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The three took the elevator up to the rooftop above the Afterlife.
They waited several minutes before a helicopter appeared in the distance and landed on the rooftop.
The pilot wasn't Crispin Weyland, nor Emmerick, but some Eastern European Leo didn't recognize.
"Mr. Leo, correct? Please get in and give me the coordinates."
The three boarded, fastened their belts, and the helicopter slowly lifted off toward the target location.
Flying was much faster than traveling by ground. Before long, they reached the site indicated by the IP address.
The pilot hovered the helicopter in the air, glancing back. "There's a farm below us."
Hearing this, Leo looked down through the glass.
A fenced farm sprawled below, complete with a few tall water towers, a barn, and several smaller buildings.
River spotted it too and grew anxious. "Hurry! Put us down now!"
"Wait. Hold on."
Leo pointed down.
Through his tactical goggles, he clearly saw the open ground littered densely with laser trip mines.
And mounted on the front of the central building—two automated turrets, both active.
Those turrets were live twenty‑four seven, meaning anyone wandering in, or even passing outside the fence line, would be shredded.
Right now, the helicopter was outside their range, but if they descended into it…
A helicopter from 2023 wouldn't last a second against those turrets fire.
Not to mention the mines—stepping on one would be instant death.
Though Leo knew River was desperate, he couldn't rush.
He turned to Lucy. "From this height, can you shut down both turrets?"
Lucy didn't answer—just nodded. A red glow flickered across her eyes.
Seconds later, both turrets drooped, their targeting lasers fading out.
Seeing them disabled, Leo told the pilot, "Move us above the barn. Position the side with the mounted gun toward the open ground. I'll clear them out."
The mines could theoretically be hacked and disarmed.
But with the sheer number covering the yard, it would take too long. A physical solution was better.
Leo signaled Lucy and River to stay seated, then stepped to the gunner's position, flicking off the safety.
The helicopter shifted above the barn, its side-mounted machine gun aimed toward the mined field—ensuring the barn itself, where the kidnapped kids were held, wouldn't be hit.
Leo squeezed the trigger. Golden tracers lashed out like a whip, detonating mine after mine in a chain of explosions.
The barrage lasted nearly thirty seconds before the ground finally fell silent.
Another sweep with the tactical goggles confirmed: no more mines, no active turrets.
Only then did Leo instruct the pilot to drop them off.
But because the detonations had left the ground uneven, the helicopter hovered about two meters above instead of landing.
Two meters wasn't much. Not even the latest VR sim would let you die from a fall like that. And certainly not them.
One by one, the three jumped down.
Through the glass, Leo gave the pilot a thumbs-up. The pilot returned the gesture before slowly lifting off again—not leaving, but circling outside the farm to find a landing spot.
"Come on, this way," Leo said, leading Lucy and River toward the barn.
His tactical goggles had already confirmed: the missing children were inside.
"They're all in there."
River pushed against the tightly shut rolling door, glanced around for another entrance, and muttered, "I'll check the back. Maybe there's another way in."
"No need for that. Leave it to me. Step back."
After signaling Lucy and River to retreat, Leo drew the Muramasa from his waist and raised it high overhead with both hands.
"Ha—!"
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