The smoke was created by the Nomads.
Just as Leo guessed, NCPD had long been in a state of perpetual understaffing, and this time the issue was in City Center.
The southern edge of City Center borders Heywood, with crisscrossing large and small roads that are hard to completely blockade.
And today, tonight, it wasn't just Leo putting the pressure on them.
A large group of Nomads had entered the city, holding signs and banners.
Their weathered cars looked like moving piles of scrap metal, but the powerful engine roars proved that these vehicles still had a lot of life left in them.
At the front of the procession, however, was something special strapped to the hood of a car—a coffin made of iron plates, sealed with glass at the front, with windproof torches stuck around it.
Inside the coffin lay a corpse that had begun to blacken—a Red Ocher family member who had died tragically due to an experiment.
This was something Leo hadn't anticipated—he had only nudged them, suggesting that Red Ocher people should draw some attention, and they had gone to this extent.
They even didn't hesitate to display the body.
The people of Heywood all came out, following behind the Nomads—they were here to watch the spectacle.
But this spectacle provided the Nomads with cover—surely, NCPD wouldn't kill people in the street, right?
"Corrupt Biotechnica! They poisoned us! We've already lost several lives! Let us through! We demand an explanation from Biotechnica!"
"Biotechnica is heartless, 5000 eddies for a life, blood for blood!"
"Corporate dogs! Stupid pigs! Die!"
Bang.
Plastic bottles and iron cans hit the NCPD's armored vehicles. Besides making noise, nothing else happened.
But it was very loud, extremely loud.
The NCPD officers were on edge, every time the other side threw a can, they had to confirm it wasn't a grenade.
Especially the sick Red Ocher members, who were terrifying.
The patches of skin exposed beneath their thick clothing glowed faintly under the moonlight and streetlights, and their eyes were bloodshot—a deep red, like a piece of red ocher.
Their dark red eyes stared at the officers, like wolves eyeing their prey, as if they might actually devour someone in the next second.
The flames illuminated the body, and the banners gleamed under the neon lights.
Inside the patrol car, a sturdy young officer watched the scene with a serious expression, his left eye modified into a tactical cyber-eye, making him look like a cyclops.
His other, normal eye revealed helplessness and anger—anger at the current situation.
The car door clicked open, and a more senior officer sat inside, relaxed, holding two cans of coffee.
The young officer spoke: "...Are we just going to watch this?"
"What else? River, you should relax too, our job is to keep an eye on these rioters.
To give them some credit, these Nomads are pretty well-behaved, they've even put away their guns."
The older officer in the passenger seat popped open a can, the coffee steaming hot.
"City Center is already in chaos, shouldn't we be doing something?"
"A case of that magnitude isn't something we can handle."
The rookie cop was tense, his beliefs shaken, while the veteran officer sipped his warm coffee.
After a sip, he added: "It's probably just a case of corporate dogs biting each other. We can't handle that; it's up to the higher-ups to coordinate.
If it's not corporate dogs biting each other, and it's a terrorist attack, it's still not our problem.
The counter-terrorism unit would take care of it.
Our job is to handle these minor situations."
River Ward sighed in frustration once again.
His experience with the NCPD made him feel like:
Guns are pointed at the poor, not the rich; the big cases are beyond their control, and they don't want to deal with the small ones.
When something happens, they call the counter-terrorism unit; when nothing happens, they just wander the streets.
This... the NCPD claims to be the line of defense protecting Night City!
As he thought about this, a dispatch order came over the police channel.
"The Nomads have started moving through the Heywood blockade, reducing the level of the eastern and northern blockades in City Center. Blockade units are preparing to move to Heywood."
"Heywood defense units, coordinate the blockade."
The older officer gestured to River, and the car slowly moved along with the Nomads' protest march.
He turned down the police radio a bit and even turned on a personal radio—
"Welcome to tonight's 'Night After Night with Ziggy Q!' Have you heard about what's happening in the city center?
Rocket explosions, Nomad protests, million-dollar luxury cars blown to bits—
Is this a distortion of human nature or a moral decay?"
"Tonight, we have a special guest—a Nomad from the Aldecaldo nation, Hector!"
The older officer pulled out a small bag of chips from his pocket, saying with interest:
"These media folks are something else, we can't even catch the Nomads..."
...
From: Hector.
Hector: Our people are in position—your request didn't even require us to think.
Hector: We will provide all the assistance you need.
Hector: The company never treated us as human beings from the start. I was naive and foolish, leading to the deaths of Andrei, Cedric, Ares, Caesar, Albert, and Seville.
Hector: I'll go to hell for this, but before I do, I'd like to drag a few corporate dogs down with me.
Hector: All the best hands are in the city, all have injected enough slow-release agents; until this is over, until dawn, there won't be any slip-ups.
Hector: I know this request is unreasonable, but I ask you, after this, to take care of Navi and the remaining tribe members.
Hector: Thank you for everything you've done for us, I'll do my best to secure an opportunity for you.
Hector: And thank you for securing this opportunity for me, I'm a coward, I can't watch them die miserably because of me.
Hector: Thank you.
Hector: Red Ocher awaits your command.
Leo finished reading Hector's messages—clearly, Hector was no longer in charge.
He was a conflicted man, and Leo could feel it.
He craved a meaningful self-destruction.
Leo sighed and looked at everyone present.
"Maine, your target is Impala Automatics, head out immediately."
Dorio showed a worried expression, looking at Maine: "Are we still going, in this state?"
Maine had already completely dismantled the small arm with the launcher, making him practically a cripple now.
Of course, his remaining arm wasn't just for show.
Leo looked at Maine, and the latter angrily slammed the table: "Of course, we're continuing! We've come this far to give Sasha an answer—
This time, we're not just doing it for the money. If any of you want out, then leave, but I'm not quitting!"
Maine was the type to get fired up easily, fitting Leo's expectations of him.
Give him a lead to hold onto, and he wouldn't let go.
That's obsession.
Rebecca, Pilar, and Dorio needed no further explanation—they were Sasha's teammates too.
The only unstable element was Kiwi. But she didn't say anything, keeping a low profile.
But Leo still noticed her: "Your hacker might not be on the same page."
"I—ugh, do I have a choice?"
"No."
Leo had already drawn them close to his data fortress, and this thing monitored them internally as well.
She had no chance to contact a fixer, at least not yet.
Kiwi still asked: "I have just one question, how much money can we make?"
Leo looked at Maine: "I don't want a single eddy of the reward Faraday promised, you guys split it. Besides that money, I can offer you an additional 100,000 eddies.
I have only one request, you have to complete this job under my name."
Leo didn't know the amount of Faraday's reward—he hadn't even asked.
If a mercenary wants to know the reward upfront, or wants payment in advance, that can be negotiated, but Leo never even asked.
As for that 90,000 needed, it came from Mendoza and Barnes.
The two of them pooled together 400,000 Euros, not too much, not too little.
Too much? Well, if you look at 400,000 as a number, sure, but using 400,000 to buy something as classified as Project Nightingale intel is a bit underwhelming.
But it doesn't matter, Leo wasn't after that 400,000.
As the actual fixer, he had already cleared most of the obstacles, paving the way for himself.
After setting aside the money to buy Delamain services and various upcoming components, the 100,000 Euros Leo could offer to Maine's team was pretty generous.
Leo had already been quite generous with them—according to Night City rules, fixers and mercenaries split profits 70/30, meaning they would only get 30,000.
So, for Maine and these mercenaries, it was still a very tempting figure.
"Huh?"
Maine's team was stunned.
What does this mean? He's taking none of the benefits and shouldering all the blame? No data fortress is completely impenetrable, is Burgerking crazy?
"I'll explain the details later; for now, let's talk about your route of action."
Leo handed Maine the sorted separation chips.
Impala Automatics is located in the eastern part of Night City, almost outside the city, in a rather remote corner.
The company's advertising boasted fully automated car assembly technology, so there were almost no workers on site.
Now it seems they weren't using automation, but rather that place was actually where Biotechnica stored Project Nightingale's data servers.
Thanks to Morton's position as a project manager and her cunning nature, they now had all the employees' account information.
All they needed was to find a place to input this data, and they would have control over the factory.
The challenge was breaking through Impala Automatics's defenses—
"There's even an Arasaka mech in there?!"
Rebecca and Pilar's voices shot up, making Leo's ears ring.
Arasaka mechs—that's why Arasaka never leaves any evidence that they're targeting Biotechnica.
Among the megacorps, while there are extreme rivalries between some companies, like Militech and Arasaka, there's also cooperation.
For example, Arasaka would buy Militech's Behemoth armored vehicles, and Militech might consider Arasaka's mechs.
When there's no excuse, everyone still has to abide by international law.
Biotechnica was even more so; to ensure the top two private military companies didn't deliberately target them, appropriate cross-purchasing was necessary.
While Biotechnica's security was primarily made up of Militech personnel and equipment, they still chose some Arasaka gear.
But if it came out that Arasaka was secretly investigating them, the procurement order would go to another company—
So, Arasaka wanted to find out what Militech was trying to get from Biotechnica, but feared the fallout of being exposed.
Leo rubbed his ears and said to the loud little loli: "Don't shout so loudly—you guys have a hacker, right? The mech's control commands and user instructions are all in the chip.
The staff accounts in the area are still usable. Once connected to the local network, you can hack it, no need to even face its ICE."
Top-tier hacking: unplug the network cable.
Even better, plug in the network cable, input the account password—your mech is nice, but now it's mine.
Contrary to its terrifying appearance and combat power, fully automated Arasaka mechs are usually deeply integrated into the subnet, making them easy to hack.
That's also the only flaw of this war machine.
"Sounds easy..." Kiwi said through her mask, hiding her full facial expression.
But it was clear she was under a lot of pressure.
Yes, Leo had already prepared all the tools.
The internal structure of Impala Automatics, the composition of security personnel, and even the employee accounts—not just one employee account, but all the staff accounts.
Logically speaking, this hack should be easy, the key was finding the local network interface.
But... just thinking about it being an Arasaka mech made it hard to think straight.
Leo continued: "Listen, you'll also have a team of Nomads supporting you. I've made some connections outside, and they're well-equipped, at least for frontal combat, so get in there, understand?"
Maine nodded: "It's a tough job, but since you're willing to take all the fallout, we'll make it work."
"Good—one last thing." Leo knocked on the table, "Also the most important thing. Do you remember who issued this contract?"
Maine froze.
Who issued the contract?
In theory, it was Faraday.
But ever since they boarded the subway, they had followed Leo's instructions and hadn't communicated with Faraday.
Can it still count as working for Faraday?
He tentatively said: "...Faraday?"
Leo smiled and nodded: "Correct, the whole contract was issued by Faraday, the target was to investigate Project Nightingale and its connection to Militech.
We took the contract at The Afterlife, then lost communication due to battle damage.
After that, we couldn't contact Faraday, then accepted a contract from the reporters Mendoza and Barnes.
Finally, we are strong-willed mercenaries, no matter the situation, so we decided to complete the mission—understood?"
Maine's mind couldn't quite process it, not just him, everyone here was a bit dizzy.
Only Kiwi slightly caught the whiff of a conspiracy: Burgerking's target isn't just the contract.
"...Got it, but how do we get out of here?"
Leo pointed outside.
A Delamain armored taxi slowly appeared at the door.
"50,000 Euros for top-notch service, destination near Impala Automatics. Once you're in, there's no turning back."