The burning Scorpion-tailed Lion crashed behind them, and V and Jack stared with their mouths wide open—

Now they were both lying back in their seats, enjoying Lille’s former treatment.

"Holy shit!"

The two exchanged a glance, then V burst into laughter and flipped off Company Square: "We’re outta here, man!"

But as soon as he spoke, they saw NCPD vehicles ahead of them!

"Lille! We’ve got cops ahead!"

"We’ve got backup too—"

Lille had moved to the combat position with Jack and V—on Mackinaw’s cargo box.

With that, Lille leaped into the air, vanishing among the buildings!

The NCPD saw a Mackinaw speeding out from the direction of City Hall and instantly knew something was wrong, but before the veteran officers could even think to reverse and get out of there, another roar from a Reckoner’s car engine suddenly drowned everything out!

Moments ago, the Reckoners had been unarmed, but now they were grabbing guns and tossing Molotov cocktails!

The cops trapped in between were in a panic—

Where the hell had they hidden those weapons?!

Bam!

A Columbus Freight truck burst through the barricade and slid into a drift, joining Lille and the others.

Jack stared in shock at the driver’s seat—it was Navi, the young man from Red Ochre!

"You guys did it! You fucking did it!"

Navi’s eyes were bloodshot as he screamed hoarsely: "Red Ochre—our heroes have emerged, floor the gas pedal, burn it all, let Night City eat our dust!"

On the Haywood-City Hall defensive line, the Reckoners suddenly erupted!

Their modified cars accelerated in an instant, smashing through the barricades suicidally, throwing firebombs, shooting indiscriminately, and then speeding towards the city outskirts in a mad rush!

"Cops ahead—"

The Reckoners shouted hoarsely over the radio, but Navi had only one response—

"Floor it, push it to the limit!!!"

Bam!

No one knew why the Reckoners’ junk cars could be so fierce.

But tonight, the vastly overpriced NCPD patrol cars were no match for them!

...

"Reaver! Prepare to fire!!"

At the Haywood-City Hall blockade, the Reckoners abruptly sped up their cars and began firing recklessly!

The scene turned into utter chaos, with dozens of parade vehicles going on a rampage, throwing Molotov cocktails and attacking the streets!

"Down with corporate tyranny, Night City belongs to the people!"

Molotov cocktails smashed into Detective Reaver’s car, bullets shattered the neon signs lining the streets, raining sparks and debris everywhere!

NCPD officers snapped out of their shock from witnessing the upheaval at Company Square—

From this moment on, the situation had escalated!

The air was thick with chaos. The gang members’ faces still showed disbelief, but now they knew an opportunity had come—

A true, full-scale revolt was brewing!

Company Square was notable not just for its towering buildings—there were holographic billboards.

The holographic billboards could project strip advertisements up to a kilometer high into the sky, making them quite conspicuous even from the Evil Land!

The power outage at Company Square naturally created a spectacle that could even be seen from the Evil Land!

The entire Night City was looking towards Company Square—and those closer saw it clearly.

It was like watching a meteor fall from the sky!

The Scorpion-tailed Lion had a special significance in Night City; it was the exclusive floating assault transport for the Terrorist Mobile Team, but now, it had crashed!

This scene was not only a metaphorical comet striking Earth, but also a literal one—the people oppressed in the dark underworld by corporate power were starting to stir!

No matter their livelihood—robbery, smuggling, murder, theft... now was the perfect time to act!

Reaver raised his gun just as a car came crashing into him!

Bam!

The speeding car collided hard with the front of the NCPD vehicle, nearly throwing Reaver out!

Luckily, Old Han in the passenger seat grabbed him by the waist!

"Damn it, everyone’s lost it, everyone’s gone insane!"

Reaver was yanked back into his seat, still in shock, as more cars sped down the streets!

The corporations and NCPD had spent years establishing their dominance in the city, asserting their authority through repeated massacres—

But the bloody reality had only made the people of Night City shrink back a little, and now, they had found their courage again!

Reaver snapped out of it and hurried to adjust the radio.

The NCPD channel: "All NCPD... sss... personnel and their contractors, Night City... sss... is now at Level One alert, Company Square...

Attackers, pursue... sss... the striped Mackinaw."

"Repeat... sss—pursue the red and black... sss... striped Mackinaw!"

Reaver was stunned.

The image sent from headquarters was blurry—and Mackinaws were hardly rare vehicles!

Maybe they were rare in the city center, but throughout all of Night City, the base model Thunder Mackinaw was a best-seller!

Tonight alone, Reaver had seen at least ten Mackinaws! Two of them matched the color description!

"...additional info, the target vehicle has numerous bullet holes..."

They added details, but it wasn’t much help.

The Reckoners’ Mackinaws were full of bullet holes; they never bothered patching them up.

And upon further thought, it seemed like a lot of Reckoners tonight were driving Mackinaws. Was it intentional?

Honk——

Horns blared and engine noises filled the air, and Reaver looked dumbfounded at the end of the street—

A Mackinaw—red and black stripes—riddled with bullet holes!

Reaver gritted his teeth: "Damn it, chase one if we can, #0123 has sighted a suspect matching the description, there are 3 Reckoner cars around the target.

In pursuit, requesting backup!"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

The face of Old Han in the passenger seat went white—really, we’re chasing it?

Can your car be tougher than a Scorpion-tailed Lion?!

...

"#0123 in pursuit, requesting backup..."

"#0099 in pursuit, requesting backup..."

"#0045 in pursuit, requesting backup..."

"#00133 in pursuit..."

"Requesting backup..."

NCPD headquarters was in a mess—

Which direction should they chase?

To be honest, no one was sure how many of these backup requests were actually credible.

In this kind of environment, anyone daring to hunt down these cars was a warrior—who could blame them for seeking assistance from headquarters out of fear?

The sergeant wiped his face and told his subordinates: "Put this information on the public channels, let whoever feels like it chase them."

...

A painful decision.

What was a painful decision? It was like now—

The Mackinaw had evaded the NCPD’s pursuit once, and then returned to kill a squad of Military Technology personnel.

Then it had escaped again—the last commander, Major Hardy, had chosen to split their forces to follow, and another Military Technology captain ended up dead.

And now?

If given another chance, Military Technology wouldn’t hesitate to chase the Mackinaw during the subway conflict.

But now? They wanted to know if there were other options.

Those damn punks had definitely succeeded, let someone else deal with it.

Damn Biotechnology—how could they cause such trouble over a small matter!!

But now, they were also curious why the soldiers had reported seeing a Lizard Man—

The plastic alliance was cracking.

The Five Corporations were each plotting, placing their bets—which Mackinaw should they chase?

While chasing the Mackinaw, they also had to account for the vermin in the city that were starting to stir; this bet might be a one-time thing.

In the chaos of Night City, the Wanderers raced down the streets, outlaws rushed to rob their targets.

Several armed floating cars and armored ground troop carriers raced in from different directions, and agents lurking in the shadows began to move.

They had different tasks, but one ultimate goal—

Suppression.

...

Boom——!

The intersecting streets of Haywood, where the Wanderers showed off the driving skills they depended on for survival, speeding through the roads!

Reaver kept tailing the Mackinaw closely—

Bullets hit the NCPD vehicle like rain, but his eyes were fixed on the Mackinaw!

Bam!

Another Wanderer’s car dashed out from the street corner, crashing hard into him!

But how could a collision like this stop an NCPD patrol car from fighting back?

Reaver gripped the steering wheel with one hand, lifting his pistol—

Then he saw something staggering:

The Wanderer in the driver’s seat, their skin was burned raw, skin peeling away to reveal muscle and bone.

He had seen people burned like that before—it was unimaginable pain.

And this Wanderer seemed to be smoldering as if covered in an invisible flame.

He saw the Wanderer glare at him with hate and spite—just like the look Reaver gave himself every morning in the mirror after listening to the news.

The Wanderer’s car lost control after repeated impacts, hitting a building, and Reaver watched as the Wanderer vanished in flames, showing no expression—

No, the Wanderer’s hatred surpassed his own by far.

Bam!

Suddenly, the car dropped, its undercarriage scraping the road with sparks—

Reaver hadn’t even reacted when the bulletproof glass shattered!

Those claws punched through the glass, ripped out the steering wheel, and were gone!

The car lost control, crashing into a wall and coming to a complete stop!

Old Han in the passenger seat trembled, and Reaver was still in shock—

He was now certain, this was definitely the target!

Whoosh—

The Scorpion-tailed Lion roared past, and Reaver immediately felt a surge of confidence—

But then he saw a shadow darting and leaping between the buildings, quickly closing in on the Scorpion-tailed Lion!

The Scorpion-tailed Lion didn’t even notice it!

Reaver watched the shadow closing in, his heart in his throat—

And then... the shadow seemed to use something like Si Anweisitan and disappeared, reappearing the next second on the Scorpion-tailed Lion’s engine!

Reaver’s combat prosthetic eye zoomed in... and he saw a being covered in green scales, with a long tail...

A Lizard Man!

The Lizard Man clung to the engine, forcibly tearing apart the engine and car connection!

Bam!

The engine spewed black smoke and crashed to the side, the shadow vanishing once more from the Scorpion-tailed Lion, jumping between the buildings, following the car, disappearing into Haywood’s streets.

Reaver crawled out of the crushed car, collapsing on the ground, unable to stand.

He didn’t even report back to headquarters; he just watched the scene before him.

His mind replayed everything that had happened today.

The Wanderers hadn’t lied, something terrible had happened to them.

Their flesh was scorched, their eyes reddened, it seemed even a bit of light was enough to make them melt.

Yet they didn’t back down, enduring pain and humiliation, stepping into the spotlight, risking their lives to storm this kaleidoscopic city, then howling under the moonlight as they left victorious.

But their appearance wasn’t of ordinary victors, rather... they were like crazed victors, victorious yet insane.

A thought suddenly occurred to Reaver, an urban myth:

The Wanderers would turn into werewolves at night, howling at the moon—

But—who had turned them into such beings?

And... what exactly was that thing?