From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

The vast desert has replaced the steel jungle of the city.

On the dry land, there are very few plant species. Apart from clumps of California wormwood and saxaul trees growing close to the ground, the only slightly taller ones are Joshua trees and cacti.

What these plants have in common is that they are all yellowish-brown and look half-dead.

The water source is toxic, and even these most resilient desert plants are on the verge of collapse.

If Poison Ivy saw this, she would probably go mad.

Leo opened the car window a crack, took a breath of unfiltered desert dust, and then closed the window with a look of disgust.

"What's this weird smell..."

Panan glanced at him in the rearview mirror: "Night City's landfill is just to the south. Are you taking a deep breath here because you think your medical bills are too short?"

Leo blew his nose, trying to expel the unpleasant smell.

His gaze drifted toward the landfill, vaguely recalling that heading south from there would lead to Dexter's "place of death."

There is also an abandoned refrigerator there, containing the body of legendary hacker Bartmore.

Interesting. I'll go pick up that refrigerator tomorrow; it'll be a great souvenir...

Rising to Fame: Chapter 263 Panan: "Tired, let's destroy..."

The vehicle moved smoothly forward and soon came to a small rest area with a gas station – the Sunset Motel.

Panam did not stop and continued driving forward.

When they reached the fork in the road, she slowed down and whispered, "Look to your left, do you see that building with the cell tower?"

Leo and V turned in that direction and spotted a very conspicuous building. They could vaguely see that there seemed to be someone guarding the entrance.

Panan continued, “That’s the abandoned Union Railroad tower, now occupied by Nightwalkers. If you don’t understand what I mean, let me remind you—this road is the only way from Night City to Stone Ridge, and this Nightwalker camp is less than a kilometer from Stone Ridge.”

“No wonder Stone Ridge Mountain has become a ghost town…” Leo couldn’t help but sigh.

This place is only a few kilometers from the "border" of Night City, yet there's already a camp for Night Wanderers. Knowing their nature, it wouldn't be surprising if they set up roadblocks and collected tolls at any time.

"It's not just here. The further away from the city, the more raiders there are. Do you still want to develop Stone Ridge Mountain?"

Panan turned his head to look at him.

Leo nodded firmly: "Of course I want to. Before I develop Stone Ridge Mountain, I must get rid of these stinking rats from the bad soil first."

Panan shook his head helplessly: "The badlands of the eastern suburbs are vast. Every abandoned building could be hiding Night Wanderers and the Chaotic Knife Society. There are hundreds or even thousands of them. How can you possibly eliminate them?"

"Simple, just set a good price for their heads, and wait for the wanderers, lone wolves, and mercenaries to help me hunt them down!"

Chi-

Panan was so engrossed in listening that he accidentally slammed on the brakes.

The steel behemoth shuddered, causing the interior furnishings to rustle.

"You..." Her eyes widened in surprise, "What grudge do you have? Are you serious?"

"Of course, I will have a detailed discussion with your leader tomorrow, and you are welcome to listen in."

After saying that, Leo intimately put his arm around V's neck. This gesture was originally just meant to show his composure and ease, but she misunderstood and turned to offer her red lips.

How could Leo not eat meat that was offered to him?

Since they had nothing better to do, the two of them simply started cuddling and kissing in the back row.

Panan glanced at the rearview mirror, then awkwardly pursed his lips. "A couple of kisses is enough. If you really want to take your pants off, should I get out of the car to clear the way? Wait, no, don't mess around in my car. If you want to do it, go home!"

V glanced at her with displeasure: "You're the driver, watch the road, don't look behind you!"

"I'm fucking speechless..."

Panan cursed and resignedly continued driving.

No wonder this job pays so much; it turns out there's also compensation for the emotional distress of being forced to eat dog food!

The vehicle continued on its way, while the two people in the back seat became engrossed in exchanging blows.

Of course, kissing is just for fun; more importantly, it's to soothe V's bloodlust.

V: I've done a quick reconnaissance with the scanner. That night-roaming ghost camp has at most twenty or thirty people, plus a few sentry turrets. Tell her to stop the car, I'll go down and raze that camp!

“Leo: I know you can handle them all by yourself, but this is my ‘gift’ to the wanderers. Only after they put in the effort to take over that stronghold and receive a generous reward will they be tempted by the profit and become our sharpest weapon. Just bear with it a little longer.”

“V: This is so boring... Let's hurry up and finish this and go home. I still have the little one locked in the room. I forgot to let it out when I left.”

"Leo: There is food, water, and a litter box in your room. The cat will be fine in there."

V: Come on, it can be quite a handful when it's bored...

A kilometer's distance will be covered in the blink of an eye.

The two passengers in the back row parted reluctantly and became two proper people again.

Looking out at the abandoned town, Leo felt as if he were exploring a horror movie.

This is all thanks to Whole Foods' abstract advertisements. Those billboards that make you lose your sanity just looking at them stand at the entrance of the town. I wonder who the genius was who came up with them.

"Slow down and go in slowly, don't stop, drive around the town."

The client has spoken; what can the junior guide say?

After Panan did as instructed, he couldn't help but remind them, "You guys should also be careful. Although this town has no permanent residents, smugglers like to conduct their transactions here because of these abandoned buildings where they can hide. If you accidentally see something you shouldn't—"

"Then I'll kill them, and double-cross them!" V shouted, answering quickly.

"Sigh, I... never mind, whatever."

Panan, with one hand on his forehead, drove cautiously through the town.

Upon arriving in the town center, Leo activated his prosthetic eye to scan and observe carefully:

The equipment at the ethanol-2 gas station is in decent condition; it should be usable again after some repairs.

The substation and transformer are still in good condition. As long as the generator set is connected and the switches and wires are replaced, power supply can be fully restored.

The water supply facilities are completely broken, and the groundwater here was never usable to begin with. It's not a big problem though; we can just buy water from the Night City water company and have them deliver it daily by water truck.

From this perspective, as long as the Chaotic Blade Society and the Night Wanderer can be dealt with, Stone Ridge Mountain can be developed into his recruitment base.

“This place is nice!” he commented. “Let’s go, take a walk around here, then detour to the Santo Domingo area and check out the dam viewpoint.”

"Ghost town, and then the stinking ditch in Night City, amazing, the rich really have such unique taste..."

Panan muttered to himself, driving with a speechless expression.

After circling the town, Leo confirmed its size once again—it could easily house several thousand people after renovation.

They then returned to Night City by the same route, turned south at Red Peak Pass, and headed towards the dam.

Upon arriving in this area, the car's air conditioning started running at full power, purifying the air that had an unpleasant odor.

V also recalled unpleasant memories and resolutely locked the window.

Leo's gaze continued to search westward, and when the vehicle reached the circular mountain road, he finally found his target.

"Stop here for a moment."

"Go a little further ahead, away from the dam..."

Panan drove a few dozen meters further before reluctantly pulling the car over to the side of the road.

Leo eagerly pushed open the car door and got out, frowning as he was overwhelmed by the stench floating in the air.

V followed behind him, took out a pack of wet wipes, and handed him one: "Cover your mouth and nose, the air quality here is terrible, it'll give you a headache if you smell it too much."

Leo accepted her kindness, covering his nose with one hand and pointing to the magnificent columned building in the distance with the other.

"See that big thing? That's the collection unit for the satellite power station. And those further away are the matching antennas. Each antenna can receive microwave energy transmitted by the orbiting satellite and then convert the energy into electricity."

V nodded: "It's really spectacular. Those antennas stretch endlessly all the way to the intercontinental highway. But I bet the energy conversion rate of this facility isn't high, otherwise they wouldn't need to plant all the land with Methanol-2 wheat."

“That’s right…” Leo stood on the mountaintop, looking out over the surrounding buildings and terrain, transmitting this information to Pure White. After that, he quickly pulled V back into the car.

"Alright, you had a lot of fun today. Take us to the area near the seaside cafe, and your mission will be complete."

With that, Leo transferred 10,000 euros to Panan.

Panan hadn't gotten out of the car since the beginning and found their strange behavior very puzzling.

They travel all the way to the dam to breathe in some stench, and they're still happy about it?

This L has a bump on his head...

Oh well, I've already gotten 10,000 euros for free, nothing else matters.

She needed to get them back quickly so she could return to the family camp and report her bizarre experiences of the day to the other idiot.

Rising to Fame: Chapter 264 Let's suffer a little longer, Kang Tao, let's bear the infamy... Ara Saka will take the blame.

Upon arriving at the seaside café, Panan dropped the two off and sped away.

Out of politeness, Leo waved to the departing car and turned to V: "Let's go buy a cup of coffee, that weird smell from the dam is still lingering in my mouth."

V chuckled and reached out to take his arm: "Who told you to run that way? That place is called a dam, but it doesn't hold back water; it holds back mountains of garbage from Night City."

Leo nodded. It seemed that to clean up the water pollution in Night City, they had to deal with that mountain of garbage first.

But that's for the future; let's focus on the present.

The two walked into a roadside cafe, bought two mochas, and strolled hand in hand on the beach.

A gentle sea breeze blew, dispelling the afternoon heat.

Our beach date, which was unexpectedly interrupted last time, was finally made up for today.

The only downside was that the seawater wasn't very clear, and there were no seashells on the beach, only litter scattered everywhere.

Aside from that, the only other thing that stands out here is... the large number of people.

The recent cyberbullying tragedy did not damage the popularity of this place; on the contrary, it attracted more tourists to visit and take photos.

Especially at the site where the actress from "Saigon Sisters" died, there were people three or four times over, all holding up their phones and taking pictures like crazy, as if it were some kind of must-visit spot.

"They really love making things worse..."

Leo was speechless at the caterpillar citizens of Night City.

V was already used to it: "Making a living in Night City, you might get killed by a stray bullet any day now. People are addicted to sensory stimulation and seek hedonistic pleasures; it's always been like this."

"It seems the first thing I should do after forming a gang and taking over territory is to restore order. Only by improving public security can ordinary citizens feel safe and return to normal social life..."

The two chatted as they went on their date, leaving two sets of footprints close together on the sand.

An hour later, the short break came to an end.

The two first walked to Vera's garage to take a look, and found that the truck and goods had not arrived. They then pulled Vera and Sasha aside to discuss their discovery of the day.

Leo recounted a blunder he had only recently realized: "That satellite power plant belongs to Comtão."

""ah!?""

These words caused an uproar among the women.

"What should we do then? Change the plan?" Sasha was in a state of confusion and overturned the infiltration plan she had envisioned in her mind.

“Kantau… it wouldn’t be right to just borrow from them directly.” Vera retracted her thought.

V scratched his head: "Isn't that great?"

All eyes were on her face, wondering why she had made such outrageous remarks.

“Think about it, if a joint airborne vehicle fleet of biotechnology and military technology has an accident, everyone’s first suspect will definitely be other large companies. If Kangtao also suffers losses at this time, wouldn’t that be a perfect way to clear Kangtao out of the picture?”

V's astonishing... no, this time it's true wisdom!

Leo's prepared lines were stolen by her, and he covered his mouth in surprise: "You've actually learned to use your brain!?... Ah!"

The iron fist of God descended swiftly, suppressing the piercing sound.

"I'm a seasoned mercenary, I've seen it all. I've even seen gangsters hire people to attack their own territory, and then they step in to boost their own performance and reputation!"

Her words made a lot of sense and were agreed upon by the two ladies.

Leo stopped joking and began to add details: "That's what I was thinking too. If an attack simultaneously damaged biotechnology, military technology, and Kangtao, who would be your first suspect?"