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

When they return, tell them that Pure White has left first, controlling the robot.

The group of friends didn't suspect anything and calmly returned to the limousine.

The journey continued, and Leo visited the troops stationed at the former headquarters of the Night Wanderer, and stubbornly drank another glass of wine.

This time, V not only didn't stop him, but also specially drank a glass with him—it was both a celebratory drink to celebrate the successful completion of the mission and the first real drink he had that day.

She had been pouring grape juice before…

After a brief period of excitement, they arranged for soldiers to unload the last batch of supplies from the trucks, completing their two-hour journey around the Badlands.

"Let's go back to Shijishan. Drive faster this time, I'm a bit tired."

Leo gave a brief instruction on the team channel and then leaned back comfortably in his seat.

The time is almost up. The big companies should have already noticed something is wrong, and those that acted quickly have probably already completed the first wave of searches.

It's time to call Li Qixuan—

Leo was already very pleased that this potential partner remained calm and didn't immediately confront him.

"Whoosh—"

The call was answered the instant it was dialed.

Li Qixuan's real-time image appeared in the upper left corner of his retina.

Unlike the last time we met, this middle-aged man had a somber expression and exuded an imposing aura of authority.

Do you want to give me an explanation?

He read it out slowly and deliberately, his tone chillingly cold.

Leo knew his actions were unethical and his motives suspicious, so he asked somewhat awkwardly, "I'd like to ask first, is our conversation being overheard?"

Li Qixuan pursed his lips slightly: "I am the head of the security department, no one can eavesdrop on me."

Leo nodded: "Then I'll be frank. I did the power plant thing, so just count it as my job."

Li Qixuan almost couldn't keep his composure:

"You're turning yourself in, huh? Fine, you wait there, I'll send a special operations team to arrest you right now!"

"Sabotaging Kangtao's power plant will cause Kangtao huge losses and may even provoke conflict between the companies. I'd like to see how powerful your backing is and who can protect you!"

"Wait a minute, let me finish." Leo waved his hand calmly. "I said, the losses are on me. I'll compensate Kang Tao for whatever losses he suffered privately."

"you know--"

“I know, I know! I’ve calculated the equipment loss, repair, reconstruction, lost wages, compensation for the injured, breach of power supply contract, and damage to reputation. It’s about 30 million, right? If I’ve underestimated it, you can add more, it’s all on me.”

Li Ao's sharp retorts made Li Qixuan laugh in exasperation.

"You fucking knew all that, and you still dared to bomb the Kanto power plant?! I think you're insane!"

It takes a certain skill to make the second-in-command of Kangtao's department swear.

For an ordinary person, the next step would be to be executed in various ways by a large company, and then drowned at sea.

But Leo was clearly not one of them: "No, no, no, quite the opposite, I'm doing this for Kangtao's own good!"

"..."

Li Qixuan was so angry that he was speechless.

They blew up the Comtau satellite power station and dared to say it was for Comtau's own good.

This person is no longer suitable to be shot; at the very least, he should be executed by cannon fire!

Before he could speak, Leo continued, "We hijacked a joint convoy of biotechnology and military technology companies, so their primary suspects are definitely other large corporations. The biggest suspects in Night City are Comto and Arasaka. If Comto is also damaged now, then Arasaka will definitely have to take the blame!"

"Ha...you're dreaming." Li Qixuan sighed irritably. "Big companies have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Once they get to the crime scene, your supposedly foolproof plan will be exposed. They'll definitely find clues in the convoy and on the bodies, definitely!"

Leo nodded again: "I believe that. I never underestimate the strength of big companies."

"Then how can you still laugh?"

"Of course, because you can't find the convoy or the personnel, not even a single bullet casing. By 'you,' I mean Comto, Arasaka, military technology, biotechnology, and all the companies in Night City, including the internet surveillance."

Li Qixuan's expression turned serious: "Are you sure? You're so confident?"

“Absolutely, definitely, and certainly.” Leo said in a relaxed tone, “Didn’t I say before? We have to show you what we’re capable of, so that we can be on equal footing when we talk about cooperation in the future.”

"..."

Li Qixuan fell silent again, and with his sunglasses on, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"Alright, stop pretending. It's been almost twenty minutes since the attack. I'm sure Kangtao's troops were the first to set off, since the commotion from the power plant being bombed couldn't be hidden."

While other companies were still observing, your troops had already arrived in the Sonora Mountains and conducted the first round of searching. It's precisely because you found nothing that you had the patience to wait for me to contact you, instead of simply selling me out, am I right?

Leo spoke with great confidence.

"Look, the Kangtao power plant was bombed, and the joint convoy of military technology and biotechnology went missing. Who else in Night City could do this besides Arasaka?"

Now is a good opportunity to join forces with the other two companies to put pressure on Arasaka and make this a solid case! Even if we can't cripple them, we can at least damage their reputation—it's all beneficial!

As he delivered his lengthy speech, Li Qixuan watched him quietly.

As the de facto head of the security department, his ability to seize opportunities is beyond question.

If things really develop as Leo said—no major company can find the whereabouts of the hovercar fleet.

Then only Arasaka can really take the blame for this.

They control the border checkpoints and the border line, making it difficult for other large companies to pull off such a feat without their notice.

But the question is, how did Leo's faction manage to do this?

Is there a powerful force hiding in Night City?

If the final result is as he said, then we must investigate it thoroughly.

Even if the other party is a potential ally, he cannot be completely ignorant of them; that is his responsibility as the head of the security department!

Chapter 306 Leo: "My turn, shake, two-dove-and-dash, eight-chess player!"

The call fell into a brief silence, but the tense atmosphere had already dissipated.

Li Qixuan silently pulled up the investigation report on the satellite power station, focusing on the personnel casualties section: [Human staff casualties: 0 dead, 17 injured.]

The other party accomplished this without anyone noticing, and without killing anyone. This behavior did show goodwill and reduced the pressure on his side considerably.

The loss of equipment and robots is insignificant, as they were all manufactured by Kangtao itself, resulting in lower costs.

As for the satellite power station itself... ha, a failed experimental building. It has proven to be a pitifully small power source, and it even incurs annual maintenance and staff salaries—a pure money-loser.

If the senior executive who was in charge of the project hadn't returned to China for a promotion, it would have been really difficult to take action.

Some people had already suggested that the power plant be dismantled and replaced with other facilities.

Right next to the southern part of the Santo Domingo region, there's such a large area where you could easily build some tin shacks and rent them out to make money, but instead they insist on developing some money-losing "clean energy" project.

After clarifying the pros and cons, his attitude softened:

"Hmm... If it's really like you said, and all the companies can't find any clues, turning it into a cold case, then I can help you suppress it a little."

But you must remember, someone has to take responsibility for the power plant's losses. I can't risk my life and fortune to take the blame for you. What are your plans regarding this?

Leo knew immediately that this person wanted something in return—not necessarily money, but more likely intelligence or promises about a "big plan."

He can afford to give it to them, and besides, greedy people are much easier to deal with than those who have no desires.

“Simple, just hold it for me for about ten days. You shouldn’t have forgotten, right? When we met last time, I said that I would invite Mr. Xu Shiming to Night City for a chat in half a month. Five days have passed now, and there are about ten more days. We’ll see how things go.”

“Xu…Shi Ming…”

Hearing that name again, Li Qixuan still couldn't suppress his pounding heart.

In other words, the domestic political situation is relatively stable and can be suppressed; otherwise, this name could be completely equated with Saburo Arasaka.

Sometimes he felt that Leo was deliberately using the name to scare him, but... what if he was?

If this really ruins something big for the company, drowning isn't the likely outcome; in China, execution by firing squad is more common…

Seeing that he didn't speak, Leo kindly reminded him:

"As long as Kang Tao decides to march on Night City, as the head of the security department, you will soon have several times more soldiers under your command. A general with a large army and a general without an army are both generals in name, but I don't need to elaborate on the difference between them, do I?"

A sharp gaze shot out from behind the sunglasses, lingered on Leo's face for a moment, and then slowly withdrew.

"First, I am not the top leader, but the second-in-command. Second, I am only responsible for security operations, not as a general leading troops into battle."

Hearing the rebuttal, Leo didn't care at all: "Oh right, you're the second-in-command, but the top leader is in the country and doesn't have time to deal with the little things in Night City. As for security operations, fighting bravely against the enemy to protect the company's interests is also a security operation."

Li Qixuan remained silent, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

After a few seconds, he said in a deep voice, "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. I'll help you keep quiet and say that it's still under investigation and we can't draw any conclusions easily. But I have to warn you—you'd better be telling the truth about what you've said, or you'd better watch out. I don't have a very good temper."

Leo readily nodded, completely disregarding his threat.

Seeing that the other party was about to hang up, he quickly reached out to stop them: "Wait a minute!"

Li Qixuan watched him silently.

"I was originally thinking of borrowing one of your subordinates, but I see you're quite free right now, why don't you come over and help me out!"

Looking at Leo's beaming smile, Li Qixuan's lips twitched again: "I'm in charge of all security operations for Kang Tao within Night City..."

The subtext is—I'm not free at all.

Leo, however, was not discouraged: "The satellite power station was bombed, and the joint convoy is missing. Aren't these the biggest safety incidents right now? It won't take you long to get to the eastern suburbs in your airship. Now is the time to put in your help. Think about the bright prospects for our future cooperation!"

"..."

Li Qixuan often makes empty promises to others, but he never expected that one day someone would make such promises to him, especially from such a young person...

"Never mind... what are you trying to do now?"

Leo knew this meant agreement, so he quickly explained in detail:

"Your troops should still be searching around the Sonora Mountains, right? Seriously, don't waste your energy. There are five hovercars there. If they were really hidden over there, even a blind person wouldn't see them. Have them detour to Stone Ridge Mountain. The reason is ready: they're looking for clues about the convoy."

"If I remember correctly, isn't Stone Ridge Mountain your territory?"

"That's right, that's why I let you come first. Otherwise, if we had delayed any longer, the other companies' aerial convoys would have arrived. I've worked so hard to establish this territory, and I'm just starting to develop it. I can't let them ruin it!"

"Could you please come too? Just in case another company sends in a particularly difficult person, you can help me fend them off!"

"Do I owe you something?"

Li Qixuan was truly stunned. After hesitating for a few seconds, he sighed again.

"Fine, go ahead... I've been more than kind to you. If you dare to mess with me, you'll see."

"Click."

He hung up the phone.

Leo leaned back comfortably on his V-shaped legs.

"It's all settled. With a senior executive from Kangtao backing us, people from other companies won't dare to act too recklessly!"

V reached out and ruffled his hair twice: "Still that Mr. Li?"

Leo nodded.

V sighed: "His position is quite high. When I had nothing to do, I looked up the job title system of large companies. Department director is already at the top of middle management, with one foot in senior management."

Above that are senior directors who coordinate across departments and vice presidents in charge of different areas; there are probably no more than five of them in the Kangtao Building.

"Yeah, otherwise why would I have called him over?"

It was precisely because Li Qixuan was a powerful figure that he was able to keep other uninvited guests in check.

Leo entered the team channel, citing an emergency, and demanded that the team move at full speed to get back to Shijishan as soon as possible.

At the same time, Pure White, in the name of "Brigadier General Crimson," sent an emergency notice to the heads of each outpost, instructing them to keep their soldiers under control and not to leave the outpost area.

Each patrol team found a nearby outpost and joined up with the stationed troops.

When the company's military requests an inspection, do not obstruct it; cooperate appropriately. However, do not show weakness, and never surrender weapons or supplies. If you encounter unfriendly behavior, act according to the temporary handling guidelines.

Everything is ready.

Shortly afterward, Leo's convoy of vehicles returned to Shijishan Town before the company employees arrived.

The return of the actual leader reassured the homeless.