Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 967, Section 178: River Ward
The assassin's identity remains a mystery.

The NCPD searched all entry records and identity databases but found no information about him.

This person appeared out of thin air and died suddenly after assassinating Wilton Holt, leaving no trace.

This was not unexpected for Carl, or rather, Carl had already somewhat guessed this possibility when he realized that this cyber-psychotic had an assassin background.

It would be strange if an assassin with such distinctive features left behind traceable clues.

If we can't get through the identity investigation, then we'll have to rely on our network of connections.

If it was a premeditated revenge killing, how many people did Wilton Holt have enemies on a regular basis?

There are far too many, practically as many as you could want. Wilton Holt has been in Night City for so many years; any competent politician will inevitably have political enemies. But if we're talking about who benefits the most from his assassination attempt...
That was undoubtedly Jefferson Peralez, who was vying with him for the mayoralty.

Jefferson Peralres and Wilton Holt are the two candidates with the best poll numbers in Night City right now. All the other candidates combined probably can't compare to them. With Wilton Holt gone, Jefferson Peralres has practically secured the mayor's seat.

Carl had previously considered supporting Jefferson Perales in the election, but now that Wilton Holt has been assassinated, Carl may not even need to show his face to congratulate Jefferson Perales on his victory.

From a purely profit-driven perspective, Jefferson Perales profited the most from this affair, and he may have ultimately had Wilton Holt killed.
But this is obviously impossible.

Not to mention that the guards around Jefferson Perales are all Karl's men, according to Karl's latest communications with him, he still wants to give street speeches to win over the people. He doesn't have the ability, or rather, he doesn't have the person to send to deal with Wilton Holt.

The biggest beneficiary is obviously out of the question, and apart from Jefferson, Holt has too many enemies and political adversaries, and everyone is a suspect. It's impossible to investigate them one by one.

Could it be that this was simply a case of Cyber's psychotic episode killing Holt, and Holt was just unlucky?

While it's not impossible that a professionally trained individual, concealing their identity, might happen to be passing by Holt's lecture venue, suffer a cyberbullying episode, and find Holt's voice too loud, thus going berserk and preparing to shoot him, the probability of this is extremely small.

Although Sherlock Holmes famously said, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth," other possibilities have clearly not been ruled out yet, so this absurd possibility can only be considered a last resort.

Carl had already informed the current leadership of Dogtown of Wilton Holt's assassination, and after arriving in Pacific State in a hovercar, he switched to a regular vehicle and began heading towards Night City.

With such a major event occurring, Karl naturally had to find out the news.

While it's not impossible to delegate this task to subordinates, the thought of them going back to work after less than half a day of rest only to be pulled back to work, and now having to work overtime with Oliver because of this urgent matter, is unacceptable. It's better to go to the city yourself to check the situation than to delegate it to subordinates. Any lazy person would choose the latter.

It's not that there's anything wrong with handling things personally, it's just that Carl feels that investigating things firsthand gives him a broader perspective. Besides, Carl knows that V and Jack are both back, and Oliver isn't working alone. Why have so many people handling things? Someone has to step in eventually.

Of course, Karl would never deny that he did want to slack off, otherwise he wouldn't have so decisively let the hovercar land in Taiping State and then promptly got into an inconspicuous ordinary vehicle to go to the city.

"Has the autopsy report been released yet?"

Carl also did not forget the intelligence officer who provided timely information. As a reward, or rather, as a sign of his high regard, he took the officer with him and entrusted him with all the relevant intelligence work.

This agent, who came from the counterintelligence department, was indeed highly capable, quickly reporting the current situation:

Wilton Holt's body is currently in the custody of the NCPD due to his involvement in the cyberbullying attack, and an autopsy will be performed by a professional coroner. Meanwhile, the city has descended into chaos for various reasons following the assassination of the former deputy mayor in broad daylight, and most of the NCPD's police force has been deployed to the streets to quell the unrest.

After all, from any perspective, Wilton Holt was a pivotal figure in Night City. To be assassinated in such a bustling area as Japan Street in full view of everyone undoubtedly pushed the public's fear of cyberpsychosis to a new peak, and the resulting chaos was not surprising.

Although cyberpsychosis has always been associated with terror in Night City, this incident is the first publicly known case of a successful assassination of a high-ranking political figure. The high status of the victim and the openness of the event are far beyond anything seen in previous cases.

In an effort to calm public sentiment, the NCPD has deployed a large number of personnel to suppress street riots and crack down on gang members who are taking advantage of the chaos. Commissioner Johnson has also announced the establishment of a special investigation team, vowing to thoroughly investigate the case.

Now, if Carl wants to know the latest situation, he doesn't need to wait for the NCPD to provide information; he can go directly to the head of the special investigation team.

In such a significant incident, the person who was urgently appointed as the head of the investigation team must be no ordinary person. Carl was prepared to hear the names of Andy and other NCPD officers he was familiar with, but the intelligence personnel told him a name he wasn't very familiar with at this time.

"River Ward?"

Karl was somewhat surprised when the intelligence officer reported the name.

This difference doesn't mean that Carl didn't know River Ward. He was familiar with everyone in the NCPD, or rather, he knew or had met most of the people who weren't recently recruited into the NCPD.

In his memory, River Ward was a detective with a buzz cut. Johnson had told him that he was a capable and righteous officer, but he was prone to extreme actions and was often suspended from duty.

In this situation, Mr. Johnson chose a very capable but prone-to-overreaction detective. Was he looking for River Ward's ability to act in this kind of situation?

It's true that profound insights require extraordinary measures.
"Looks like I'll have to go see Detective River."

(End of this chapter)