Cyberpunk: 2075.

Chapter 970, Section 181: Lazarus Group

"found it."

The tracking of S. A.S.S. went more smoothly than expected—surprisingly smoothly compared to those identity weapons that were difficult to trace.

NCPD personnel examined the S.A.S.'s maintenance records and quickly identified a highly personalized maintenance mark, which, like a signature, clearly pointed to a certain prosthetic doctor.

In the field of prosthetic repair, there are no two sets of completely identical technical traces, or rather, there are no two sets of prosthetics that are exactly the same for a skilled surgeon who can maintain S.A.R.S.

Every doctor leaves a unique mark on their work; this is a habit rooted in muscle memory and fixed mindset, which is difficult to conceal.

Just like the top surgeons in hospitals in the past, their surgical styles were generally very distinctive. Even if a patient was transferred to another hospital, a skilled colleague could tell who had performed the surgery just by glancing at the surgical marks.

Following the trail, NCPD personnel, under River's command, quickly launched an investigation and successfully located the surrogate doctor.

Logically speaking, an opponent who acted so cautiously would not have left any clues, let alone a single survivor. Almost all the team members involved in the operation believed that what they would eventually find was just a disposed corpse.

However, reality surprised everyone.

When the assault team maintained the highest level of alert, silently completed the encirclement, and elite members broke into the clinic, the scene inside stunned everyone—the doctor was concentrating on installing a prosthetic eye on a customer, and the sudden intrusion startled him so much that his hand trembled violently, and the surgical instruments almost slipped from his grasp, nearly causing a medical accident.

The doctor instinctively turned his head to start cursing, ready to teach these uninvited guests a lesson in Night City's 'language art', but when he saw that the newcomers were all in NCPD uniforms, the foul language that was on the tip of his tongue instantly stopped, and he froze on the spot, his hands continuing to move only on instinct.

A deathly silence hung in the air for several seconds before he finally managed to squeeze out a dry sentence under the watchful eyes of countless sharp gazes:

"I'm a legitimate businessman."

The NCPD officers who entered the clinic searched the prosthetic doctor's office with a search warrant and requested his cooperation.

Throughout the entire process, both the prosthetic doctor and the newly recruited mercenary who underwent the surgery were very cooperative and answered all the NCPD's questions without reservation.

During the search, the agents did indeed find some illicit "goods" of dubious origin—several high-end prosthetic bodies that had clearly leaked from internal company channels and whose markings had been removed.

However, given the other party's cooperation, the police officer in charge simply gave his subordinates a look, signaling them to 'ignore it appropriately'. In this city, which prosthetic doctor doesn't have some shady dealings?
Rather than dealing with bloody scavengers, this doctor prefers to source products from companies with higher risks but more stable quality. For that alone, he can be considered a conscience of the industry.

Of course, he might just be a craftsman obsessed with quality—after all, even the most basic sterilization equipment in his clinic is quite expensive.

The questioning went smoothly, and the young mercenary was quickly cleared of suspicion. He was just a newcomer who had come to Night City because of its reputation, and his identity was clean and transparent.

The only minor incident was that he seemed to have 'casually' taken some company goods with him when entering the city, and was chased by corporate security the whole way, but managed to escape in the end—his luck and driving skills certainly qualify him to be a mercenary in Night City. The cyborg doctor's suspicion was quickly cleared.

As an old-school craftsman in Night City, he may have a bad temper, but his craftsmanship is superb and the materials he uses are solid and reliable. Even many officers within the NCPD are his regular customers, having had their prosthetic bodies maintained by him. Everyone knows him and his rules.

Because of this relationship, the doctor was extremely cooperative, and with his active assistance, the key data regarding the mysterious person's prosthetic body maintenance was quickly retrieved.

In the cyborg doctor's account, he was so busy with surgeries that he only just learned that the deputy mayor had been killed, and the medical records confirmed this. The NCPD sent people to question and verify every patient in the process. In the cyborg doctor's memory, the mysterious person was the first person he took over this morning.

As the first guest of the morning and a complete stranger, the cyborg doctor was deeply impressed by the mysterious man. According to his description, the man's physical characteristics closely matched those of the assassin who murdered the deputy mayor.

Thanks to industry practice, to prevent customers from causing trouble after the procedure, the clinic installed comprehensive audio and video recording equipment, which completely recorded the mysterious person's words and actions from the moment he entered until he left.

During the examination, the doctor noticed that the man was using a ZetaTech ZetaTech ZetaTech 2, a model that was not commonly found on the market. Although it was produced in large quantities, it was only intended for professional users. It had excellent performance and various enhancements in terms of parameters, and was not commonly seen on the streets of Night City.

It was precisely this 'uncommon' nature that made the doctor pay more attention at the time.

Throughout the conversation, the mysterious man was unusually cheerful, even a little too lively. He showed a strong desire to chat and was full of curiosity about everything in Night City, as if he were a newcomer.

At first, the doctor was still interested in giving a few perfunctory replies, but later he became so annoyed that he could only nod mechanically and had no interest in listening to what the doctor was actually saying.

Now, this overlooked recording has become the key point, as everything the mysterious person said at the time has been clearly recorded.

The analysis of those words was completed quickly. After cutting out the less important ones and the more exclamations, a key piece of information was casually mentioned in the conversation.

"It's exhausting. I finally made it to Night City, only to have to work for someone temporarily sent from above, and he's even late! Not everyone's here yet, so I have to figure things out myself. This job is really tough. Traveling all over America... if my employment contract hadn't expired, I'd seriously consider retiring."

Outsiders, superiors, late arrival of collaborators, and the team not yet assembling – these are all valuable clues for investigation.

But the most important thing is that keyword: 'employment terms'.

This term is not commonly used in today's world where everything is about "corporate contracts." Its unique context usually only appears in the mouths of two groups of people: independent mercenaries and contract personnel of professional military companies.

A person skilled in close combat, with extensive military experience, bound by an 'employment clause' that allows for retirement upon completion of the term, and tasked with missions throughout the Americas.
All these clues combined in Karl's mind as he watched the questioning, and a guess began to emerge—he just happened to know of a group whose members' characteristics perfectly matched all of this.

Lazarus Group.

(End of this chapter)