Chapter 327
2-in-1-chapter
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So this was why River hadn't been allowed near this case.
It was also why he couldn't get into the evidence lab without Leo's help.
Yawan put one hand on her hip. "He didn't tell you? He went straight to Chief Jerry Fort and reported his own superior. The result? His boss walked away clean—and River got suspended pending investigation."
So it was fallout from the last investigation involving the mayor.
Leo hadn't expected that, in the end, River hadn't been able to let go of the case.
"I know what you're thinking, Leo, but now's not the time," River said before turning to Yawan. "Yawan, I know I shouldn't be here, but I have a reason I have to do this! Harris kidnapped my nephew!"
Yawan's tone softened slightly, no longer as aggressive as before. "I'm really sorry, but this is an evidence storage room. The department has strict protocols."
Leo shook his head in disapproval. "Rules are fine—but rules are dead, people are alive. You can't let cold procedures crush living people."
Rules were made by people. And if rules no longer fit, then they ought to be changed.
For example, at the founding of the United States, slavery was still legal, but even then, slavery was already becoming outdated.
So, a few decades later, the abolitionist movement emerged, demanding the complete eradication of slavery.
The situation with River was similar.
He was a detective himself (though currently suspended for other reasons). His nephew had gone missing, and the department wouldn't let him touch the case—was he really supposed to obediently go home and wait for news?
That would obviously go against human nature, and it also contradicted the very spirit of freedom and democracy that America had long upheld.
Yawan's tone took on a pleading and begging quality: "NCPD is already investigating this case. If there are any developments, I'll let you know. So River, while no one else is around, please, just leave now, okay?"
But River didn't budge. "You've dealt with the department before. Don't you know what kind of people they are? You submit a report and it vanishes without a sound."
Yawan was getting angry.
Although this lab didn't have surveillance cameras due to cost reasons, Yawan couldn't guarantee that someone else wouldn't come back at any moment. If that happened, seeing them together could easily get Yawan dragged into this.
Thinking of that, Yawan snapped: "Then what do you want to do? Act recklessly? It's exactly because of attitudes like yours that Night City has become lawless!"
River folded his arms across his chest. "Lawless? Do you remember your first exam at the medical school? That time… you barely had to try and passed quickly."
"You haven't forgotten, right? When the girls restroom caught fire, they spent two hours evacuating everyone."
There was a hidden meaning in River's words.
Even Leo, an outsider who didn't know the background, could tell.
River had helped Yawan in the past, and now he was using that favor as leverage to force Yawan to help him.
Well, this was one way to call in a favor—but unless absolutely necessary, Leo preferred not to operate this way. It hurt relationships too much.
Sure enough…
"You actually have the nerve to bring that up in front of me."
Yawan, thoroughly cornered, glared at River like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Don't let me see you here again! Especially you!"
She turned to Leo, as if complaining, and said, "You don't know him well yet, do you? That man is a total bastard!"
Leo replied, "I can understand your anger, but you should also understand him—his family member was kidnapped by that heartless bastard Harris."
After a pause, Leo continued: "And he's suspended—completely cut off from the investigation—and the case was handed over to a useless parasite. If it were you, what would you do?"
Yawan took a deep breath, as if she'd been convinced.
"What are you looking for? I'll say this first: if I can't help, then there's nothing I can do."
Seeing Yawan soften her stance, River's tone also eased slightly. "I just want Harris's dream recordings. Once I get them, we'll leave immediately."
Yawan sighed. "He hasn't had any dreams."
River froze. "What? What do you mean?"
"Both of you, come with me."
Yawan took the lead and left the braindance editing room.
Leo and River exchanged glances. River said, "I trust Yawan isn't lying to me. Let's follow and hear what she has to say."
They followed Yawan into an adjacent room.
"The bullet damaged his cerebral cortex. All we could extract were fragmented emotions and scattered consciousness."
River frowned. "Didn't you try visual and auditory simulation? You didn't try that approach?"
Yawan retorted, "But he doesn't fall within the responsive spectrum."
River argued, "But with the right song or movie, even autistic children respond—it's worth trying."
This method River referred to was originally used for treating autism.
Even children with severe autism had something they cared about—a song, a movie, something that interested them.
If therapy started from that point of interest, it allowed the therapist to seem like one of them, reducing resistance and building trust.
The idea was to show that the therapist was not like the indifferent adults of the outside world, but a friend.
This, in turn, made children more accepting of both the therapist and the treatment, significantly improving success rates.
So River's thought was that, if it worked for autistic children, perhaps it could also work for the comatose Harris. At the very least, it might induce him to dream—and that would be enough.
"I know this method has a certain success rate, but Harris isn't a child—I've never tried this on an adult," Yawan replied.
Leo asked, "If there's a chance it could work, why haven't you tried it already?"
After all, letting a comatose suspect listen to music or a movie wouldn't cause any harm. It cost nothing—so why not try?
Leo found it strange. Since Yawan knew about the method, why not test it?
Yawan glared at Leo angrily. "I'm not like River—I went to medical school and studied neuroscience. What he's talking about is all hearsay."
"And besides, we don't know what Harris likes."
So it turned out Yawan wasn't unwilling—she simply didn't know where to start.
River sensed her hesitation and seized the moment. "I'll figure that part out. So does this mean you're agreeing?"
Yawan let out a cold snort.
"Do I have a choice? Hurry up and get out of here. I'll open the door for you—and don't come back."
With that, Yawan ignored them and walked away.
Once she was gone, River could no longer contain his happiness.
As long as Yawan agreed to help, all he had to do was find out what Harris liked, get it to her, and have her play it for Harris—then maybe Harris would start dreaming.
Of course, there was no guarantee that Harris's dreams would contain any clues to help River find his nephew.
But at least it gave River a glimmer of hope.
It was far better than doing nothing.
"Let's go, Leo. I've already got a detailed plan."
After leaving the NCPD lab through the front entrance, Leo and River got back into the car.
River started the engine and drove toward Santo Domingo.
"I know what you want to say. If you have a question, just ask."
"That old friend of yours said you were fired from the force. What exactly happened?"
River gave a wry smile. "Didn't you hear what Yawen said? I went to Director Jerry Fort to try and clean up corruption in the department, but I didn't expect that the rot itself was something Fort started."
"They confiscated my badge and the department-issued Lexington, told me not to come to work anymore, and stopped paying me."
He paused briefly, hesitating. "It's not that I wanted to hide it from you. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just… it's hard to talk about it, especially something that weighs on me like this."
"I understand," Leo replied. "Sometimes telling the wrong person about bad things just makes it worse." Then he noticed River wasn't driving aimlessly. "But where are we headed?"
"To Joss's place—my sister, Randy's mother. She thinks Randy just ran away from home, so please don't mention anything about a kidnapping."
"Aren't we supposed to check Harris's house?"
"I've already been to Harris's place. No leads, no missing kids."
Leo immediately understood why River was headed to Randy's home. "Since your nephew was kidnapped by Harris, they must have been in contact. You want to check their message history?"
"Yeah, exactly."
"But if Harris's own place didn't turn up anything… River, don't you think their chat records might be just as empty?"
River stayed silent for a moment before saying, "But what choice do we have right now?"
The car fell quiet again until River broke the silence himself.
"By the way, I wanted your thoughts on this. Anthony Harris calls himself 'Peter Pan.' Do you think he just picked that at random, or does it mean something?"
Leo thought about it before replying.
"In the story, there's a man named Mr. Darling who has three children. One night, Peter Pan flies to their window, saying he'll teach them how to fly and take them to a land full of adventure."
"The three children are delighted and quickly learn to fly with him."
River couldn't help but interrupt. "Wait, how can little kids fly?"
Leo felt exasperated. "Do you really need to take a children's fairy tale that seriously?"
River immediately raised both hands. "Sorry, my bad. Go on."
Leo continued.
"The three children followed Peter Pan to a beautiful island—Neverland."
"On that island, there were fierce beasts, 'Red Indians' of the native tribes, terrifying pirates, fairies, and mermaids."
"In short, everything that often appears in children's dreams and fantasies could be found there."
"So they hunted dangerous animals, fought wars between Red Indians and pirates, or between the children and the pirates."
"The children, free from the constraints of adults, played freely under Peter Pan's leadership, experiencing all kinds of dangers and adventures."
"But later, those runaway children began to miss their mothers. At the urging of one of them, they left Neverland, bidding farewell to the place that had brought them endless joy, and flew back home."
"Later, they all grew up. Only Peter Pan never grew up, and he never went home."
"He kept flying around, taking generation after generation of children away from their homes to enjoy a carefree childhood on Neverland."
River pondered this. "That sounds like a pretty typical fairy tale. So why would a sicko like Anthony Harris choose to call himself Peter Pan?"
Leo answered calmly. "In the story, Peter Pan is the boy who never grows up. In reality, there's no such person. But that doesn't stop someone like Harris from having a child who never grew up living inside his heart."
"And maybe, when he kidnapped those missing kids, he actually thought he was taking them to his version of Neverland."
River's eyes widened. "Is he out of his mind? How could kidnapping possibly be the same as Peter Pan taking kids to Neverland in the story?"
Leo shook his head. "People's thoughts aren't the same. If everyone shared the same values, there wouldn't be so many criminals in the world."
"And honestly, if that was all there was to it, it wouldn't be the worst scenario. What's really scary is… which version of Peter Pan Harris thinks he is."
River froze. "Leo, what do you mean?"
Leo held up two fingers. "There are two interpretations of Peter Pan. The one I just told you about—the most widely known version—and an earlier version from the original works."
"The difference is, in that early version, Peter Pan wouldn't let the kids who wanted to return home go back. He would harm those who loved him, and he would kill children who grew up—because that violated the rules of Neverland."
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