33 Hlavni Apartment 202¶

The apartment detailed in the email from earlier is #202 and can be found on the first floor of this complex, to your left. There are two ways you can approach entering this apartment, using remote hacking on the shutters on the window or by hacking the door (Security Rating: 2).

You’ll have to act quick as soon as you enter the apartment because the smart home will call the local authorities if you remain in the room for too long. Good for you then that Jensen just happens to be a master hacker so put his skills to work and quickly hack the nearby laptop to the right. Once you have access to the system, select the “House A.I” option to scan your bio data and disable the security check. Before you exit the system make sure that you open the wall panels via the security option for some credit chips and read the emails, however it’s important that you don’t hire the cleaning service just yet.

Although theres not many items of note here besides the abundance of alcohol, there are two items that will aid you in your search for the Neon suppliers. Start by heading into the bathroom and search on the bath to find a pocket secretary, this will update the quest upon discovering about the neon rave. Next go upstairs into the bedroom to disover a body and upon looting, another pocket secretary for more backstory on the poor owner of this apartment. There’s nothing else for you here so before leaving the apartment, pay one more visit to the laptop downstairs and select the Environment option to “Hire Cleaning Service”. You’ll need to take the subway to a different part of Prague and return again to have the apartment cleaned so do that now and return here.

Although there’s not many items of note here besides the abundance of alcohol, there are two items that will aid you in your search for the Neon suppliers. Start by heading into the bathroom and search the edge of the bathtub to find a Pocket Secretary, which, once read will update the quest upon discovering about the neon rave. Next go upstairs into the bedroom to discover a body and upon looting, another Pocket Secretary. The Pocket Secretary just contains information about the deceased, but the body itself is an indication of just how dangerous Neon can be.

There’s nothing else for you here so before leaving the apartment, pay one more visit to the laptop downstairs and select the Environment option to “Hire Cleaning Service”. You’ll need to take the subway to a different part of Prague and return again to have the apartment cleaned so do that now and return here.

When you enter apartment 202 again after returning from the subway you will discover that it’s taken on a whole new look and that everything is clean. Those “cleaners” are worth the money! Head back upstairs to where you found the body and you will come across a stash of Neon on the bed accompanied by a swan towel which, upon searching, will give you the “Neon Keycard” needed to get into the Rave.

The Neon rave¶

Now that you have the keycard, you have access to the exclusive rave where Neon is being supplied to the public. Leave the apartment complex and follow the road south-east until it turns east. At this point veer off the road to the west and enter a courtyard, where you’ll hear music playing. Sounds like mindless, high bass “rave” music, eh? Head on over to the door here and use your shiny new keycard to open the door and enter the rave.

This secluded area isn’t much of a rave truth be told, you’ll not even find many people here so you may as well put away your dancing shoes. Onto more pressing business, head left past the women here and down south, then take the first passage to the east to find two guys talking about some tragic, Neon-related death. Hack a Keypad near them (Security Rating: 1) and enter the door it locks.

Inside you’ll find a dead neon raver - another aug - with a Pocket Secretary on him. Looting and reading this will cause the quest to update once more, the mystery thickens. With your new found knowledge take your leave of this rather drab rave and return to the streets of Prague once more.

Exploring the Swan Apartment¶

Once you’ve got your bearings about you, proceed to the north-eastern part of the city that you’re currently in and towards Pilgrim Station (alternatively you could take the metro but it’s unnecessary as it’s not far to walk) and you’ll find the Libuse Apartments. Head inside the complex and take the stairs to your left to find the apartment with the swan on the door to your left. Hack the door here (Security Rating: 2) and enter the apartment.

Alternatively you can head north-east from the entrance to the Libuse Apartment complex to find an open storage shed. Turn south-west and enter a vent above some lockers and follow the duct beyond to reach a maintenance area - note that halfway through the duct you can find a chute leading up, which will bypass most of the bother getting into the apartment, but also most of the loot. That being the case, proceed through the duct to the maintenance area, then turn north and destroy a vent on the floor and crawl through this duct, ignoring a side-passage to the east, as it just leads to the Pilgrim Station. Instead, continue north and destroy another vent and enter another maintenance area, at which point turn east and loot a case to find a HypoStim Injector, a Biocell and a Credit Chip. Once done, jump up onto some pipes to the north, turn south and jump up onto a ledge with a weakened wall you can destroy.

Once inside, take your time to look around and loot the area for some minor items such as credit chips, crafting parts and a pocket secretary in the bedroom detailing more about the mystery unfolding here. You may be quick to dismiss this as a rather harmless apartment however upon closer inspection, you’ll find a spray bottle in the kitchen near the sink. Interacting with this will cause the nearby hidden door against the nearby wall to unlock.

However you manage it, once inside read the computer if you wish, then search the desk drawers for a 10mm Pistol and some Pistol Regular Ammo. Some Stun Gun Ammo awaits in the drawers to the east, while if you head east into the bedroom you’ll find a Credit Chip and Crafting Parts in some more drawers, and in a cabinet near the bed you’ll find some Pistol EMP Ammo. Grab a Pocket Secretary off the chair, then return west to the previous room and turn north. In the bathroom you can find a HypoStim Injector, while the kitchen drawers will surrender a a Hydraulic Micropump and some Crafting Parts, along with a bit of alcohol. For the last bit of loot in the kitchen search under the table to find a Tactical Shotgun.

Head to the western end of the kitchen to find a Spray Bottle on a counter. Give it a press and a secret door will reveal itself, beyond which is a small chamber containing a safe that you can hack (Security Rating: 4). Inside the safe you’ll find a Credit Chip, a Pocket Secretary (which will advance the quest once read) and a Multi-Tool, possibly refunding you if you used one to access this safe. Loot the safe, then use the nearby vent here to quickly exit this apartment and back onto the streets of Prague.

The Neon Lab¶

Now that you have the location where all this mess started, it’s time to put an end to the distribution of Neon in Prague - for the good of all unsuspecting augs! Take the metro back to Capek Fountain Station and head over to the sewers near the Zelen Apartment complex, where you completed the quest “SM02: Cult of Personality” .

Drop down into the sewers and head north, then take a right at the intersection here and follow the path down to the east. If you remember, this path was blocked up when you came here earlier, but fortunately the path has been cleared specifically or the purposes of this quest. After all, how many people would have done all the parts of “SM00: Neon Nights” BEFORE accidentally stumbling on the Neon lab if the path wasn’t blocked? None, that’s how many.

Anyways, continue east to reach a larger chamber, where you should see some electricity on the floor to the east. You can turn off the breaker, but this also disables the Keypad on a nearby door, so don’t bother with that mess and instead turn south and drop down off the ledge to find a gate to the east. Hack they Keypad locking the door (CODE: 0311) (Security Rating: 5) and you’ll notice immediately that there’s a turret at the other side of this gate and rest assured, it will make quick work of you should it notice you. You can save yourself a lot of hassle provided you have the Remote Hacking augment here, simply remote hack it to buy yourself a valuable period of time to make your way past it. Failing that, just wait until it’s not looking and head into the room, as there’s plenty of depressions in the floor you can use to hide from the turret, not to mention various objects you can use as cover.

Your goal is to make it up the stairs behind (to the east) after which you have a choice in the path you want to take… limiting yourself to ideal options that preserve your “ghost” bonus, of course. First you can head south, then drop onto a lower ledge to the west. Above you you should see an elevated metal walkway you can leap onto. Do so, move a Dumpster, then continue down the tunnel it was blocking to reach the Neon lab. From here you need only jump onto a ledge to the south-east, head east, drop down off the ledge you’re on to the east then avoid a security camera and enter the room the security camera is guarding. Along the way you’ll need to be wary of the guards below you, but fortunately there’s plenty of cover, and if you can Remote Hack the camera, this goes from easy to trivial.

Another, possibly even easier route exists, however. From the ledge behind (east of) the turret that guards the entrance to the lab turn east to find a rather large, obvious sliding door. Hack the Keypad (CODE: 0311) (Security Rating: 5) and you’ll be both amazed and relieved to know that the loud sound of the door opening does not alert anyone nearby.

Head into the lab and make your way to the east to find some cover you can hide behind. Once in cover, look out to the east to spot a patrolling guard on a ledge. When he enters a room to the north turn north yourself and jump onto a pipe, then follow it east until you find a small corner of wall to hide behind. Wait for the guard on the now-nearby walkway to enter the northern room again, then jump onto the walkway, head into the room with him, and knock him out. Easy as cake. While you’re here, hack a computer (Security Rating: 3) and disable the camera, the lasers, and disable the alarm. You can also disable the turrets if you have the requisite augmentations, but it’s not necessary, nor is it a wise investment of your Praxis.

Grab a Credit Chip off the table, then turn around and grab a Stem Processor Chip and a unit of Stealth Software. Once done, leave this security station, turn east and follow the walkway east, then south until the walkway ends. Turn east, then south around some crates to find an archway leading into the room that is your destination.

Enter the room by whatever means you prefer and confront a Chemist inside. You can persuade the chemist here to cease production of Neon and even sabotage the current batch. When given a choice, first select the “Warn” option followed by the “Confront” option to convince the chemist that Adam Jensen is not someone to be taken lightly. The quest will conclude upon the end of this conversation, so be sure to loot a Credit Chip, a Multi-Tool and a Pocket Secretary off the desks in here, then retrace your steps to exit the lab and back out of the sewers, Prague has one less problem to deal with now.

Now that you’ve completed “SM00: Neon Lights” , during which you traveled through northern Prague a good bit. You also ventured there during “SM04: The Capacitor” and “SM01: The Golden Ticket” . The only mission you have available now is “M4: Checking Out TF29” , which also takes you to northern Prague. Point is, all signs are pointing to northern Prague, which is about three times larger than southern Prague, just as dense, but the side quests are space out more between main mission progress. It’d do you good to explore northern Prague now, but side missions aren’t going to give you the excuse to do so… not without intolerably long mid-mission diversions, anyways. To spare everybody from that and to make sure all the collectibles and loot are gathered now - before you advance the main story too much and potentially miss anything - the next few sections will cover exploring northern Prague. Why both exploring? Well, trophies/achievements for gathering collectibles, for one, not to mention all the XP you’ll gain from said collectibles, hacking and exploring. Then there’s more tangible loot you’ll pick up; Credits, ammo, guns, the odd Praxis Kit… simply put, you’ll be much better off if you explore. Otherwise, skip ahead to the section “Exploring TF29” , where you’ll finally continue with the main story and visit TF29.