Once you've completed the Virtual Construct and given Ryder some time to work he will send you towards Monocity 01, where Monomind HQ is located. Ultimately you'll need to raid Monomind's head office to get Abner back. You can reach Monocity 01 via a sewer grate northwest of Bright Town's Deck Lord.
Before you enter Monocity 01, however, head back to The Strix. Assuming you've been helping V-Sync with his item-retrieval missions he'll give you a new one: Find the lost winnings somewhere at Monomind HQ. You'll be heading to the HQ soon, so you might as well get this box spawned ahead of time.
Monocity 01
Ah, the big city, at long last. Filled to the brim with suits, MonoCity 01 has a fair amount to see before you get on with the game. Let's have a look around:
- East of the entrance, sitting beside a building you can't enter, is a box containing a Deflektor Packet.
- North of the previous box is a building called 'MonoBank', with three guys standing out front. In the alley behind the MonoBank is a box containing an I.C.E. Breaker Packet.
- Next to MonoBank, idling near a DataZone kiosk, is an Anxious Business Lady. The business lady in the City is missing her lucky pen, and you can help her get it back by completing several other missions back in Bright Town - specifically, in this case, by helping the Cold Older Gent. Give the pen to the Anxious Business Lady and she'll give you A Cool Video Game, which you can take to the three kids near Noa's apartment in Bright Town. They'll give you Turbo Ware, a Jack Move that increases the damage for all types of Software that Noa can use. Nice.
- North of the exit to Bright Town you'll see a man standing on your left, on the other side of a building. You can walk beneath the building to reach him - he kinda sucks - as well as a box containing a Super Health Packet.
- In the north of the first section of MonoCity 01 is a building called 'MonoStay'. Approach the door and it will slide open, revealing a box that contains a Super Data Packet.
There are two exits in the far north of MonoCity 01. Both will take you to Monomind Headquarters.
Monomind Headquarters
Distinct from the Monomind Headquarters dungeon that you'll be visiting shortly, this Monomind Headquarters is another open area with roaming suits. There are things to collect here, as well, before you begin your invasion of Monomind's offices:
- Sitting beside a building called 'MonoStyl' in the southwest corner of the area is a box containing a System Cycle Packet.
- North of the MonoCafe on the west side of this area is a set of stairs to the lower level. Sitting beside them is a box containing 1,000 credits.
- Right in the middle of Monomind Headquarters is the third, final TransSpire, if you've been wrecking them over the course of the game. Defacing this final TransSpire will earn you the BlitzBooster Hardware from Ryder. It's a great piece of equipment if you like normal Hack attacks.
- Also around the middle of Monomind Headquarters is a two-story store called MonoWare. It's essentially the same as Deck Lord, back in Bright Town. Just west of the lower entrance to MonoWare is a box containing 1,000 credits.
- Walk through the alleyways on the east side of Monomind Headquarters and you'll find the package that's part of V-Sync's missions, if you've been keeping up with him. (If not, go look for him in The Strix, back in Bright Town.) This particular box contains three Deflektor Packets. Go back to V-Sync after gathering these and he'll give you another mission: Find the Monomind cache at the Monomind Loading Dock.
- Far in the northeast is a landing pad and a VIP entrance. Look just south of the door to find a box containing a System Cycle Packet.
- In the north is an enormous 'M' that leads to the front door of Monomind Headquarters, which, of course, you can't enter. Check the upper-left corner of the M for a box containing an I.C.E. Breaker Packet. Walk southwest of here, along the third level, to find another box with another I.C.E. Breaker Packet.
Head to the northwest once you're done looking around the safer areas of Monomind Headquarters. You'll find a Loading Bay, and Noa will use a cockamamie plan to get inside, which, of course, works. Defeat the Monomind Security and Monomind Lieutenant that try to stop her, then check the box on the west side of the Loading Bay for 500 credits. If you've been following V-Sync's missions you'll also find the cache he mentioned on the east side of the Loading Bay, and this one contains a Crit Chip. (And this time V-Sync's all out of missions, so don't bother running back to The Strix.)
The entrance to the real Monomind Headquarters is waiting on the north end of the Loading Bay. One last thing before you go in, however. Throughout MonoCity 01, and also back in Bright Town, you've no doubt noticed phone jacks that you can use to leap into the Virtual Construct and visit the AI version of Abner. Before he didn't have much to say, but if you revisit him once gaining access to Monomind Headquarters he'll give you a System Cycle Software. Thanks, fake dad.