The 2030s--a decade of upheaval for Japan and Section 9. Recent events have left Togusa and his comrades full of scars and regrets. But the march of time can only quicken. Hackers attempt to assassinate a populist politician, and the investigation leads Batou to a suspicious factory in the artificial islands in southern Japan. Meanwhile, Chief Aramaki hears of a disturbing discovery at the other end of the country: dozens of artificial bodies, illegally dumped near a village where an anti-cyberization sect conducts their training and rites. Among the empty shells is the unmistakable shape of the woman who embodied Section 9 until she disappeared: Major Motoko Kusanagi...