I was warned about the open ending by someone in a much earlier chapter but man it's just as unsatisfying as I imagined it would be, and I was being pessimistic!
The author expressing how hard it was to keep the serialization going absolutely points to this being part one of one, never to see a part two.
Which is honestly fine, I'm not a big fan of authors not going all out, and things like the NBR cop out really drained the momentum for me. The pseudo romance subplot with his nudist neighbor wasn't as developed either so it left an airy taste in my mouth. Ah well at least it ended I suppose.