While waiting at Station 283 for the Nightmare Express to return, Carl watches Donut practice her hole spell and notes that her improved control could let the group clear rooms through walls without opening doors. Carl thinks back on their brief visit to the Desperado Club, where The Sledge pays for a protection spell and Donut uses the Dodge guild's training room. While Donut is inside, Carl realizes his portal-analysis upgrade works only on magical thresholds, not ordinary doors. At the club, Carl also persuades the other crawlers to exchange chat contact information so they can build a broader intelligence network, and afterward he is flooded with questions about the train system.

As the group studies the Nightmare Express, Carl confirms that their original boarding plan is impossible. The train can only be entered at the caboose, which would force the party to crawl across the roofs of dozens of cars while passing open-topped monster cages at high speed. Because Carl's Protective Shell would not cover that route and the risks are too high, he aborts the attempt and improvises a new plan: he and Donut will go into the tunnel, teleport ahead of the train with Puddle Jumper, and let the oncoming train smash through Carl's shield. While they wait in the tunnel, Donut criticizes Carl for pushing Katia into changes without asking her what she wants, and Carl admits Donut has a point.

The plan goes wrong immediately. Donut discovers they have gone too far into the tunnel to cast from the intended spot, so Carl is forced to time the teleport at the last second. The spell works, but the train is moving faster than expected and accelerates instead of stopping after plowing through Carl's Protective Shell. Donut reaches the platform, but Carl is hit by the cowcatcher as he jumps. The impact nearly kills Carl, yet his enhanced constitution, healing, and invulnerable foot keep him alive long enough for him to land on the front of the engine as the train rockets away.

Clinging to the outside of the engine, Carl climbs into the cab and finds both the engineer and a war mage dead, apparently killed by the collision with his shield. Carl tries to slow the train, but his guesswork almost causes the boiler to explode. He then discovers Fire Brandy, a noncombatant demon stoker living inside the furnace, who explains which valves to adjust and teaches Carl how to operate the throttle, brakes, and pressure controls safely. Fire Brandy also tells Carl that a track switch before the next stop can send the train to "Station Repair," which would return it to the trainyard and restore the damaged engine.

After stabilizing the train and learning to drive it at a safer speed, Carl gathers the grotesque Sheol Bricks that fuel the boiler and loots a Steam Engineer's Key and gold from the cab. He then realizes his shield attack killed every monster aboard the train, including three neighborhood bosses, which raises him to level 32 and earns him several reward boxes. Looking back, Carl sees that most monster cars have been stripped into sparking flatbeds, while the engine and front passenger car remain largely intact. Carl messages Donut, asks her to search the track for boss corpses and a route map, and plans to continue to Station 436 before looping back to pick up Donut and Katia.