When Donut kills the crawler Ji-Hoon on the dance floor, Carl instinctively moves to protect her and realizes his usual defenses may not work against other crawlers. Donut, drunk and horrified by what she has done, explains that a female attacker used a spell to stun Bomo and The Sledge before Ji-Hoon struck at her. Elle immediately ends the second attacker with an icicle through the eye, and Imani joins Carl and Donut, adding buffs while Donut breaks down over earning her first skull.

Carl reassures Donut that she acted in self-defense and would have died otherwise, while Elle loudly warns the room not to test them again. Astrid, the Desperado Club’s level-125 assistant manager, arrives and apologizes for security’s failure. She refunds their guard fee, promises Carl and Donut complimentary protection in the future, and—after Carl asks for leniency—allows Bomo and The Sledge to remain their preferred bodyguards instead of being punished.

Back at the table, the group examines Ji-Hoon’s loot, including enchanted daggers and armor that Carl thinks Katia can use. They realize the backstabbing dagger should have killed Donut instantly, but her cockroach ability saved her. Studying Mordecai’s transit map, Elle points out that the transfer stations they have marked are all prime numbers. Because they still do not know what happens at the every-fifth stations or at the end of the line, they split their next objective: Imani and Elle will investigate one of the fifth platforms, while Carl and Donut decide to try to get hold of an engineer.

After parting from Elle and Imani, Carl and Donut sell items, buy explosives and smoke curtains, and check the newly opened guild hallway. They discover a locked Dodge room that requires a Dodge skill of seven, just above Donut’s current level. With Bomo and The Sledge escorting them, they then move on to the casino, where crocodilian guards watch over several Earth-style games and Igor explains that the lower level called Larracos is the faction capital and that full-scale conquest will not begin until crawlers reach the ninth floor.

Carl decides to use his old 100,000-gold comp chip at the Wheel of Fortune rather than save it for later. Tito, the croupier, explains that the maximum bet removes most of the dangerous red results, but Carl still risks disaster; during the spin, he even watches another gambler vanish through a trap door after hitting a deadly “Nothing” outcome at roulette. Carl avoids the bad result and wins a Scroll of Upgrade, which upgrades his toe ring to give him much more Strength and a larger bonus to Powerful Strike. Strengthened and more focused, Carl decides they will return to base to train, craft, and then “crash the shit out of a train.”