Chapter 33

The group opens Katia's sponsor and fan boxes, receiving powerful crowd-control equipment from the Shade Gnoll Riot Forces. A system update forces Katia to eject all the blood she'd been storing in her inventory as a liquid, creating a spectacular mess when Mordecai suddenly reappears after experiencing only moments of subjective time.

The chapter begins with the group managing cart transfers on the transit lines. Bautista reveals he has been collecting stuffed monster figures from Miss Quill's apartment—Jaxbrin Amusements toys that can be activated by removing their tags to summon real creatures for combat. He warns that some behave unpredictably and expresses concern about depleting his supply, hoping his sponsorship will help replenish them. The narrator notes the floor still has approximately 275,000 crawlers remaining, though their distribution across stations is poorly understood.

The group stops at station 59 and enters a safe room fashioned as a Costa Rican restaurant. Katia opens her fan box first, receiving an enchanted riot shield and telescoping baton from the Shade Gnoll Riot Forces, both designed for crowd control. The shield grants a +5% Constitution bonus and upgrades her Rush ability to Crowd Blast, which can now be used every five minutes instead of once per day and damages all enemies in a cone. She passes her old Auto Buckler bracer to the narrator, who equips it. Her benefactor box contains a single crossbow bolt called the Bolt of Ophiotaurus—one of 100—that can temporarily disable a deity's invulnerability if shot in the eye, suggesting Princess Formidable may not support her brother.

After showers, they watch the recap show, which heavily edits and misrepresents recent events. The narrator recognizes a newly discovered stairwell at station 433 where they'd teleported the city boss, theorizing that similar staircells become visible once their boss guardians are removed. A system message announces the next floor will scatter parties further apart, warns that stored liquids must now be in containers, and reveals a new paid subscription feature allowing viewers to access private crawler messages.

Mordecai suddenly reappears in the safe room, experiencing no subjective time despite days passing. When he reads his notifications, Katia violently ejects all the blood she'd stored in her inventory—triggered by the new system rules—spraying the entire room for twenty seconds. The narrator recognizes this as an unintended consequence of the inventory patch and considers potential exploits.