Chapter 46

Carl and his companions return to the saferoom after defeating their sixth opponent in the card game tournament. While Donut expresses anxiety about the dangers ahead and the reality of potentially losing Katia, Carl opens his reward boxes and discovers a "Filthy Little Crawler's Book of Voodoo"—a special messaging item that allows communication between crawlers who possess it. The chapter ends with Carl climbing the muddy mountain slope to face the seventh opponent.

After hiking to a saferoom in a shrimp shack, Carl observes other crawlers attempting to cheat the card game system by setting traps or positioning ranged attackers before fights begin—all unsuccessful. Upon returning to the guild headquarters, Carl finds the main room filled with sleeping strippers and changeling children who have made a mess with water balloons. Donut privately confides in Carl her growing anxiety about the card game's unpredictability and the dangers they face, particularly her fear of losing him or herself, and her concern for Katia's wellbeing given her inevitable separation from the group. Carl comforts her but cannot fully ease her worries. After sleeping briefly, Carl reviews his achievement notifications and opens his reward boxes. Among them is a Gold Prepotente Box containing "The Filthy Little Crawler's Book of Voodoo," a special ledger that allows message exchange between crawlers who possess the same item. Carl immediately tests it by messaging Donut through the book, which she initially dismisses as inferior to the standard messaging system. The next morning, Carl and Donut prepare to climb the muddy mountain slope—now unstabilized by ocean waves and melting snow—toward their seventh opponent. Along the way, Carl catches up on group messages revealing that most teams are progressing through their early fights, though Imani is dealing with a flee card that forces sequential fights, and various crawlers are still attempting to find loopholes in the system. Louis proposes celebrating Christmas despite the unclear passage of time.