During a violent storm before Autumn Festival, Bero, Cheeky, and Tas complete a fast hijacking at the Docks, stealing cartons of expensive goods from a trailer truck and escaping onto the freeway before anyone pursues them. Bero is proud of the successful lift, his third in three weeks, because the work has pleased Mudt and might bring Bero closer to the more powerful people behind Mudt.

Tas drives the stolen goods to Mudt’s Goody Too discount store in Junko. Mudt pays the crew and warns that the growing clan conflict makes theft both easier and more dangerous: Green Bones are distracted, but anyone caught will be punished more brutally, especially if suspected of serving the enemy. When Mudt offers new trucking schedules, Tas quits, saying he wants to leave while still alive, so Mudt gives the information to Bero instead.

Mudt then tells Bero and Cheeky that someone wants to meet them and possibly give them more work. Inside the closed store, Mudt introduces them to an unnamed Green Bone wearing jade and a rain slicker. The Green Bone refuses to give his name because they are operating in No Peak territory and he does not want them able to reveal him if Kaul’s men catch and torture them.

The Green Bone recognizes that Bero wants jade and explains that untrained jade use would immediately expose Bero to any Green Bone nearby. He describes Mudt as a clan associate: someone useful enough to receive protection and support. If Bero and Cheeky prove themselves, they may earn similar status.

As an Autumn Festival gift, the Green Bone gives Bero and Cheeky submachine guns and orders them to practice under Mudt’s instruction. He warns that the weapons are for clan work only, threatening to kill them if they use the guns for petty crime or hurt bystanders. Bero and Cheeky accept that they now work for him.

Before leaving into the approaching typhoon, the Green Bone gives Mudt a sealed white box and pointedly asks whether Mudt is following the dosing rules without hoarding or reselling. Mudt eagerly and nervously accepts, making clear that the Green Bone’s rewards come with control and menace.