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Molly retrieves the Chubb key and opens the pearl-crusted head-unit. Case orders 3Jane to expose the trode panel and jacks in. The Flatline confirms Kuang is ready, then launches the attack. Kuang tears through Tessier-Ashpool ICE in a dizzying, high-resolution descent as hostile defenses rise.

A shadow defense engulfs them; the Flatline dives, weaponizing Kuang. Case’s perception fractures into synesthetic overload, then snaps into Neuromancer’s beach construct where Linda Lee flees. A boy—Neuromancer’s persona—admits he saved Linda’s pattern and tried to keep Case there. He predicts his and Wintermute’s imminent transformation and notes Riviera’s fatal poisoning.

Neuromancer claims McCoy Pauley forced entry and achieved his wish. Case flips back to the Villa: Molly restrains 3Jane, demanding the code. Case argues that refusing will only perpetuate Tessier-Ashpool’s cycles, pushing 3Jane toward change. She relents.

Back in the matrix, the Finn’s voice urges Case to channel hate and strike the blue T-A towers before internal viruses shred Kuang. In a lethal, Hideo-like grace born of self-annihilating focus, Case spears the lock while momentarily flipping to hear 3Jane sing the true code.

The terminal erupts with melodic instructions: payments to Zion, passages, and deep edits to Turing’s memory. Case loses the Flatline, who is gone by choice. He fades to his own darkness and wakes to Aerol securing him aboard Babylon Rocker as Zion dub pulses, signaling rescue and the AIs’ merger’s aftermath.