Matthias accompanies Kuwei’s apparently lifeless body as stadwatch officers carry Kuwei from the church toward the canal amid plague sirens. The medik believes Kuwei is dead from a heart shot, not realizing Jesper’s wax-and-rubber bullet burst a hidden bladder filled with butcher-shop gore to create the illusion of a fatal wound.

At the dock, panic over the plague has emptied official posts and clogged the canal. A disguised Rotty arrives in a fishing boat with Nina posing as his heavily pregnant wife. The medik, more concerned for himself than for Kuwei, agrees to board, while the stadwatch officers seize on protocol as an excuse to leave. Matthias insists on accompanying Kuwei as the boy’s supposed protector.

As Rotty steers toward Zentsbridge, Nina’s false labor distracts the medik, and Matthias hides the stethoscope to keep the deception intact. Beneath the bridge, Specht delays the boat by posing as a bottleboat man, allowing Kuwei’s body to be swapped for a corpse stolen from the morgue. Genya has tailored the corpse so it will resemble Kuwei and seem recently dead.

The boat continues to Ghezendaal hospital, a smaller and overwhelmed facility where the corpse is less likely to be examined closely. The hospital staff reject the dead body from the main ward and send it to the wagon bay for later collection, ensuring the false Kuwei will be cremated while the real Kuwei can escape. Nina and Rotty vanish into the hospital, and the medik excuses himself rather than help during the crisis.

Relieved, Matthias heads back toward Zentsbridge, thinking of rejoining Nina and hoping for a future with her. A young drüskelle cadet confronts him in the empty street, accusing Matthias of treason, cowardice, and responsibility for the deaths and humiliation suffered by Fjerdans. Matthias recognizes the boy’s indoctrinated fear and anger, admits guilt, and gently offers to return with him, but when Matthias steps forward, the boy panics and fires.