At the players' camp, rivals trade barbs after "punk Eric" stole first place while Mad Wolf tends a communal stew and refuses favors. Minor squabbles—requests to be carried, complaints about burnt meat—are cut short when someone orders Jamie to raise the alert to investigate an unusual signal. The stew is declared magnificent but ominously "other players won't get to try it." When Jamie activates "cleanup mode" on command, the system instantly goes online. The episode ends with cleanup mode engaged and the blunt warning, "Looks like the game's really out to kill us," leaving them facing immediate, unexplained danger.