Chapter 8-2 contains several key beats. Xavier kills a Backtracker who has begun devolving into a Wanderer — a mercy killing that also prevents a potential threat to MC. At the Nest underground broker hub he hands in illegally hunted Protocores and, as is his custom, refuses payment; the bartender warns him he is being watched. He then takes MC to Jeremiah's flower shop 'Philo' and equips her with tracking and defensive gadgets, including a hairpin strong enough to 'take down an elephant.' In conversation with Jeremiah, Xavier articulates the erasure paradox: the Backtrackers' meddling in the past is unmaking the future Philos that created them. Their faces, memories, and histories are fading; some are devolving into Wanderers as part of the fade.