Chap­ter 23 delves into the tense mis­sion of Mick­ey and Berto, nav­i­gat­ing through a des­o­late and treach­er­ous envi­ron­ment. The two face not only the harsh con­di­tions of their sur­round­ings but also the emo­tion­al weight of past actions and unre­solved guilt. While hov­er­ing above a vast crevasse, Mick­ey con­fronts Berto about the fate of Six, a group mem­ber who was tak­en by the creep­ers. Ini­tial­ly, Berto had lied, but now he reveals the truth: rather than being eat­en, Six was dis­sect­ed by the creep­ers, leav­ing Mick­ey with a sense of betray­al and heart­break. Berto also admits his deep fear of the creep­ers, explain­ing that this fear led to his hes­i­ta­tion in act­ing to save Mick­ey dur­ing ear­li­er dan­ger­ous moments. This rev­e­la­tion sheds light on Berto’s inter­nal strug­gle and helps Mick­ey under­stand the deep­er com­plex­i­ties of their rela­tion­ship, fraught with both fear and trust.

As the two con­tin­ue descend­ing into the crevasse, the stakes of their mis­sion grow even more sig­nif­i­cant. Mick­ey, equipped with bub­ble bombs con­tain­ing anti­mat­ter, feels a deep unease about using such destruc­tive weapons against sen­tient crea­tures. The thought of deploy­ing such an over­whelm­ing force to elim­i­nate the creep­ers does not sit well with him, espe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing the empa­thy he has devel­oped for them. Despite the urgent demand from Eight to pro­ceed with their mis­sion, Mick­ey finds him­self con­flict­ed, recall­ing a pri­or encounter where a creep­er actu­al­ly saved his life. This emo­tion­al dilem­ma inten­si­fies his inter­nal bat­tle, as Mick­ey is torn between fol­low­ing orders and his grow­ing moral reluc­tance. His hes­i­ta­tion demon­strates the com­plex­i­ty of the mis­sion and the deep­er lay­ers of con­flict he must face with­in him­self as they ven­ture deep­er into dan­ger­ous ter­ri­to­ry.

The sit­u­a­tion esca­lates when Mick­ey and Berto are sep­a­rat­ed, each nav­i­gat­ing dif­fer­ent sec­tions of the dark and wind­ing tun­nels. Mick­ey, now alone, is keen­ly aware of the creep­ers’ pres­ence, sens­ing that they are aware of the intrud­ers. The atmos­phere in the tun­nels becomes suf­fo­cat­ing as Mick­ey explores fur­ther, even­tu­al­ly stum­bling upon a mas­sive cav­ern filled with an over­whelm­ing num­ber of creep­ers. The real­iza­tion of the sheer scale of the threat hits him hard, ampli­fy­ing the dan­ger they face. The ten­sion reach­es a boil­ing point when com­mu­ni­ca­tion with Eight sud­den­ly goes dark, leav­ing Mick­ey in total iso­la­tion. The silence that fol­lows only adds to the sense of impend­ing doom, as he real­izes that Eight may be gone, height­en­ing the grav­i­ty of their already per­ilous sit­u­a­tion. This loss of com­mu­ni­ca­tion sig­ni­fies a turn­ing point, with Mick­ey now iso­lat­ed in both body and mind, left to nav­i­gate the uncer­tain­ties ahead with no clear guid­ance.

In the midst of this esca­lat­ing chaos, Mick­ey is faced with an urgent deci­sion: whether to use the destruc­tive weapons at his dis­pos­al or explore oth­er options. Just as the pres­sure peaks, a giant creep­er con­fronts him and demands to know if he is “Prime.” This moment shifts the nar­ra­tive from a con­fronta­tion based on vio­lence to one that opens up the pos­si­bil­i­ty for dia­logue. Instead of react­ing out of fear and aggres­sion, Mick­ey sur­pris­es him­self by respond­ing that he is “Prime.” This dec­la­ra­tion is not just a state­ment of iden­ti­ty, but a sym­bol of his will­ing­ness to shift from destruc­tion to under­stand­ing. Mickey’s deci­sion to engage with the creep­er in this way sig­ni­fies a cru­cial turn­ing point, as he begins to look for com­mon ground with the beings he has been taught to view as ene­mies. This leap of faith offers a glim­mer of hope that the cycle of vio­lence might be bro­ken, and a new pos­si­bil­i­ty for peace­ful coex­is­tence could emerge. The chap­ter ends with this trans­for­ma­tive moment, leav­ing the out­come uncer­tain but filled with new poten­tial for the future. The com­plex lay­ers of moral­i­ty, sur­vival, and hope con­tin­ue to unfold, pro­pelling the sto­ry toward new and unex­pect­ed direc­tions.