#short summary

The chapter starts with very... tired/drained Lera, who comes to Sergey's main apartment. Lera is covered in small cuts and bruises all over her body. She is also smoking. She admits that she failed the mission, that there is some f-ed up shit that is going on in the casino, and she ask a permission to enter. A bewildered Sergey agrees. Then he stops and waryly asks Lera how she knows his real address. Lera lifts up her face - her eyes are like a Fireworshipper's. She drops a cigarette and everything starts to burn. Sergey wakes up with a jolt, and thinks wtf is he dreaming about again. Then he turns to the left side of his king-sized bed and says, "Oleg, you-" But the left side of the bed is empty.

Oleg is caughing and playing some videogame (Baldur's gate?).Sergey comments that Oleg spent a day in the ice warehouses and didn't get sick, while here in the summer heat he caught a cold. Oleg reminds about his gift of a minuscule chance. Sergey changes the subject and asks if Oleg has cigarettes. Oleg shows him where to get some and then comments that Sergey doesn't smoke, so why would he need cigarettes. Sergey replies that he had a nightmare and now he wants to smoke. Oleg asks what he dreamed about and Sergey retells him his dream. Sergey finds the cigarettes, freezes, and then says in surprise "Why do I need cigarettes? What the hell."

As it turns out, the ending of last chapter where Lera infiltrates Mark's casino, inhales spores from his miracle tree and Mark catches her is my mistake, I confused the Triad spy - Wang Lin - with Lera. They have similar hairstyles. That's why Mark caught Wang Lin and not Lera. Meanwhile, Lera is at home reading a book on Slavic mythology, which Mark recommended to her, and thinks he pranked her. Apparently, it's a lot of nonsense. Then she notes that the wound on her knee went away quite quickly, but Fishkin's bite marks are not (I guess the events of the arc take place tightly after the special. During her fight with Fishking, who attacked people, she teamed up with Mir and Aisa to beat him, but he bit her quite hard). Lera has also taken in Chrysalis's cat for foster care while he is at sea. She gets a call from Toma. Toma tells her that he doesn't know who sent her the anonymous letter asking the Plague Doctor to help catch Fishkin (which caused the Plague Doctor to later be blamed for Fishkin's kidnapping, though he simply escaped), and Chrysalis wonders how his cat is doing.

Meanwhile, we are shown what became of Wang Lin after he was caught by Mark. As it turns out, his hallucinations didn't stop, it was just a way to show what was really going on. Mark orders the unconscious Wang Lin to be thrown out. Wang Lin ends up simply going insane and is found by the Triad men and brought back to headquarters. Liu Shengli is very concerned and tries to bring him to his senses. Mrs. Mei is not happy with their failure, beats up Shengli and kills Wang Lin. She then demands that Shengli tell Mark that the Triad demands a fight. Shengli is shoked and broken by his friend's death.

Meanwhile, Mark is examining his man which is blind in one eye and Mark is unable to cure him. To be more precise: his subordinate was walking around with a prosthetic eye. Mark grew an eye for him, but the eye of his subordinate can't see anything. It's strongly implied here that Mark is the one who adopts other people's wounds and then heals them. He also comments to himself that "My father's land was never my own and gave me almost no power. Only wasted my strength." I assume he is half Mexican, his father is from Russia.

Mark shoos his subordinate out and Shengli walks up to him unnoticed. Mark is caught off guard and asks how he got in in the first place. Shengli says that Mark's men searched him and let him in. Mark wonders to himself how he's even still alive with such guards and scoffs at Shengli's words that he's unarmed and defenseless, saying Shengli is a fighter, his body a weapon in itself. Shengli recommends hiring Chinese bodyguards, who are rigorously screened. Mark scoffs, saying, "Did you come for job interview?"

Meanwhile, Lera, in an airy pink dress, approaches the casino and notices Shengli's security guards. Sergey notes that they don't look like building security, just some strange asian dudes. Lera walks up to the entrance and they start harassing her. As soon as one of them grabs her, he gets kicked in the stomach. A brawl ensues and Lera trashes them like puppies. Meanwhile, Shengli sends Mark a Triad message: confrontation. Until the group is destroyed. Mark assigns a location for a showdown - Shuvalov Forest. Mark's man runs in and says there's a fight with the Chinese at the entrance. Mark is unhappy that Shengli told him that he came alone. Mark sees Shengli's beaten guards at the entrance and jokes that Chinese guards are also made in China. Shanley gets angry at thst remark. Seeing Lera, Mark perks up, transforms, and expresses how happy he is to see her again. Lera is surprised that Mark is the owner of the casino, and Sergey remarks snidely that Lera has interesting acquaintances.

Mark is so happy to see Lera that when he learns that she has come looking for a job, he almost offers her the position of head of security. Sergey jokes that Lera should be more careful - "don't overdo yourself trying to get a job, ma chérie, or you'll end up getting a maternity leave".

Shengli also starts apologizing to Lera on behalf of his guards, saying that the order was not to let anyone in, to which Lera replied, "Taking a woman away against her will is also an order?". Shengli apologizes for that as well. Lera notes to herself that Shengli looks somehow doomed. Mark is irritated that Shengli has gotten Lera's attention.

Shengli and Mark start bickering with each other, which does not escape the attention of Lera and Sergey - they realize that before them are competitors at knifepoint. Shengli finds it suspicious that a professional fighter shows up on Mark's doorstep and Mark doesn't care, but decides not to dwell on it. Shengli leaves and reminds Mark about meeting "in Shuvalovsky". Sergey is pleased, he is going to search in where exactly they're going to have their showdown. Mark apologizes to Lera for the scene and escorts her inside. Sergey turns off the microphone just in case, since he's been joking constantly and is afraid that Mark will notice the wiretap.

Lera sees the strange tree with flowers and mushrooms that Mark planted in the hall and says that it is beautiful. Sergey notes that the orphanage didn't have this tree before. Mark says that the St. Petersburg climate is too cold for him, but this tree has taken root here - although that didn't happen even at his home. Anyway, this place where his tree took root is his reason for staying in the city. Lera clarifies whether Mark is a gardener or a landscaper. Mark jokes that he's a magician. This is when they are rudely interrupted by new visitors. Lera is shocked and horrified, Sergey is shocked and horrified, and tells Lera that they'd better shoot the building plan some other time, because Altan Dagbaev and Vadim themselves have come to Mark's casino. As it turns out, Mark had an appointment with them (but he was too happy to see Lera and forgot. Or he just doesn't care, lmao).