Goreng has awaken in concrete cell, that is marked with number, 48. Trimagasi, his cellmate, tells him that they are in Vertical Self-Management Center. This is a tower-style facility, where food delivery is done via a platform that travels from top of the place, and that it stops for period of time on each floor, for people to collect their food.
The people on lower floors get only what is left by others for them. And, if the food is accumulated inany cell, that is subjected to heat or cold. There is a random assignment of people to different floors. And, a resident can carry only one item along with them to the new level. So, Trigmasi carried a knife and Goreng a copy of Don Quixote.
He moreover tells that a bloodied woman, Miharu goes down the pit to look for her child. When they talk, they get to know how they came to the place. Goreng is spending 6 months at the place in exchange for diploma. Trimagasi is facing a sentence for an year for killing a man.
When they get reshuffled to level no. 171 , Goreng is tied to bed. They are at a level where no food is obtained. Trigmasi tells that for their survival he will cut some flesh strips of Goreng. The eighth day, he cuts Goreng's leg, but Miharu comes as a saviour for him. She attacks Trimagasi and is killed by Goreng. The lady takes his flesh while going down.
The next month, he is with a woman, Imoguiri on level 33. She is the one who took his interview before he came to the cell. She moreover told that she didn't knew about the conditions of the place. He asks her about Miharu's child, in response of which she tells that she came alone as onlyy 16+ are allowed to enter the cells.
The next month, he is at level 202, with hanging Imoguiri, whose flesh help him survive. He sees some hallucinations of both the people of whose flesh he ate for survival. The next month, he is at level 6, with his new mate, Baharat, who makes an unsuccessful attempt to go to upper level.
He convinces him to go down with him to distribute the food so that everyone survives. They hand over food to everyone in their way. They see Miharu has been killed fighting and they also got injured while saving her. They descend downwards and on level 333, they find a girl child under bed, who is daughter of Miharu. They feed her.
Baharat dies due to injuries, the next day. He rides on the platform with that child. They reach bottom of pit, where he sees Trimagasi.He tells that "the message requires no bearer." Then, Goreng gets from platform, both watching the girl as she ascends together.