Voschev continues to spend his days picking up leaves and other pieces of nature as proof that the world was created without purpose. He then recycles an old excuse, telling Safronov that he would like to take some paid time off in order to search for the meaning of life, which will increase productivity. Safronov counters that proletarians live for the enthusiasm to work. Chiklin walks through an old tile factory and finds Julia, the boss's daughter whom Prushevsky — and he, too, it is realized — kissed so many years earlier. She is about to die and is being taken care of by her daughter, Nastya. Julia tells her daughter to never reveal her family's wealthy origins, lest she be punished by class enemies. Chiklin kisses Julia one more time before she dies and then brings Nastya back to the barracks. He returns to the factor with Prushevsky, who does not recognize the dead woman. "I've always not recognized people I love," he explains, "though in the distance I’ve yearned for them." They leave her body in the room. Chiklin blocks the doorway with heavy bricks and tells Prushevsky that her death has given his life a new meaning.