Carl sprints back to Tsarina Signet’s building after Mordecai warns that Donut’s Cockroach skill has barely saved her from death. Inside, Carl finds Mongo badly wounded but still defending Donut from a swarm of level-8 Street Urchins. Carl realizes the creatures are not hunting Donut and Mongo directly; they are trying to consume the barricade debris Carl piled around Donut, and Mongo’s defense has turned the cleanup mobs violent, causing both Mongo and the sleeping Donut to be skewered by spikes.

Carl uses a Heal scroll on Donut, which restores her health and forces the spikes out of her body, but ordinary healing does not work on Mongo. Following Mordecai’s instructions, Carl mixes a special potion from a heal potion, cinnamon stick, and thistle rot, then forces it down Mongo’s throat. The treatment succeeds: Mongo recovers, gains several levels from the night’s fighting, grows dramatically larger, and happily reunites with Carl. With Donut still asleep but stable, Carl keeps watch through the rest of the night and realizes that Donut and Mongo are now the only family he has left.

At dawn, a bright disturbance shines from the direction of the circus, and soon after Donut wakes as Signet had promised. Donut has no memory of the night and only recalls a strange dream that mirrors her injury. As Carl, Donut, and Mongo leave, they discover the circus tents and bodies are gone, and a newly accessible staircase to the fourth floor has appeared where Grimaldi had been. Carl concludes that some stairwells remain hidden until quests are completed, and he wonders whether Signet has already moved on toward the sixth floor.

During the journey to the skyfowl settlement, Carl explains the previous night to Donut. Donut argues Carl should have killed Grimaldi for the extra rewards, but Carl insists it was a trap that would have killed them. In private chat, Carl and Donut also recognize that working with Signet’s production backers may give them another faction invested in keeping them alive, though Donut warns that entertainment politics could easily turn against them before the sixth floor. Carl’s thoughts then turn inward: he notices Donut is acting more strategically than she appears, suspects much of her impulsive persona is deliberate, and reflects on Bea and Bea’s mother teaching the habit of hiding intelligence behind a mask.

Carl contacts Zev and learns he and Donut are booked for another talk show, Danger Zone with Ripper Wonton. Zev also confirms that the company behind Signet’s serial is Sensation Entertainment, not a Kua-Tin operation. As the group travels, Carl and Donut fight scattered mobs, practice leveling their spells, and create their first named combat play, “Panic,” combining Carl’s Fear spell with Donut’s attack. Mongo’s new strength becomes clear as well. By the time they reach the larger skyfowl settlement, Carl notices their higher levels and growing fame among other crawlers, while Donut is immediately distracted by the sign for the Desperado Club.