After Odette ends the interview, she instructs Carl and Donut not to discuss it until the footage airs and leaves them alone. Carl is shaken by both Donut’s hidden involvement in larger events and Odette’s ominous warning about the Valtay takeover. As they head back through the studio, Carl realizes Donut has been keeping dangerous secrets, but he also decides it may be safer not to know details.

In the green room, Lexis uses a brief system handoff between the mudskippers and the Valtay to pass along urgent information without surveillance. Lexis reveals that Queen Imogen of the High Elves is a country boss and likely a repurposed human being saved for a dramatic reveal at the Butcher’s Masquerade. Lexis also warns that the top fifty crawlers will be forced into a high elf party that will end in a major battle, and that the setup appears designed to eliminate the current top crawlers so the Valtay can reshape the leaderboard to their liking.

When Carl suggests avoiding the trap by going down the stairs early, Lexis says Odette would give the same advice. Donut immediately points out that fleeing early would only shift the danger onto the next group of top-ranked crawlers, meaning the threat would remain for their allies and other survivors. Just before they are teleported back, Donut casually blurts out that she helped smuggle Valtay secret agents to Zev and the Borant Emancipation Front, shocking both Carl and Lexis and revealing that her secret activities have been even more serious than Carl suspected.

Back in the saferoom, Carl angrily tells Donut to stay quiet about what she has done, while trying to steady himself. Mordecai explains that his contract is technically still valid and checks whether the dungeon’s systems have changed under Valtay influence; because the shop still appears unchanged, he concludes the dungeon will likely continue under its existing fantasy framework for now. Mordecai also reports that Point Mongo is improving: Dream elf attackers were driven off, the settlement is nearing self-sufficiency, and the workers Carl brought back are rapidly strengthening defenses. He adds that Katia wants money for a manager’s headquarters so Mordecai can keep his room after she disengages from guild duties.

Exhausted by the interview, the political warning, and Donut’s confession, Carl privately reflects that whatever Donut did was probably motivated by loyalty to Zev and that he has little right to judge her harshly after his own recent turmoil with Beatrice. He and Donut choose to rest rather than keep spiraling, and Carl makes an offering at the Emberus shrine on the way to bed. The chapter ends on a small, affectionate exchange about snoring, showing that despite the pressure closing in around them, Carl and Donut are still trying to protect and reassure each other.