Mo Bai almost laughed out loud at how miserable her situation was.

Her abilities, Environmental Optimization and Environmental Rejection, had a prerequisite: she needed to understand at least fifty percent of her surroundings before she could use them. If she didn't understand the environment well enough, she couldn't activate either ability at all.

For an ordinary person, most exploration of the world relies on vision, followed by hearing, smell, touch, taste, and the other senses.

She had lost her sight.

Her perception of the environment had dropped by seventy percent, so she was practically useless.

No matter how calm or hardworking she was, a normal person needed time to adapt to a world without sight. At least a month, possibly a year or even several years. There was no way Mo Bai could replace her vision with other senses within the span of a single instance.

Xiao Qi's vision was linked to Mo Bai's. If Mo Bai couldn't see, neither could Xiao Qi. It couldn't even serve as her eyes.

The moment she entered the instance, her abilities had been sealed. She was worse off than Sheng Yan back then.

Since Mo Bai had stood still for too long, the man who had called her "blind" shouted impatiently, "Hurry up! The audience is waiting for your performance!"

Along with the roar came the sharp crack of something slicing through the air.

He was whipping her.

Though she lacked sight, she still had hearing. Instinctively, she dodged in the opposite direction of the sound, but her foot struck something, and she fell to the ground.

The whip lashed over her head, missing her.

"Hmph. Blind is blind. Can't even stand properly." The man tossed something at her feet. "Get up. Keep dawdling, and the next lash will land on you."

As if missing her before had been an act of mercy.

Mo Bai felt around for the object he'd thrown. It seemed to be a wooden stick, something she could use as a cane.

Leaning on it, she stood up. Before rising fully, she reached down and touched the thing that had tripped her.

It felt like human skin, but cold. Too cold to belong to a living person. Yet if it were a corpse, the texture was far too smooth. There was no smell of decay in the room either.

But she recognized this texture.

Back in the storage room of Count's Castle, she, Ding Xun, and Ye Pingjun had encountered hundreds of bodies just like this. Mo Bai had even dissected one herself with Corrosive Claw.

They were dolls.

Was she in a room with dolls?

Thinking of the connection between Count's Castle and the Smiling Circus, she recalled that the circus director had invited Count Leon to visit, who agreed to provide them with a living doll in return.

Count Leon had been killed by Mo Bai's team, and then the Smiling Circus invited them to the circus. That had been the beginning of everything.

And now, she was blind, trapped in a room with motionless dolls.

Mo Bai roughly deduced her current situation.

Count Leon failed to pay the price and fulfill the agreement. She was the living doll he had chosen while alive, "returned" to the circus by the system and reduced to a low-ranking performer, probably on the same level as the animal acts or the puppets.

But she wasn't really a living doll, and one person wouldn't be enough to settle the debt. The remainder was probably being offset by Ding Xun, Gu Tiandong, and Ye Pingjun. She had no idea what they were doing, what tasks they had been assigned, or whether they, like her, had lost their sight or suffered some other disability.

In less than a second, the time it took her to stand up, Mo Bai had already grasped her predicament.

The only thing she didn't understand was why she was blind.

She needed information.

Mo Bai smiled faintly at the man in front of her and, tapping her cane as she explored forward, said in a pliant tone, "Sorry, I can't see, so I walk slowly. I've delayed you."

The man sneered. "Slow walking is not a problem. The puppeteer happens to be short a puppet. Maybe we can have him string you up and make you walk."

"I'd rather not. I prefer walking on my own." Mo Bai followed the sound of his footsteps.

She heard him cough twice and asked casually, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"Caught a cold," he replied. "These past few months, more and more people in town have been getting sick. Even the circus guests are falling ill. Probably infected." He broke into a violent fit of coughing, then cursed between ragged breaths, "Damn it! Half the circus is sick, but the director still insists on performing. Can't he give us two days off to see a doctor?"

"That sounds exhausting," Mo Bai replied, playing the attentive listener.

"Isn't the director sick?" she asked, steering him gently toward revealing more.

The man snapped, "Of course he's not sick! He's livelier than anyone. And I suspect he…"

He cut himself off abruptly, suddenly alert. "Why are you asking about that?"

He lashed the whip at her again.

Mo Bai dodged again, but they were walking through a narrow corridor. She slammed into a wall and failed to avoid the strike.

The whip cracked against her arm. Her muscles tightened, but she endured the blow with her 93 constitution stat.

It didn't hurt much, but anger flared inside her.

Suddenly blind. Unable to see her surroundings. Unable to use her abilities. Unable to read the system's instance prompts. Unable to find her companions.

She felt like a headless fly, as if she had returned to that confused state when she first entered the Infinite World.

But she suppressed the feeling.

In truth, she wasn't in despair. She had a card that could resolve her current predicament: the A-rank card Tentacle Substitute, obtained at Biological Research Institute No. 7.

Tentacle Substitute could take her place in death once and transfer her injuries to the substitute. It would definitely heal her eyes.

But Mo Bai didn't want to use it prematurely.

Its power went far beyond just healing blindness. At a critical moment, it could save her life, so using it now would be a waste.

She could wait until she suffered a fatal injury and use it then, healing her eyes at the same time.

Her situation wasn't truly dangerous at the moment. It was humiliating, yes, but she could endure that.

The name Disease Town and the whip wielder's words both suggested that the town was plagued by illness.

He had even mentioned possibly being infected by the audience.

Mo Bai guessed that one or perhaps multiple diseases were spreading through the town. The longer players stayed, the more likely they were to become infected.

The illness might be like the abnormal condition that affected Liu Congyi and the others. Incurable by healing potions and still tormenting players even after leaving the instance.

All the more reason not to use Tentacle Substitute lightly.

She only hoped Ding Xun and the others wouldn't rashly use Blessing of the Puppets if they encountered similar situations. The four of them had obtained identical cards in Count's Castle. Mo Bai had used hers at Biological Research Institute No. 7, but the other three had kept theirs for emergencies.

Lost in thought, Mo Bai followed the whip wielder forward. At last, they exited the long, narrow corridor and entered a relatively open area. The air around her felt more spacious.

At the same time, the smells grew heavier.

Tobacco. Alcohol. Fresh blood and flesh. Hay. Animal waste.

They arrived backstage at the circus, among the other performers waiting to go on.

"Blind girl, don't stand in the way. Go line up over there." The whip wielder kicked her.

Mo Bai felt her way toward the direction he indicated.

Xiao Qi was practically exploding with rage, muttering in her ear, "I'm going to grow teeth and claws! I'm going to bite him, scratch him, tear his face apart!"

Mo Bai's mentality was far steadier. She said to Xiao Qi, "Don't rush, and I'm not truly helpless. Let him strut for now. Once I understand this place, I'll pay him back tenfold."

With its connection to the outside world's visual input suddenly severed, Xiao Qi panicked. It was Mo Bai's composure and calm that soothed it.

"I've learned something," Xiao Qi said. "In the future, when facing prey, I must learn to lie in wait and endure. To strike with one fatal blow when the moment is certain."

Mo Bai: "…"

It felt like Xiao Qi already imagined its teeth and claws and was now simulating how to use them.

With Xiao Qi by her side, Mo Bai felt much better.

She was not alone.

The place where the whip wielder told Mo Bai to line up seemed to be beside some kind of fierce beast. She heard the low growl of a feline and caught the rancid stench from a carnivore's mouth.

The beast stood in front of her in line. Behind her seemed to be a person, an unusually lively one, flailing their arms around.

Mo Bai turned her head and gave the person behind her a friendly smile. "What animal is in front of me?" she asked. "A lion, a tiger, or a leopard?"

The person behind her kept making large gestures, waving their arms constantly, but never uttered a sound.

They seemed excited to see her, yet made no noise at all. Since she herself had lost her sight, Mo Bai reasonably suspected this person had lost the ability to speak.

Like her, they had lost one of their five senses. And they were visibly excited upon seeing her. Could this be one of her companions?

"Don't move," Mo Bai said immediately.

The person obediently stopped, and she no longer heard them shifting about.

That level of compliance made it even more likely. This could really be one of her teammates.

Mo Bai smiled faintly. "I'm blind, so I don't know how tall you are. Could you put your hand on top of your head and wave it forward once? I want to get a sense of your height."

The person did as she asked. The movement was large; when their arm swept over their head, it stirred the air with a faint rushing sound.

Mo Bai tilted her head slightly, carefully listening to where that subtle wind came from.

Then she smiled gently and raised her left hand, using the index finger of her right hand to write the character "丁" (Ding) in her palm.

When the person's arm had swept over their head, the sound of air cutting through had clearly been far higher than her own height.

Gu Tiandong was 170 cm tall, while Ye Pingjun was 169 cm. When their arms moved, the air would only brush Mo Bai's forehead. Only Ding Xun was taller than her.

After she wrote the character "丁," she felt the person behind her nodding frantically. She finally confirmed that it was Ding Xun.

She couldn't see, and Ding Xun couldn't speak. She didn't know what happened to the others.

Reuniting with Ding Xun was incredibly fortunate because Ding Xun's ability was currently the only one that could help her escape this predicament.

Besides manipulating the speed of others' five senses, Synesthesia had another use: sensory synchronization.

This connection didn't just allow Ding Xun's senses to sync with hers. It also allowed her senses to sync with Ding Xun's as well.

She could see everything within Ding Xun's field of vision.

As long as they stayed together, she would be able to see.

Thinking of this, Mo Bai extended her hand toward Ding Xun. She wanted to grasp Ding Xun's hand and write in her palm to signal her to use her ability.

But just as her hand stretched out slightly, a thought struck her.

Was Ding Xun really that stupid?

It was true that Ding Xun didn't like thinking too much, but her combat instincts were extremely sharp, and she handled her ability with ease.

She was the most battle-suited member of the team, the one who knew best how to use her "eyes."

When they first met, Ding Xun used the Prying Lenses to observe her movements through a door, even imitating her actions.

Ding Xun was lazy about thinking, but she wasn't an idiot. If the person in front of her was truly Ding Xun, how could Ding Xun not think of using Synesthesia to recognize her?

Something's fishy!

In a flash of realization, Mo Bai quickly withdrew her hand and shifted to the left.

At that moment, she was facing "Ding Xun," and behind her was an unknown beast. Danger lay both ahead and behind, so she could only dodge to either side.

She had come from the right side earlier and was more familiar with that terrain. Logically, she should have dodged right.

But everything about this circus felt wrong. She couldn't trust anything here, and she couldn't act according to habit.

So she took a risk and dodged to the left.

There was a pit on the left. After only two steps, she stumbled into it and fell helplessly inside. The pit was filled with soft mud, cushioning her fall and preventing injury.

But as she fell into the mud, she sensed something heavy sweep through the space above her body.

If she hadn't fallen into the pit, that object would have struck her.

Mo Bai lifted her head from the mud and suddenly heard roaring laughter from in front of her.

Then someone stepped forward and declared loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, our act A Hair's Breadth from Death has been successfully completed! Please give a round of applause to this blind young lady who narrowly escaped death.

Unaware of the situation, unable to see the dangers around her, she did not trust the executioner holding a cleaver in front of her, waiting for her to reach out. She did not flee toward the hungry black panther behind her. She also did not escape toward the right, where a heavy hammer awaited. Instead, she chose the only path to survival: the mud pit that allowed her to evade the attack. Let's applaud her keen judgment!"

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Some whistled while someone shouted, "She's got quite the luck!"

When the applause quieted somewhat, the man on stage continued, "Assistant, please help this young lady off the stage. It seems difficult for her to walk down on her own."

Hearing this, Mo Bai immediately propped herself up with her cane and stood straight, walking out of the pit on her own. She knew she must be covered in mud, looking utterly bedraggled. More laughter followed as she rose.

But she refused to be helped. She would walk off by herself.

At that moment, someone in the audience stood up and shouted, "How do we know she's really blind? What if she's faking it? What if she already knew where the safe path was?"

"Excellent," the man on stage replied politely. "This gentleman has raised a question. Please come up and verify it yourself."

Mo Bai was about to step forward when the man on stage grabbed her arm. In a courteous voice, he said, "Miss, please wait a moment."

She stopped, and heavy footsteps approached. Judging by the sound, the newcomer was a stout, overweight man.

The fat man stood before her and waved his hand in front of her eyes. "You're pretending pretty convincingly," he said.

The polite man replied, "Whether she's pretending or not, you'll know in a moment."

With that, he grasped Mo Bai's hand and simultaneously seized the fat man's hand.

The next second, a blinding brightness pierced her vision. Light flooded her eyes, and her lost sight returned instantly.

She saw that the one holding her hand was a handsome man in a top hat and tailcoat, smiling at her.

The man who had questioned her blindness was indeed a fat man. Now he clutched his eyes and screamed, "I can't see! I can't see!"

Panicking, he stumbled blindly across the stage, straight toward the chained black panther.

The panther, who seemed to have been starving for who knew how long, opened its blood-soaked jaws and pounced, tearing off the man's arm in a single bite.

The fat man clutched his severed arm and howled in agony on the stage.

And yet the audience burst into laughter.

The man in the top hat announced, "I just performed a magic trick, exchanging the blind young lady's vision with that of this gentleman. Now the young lady can see, while the gentleman cannot.

You all witnessed his reaction. No normal person would run into a hungry black panther. Surely now everyone believes that the blind young lady truly cannot see?"

"We believe it!" someone shouted from the audience.

The fat man's screams only excited the crowd further. They applauded and cheered; some even whistled.

Mo Bai watched coldly, memorizing every face she could see, especially the man in the top hat.

"Alright, the magic performance is over." The man in the top hat clapped his hands lightly.

Mo Bai lost her vision as darkness fell over her once again.

On the other side, the fat man cried out, "I can see! I can see! I believe she's blind! Mr. Magician, please heal my arm! Transfer my injury to that blind girl!"

"No," the magician replied, polite yet cold. "How could I impose suffering that does not belong to this young lady upon her? This is the price you pay for questioning the authenticity of the performance."

He extended a finger and casually pushed the screaming man off the stage.

Then Mo Bai heard the magician proclaim loudly, "We are the Smiling Circus. We hope our performance brings joy and laughter to our audience!"

The crowd's laughter reached its peak at those words, drowning out the pig-like screams of the fat man below.

Amid the clamor, Mo Bai slowly let out a long breath.