Ye Pingjun stepped forward to examine the charred corpse pinned beneath the door and shook his head sadly.

Not a single survivor was left.

Ding Xun said in frustration, "Next time I run into monsters, I won't just kill them so casually. Who knew the small mobs in these instances could be this useful?"

Mo Bai comforted her. "It's not your fault. We all killed monsters. I was the one who killed the guard outside Ye Pingjun's door, too."

Gu Tiandong added, "Exactly. When you see a monster guarding the door, who can resist attacking?"

Ding Xun calmed down, but their situation didn't improve.

They still couldn't leave.

"Mo Bai, where's the guard that was outside your door?" Ye Pingjun finally noticed.

Mo Bai gave a wry smile. "He led me out of the Heart Mirror Room earlier, but when I came back, I returned on my own. He didn't follow me."

She briefly explained her agreement with the magician.

"Without a guard to lead us, does that mean we'll never get out?" Gu Tiandong frowned.

"Not necessarily," Mo Bai said.

Every instance has monsters and a boss. Since the Ruins of the Heart Mirror Room could become a scene card, it meant that it was a complete domain.

The Smiling Circus was special. It didn't just have one domain, it also contained the smaller domain of the Heart Mirror Room, like a sub-stage within a larger instance.

And wherever there was a domain, there had to be a ruler.

But they hadn't seen one.

"If we treat the Heart Mirror Room as its own instance," Mo Bai said, "then who is its boss?"

"The version of ourselves in the mirror," Ding Xun and Gu Tiandong answered in unison.

"'Don't make choices alone'… could that mean we need to decide together with our mirror selves?" Gu Tiandong speculated.

"…Well…" Everyone turned to look at the four ruined rooms. Each one was filled with shattered mirror fragments.

It didn't seem like they could summon their mirror selves anymore.

"Probably not," Ye Pingjun said. "Earlier, the mirror version of Ding Xun also wandered around alone and still ended up back where she started."

"Then… how about we take these along and try again?" Ding Xun said, lifting the corpse from Ye Pingjun's doorway and dragging out the octopus-headed body from her own room.

"Your way of thinking is truly something else," Ye Pingjun said, visibly uncomfortable.

"Let's give it a try," Mo Bai sighed.

She had no better solution for now.

Once again, Ding Xun led the way, carrying two monster corpses as the group chose a path. Unsurprisingly, they entered the maze again, taking over half an hour to find their way back out.

After repeating this several times, they had already spent two hours wandering in the maze. Exhausted and starving, they finally stopped.

Fortunately, they had storage pouches. Aside from Sheng Yan's blood, they also carried several packs of nutrient meals. Sitting on the ground, they quickly ate to restore their energy.

Mo Bai could have eaten earlier, but she had been confronting the magician at the time. It would've felt ridiculous to suddenly pull out a meal.

Besides, each of them only brought three days' worth of food. If they couldn't clear the instance in that time, they'd have to scavenge.

Not wanting to waste supplies, Mo Bai chose to take advantage of the magician's offer and eat.

After replenishing her strength, Mo Bai leaned against the wall, thinking carefully about what they might have overlooked.

In her view, the magician definitely wanted them to leave the Smiling Circus and go to Disease Town to deal with the monsters there.

But bound by the rules governing instance monsters, by their hatred and domain restrictions, he couldn't simply let them go. There had to be a "contest."

In other words, they had to solve things step by step, like clearing an instance, and fulfill the magician's wish.

According to Rule Five, "The magician only wants to keep the audience's smiles," Mo Bai suspected that the real challenge of this instance lay in the Heart Mirror Room.

Once the darker side left the circus, the original self left behind in the mirror would only retain a literal smile.

But the rule also said "he bears no great malice." Did that mean that, due to the existence of Disease Town, the magician's hostility was minimized and he wouldn't harm them?

With that thought, Mo Bai suddenly said, "Smile."

"Huh?" The others looked up at her.

Mo Bai said, "Don't you think the magician actually helped us? After merging with our other selves, both Gu Tiandong and I became stronger. What about you, Ding Xun?"

"My ability didn't improve," Ding Xun said, patting her chest, "but the knot in my heart loosened. I don't feel that suffocating pressure anymore."

Ye Pingjun thought for a moment. "I don't really have strong feelings either way, but seeing everyone get stronger makes me happy."

"Then let's go back to the crossroads," Mo Bai said, "and tell the magician that the performance was good, that we liked it, and show him a smile."

She wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth trying.

In the initial performance, she knew the magician truly intended to kill her, though it was also a test.

If she could survive under those circumstances, whether by intelligence or luck, she still passed.

In the instance world, only by proving your strength could you earn the possibility of cooperation with instance monsters.

It was only after Mo Bai demonstrated that she could contend with Disease Town that the magician gave her time to merge with her other self.

Of course, part of it was also because she revealed the existence of the Ultra-Star Rank monster's contamination.

Initially, the magician only knew that the mirror held her dark side. Once she mentioned contamination, he must have realized there was something in the Heart Mirror Room rivaling the boss of Disease Town.

The fact that he didn't immediately beg her to take it back and respectfully escort them out already showed he was doing his best to maintain composure.

Simplifying things, Mo Bai thought that a magician with "no great malice" might truly just want the audience's smiles.

The four of them returned to the fork. Facing the intersection, Mo Bai said solemnly, "If you can hear my thoughts, then I won't lie. Being able to accept myself and grow stronger, I'm happy."

The others followed. "We're really happy too."

They thought of the joy of reuniting and did their best to smile sincerely.

At that moment, a mirror appeared between the two paths.

Mo Bai stepped forward and smiled at it.

In the mirror, a smiling, black-clad Mo Bai appeared.

"Did you split again?" Ye Pingjun asked, worried.

Mo Bai shook her head. "No. There's no soul in the reflection, just a residual image."

She smiled, and the mirror image smiled. She straightened her face, and the reflection did the same.

It mirrored her movements exactly, only the appearance differed.

Remembering the rule "don't make choices alone," Mo Bai asked her reflection, "Which path should I take to leave this place?"

She pointed to the right.

But the black-clad reflection pointed left.

"So I should go left?" Mo Bai switched her gesture.

This time, the reflection mirrored her exactly, pointing the same way.

"So it's left!" Ding Xun immediately moved.

"Wait, confirm it yourself first," Mo Bai said.

Ding Xun stood before the mirror. "Should I go left?"

Her reflection pointed right.

"Then I should go right?" she asked.

This time, the reflection matched her.

"It's telling me to go right," Ding Xun said, confused.

"I'll try," Ye Pingjun said, stepping up. "If I go right, is that correct?"

His reflection pointed right.

Still doubtful, he said, "What if I go left with Mo Bai?"

The reflection still pointed right.

"Looks like I'm going right too," he concluded.

That left Gu Tiandong. In the mirror, he still appeared as his 1.7-meter-tall self with chicken wings. After all, his ideal 1.8-meter self was who he identified with, while this form was one he couldn't accept.

"Can I go left?" he asked.

His reflection pointed right.

"So I'm right as well," Gu Tiandong said. "The three of us go right, and only Mo Bai needs to go to the left path?"

He looked worried.

"This arrangement is actually ideal," Mo Bai said. "You three have the strongest defense, powerful offense, and Ye Pingjun can stabilize morale. No matter what you encounter, you can handle it. As for me… I think you don't need to worry."

They suddenly realized that while they had been trapped in mirrors, it was Mo Bai who actually rescued them one by one.

She no longer needed protection.

Just three months ago, she was a frail girl who needed help pushing her wheelchair.

"Be careful on your own," Gu Tiandong said.

"You too," Mo Bai replied. After a moment, she added, "To be safe, discard all the Blood Bombs."

"Why?" Ding Xun asked. "I may not like Sheng Yan, but those things are powerful. A 10ml vial is comparable to a B-rank card."

Mo Bai briefly explained the conditions in Disease Town. "The boss there is Professor Yang's wife and daughter. They became monsters after being deliberately burned. I'm worried that the town will specifically target fire-type abilities. I know the Blood Bombs are useful, but I don't want to take that risk."

"I understand," Ye Pingjun said. "Once we're sure we're leaving the instance, we'll destroy them."

They were powerful, but easy to dispose of. Just break them somewhere without living beings, and within minutes the blood would lose its effect.

After agreeing, the four split up.

This time, Mo Bai immediately sensed the difference.

She walked quickly down the two-meter-wide corridor and reached the exit in under a minute.

At the end stood the magician, dressed in a tailcoat, elegant and composed, waiting for her.

Seeing her, he slightly raised his arm and gave a polite bow.

"Welcome back, my honored guest," he said.

Mo Bai glanced around. "Where are my friends?"

"They have safely exited through the other path," the magician replied.

"Why separate me from them?" she asked.

"Because our agreement is not yet complete. If you succeed, I am to restore your sight. But it seems you no longer need that."

"Right. So how do you plan to fulfill it?" Mo Bai crossed her arms.

The magician produced a card and offered it with both hands. "This is what I can give you."

Mo Bai took it.

 

[

Name: Inequivalent Exchange

Type: Item Card

Rank: A

Effect: Allows the exchange of any objects, cards, abilities, humans, animals, anything of the same category.

Usage: Select the items to exchange and activate with a thought.

Uses: 1

Description: The magician has taught you his most important trick. Don't underestimate it, it can swap anything of the same kind. Playing cards, coins, flowers… or unseen eyes with someone else's sight, a dying heart with a healthy one, a corpse with a living companion taken away… and much more.

]

 

It was undeniably powerful.

If used well, it could produce astonishing results.

Mo Bai wondered, if Disease Town didn't exist, would clearing the Smiling Circus have rewarded her with this card?

"Or perhaps Mind Reading," the magician said.

"You can turn your abilities into cards?" Mo Bai asked.

"It comes at a great cost," he replied. "Until you use this card, I cannot use that ability. So you must use it soon."

"I'll use it before Disease Town ends," Mo Bai promised. "If I don't get the chance, I'll use it on something trivial just to consume it."

"Do not make promises lightly to instance monsters," the magician warned. "Breaking them breeds hatred and malice, and can give rise to stronger monsters."

"You mean if I leave with the card without fulfilling the promise, you'll evolve into something stronger?" Mo Bai asked.

"Yes," he nodded.

"…That's bad."

Mo Bai suddenly remembered. She had broken a promise before.

At Biological Research Institute No. 7, she had promised the Phantom Butterfly that if it helped plant bombs, she would capture monsters for it to absorb.

But after it betrayed them and got absorbed along with her by an Ultra-Star Rank monster, she never fulfilled that promise.

Technically, the Phantom Butterfly had upheld its end, but she hadn't.

The magician read her thoughts. "Evolution takes three to six months. If it hasn't appeared in other instances to trouble you, it may be trapped in the town or already evolving."

Mo Bai: "...Heh."