Electrical – Why isn’t there a ground on a 7-Segment display

I was working with a 7-Segment display and saw that there is no 'ground', only COM 1 and COM 2 which I do not understand their meanings, either.

Currently, I have the positive rail connected to COM 1 and it seems to be working fine. It seems to work also when I have the positive rail connected to COM 2.

I am using the display to display binary digits, with each digit being a segment of the display. I am using a 4-Bit Binary Counter 74HC93 to make the binary digits, from descending order (15…0).

The weird part is that the wires from the Binary Counter go to the display, but never go to ground from what I see, which breaks the laws of electricity and physics. The display lights up.

Now I use a XOR Gate 74HC86 (because circuits.io does not have a working NOT gate, so I keep value A at 1 constantly, and then use it as a NOT gate), and when I hook up the output of A and B, it does NOT light up one of the segments of the 7-Segment display (I tried all of them), but DOES light up a standard LED. It seems to follow the laws of electricity and physics.

Please explain how I can use the XOR gate to light up one of the segments of the display, what COM 1 and COM 2 means, and how lighting up one of the segments WORKS from the 4-Bit Binary Counter 74HC93.

Here's a diagram on a breadboard with power on and off (Made on circuits.io):

Notice how the DP pin is connected, although isn't lighting up.

To verify that it isn't the XOR gate:

(If you couldn't tell, the LED is lit)

Lastly, it seems to "work" if you have some of the output going to ground. I set up an LED WITH the display, and it fried both; very strange.

If I can have any explination, how to make it work, what COM 1 and COM 2 is, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!