Caroline stepped in once Denton had been hit enough. "Denton meant well. Let's stop here." Tyler finally let go, still wearing a cold expression. Denton clutched his sore backside and wailed, "Caroline, you could've stopped Tyler earlier!" Caroline reached out and patted his head. "I know you meant well. But don't ever do something like this again. So yes, you needed a few hits to learn." Denton kept howling. He suddenly felt like Caroline was just as strict as Tyler. This was bad. Caroline and Tyler weren't being heartless. The kid meant well, but this time he had gone way too far. Sure, their plan looked detailed at first glance, but once you examined it, there were holes everywhere. Now Caroline and Tyler had to clean up the mess. Nelson, who had helped with the plan, was dragged over next. Caroline checked him carefully from head to toe. Only after confirming he wasn't hurt did she and Tyler finally relax. Still, he got scolded too. Seeing he looked pale, Caroline pulled out a cupcake from her storage space and handed it to him. "Go eat this. And don't follow Denton's nonsense again." Denton was underage and clearly ... not the brightest. But Nelson? His intelligence crushed most people. How could he have followed Denton into something this ridiculous? "But I wanted to give you a gift too," Nelson said, blinking his clear, honest eyes. Denton heard how differently Nelson was treated and immediately started yelling. "Mrs. Lowland, don't treat us so differently!" That "Mrs. Lowland" was something he'd secretly called her many times in his heart. But blurting it out for real ... that was a first. The moment he said it, everything went silent. Even Caroline's face turned red. Caroline reached into her storage space again and pulled out a new stick she'd picked up from a survival-gear livestream. The host had been bragging nonstop about how it was some kind of "elite combat staff." She handed the stick to Tyler. "I think Denton still doesn't understand how serious this was. You went too easy." Tyler, blushing as well, took the stick and rolled up his sleeves. Denton screamed and bolted, disappearing from Caroline's view. What she didn't expect was that, after running far enough, Denton was grabbed again. He immediately covered his head. "Tyler, I—I didn't mean it, I just shouted whatever!" But no hit came. He peeked at him carefully and saw Tyler staring at him with shining eyes. The stick lay tossed aside on the ground. Tyler said, "Good call." Denton blinked, stunned. He didn't understand grown-ups at all. But he did know one thing. Skipping a beating felt pretty great. Back on the other side, Caroline stared at the hundreds of small animals Denton had driven over and felt a headache rising. The roe deer looked so cute. And the fawn's teary eyes reminded her of Marmy. She tested something and found that while she couldn't absorb the animals' energy directly, the base walls could absorb a portion of the energy from living creatures. With this many animals, it was more than enough. Looking at all the little animals and remembering how Denton had bragged his precise plan, Caroline couldn't help feeling genuinely touched. Yes, he made a mess, but he really wanted to do something nice for her. Later, she would talk to him properly and thank him. Today's beating from Tyler counted as the warning before the gratitude. In the apocalypse, safety always came first. Caroline transferred energy from all the animals into the mobile base's walls, then absorbed the mutated mantis energy too. The base wall could upgrade again.She studied the upgrade options on the wall, torn between boosting defense or adding an attack system. After a moment of thought, she made her choice. She pressed the button to add an attack system. She wanted to see just how strong a storage-space-produced mobile base could be against enemies. But what appeared on the screen shocked her. It wasn't gunpowder. It wasn't blades or arrows. The first-level attack system was—sound attack. Imagine a wall that attacked by screaming nonstop: "Aaaaahhhhh!"