"Relax, Tyler, I won't say a word." Denton made a zipper motion across his lips. Nelson passed by with something in his hands. "Not interested in talking." Only then did Tyler finally breathe out. But he forgot one important thing—Jet. Right now, Jet's tiny eyes were sparkling as he watched the group of noisy two-legged creatures beneath him. With a flap of his wings, he slipped out through the open window. He had just witnessed major gossip. Time to tell Biscuit, and the two mutant trees, immediately. Once the excitement died down, Tyler turned in for the night. Inside his room, he opened his palm. A small sting ran across the center. A faint mark showed where his nail had broken the skin. His mouth twitched. Was he really that nervous earlier? He hadn't even noticed. Meanwhile, Caroline rode Raven deeper into the mountains instead of heading downhill. She wanted to see if the inner forest held stronger mutated creatures, and whether she could capture any during a fight to test her ranch theory. She rode for more than an hour. Farther and farther. The sky grew darker. Even at night, the heat was suffocating. A few days ago, fresh grass still peeked out of the soil here. Now, everything was dried to husks. Caroline even saw a few small animal corpses along the way. When she passed the pool where the giant fish used to live, countless glowing eyes stared at her from the darkness. Animals guarding what little water remained. Luckily, they were peaceful ones, similar to the herd Denton had brought down earlier. This part of the mountain was still manageable because the streams hadn't dried up yet. Cities would not be as lucky. Judging from the conditions, she guessed the refugee shelters were already suffering after just two days. She kept riding upward. Higher and higher, until the mountain peak was close. Then she saw them. A pair of blood-red eyes. When it spotted her and Raven, the creature crawled out of its den. Its eyes locked onto them, full of hostility. "Well now... Look who it is." Caroline smiled at the creature in front of her. "This must be ... our third meeting." Standing there was none other than the golden python she had once cut a horn off. The horn she had severed last time was still broken, but beside it had grown a new one. Longer. Sharper. The python was much larger now, its whole body seething with cold, murderous energy. It clearly remembered Caroline. Hatred glowed in its eyes. It lunged at her, faster than before, jaws wide enough to swallow her and Raven whole. But Caroline was no longer the same person she had been during their last encounter. She now held dozens of abilities, and her water ability was refined to mastery. And Raven was beside her. The instant the python lunged, Raven activated gravity pull. The massive python had no time to react. It slammed into the ground, skidding hard enough to gulp down a mouthful of dirt. With no limbs to help it rise, it wriggled helplessly, its crushing weight pinning it down. The scales scraped the earth so hard they shattered a large boulder beside it. Still, it could hardly move. Even its venomous fangs had no target to bite. Pathetic. Caroline stepped forward and placed her hand on the python's scales, wanting to store it in the ranch. It didn't work.The python snapped back in defiance. Since the great heat arrived, its body had grown tougher than ever, and its venom deadlier, but it still had no awakened ability. Maybe its venom and brute strength were already strong enough to outmatch most mutant abilities, so it never developed an ability of its own at all. "Why can't I store it?" Caroline narrowed her eyes at the giant python, thoughts turning over again and again. Among all the mutated creatures she had collected, this one had a unique trait. It still wanted to fight. It refused to submit. "If you won't submit, then I'll beat you until you do." If she was going to test the ranch mechanics, she needed multiple test subjects. What followed made the golden python wish it had never crawled out of its cave. Caroline pummeled it with her abilities until the giant python was covered in wounds. Then she tried storing it. Still failed.