Tyler reached over, patted Denton's shoulder, and flicked his forehead with a smile. "You'll grow up before you know it." In Tyler's eyes, that soft, father-like warmth showed up again. They stopped joking around and focused on the real task. Caroline moved fast. She put the mobile base back into her storage space. Right after the base disappeared, she felt a small shake in her chest—like Jasper inside the space was telling her he got the message. Denton's eyes went wide. "Caroline, your storage space and your abilities are insane! Seriously, so cool! I think your space and your abilities are even stronger than Tyler's!" After saying that, he glanced at Tyler. Yeah, he did it on purpose. If he got even the tiniest chance, he would tease Tyler. With Caroline around, he felt brave. And he had just complimented her, too. If Tyler got mad now, that would make him look petty. So Denton thought he was the smart one here. But then, after he finished talking, he looked back and saw Tyler staring at Caroline with soft, proud eyes that almost sparkled. Even the tiny smile on his face looked gentle. It was like he was saying, If Caroline is amazing, then I'm happy. Tyler even gave Denton a quick look that seemed to say, Go on. Keep praising her. I don't mind. Denton's eyes went even wider. Since he had zero love experience and cluelessness about romantic stuff, he froze for a moment. He replayed the moment in his head twice, and came to only one conclusion: Men in love really do change. Tyler was glowing with love. It was a little scary. Still, Tyler wasn't weak. He was strong. He could take on five or six guys like Denton. And against ordinary people, he could fight ten on his own. But Caroline? She was on a whole different level. It seemed Tyler would need to work extra hard if he wanted to keep up with her. And for some reason, whenever Denton imagined Tyler struggling to chase after Caroline—or turning into a man blinded by love—or even getting completely outmatched by her, made a strange spark of excitement lit up inside him. He actually wanted to see it happen.Denton repeated the thought quietly in his mind, a tiny grin forming on his face. But the mischief only lasted a moment. He rubbed his chin and got serious. Jokes aside, he should still help Tyler win Caroline's heart. Tyler wasn't young anymore. It was about time he had someone at home to keep him in line. When Denton finally finished thinking all that and laughed to himself, he looked up and saw that Caroline and Tyler had already used their abilities to fill in the hole where the house had been, turning it into a collapsed, covered patch of land. So even if someone remembered a house once standing here, now it looked like it had fallen apart during the earthquake. "Okay, this area's handled. No aftershocks for now—let's go," Caroline said as she brushed the dust from her hands and nodded at Denton and Tyler. They each got on their mounts, ready to head toward the army base. After traveling only a few miles, they saw ruins everywhere. The road was almost impossible to use. Tall buildings had crashed down. Huge chunks of concrete blocked the path. No vehicle could get through anymore. No wonder the army brought an excavator from a spatial ability user. The cars they drove out earlier were probably stored in storage space after a few miles, and the soldiers and Francis's team must have walked the rest of the way. For Caroline and Tyler, it wasn't a big deal. Raven and Snow jumped and sprinted like lightning, hardly slowed by the mess. Only Denton... Biscuit, his pony, had legs as short as four rolling pins. On smoother roads earlier, he could barely keep up with Raven and Snow. And ever since he mutated and soaked in the spring water a few times, he was definitely a little smarter now. During the first few miles, Biscuit ran like he was holding his breath, trying hard not to fall behind. Lately, Biscuit had even gotten slimmer. Denton said he must have been secretly training because he wanted to be a real riding mount. Before the apocalypse, little ponies like Biscuit were mostly used to carry goods, not people.But now... Looking at the stones taller than Biscuit's legs, and the piles of broken buildings bigger than his whole body... Biscuit just couldn't climb over them, no matter how hard it tried. Then he got a little depressed. Denton hurried to cheer it up. "It's alright, Biscuit. If we can't climb this way,, we'll just walk around, okay? It's fine." He rubbed Biscuit's neck and gave it two soft pats. By then, Tyler and Caroline had already reached the top of the fallen stone pile.