The male ant was huge—twice the size of normal ants—and bright, fire-red. Two giant pincers stuck out from their heads. Just looking at it made it clear it was dangerous. The two guards were elite picks and weren't scared at all by the sight. Caroline, seeing Nathaniel was safe, focused again. She used her power to freeze the ants first and then smash them into dust. She poured all her energy into stopping the swarm when suddenly a noise came from behind her. A gunshot cracked loudly. Without turning, she raised an ice wall along her back. The bullet hit the ice and stopped. "Caroline, are you okay?" When she looked, Tyler was running toward her from a distance. He was still wearing yesterday's clothes, and his face showed worry. Four more ants crawled in through the broken window, all heading straight for Caroline. Tyler didn't wait. He grabbed a knife from his belt and threw it at one ant. The knife hit the ant's head. Green slime oozed out, and the knife stuck straight into the ground. Caroline froze two more ants with her power, but the biggest one dodged and jumped onto the wall. Clinging there, it spat a ball of fire at her—this ant had somehow awakened an ability! "Don't worry, I've got you!" Tyler shouted as he ran toward her. Caroline saw a gun appear in Tyler's hand at the same time. "Bang!" The gun fired. White smoke rose from the barrel, heat radiating off it. Caroline grabbed her chest and dropped to the ground. The big ant on the wall tilted its head, as if it couldn't understand what the humans were doing. "Heh-heh... Caroline, you're going to pay for what happened to my son." Tyler's face twisted into a look she had never seen before—sneaky, wild, and cruel.Caroline forced herself to look at him, her teeth clenched so tightly they ached. Even moving felt like torture. "You ... you're Lieutenant Colonel Roberts?" Her voice shook, filled with regret. "I didn't even notice it was you." "Tyler"—or rather, Blake pretending to be him—walked closer, holding the gun straight at Caroline's forehead. "That's right. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Roberts. Tell me where that brat Tyler is, or I'll shoot you right here. I know he killed my son. I want payback." Before he could say anything else, something hit him hard and sent him flying. Caroline, who had been pretending to be helpless, suddenly stood up. She pressed a hand over her chest. The bullet was stuck right at her chest, but it hadn't actually hit her. Her power had stopped it with a block of ice. "Don't we agree you'd wait until I finished dealing with Lieutenant Colonel Roberts before showing up," Caroline said with a tired sigh to the man standing in front of her. He didn't say a word. His eyes were so cold. "He's too ugly," he muttered flatly. Standing in front of Caroline—the same person who had just knocked Blake aside—was Tyler himself. He seemed to appear from nowhere. Nobody knew how he got there. It was like he had been standing beside her the whole time. Just then, another mutant ant crawled in through the window, moving straight past Tyler. Without a word, his arm transformed into a long blade, and in just a few quick swings, he cut the ant into pieces. Even after being chopped, the ant's legs twitched, as if each one had its own mind, still trying to run. Caroline walked over to the remains and stored several ant fragments in her storage space. "I'm going into my storage space and have Nelson test these ants. Maybe he can figure out a way to stop the swarm," she said. She looked out the window and saw thousands more army ants climbing toward the base. Even worse, some had started gnawing at the base's pillars. Countless soldiers were out there, fighting the mutant army ants.Suddenly, the base shook and began to sink. Caroline looked down from the window. The base was pulling its pillars back, afraid that the mutant ants would chew through them completely, which could tilt or even collapse the entire structure. Caroline didn't stare any longer. She waved at Tyler and stepped right into the storage space.