Teresa Taylor witnessed a scene she would never forget for the rest of her life.

Everywhere she looked, there were bodies.

Almost all the female corpses showed signs of assault and abuse before their deaths. Among them were female soldiers and a few gray-clad female survivors.

When order collapses completely, women are often the first victims.

Teresa's face turned ashen.

Why did it have to come to this?!

She understood the resentment of the oppressed survivors. But if they wanted revenge, why not target the leadership of the base? Why take it out on the ordinary female soldiers?

Was this how they chose to wield power after gaining it?

A female ability user, Bonnie, emerged from the violet mist ahead. Seeing a figure in the distance, she raised her gun in fear. "Who's there?! Hands up!"

Teresa spoke softly. "Don't panic. It's me, Teresa Taylor."

Recognizing Teresa, Bonnie sighed in relief, tears streaming down her face. "General Taylor, please save us! The gray-clad workers have gone insane—they're killing everyone they see!"

Bonnie's ability was support-based and had no combat value. She had narrowly escaped being dragged away by rioters just moments earlier.

Teresa patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Stay with me. You'll be fine."

Bonnie nodded, feeling slightly more at ease.

The two women had barely walked a few steps when a group of over ten rioters stumbled into view.

Chased to the brink of desperation, the rioters had unknowingly ended up in this part of the base.

Upon spotting the two women in uniform, their reactions varied.

"Soldiers!" "Kill them! Kill them!" "Kill them? Are you crazy? We need to run!"

Terrified, Bonnie shrank behind Teresa.

Teresa raised her voice. "Surrender now, and I guarantee your safety."

The rioters didn't believe her and instead shouted obscenities. "Shut up, you b****! She's a looker—don't waste her, let me have a go first!" "Are you insane?! They're chasing us! We need to keep running!" "Who cares?! We're all gonna die anyway. At least let me enjoy myself first!"

Teresa could no longer hold back her fury. "Enough! Drop your weapons and surrender now!"

But the rioters didn't listen, charging forward instead. "This one's feisty!" "Let's take her down together!"

With no other choice, Teresa sprang into action.

In less than half a minute, every rioter was lying unconscious.

Teresa found some rope and tied them up nearby before continuing onward.

As she moved through the base, she alternated between fighting and rescuing. She recruited soldiers and ability users she encountered, adding them to her ranks.

Any rioters she came across were subdued and restrained for later.

Eventually, Teresa arrived at the central battlefield, where the main conflict had taken place.

By now, the battle was winding down.

After James Lone's departure, the riot had been crushed under the leadership of Elen Hawkins. The rioters were completely routed, with some managing to break through the base's gates and escape into the outside world.

Most, however, were trapped inside the base.

The remaining soldiers and ability users were busy clearing the battlefield, capturing stragglers, tallying losses, and communicating with Martin Stewart at the frontlines to coordinate follow-up actions.

The most pressing issue, however, was that Erics Peterson was missing!

With no one to take command, Elen Hawkins, as the highest-ranking officer and the most powerful ability user on-site, had to step up and take charge.

Sweating from the effort, Hawkins visibly relaxed when she saw Teresa approaching. "Thank goodness. I was worried you'd been caught up in the chaos."

The other ability users were equally relieved to see Teresa. With her arrival, their side had regained a strong combatant, and the situation was finally stabilizing.

Teresa frowned. "Where are the other ability users? Why are there so few of you here?"

The group fell silent for a moment.

Hawkins's expression turned bitter. "Over there—those are the bodies. We lost 27 of them."

Teresa was stunned. "Twenty-seven? The rioters didn't have enough guns or ammunition to kill that many ability users. How is that possible?"

Hawkins clenched her fists in anger. "We were ambushed by a mysterious ability user! It's almost certainly that burrowing rat from before!"

James Lone?

Teresa furrowed her brows as she inspected the bodies.

Some of them were unrecognizable, their bodies shattered and torn apart like broken dolls.

Teresa found it hard to believe James Lone was responsible.

She knew his capabilities well—he wasn't that strong. At least, she was confident he couldn't take her on directly.

And from the state of these corpses, even she would struggle to cause such destruction with her full strength.

There was no way James Lone could have grown this powerful in such a short time.

Still, the other descriptions of the attacker—abilities like phasing through walls and burrowing underground—did match James's skillset.

Then again, this wasn't conclusive evidence.

Ability fruits weren't unique. Some powers manifested in multiple ability users.

It wasn't far-fetched to think another person might possess similar abilities.

In fact, for someone to infiltrate the base so silently, they would need such abilities.

Anyone who made it this far into the base would have had to bypass its outer defenses, which screened for such infiltration capabilities.

At that moment, a communications officer hurried over. "Report! Brigadier General Martin Stewart has sent a message: General Hawkins is authorized to handle the situation at the base. Stewart has just found the trail of the burrowing rat and is preparing to pursue him!"

The "rat" was the code name the base had given to the burrowing ability user.

Elen Hawkins sighed in frustration. "So it wasn't him, after all."

The TV base was at least five kilometers from the location of the message. There was no way anyone could have traveled that far in such a short time.

This confirmed it—there was another person involved.

Teresa Taylor couldn't help but worry about James Lone again.

In the Forest

After more than two hours of relentless marching, another 19 survivors fell due to various causes.

Just like before, Martin Stewart coldly abandoned them, leaving them to fend for themselves in the forest.

One of the ability users, Tailsa Evans, a military medic, finally spoke up. "General Stewart, at least let me tend to them. Maybe I can save a few?"

Martin Stewart's voice was icy. "No. Your stamina is limited, and your healing abilities should be reserved for our own people. These survivors aren't worth the effort."

Tailsa Evans looked deeply disappointed but dared not argue further.

The injured survivors, hearing his words, fell into complete despair and rage.