Chapter 52: Hayden Hanson Brought Backup

"Get inside, now!" Sev Steele finally snapped out of her daze and roared at the four kids. The shrill siren wailed, its piercing tail end dragging out exceptionally long. It repeated twice, nearly shattering their eardrums. In the memories of her body’s original owner, alarms had sounded in the safe zone before, but never for this long.

Sev scrambled into the house behind the children. Just as she was about to slam the door shut, she saw Doctor Jenkins slip inside right on her heels.

"What are you standing around for? Go check if all the windows are closed properly!" Doctor Jenkins snapped.

Sev hurried to check all the windows. By the time she returned to the master bedroom, Doctor Jenkins had already locked the door and was instructing the children on what to do.

"Pay close attention, all of you. Each of you will watch the floor of one room. If you see the ground bulging, smash it hard with a stick and yell, ’Rat!’ Got it?"

"Got it!" the four children replied in unison.

Rose was currently holding Silvy, stroking its head with her small hand to comfort it. Silvy had changed quite a bit over the days since it arrived. Its originally sparse, silver-gray fuzz had become fine, soft, and dense, shimmering with a smooth luster under the lights. Its appearance was vastly improved compared to its Rosy look when it first arrived, showing great potential to be an adorable pet. Right now, it was curled into a trembling ball, burying its small head tightly against Rose’s chest, clearly scared half to death.

Sev had a contract with it and could feel its emotions, but she didn’t have time to comfort it. She had to find a way to keep her four kids alive. Her gaze finally landed on Doctor Jenkins, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Doctor Jenkins, you’re an official. Don’t you need to go back and help at a time like this?"

"Guarding the safety of this zone is the responsibility of The Guard Corps. Besides, I’m off the clock right now. I’m a free citizen.

"Rationally speaking, it takes at least a quarter of an hour to travel from your house to the office building.

"There’s a high probability that the Mutant Rat swarm will breach the safe zone’s walls before then, and they would directly tear me to pieces and eat me on my way back," Doctor Jenkins said calmly.

He was acting quite leisurely right now, completely different from his previous urgency. Finally, he added lazily, "At a time like this, we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate. Make all the preparations, and leave the rest up to destiny."

This sounded reasonable enough, but saying it at a time like this was a huge blow to their morale. Sev was just about to argue back when she saw her watch light up. Tapping it open, she heard Hayden Hanson’s urgent voice coming from inside: "Sev, I’m at your door! Hurry up and open it, let’s fight off the rat swarm together!"

"It’s Mr. Hanson!" Before Sev could say a word, Rusty had already run out excitedly. He rushed to the courtyard gate, clicked "Invite to Enter," and let Hayden in.

Following Hayden inside was a woman. When Sev got a clear look at her face, she couldn’t help but secretly praise her: What a valiant and heroic bearing!

"This is my former teammate, Seth Jennings, a Second Tier Earth Ability User.

"She came over to deliver some medicine to me. When we heard the Second Level Beast Tide siren, I brought her along," Hayden quickly introduced.

"My name is Sev Steele. Hello, Ms. Jennings! Thank you for being willing to come over and help!" Sev said very politely.

"I only came for Hayden’s sake," Seth said with an indifferent tone and an impatient expression.

Sev felt a bit displeased. Although she was very grateful that someone came over to help at a time like this, she hadn’t begged her to come, so why put on such an arrogant face?

Hayden looked embarrassed. If it were any other normal time, he would have just told her to leave. But today was a special situation, so he could only swallow his anger and say, "Seth, please use your Hardening Skill on the floors of these rooms first."

The reason he had the thick skin to drag Seth over was because she possessed the Hardening Skill, which could strengthen their defenses against the rat swarm.

Only then did Doctor Jenkins lift his eyelids to glance at Seth, saying mildly, "Looks like you have some use after all!"

Seth immediately felt offended. She was already in a bad mood, and now she couldn’t help but flare up. "You lot had better be a bit more polite to me. This entire room of people is going to rely on me to stay alive tonight."

"Tch. Let’s hope you can actually keep everyone alive," Doctor Jenkins sneered.

Seth’s hands were trembling with anger. However, as an Ability user, it wasn’t appropriate for her to strike a regular person, not to mention he was a guest in the home of Hayden’s neighbor. She decisively turned her head and went to the master bedroom, planning to apply the Hardening Skill to the bedroom floor first, because the bedroom’s back wall was shared with the neighbor’s property, making it highly likely that the Mutant Rats would burrow over from the ground next door.

Hayden explained with an awkward look, "Sev, don’t mind it too much. Even though Seth has a bit of a temper, she’s actually quite a good person."

"Yeah, I can tell," Sev said with a generous smile. She meant what she said. After all, considering Hayden’s current predicament, the fact that his former teammate would still come to his door to deliver medicine showed that her character wasn’t bad. If it had been one of those snobs, they probably would have cut ties with him a long time ago.

"Right, do you have any weapons here?" Hayden changed the subject.

"I had two daggers custom-made before, but..." Sev was interrupted by Doctor Jenkins.

"Borrow this for now!" He fished out an alloy dagger from his Space Button and handed it to Sev.

Hayden gasped the moment he saw the dagger’s material. "It’s actually... forged from S Level Alloy!"

"Hmph! I never keep trash around!" Doctor Jenkins coldly snorted.

Hayden couldn’t be bothered to care about his obnoxious tone right now; his eyes were shining brightly. The people from the Mercenary Guild dreamed of possessing a weapon made of this material. Even if it was just a small dagger, it could unleash unexpected power when fighting against a Mutant Beast! Weapons forged from this special S Level Alloy could easily slice through the tough hide of a Mutant Beast. Moreover, this kind of material often had the bones of Mutant Beasts added into it, imbuing it with a natural Ability attribute. Even if an ordinary person used it, they could receive a partial attribute boost during an attack. If a Fire Attribute Beast Bone was added during the forging process, attacks would carry a burning effect. If an Ice Attribute Beast Bone was added, the wounds caused during an attack would be frostbitten. In battle, these special effects could often become the key to deciding life or death.

As an ordinary person, Sev naturally didn’t understand any of this, but she could tell at a glance that this dagger was sharp enough to slice through iron as if it were mud! For her, that was enough. However, for an extra layer of insurance, she still went to the kitchen stove, lit a fire, and began boiling water. At a critical moment, the boiling water and the burning charcoal under the stove could both be used as weapons. Of course, what she hoped for the most was that the floor hardened by that foul-tempered Ms. Jennings could truly stop the Mutant Rats from burrowing through.

By this time, RUSTLE RUSTLE sounds were already coming from outside the front door, accompanied by clearly excited SQUEAK SQUEAK noises. The metal security shutters had been pulled down the moment everyone entered the house, blocking their line of sight, making it completely impossible to see the situation outside. But just by listening to the sounds, they could roughly judge that the number of Mutant Rats was absolutely not small!

Hayden, Seth, and Doctor Jenkins all had very grim expressions. They were all battle-hardened veterans, and it had been a long time since they had seen such a massive Mutant Rat swarm. Doctor Jenkins realized that his previous judgment had been incorrect. This was no longer a Second Level Beast Tide; it had to be a Third Level!