After she finished, Winnie Summers pulled Melody close, looking her over from every angle. "What about you?" she asked, her voice filled with worry. "Are you all okay?"

Melody Summers quickly replied, "We’re fine. We ran to the basement as soon as they broke in. It’s all thanks to Officer Rhodes..."

’Tonight was far too dangerous. If Roman Rhodes hadn’t been here... I would’ve had to use my dimensional space to deal with them, and then my secret would’ve been impossible to keep. I was even prepared to tell my family everything.’

Melody Summers sighed and looked down to check on Roman Rhodes. The wounds on his shoulder and thigh were no longer bleeding. His previously pale face had regained some color, and his lips were no longer ashen.

Melody Summers breathed a sigh of relief. ’It looks like the Far Sea Secret Medicine is working.’

Just then—BOOM!

A deafening explosion sounded from outside, and the entire hall seemed to tremble with the force of it. Melody Summers flinched.

Winnie Summers quickly pulled Melody Summers into a comforting embrace. Listening to the gunshots and explosions outside with a lingering fear, she said to Melody, "You should hide in the basement. I’ll watch over Officer Rhodes."

The situation was too dangerous. There was no telling if the thugs outside would start breaking into houses one by one. Staying in the main hall was far less safe than hiding in the basement.

Winnie Summers had considered moving Roman Rhodes to the basement, but he was nearly six-foot-three. The two of them would never be able to move him.

Besides, with his injuries, they didn’t dare move him carelessly, fearing they might aggravate his wounds.

Held in Winnie Summers’s embrace, Melody Summers gave a small, reassuring smile. "I’m fine, Mom. I’m staying here with you."

With that, Melody Summers produced the gun she had hidden behind her back. She had taken two guns, one from Flynn Adler and one from Blondie.

The day she’d returned from the police station, the first thing she did was give one of the guns to Winnie Summers for self-defense. A firearm was far more convenient and powerful than a crossbow, after all.

The flashlight cast a faint beam of light. Outside, the gunfire and explosions grew more frequent. Mother and daughter huddled together, ever vigilant for anyone who might break into the villa.

The unconscious Roman Rhodes lay beside them. Behind them was the basement, where their most precious family members were hiding. They couldn’t afford to back down.

The cacophony of gunshots and explosions outside rose and fell, punctuated by the cries of men and the screams of women. It continued for a long, long time. For the residents of The Metropolis Residences, every second of this night was pure agony.

The explosions seemed to stir Roman Rhodes from his unconscious state. Unnoticed by Melody and Winnie Summers, he groggily opened his eyes.

The moment he opened his eyes, Roman Rhodes’s mind was a chaotic haze. He tried to move but found his body was completely limp and unresponsive.

He instinctively looked forward, his gaze falling upon two figures sitting in front of him.

The flashlight’s beam illuminated Winnie Summers’s resolute profile. She held a pistol in one hand, her other hand gently comforting the person beside her. Her gaze was fixed forward, her breath held in concentration.

A moment later, full awareness crashed back into Roman Rhodes. A painful, itching sensation coursed through his body, as if the flesh of his wounds was being torn apart and remade. A feeling like gnawing ants spread through his shoulder and thigh.

He opened his mouth, but before he could make a sound, the excruciatingly itchy pain sent him back into unconsciousness.

The minutes dragged on. After an hour, the gunfire and explosions outside finally started to weaken, eventually disappearing entirely.

The entire world seemed to fall suddenly silent.

Only then did Melody and Winnie Summers let out a breath of relief.

Winnie Summers looked down to check on Roman Rhodes. Although he was unconscious, his breathing was steady. He looked as if he were simply sleeping.

Winnie Summers gently shook him again, calling out, "Officer Rhodes? Officer Rhodes!"

Roman Rhodes remained still. But suddenly, a pounding sound came from the door.

Melody and Winnie Summers exchanged a look, their expressions turning grim.

The pounding outside was relentless. The two women tightened their grip on their pistols and went to the courtyard to investigate.

A voice shouted from beyond the gate, "Police! Open the gate!"

Winnie and Melody Summers recognized Officer Tate’s voice. They let out a collective sigh of relief, quickly holstering their guns before going to open the gate.

Officer Tate stood outside with several uniformed officers. As the gate opened, he rushed in. "Are you all right? Where are the intruders?"

Melody and Winnie Summers quickly ushered them into the living room, explaining urgently, "We’re fine, thanks to Officer Rhodes. The intruders are all dead, but Officer Rhodes was shot! He needs to get to a hospital, quickly!"

Officer Tate and the other officers rushed into the living room, their breathing ragged and unsteady. Their faces were scraped and etched with exhaustion; they had clearly just come from an intense fight.

Upon entering and seeing Roman Rhodes on the floor, the officers rushed over. They scrambled to lift him and carry him to the police car waiting outside. Two of the officers got in and sped off, rushing Roman Rhodes to the hospital.

Tristan Tanner watched the police car speed away, breaking out in a cold sweat. ’I hope nothing happens to Captain Rhodes,’ he prayed silently. ’The origins of these terrorists are a mystery, and they caught the police completely off guard. We need him to handle so many things...’

As he mulled this over, he walked back into the Summers Villa and, along with the remaining officers, quickly swept the upstairs floors for any hiding intruders.

After a thorough search confirmed there were no more intruders, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The officers began removing the bodies from the staircase and the second floor. While moving one of them, an officer recognized the man’s face. "Isn’t this Kenneth Adler?" he exclaimed in surprise. "The head of Adler Enterprises? The guy with a city-wide arrest warrant? What’s he doing here?"

Melody Summers froze. ’Kenneth Adler! If that was him...’ she thought, her brow furrowing. ’Then the bald man Mom mentioned, the one who got away, must be Austin Hale!’

The other officers gathered around at the mention of his name. They glanced at the body on the floor, then at each other, their eyes filled with confusion.

’Are the terrorists who attacked The Metropolis Residences connected to Kenneth Adler?’

They didn’t say anything more, however. They simply carried Kenneth Adler’s body out. The matter would require further investigation.

Watching the bodies being removed, Melody Summers was still puzzled, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. She hurried to the basement.

Melody Summers flipped the circuit breaker back on and called down to her worried grandmother and Miss Lowell, "Grandma, Miss Lowell, it’s all clear outside! The police are here. You can come out now."

Her grandmother and Miss Lowell sighed in relief at her words.

The longer they waited in the basement, the more terrified they had become. But they knew that at their age, they would only be a burden if they went outside, so they could only grit their teeth and wait.

Now that the police had finally arrived, the two women supported each other as they walked into the living room. When they saw the utter mess—soot and ash everywhere—both old women gasped.

Grandma’s voice trembled. "Good heavens, wh-what happened here...?!"

Melody Summers quickly moved to stand in front of them, blocking their view of a pool of blood on the floor that hadn’t been cleaned up yet.

She comforted her grandmother, "The intruders set a fire. It’s nothing, we can just have it renovated."

While Winnie Summers was comforting the two elderly women, Melody Summers pulled Officer Tate aside. "Officer Tate, what’s the situation outside? What was with that huge explosion? Did you catch all the people who broke in?"

Officer Tate’s expression was grim. "They were a group of armed terrorists, looks like they fled from the neighboring province. The situation is under control for now, but we can’t be sure there aren’t still some stragglers in hiding. You all should be extra careful for the time being. Don’t go wandering around."

Melody Summers nodded quickly.

Officer Tate glanced around the villa’s living room. "Are you planning on staying here? Do you need us to arrange a new residence for you?"

The mess in the living room was one thing, but the bulletproof glass on the second-floor balcony was shattered, and the electric fence outside had been cut. The villa was no longer secure.

This had been a premeditated, large-scale terrorist attack. They hadn’t only targeted The Metropolis Residences. Three different residential complexes were hit by bombings and gunfire at the same time. Many homes were destroyed, and many residents were injured.

The higher-ups had issued a temporary directive: all unsold residences in the area were to be allocated by the emergency management office to house homeowners whose properties had been damaged.

Melody Summers shook her head. "Thank you, Officer Tate, but we’ll be fine."

’I already bought two apartments in a high-rise, originally for the coming blizzards. Looks like we can move in early.’

Officer Tate nodded. "All right. Stay safe. If anything else happens, don’t hesitate to contact us."

With that, he prepared to leave. Many people in the attacked residential areas still needed to be relocated, and his team still had to sweep every corner of the complex for stragglers. It was going to be a sleepless night.

As Melody Summers was seeing Officer Tate out, Sophie Thorne came running up, breathless.

Sophie Thorne grabbed Melody’s arm. "I heard terrorists broke into The Metropolis Residences! Are you guys okay?"