Stafford, about 25 miles south of Washington, was a wealthy county in Malin’s era. The residents here benefited from jobs at major U.S. corporations and government institutions, with a median household income close to one hundred thousand U.S. dollars. On the eve of the Great Destruction, it had already become a satellite city of the Washington metropolis. Of course, unlike the metropolis, it still had an elegant environment, no skyscrapers, no dark corners, but beautiful villas, compact buildings, wide streets, and a leisurely lifestyle. After all, everyone was decently middle-class, unlike the tragic Hamilton encountered earlier in Tappahannock. For this reason, when Malin led the team to Stafford in the afternoon, there were only a few cats of various sizes, the strongest of which was even a spirit—Malin specifically scanned around and found that the most challenging thing here was a six-armed eerie ghost, unknown what it was doing near the ruins four blocks away. When Malin scanned it, it seemed to sense it and disappeared outside of Malin’s scanning range in a flash. "The monsters are gone." Onor and the team were initially prepared for battle, but upon arrival, they found no chaos units lining up to welcome them. "Yes, they’re gone." Malin said as he jumped off the war rhinoceros’ back, gesturing to Maya to take care of the mushroom, then walked towards the gigantic dog lying atop the statue’s pedestal. Yes, a dog. It still looks like a husky. Spotty also jumped down, but she had her own opponent. A leopard appeared at the street corner not far away, instinctively sensing that humans were not enemies, but Spotty’s presence at the edge of its territory put pressure on it. As for this big dog, it shouldn’t feel any pressure; the two are incomparable. Seeing Malin approach, the husky stood up, barking madly, then made a pouncing motion—it lunged at Malin. Malin placed his hand on the lamppost—it’s been a long time since he pulled up a lamppost. Nostalgic for his youthful days, Malin pulled the lamppost along with the counterweight column below and, with a spin, swung hard. The counterweight column struck the dog’s face heavily, turning the pounce into a disaster. As its entire face deformed in an instant, it also soared into the sky, freed from gravitational constraints, and eventually disappeared at the horizon. Malin tossed the twisted lamppost aside and glanced at a snow leopard observing everything from the street corner. Spotty nonchalantly stood next to Malin, licking her paws. Tainor walked up to Malin, glanced at the lamppost on the ground, kicked it, and found it solid. Malin smiled and waved his hand, calming the snow leopard with spiritual energy. Ultimately, the big cat chose to run—it instinctively felt Malin wasn’t an enemy, but Spotty’s intense stare pressured it, and seeing the mushroom, it instinctively knew it would end badly if it didn’t run. A protective beast mother and a lunatic are indistinguishable. "A clever big cat." Onor chuckled, "Your Highness, may I lead my two companions to clear the surroundings?" "Go ahead, take the signal gun, I need to contact Jason... By the way, Maya, you lead the team to organize the cabins there." "Leave it to me." Maya nodded slightly, then jumped off the rhinoceros’ back, leading a few young women and men from the team towards the three cabins not far away. Malin contacted Jason, who reported that two hours ago, for unknown reasons, the chaotic entities had all moved north, and according to satellite reports, there’s no sign of them returning. This piqued Malin’s curiosity, but since there was no need to kill these monsters, Malin was more than happy to relax. After Maya confirmed the cabin’s safety, she and two druid women began setting up camp—a tree wall grown with spell formations and transcendent abilities, rock-transformed earth elemental guardians, and great tree outposts suitable for elves. After confirming the nearby river was safe, the mage girls used spell formations to create a small moat. With Maya in charge of the camp’s security, Malin set off north with Mushroom to explore—he was very curious about what the eerie ghosts had gathered for during the earlier scan. With a whistle, he took the little guy, who had just pulled his head out of the food bowl, for a stroll. Spotty had followed Malin for a long time; her strength made ordinary spirits seem like fluff. So, when accompanying Malin, this lazy creature wouldn’t make a move unless something like the previous snow leopard provoked it by appearing in front of her. Mushroom found everything fascinating, and the squirrels by the roadside were unfazed by Malin’s presence; they likely hadn’t seen humans for a long time. Malin, at this moment, wasn’t even bigger than them, but Mushroom’s presence made them escape swiftly—having a cub around signified that the mother was nearby. These giant squirrels weren’t afraid of Malin or the cub-like Mushroom, but they did fear an adult snow leopard. Walking through two streets, feeling the tranquility here, if not for the significant damage to roadside buildings and the cracked streets underfoot, Malin would have thought he had returned to the past. Approaching a relatively intact building, Malin, with Mushroom, pushed open the door, and inside, he found that the other side of the building had completely disappeared from this world, leaving only devastation.