Chapter 102: Chapter 102: The Two in Distress

This horrifying scene continued unabated.

Stella Sterling sat by the window for a long time, the sounds of crying and screaming from other residents’ homes occasionally reaching her ears, painting a picture of a living hell.

The sky outside gradually darkened, and the room plunged into blackness. Looking out the window, the entire night was covered by a blanket of endless snow, with only faint traces of blackness piercing through the flakes.

She pulled the curtains shut and turned back into the room.

"Ah, it’s dinnertime. What should I have tonight? Whatever happens, I can’t neglect a good meal!"

She muttered to herself, then slipped into her personal space. Compared to the oppressive feeling of the afternoon, her mood had improved considerably.

Regardless, there were some things she was powerless to change. She just wanted to take care of herself.

Since she couldn’t change it, life had to go on.

After dinner, she binged her shows as usual. Around ten o’clock, she decided to go to bed.

But just then, she heard a commotion outside.

She wasn’t going to pay it any mind, but then a particular sentence caught her ear: "You barge into our complex, so what’s wrong with asking you to pay a little protection food? Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you’re wearing a military uniform!"

Stella Sterling froze on her way to the bedroom.

She recognized the voice. It was Tripp Pence, from her apartment building.

The man loved to gossip. He had a habit of prying into every little thing he saw, asking endless questions.

Before the apocalypse, when Stella Sterling had just moved in, she’d run into him in the elevator. He had peppered her with questions. Even though Stella clearly wasn’t interested in talking, he always insisted on getting to the bottom of everything.

And since the apocalypse began, Stella had seen him a few times and had grown somewhat familiar with his voice.

’Such a scrawny little man is actually collecting protection food from others in the building now? Are the others really that weak?’

"We already told you, we’re here looking for someone!"

Just then, another, unfamiliar voice reached her ears.

"I don’t care who you’re looking for. Since you’re not from this building, you came into our territory, so you’ve got to show me and my boys a little respect. Otherwise, this isn’t the place for you."

Tripp Pence glared viciously at the two weakened men across from him.

One of the two was wearing a military uniform, suggesting he wasn’t just some nobody.

’But so what? The world is different now. In this apartment building, he, Tripp Pence, called the shots!’

Besides, these two were soaked from head to toe. Their clothes were still dotted with unmelted snowflakes, their hair and eyebrows were crusted with ice, and a cold chill emanated from their bodies. They were so weak they looked like a single push could knock them over.

’They’d clearly run into some kind of trouble and came to our complex to hide out.’

’In that case, he had nothing to be afraid of. The bags on their backs must have food. Otherwise, why would they be so weak and still refuse to let go of those bags?’

The previous boss was dead. Just yesterday, he had become the new leader of their group of a dozen or so people. He was itching to do something to establish his authority in everyone’s eyes, and these two had walked right into his lap!

’Isn’t this the perfect opportunity?’

Basil Xavier’s expression was grim. He carefully supported the unconscious Gordon Ford.

He never expected to run into such lowlifes in this residential complex and be hassled by them.

Ordinarily, he would have kicked the man to death long ago.

But there had been an accident during their descent; the plane had crashed just before landing.

Their quick reactions saved them from death, but Gordon Ford had been severely injured while saving him.

The crash site wasn’t far from this complex, but in that weather, they had almost zero visibility and had navigated here purely by instinct.

That short distance had nearly exhausted all their strength. If not for their superior physical conditioning, they would have frozen to death long ago.

Gary Ford was already injured, and by the time they reached the complex, he had passed out. Basil had to force himself to keep going, supporting him up the stairs.

He remembered that the person Gordon Ford had come to see lived in this very building. In this situation, his only choice was to bring Gordon Ford to find that person.

But he never imagined they’d run into these thugs in the hallway!

And from their entitled and practiced demeanor, it was clear these people had been robbing others under the guise of collecting "fees" for some time.

He had been working for his superiors ever since the apocalypse began. Although he knew the situation was dire, he never thought things outside had become this chaotic.

Just a few days ago, they had taken pity on people like this and shared some of their own dry rations with them.

And in such a short time, he had become the target of their robbery!

"Look, we’re not unreasonable people, so it’d be best if you know what’s good for you and hand over some protection food voluntarily. Then you can do whatever you want. Otherwise, me and my boys won’t be so polite!"

As he spoke, Tripp Pence shot a look at the men behind him, and they began to slowly close in on the two soldiers. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Meanwhile, River Larkin stood at the back of the group, watching the scene with indifference. This sort of thing didn’t require his personal involvement.

His gaze was already fixed on their backpacks. ’There must be good stuff in there. If we can get our hands on it, it will definitely solve our current problems for a while!’

The fruits of their labor from the past month had vanished with the deaths of Mr. Bell and his two brothers.

Although they could continue robbing other families, they had already done a round of that. The easy targets who had resisted were already cleaned out and had no food left.

And the smarter ones who had handed over supplies voluntarily didn’t have much food left either, thanks to the previous shakedown.

When they tried to rob people this time, they were met with fierce resistance. Without the combat strength of Mr. Bell and his brothers, their group was disorganized. Facing strong opposition, a few of their guys had gotten injured.

From yesterday to today, the dozen or so of them had been busy for a long time with little to show for it. The remaining households were not easy targets, and they probably wouldn’t get anything out of trying.

What was worse, this time River Larkin had discovered that some people had started banding together with the express purpose of resisting them.

Their old methods would only become more difficult to execute, and the food they’d managed to scrounge up over the last two days wouldn’t last long.

Of the dozen or so people in their group, many had initially been forced to join by the threats of Mr. Bell and his brothers. Later, they stayed because they saw the benefits.

But now that Mr. Bell and his brothers were dead, there was no powerful force to keep everyone in line. If there were no more benefits to be had, these dozen or so people would stop following orders, which would be very bad for him.

And now, these two had shown up at the perfect time!

Basil Xavier was trying to think of a countermeasure. They had lost their guns during the plane crash, and now, their stamina was completely depleted. Facing these men now would put them at a serious disadvantage.