Felix Lawrence frowned. Although most people in the building looked to him for leadership, they were merely cooperating. He wasn’t their boss and had no right to order them around.

"What are we doing? Capturing free labor, of course!"

Stella Sterling said coldly. Their tone was rude, and hers was just as bad.

She didn’t care whether they were "her people" or not. She pointed her large blade directly at the two men who had voiced their discontent. "What? You have a problem with how I do things?"

As far as she was concerned, these people weren’t on her side to begin with.

She needed people—a lot of them. The ice cave below required a huge amount of manpower, so the more, the better.

This was why she had worked with the people from Building A before, and it was for the same reason she had now lured over the people from Building C.

She had put in the most effort taking these people down, so she had a say in what happened to them. Anyone who disagreed? They could try to beat her first!

With Stella Sterling’s blade pointed at them, the two men trembled.

Today, Stella Sterling had been easy to talk to and had fought on their side, which had momentarily made them forget just how terrifying and unhinged she was.

Only now did they remember.

How could they dare to be dissatisfied? Even if they were, they wouldn’t dare say it out loud!

Just then, Felix Lawrence walked over. "You’re planning to lure the people from Building C here and then capture them?"

"That’s right. You can never have too much free labor. This ice tunnel won’t be built in a day or two. It’s going to take a lot of manpower!"

"Looking at the situation in Building C, those people have already united. If we don’t deal with them all at once, they’ll just be a problem later. It’s better to take care of them in one go!"

"When the time comes, those who are willing to dig the ice tunnel with us and follow orders will get preferential treatment. As for those who aren’t..."

Stella Sterling didn’t finish her sentence, but Felix Lawrence understood her meaning.

For a moment, his expression was complicated. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

’This young woman is pretty ruthless!’

Disobey and die.

It was hard to believe these were the words of someone who, just two months ago, had been living in a peaceful society.

He couldn’t be that decisive and ruthless. Even Bell and his troublemakers from before hadn’t been like this. They wouldn’t just kill someone for disobeying; at most, they’d teach them a lesson—though they had accidentally killed people while doing so.

’Could Stella Sterling have been some kind of hardened criminal before the apocalypse? A fugitive on the run?’

’Thinking back on her actions over the past few months, she really didn’t seem like a normal person!’

Felix Lawrence hesitated. He valued Stella Sterling’s abilities, but her methods clashed with his own principles.

Stella Sterling read his expression clearly. A faint, knowing smile played on her lips. ’Felix Lawrence is a good man, but sometimes, being too good isn’t a virtue.’

’Being merciful to your enemies is being cruel to yourself.’

’To survive in this apocalypse, you have to fight and compete with others. That means you can never be a completely good person.’

But she didn’t bother explaining anything to him. After all, their two groups were only temporary allies.

She said, "If you don’t agree with my plan, you’re free to take your people and leave. I’ll handle the rest myself."

Felix Lawrence shook his head. "You jest, Miss Sterling. No matter what, we’re in this together. Besides, I owe you a debt. I certainly won’t abandon you to handle this alone."

He stepped to the side and gathered his people to discuss how they should deal with the others when they arrived.

He still wasn’t sure what kind of person Stella Sterling was, but for now, she wasn’t an enemy.

A short while later, the twenty or thirty people from Building C were subdued once again. This was everyone they had left.

The situation in Building C had been even worse than in Building A. Their previous infighting was far more severe, with people dying or getting injured every day. By now, only forty or fifty of them were still alive.

Furthermore, there were no elderly or children among them—only the young adults had survived.

Their numbers had dwindled to this point before Finn Shaw gradually took control.

Once Finn Shaw took over, he proposed expanding outward, which finally put a stop to their infighting. Otherwise, those forty or fifty people might have all been wiped out by now.

Seeing the state of Building C’s group, the people from Building A fell silent.

The rest of the process went smoothly. The people from Building C agreed to help dig the ice tunnel.

They had planned to do so anyway; the only difference was that they had fallen into someone else’s hands and would be working for them now.

However, Felix Lawrence also promised them a share of any food they found.

With that, the people from Building C had no major complaints. Besides, it wasn’t like they were in a position to refuse.

However, to prevent any future trouble and to establish authority through punishment, Finn Shaw and the dozen or so men who had started the fight each had one of their legs broken. It was the price of a failed provocation.

Everyone agreed to gather downstairs the next morning with their tools to begin digging the ice tunnel.

With the matter more or less settled, Stella Sterling returned to her apartment. She planned to get some rest early, as a new journey would begin tomorrow, and she wanted to face it in peak physical condition.

It wouldn’t be like staying inside the building. Out there, anything could happen at any moment. One wrong move could easily get you killed. She had to be prepared.

Felix Lawrence also sent his people home to rest early. His philosophy was simple: either you don’t do something, or you do it without delay. Now that they had a path forward, they needed to commit to it.

They still had some food left in their building. As long as they could dig their way to another location before it ran out, they wouldn’t starve.

The night was quiet. Nothing happened.

Stella Sterling woke up bright and early the next day. She grabbed a shovel, geared up completely, and slung a black bag over her shoulder containing some essential supplies before heading downstairs to meet the others.

Quite a few people had arrived before Stella. They were all dressed in various kinds of gear, carrying all sorts of tools. Like Stella, many had a bag on their back, packed with their own necessities.

They all understood that this ice tunnel wouldn’t be dug in a day or two. Once they started, there was no telling when they would stop, so everyone had come prepared.

Everyone had arrived; even the people from Building C were all present.

On this day, even River Larkin, who had been avoiding Stella, finally showed his face.

He had no choice. Everyone in the building had been mobilized, even the elderly in their seventies and eighties and children as young as a few years old. He couldn’t stay hidden unless he planned to never interact with anyone from the building again—but how was that possible?

But even though River Larkin had appeared, he didn’t dare get anywhere near Stella Sterling. He stayed hidden in the crowd, doing his best to minimize his presence and keeping as far away from her as possible, terrified that she might remember him.