Chapter 129: Chapter 129: You Grow Numb to It

Her face was expressionless.

Her thighs were smooth and fair. Aside from the jarring sight of dried blood, they were actually quite pleasing to look at.

She touched the spot where she had felt the pain. She could still clearly recall the sensation from just moments ago, but now it was gone. Even the wound itself had healed completely, leaving no trace.

She was thrilled.

She knew her space had healed the wound; this was a benefit she had long been aware of.

But this time, she noticed the healing speed was much faster than before. How long had it been? She hadn’t even had a moment to compose herself, yet the space was already mending her injury.

It was obvious. All the special materials she had been exchanging with the space recently had caused it to level up, and this was one of the perks she received from its advancement.

Stella Sterling grew faintly excited. ’With my wounds healing this fast, it’s practically a cheat code.’

If her space’s abilities had been this powerful in her past life, she wouldn’t have been devoured alive by those insects.

The memory of her death in her past life brought a pained, dazed look to her face.

But in the next instant, her mind snapped her back to reality.

She looked at the dried blood on her leg, took out a wet wipe, and carefully cleaned it off.

Then she tossed the trash out the window.

For some time now, this was how everyone disposed of their trash. Not just household waste, but also... bodily waste, was thrown directly out the window.

It would be buried under the snow soon enough anyway.

Stella Sterling was a little better off; she could still flush her bodily waste. But she tossed her household trash straight out the window.

She only opened the window a crack, but the cold wind came RUSHING in. She quickly threw the item out without even daring to stick her hand outside, then immediately slammed the window shut.

The lights were off, leaving the room pitch-black. She sat by the window, watching the hail fall relentlessly outside.

Thinking about everything that had happened in the office building today, her expression remained grim.

Since her rebirth, everything had gone so smoothly that she had almost forgotten the terror of knowing her life could be forfeit at any moment in the face of natural disaster.

Today’s incident dragged her back into those old memories, reigniting her sense of crisis.

’I was too careless before!’

Her enemies now weren’t just the people competing with her for supplies, but also the ever-present dangers of the environment itself.

She sat by the window for a long time, lost in thought, her expression shifting unpredictably.

After a very long while, she finally stood up and walked toward the kitchen.

She was tired and didn’t have much of an appetite, so she just made herself a simple bowl of noodles with egg and lean pork. Then she made a plate of garlic crawfish and paired it with a cup of milk tea, thus concluding her simple dinner.

She also tossed a steamed bun to Stephen Lawrence in the medical room.

After what had happened, the others probably weren’t in the mood to dig through the ice tunnel for now, so she decided to let herself relax.

She didn’t go anywhere that evening. She took a hot bath at home to soothe her tired muscles, then curled up on the sofa to watch her comedy show.

Around 11 p.m., there was a knock on her door. Felix Lawrence’s voice came from outside. "Miss Sterling, I heard something happened to your group today. Are you alright?"

Stella Sterling didn’t open the door, simply answering from inside the room, "I’m fine. The others weren’t so lucky."

Stella Sterling didn’t elaborate. Since Felix Lawrence had come looking for her, she believed he must have already heard what happened from someone else.

Felix Lawrence fell silent outside the door for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was a bit hoarse. "Natural disasters are merciless, and life is unpredictable. Everyone should have been mentally prepared for something like this." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

With the way things are out there, who can guarantee 100% safety?

When something happens, you can only rely on your own reflexes or your luck.

He was afraid Stella Sterling would feel burdened or blame herself, so he tried to comfort her. "Miss Sterling, you don’t need to blame yourself. This whole thing..."

Before he could finish, Stella Sterling cut him off. "Blame myself? Of course I don’t need to blame myself. What does any of this have to do with me?"

"If they thought there was no danger in going out to search for food, then they weren’t suited for it. They should have just stayed by themselves in their safe place. Oh, wait—staying at home isn’t necessarily safe either."

"As for me, I did what I was supposed to do. I’m not their leader, nor am I their anything. I have no responsibility for them whatsoever. In fact, the only person influenced by me was the one I asked to come with me."

Stella Sterling’s voice was cold and merciless, without a hint of emotion, as if she were merely stating a fact.

Outside, Felix Lawrence was taken aback. He knew that what Stella Sterling said was true. Right now, everyone, whether from Building A or Building C, was only gathered together out of self-interest.

They were a group, of a sort, but there was no official leader. Even he was only listened to because he held a certain amount of prestige.

But in a way, he wasn’t their leader, so if they chose not to listen to him on certain matters, he had no authority to intervene.

There were pros and cons to this arrangement.

But one thing was certain: everyone acted in their own self-interest. Their lives and deaths were their own business.

Stella Sterling was just on the same team as those people today; there was no chain of command between them. She truly had no obligation to be responsible for their lives.

It was just a temporary cooperative relationship, nothing more.

After a long pause, Felix Lawrence let out a small laugh. "It’s good that you can think of it that way, Miss Sterling. You worked hard today. Get some rest."

Stella Sterling did not reply. Outside, all went quiet.

Completely unaffected, Stella Sterling went back to watching her show.

She had lost count of how many life-and-death crises she’d experienced. It was common for a comrade she was fighting alongside one second to be dead the next.

In the past, she might have felt sad, but after experiencing it so many times, she had grown numb. After all, if she grieved every single time, she’d be too overwhelmed to function.

Before, she only cared about the safety of herself and her companions, helping others when she had the strength to spare.

But after experiencing so much, after being backstabbed so many times, she stopped thinking that way. Her first thought was always her own survival. Everything else was a secondary concern.

The building was not quiet that night. The faint, sorrowful sounds of crying could be heard from time to time.

And in the home of the old couple Stella Sterling had saved, things were not peaceful either.