Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Discovering a Complete Underground Ice Tunnel

But he was too frantic and didn’t notice a huge chunk of debris hurtling down toward him!

"Young man, watch out!"

At the critical moment, Grandpa Lawrence pulled him back. At the same time, a deafening crash echoed beside him.

The man, his heart still pounding with fear, thanked Grandpa Lawrence. He was much calmer this time, cautiously making his way toward his wife’s body.

The disaster had struck so suddenly yesterday that no one knew if the building would collapse, so everyone had to flee in a panic.

After a night had passed, they returned. Though hailstones were still falling, there weren’t as many as the day before.

Some debris from the upper floors had fallen onto other levels. As it piled up layer by layer, it actually managed to plug the holes in the few floors above the parking garage!

It didn’t seem as dangerous today as it had yesterday. As long as they were careful to avoid those specific spots, it shouldn’t be a big problem.

Realizing this, everyone grew excited. They carefully sidestepped the dangerous areas and moved forward to dig through the fallen debris and the snow that had accumulated overnight.

They had so much food there! If they could dig it out and ration it, it would last them a very long time.

Everyone moved quickly, not daring to delay for a second. Even though the situation had eased slightly, the hailstones had already pierced the building in many places yesterday. This meant the building was no longer safe, and no one knew when it might collapse.

It was best to dig out their things as quickly as possible and leave.

Stella Sterling glanced at them but didn’t join in.

She had already collected everything she needed into her space. Only three or four bags were left behind as a deliberate cover.

’Compared to these few things, I have other matters to attend to.’

Before long, she discovered another ice tunnel entrance on the other side of the underground garage, half of which had collapsed.

Stella Sterling dug for a while and cleared the entrance.

The appearance of the scarred, greasy man and his group yesterday had led her to guess that others were also digging ice tunnels, traveling underground, and had happened to dig into the same place as them.

’I can go take a look. I might find something unexpected!’

Following the ice tunnel, she saw bloodstains on the ground. She figured they were left by that group of people when they fled yesterday.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, she saw a corpse. The body was completely stiff. It looked like the person hadn’t been dead for long, but in this freezing weather, the body had quickly become rock-hard.

The man had an unwilling expression on his face. His leg looked strange, and there were bloodstains around him, indicating he had been injured. His hand was frozen in the shape of tightly gripping something.

Stella Sterling glanced at his hand—it was empty.

’He was likely protecting food in his hands. Since he was injured, he probably didn’t get far before dying from blood loss. And whatever he was holding was snatched away after he died.’

She gave it only a single glance before paying it no more mind and continuing on.

She soon discovered that this ice tunnel wasn’t a single path but had many forks.

It was like a complete underground network made of ice and snow, already taking shape.

’The people outside the residential complex started taking action much earlier than the ones inside.’

Stella Sterling sighed to herself, her expression returning to its usual calm as she randomly chose a path.

Along the way, she encountered many people who had died in the ice tunnels. She even saw a frozen corpse embedded in the wall of one tunnel.

The person had died long ago, their body disposed of by being thrown into the snow. It had been unearthed during the excavation of the ice tunnel and was now part of its wall.

The person’s face was turned toward her, their white, dead eyes staring right in her direction. An accidental glance was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.

Someone with a weak heart would probably be scared to death.

But Stella’s mental fortitude was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Upon seeing it, she merely raised an eyebrow and then averted her gaze with perfect composure.

She showed no other reaction, as if she had just seen the most normal thing in the world.

She quickly moved on. She had seen countless similar sights along the way.

Those bodies, long frozen in the snow, were now exposed by the tunnel’s excavation, becoming a unique kind of scenery within the white ice passages. It was just that this scenery was, admittedly, rather terrifying.

After walking for what felt like a long time, she finally reached the end of the ice tunnel. Stepping out, she found herself in another office building. This one had clearly been looted already. Broken glass was everywhere, and the floor was littered with trash left behind by scavengers.

She didn’t mind. She went through the building again, collecting a lot of "trash" that others deemed useless.

She had thought she wouldn’t find anything special this time besides these scraps, but to her surprise, while searching one company’s office, she found a hidden compartment in the boss’s office. Inside the compartment was a dazzling diamond jewel.

She put it into her space. Once she got home, she planned to toss it into the exchange area to see if she could get some new benefit from it.

"Looks like coming back today was the right call. I found something good again!"

Having made a find, Stella Sterling’s mood improved considerably. She continued her search all the way to the top floor.

When she got there, she was surprised to find that the door to the top-floor company was still intact.

The door looked like someone had tried to smash it open; there were numerous marks, both deep and shallow, but unfortunately for them, they hadn’t succeeded.

’The previous scavengers probably tried everything they could think of to open this door but failed. Figuring there were plenty of other companies to loot, they just gave up.’

Anyone else might have been out of options, forced to give up if they couldn’t open it. But Stella Sterling was different.

She had plenty of useful tools on hand.

Before long, she was inside the company. Everything was neat and orderly—it definitely hadn’t been searched yet.

Turning to close the door behind her, she surveyed the company. She had no idea what this company did. Its main door was incredibly sturdy, yet the office area inside didn’t really look like a place for office work.

There were pitifully few computers and desks. Instead, the entire office floor was covered with large metal drums.

Walking over to take a look, her eyes lit up. It was gasoline.

She opened several of the metal drums in a row. They were all filled with gasoline!

Her eyes gleamed as she muttered, "I wonder what this company does, keeping so much gasoline in here. This isn’t normal."

’That makes sense. What normal small company would install such a sturdy door for their rented office space?’

’Clearly, this company has a big secret!’