Chapter 132: Chapter 132: A Company Doing Shady Business

At the thought, Stella Sterling felt a thrill of excitement. ’I might just find something unexpected today.’

’Secrets are good. Secrets make things worth searching for. The bigger the secret, the more exciting the find.’

Stella Sterling opened every single metal drum. After confirming that the twenty to thirty barrels in the office area were all filled with gasoline, she took every last one, storing them all in her space.

’The more of this stuff, the better.’

After stashing the gasoline, she turned her attention to the pitiful few desks—only three or four of them—in the office area.

She searched them meticulously but found that the desks and chairs were probably just for office work. They were completely ordinary, with no surprises.

On one desk were a few gnawed-on chicken bones and a half-empty bottle of soda. There wasn’t any other food to be found.

There were, however, several cartons of cigarettes strewn casually on the desks.

"Smoking in a place like this? These guys must’ve had a death wish!"

Stella Sterling exclaimed in amazement. Staring at the cigarette butts on the desk, she had to admire the sheer nerve of these guys.

They were surrounded by gasoline, yet they still dared to smoke here. Weren’t they afraid of sending themselves and their coworkers to an early grave?

However, she didn’t find any bodies that had frozen or starved to death in the office. They probably weren’t here when the blizzard hit. As for those insanely bold fellows, there was no telling what had become of them.

She tossed the cartons of cigarettes into her space, followed by all the office chairs.

After searching so many office buildings these past few days, she had no idea how many such desks she had collected in her space.

’Looks like I’ll have to find some time to organize my space after this rush is over.’

’I’ll chop up all the ones I can, stack them into a woodpile, and use them all for firewood!’

With that in mind, Stella Sterling searched the outer office area a few more times.

Then, in a corner, she spotted several sharp axes and machetes.

’This couldn’t be a shell company, could it? Running some kind of illegal business?’

Stella wondered, casually tossing the items into her space.

Having cleared the outer area, she walked toward a small room. It was a utility closet, holding nothing new or exciting, just a dozen or so large barrels of drinking water.

After searching it, Stella’s gaze fell on the last place: the boss’s office.

The office door, like the main entrance to the company, was exceptionally sturdy. On top of that, someone had added several heavy-duty locks.

’It screams ’high value.’ It’s obvious they didn’t want anyone getting in.’

The more secure it was, the more convinced Stella became that there was something good inside.

She was certain now that this hadn’t been a legitimate company. Whatever they were doing, it was probably illegal.

’So, whatever’s inside won’t be anything simple. The more they protected it, the more valuable it must be.’

Holding on to that thought, she opened the office door. The room was filled with so many black leather briefcases that there was only a narrow path leading to the desk.

Looking at the black cases, Stella had a pretty good idea of what was inside.

And sure enough, when she opened them, they were all filled with firearms.

She was past the point of being amazed. She just stored everything away and then had another look around the office.

’I’m curious who the boss of this company was!’

A photograph sat on the desk. It was of a young man in his twenties.

He was wearing a tank top and capri pants, looking sunny and handsome. But the man in the photo was also shouldering a heavy machine gun, staring arrogantly at the camera.

’In all likelihood, everything I’ve found belonged to this guy in the photo.’

She pointed a finger at the man in the picture, lining it up with the barrel of his gun. Stella Sterling’s lips twitched into a smirk.

"Well, I have to thank this guy for going to all the trouble of preparing this lovely gift for me. I just hope I don’t run into you. Otherwise, it’d be so embarrassing to use your own things against you!"

Placing the photo facedown on the desk, Stella Sterling turned and left, "kindly" shutting the door behind her.

Except for the fact that everything inside had vanished without a trace, the company looked exactly the same from the outside. Unchanged.

Stella was thankful they had made the door so sturdy. An ordinary person would never have been able to break it open.

Otherwise, someone else would have plundered these things long ago, and she would have missed her chance.

Leaving the office building, Stella Sterling headed for another ice tunnel.

’You have to strike while the iron is hot. Someone has obviously dug through this area already. How could I live with myself if I don’t search it thoroughly?’

So, she didn’t rush back. Instead, she began to walk down one tunnel after another, searching every location she came across.

When she got tired, she rested right there in the ice tunnels. When she got hungry, she took something out of her backpack to eat.

She lost track of how much time had passed this way, but the amount of stuff in her space had grown significantly.

However, Stella only searched office buildings.

If a tunnel ended at a residential building, she would leave quietly.

After all, she could loot uninhabited places, but places where ordinary people lived were still occupied. While she could be a little inhuman at times, she hadn’t reached the point of utter depravity. She wouldn’t stoop to robbing people at their own doorsteps.

Besides, she wasn’t short on food at the moment.

Over the past few days, she had come across quite a few more bodies, some of which were fresh.

Sometimes there were several bodies in the same place, as if a large-scale fight had broken out.

Based on Stella’s experience, these tunnels weren’t dug by a single group. It was more likely that different groups had run into each other and fought, which was why there were so many dead.

Besides the dead, Stella Sterling also encountered other people walking through the ice tunnels. Most of them were traveling in groups.

She had no intention of interacting with them, focusing all her energy on scavenging for supplies. Whenever she came across anyone, she would temporarily hide in her space and then leave, avoiding a lot of unnecessary trouble.

One small regret, however, was that she never saw that scarred, greasy man. Otherwise, she could have finished him off for good.

She hadn’t found his body anywhere along the way, and considering how fast he’d run that day, she was certain he was still alive.

After a brief moment of disappointment, she finished searching the area and prepared to return to Orilon Complex. She wouldn’t be going out again anytime soon.