Chapter 166: Chapter 166: Too Cold-Blooded

Stella Sterling didn’t answer his question, continuing to look back the way they came.

Louis Grant looked at her expectantly. "Can I take a look?"

"I’m so tired of staring at this filthy water all day."

Stella Sterling turned to look at him and handed the item over.

Louis Grant took the binoculars and eagerly began to play around with them.

Meanwhile, Stella Sterling watched Mirefall recede into the distance. She gazed out over the filthy lake, letting the foul, fishy wind whip through her hair, lost in thought.

’My hair’s getting a little long. I should get it cut.’

She muttered to herself, her expression distant.

’The trajectory of this life is already completely different from my last one. Aside from knowing when certain disasters will strike, everything else has changed.’

’As for the future, for my own path... even I can’t say for sure where it will lead.’

"Those people have the nerve to call themselves a base? Do they have a stable location? A food supply? They can’t provide anyone with anything! Aren’t they just leading people to their deaths?"

"And they demand so much food just to join? That’s pure extortion!"

She could hear Louis Grant cursing nonstop.

Evidently, he was seeing the same things Stella Sterling had seen earlier. But in contrast to her calm demeanor, he was far more agitated.

He cursed, gesturing emphatically with his hands, utterly disgusted by their actions.

If those bases actually had the power to provide people with a safe haven, then taking food as payment would be one thing.

But many of them were clearly just using recruitment as a pretext to scam a load of food from people desperate to find stability.

Once they get the food, they’ll just take off. How are those poor people, who are already struggling to survive, supposed to go on? Isn’t that just rubbing salt in the wound?

"Those people are despicable!"

Louis Grant cursed in fury, his hands clenched into tight fists as he slammed one against the side.

Stella Sterling scooted to the side.

Seeing him like this, she gave him a somewhat surprised glance.

’I didn’t expect him to have such a strong sense of justice. That’s rare.’

She said nothing. She had grown accustomed to humanity’s dark side in her previous life. Later on, people did far more disgusting things just to survive.

So, she had become accustomed to this kind of thing.

In fact, her own way of thinking had changed considerably.

After a good while, Louis Grant finally calmed down. He handed the binoculars back to Stella Sterling. "You saw all that just now, didn’t you?"

"Yeah."

Stella Sterling nodded.

Louis Grant looked at her, confused. "Those people are so despicable, how can you not be angry at all?"

"Why should I be angry?"

Stella Sterling looked at him, genuinely confused. ’Do I really seem like a good person?’

"Those people... they’re leading others to ruin! A lot of people are going to die because of what they’re doing!"

Louis Grant shouted, a fire of rage burning in his chest that he couldn’t quell.

Seeing him so worked up, Stella Sterling fell silent for a moment. Her voice then drifted softly through the air. "And so what? Can you change it? Can you stop it?"

"Anger is useless."

Stella Sterling’s words stunned Louis Grant. He had never expected such a reaction from her.

Even if he couldn’t change or stop it, any person with a shred of decency would be furious after learning something like this.

Yet Stella Sterling was terrifyingly calm.

He had so much to say, but he didn’t know where to begin.

’Then again, it’s not like Stella Sterling is wrong...’

’Everyone’s personality is different. Some get angry, some stay calm. Neither is wrong.’

Seeing him caught in his inner turmoil, Stella Sterling didn’t interrupt.

’Just like I said. If you can’t change it and you can’t stop it, what’s the use of getting angry? Besides, who can clearly say what’s right and what’s wrong anymore?’

’In the apocalypse, doesn’t everyone do whatever it takes to survive?’

’Across her past life and this one, she had no idea how much blood stained her hands. They could never be washed clean.’ 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

’In times like these, you can’t rely on anyone but yourself. If you don’t get stronger, you’ll just be trampled on by others.’

’The people desperately trying to join those shady bases lack their own judgment. Even if someone exposes the conspiracy and saves them this time, what about the next? And the time after that?’

’Unless you become strong on your own, no one else can save you.’

And that was a truth she had learned through countless painful lessons.

"I thought I had a pretty good handle on my emotions, but I guess I’m still a long way from your level."

Louis Grant looked at Stella Sterling’s unbelievably calm face and sighed softly.

In the past two years, he’d thought he had experienced enough to see things clearly.

But when faced with certain situations, he still couldn’t control his emotions. That feeling of powerlessness and anger would still make him act out of character.

’Losing your cool like that is a fatal weakness.’

But the woman before him was much better at it than he was.

In all the time he’d known her, he had never once seen her show any significant emotional fluctuation. It was impossible to know what a person like that was truly thinking.

And a person like that was, without a doubt, terrifying.

Hearing this, Stella Sterling turned to him and chuckled. "You’re trying to say I’m cold-blooded, aren’t you?"

Her tone was teasing, without a hint of anger.

Louis Grant rubbed his nose. He had meant something like that. Sometimes, when a person is too calm, they can seem cold and ruthless.

And that was exactly the impression Stella Sterling was giving him right now.

He wouldn’t have said it so bluntly, even if he thought it, but he hadn’t expected her to call him out on it.

He glanced at her cautiously, and seeing that Stella Sterling wasn’t angry, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he shook his head. "I know there’s nothing wrong with how you acted. You really don’t have to stick up for people who have nothing to do with you."

Stella Sterling didn’t reply, and Louis Grant fell silent as well.

A long, heavy silence fell between them. Neither spoke. They simply sat there, letting the wind blow past, seemingly watching the scenery, but each was lost in their own, very different thoughts.

After a long pause, Louis Grant reverted to his usual self. He didn’t bring up what had just happened, instead starting a new topic with renewed enthusiasm. "We’re almost at Meridia Base! To be honest, I’ve never actually been to the Meridia Hotel. I wonder if it’ll be any fun inside the base."

"Fun?"

Stella Sterling let the word hang in the air for a moment, a teasing look on her face as she looked at Louis Grant. "Wherever there are people, there is conflict. If you’re powerful enough, then sure, it’s fun."