Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Seeing the Act Through

"Stella Sterling!"

"Stella!"

Basil Xavier and Lydia Magnus were the first to run over. Stella was already on the boat, lying on the deck.

She was soaking wet and looked a bit of a mess, but she didn’t have any injuries.

Basil Xavier let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God you’re okay!"

Basil Xavier said with profound relief, the heart that had been caught in his throat finally settling back down.

"I’m fine."

"Miss, did you just fall into the water?"

By now, the situation on the boat had mostly stabilized, and Ethan Young finally had a moment to spare, no longer needing to supervise everything.

He looked at Stella Sterling, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

It wasn’t strange to fall into the water, but the others who had fallen in either got lucky and immediately grabbed onto the boat, climbing back aboard through sheer willpower, or they were swept away by the current.

Stella Sterling had been gone for so long. How had she suddenly reappeared from the water now? And they hadn’t seen her when they were pulling people out just a moment ago.

Stella Sterling didn’t answer, as if she hadn’t heard him. The others didn’t notice the implication in Ethan Young’s question either.

They gathered around Stella Sterling, their voices full of concern.

Seeing that Stella Sterling was unharmed, they couldn’t be bothered with anything else. Lydia Magnus had already moved forward to help her up. "Stella, are you hurt?"

"I’m fine. I was just in the water for a long time and ran out of energy." Stella Sterling shook her head. Her words were for them, but also a partial explanation for Ethan Young.

"It seems Miss Sterling’s stamina is quite good, to be able to climb back up after so long in the water."

Stella Sterling gave a weak smile. "All these years, I’ve been training whenever I had the time, just to survive."

"That’s right! Stella Sterling is a pretty good fighter. Her combat power is simply off the charts!"

Basil Xavier chimed in from the side, his tone full of amazement.

He had suspected before that she was trained.

In that situation, an ordinary person who fell into the water would have a very small chance of survival, let alone the stamina to last for so long.

Nearby, Louis Grant’s eyes flickered. ’This Stella Sterling not only has a gun, but her stamina is also excellent. And from what Basil Xavier is saying, her fighting skills must be pretty good too.’

He was curious about what she did before all this.

Stella Sterling smiled faintly and didn’t refute Basil Xavier’s words. His comment served as a perfect explanation.

Sure enough, after hearing Basil Xavier, the scrutinizing look in Ethan Young’s eyes lessened considerably as he watched Stella Sterling.

The most confused person right now was Lydia Magnus.

’She and Stella have known each other for so many years, how did I never know Stella was a good fighter?’

In the end, she attributed it all to the changes everyone had gone through during the two years of the apocalypse.

She had Claire Xavier to look after her, but Stella was all alone. One could only imagine the hardships she must have endured to survive these past two years...

"The boat is mostly cleaned up. All of you go back and get some rest. You need to keep up your strength to face the dangers ahead!"

After giving a few instructions, Ethan Young turned and left.

Stella Sterling let Lydia Magnus support her. This time, she didn’t refuse. ’If you’re going to put on a show, you have to go all the way.’

Otherwise, her sudden disappearance followed by a sudden reappearance inside the boat would have surely aroused suspicion.

So, she had to make it look like she’d fallen into the water and climbed back out. It was the only way to minimize suspicion.

And now, she had to play the part of someone who had spent a long time in the water and barely managed to climb back aboard. She was supposed to be completely exhausted, so even if it felt unnatural, she had to stick with it.

In the darkness, there was no light at all. Basil Xavier held a flashlight as they all walked deeper into the ship.

When they got inside, many people were still slumped on the floor, not yet recovered from the terror they had just experienced.

No one looked happy. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Even though they had survived for now, who knew what would happen next.

Even Basil Xavier and the others were silent, their expressions grim.

The weather was getting stranger and stranger, striking without warning.

In that short period just now, dozens of people on the boat had died. Most were blown into the water and were now missing.

Some people on the boat were also injured, and the medical staff were still busy.

The consequences were far too grave.

"Thanks, but didn’t your boyfriend get hurt saving you? You can just help me this far. Go take care of him."

When they reached the doorway, Stella Sterling thanked Lydia Magnus, her tone distant and polite.

The little bit of joy Lydia Magnus had felt sank again. She nodded. "Okay. If you need anything, remember to call me."

With that, she left with Claire Xavier to find the medical staff.

Although she was sad about Stella’s coldness, what she said was true. Claire Xavier’s injury still needed to be treated.

Louis Grant said a few words and also left, leaving only Basil Xavier behind.

The door to Stella Sterling’s small room had been reinstalled, but the fist-sized hole she had punched in it was now exceptionally clear.

Even with just an old flashlight, Basil Xavier could see it perfectly.

His mouth twitched. He asked, "Is this your handiwork?"

Stella Sterling nodded without hiding anything. "Yes. It was an emergency. It was about to hit me, so I had no choice but to punch it away. The base isn’t going to make me pay for it, are they?"

Seeing how calmly Stella Sterling admitted it, Basil Xavier stared at the hole, looking thoughtful.

’She’s a real beast. That’s a metal door, and she smashed it like this with one punch. I wonder how strong she actually is.’

He remembered how she had easily carried Gordon Ford. She looked so small and slender, yet her body seemed to hold limitless power.

Basil Xavier shook his head. If he just thought of her as a strongwoman, it wouldn’t seem so strange.

Stella Sterling shooed Basil Xavier away as well and stayed in her room alone.

’As expected, it’s far more dangerous on the water than on land.’

’I never went through any of this in my past life.’

’I hope we can get to Meridia Base quickly. All this turmoil is exhausting... and deadly.’

Then she frowned, looking at her soaking wet clothes. She had plenty of clothes to change into in her personal space.

The problem was, given the current situation where even the inside of the boat was flooded, it would be far too suspicious if she had dry clothes to change into.

So, even though she had dry clothes, she could only stay in these wet ones, which was incredibly uncomfortable.

Most importantly, there were too many people here. She never knew when someone might barge in. It was too easy to be discovered, so she had to be cautious.

Thinking of this, she began to miss her little home in the Orilon Complex. It was so much freer being alone at home.

If a bolt of lightning hadn’t split her roof open, she wouldn’t have left for a long time.