The woman behind her took two steps back, a gloating look flashing in her eyes.

Stella Sterling stood her ground fearlessly, calmly watching the man. "If I don’t switch, what are you going to do about it? Are you trying to cause trouble?"

"Miss, I see you’re all alone," the man said softly, his words laced with threat. "Who knows what might happen on your way back. You’d better be careful." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Stella Sterling smiled faintly. Instead of confronting him directly, she suddenly shouted toward the man with the megaphone, "Someone’s causing trouble over here!"

"Who’s causing trouble? Show yourself!"

Ethan Young immediately looked over, and several guns were pointed in their direction.

Ethan Young strode quickly toward them. "Who’s causing trouble? Get the hell out here!"

"Officer, it’s him! He threatened me and tried to force me to switch places with him!"

Stella Sterling shouted, pointing at the man.

"Don’t talk nonsense. I have a genuine family emergency, which is why I was trying to discuss switching spots with you. I was being perfectly reasonable. Don’t go making false accusations!"

After speaking, he looked at Ethan Young with a fawning expression. "I was just joking with her. You can get back to your business. Don’t mind me!"

With that, he slowly backed away, a smile plastered on his face. Ethan Young kept his eyes fixed on him, and the man didn’t dare make a wrong move.

Not until he was nearly out of the safe zone did he shoot Stella Sterling a vicious glare.

The chill in his gaze seemed sharp enough to pierce right through her.

It wasn’t clear if he was scared or just in a hurry, but he didn’t even bother getting back in line for rations.

"Keep the line moving!" Ethan Young glanced at Stella Sterling, then turned and barked at the crowd.

"Now you’ve done it. You’ve really gone and offended that man. Oh, Stella, I know it’s not my place to say, but you should have just switched with him!"

The woman behind her sidled up to Stella Sterling, a worried look on her face.

"Is that so? In that case, ma’am, shouldn’t you stay away from me? You’re standing so close... What if he’s watching right now? He’ll see you standing here, giving me such ’kind’ advice, and he might just assume you’re on my side. Then he’ll start targeting you, too!"

Stella Sterling looked at the woman with a smile, but her voice held a dangerous edge.

At these words, a flash of panic crossed the woman’s eyes. She immediately backed away and fell silent.

Her eyes even darted around cautiously, worried that someone really was watching them from the shadows.

’I never should have tried to gloat over Stella Sterling.’

"Heh heh."

A soft chuckle came from up ahead, laced with mockery.

The woman lowered her head even further. Even though she knew perfectly well that Stella Sterling was mocking her, she didn’t dare say another word.

Nothing else happened after that, and soon it was Stella Sterling’s turn.

"Here you go. The snow isn’t stopping, which makes transportation difficult. Make sure you ration this and eat sparingly."

The middle-aged woman handing out the supplies said kindly to Stella Sterling as she passed her a bag.

Inside the bag was a small pouch of rice, weighing a little over a pound. Besides that, there was a bundle of noodles, a few loose blocks of instant ramen, and two bottles of drinking water.

In normal times, this amount of food wouldn’t be considered much at all.

But now, these supplies were a lifeline.

She took the items and nodded. "Okay, thank you."

Taking her supplies, Stella Sterling turned to leave. Just then, a large bald man from her residential complex approached her. "Stella Sterling, wait for the rest of us. We can all head back to the complex together!"