Chapter 86: Chapter 86: A Captive Unaware of the Situation

The steamed bun in his hand suddenly lost its appeal. With a soft thud, the quarter of a bun he had left dropped to the floor.

He stared in Stella Sterling’s direction, his eyes wide with disbelief.

’This woman is just too wasteful! Even if she has a lot of food stockpiled, it won’t last if she eats like that.’

Stephen Lawrence watched for a moment before suddenly struggling with all his might. His body, bound to the chair, lurched forward as he yelled, "I won’t stand for it! It’s not fair! I want some of your food, too! Why do I only get a steamed bun?!"

The commotion quickly drew Stella Sterling’s attention. She put down her chopsticks and strode over. "What’s all this noise about? You tired of living?"

As she spoke, she kicked the chair Stephen Lawrence was sitting on. The chair, with him still in it, shot backward a considerable distance, only stopping when it crashed into something.

Although the kick hadn’t landed on Stephen Lawrence’s body, the resulting shock sent a paralyzing jolt through him, and his ears were still ringing.

Stella Sterling walked up to him, picked up a nearby stick, and rested it on his shoulder. She tapped it lightly a few times, but the gesture was dripping with menace. "What was that you said? You won’t stand for it? Stand for what? I didn’t hear you clearly. Say it again."

This immediate response shocked Stephen Lawrence’s jealousy-addled brain back to its senses. He glanced warily at the stick. ’If I say one wrong word,’ he thought, ’that thing is coming down on my head.’

He swallowed hard and tried to placate her, his voice cautious and fawning. "I... I didn’t say anything, beautiful. I just meant... your food looks so delicious. Could I maybe have a bite or two?"

’How could I dare talk about fairness now? I just need to stay alive!’

"Oh? That’s not what you said a moment ago, was it?"

Stella Sterling raised an eyebrow. The next second, the stick swung down. Stephen Lawrence flinched, squeezing his eyes shut.

A moment later, a searing pain shot up his leg. He clenched his jaw and endured it without crying out.

’Thank God she didn’t hit my head,’ he thought in a dizzy haze of relief. ’I’ve cheated death again!’

He opened his eyes and saw Stella Sterling looking down at him coldly. "Don’t forget your place. To put it nicely, you’re helping me practice my medical skills. To be blunt, you’re just my captive. You’re lucky I’m feeding you at all, let alone giving you actual grain. You still dare to be picky? Fine. Then you don’t have to eat ever again!"

’What a joke,’ she thought. ’Does he really expect me to give someone who tried to kill me, and failed, the same quality of food I eat? What’s going through his head? Is he an idiot?’

Stephen Lawrence nodded frantically. "Yes, yes, of course. You’ve been more than generous, beautiful. I was wrong. I’ll never do it again, I swear!"

How could he not be filled with regret? Just moments before, he had been quite satisfied with the steamed bun and had even thought Stella Sterling was generous. But the comparison had sparked a sense of unfairness that made him lose all reason, causing him to forget his own desperate situation.

And the searing pain in his leg was the price for his outburst.

’My leg aches so much it’s going numb. I heard a distinct CRACK moments ago. I’m pretty sure my shinbone is broken.’

But right now, he didn’t dare voice a single complaint.

Stella Sterling watched his face go white with pain. "Since you think the steamed bun isn’t good enough, you can forget about eating the rest of it today," she said. "You can eat again when you’ve come to your senses."

With that, she took the other half of the bun he had hidden in his shirt. "I was planning to work on reattaching your tendons today, but it seems you’ve broken your leg bone. So, this afternoon, we’ll take care of that first. Behave, and if you’re good, you can still have this bun. If not, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow."

After giving her instructions, Stella Sterling turned and left, closing the door to the medical room behind her.

Only then did Stephen Lawrence let his guard down, letting out a few pained groans.

He was consumed by regret. ’Why did I have to throw a fit? Now my leg is broken, and I’ve lost my food.’

’If only I’d known. I should have just kept my head down.’

Stephen Lawrence tilted his head up slightly, his body wracked with pain. His eyes showed both physical agony and the torment of regret.

’Thankfully, I’m still useful to her. As long as I behave myself, I might still have a chance to get that half a bun back.’

After an unknown amount of time, once the pain had eased slightly, he slowly stretched his body, trying to pick up the piece of the bun he had dropped on the floor—

After finishing her meal, Stella Sterling didn’t hurry back to the medical room. Instead, she stood by the window, raising her binoculars to look out at the cityscape. There wasn’t much to see besides an endless expanse of white, but she still wanted to look, to ease the oppressive feeling of being stuck inside all day.

She noticed that in the apartment across the way, the curtains were always drawn tight and never opened.

Stella Sterling raised an eyebrow and smirked.

After a short rest, she headed for the roof. Starting today, she planned to spend some time out in the heavy snow each day to acclimate herself to the frozen weather.

She couldn’t stay cooped up forever. Sooner or later, she would have to go outside, and the weather would be just as brutally cold. She figured she needed to let her body slowly get used to these temperatures; it was another way of strengthening her constitution.

Humans are incredibly adaptable. It had been the same for her in her past life. At first, the cold was unbearable, but after she persevered through that initial hardship, her body had slowly grown accustomed to the ice and snow.

It was still miserably cold, of course, but it was a cold she could survive in. She wouldn’t just freeze to death the second she stepped outside.

She knew that at the current temperature, people could still get around outside if they gritted their teeth and bore it. But she also knew that this was far from the coldest it would get...

That was why she had to start preparing now, letting her body adapt little by little. She couldn’t just hide away in a warm bubble forever. It might be comfortable, but her ability to adapt would fall behind everyone else’s when it truly mattered. If circumstances allowed for comfort, she would absolutely take it; she wouldn’t make herself suffer for no reason. After all, the whole point of hoarding so many supplies was to enjoy her life.

But she would not allow that comfort to make her so fragile that she couldn’t survive outside of it.

She had to be able to enjoy herself when she could, and endure hardship when she must.

Lost in thought, Stella Sterling pushed open the door to the rooftop. The snow was piled high. As the door swung open, a thick sheet of it collapsed inward, rushing toward her. She quickly grabbed the railing and ducked back into the stairwell.

Luckily, the snow on the roof was quite compact, so not much of it fell down, and the small avalanche stopped after a moment.

She vaulted nimbly back up, stepping out from the stairwell onto the roof. A biting cold wind immediately assaulted her.

Thick snow weighed down on the rooftop, but it hadn’t cracked. ’The construction quality in this complex really is decent!’