It wasn’t long before Felix Lawrence ca down too.
His expression was grave and his breathing seed weak. His normally righteous-looking face was now somber. He gripped a large blade, looking ready to attack at any mont.
As he ca down, the others quickly made way for him.
They called out respectfully, "Boss Lawrence."
Hearing this title, Stella Sterling was a little surprised. Their way of addressing him had changed.
’It seems the situation outside has caused a shift in the internal dynamic,’ she thought.
Felix Lawrence was no longer just a temporary leader in a simple cooperative relationship with them; he had beco their true boss.
Felix Lawrence nodded, his gloomy gaze fixed on the outside.
The next mont, he saw Stella Sterling’s inquisitive face.
The expression on Felix Lawrence’s face froze for a second before his whole deanor relaxed. A flash of joy even crossed his eyes. "Stella Sterling, it’s you!"
His tone was tinged with excitent.
Seeing him, Stella Sterling looked right at him and said, "Open the door and let in. I’m alone."
The joy in Felix Lawrence’s eyes faded slightly. He hesitated, opening his mouth as if to say sothing.
But Stella Sterling had already cut in, "If I wanted to force my way in, this flimsy door wouldn’t stop . I wouldn’t need to be here wasting my breath with you all."
She was only willing to explain this much out of consideration for having dug the ice tunnels with them before. Besides, she had no grudge against these people and didn’t want to be so forceful.
Moreover, Felix Lawrence was a decent guy, so she was willing to have the patience to explain. Otherwise, with her personality from her past life, she wouldn’t have cared about the reason—she would have just slashed her way through.
With her current strength, this door couldn’t block her at all. To her, it was practically useless.
’Of course, if they keep trying to block , I might not be so nice about it.’
’They’d have to go to the trouble of finding a new door to install.’
Hearing this, Felix Lawrence thought for a mont, then ordered the person at the front, "Open the door. Let her in."
"Boss Lawrence, are you sure? She disappeared for so many days and suddenly ca back. This is very suspicious."
From the crowd, a middle-aged woman holding a kitchen cleaver stared at Stella Sterling, anxious and angry.
Stella Sterling recognized her as Mrs. Lawrence, the woman with whom she’d had a brief run-in before.
Ever since that ti in the elevator when Stella had shut her down for interrogating her like a census taker, the woman had held a grudge against her.
However, because of her actions in the beginning, her fearso reputation was well-known, and the woman had always avoided her whenever she saw her.
Several of the people standing inside had shifty eyes; they clearly didn’t want to open the door for her.
"It’s fine. If you don’t want to open the door, I won’t trouble you. I’ll just let myself in."
Stella Sterling smiled, the corner of her mouth twitching, and stretched her muscles.
She could understand why they were being so cautious. If she were on the inside, she wouldn’t approve of opening the door either.
But there was nothing to be done. She was the one standing on the outside now. Call her a hypocrite or selfish, she wasn’t about to inconvenience herself for their sake.
Since they wouldn’t let her in, she would just have to find her own way in.
But just then, soone else spoke up. "I don’t think Stella Sterling is that kind of person. She wouldn’t betray us. She’s not like that coward from before!"
"I agree!"
Then a few more people spoke up in Stella Sterling’s defense.
Among them were the woman nad Yasmine Holloway and the few people who had dug the ice tunnels with her.
Surprisingly, the man whose wife had died, and even the family of the man who had been taught a lesson by Stella Sterling after mocking her out of spite, all spoke up for her.
In response, Stella Sterling raised a mocking eyebrow. "Well, what do you know. I didn’t realize I was so popular."
Felix Lawrence, however, said nothing. Seeing the person on guard duty hesitate, he simply took the key from their hand, walked over, and opened the door. "Welco back, Stella Sterling."
"Thanks. It’s still more comfortable at ho. Of course I was going to co back."
Stella Sterling gave him a polite nod, the aggressive aura around her instantly retracting.
Her gaze swept over the crowd, and the people who had tried to stop her from entering lowered their heads.
The crowd only heard her let out a low chuckle.
Then, before everyone’s eyes, she closed the door.
Seeing Stella Sterling co in with truly no one following behind her, the others breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Even Felix Lawrence was visibly much more relaxed.
He hadn’t bet wrong. Stella Sterling was no ordinary person. How could soone like her be so easily coerced by others?
Although he didn’t know what she had been doing during the days she was gone, he was sincerely happy that she had returned safely today.
Many people in their building had died these past few days. There had originally been seventy or eighty people, but now only a little over forty remained.
The people from Building C were even worse off; only seven or eight were still alive. Among them was Finn Shaw, the one who had led the troublemakers before.
After days of cooperation, a certain degree of trust had slowly been established with their forr enemy.
That was why when they were attacked today, Finn Shaw had actually brought his seven or eight people to provide support.
’Seeing Stella Sterling return now is a good thing. Having one more familiar face is good, and what’s more, her combat power is incredibly strong and fierce!’
It was true that Stella Sterling didn’t like to get involved in managing things and would even start slashing at people indiscriminately when she went crazy.
But her combat strength was just too formidable. Even if she didn’t ddle in other people’s business, they were all in the sa building, after all. So matters were interconnected, and if it involved her, she would have no choice but to act.
It was far better than having Stella Sterling as an enemy on the opposing side.
As far as he knew, the nearby residential complexes had each ford their own factions, using the underground ice tunnels to invade other complexes.
This was not a good sign. For them, one more person ant one more person’s worth of combat strength.
Besides, after interacting with her over the past days, Felix Lawrence knew that Stella Sterling had her own set of principles. As long as you didn’t actively provoke her, she couldn’t even be bothered to acknowledge you...
At that mont, Stella Sterling was humming a tune as she walked upstairs with her backpack on, all under the watchful eyes of the crowd.
Only after her figure had completely vanished from sight did the crowd gathered downstairs begin to buzz with conversation.
They were very curious. Where had Stella Sterling gone during the days she was missing? For a lone person to return safely when it was so chaotic outside—there was definitely more to it than t the eye.
As expected of the fearso ’Madwoman,’ Stella Sterling!
Everyone had their own thoughts, but even those who were unhappy with her had to acknowledge her strength.
They truly resented her and feared her in equal asure.
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