Chapter 238: Chapter 238: Selfishness
Shane Lawrence helped out nearby, and even Professor Lawrence was lending a hand.
By now, Stella Sterling had learned from Shane Lawrence what had happened.
Instigated by the fake Professor Lawrence, that group had finally started fighting amongst themselves again.
Shane Lawrence and his team had received their orders and withdrawn from that battlefield. They had intended to find Stella Sterling, but after receiving her signal, they decided to return the way they came.
However, they ran into another group along the way. Those people were quite strong, and they were also outnumbered.
They didn’t want to get tangled up with them and just wanted to shake them off, but the group pursued them relentlessly.
Several of them were injured, and they couldn’t escape their pursuers.
Then, another man in their team, in his thirties, sacrificed himself to cover their retreat.
As he spoke of the man’s sacrifice, Shane Lawrence clenched his fists. The faces of the others were also etched with grief and indignation.
The man had died to save them.
Hearing this, Stella Sterling simply continued to treat their wounds, her expression calm and unchanging.
’Professor Lawrence watched from the side, a slight frown on his face. These people were her comrades, yet she seemed far too calm, almost cold.’
’And from the looks of it, they weren’t just comrades; she was their leader. How could she show no reaction to the sacrifice of one of her own people!’
’A leader who doesn’t value the lives of their subordinates... that’s not a good thing.’
After she finished tending to their wounds and giving them anti-inflammatory medicine, the other two men, besides Shane Lawrence and Nathan Cheney, had fallen into a deep sleep.
"Do you remember what that group looked like?" Stella Sterling suddenly asked.
Shane Lawrence froze for a moment, then nodded. "I do."
"Good. If you run into them again, remember to avenge Ian Bell."
Ian Bell was the one who had been sacrificed. Shane Lawrence’s eyes lit up. "Definitely."
Even Nathan Cheney, who was piloting the boat, responded loudly, "Sterling, we were incompetent. I’m going to train harder. If we ever meet that group again, I’ll kill them with my own two hands."
They knew that sacrifices were inevitable on missions like these.
But Ian Bell had died for them, and both men were wracked with guilt. Right now, only hatred could serve as an outlet for their fury.
"I remember Ian Bell has a younger brother back at the base. When we get back, pass down the order to have him looked after."
Stella Sterling directed this at Shane Lawrence, who nodded solemnly.
Nathan Cheney was moved.
’What moved him even more was that Sterling actually remembered Ian Bell had a brother at the base. It showed that she really did care about them.’
After saying these few words, Stella Sterling fell silent. She had experienced too much in her past life; partings of life and death no longer affected her deeply.
However, Ian Bell was one of her people, someone she had brought on this mission. She knew who had killed him, and she would have her revenge.
Listening from the side, Professor Lawrence felt a pang of shame. He had been too quick to judge her.
After that, no one spoke. Stella Sterling took over piloting the boat.
The boat was stocked with basic living supplies. After leaving the vicinity of the Kryllian Mountains, Stella Sterling found what looked like a relatively safe spot, planning to rest and recover their strength before moving on.
On the boat, everyone held a self-heating hot pot, digging in with large mouthfuls.
Lured by the delicious food, Nathan Cheney and Shane Lawrence temporarily forgot their thirst for revenge.
Their eyes shone as they ate.
’A self-heating hot pot! He never imagined that three years into the apocalypse, he’d still get to eat something like this. The aroma... it was absolutely divine!’
Even Professor Lawrence ate with abandon, completely disregarding his image.
’Before all this, he wouldn’t have given this stuff a second glance. He wouldn’t have even touched it.’
’But now, after being forced to eat raw food, this had become a delicacy of the highest order.’
Once they had eaten and drunk their fill, Professor Lawrence saw that their moods had improved slightly and finally asked, "My two friends, I was wondering if you know what happened to my companions."
Although he didn’t specify, everyone knew who Professor Lawrence was referring to.
Shane Lawrence didn’t answer immediately, instead looking toward Stella Sterling.
Only after she nodded did he speak. "They’re dead. Their false identities were exposed. Some of the people couldn’t take it and shot them multiple times. It was a miserable death."
Shane Lawrence’s voice was tinged with a bit of emotion. ’He never expected that Sterling had already found the real Professor Lawrence. No wonder she’d told them to retreat, then ordered them to regroup where they were.’
’This news absolutely could not get out. If that group from before found out, they would never let the matter rest.’
"How could this... how could this be? They..."
Hearing this, Professor Lawrence’s face went completely pale, and his body began to tremble in anguish.
Stella Sterling glanced at him, a little perplexed.
’He should have been able to predict this outcome long ago.’
’After deceiving all those people, once they discovered the deception, how could they possibly let the two of them go?’
Shane Lawrence was also confused. In his heart, he even felt a certain disdain. ’This man pushed his own team members forward just to save his own skin. He’s clearly a selfish person. Putting on such an agonized act now... isn’t that just hypocritical?’
’But the man’s identity was extraordinary, and Sterling needed his skills. They had to win him over right now. So, he didn’t voice these thoughts, nor did he let them show on his face.’
After a long moment, Professor Lawrence finally calmed down. "We had an agreement. If things went south, they were supposed to pick a base and join it. No matter how fiercely those groups competed, they wouldn’t have chosen to kill me."
Stella Sterling fell silent for a moment before explaining the situation at the time.
"Those two probably wanted to buy you more time, so they deliberately made the situation more chaotic to get those people to kill each other."
Upon hearing this, two streams of clear tears flowed from Professor Lawrence’s eyes. "They lied to me. They were prepared to die from the very beginning."
Stella Sterling continued, "If it had been the real you, then no matter how angry they were, someone would have tried their best to protect you because of your value. But if I could tell something was wrong and that he was a fake, someone else was bound to figure it out too. And once they realized he wasn’t the real you, they had no reason to save him."
Stella Sterling’s words were cruel, but they were also the truth.
The real Professor Lawrence had value, so no matter how chaotic the situation became, someone would have done their best to protect him.
But a fake Professor Lawrence held no such value.
Not only would those people not save him, but they would also want him dead, furious that he had made fools of them.
Professor Lawrence was silent. After a long while, he finally said, "The truth is, I was selfish. I was just clinging to a sliver of hope, and that’s why I agreed to their plan. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have met such an end."
