Chapter 261: Chapter 261: Encountering Sanctyr Base Again
Stella Sterling felt a sense of release, neither sad nor happy.
She just felt a little sentimental, a little wistful.
Whether in her past life or this one, she had ultimately parted ways with her good friend for good.
Stella Sterling found a place to sit and watched the people coming and going.
Meridia Base had always been a bustling place. After all, besides its core members, it also had ordinary ones.
They recruited many ordinary people to live in the base. These residents earned points through their labor or by actively taking on missions, which they could then use to purchase supplies.
With its large population, Meridia Base was bustling every day.
Now, with Meridia Base hosting The Apocalypse Summit, people from countless factions had arrived, making it even more lively.
After resting for a bit, Stella Sterling decided to head back to the conference hall. ’Most everyone should have arrived by now,’ she thought.
However, she had only taken a few steps when another commotion broke out up ahead.
A few men were surrounding a woman.
Stella Sterling raised an eyebrow in surprise. ’What a coincidence,’ she thought, ’running into this kind of thing multiple times today.’
For some reason, perhaps because it was a less-trafficked area, this particular spot was unguarded. In other places, armed personnel from Meridia Base were on patrol, and no one dared to cause trouble.
But this place was practically empty.
The men weren’t wearing Meridia Base uniforms, and the woman they had surrounded was dressed in white.
The woman’s voice rang out. "I’m from Meridia Base! If you dare to touch me, aren’t you afraid of our base’s retaliation?"
"Haha! Trying to threaten us with Meridia Base? So what? Our Sanctyr Base isn’t afraid of you in the slightest!"
"Besides, as if Meridia Base would risk offending us just for you."
With that, the men began to close in on the woman.
When Stella Sterling heard the name Sanctyr Base, she gave an unexpected smile.
’Things really are just that coincidental,’ she mused. ’Here I am, running into people from Sanctyr Base again.’
Ever since her last run-in with them in the Kryllian Mountains, she seemed to be encountering people from that base one after another.
And every single time, it was when they were up to no good.
’I don’t know if they’re just unlucky, or if it’s just my luck to run into them every time they’re pulling this kind of crap.’
Stella Sterling stretched her arms and legs. ’Looks like it’s time for me to do another good deed today.’
She stepped forward, simply shoved the men aside with her hands, and pulled the woman in white from their clutches.
Stella Sterling hadn’t even seemed to use much force, yet those tall, burly men were swatted away with a light push. A few of them looked as if they had been outright thrown, crashing to the ground with pathetic screams.
"When you’re dealing with scum like this, why waste your breath talking? Just start swinging."
"This is your home turf. You really think you need to be afraid of them here? All you have to do is yell, and you think no one would come running to help?"
Stella Sterling looked at the woman before her and began her lecture.
The woman looked a little embarrassed. "I was just trying not to cause trouble for the base. But if they had actually dared to lay a hand on me, I wouldn’t have just stood by."
Stella Sterling just shrugged. "If a member of your own base gets bullied by outsiders on your own territory, *that’s* when Meridia Base really loses face."
The woman heard this and nodded, seeing the logic in it.
But she was curious about this person. From the way she spoke, she wasn’t from their base, and yet, she had stepped in to save her!
She took a closer look, and her eyes lit up. With some hesitation, she asked, "Stella? Are you Stella?"
Vivian Larkin’s voice was filled with excitement!
Stella Sterling ran a hand through her hair, a smirk playing on her lips. "The one and only. What, am I so beautiful now that you can’t even recognize me?"
Vivian Larkin nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! You’ve changed so much over the past year. I really didn’t recognize you at first!"
"Haha!"
Stella Sterling laughed cheerfully, and Vivian Larkin watched her with amusement. "You just disappeared over a year ago. I kept waiting for us all to get together for a meal. You’ve changed so much... you didn’t run off to some secret retreat to work on your looks, did you?"
"Hey! You two are just gonna stand there reminiscing in front of us? Are you treating us like we’re invisible? You think you can just ignore us?"
The men Stella Sterling had shoved aside snapped out of their daze and glared at the two women.
They had been angry, but seeing that this newcomer was even more beautiful than the first woman, they immediately grew lecherous.
But when the two women simply started chatting among themselves, completely ignoring them, a fresh wave of fury surged through the men.
Stella Sterling turned to look at them. "And what are you supposed to be? You’re all hideous. Do you really think you’re worth my notice?"
Vivian Larkin let out a snort of laughter.
This enraged the men even more. They charged at Stella Sterling and Vivian, fists raised, though they didn’t dare open fire.
"You really think we’re easy targets, huh?" Vivian Larkin said in a cold voice. "Our base invited guests, not livestock."
She was just about to call for reinforcements when she saw Stella Sterling had already sent the men flying, one by one.
With one kick for each man, she sent them flying seven or eight meters. They crashed hard onto the ground, spitting up mouthfuls of blood—
They clutched the spots where they’d been kicked, their faces contorted in agony.
"My leg... My leg is broken!"
"My bones... I think I heard a SNAP!"
The men’s miserable screams attracted the attention of some Meridia Base personnel.
Two armed members appeared. "What’s going on here? Who’s causing trouble?"
Before Stella Sterling or Vivian could speak, the men from Sanctyr Base immediately made a false counter-accusation. "It was those two women! We’re from Sanctyr Base! We’re the honored guests your Meridia Base invited!"
"One of your own people attacked us and injured us like this! Meridia Base has to give us an explanation, or this isn’t over!"
As he spoke, the man coughed up another mouthful of blood, making the situation look even more dire. The others around him were in a similar state.
Seeing this, the expressions of the two Meridia Base members changed.
They had heard of Sanctyr Base; it was indeed a very powerful faction.
’Causing this kind of trouble in our base during the summit... This is a huge slap in the face to us.’
The two guards looked over at Stella Sterling and Vivian, but their expressions changed again when they recognized Vivian.
Vivian Larkin’s master was a highly respected figure in their base.
’This is going to be difficult to handle!’ they thought.
Stella Sterling stepped forward. "I’m the one who hit them."
