Chapter 282: Chapter 282: Requesting Protection to Leave
"Help yourselves."
As Stella Sterling spoke, she had already grabbed an apple with one hand and started munching on it with loud CRUNCHES.
Before long, she had polished off two apples.
Only then did her stomach feel somewhat full. She looked at the remaining apples, thought for a moment, and didn’t reach for another.
"Are these really for us?" Vivian Larkin asked, finding it hard to believe. ’Aren’t these a little too precious?’
"Of course. If you don’t eat them, I’ll just take them back."
Stella Sterling leaned back in her chair and said leisurely.
Hearing this, both of them grew anxious and dropped the pleasantries with Stella Sterling. "We’ll eat, we’ll eat, we’re eating!"
Then, they each grabbed a large apple and quickly took a bite, as if afraid Stella Sterling would go back on her word.
Louis Grant had always been proud. Even in the apocalypse, he had never had to worry about food.
Although life was nowhere near as good as before, thanks to his parents, he could still treat himself to an extra meal from time to time. He was already very content with that.
But now, he felt genuinely excited.
’Fruit, fresh fruit! Even his parents only got to eat it once in a while.’
’And here he was, holding a huge one and munching away.’
’If his parents and cousin found out about this, there was no telling how jealous they’d be.’
And this was all thanks to Stella Sterling.
They both ate only one each, not touching the rest.
Even though Stella Sterling was being generous with these things, they couldn’t be greedy and eat more.
After that, the three of them chatted for a while, each sharing what had happened over the past year or so.
It was only then that Vivian Larkin learned of Stella Sterling’s true identity.
Beyond shock, she didn’t know how to express what she was feeling.
At the same time, she grew a little nervous, and her words became more reserved.
After all, Stella Sterling’s current status was worlds apart from her own; she was on the same level as their base commander.
’Do I really have the right to be friends with someone like her? Come to think of it, we only knew each other for a day before. We weren’t that close!’
’What if she thinks I’m being presumptuous?’
Louis Grant, however, was no different than before. He acted just as he always did. In fact, because he had come to terms with things in his own mind, he became even more casual with Stella Sterling.
Vivian Larkin kept observing the two of them interact.
She noticed that although Stella Sterling spoke very little, it was clear she was happy and wasn’t putting on any airs.
Most of the time, that was just her natural temperament.
So, gradually, she began to relax, trying her best to just see Stella Sterling as an ordinary friend and not think about the difference in their status.
Slowly, she rediscovered the feeling they had when they were together over a year ago.
Moreover, she discovered that Stella Sterling’s attitude toward her was even better than toward Louis Grant.
With that, she completely put her worries to rest, and the atmosphere among the three of them became quite pleasant.
Louis Grant even managed to get a small bottle of beer, which the three of them shared.
Toward the end, Stella Sterling was smiling much more. It had been a long time since she had spent time with people like this.
When Stella Sterling left, she didn’t take the bag of apples with her, leaving it behind.
The two of them understood that Stella Sterling had left them for them.
Feeling both grateful and happy, they divided the bag of apples.
This was a rare treat. They could even make dried apples out of them, which would last longer, and they could have a piece from time to time to satisfy their cravings.
The next day, Louis Grant ran into Ethan Young. Being a good friend, he was very generous and gave him half an apple.
He planned to give the other half to his cousin.
He only gave half an apple to his parents.
It wasn’t that he was a heartless son. As fairly high-ranking officials in Meridia Base, he knew his parents were able to get some once in a while.
Ethan Young was also a little surprised to see it, but once he learned it came from Stella Sterling, he wasn’t surprised anymore.
He just sighed and remarked, "You’re a lucky kid, making a friend like her."
’Who would have thought? That Stella Sterling seems so cold, but she’s actually pretty good to her friends.’
"Haha, of course! I had to shamelessly pester her to be my friend. If she wasn’t a good one, would I go to all that trouble?"
Louis Grant roared with laughter.
"By the way, where are you off to in such a hurry?"
When he’d seen Ethan Young earlier, the man was walking so hastily that if he hadn’t called out, Ethan wouldn’t have even noticed him.
"The leaders of two other bases have requested that we send men to escort them away," Ethan Young said, not hiding anything from Louis Grant.
"The summit isn’t even over, and they’re already leaving?! If they want to leave, fine, but didn’t they bring their own men? Why do they need us to escort them?"
Louis Grant said this while following behind Ethan Young. He now also worked in the base’s armed forces department and was, by extension, Ethan’s subordinate.
"Their men were all... dealt with. Now they’re afraid of retaliation, so they made this request."
Ethan Young answered in a cold voice, a hint of disdain in his tone.
He walked to the main administrative building in the center of Meridia Base and entered a room.
"Who was causing trouble inside the base?"
His question went unanswered. Ethan Young had already turned on a computer and pulled up yesterday’s surveillance footage. Only then did he answer Louis Grant. "I heard this incident is also related to Stella Sterling. They had a conflict."
The base members handling registration and reception outside had already reported yesterday’s incident to him.
But aside from being surprised, he hadn’t paid it much mind. After all, it happened outside the base and had little to do with them.
He was so busy, he hadn’t given it a second thought.
It was only today, when the leaders of those two bases came to him with this request, that he decided to look into what happened yesterday.
"Related to Stella Sterling?"
Louis Grant was surprised, but then he understood. The people from those two bases must have offended Stella Sterling.
The surveillance footage appeared before them, and they both saw everything that happened yesterday with perfect clarity.
On the screen, one of Stella Sterling’s subordinates single-handedly took care of all those people.
As they watched, both of their expressions turned grim.
The combat power of that subordinate of Stella Sterling’s was simply extraordinary.
Ethan Young had a sharp eye. He could naturally tell that the man was so formidable because he relied on brute strength. Each move was devastatingly powerful.
Whatever the reason, that level of combat power was terrifyingly strong.
Louis Grant suddenly seemed to think of something, and his expression turned to one of embarrassment and shock.
He remembered what he had said to Stella Sterling yesterday.
Seeing this scene now, his previous words seemed utterly laughable.
’If the members of Stella Sterling’s base are this powerful, how could I ever beat them?’
At that moment, he finally understood the source of the strange feeling he’d had yesterday.
He recalled Stella Sterling’s gaze; it had been so strange.
Now he realized she had been sparing his feelings and hadn’t told him the truth.
