Apocalypse Rebirth: Crazy from Day One

Chapter 347: Chapter 347: Sensible

At this thought, the men’s expressions turned ugly for a moment.

They stared at Stella Sterling, as if trying to discern the truth in her words.

If she wasn’t related to the boy, why would this woman be traveling with a five-year-old?

It was impossible that the two of them were comrades-in-arms or partners.

Even if they were partners, you’d find someone with comparable strength, someone who could fight.

But what could this five-year-old do? Nothing but hold you back.

If the two weren’t related, she had no reason to be with a five-year-old child at all.

Besides, when the child was in danger, his first instinct was to run to this woman for help.

If they weren’t related and were just companions, that part didn’t quite add up.

The men weren’t entirely convinced. They watched Stella Sterling’s expression closely.

But after watching her for a long time, they couldn’t spot a single crack in her facade.

The woman showed no worry or fear about the child falling into their hands.

She was unnervingly calm, even a little impatient.

’It doesn’t look like she’s lying. If this kid was really someone important to her, she’d be frantic with worry now that we have him. How could she possibly be this composed?’

’Could it be we’re really overthinking this?!’

If that was the case, their plan to use the child to threaten the woman or make her hesitate would be a total failure.

They were already wary of this woman, unsure of her true strength.

Now that even this leverage was gone, their confidence completely evaporated.

They could only exchange another knowing glance and nod to each other, as if having made a decision.

The man in camouflage gave an awkward laugh. "My mistake. It seems we got it wrong. I thought this kid was someone of yours!"

He paused for a moment before continuing, "It’s a dangerous world out there, especially for a child!"

"There are some sickos out there who even want to catch children to..."

As he said this, a flash of disgust and contempt crossed his eyes, and he didn’t continue.

But he knew everyone understood his meaning.

So he skipped past it and went on, "That’s why when we were passing by and saw this child all by himself, we were worried something might happen to him. That’s why we brought him to find you."

At this, the other men nodded along. "That’s right, that’s right. We’re not bad people. We wouldn’t do anything bad, we were just worried about him."

"It’s a good thing he ran into us. In this apocalypse, even though life is hard, we’re all human. We believe in helping each other when we can, not hurting people."

"If he’d run into someone else, this kid would’ve been in for it."

"Even if he’s not your brother or your son, since you’re together, you must know each other, right? You’ve got to watch the kid closely!"

The men chimed in one after another, and as they spoke, it was as if they started to believe their own story, even beginning to lecture Stella Sterling.

Hearing all this, Stella Sterling looked at them, a little stunned.

She didn’t believe a single word of their bullshit. One look at Andrew Shaw’s face, and she was 100% certain these men were lying.

However...

She looked at them with mock surprise. "In that case, it seems I should be thanking you all."

The men shook their heads. For some reason, even though they didn’t know the woman’s true strength, just looking at her made them feel a sense of fear.

In this apocalypse, intuition was a very important thing.

Their intuition told them they absolutely could not provoke this woman.

Thus, their intentions had now changed drastically from what they were initially.

They chuckled and shook their heads. "No, no, it was just a small effort. Nothing worth mentioning, no need to thank us."

"We’ll hand the boy over to you now. Keep a close eye on him. We’ll be going."

With that, the man in camouflage actually put Andrew Shaw down.

This left Andrew Shaw completely bewildered. These men were really letting him go this easily.

And from the looks of it, they were planning to leave.

’Weren’t they going to use me to extort a hefty price? Why did they let me go so easily now, leaving without doing anything?’

He looked over at Stella Sterling, and something suddenly clicked in his mind.

They must have sensed how terrifying this woman was.

That’s why they didn’t dare to have any other ideas.

’If it were me,’ he thought, ’and I saw a woman appear here, I would also be on my highest alert.’

It seemed these men weren’t complete fools after all, to have figured that out.

The men from last night weren’t nearly as smart, and their end was consequently miserable.

"Wait. What happened to his face?"

Stella Sterling spoke up suddenly. The men, who were about to leave, froze and looked at the slap mark on the child’s face.

Then they all turned to look at the man in camouflage.

By now, they had confirmed that this woman was not to be trifled with. They had no intention of provoking her, nor did they want to take anything from her anymore. They just hoped to leave in one piece.

They never expected that one slap mark would give her a reason to hold them accountable.

The man in camouflage chuckled nervously. The next moment, he slapped himself twice across the face. "My apologies, ma’am. I have a bit of a short fuse. The kid wasn’t listening, so I acted out. I was wrong. I’m very sorry. I’ll just give myself two slaps."

Seeing this, Stella Sterling simply raised an eyebrow and said nothing more.

In the end, these men hadn’t done anything to her directly. And they were sensible, having already gone this far to appease her.

She didn’t mind letting them live.

Her silence, however, was interpreted differently by the other men. One of them grit his teeth and said, "It must be tough for you two, a woman and a child. We have some snacks back at our car. I’ll go get them for you. Hope it helps a little!"

With that, he ran over to their vehicle, and a moment later, he actually came back carrying a small bag of food.

Stella Sterling looked at the bag placed in front of her and let out a soft laugh. "You’re very smart."

The men looked at her pleadingly.

So Stella Sterling waved a hand at them. "Go on."