Apocalypse Rebirth: Crazy from Day One

Stella Sterling took the pig and retrieved the forty catties of grain before she let the man go.

Afterward, she saw someone from the trading post drive the pig seller away, telling him he was banned from trading there ever again.

Stella Sterling felt no sympathy for him, nor did she intervene.

What had happened before was between her and the pig seller. What happened now was a matter of the trading post’s management.

’Did that man do something wrong?’

’In this apocalypse, it couldn’t really be called wrong. It was all for the sake of survival.’

’But if you’re going to scheme against others, you have to be prepared for the backlash.’

’If he had run into someone else, he might have gotten away with it. If he’d managed to scam a dozen more catties of grain, that would have been a testament to his skill.’

’But he ran into me. So in the end, he lost dozens of catties of his own and got kicked out. He had it coming.’ 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’In this apocalypse, you couldn’t judge such tactics as right or wrong. His only mistake was being weaker than me.’

’Weakness!’

’That is the greatest sin in this apocalypse!’

Stella Sterling’s expression was placid, but her eyes were ice-cold.

However, such a minor incident didn’t occupy her thoughts for long. She resumed wandering through the trading post.

She didn’t send the forty catties of grain back to Mr. Cheney. Since she’d already borrowed it, she figured she’d just pay him back all at once later.

Afterward, she stopped by a few small stalls and bought several jade bracelets.

Such things weren’t valuable in the apocalypse, but many people, while scavenging for supplies, would pick up pretty items thinking someone was bound to like them.

Before the apocalypse, they would have cost a fortune. But now, Stella Sterling traded just a few catties of grain for several fine-quality jade bracelets.

She was in a good mood with her bountiful haul. She had traded away all forty-odd catties of grain for other things she either needed or simply liked.

Her actions drew frequent sidelong glances from others. Grain? That was the most precious commodity these days. Nothing was more important than food.

Yet here she was, spending so much of it on other items—many of which, in their eyes, were utterly useless apart from being pretty.

Such a display was nothing short of extravagant. ’She must be someone who’s never gone hungry,’ they thought. ’Anyone who has would never do something so foolish.’

It also proved she wasn’t short on food if she could afford to act this way.

Greed began to stir in the eyes of those watching her.

However, the vendors who had traded with her, though tempted, didn’t dare try anything. They had seen part of what happened with the pig seller and knew this woman was not to be trifled with. Besides, she seemed to have some connection to the master of the trading post.

They still had to do business at this trading post and didn’t want to get on the wrong side of its owner.

But some of the other customers didn’t see it that way. In their eyes, Stella Sterling had become a fat sheep ripe for the slaughter.

They wanted to slaughter her and live well off the spoils.

’She might look tough, but so what? We’re tough too. As for the trading post... Hah. We’ll kill her, grab her stuff, and leave immediately. What can the trading post do to us then?’

Besides, it wasn’t like she could stay inside the trading post forever.

And so, as she moved on, several people began to shadow her quietly.

Stella Sterling noticed them. Her first impulse was to deal with them right away, but on second thought, she changed her mind.

A short while later, she bid farewell to Mr. Cheney and told Seven Locke and the others to get ready to leave.

When the "tails" following her saw several people suddenly join up with Stella Sterling, a flicker of hesitation crossed their eyes.

But the memory of Stella Sterling’s free-spending ways was too tempting, and they decided to keep following her as she left.

’I already gave you a chance to live, but you insist on rushing to your deaths. Nothing to be done about it, then.’

Noticing the people still following, Stella Sterling arched an eyebrow.

Once aboard the boat, Stella Sterling told the pilot to head toward Mirefall.

Gus Locke came up to Stella Sterling. "Sterling," he said, "there are a few boats behind us. They’ve been following us the whole time. Should we lose them?"

"Don’t worry about it. Let them follow. We’ll find an opportunity to finish them off later."

Stella Sterling didn’t open her eyes, her voice calm as she reclined on a deck chair. "This will be a chance for you all to prove yourselves."

Seven Locke froze for a second, then nodded respectfully.

The others who overheard Stella Sterling’s words felt a thrill of excitement.

"That woman has her own boat and a crew... Looks like she’s more than she seems," a man on one of the pursuing boats said to the person next to him.

"Who cares if she’s a simple target or not? It’s her bad luck she ran into us today."

Next to him was a tall woman in black, her long hair tied in a high, practical ponytail. A bloodthirsty smile crept across her face.

The occupants of the other boats were having similar conversations.

To give them their chance, Stella Sterling had the boat pull ashore near a small hill.

Seeing this, the crews of the boats behind thought their opportunity had come. They steered their own boats to shore, disembarked, and quickly surrounded Stella Sterling and her group.

There were seven or eight of them in total. On Stella Sterling’s side, there were only five people besides herself, putting them at a numerical disadvantage.

But Stella Sterling wasn’t flustered in the least. On the contrary, she smiled and greeted her pursuers. "Hello there. You must be tired after following us for so long."

The eight of them weren’t surprised that Stella Sterling had already noticed them. They had been so obvious about it that only an idiot would have missed them.

One of them said coldly, "If you’re so smart that you noticed us, you should have lost us earlier. Stopping here... are you that confident in yourself?"

Stella Sterling looked at him. In contrast to his icy tone, hers was light and tinged with amusement. "Did it never occur to you? I knew you were following me, that you wanted to kill me, yet I chose to stop here. Don’t you think that might be a trap?"

Hearing her words, the eight of them tensed up, their guard rising. But then another one scoffed, "Who are you trying to scare, putting on this mysterious act?"

Stella Sterling shrugged, no longer bothering to speak to him. Instead, she turned and waved a hand. "Finish them."

’I was looking for a chance to give these guys some training anyway, a way to test their recent progress.’

’Now these fools have served themselves up on a platter. Saves me the trouble of finding another way.’

Upon receiving Stella Sterling’s command, Seven Locke and the others wasted no time. They drew their weapons and charged.

Stella Sterling had no intention of intervening. She simply stood to the side to watch the show.