Apocalypse Rebirth: Crazy from Day One

After he finished speaking, his gaze swept over the crowd. "Everyone, this sort of thing should come down to choice. If we keep this up, none of us will get him. Why don’t we let Professor Lawrence decide for himself? Whichever faction he picks, the rest of us will automatically leave."

"That way, we can avoid any bad blood and prevent pointless casualties."

The other factions fell silent, no one saying a word.

Professor Lawrence was a crucial asset, and they were all determined to bring him back to their respective factions.

If they failed, their bases would fall behind the others, and they would inevitably face punishment upon their return.

Seeing their hesitation, the man in black sneered. "What’s the matter? Are you all so lacking in confidence in your own bases?"

"We’re all in the same boat right now. Who will Professor Lawrence choose? Nobody knows for sure. It could be us, or it could be one of you."

"Is no one willing to take that gamble?"

"Or, we could all just keep going like this, stuck in a stalemate."

Everyone remained silent. The man in black’s expression darkened.

Stella Sterling glanced his way, then looked away.

She looked at Professor Lawrence, who had barely said a word, and her brow slowly furrowed.

’Something isn’t right,’ she thought. ’It’s like he’s deliberately stalling for time.’

She tried to recall what Professor Lawrence looked like from her past life. The man before her certainly had the same face.

But she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

Stella Sterling studied him carefully, not letting a single, easily overlooked detail escape her notice.

The silent Professor Lawrence inadvertently glanced in a certain direction, and Stella Sterling’s gaze followed.

Professor Lawrence stood up and addressed the crowd. "Some of what you’ve said is true. If I am to choose, it’s only natural that I’d pick the strongest base."

At these words, representatives from several factions grew excited. "Us! We’re obviously the strongest!" they yelled.

"Professor Lawrence, look at us! We brought the most people. It’s obvious we’re the most powerful!"

"What good are numbers? If they’re all useless, it means nothing."

"Everyone from our base is an elite! We’re fully equipped, and our firepower is unmatched!"

Some remained silent, but were secretly making preparations.

If Professor Lawrence chose another group, they were prepared to make their move—either to eliminate everyone else, or to kill the professor outright.

Their orders stated that even if they couldn’t bring Professor Lawrence back, they could not, under any circumstances, let him fall into enemy hands.

Their plan had only two outcomes: either they would take Professor Lawrence back with them, or he would die.

Professor Lawrence, however, now seemed completely unruffled. He smiled at the crowd and said, "Of course, all of you are very strong. But we can’t determine who’s the strongest based on words alone."

"So how about this? I won’t choose anyone right now. I’ll just stay over here, and you can each send one person to watch me and make sure I don’t run away."

"Then, you can all fight it out. Whoever the final winner is will have proven they’re the strongest, and I’ll naturally choose to return to their base with them."

Hearing this, Stella Sterling smiled. Certain things were now clear to her.

She glanced over at Shane Lawrence and the others and shook her head, signaling them not to act rashly.

Then, while no one was paying attention, she began to quietly slip away from the area.

"Are you trying to make us kill each other?"

The man in black glared at Professor Samuel Lawrence, displeased.

"Given the situation, is there any other way? Even if I made a choice right now, you’d all start fighting anyway."

"And in all that chaos, I could easily get myself killed. Is that the outcome any of you want?"

"You couldn’t figure it out, so I came up with a solution for you. Isn’t that a good thing?"

While they were still arguing, Quinn had already slipped away from the confrontation and was heading in a specific direction. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After getting Stella Sterling’s signal, Shane Lawrence and his group remained hidden among the crowd, neither making a move nor a sound.

When they then saw Sarah Sterling quietly leaving, they exchanged a look and began to slowly back away as well.

With everyone’s attention focused on Professor Lawrence, their departure went unnoticed.

’That man back there definitely isn’t Vincent Lawrence. He has the same face, but the man I met in my past life had a mole on his neck. I looked, and this one doesn’t.’

’A classic bait and switch, meant to sow discord. The real Professor Lawrence has already escaped, and that direction the decoy glanced in...’

Stella Sterling analyzed the details in her mind as she moved through the night.

Convinced her judgment was correct, she hurried in that direction.

Not long after she left, the sound of gunshots erupted behind her.

They had actually started fighting.

She paid it no mind and continued her pursuit. She had already warned Shane Lawrence and his group, so they shouldn’t be getting into a life-or-death struggle with the others.

After some time, a dark, running figure appeared in the distance, within Sarah Sterling’s line of sight.

At such a close distance, it took her only a few seconds to catch up.

She blocked his path, her smile growing even wider.

’Just as I thought.’

The man before her looked identical to the one she had just seen, except this one had a small black mole on his neck.

This was the real Professor Lawrence.

The man back there had just been a decoy, cannon fodder pushed forward by the professor to attract everyone’s attention and facilitate his own escape.

Professor Lawrence jumped in fright when someone suddenly appeared in his path, stopping dead in his tracks.

He panicked for a moment when he saw the woman before him, but then he calmed himself and said, "My friend, why are you blocking my path?"

Stella Sterling smiled. "For you, of course, Professor Lawrence."

The pupils of the man, who was in his fifties, contracted. He took several steps back.

’How is this possible? We fooled everyone.’

’They all think the real me is back there, fighting to the death over me.’

’So how did she figure it out?’

He forced himself to calm down. "You’ve got the wrong person."

Stella Sterling simply smiled at his childish denial. "No, I haven’t."

Without another word, Vincent Lawrence turned and bolted in another direction.

But it wasn’t long before Stella Sterling caught him again. "Don’t run. Right now, I’m the only one who can save you."