Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Questioning? You Have No Right

It was her.

It really was her.

The woman he had cast aside like a worn-out shoe, the one he had cruelly abandoned at the very beginning of the deep freeze.

He had considered all sorts of possibilities, but he never imagined that Sue Lawrence would be the one to save him.

He was a Superpower User, after all. And Sue Lawrence? A nobody. Being saved by a nobody was humiliating enough!

Jason Sterling’s expression gradually darkened.

But Sue Lawrence didn’t even notice Jason Sterling’s expression. She followed Silas Hawthorne inside, her first action being to scan her surroundings and assess the situation.

Theodore Frost was giving a report.

"When we got here, the top floor had collapsed..."

Sue stood to the side and listened. She realized the situation was not good.

A group of over twenty people, a damaged sled, a robot with no signal, one person who had fallen to their death, three with broken bones, and several with torn anti-cold suits. Sue checked on the few whose suits were ripped, then looked away.

’These people will probably need amputations.’

The temperature was too low. Without the protection of an anti-cold suit, a person simply couldn’t withstand it.

Silas Hawthorne also surveyed the scene, his gaze landing on the injured. "How many people have damaged anti-cold suits in total?"

"These three," Theodore Frost said, pointing nearby. "They were delayed while searching for a shelter and already had frostbite from being outside."

Silas Hawthorne nodded, but his gaze shifted to Sue Lawrence.

They both knew what the other was thinking. Each of them had a Liquid Nitrogen Anti-cold Suit in their pack, which meant they were still one short.

Silas Hawthorne waited for Sue to speak, and she cooperated perfectly. "We have another Liquid Nitrogen Anti-cold Suit back in our igloo outside. That should be enough, but we’ll need to go get it."

Hearing this, Silas Hawthorne nodded. "We have to leave this place as soon as possible. The temperature outside is still dropping. We don’t know when it will fall below minus one hundred degrees Celsius."

’Minus one hundred degrees Celsius?’

The temperature shocked everyone, but most of them were trained professionals, and they quickly fell silent again.

Silas Hawthorne said, "That’s why we have to get back to the fallout shelter base as quickly as possible. It’s the only place that can guarantee our survival through the extreme cold."

Everyone’s expressions grew more solemn. The low temperatures had arrived too quickly. Even Theodore Frost couldn’t help but say, "It seems like we won’t be able to go out on supply runs anymore."

At such low temperatures, even their anti-cold suits couldn’t hold up. Although they had suits, they wouldn’t last for extended periods.

"Then let’s prepare. Theodore, come here. Let’s discuss how we’re going to get up."

Going back the way they fell was impossible. The only option was to find another way out.

The two men spoke in low voices. Theodore Frost occasionally drew something on the ground, likely a map of the area. Sue Lawrence, bored, glanced around and inevitably met Jason Sterling’s gaze.

Seeing Sue’s upright posture and her calm, powerful eyes, Jason felt an even greater sense of unease.

Jealousy, regret, resentment, and a strange, twisted emotion he couldn’t name coiled around his heart like venomous snakes.

Jason Sterling’s face paled and flushed in turns. An extremely complex, almost pathological emotion churned in his eyes, which were glued to Sue, unable to look away.

Sue: ...

’Unbelievable. I forgot he was here too.’

’And he’s staring at me. What is he looking at?’

Sue turned her head away, not wanting to look at him at all.

But Jason put on a hurt expression and gritted his teeth. "You really don’t want to see me that badly?"

The people around them all turned to look.

Sue: ...

’It’s hopeless. The space is too small; there’s no avoiding him.’

"Huh? Do you need something?"

Sue had no choice but to turn back to him. "If not, you should lie down for a while. We can talk after you’ve rested."

’Basically, I still don’t want to deal with him.’

"Was it Silas Hawthorne who brought you here?" Jason’s tone was laced with jealousy. "Did he protect you the whole way?"

Sue: ...

’Seriously, I shouldn’t have answered him. But the space is just too small to get away. Otherwise, I’d run as far as I possibly could.’

In an instant, everyone in the ice cave was staring at her, all wanting to see just how useless this Sue Lawrence was and how she had been protected by Silas Hawthorne the entire journey.

Aside from the soldiers, whose discipline was strict, the few people there just to grind for Points started whispering among themselves.

"She’s the young miss of the Lawrence Family!"

"Exactly. Of course the boss has to protect her and look out for her!"

"It’s ninety-six degrees below zero outside. She’s such a dead weight!"

"Hey, why are their anti-cold suits different from ours? Don’t tell me our boss’s suit broke because he had to save her, and that’s why he had to change..."

"What a burden..."

Their muttering wasn’t loud, but in the small space, everyone could hear. The gloom on Jason Sterling’s face instantly dissipated, and the corner of his mouth curled into a disdainful sneer. He was just about to ask her about the anti-cold suit she was wearing when the man squatting on the ground talking to Theodore Frost suddenly whipped his head around and shot Jason a deep look.

Those deep, cold eyes, like frigid pools, stared directly at Jason Sterling with unquestionable authority. Then, he spoke slowly, his voice low and clear, echoing throughout the entire ice cave. "I was the one who was a burden to Sue Lawrence."

With that one sentence, all the whispering came to a sudden halt.

Silas Hawthorne’s gaze swept over the crowd as he continued, "I had an accident, and my anti-cold suit was destroyed. Sue Lawrence saved my life and gave me her Liquid Nitrogen Anti-cold Suit. If it weren’t for her, the person lying on the ground waiting for an amputation right now would be me."

Dead silence.

Absolute, dead silence.

The air in the ice cave seemed to freeze. Everyone’s eyes went wide, their faces filled with disbelief as they stared at Sue Lawrence as if they had seen a ghost.

"What? She saved Mr. Hawthorne?"

"Her? The young miss of the Lawrence Family who only gets treated with respect because she donates supplies?"

"Has Mr. Hawthorne’s brain frozen? He must be joking!"

"Impossible! She’s completely powerless and doesn’t even have a Superpower. How could she possibly save a top-tier expert like Mr. Hawthorne?"

"I bet Mr. Hawthorne is just saying that to protect her!"

An explosion of doubt, disbelief, and ridicule erupted, even more intense than before.

The survivors who were just there for Points were especially scornful, looking Sue up and down with unconcealed suspicion in their eyes.

And Jason Sterling was even more certain of this theory. Sue Lawrence didn’t have a Superpower, did she? So Silas must be saying this just to defend her.

’So, she’s already hooked up with Silas Hawthorne? Got him to lie for her and pledge his undying loyalty?’

He stared at Sue with a look of utter contempt, as if trying to see through her lies.

But Sue’s expression remained neutral. Silas hadn’t said anything wrong. ’Forget just saving him,’ she thought. ’This mission wouldn’t have been completed so quickly without me. I’m practically the biggest cheat code in this apocalypse.’

But still, some people didn’t believe it, and the voices of doubt grew louder.