Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Baffling Confidence

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Jason Sterling, watching the icicles gradually form on his head. In the span of a single breath, the shock on everyone’s faces turned to deep-seated fear. Even Tia Norris couldn’t help but widen her eyes, sucking in a sharp breath. She covered her mouth, her gaze locked on Jason Sterling, and exclaimed, "M-My... Ice Control Skill?"

’My Ice Control Skill is really on him. Jason Sterling really did steal my Ice Control Skill. It really was him!’

In that instant, everyone in the room shuddered.

Had Jason Sterling really taken Tia Norris’s Ice Control Skill? Did that mean he was the one who killed Maeve Walsh? And Donovan Lawrence, too...?

For a moment, an eerie silence fell over the living room. Jason Sterling, his face a mask of desperation, swatted the ice shards from his head and shrieked, "This isn’t my Superpower! I don’t have any Superpowers! Tia Norris, are you crazy? Why would you do something like this to frame me!"

The others looked at Tia Norris again. She was on the verge of tears and quickly shook her head. "I didn’t! I really didn’t..."

"Then it has to be you!"

Miles Finch and the others gritted their teeth. Adam Zane lunged forward, pinning Jason Sterling down and started wailing on him.

’But, since I’ve already decided to frame someone, I have to see it through to the end.’

While activating Skill 2 to openly steal Tia Norris’s Ice Control Skill, Sue Lawrence simultaneously passed what she took to Jason Sterling. ’After all, his trust level is low, so managing to transfer a tenth of it is already decent. But hey, it’s better than nothing.’

’Besides, if I were to leave and Jason Sterling lost the Superpower again, wouldn’t that just expose me?’

’And it’s not like I’m giving him my own Superpower. It’s Tia’s.’

Sue Lawrence acted quickly. Soon, Jason Sterling finally received a tiny bit of the Superpower, and a line of light blue text appeared above his head: E Level Ice Control Skill.

[E Level Ice Control Skill: Can condense ice crystals. Ice control ability: Negligible.]

Sue Lawrence almost burst out laughing when she read the last word. But, at the very least, it confirmed that a certain someone did indeed now possess the Ice Control Skill.

So she continued to hide and watch the show.

Tia Norris shrieked, "My Ice Control Skill’s level dropped again!"

"It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!" Jason Sterling screamed. But just as he touched Adam Zane, a layer of frost formed on Adam’s arm—a Skill he had activated unconsciously, unfamiliar with its use.

Immediately after, Jason Sterling saw his own skill panel. He really did have the Ice Control Skill now, and it was E Level—a rank so low it might as well not exist.

He was going insane, but things were about to get even worse.

Miles Finch rushed over too, and together with Adam Zane, they pinned him down and gave him a vicious beating.

"Jason Sterling, you black-hearted bastard! You tricked us out of our money to hoard supplies for yourself, and now you even stole Tia Norris’s Superpower?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"You’re so used to being high and mighty, you’ve never even treated us like people, have you? Jason Sterling, give us our supplies back, or we’ll beat you to death right here, right now!"

The two men yelled as they hit him, then turned to call out to Tia Norris. "Use your Ice Control Skill, Tia! Pin him down! Don’t you want to get your share of the supplies back?!"

Tia Norris hesitated. ’I don’t know what to do,’ she thought. ’The Norris Family has always followed the Sterling Family. Now that Jason Sterling has done all this, maybe Dad wouldn’t even be upset. He might even want me to just hand over my Superpower to them!’

So for now, she didn’t dare to make a move, merely watching from the side, hesitant to act.

Miles Finch cursed under his breath and exchanged a look with Adam Zane. His gut told him they needed to resolve this quickly, before any more complications could arise.

The two of them hauled Jason Sterling to his feet, only to knock him back to the ground with another vicious punch.

Poor Jason Sterling. He had finally gotten a Superpower, only for it to be a useless E Level one that could, at best, form a few ice crystals. His combat effectiveness was practically zero.

Clutching his swelling eye, Jason Sterling struggled to his feet. ’Everything that’s happened today is just too bizarre,’ he thought. ’If Donovan Lawrence isn’t messing with me from beyond the grave, then someone is setting me up. But who?!’

He was about to lose his mind.

"Listen to me..."

"Shut up! All we want are our supplies! There were 1.4 million worth of supplies, and the few of us are taking one million’s worth. Otherwise, this isn’t over!"

"That’s right! We get the supplies, and then we’re done!"

The two men were relentless. Jason Sterling was all alone, and the two women, Tia Norris and Mia Keller, were fucking useless. He could only say through gritted teeth, "Have you really thought this through? Without the Sterling Family, how do you expect to survive the apocalypse!"

"It’s still better than ending up like Donovan Lawrence! Now give us the supplies!"

Jason Sterling had no choice but to lead them toward the villa’s basement. Seeing this, Sue Lawrence silently followed behind.

’Supplies? Then I definitely have to follow them and see.’

Soon, the group arrived at the basement. It was stocked full of supplies, all non-perishables like instant noodles, canned goods, vacuum-sealed grains, as well as rice cakes, flatbread, and so on.

The moment Miles Finch and Adam Zane saw it, they rushed in and started grabbing supplies.

They hadn’t brought any bags, so they went straight upstairs, tore down the curtains, and bundled a huge pile of things inside them. The bundle was as large as a small hill, too heavy to carry on their backs, so the two of them chose to lift it together and managed to haul it all out of the villa.

Sue Lawrence watched quietly from the side. She wasn’t interested in these supplies. She just hid in a corner, quietly observing the basement, and eventually noticed a problem.

’The size of this basement is wrong.’

’Since it’s in the same neighborhood as my family’s villa, the size and layout of the houses should be identical. That means the basements should be the same size, too. But this one is obviously smaller.’

She compared and observed it carefully, finally discovering that the basement was indeed smaller. There seemed to be a small, hidden room in the northwest corner.

Sue Lawrence suddenly smiled, the corners of her lips turning up as her eyes filled with eager anticipation.

’There’s definitely something good hidden over there.’

She was instantly filled with anticipation.

Meanwhile, in the basement, Mia Keller was also moving supplies. ’I have 200,000 worth of supplies in here,’ she thought. ’I’ll just move some of it for now.’

With that in mind, Mia Keller also began dragging a large bundle outside.

’It’s impossible to go back to my own place,’ she thought, ’but isn’t Sue’s house right here? I’ll move the stuff to Sue’s place for now. It can just be our group’s apocalypse supplies.’

Soon, the group had looted the basement clean. Once they were all gone, Jason Sterling stared at the empty shelves, his expression dark and grim, before turning and walking to the northwest corner.

He pressed a wall sconce, and just as she’d expected, a hidden door instantly swung open, revealing something glittering with golden light inside.

’It was gold!’

Sue Lawrence’s eyes widened, her gaze fixed on the gleam from within the small room.

Jason Sterling stroked the gold, and the grim look on his face finally eased a little. The corner of his mouth curled into a sneer as he let out a cold snort. "As expected, not a single one of them was fit to make it to the end. Just a bunch of short-sighted fools! You can’t survive the apocalypse alone; you have to be in a team. Miles Finch, if you lot try to go it alone, you’re all dead for sure!"