Chapter 114: Hail That Can Kill

THUD! THUD! THUD!

In the dead of night.

Stella Sterling was sleeping when a series of loud thuds jolted her from her dreams.

The deafening thuds exploded right by her ears, as if something was smashing down on her head, striking fear into her heart.

She shot up in bed, gasping for air. The booming impacts left a heavy, oppressive feeling in her chest.

"It’s hailing!"

She murmured, her hand instinctively reaching for her calf, where a phantom ache began to throb.

’The pain from when the hail hit my calf in my past life... I still remember it so vividly!’

After a long moment, Stella Sterling finally calmed down, her gaze settling. ’This isn’t my past life anymore. I don’t have to run and hide, searching for shelter.’

Now, she had a secure shelter. She had even had the roof reinforced, so she didn’t have to worry about the hail breaking through. ’I’m safe!’

She got up, went to the living room for a drink of water, and peered out the window. The snow, which had stopped for two days, had started again. This time, however, the snowflakes weren’t as terrifyingly large as before; they were about the same size as when the storm first began.

What was terrifying were the fist-sized hailstones mixed in with the heavy, feathery snow, plummeting from the sky.

They slammed into the ground with loud, sharp cracks. Since Stella Sterling lived on the top floor, the noise sounded exactly as if they were crashing down right on her head. It was impossible to ignore.

They were so large and fell so densely, it felt like they could punch through the roof and rain down on her at any moment, filling her with unease.

Even though she had already had the roof reinforced, the relentless, deafening impacts still made her a little anxious.

As she drew closer to the window, she could hear the hail striking the glass.

Her windows were holding up for now, but the iron security bars outside the smaller ventilation window were already bent and deformed from the impacts.

A potted plant she had placed on the bars two days ago had been shattered by the hail, its remnants falling to the ground below.

Only four or five ceramic shards remained on the bars.

It was three or four in the morning, and the sky outside was still pitch black. The constant CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! echoed in her ears, making it impossible for Stella Sterling to get back to sleep.

"Oh my God, what is this terrifying phenomenon!"

In the medical room, Stephen Lawrence had also been startled awake. He stared at the hail ceaselessly falling outside the window, the terror on his face impossible to hide.

Each thunderous crash felt like a blow to his own heart. Fear made it hard for him to breathe.

He stared at the ceiling above him, unable to stop himself from worrying, ’Will the roof be smashed through?’

’And I’m tied to this chair! If it really does break through, I won’t even be able to dodge. I’ll be killed instantly!’

He watched in terror, then began to scream, "Let me out! Let me out! I don’t want to be in here!"

’This is the top floor! With hail this big, if the roof caves in, anyone up here is as good as dead!’

As he yelled, he began to plead, "Miss, I’m begging you, please let me go! I don’t want to stay here anymore! I’ll die! This is going to kill people!"

Hearing the commotion, Stella Sterling walked toward the medical room. She frowned. "What’s all the noise about?"

Her tone was sharp with displeasure. Normally, Stephen Lawrence would have had the sense to shut up immediately.

But now, the fear of death overwhelmed him. Stephen Lawrence struggled wildly against his restraints and pleaded incessantly with Stella Sterling, "Miss, miss! For the sake of how cooperative I’ve been these past few days, please, just let me go! Did you see the hail outside? If the roof gives way, we’ll be goners!"

Though terrified, he hadn’t completely lost his senses. Amidst his fear, he looked at Stella Sterling with genuine earnestness. "It’s not just me! You have to leave too, miss! There must be tons of empty apartments in the building now. Let’s move to another one, find a different place! The top floor isn’t safe!"

"A different apartment! Let’s find a different apartment! You can even keep using me for your experiments!"

After speaking, Stephen Lawrence looked at Stella Sterling expectantly. ’I’ve laid it all out. As long as she’s not an idiot, she’ll get out of here, right?’

’There’s no way she isn’t scared in a situation like this!’

Normally, if he acted out like this, Stella Sterling would have already given him a beating to shut him up.

But he had been so cooperative for her "practice" recently that she felt a little reluctant to get rough with him. Besides, given that he didn’t know the full situation, his suggestion was actually quite reasonable.

So she just said coldly, "Calm down."

’Calm down? I can’t calm down!’

Stephen Lawrence screamed inwardly, but his fear of Stella Sterling, cultivated over the past few days, kept him from saying anything else aloud.

He just hoped she would listen to him. His life was hanging by a thread, completely at her mercy.

Seeing that he was no longer acting hysterical, Stella Sterling said, "Nowhere we could move to would be as safe as this apartment. I’ve spent a fortune reinforcing this place, inside and out, top to bottom. A standard bomb couldn’t even blast it open. Your worries are completely unfounded."

Stephen Lawrence’s mind went blank as he processed Stella Sterling’s words.

Having said her piece, Stella Sterling’s patience ran out. She warned, "Don’t make another sound. You know the consequences if you do."

That one look was enough to completely sober Stephen Lawrence up. He shivered, his voice trembling. "I-I know. I understand."

’Whether the hail can actually break through the roof is one thing, but I know for a fact that if I keep making a scene, this woman in front of me will absolutely cut me down without a second thought. She’ll send me straight to my grave, and then I won’t have to worry about anything anymore... because there won’t be an anything!’

Having dealt with him, Stella Sterling left, leaving Stephen Lawrence alone in the chair, staring anxiously at the ceiling.

He didn’t sleep a wink all night. It wasn’t until dawn began to break and the apartment remained intact that he finally relaxed enough to slowly drift off.

Stella Sterling was also sleepless that night. She sat in the living room with her headphones on, binge-watching several variety shows.

The night was far from quiet.

She was not the only one who stayed up all night. Many people watched the scene outside, unable to sleep.

Her neighbors across the way, for instance.

People on the lower floors weren’t worried about the roof caving in, but they were terrified of their windows shattering. The wind howled and the hail danced chaotically, slamming against the glass. If a window broke, it would be no laughing matter.

Forget everything else—if the glass shattered, the freezing wind rushing in alone would be unbearable.