Chapter 139

The road was lined with lush forests, with occasional sightings of mindless zombies, but this was not a problem for Lina, who was traveling at high speed. What bothered her more was the frequent road blockages.

After circling around several times, the roads leading out from the hilltop village were almost completely blocked. Lina even ran into a Salvation Army squad. In this situation, unless she got out of the car and walked, by the time she reached the vicinity of the Salvation Hall, it would be too late to save her, and the hilltop village would be unable to help.

Lena helplessly brought the car to a stop, angrily pounding the steering wheel with her hand. If life is always about making choices, then the choice she had to make now carried a heavier weight.

Life is about choosing either side.

It's like the game The Walking Dead, except that game makes you see the consequences of your choices very clearly, while Lina is lucky now.

She could pretend she had done her best, pretend she didn't know about the deaths of some people.

Frustrated, Lina slammed her head on the steering wheel, the horn blaring loudly, but she didn't care. She was just angry. Nothing is perfect, but she hated having to make such imperfect choices.

After venting her anger for a while, Lina turned around and drove back. She could only console herself that at least she had tried.

The scenery on the way back was no different: lush forests, mindless zombies... where did this convoy come from?

Lina slammed on the brakes, turned around, and drove into the woods. Unfortunately, she hadn't brought her binoculars. After hesitating for a moment, Lina gritted her teeth, drove off again, and chased after them in the same direction.

Even faster than her was Rick. As soon as he arrived at the outpost, he saw the Salvation Army convoy. He also spotted Negan through his binoculars in the second black sedan in the convoy, alone.

Rick narrowed his eyes and withdrew his hand from pressing the alarm. This was an opportunity for him to kill Negan.

Rick got into his car, floored the gas pedal, and followed. The Salvation Army would be passing through a small town, so he drove ahead into the town's side streets, into a small alley, listened to the sounds, and watched the first truck pass through the alleyway. Rick floored the gas pedal and sped off.

Negan was caught off guard by the collision, and the two cars raced each other out of sight of the Saviors. Simon and Dwight got out of the car in shock; Rick was simply a madman.

Simon and Dwight exchanged a glance. Both of them harbored ulterior motives, especially since it took the two of them together to create a presentable image. This mirrored their relationship, fueling Simon's growing desires.

He wants to replace Negan.

"What do you think?" Simon asked meaningfully. Dwight simply lowered his head and rubbed the ground with his toes. He wanted Negan dead, he wanted to end this nightmarish life, he wanted to find Shirley, which was also why he was helping Rick.

But could Simon really be trusted? He kept making veiled remarks in the car, expressing his dissatisfaction with Negan. Dwight wasn't stupid, but he still hesitated. He knew these guys—no, they were just beasts in human skin.

But they all wanted Negan dead.

While they hesitated, the rest of the convoy stopped and got out, heading towards Negan and Dwight. "What's going on? Where's Negan?"

“Don’t worry, it’s just Rick. Negan will figure it out himself,” Simon said nonchalantly. “Dwight and I will go check it out. You guys stay here and watch the road!” Their truck was blocking the alley entrance, preventing the convoy behind them from getting through.

He could only look at Simon hesitantly. With Negan gone, Simon was indeed more convincing.

"Let's go. Get moving!" Simon patted Dwight on the shoulder and took the lead, picking up his gun and walking forward.

Dwight glanced at Simon's retreating figure, made up his mind, and followed him.

The remaining Salvation Army soldiers looked at each other in bewilderment and could only follow Simon's instructions to block their path. A group of people surrounded the alley and waited for Simon and his men.

Lena peered out from the top of the wall for a long time, and saw at least half of the Salvation Army... She glanced at the backpack beside her and swallowed hard.

You will save many, many, many kind and simple people, and that will be enough.

Lina opened her backpack, assembled the shells, took a deep breath, and said, "Well, this is fate."

"Hey! You bastards!" Lina shouted down as she stepped onto the roof.

Arat quickly looked up, his expression turning to terror. But both his front and back routes were blocked, and even if they weren't, they wouldn't have made it in time!

【boom--】

An RPG blast leveled the alley, and Lina was thrown off balance, almost falling headfirst. Throwing away the useless rocket launcher, Lina looked down and saw that it had all turned to ash.

You can vaguely see bits of meat.

My apologies, my apologies.

Lena absentmindedly drew a cross in the air, then slung her backpack over her shoulder, climbed down from the building, and went around to the car. She had to check on Rick.

In front of a burning, abandoned building, Lina saw Rick, who looked a mess.

“Hey! Boss! You look like you just crawled out of a pile of walkers!” Lina popped her head out and shouted.

Rick didn't even have time to chat with Lina. He rushed to Lina's car. There were burning zombies all around, and there were more and more of them. Lina rolled up the car window, stepped on the gas and smashed through the zombies, heading towards the hilltop.

"Did you enchant a zombie?" Lina teased as she drove.

“It’s a long story,” Rick sighed, “Negan…”

“I didn’t see him, but I don’t think he died that easily,” Lina said.

"Was that the explosion you just caused?" Rick recalled the roar he heard earlier, and the fact that Lina had specifically taken the RPG out.

“Yes, I wasn’t going to the Salvation Church. Those guys blocked the whole road. I went around several intersections, but I couldn’t find a way to go. I even saw the Salvation Army’s convoy, so I followed them back.” Lina paused for a moment after speaking. “I blasted them all to pieces. It was the first time I’d ever seen life so worthless. A burst of fire, and you couldn’t even see any bits of flesh. There were so many people.”

Rick was silent for a moment. "This isn't your fault, and it's not our fault either."

“Yes,” Lina said nothing more and continued driving in silence.

“They won’t be coming back today. Maybe we can go back into the Church of Saviour,” Rick said suddenly after a moment of contemplation.

“We’re running low on ammunition,” Lina said with some concern. “We have too many wounded. If we launch a large-scale attack, I’m afraid…”

This gave Rick a headache, because if they wanted to launch an attack, they would have to rely on the power of the horde of zombies, since their own fighting strength was too small.

"Let's go back first," Rick decided, deciding to go back and discuss it with Maggie.

When the two returned to the hilltop village, Glenn and Jesus also came back, but they still had no clue about supplies.

Lina looked around; life without food was going to be tough!

"I heard a sound, did you do this?" Daryl suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling Lina.

“I thought I saw Friday,” Lina retorted, while Daryl rolled his eyes.

Lina grinned and poked his cheek. "You need to take a shower. Your hair is all matted."

"..." Daryl grasped Lina's fingers, lowered his eyes and stared intently at her until Lina's smile froze and she awkwardly looked away.

Daryl glanced into the car and saw that Lina's backpack was now visibly empty. After the explosion, Daryl released his grip on Lina's fingers and hugged her tightly. "This isn't your fault."

Lina silently gripped Daryl's clothes tighter. "...You still need to take a shower,"

Daryl chuckled helplessly. "Seriously?"

“I’m sorry,” Lina said in a muffled voice.

“We’ll end all this soon, and I won’t let you face those things again.” Daryl hugged her tighter and tighter.

“No, just for a moment. Don’t even think about taking away my big show later.” Lina rested her chin on Daryl’s chest and looked up at him. “We’ll end all of this.”

“…Yes.” Daryl nodded.

"Hey! Um, maybe we need to have a meeting?"

Lina and Daryl both turned to look at Glenn. The person who sent him must have wanted to play a trick on him. Glenn was clearly uncomfortable.

"Let's go." Compared to Glenn, Daryl was a bit thick-skinned. He calmly let go of Lina and took her hand, leading her into the house.

"Hey, Oppa, how come you're still so innocent even though you have a child?" Lina added fuel to the fire as she passed by.

"Lina!" Glenn called out in embarrassment and followed the two into the house.

Everyone stood or sat solemnly. They were in a very passive position. They didn't know the situation of the Salvation Hall, nor did they know their plans. How to attack and how to launch an attack were all difficult problems. At the same time, there was also the major problem of insufficient supplies.

“They may be running out of ammunition, but they have Eugene,” Rosita said. This was her biggest headache; it was all her impulsiveness that led to this situation.

“I know where that factory is. We can sneak him back,” Abraham said, stopping his pacing. Anger made him clench his fists; he would punch Eugene hard twice. Eugene had betrayed everyone’s trust!

Lena looked left and right, unsure of what to say. Let alone Eugene enjoying life at the Saviour's Church, if it were her, she would have enjoyed it too. Eugene had tried his best to do what he could, but, well, he had indeed done quite a few things he shouldn't have done.

Anyway, the next thing to happen is that Dwight will be discovered, and then Negan will use his plan to both eliminate Simon and use Dwight to set up an ambush for Rick and his group, but in the end he will be defeated by the bullets that Eugene tampered with.

So what can she do during this time?

“Abraham, tell Daryl and Rosita the location, and you two go and bring Eugene back,” Rick said.

“No, I’m going. I must go. I brought him here, and I should bring him back.” Abraham said firmly. Seeing his expression, Rick glanced helplessly at Daryl. Daryl could only look at Lena. Rick sighed. “Alright, Abraham, Lena, you go with Daryl and Rosita. Try not to hurt him. We need him.”

"Okay." Lina nodded hesitantly.

“Aaron is still over there,” Rick said, biting his lip as he thought. “Glenn, you and Jesus go to the seaside hotel and check on Aaron. If you can find some supplies, that would be even better. But safety first. If you can bring those people back…”

“Okay, we’ll see how it goes.” Glenn and Jesus nodded; it wasn’t a difficult task for them.

"The rest of us need to clear out the walkers around us. Take it slow and observe our surroundings carefully." If we start fighting and attract walkers to surround the hilltop stronghold, it will be disastrous.

“Maggie, supplies,” Rick said, looking at her with difficulty.

“Enid and I have been calculating, but…” Maggie was equally troubled. They couldn’t conjure up supplies right now. The only solution was to end the battle as soon as possible so that everyone could return to their respective communities and resume production.

“…Keep the minimum rations, and we’ll think of something else.” Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s get started, everyone.”