Chapter 141

As she climbed the hillside, the soft grass was pitifully trampled to pieces by a group of heartless people. Lina looked down and, because she was standing high and far enough, she could see the dense horde of corpses in the distance clearly.

"So many zombies!" The number was truly unprecedented, and everyone felt a sense of heaviness in their hearts.

Despite facing such severe survival pressures, the struggle among humankind continues endlessly. When will peace finally arrive?

As they passed through the dry woods—if it could even be called a woods anymore—Lina swallowed nervously, feeling like they were almost there.

Sure enough, as soon as I stepped out of the woods, an endless whistling sound echoed in my ears.

3D stereo sound echo.

This time, Lina couldn't get a word in edgewise; clearly, this wasn't the kind of occasion to joke around.

They were surrounded.

"Damn it, Rick, look, we've fallen for it again, a huge fall for it," Negan's voice came through the speakers, and everyone was looking around like headless flies, guns in hand.

No Salvation Army could be seen, but their voices could be heard all around.

“I countered your ambush with an even bigger one,” Lina could imagine his smug look even though she couldn’t see his expression.

“Why don’t you come out and face us openly and honestly?” the warrior Rick shouted fearlessly.

Lina glanced at him silently. "You're really upset now that you've come out."

“I’m everywhere, Rick,” Negan remarked sarcastically, looking down at the group of trapped creatures, like ants on a sand table, while he surveyed them from his lofty position.

“There are megaphones and walkie-talkies everywhere. Pick an escape route and see how far you can run. Let’s all have some fun. Guess what else I did?” Negan was clearly not waiting for Rick’s reply; he continued on his own.

“I also brought a few of your old friends. Do you remember your old friend Eugene? He’s the one who made everything we have today.” Negan’s smug face was so convincing that Lena couldn’t bear to look at him later. The more he liked Eugene now, the more he would hate Eugene later—no, twice as much!

Poor child, Lina silently made the sign of the cross in her heart.

“This young Dwight is the same. If you want to know, he didn't mean to betray you. No, he's just… a spineless coward who's going to stand here and watch you die, bearing the brunt of it all.”

“Gabriel, he has to die too. Today I’m going to clean house, Rick, and then… it’s your turn.” Through the loudspeaker, everyone heard the faint click.

He was serious.

“There’s no need to fight. You just need to accept reality, so… let’s begin. Congratulations, Rick,” the voice fell silent, and instantly everyone’s hair stood on end. But they had nowhere to hide and no target to attack.

A shadow of despair loomed over everyone.

"three!"

"two!"

Like a game of whack-a-mole, as soon as Negan finished speaking, a dense swarm of Saviors suddenly appeared, surrounding them. The entire opposite hilltop was filled with their men, who strode aggressively towards them with an air of ruthlessness.

"one!"

They pulled the trigger at the same time, but what happened next left everyone stunned. Lena silently clenched her fist. Yes! Check-in, check-in for the iconic scene! What was season eight all about? Just for this moment!

Firecrackers went off across the way, and all the Salvation Army's guns exploded. Caught off guard, they fell to the ground, howling and clutching their hands, without exception.

Some unlucky souls were killed directly by flying bullets or gun fragments, which is a matter of probability. In short, Rick didn't even need to lift a finger.

Everyone looked at each other, dumbfounded, staring at the scene opposite them.

In an instant, they turned the tide. Rick seized the opportunity and shouted, "Go!"

Given that the opposing force consisted of defenseless remnants, no one fired a shot. They simply charged forward, trying to grab Negan. As they charged, Lina heard a deafening roar, "Eugene!!!"

"Serves you right for being so cocky!" Lina thought gleefully.

After rushing a certain distance, some of the Salvation Army soldiers who had recovered picked up melee weapons and tried to fight back. Of course, many others fled or surrendered without moving. No one showed any mercy to those who were still resisting.

Lina saw Negan fleeing in a disheveled state; clearly, this kind of big boss should be left to someone of equal status to deal with.

Lena swung her knife to eliminate the Saviors who were in her way, then looked at Rick and asked, "Rick, do you still want Negan dead?"

Rick paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over Carl, who was gesturing for the surrendered Saviors to leave and persuading the resisting Saviors to stop.

Rick looked at the gun in his hand, nodded to Lina, and said, "Yes, sir."

Rick chased after Negan, but Lena didn't follow; she needed to calm the chaos first.

Lina deftly swung her longsword. Unlike Karl, who was good at persuasion, her method of persuasion was to beat him to death first, and then hand him over to someone else for ideological work once he was obedient.

Isn't this a normal separation of military and political affairs? She's only responsible for fighting, not as a political commissar; she can't do ideological work.

Lena helped Gabriel, who could have been a fortune teller, into the car, then looked at the unfortunate Eugene, who was about to be beaten up by an angry Regina.

But faster than fists and knives were Rosita and Abraham's bullets.

Oh, her family of three was ruined, it was all the fault of that scumbag Abraham. Lena was briefly depressed for a second, then picked up her knife and chased after Negan and the others.

She saw the remaining Saviors, led by Laura, obediently kneel down and admit defeat; the outcome was decided.

As Lina passed through the convoy, she saw what was happening under the big tree opposite: Negan, with nowhere to run, Rick, who had run out of bullets, and two beasts fighting each other under the tree.

Lina didn't move closer; she stopped and just looked, just like she used to watch from behind a computer screen, which made her feel a momentary daze.

"We should stop them."

Lena snapped back to her senses and looked at Carl beside her. He frowned and looked at Rick and Negan with concern.

“The future isn’t limited to just this one.” Karl looked at Lina.

Lina was silent for a moment. “I believe Rick,” Lina said, looking up at the sun, as if the sun itself had changed.

However… Lina looked down at Carl, “Didn’t you find Sean?” She thought Sean had been captured! Negan hadn’t mentioned Sean at all.

When Sean was mentioned, Carl's expression turned grim. "I asked around, and he wasn't caught. Nobody knows where he went."

Lina's brow furrowed. Oh no, where else could he have gone?!

*

Just as Lena had said before, Sean would be like a shadowy cockroach, lurking in the corner watching them, and he certainly did.

He not only figured out the terrain of Hilltop Village and discovered their secret entrances and exits, but he also saw Judith.

He wanted to take her away countless times, but patience, patience is the most important thing.

This morning was a perfect opportunity. Everyone had left, and Sean overheard that this might be their showdown with Negan. He didn't care who won or lost; what Sean wanted most was for both sides to be severely injured.

But now, he finally got the opportunity he had been dreaming of: a mountain stronghold that was mostly empty, with only a group of insignificant guys left.

Sean prepared the car, stole some supplies, and then entered the mountain stronghold through a secret passage. It wasn't easy to hide during the day, but he didn't intend to. He was wearing clothes belonging to someone in the stronghold, and walked around the stronghold with his head down.

His overly confident demeanor aroused some suspicion among those who occasionally glanced at Sean, but no one questioned him or checked him out.

Sean calmly covered his face, walked into the house, and went upstairs. He saw Judith playing with toys in the house. She was so beautiful, his daughter.

Sean softened completely. He took two steps forward and knelt down in front of Judith. "Hi, Judith, I'm your dad."

Judith looked at the stranger in front of her with suspicion. She was old enough to understand things, and as far as she knew, she had never seen this person before, and her father did not look like him.

Sean rubbed his face to calm his excited heart, then picked up Judith in one go. Judith struggled uncomfortably, but she couldn't resist Sean and started to cry in distress.

Sean gently covered Judith's mouth, "Shh shh shh—"

He quickly ran downstairs, and Judith cried softly in his arms.

Although it pained him, Sean couldn't worry about anything else, considering his future with his daughter. He couldn't be found out, he absolutely couldn't be found out!

"Judith?!" The downstairs door was pushed open, and heavy footsteps echoed down the stairs. Sean opened a door to the side and slipped inside.

"Judith? What's wrong?" Sophia ran in. "Judith?" She looked around the room in confusion. There were only scattered toys, but Judith was nowhere to be seen.

Another cry came from inside. Sofia went into the room and picked up Grace from the cradle. "Little cutie, don't cry, sweetie—" Sofia skillfully coaxed Grace, then walked around the room. Judith wasn't hiding in the corner. Where did she go?

Feeling uneasy, Sophia began calling Judith's name loudly.

Sean hurried downstairs with Judith in his arms. Hearing a noise on the stairs, Sophia ran out of the room and saw only a familiar figure from behind.

Sophia carried Judith downstairs and ran into Tara. "What happened? I think I just saw someone carry Judith away?" Tara asked Sophia in confusion.

“I didn’t see Judith, but I heard her crying,” Sophia said, handing Grace to Tara. “I’ll go look for her.”

"Hey!" Tara hurriedly hugged Grace, watching Sophia run away.

"Put her down!"

As soon as Sean reached the secret passage, he bumped into a nuisance, Moore Dixon.

"I thought you were dead?" Sean pursed his lips unhappily, thinking he should have just stabbed him in the neck.

“Ha, you’re still a long way from killing me,” Moore said, sitting on the crate in the secret passage, pointing his gun at Sean. “Put her down!”

Sean narrowed his eyes. "You should really look at yourself now, Rick's dog."

“Shut up,” Moore found Sean ridiculous, “Let go…”

"The Salvation Army!" A shout from the sentry post shattered the silence between the two.

Sean hugged Judith to his chest, rammed into Moore, knocking him off the box, opened the door, and crawled inside.

When the rest of Hilltop Village arrived, Sophia helped Moore up. Moore glared at Tara, cursing, "Are you blind? That bastard Sean stole Judith from us!"

"Chase him!" Everyone rushed out of the secret passage and only saw Sean's back as he disappeared into the woods. Moore was still not fully recovered, and Beth took the gun from Herschel's waist. "I'll go after him."

Herschel did not stop her; Beth had grown a lot in silence, and he respected her decision.

"Come on, little girl, you're not even worth a punch." Moore shoved Sophia aside and chased after her.

Sofia stamped her foot and followed.

Beth was stunned. How could a wounded soldier like him talk to her like that? Just as they were about to chase after them, a large number of Saviors rushed towards the hilltop. Tara quickly told everyone to take cover.

"Get ready," Tara signaled everyone to grab their guns and wait for the Saviors to advance. But unexpectedly, a large number of guns were fired, catching the Saviors off guard and leaving them defenseless.

Tara led the people out, and she saw the group of people at the seaside hotel, and she saw Jesus, Glenn, and Aaron.

"We're going to win."