Chapter 65

Daryl is a master tracker; with him, Lina doesn't need to think at all—she can just follow him.

Daryl made a gesture to Lina, roughly meaning for her to be quiet and slow down.

Lina gripped the knife tightly; the serious atmosphere made her consciously slow down her breathing.

Turning around against the wall, Lina and Daryl saw a ground littered with walkers.

“It looks like he was shot in his sleep,” Lina poked the zombie in the sleeping bag with her knife.

“Sometimes I’m just speechless,” Daryl said irritably, shooting down a noisy walker. The walkers inside the tent were restless but trapped inside. Lina and Daryl ignored them, casually killing a few sleeping bag walkers that were in the way, and continued on their way.

The door in front was loosely chained. Daryl looked at Lina, or more precisely, at the knife in her hand.

Lena cautiously took a step back, clutching the knife. "I think I should change my will." She had a feeling that she shouldn't leave her dagger to Daryl; he would definitely use her beloved knife for hard labor, endless hard labor!

Daryl was speechless for a moment, then muttered under his breath, "It's just a knife." Besides, he didn't want any will or instructions; it was too unlucky.

Seeing that Lina was not very willing, Daryl did not force her. After all, Lina would make the right judgment in an emergency, and he still believed in Lina in that respect. However, it was not necessary to break the chains now.

Daryl opened the chained door, and Lina squeezed through the crack. Daryl handed Lina the crossbow, then sucked in his stomach and squeezed through the crack. "Luckily we didn't eat," Daryl complained.

The room was not only clean, but the decor was also quite nice. It used to be a manager's office. However, they still couldn't find the figure that Daryl had seen.

The two stood by the window, looking out at the bombed city, feeling a sense of melancholy.

Daryl looked out the window and suddenly felt like he saw something. He took out a small pair of binoculars from his bag and saw an ambulance not far away. Daryl recognized the cross mark on the window.

After drinking some water, Lina skillfully rummaged through a corner and found a safe. Not knowing if there was anything inside, Lina picked up the safe and shook it.

"What can you hear?" Daryl asked, puzzled. Putting aside how she managed to find the safe, what was she doing rummaging through it? Daryl didn't think Lina was interested in money.

“Hmm, there might be a gun inside. It doesn’t sound like just the clanging of jewelry. What do you think?” Lina held the safe close to Daryl’s ear and shook it.

Daryl frowned as he listened. “Possibly, but…” He looked at Lina’s knife, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “Are you willing to do that?”

Lina pouted. "I'd better look for the password."

“No fool would leave the password here so casually,” Daryl said, casually tossing his binoculars across the table, clearly enjoying the spectacle.

“That’s hard to say,” Lina said, surveying the room. She first rummaged through the tables, drawers, and cabinets, hoping to find notes or something similar, but unfortunately, there were none.

“That painting, I bet some rich guy spent a lot of money on it, like it was painted on a dog’s butt covered in paint,” Daryl complained.

Lina raised an eyebrow and, upon hearing this, took the painting down and examined the frame.

Lina hung the picture frame back up, walked to the safe, turned around, and under Daryl's watchful gaze, [click—] the safe door opened.

Lina, smugly, kept bowing as if taking her final bow.

Daryl jumped off the table and walked over to Lina. "How did you guess?" He glanced at the painting, walked over and pulled it up. There was only one name on the back, maybe the author or something.

Lina was laughing happily; Daryl could almost see her little fangs. She was really showing off.

"Secret~" Lina rummaged through the contents of the safe and found a pistol and a box of bullets.

Then there's some waste paper and the like.

Daryl instinctively grabbed two handfuls of money, which included some jewelry. He picked up a pearl necklace and held it up to Lena. "No, it doesn't suit you," Daryl said disdainfully, throwing the necklace away.

To be honest, Daryl is quite unique in this world for not forgetting to make money.

But it was cute too. Lina squatted down next to the safe with a smile, watching Daryl rummage through the jewelry and gesture to her. Finally, he took out a box.

Daryl opened it and saw a diamond ring.

Perhaps the safe's owner intended it for his fiancée; Daryl saw a note on the top of the box inside: "Marry me."

He had never thought about this, after all, it was already the end of the world.

Lina looked at Daryl, who had suddenly fallen into a daze, and leaned over to look at the box in his hand. "Well, as an engagement ring, it's alright, isn't it? Big enough, sparkly enough, and not cheap either." But this kind of ring is only worn on occasions like proposals where you need to show off.

Daryl glanced at Lina, pursed his lips, and said nothing.

After seeing that Daryl had finished looking at the safe, Lina stood up. "Let's go see the car."

Daryl closed the box. Lina had already left. Daryl hesitated for a moment, then put the ring into his pocket.

He wasn't thinking anything else, really.

As Lina squeezed through the crack in the door, she seemed to see someone outside? Lina's knife didn't prevent her from squeezing through the crack, so she didn't take it off. It seemed the people at the door were waiting for them to come out so they could snatch their weapons first?

Just as Lina had thought, that was Noah's plan. But when he saw Lina emerge so easily, he knew his plan had failed. He hurriedly dragged his not-so-nimble legs and ran backward.

“Hey, wait! Do you know where there’s a hospital or something? There’s a car with a cross on it, and they’ve kidnapped our companion!” Lina shouted.

Noah slowed down, standing in the middle of the passage and hesitatingly looking at Lina. At this moment, Daryl also emerged, raising his crossbow at Noah, "Don't try any tricks."

Noah nervously raised his hand and looked at them. "Gradius Memorial Hospital is nearby."

"Can you take us there?" Lina asked.

Noah glanced at Daryl, who looked as if to say that refusing was pointless.

“No, no, I just escaped from there. They’re chasing me. I just want some weapons. I want to go home,” Noah said, sounding somewhat distraught.

Lina frowned, and Daryl put down his crossbow. "Hey kid, where do you live?"

“Richmond, there’s a base nearby,” Noah said.

Daryl nodded. "We might not go. We need to go back and discuss it," Daryl said to Lina in a low voice, "if it's a place where we can definitely stay..."

Lena frowned. She remembered that after they took Noah to Richmond, they found that the city had already fallen.

What else happened? Lena pondered in distress. Oh no, she had completely forgotten the rest of the plot. All she remembered was a bunch of naive and innocent girls in Alexandria, and Rick taking down the Saviors' outpost, getting revenge, and Negan brutally killing Abraham and... Glenn.

Lina scratched her hair in frustration. "Take him back. At least we'll need him to give us directions to the hospital."

Noah was somewhat reluctant, but he had no choice.

"What are they doing in the hospital? Why are they taking our people?" Lina asked Noah.

“They rescue people,” Noah paused, “but sometimes they see a lone woman and they'll run into her and take her back.”

“Beth did it last time too,” Lina said angrily to Daryl, “and this time it’s Carol. These people are really…”

Daryl looked at Noah. "Is it safe in there? Will they treat the people they bring back?"

Noah was taken aback by Daryl's imposing manner. "Usually, usually they will, but resources are scarce right now. Sometimes, they only save half..."

Daryl and Lina exchanged a somewhat irritated glance. They didn't know how badly Carol had been hit, but if she wasn't, those people wouldn't have taken her away.

She is very smart.

She must be at least unconscious.

"We need to get back quickly." The three of them headed towards the direction out of the city. Their car was nearby, and Daryl had found some gasoline along the way, which should be enough to get them back.

Lina stared at Noah, who was a limp kid who was always trying to run away.

"Is it bad in there?" Lina asked.

“…Although it’s safe, it’s terrible, terrible,” Noah said after a moment of silence. “I just want to be with my family. I can never repay them for the supplies they spent to save me. They forced me to stay and do logistics, and my expenses will only keep increasing, with no chance of decreasing.”

Lina nodded. "You just need to take us to the vicinity of the hospital, and then you can walk with us for a while, or it's up to you. We have no interest in forcing anyone, but we really need you to lead the way."

Noah nodded hesitantly.

Seeing that he was at least somewhat cooperating, Lina felt relieved. Noah was still very useful, so she shouldn't keep thinking about running away. Once she finished helping him, she could let him go.

“Let’s go,” Lina said as she saw Daryl drive up and led Noah over.

On the way back, Daryl and Lina didn't say a word, one because she was worried about Noah and the other because she was concerned about Carol.

They left the city via the same road they had taken to enter, but Daryl spotted Rick and his group's car.

Daryl stopped the car, gestured for Lina to keep an eye on Noah, and got out to walk towards the car opposite.

Just after Rick finished clearing the walkers from the church, he saw Sophia running back crying, saying that Carol had been kidnapped and that Lena and Daryl had gone after her.

But not knowing where they had gone, Rick and the others could only helplessly wait for Daryl and Lena to return.

It wasn't until Moore heard Sophia say there was a cross mark on the car that he understood.

“It might be this place,” Moore said, pulling a badge from his pocket: [Gradié Memorial Hospital]

“When Beth was taken away, Lina and I flagged down the same car. Later, I looked around in their car and saw this.” Moore handed the badge to Rick.

Rick stroked the badge thoughtfully for a while before speaking, "Glenn, Sasha, Abraham, would you like to come with me to Atlanta?"

“Of course,” Glenn nodded. He knew the area well and should go, as for the others…

“Yes,” Sasha said. She really wanted to do something right now instead of staying here; it was driving her crazy.

“I’ll go too,” Tyrsey said, looking at Rick seriously. He was very worried about Sasha’s condition.

Rick thought for a moment and nodded.

Abraham nodded readily. "It's time to get down to business, Babe."