Chapter 140
Rick made some general arrangements, and Lina and the others didn't delay. After the meeting, they left the hilltop village under the cover of night. Bringing Eugene back was important, and very difficult.
Negan will definitely send a lot of people to protect him.
Therefore, the four who went out were unaware of the turmoil at Hilltop that night. Henry of the Kingdom of God wanted to find out who among the Salvation Army prisoners was the murderer of his brother. He got a gun and a key, opened the door, and went inside.
After all, he was still a child, and a group of Salvation Army soldiers took the opportunity to snatch his gun, rammed him aside, and escaped from the hilltop.
Gregory, who was imprisoned, also slipped away.
The noise woke Rick, but now was not the time to blame the child, since the child was nowhere to be found.
Carroll led Ezekiel and others out to search for Henry's whereabouts, while Rick and Morgan went to hunt down the fleeing Saviors.
Of course, some of the Salvation Army did not take the opportunity to escape; instead, they helped. After all, when those people fled, they did not care about the life or death of the hilltop stronghold. The gate was left wide open, and many zombies ran in.
The leader of the remaining Saviors was a guy named Alden. He begged Rick not to kill the escaped Saviors, to give them a chance, a chance for everyone to survive.
Rick agreed without hesitation, because he had no intention of letting those people come back alive. He only agreed to Alden's request in order to get clues out of him, until he saw Carl not far away before he went out.
He had been watching Rick and Alden's conversation closely.
For a split second, Rick hesitated.
*
Bringing Eugene back is no easy task, because he is well aware of his weaknesses and is therefore very cautious, usually hiding in the factory and never coming out.
"Have you found him?" Abraham asked anxiously. Although he couldn't be described as reckless, he could be quite impulsive at times, especially when it came to Eugene.
“No,” Rosita said impatiently. She didn’t feel embarrassed about being partners with Abraham for so long, but she was angry. How could he be so nonchalant?
Before Rosita could even grumble further, Eugene appeared in the scope, living his life as usual. "He's out. Get ready." Rosita put away her gun, and the four of them quietly slipped down. There weren't many guards at the door, and Abraham and Daryl quickly and efficiently knocked them unconscious. Eugene was terrified, like a bear, and turned to run, only to be blocked by Rosita and Lina.
Rosita, without any politeness, shoved Eugene in the chest. Eugene staggered back two steps. "Shut up, go away, or I'll beat you up."
Eugene was good at knowing when to back down; he obediently followed the four men silently through the alley, slipped through a hole in the wall, and arrived at their car.
However, the car was surrounded by walkers. Abraham and Daryl went forward to clear them away, while Lena glanced at Eugene and silently moved two steps to the side.
Then she witnessed Eugene turn around, stick out his tongue, and then gush it out at Rosita.
"Ugh—" She should have stayed away. The pungent smell of garlic, both digested and undigested, made Lina's head throb with pain. Leaning against the wall, she felt nauseous and tears were welling up in her eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the color on Rosita's clothes. Well, how should I put it? Lina vomited even more.
Rosita only had time to shut her mouth and close her eyes before numbly accepting the fact. But when she opened her eyes and saw Eugene running away, she was filled with anger and shame, and rushed at him.
Rosita took off after Eugene, and Abraham followed. Daryl, having finished clearing the walkers, came to Lena's side and anxiously took her hand, asking, "Are you alright?"
"No, no, it's alright, you go after them first." Lina waved her hand weakly. Seeing that she insisted and that it really wasn't anything serious, Daryl still frowned and chased after them.
They followed the same path through the hole in the wall, which led to a pile of ashes from a fire. Lina was a little slower than the other three, and by the time she passed through the hole, they were no longer in sight. But that didn't stop her from knowing one thing.
"Thank goodness you didn't throw up in front of me, or I would have twisted your head off! I really can't stand you anymore, why do you use all your dirty tricks on your own people? Have some decency!" Lina cursed at the pile of ashes. "When you come back, I'm going to shave your head."
Lina kicked a pile of ash and quickened her pace to catch up.
Not long after she left, Eugene emerged from the ashes like an angry toad. Rosita and the others' attitude, even though he already knew that given his actions, it was only natural to be considered a traitor, especially since he had refused to escape with the others.
He knew it, but when Rosita and Abraham looked at him with such disgust, he felt a pang of pain, but even more so, anger.
Why can't they understand him? Why do they act as if he really is a scumbag?
Nobody understood him.
Except for Lina, of course.
Even Eugene himself couldn't understand why Lina was so certain that he would help them.
Moreover, she treated him as one of her own from beginning to end, and even helped him cover for him this time.
You should know that Rosita had just angrily announced her plans for him: to lock him in a dark room until she could drain all the knowledge from his brain. According to Rosita, this was the only use of his pathetic life. After that, she would send him on his way.
This is even more unreasonable than the Salvation Army; they have no idea how to deal with a genius like him!
But!
Eugene dusted himself off. What was the point of thinking about all that now? He didn't want to go back to that dark room.
Eugene rushed back to the factory in a disheveled state, full of resentment. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him because he looked so pathetic.
What happened?
"Strengthen security to prevent them from breaking in," Eugene said menacingly.
“We’ve set up the perimeter. We just received a message from the Saviour: Negan is back. He plans to wipe out Hilltop. Rick will fall into the trap. We need to complete the bullet order by tomorrow morning.”
Eugene turned sternly to look around at the workers, then turned back to her and said, “Please convey my personal congratulations to Negan on his return, and assure him that his requests will be met in both quantity and time.”
Eugene turned to the workers. “Yes, if Negan needs bullets to end this war, then without a doubt he will get them, he will get them all. Forget about the minimum I mentioned. No, ladies and gentlemen,” Eugene slowly walked to the assembly table. “We must rise to the challenge in this difficult situation. We must shock them with every bullet we fire. We must do this. We will do this. Make no mistake, colleagues. We will change the history of the Salvation Army forever.”
Eugene became more and more excited as he spoke. This was an unprecedented event, and he would make all those who looked down on him see his talent and ability. No one should ever underestimate him!
“Gabriel! Everyone has to get up here. You sort the spent cartridges,” Eugene strode over to Gabriel, who was sitting in the corner and was almost blind. “Listen, obey my orders strictly, or you’ll be crying your way to death.”
Eugene turned and took two steps, then slammed his hand on the table, glaring fiercely at everyone. He then stepped forward, sat down at an empty workstation, picked up the assembly parts, and looked up at the workers. "Let's begin. Let's do something useful with our pathetic lives."
Rick and his friends said nothing about Lena and her companions returning empty-handed. Instead, they told them new information from Gregory, who had escaped and then returned. He brought a map given to him by Dwight, which showed Negan's latest plans.
Whether or not to trust Dwight became a difficult question, but things had progressed to this point, and Rick would never let everyone wait to die. In any case, this was a clue, so they would treat it as a trap and carefully verify it, which was better than sitting idly by and waiting to die.
With the time planned, the hilltop stronghold mobilized again; this might be the final battle.
The next morning, Rick led his team to the location Dwight had given them. Of course, Rick didn't really trust the map; instead, he became more discreet and cautious. They intercepted a Saviors squad and found another map in their truck, which looked completely different from the plan Dwight had given them.
There is no doubt that this is a trap.
Rick half-squatted on the ground, looked at the map and rubbed his fingers together. He quickly picked up the walkie-talkie. "Maggie, it's a trap."
However, looking at the two maps, Rick realized they still had a chance.
Lina is definitely in Rick's team, and her moment is about to become a memorable one. How could we miss that?
Surprisingly, Carl was there too; Lina had thought Rick wouldn't let him come.
It seems the child won against the father.
“Let’s go there,” Rick said, putting away the two maps and pointing in a direction. “They want to set a trap for us, and we can set one for them too.”
Lena raised an eyebrow and looked at the captured Salvation Army squad. If they went to ambush them now, what would happen to these guys? They couldn't exactly bring them along, could they?
“Lock them in the carriage and leave one person to watch them,” Rick whispered to Daryl.
Lina was right next to Daryl, so she heard everything clearly. She looked at Rick carefully for a long time, and then looked at Morgan.
Perhaps it's because their sons are both alive and well that neither of them has turned evil or resorted to ruthless killing.
This is a good thing, isn't it? Killing someone sounds easy, and it's not difficult to do, but when you actually do it, it's a different story.
Life, the weight of life is suffocating.
Lina never counted how many people she had killed. After all, none of them were good people. They bullied her, so of course she had to kill them.
But that day's RPG left her with a significant psychological scar; in the blink of an eye, so many people were gone, and nothing was left.
This is beyond what so-called 'justice' can cover up.
“Let’s go!” Rick looked ahead with a determined look in his eyes. He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but he would not give up the fight, never.
Lina blinked, snapping out of her reverie. She looked up at the sun, thinking that tomorrow's sun would be even more beautiful than today's.
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