Chapter 91
I slept so well, damn, this mattress is so comfortable, just as comfortable as the one she has at her house in DC.
Lina searched the house. Everything was fully furnished, but there was no sign that anyone had lived there. But that didn't matter; it would be much more lively with such a large group of people living there now.
After changing her clothes and quickly washing up, Lina ran downstairs. The living room floor was covered with everyone's makeshift beds, with only a passageway cleared out.
Where did everyone go? Lina pushed open the door in confusion. Daryl was sitting on the floor by the door, looking up at Lina.
Wow, so cute.
Lina, in a good mood, bent down and kissed Daryl on the corner of his mouth. "Perfect timing, there's still one spot left in my house for the big cat."
Daryl chuckled. Was he being mistaken for a stray cat?
"Where are they?" Lina sat next to Daryl, curiously looking outside.
“They want to wander around the area,” Daryl said. “What about you?”
“Not really interested,” Lina yawned. “What do you think? Are you going to stay?”
“Did I even have a choice?” Daryl grumbled, somewhat dissatisfied. “I’m not saying this place is bad, I just…”
“It’s just a place to sleep,” Lina said, holding Daryl’s hand. “We can still go outside, hunt, or find something interesting. They’ll be safe here.” So there’s no need to worry too much for now.
“They said I had to report it,” Daryl complained under his breath. “It feels like I’m in jail.”
"Come on, the police station doesn't offer such good treatment," Lina tugged at Daryl's cheek. The big cat, even in a tantrum, was still adorable. "I'm not going to report to them. It's so annoying. This is my house, and I'm in charge."
"That's true," Daryl said, glancing at Lina. "Aren't you going to talk to that woman?"
“Not really,” Lina said, pursing her lips. She remembered that Diana was alright, but she died for some reason, and her two sons were no good people.
One of them even caused Noah's death.
Tsk.
“No, I still have to go. Who knows how she’s going to arrange jobs for us?” Lina was also a little unhappy. “She’s staying at my house and she wants to arrange jobs for me? That’s outrageous! I should be the one calling the shots here now.”
She can now rightfully claim Alexander as hers, after all, it was an investment by her parents, although that wasn't how it was calculated before the cataclysm.
"What about you? You don't have a job yet?" Lina asked curiously.
“She said she was still thinking about it,” Daryl said. “I don’t need any crappy job.” It was as if they were about to settle down here.
"That's right, let's go out and be Bonnie and Clyde!" Lina rushed into the room, grabbed her dagger, hung it at her waist, and stormed out.
Daryl paused for a moment, then picked up his crossbow and chased after them. Why did this look like he was looking for trouble?
Lena hadn't bothered to remember the way yesterday, but luckily there were still quite a few people in the community. She just grabbed a couple and asked them, and found Deanna's house.
When the door was knocked on, Deanna and Herschel were discussing farming. Food was a very important matter, and Herschel would deal with it first, regardless of whether they would stay or not.
"Lina?" Diana looked at her with some surprise. "I was just..."
"I want to be the boss," Lina slammed her hand on the door aggressively. "This is my property, so I'm in charge."
Daryl, who had caught up, twitched at the corner of his mouth and helplessly covered his face.
Deanna paused for a moment, "Uh..." She looked at Herschel, who sighed.
“Lina, do you know how to run a community, assign people suitable jobs, plan the next steps, staffing, resource allocation… and so on…” Herschel said slowly.
"Tsk," Lina glanced at Herschel unhappily, "We're on the same side!"
“No, that’s not how it works. Besides, did you ask Rick before you became the boss?” Herschel said helplessly.
"...I don't care, it's your place now that you're all under my roof," Lina muttered.
Seeing Lina's spirits waning, Deanna smiled helplessly. "Come in, let's talk," she said, then looked at Daryl outside the door. "Mr. Dixon?"
Daryl simply shook his head.
Deanna raised an eyebrow helplessly and closed the door.
"I don't care, this is my territory. I can't just listen to everything you guys do, that's not fair!" Lina slumped onto the sofa, arms crossed, fuming. "I want to be the boss too!"
This has never changed since childhood, Diana sighed inwardly. It reminded her of the day Spencer was taken in by Lena as her underling. She wondered if Lena had seen it in the video.
“You’re right, you are indeed a part of this community,” Deanna said, sitting down. “If you’d like, you can be my secretary and offer your suggestions.”
"Why should I be your lackey? No way," Lina said with a sour face.
"So what do you want?" Diana knew immediately that Lina had already made up her mind, but had just found an excuse to cause trouble.
This is a familiar negotiation tactic.
“You must have teams that go out to gather supplies. Daryl and I want to join, and I want to be the leader. It’s my team, and I’ll be in charge,” Lina said.
really.
Deanna hesitated for a moment. "We do have outing teams, but it's dangerous. Are you sure?"
“Of course, and I don’t want any of your current people. I’ll choose for myself later,” Lina said.
“No, they did a good job, and I have no reason to dismiss them arbitrarily,” Deanna said.
"Give me a break, what's your team's casualty rate? Half and half? Did you even find anything?" Lina curled her lip; those were teammates who betrayed their own!
“There’s definitely danger outside,” Deanna said hesitantly.
“But I would never entrust my back to someone I don’t think is reliable,” Lina said angrily. “It’s already dangerous enough, why would I want to add to my own danger!”
“Lina, if we stay, it’s important to integrate here. It won’t always be our people together,” Herschel whispered to Lina.
"That's why I said I'll choose who joins the team myself," Lina insisted.
“I’ll consider it, Lina, but until I make a decision, we’ll continue with the previous plan,” Deanna said.
"...Don't let our people go out with your people," Lina said, pursing her lips.
“Sigh,” Deanna said with a headache, “Aiden is experienced and responsible. He’s my son, he won’t hurt anyone, I promise.”
Lina rolled her eyes. "How about this, I hit him, so you fire him?"
Deanna was not surprised at all by this.
“I know you can, but things don’t work that way,” Deanna smiled. “I’ll talk to Aiden, and be patient, Lena. We have a long time ahead of us.”
“…Whatever,” Lina said angrily.
“And Daryl, the two of us will be working together,” Lina emphasized.
“Speaking of which,” Deanna’s expression turned serious, “do you know how much older he is than you?”
"...Please, you know my parents, but you're not my guardian. What does it have to do with you?" Lina jumped up as if her hair had stood on end. "So what if they're old? Won't you get old too?"
“First of all, I didn’t say he was old, you said that,” Deanna said with a smile. “Secondly, I have no surprise that he was imprisoned before the cataclysm.”
"In the end, if your parents find out, they will definitely break your legs."
"As if they're the same?" Lina glanced at Deanna irritably. "Mind your own business. This isn't your concern. You're acting like some great mother."
Deanna paused for a moment. She had said the same thing after beating Spencer that year, but compared to Sue, she was indeed not a good mother. Deanna sighed.
“I’m sorry,” Diana said, “I was just a little worried.”
Lina pursed her lips. "He's fine, very fine. You don't need to worry about him unnecessarily."
"Spencer will probably cry when he gets back," Deanna thought to herself, but she calmly looked at Lina and said, "Alright, since you've said that, I believe I'll gradually get to know him better."
"..." Not knowing what to say, Lina glared fiercely at Diana, "Don't let our people run away with your cowards!"
Diana raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
In any case, the 'fierce' Lina had no effect whatsoever, and she walked out of the house looking disheveled.
That's infuriating.
Seeing Lina's expression, Daryl knew that she hadn't achieved what she wanted. He wasn't surprised at all and just silently followed her around the neighborhood.
Watching the two of them leave, Deanna shook her head helplessly. "It seems she hasn't changed at all, which makes me feel somewhat, well, relieved."
Herschel was somewhat surprised. "She's been like this since she was little?" He had thought that Lina's personality had changed drastically after experiencing so many things.
“Yes, that’s always been the case, but she was cuter when she was little,” Diana laughed. “After all, I could pick her up with one hand when she was little, but now…”
Herschel smiled. "I'll talk to Rick when we get back. Lina listens to him to some extent," though most of the time she doesn't.
“He’s really something,” Diana exclaimed. Back when Lina was ten years old, she knew that this child was a real talent when Lina successfully stole her parents’ IDs, bought lottery tickets, and used her parents’ identity information to buy a used van and stock up on food, drinks and other necessities in the basement.
She even knew to give a fake address and then drive back using her own tools.
Why did Deanna know about this? Because when ten-year-old Lina did it the second time, she was stopped by the traffic police. Sue had to call her and go around in circles to prevent Lina from being taken away by the police or child protection organizations, but the child protection organizations also started to keep a close eye on her family.
It's funny to think about it; she actually knew to use stilts to brake herself.
What's even funnier is that she knew how to disguise herself, wearing a wig and sunglasses, and a long trench coat to cover the cushion and her legs.
But the police aren't blind.
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