Chapter 119: Gift
After listening to Caesar's discourse, Hershel smiled.
He truly hadn't misjudged. Caesar was an excellent leader.
"Good. I'll go back and distribute the pregnancy test sticks and such from inventory. Have everyone do the tests."
Soon, Hershel took his leave, throwing himself into his work without hesitation. When going back, he also added some work to his own load.
Rick also left the office.
Caesar shook his head. "Looks like supplies to collect on outside missions will increase by many items. Condoms, pregnancy test sticks, folic acid..."
As he spoke, Caesar wrote.
By noon mealtime, Caesar finally ended work.
Returning home, Amy had already made lunch and was waiting for Caesar.
"What delicious things did you make today?" Caesar walked toward the dining room.
Amy came over to help Caesar remove his outer clothing. While going to the living room to put away the clothes, she said, "I made sweet and sour pork ribs, stir-fried meat, and a stir-fried vegetable."
"Just that sweet and sour pork ribs—I put in a bit less seasoning. There's not much star anise and such at home, and it's very hard to find outside."
"But using a bit less doesn't affect the taste."
Amy walked back. Her golden hair was clipped up with a shark clip, making her look somewhat more intellectual and gentle.
Amy first served rice for Caesar and handed it to him. "You eat first."
"Okay." Caesar took it and first ate a mouthful of rice. He nodded with satisfaction and looked at Amy with praise.
Amy smiled and raised her chin. "How is it? This rice is delicious, right? It's Wuchang rice, specially from Dragon Country."
"Merle's squad found many bags at once. The town's people rarely eat rice, so they specially sent it over for you to eat."
Amy chattered on, all about small matters in life, but listening in Caesar's ears, it was very comfortable.
He'd reply from time to time. Amy also smiled very happily, eating with even better appetite.
...
A few days later, Daryl rode his motorcycle into Buffalo Pass.
Buffalo Pass had removed the two heavy trucks. Many people were taking rebar and concrete for construction.
They were manually building a dam-like structure connecting both mountain ranges, building to about six meters in height—very time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The people responsible for construction were from the production department. The production department was divided into planting, construction, and so on. In addition, there were medical, transportation, and other departments.
Outside Buffalo Pass stood Merle's squad. Each held firearms, cold weapons inserted at their waists, faces fierce.
From time to time, passing walkers would be killed—squad members with itchy hands would go forward and chop walkers into several pieces in no time.
Perhaps from having been walkers for a long time, walkers were becoming more and more fragile. A strong kick could likely cause a walker's bones to fracture.
Daryl rode against the wind, traveling all the way through town, straight to the council hall.
The town changed almost every day. Constant construction, constant expansion. The town's roads had also been paved with asphalt, becoming blacktop roads. It looked more and more like civilization.
This also made Daryl feel in good spirits, feeling he was contributing for friends.
Council hall, Caesar's office.
"You found it?" Caesar took the map in surprise. Dense writing covered it—all Daryl's chicken scratch.
"Right here." Daryl turned sideways and sat his butt on Caesar's desk. Without washing his hands, he casually took things from the fruit plate Caesar had already cut.
Daryl pointed at a place. Written there were several hard-to-recognize letters spelling "Woodbury."
Caesar squinted and looked carefully, exhaling a long breath. He said lightly, "Daryl, you need to go back to school and learn how to write."
Daryl froze. Even his mouth chewing food paused. He looked at Caesar. "Fuck you."
Amid Caesar's laughter, Daryl quickly ran out of Caesar's office.
Going out, he bumped into Amy. "Daryl, why are you running so urgently?"
Daryl looked at Amy without humor. "Ask your lover."
After speaking, amid Amy's confused expression, Daryl quickly left.
Amy walked into Caesar's office and pointed outside. "What happened to Daryl?"
"Nothing. I just said I'd send him back to school to learn how to write, and he got scared like that." Caesar shook his head with a smile.
Didn't expect Daryl to be so afraid of school.
"You ate so fast!" Amy saw the empty fruit plate, thinking Caesar really liked today's fruit.
Caesar's gaze moved from the map to the fruit plate. "I haven't eaten the fruit yet. Daryl ate it."
"Tsk, this Daryl really." Amy had a small outburst.
Every time Daryl came, he'd eat all the office snacks and fruit. Caesar thought it was fine. She had no opinion either.
Amy carried the plate out to prepare new fruit.
The office quieted down. Caesar's gaze fell on "Woodbury." Light flickered thoughtfully in his eyes as he murmured:
"Philip, oh Philip. You can't handle so many people. Do you know that?"
"The water inside is too deep. Still need me to come. You just obediently step down."
"A dead pervert, pretending to be a leader."
On the map, some personnel information about Woodbury was also written.
Compared to what Caesar knew, Woodbury now had quite a bit fewer people. The walls were built up, but far fewer people stood guard.
At night, Woodbury not only prohibited noise but also prohibited light and open flames.
Caesar understood very well.
Most likely Woodbury relied on this winter—with harsh survival conditions outside—to recruit quite a few naive apocalypse survivors.
He glanced at the personal files on the desk. There were two—one was Carol, one was Andrea.
Unlike Amy taking the clerical route, Andrea had completely taken the martial route, joining the combat training camp Caesar arranged.
Every day she practiced various combat—relying on firearms, relying on cold weapons, even barehanded situations, using stones and various readily available items for fighting.
This training camp's improvement to combat ability was significant. Since Andrea's intelligence leak to Horus last time, she'd devoted herself wholeheartedly to combat.
Several times going out of the valley on combat missions, she always charged to the front. Caesar believed in her potential.
As for Carol, Carol also participated in the training camp. Her strength and speed could hardly compare with the same period, but her endurance, technique, and marksmanship far exceeded the same period.
Perhaps from being in a domestic violence environment for years, Carol's ability to endure pain and counterattack was the strongest.
What satisfied Caesar most was Carol's appearance—soft, looking just like a housewife, without any aggression.
Believe that as long as Woodbury's people saw Carol, they'd think she barely survived.
Compared to when just starting to learn combat and killing with sharp edges exposed, Carol now appeared more cunning and more lethal.
These two people were the gift Caesar prepared for Woodbury.