Chapter 120: Discussion
Caesar had coveted Woodbury for a long time. When first encountering Martinez in Atlanta, this idea had formed.
But now wasn't the time yet. Woodbury still had potential to continue growing. When the fruit ripened would be the appropriate time to pick it.
Caesar put the Woodbury map along with Carol and Andrea's personal files into the safe and locked it tightly.
The timing also wasn't good.
Caesar lifted his eyes to look outside. The sky appeared somewhat overcast. It had been several days since seeing a sunny, bright sky. He could only see a vast whiteness with a bit of gray.
Recently the weather had plummeted. The town's residents all put on long sleeves, even put on coats.
Cattle and sheep going out for activities weren't as frequent as before—only occasionally going out.
Black Pine Valley's cowboys had two methods for feeding cattle and sheep in winter. One was not cutting grass in autumn, letting pasture grass accumulate, waiting until winter for cattle and sheep to dig snow themselves to eat grass.
Another was cutting summer grass and bundling it into large round bales. One could be about five hundred to eight hundred kilograms. These were the cattle and sheep's winter food.
Autumn came suddenly and unexpectedly. Caesar had already had his subordinates quickly make the harvested green grass into round bales.
Fortunately, Black Pine Valley was large enough with rich terrain. At the same time, there was also much grassland. Even making just a little round bales, feeding cattle and sheep wouldn't be a problem.
Caesar took down his cowboy hat from the coat rack beside him, put it on his head, and strode out of the council hall.
...
Daryl walked with light steps back to his motorcycle. From the motorcycle body, he took down his helmet and put it on. His long legs straddled over as he got on the motorcycle.
Twisting the throttle, the motorcycle shot out.
Daryl drove the motorcycle along a main road, entering the residential area, walking along a street, stopping in front of a small building no different from other small buildings.
On the steps at the small building's entrance were some children's drawings. The drawings had two adults and one child.
The two adults both had short hair, just different colors—one black, one white. On the contrary, the child had long hair.
Daryl knew the drawn adults weren't Sophia's biological father, but himself, this unrelated big friend.
This was what Sophia secretly told him.
At the time, Daryl had laughed a few times. That adult with black short hair was drawn very thin—obviously not that fat guy Ed.
On the drawing were also some scenes of running on grassland—warm and pleasant.
Besides the drawings, outside were placed some tools and handmade things, decorating the small building's entrance with a strong living atmosphere.
On the wooden fence in front of the small building were placed several pots of flowers. Not flowers with great fame, just unknown small flowers from the grassland and forest.
Although not famous enough, they still bloomed tenaciously.
Sophia really liked these flowers, especially one kind with golden stamens and white petals, like a fried egg.
That kind of flower was called Cherokee Rose.
That was also the first kind of flower Daryl gave Sophia.
The motorcycle's movement was very loud. Rapid footsteps also came from inside the house.
Then the door opened.
It was Sophia with much longer hair. Sophia's face beamed with smiles. She finally looked somewhat cheerful like her peers.
"Daryl, you came!"
A gentle voice came from behind Sophia. "Sweetheart, you should call him Uncle Daryl, not Daryl."
Sophia's face fell. She spread her hands looking at Daryl, as if telling Daryl: "See, this is my mom. Really nagging."
Daryl leaned back on the seat, lowered his head and laughed a few times, turned around to take something from the bag beside the motorcycle.
Seeing there was a gift, Sophia happily walked forward several steps, moving closer.
"Sophia?" Carol wore an apron, thick heat-resistant gloves on her hands, and walked out the door.
"Ah!"
Sophia screamed, holding a teddy bear. Her face was full of excitement and agitation. She jumped several times in place, then hugged the teddy bear and kissed it several times.
"My teddy bear!"
Sophia held up the teddy bear, looking left and right. Her eyes showed joy she couldn't get enough of.
"Thank you, Uncle Daryl." Sophia crashed into Daryl's embrace, saying in a muffled voice.
Daryl couldn't quite adapt. His face showed panic and unnaturalness. He turned his head to look.
Carol also had tears in her eyes, a smile on her face as she looked at him, saying silently, "Thank you. You've given more than her biological father."
Daryl's hand hesitantly hugged Sophia and patted her lightly twice.
...
Today, Caesar had a mission.
The early morning sky appeared heavy with fog.
Armored vehicles roared through the fog, quickly arriving at Atlanta.
With the temperature drop, Atlanta appeared even more desolate and ruined, carrying the apocalypse's cold tones.
The convoy stopped at a quiet, open area outside Atlanta.
Everyone in the convoy was methodically doing preparatory work. Everyone wore standard riot gear with added cowhide protecting vulnerable parts—full of toughness, not easily damaged.
The walkers' old teeth couldn't damage it either.
After preparatory work was done, Caesar lifted his hand to check his watch and looked at the others. "Split up. End the search at eleven o'clock sharp."
"Understood."
Accompanying the response, Caesar spotted Andrea and Carol in the crowd.
"Morales, call those two to come with us."
Morales nodded. Without saying much, he directly walked forward to communicate with their squad leader.
"Boss, why are you looking for them?" Merle leaned over, squinting at Carol and Andrea, his face full of curiosity.
Caesar glanced at Merle. "Do you remember that group chasing Guillermo last time?"
Merle squinted.
At the time, the opponent's firepower was very strong. Weapons were also very sophisticated, even stronger than their squad's, indicating the opponent's armory was very abundant.
An abundant armory meant sufficient food.
Merle thought of those weapons in the opponent's hands and the ample material reserves.
Enough to feed a camp's people—how abundant that must be.
Astonishing quantities of cigarettes and alcohol!
Merle's gaze swept toward Carol and Andrea. Understanding dawned in his heart. He turned to face Caesar and said, "I understand, Boss."
"Whatever you say, I absolutely have no second thoughts."
After speaking, Merle's face showed some flattery as he rubbed his hands. "When the time comes, can you allocate more cigarettes and alcohol to our squad?"
Seeing Merle like this, Caesar smiled without humor.
However, with sufficient food, cigarettes and alcohol were indeed things that could greatly motivate morale.
Caesar waved his hand. "Alright, alright. When the time comes, I'll keep more for your squad."
"Hey, hey, hey, thank you, Boss." Merle's nodding and bowing appearance was quite amusing.
Then Caesar slowly added, "You first have to discuss with the other squads."
Merle's face instantly darkened.