"Shawn!"
Old Dale called out, stopping Shawn.
Shawn looked at him sideways, a little puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Old Dale wasn't exactly a combatant in the Camp; he mostly handled logistics.
He usually stood guard in the watchtower, fixed broken vehicles, and chatted with Camp members to help them relieve stress…
That was pretty much all he did.
Regarding Old Dale,
aside from his overly gentle nature and occasional outbursts of saintly behavior, Shawn actually didn't dislike him much.
After all, compared to being utterly terrible, being able to remain a good person in this apocalypse seemed to be a rather difficult thing.
For a complete team,
besides having highly skilled and ruthless individuals,
there often needed to be people like Old Dale.
He was too good at reading people.
In the original plot, there was an extremely disturbed little girl later on. If Old Dale had been there at that time, with timely companionship and guidance, perhaps things would have developed in a better direction.
For the team, as long as Old Dale didn't stand in opposition to the team's development, his existence still held a certain necessity.
Meeting Shawn's gaze, Old Dale hesitated for a moment, then spoke with some uncertainty.
"You're… going out again?"
It was almost common knowledge that Shawn liked to leave the Camp; he used to run around everywhere when he was at the Farm.
At first, everyone was very worried, but Shawn would always return lively and unharmed after a short while, without a single scratch on him.
Gradually, everyone got used to it.
"More or less. I need to go out and prepare some things. The Camp needs to develop to the next stage."
Shawn nodded, not hiding anything.
"Oh, alright… that's good." Old Dale hastily agreed, repeating himself twice.
"What's wrong?"
"…Shawn, I just wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to you for some things I did before."
Old Dale was referring to the times he had defied 'autocracy'.
"You should know, Dale, that I never brought it up, which means that matter is already in the past."
"No… no, I know. I was shaking morale at the time. In that situation, your decision was probably the correct one."
As Old Dale spoke, he sighed.
"I understand you. You're not as cold as you appear on the surface. You have a heart as hot as gold."
"It's just that everything happened not long ago, and we still need time… everyone needs time to adapt to all of this."
"But no matter what, thank you, Shawn, thank you for everything you've done for the Camp."
Old Dale looked directly into Shawn's eyes with clear sincerity, thanking him earnestly.
Old Dale
Old Dale
Old Dale suddenly understood, which was somewhat unexpected for Shawn, but it certainly wasn't a bad thing.
Shawn gently inclined his head, accepting Old Dale's gratitude.
"You and Hershel should get along well. While I'm away, I hope you two can help Rick and the others."
Shawn preferred that the two elders retreat behind the scenes, coming from and returning to the members.
He hoped they could work with Rick and Shane, one tough and one gentle, combining strength and softness, discarding prejudices to forge a brand new team.
Shawn hoped that everyone in the team would constantly progress and grow.
Even the two elders, who were already in their 60s and 70s, were no exception.
After all, they were just in their prime at around 60 years old.
Leaving that remark, Shawn called Rick, and the two walked slowly towards the red overlord.
Shawn gently stroked the fire truck's body, feeling like it had been a long time since he had 'favored' his beloved concubine.
"I saw Dale approach you. Is everything alright?"
Rick leaned against the side of the fire truck.
"Of course. You should be confident in my methods of handling things." Shawn chuckled softly, then continued.
"This time, I'll be back in 4-5 days at most, or 2-3 days at least."
"You should know what to do when I'm not here."
Hearing Shawn's words, Rick nodded.
The two talked quietly like this. After everything was explained, Shawn got into the red overlord and drove away through the gate Rick had opened.
…
The red overlord kicked up a cloud of dust on the quiet forest road.
The front window was open, and cool wind continuously poured in, accompanied by Shawn's joyful shout.
"Woohoo!!"
He floored the pedal, and the vehicle's speed suddenly surged, everything in front rapidly shrinking.
When he first started driving the fire truck, he wasn't used to large vehicles and couldn't drive too fast.
Later, when he moved with the team towards the Prison, he had to consider the RV's speed, so he couldn't drive too fast either.
Now, it was Shawn's first time truly unleashing the red overlord's performance.
When Walkers staggered out of the jungle, drawn by the sound, they could only see the red overlord's rear, letting out a few unwilling roars before giving up.
Through the large rearview mirror, seeing the Walkers' appearance, Shawn couldn't help but laugh heartily a few more times.
Turning his head,
Shawn saw an exclamation mark, similar to a quest marker, within his line of sight.
This was the exact location of the 'treasure' on the treasure map.
It was about 6 kilometers from the Camp, so not too far.
Driving at speed on the flat, clean road, Shawn arrived in about ten minutes.
Closing the windows and doors, Shawn parked the vehicle by the roadside and walked into the depths of the jungle, holding a Stone Hammer and a shovel.
After walking about 200 meters eastward, Shawn saw the golden-yellow exclamation mark.
This exclamation mark was somewhat different from the ones he had seen before; it looked entirely golden, as if mixed with gold, shining brightly.
And below the golden exclamation mark, there was a perfectly round golden circle, encompassing a 5-meter diameter area around it.
This was a 'treasure spot' in the seven days to die style.
Digging for treasure wasn't difficult, but given seven days to die's usual antics, there would often be some tricky maneuvers.
But so what?
With Shawn's current Lv37 strength, even an ordinary horde of Walkers couldn't stop him. He would just deal with whatever came his way.
Placing the Stone Hammer aside, Shawn silently thought 'start' and plunged the shovel into the earth.
Rustle—
The compact soil was mixed with small stones, so it wasn't easy to dig.
But Shawn's extraordinary strength made up for it; with each stroke, he plunged the shovel all the way down, then lifted the entire chunk of dirt.
If one observed closely, they would notice that Shawn maintained a certain rhythm while digging.
After every 3 shovelfuls, he would always stop to rest for 5 seconds.
He maintained his physical strength to deal with whatever might happen later.
About half an hour passed.
Shawn had dug about 4 meters deep.
In his sight, the marker representing the 'treasure chest' became clearer and clearer, and the distance marked on it got closer and closer.
[Treasure bag… 0.7 m]
Whoosh—
Shawn suddenly plunged the shovel into the dirt, standing it upright, and grinned menacingly.
"Good, good, good. This is the third time the 0.7 m indicator has appeared."
"What, am I digging up a thousand-year-old ginseng that has gained sentience? It can still run underground?"
The 4-meter pit Shawn dug was uneven and full of small holes.
Even so, the system prompt still indicated 0.7 m remaining.
Shawn wiped his sweat, picked up the shovel again, and moved to the position closest to the treasure bag according to the prompt.
"Don't give me these tricks anymore, come on, baby, I can't wait!"
As he spoke, Shawn used both hands to forcefully shovel at a 30° angle!
Splash—
Sand and dirt continuously rolled down, but Shawn's expression was one of pleasant surprise.
The sound of the shovel inserting into the soil this time, combined with the unusual tactile sensation at the shovel head, made Shawn almost certain that he had hit it.
-------------------------------
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