Chapter 54
Seeing Caesar's smile, Merle immediately dropped his grin.
Sure enough, after receiving Caesar's assignment, Merle wore a bitter expression as he led Morales, T-Dog, and others to begin patrolling the ranch.
Patrolling itself wasn't bad—just boring and monotonous.
The ranch wasn't large. Merle and his people could quickly complete a circuit. Not a single person could be seen in the surroundings, let alone a walker.
It was basically just wandering around.
But Merle's patrol wasn't to defend the ranch—it was to give the people who'd just arrived a sense of security, to make them feel they were still under protection.
That night, the moon climbed into the sky, driving back the darkness.
Inside Caesar's stone villa, lights blazed brightly.
In the study, Caesar sat behind a solid wood desk, his fingers lightly tapping the surface, his eyes dark and inscrutable.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK—
The sound of knocking.
Finally here. Caesar quickly said, "Come in!"
The wooden door opened. Daryl entered first, followed by Merle, Morales, Guillermo, and the four trusted subordinates—Lloyd, Ryan, Tate, and Colby.
They were all the ranch's current leadership.
Caesar pointed at the sofa opposite and stood up, walking over. "Sit."
"Daryl, what did you see out there?" After they sat down, Caesar asked impatiently.
Daryl looked thoroughly disheveled. He'd been scouting outside since arriving at the ranch today. He pulled a map from inside his jacket.
The map was one Lloyd had given Daryl—just an ordinary map of Black Pine Valley.
Daryl spread the map open. It was covered with writing—scouted numbers of people, weapon quantities, and various details about the camps.
Daryl recalled the scenes he'd witnessed and said flatly, "They're just a bunch of thugs. No real ability. They just rely on having more people and more guns to steal things."
"As for why they robbed you—it's because you only had three people at the time. Even with guns, you couldn't intimidate them."
Lloyd coughed twice. Of course he knew those thugs weren't much trouble, but with more people and more guns, the hard power gap couldn't be avoided.
At the time, Lloyd had even wanted to find one or two groups among them, offer more supplies, to help Lloyd resist the others.
But those bastards took the supplies and ignored him afterward.
Caesar's finger tapped the map. He pulled it closer, looked carefully, and nodded.
The numbers of people and firearms written above—at most ten people and ten guns. For the current ranch, they were no match at all.
However, if they united, a full four camps—then they'd have the possibility of overthrowing Caesar and his people.
Caesar was always decisive. He absolutely wouldn't allow such a possibility to exist.
"Everyone take a look." Caesar pushed the map, signaling for everyone to examine it.
Steady Ryan pulled out a small notebook, dragged the map over, and looked back and forth. Several minutes later, Ryan nodded at Daryl.
"This information matches roughly with what I've recorded."
Caesar glanced at Ryan and Lloyd, who showed no injuries, and Colby with his black eye. He curiously pointed at Colby's wound.
"You two are fine—why is Colby the only one injured?"
At these words, Colby immediately lowered his head, his face flushing red—dark complexion turning ruddy.
Ryan and Lloyd both looked at Colby with strange expressions.
Tate looked at Ryan and Lloyd with surprise, her eyes full of confusion, wanting to ask something.
"Just say it directly."
Caesar said.
"Uh... do you want to say it, or should we help you?" Ryan paused, asking in a low voice.
Colby took two deep breaths and raised his head, his face tense.
This strange appearance also drew the attention of Daryl, Merle, and the others.
Merle looked Colby up and down, his hand unconsciously stroking his chin. He nodded thoughtfully. "Those thugs took a fancy to you?"
Colby's expression froze. He'd just mustered the courage to say something when it was instantly blocked. His eyes widened, as if several large characters were written on his face.
How did you know?
Merle nodded proudly, as if enjoying applause.
What are you proud of? Daryl glanced at Merle irritably and lifted his butt to scoot outward.
Only then did Colby speak: "One of their camps came to the ranch before, demanding we lend them some food. We didn't have enough manpower, so we temporarily compromised."
"But after we gave them food, one of them..." Colby's expression turned ugly, as if recalling a nightmare. "One of them reached out and touched me."
"I thought he was trying to grab my gun, so I pushed him."
"He immediately had three people pin me down. I couldn't resist, and then he pulled down his pants..."
Caesar lowered his head slightly, unable to keep listening. Did what came next mean that...
Tate looked at Colby with heartache, her heart immediately filling with endless concern. She reached out to embrace Colby, gently patting him to comfort him.
Colby looked at the circle of people around him, each wearing extremely sympathetic expressions. He instantly broke free from Tate's arms and shot to his feet.
"I wasn't fucked! What are you all thinking? What are you pitying me for!"
"Ryan and Lloyd pulled out guns at the time, took two people hostage, and forced them to let me go."
Colby quickly explained clearly, pointing at his facial injury. "This is from when I resisted them. Nothing happened to me at all."
He urgently wanted to prove something. Lloyd wore an expression that said he understood everything and patted Colby.
"Don't worry. Your chrysanthemum—we'll protect it."
Colby cursed irritably, "Fuck!!"
"You bastards, I'll feed you all to the walkers."
"Hahahaha!!"
A cheerful atmosphere instantly filled the study. The drifting laughter also drew closer the distance between both parties.
After the laughter, Lloyd recounted the origins of these people.
"They're all survivors from the surrounding area. No real ability, no talent. They just got lucky getting some guns."
"They scavenge outside relying on guns, then they paid Teddy some supplies and Teddy let them in."
Caesar thought for a moment and asked, "How did they know there were unclaimed ranches in Black Pine Valley?"
Speaking of this, Lloyd's expression turned sour. "This is all Teddy's fault."
"After they sealed Buffalo Pass, anyone entering or leaving had to give supplies. Teddy only gave Old Man Leon a portion of the proceeds, but only Teddy knows how much he kept for himself."
"To increase his own income, Teddy promoted to outsiders how many cattle and sheep were in Black Pine Valley, how much grassland there was, able to feed many, many people."