Chapter 76: Betrayal
The ranch's iron gate swung open, and over a dozen pickup trucks sped through.
Caesar sat in the back seat of the lead pickup, holding a map of Black Pine Valley. He drew a line from Old Man Leon's ranch position and another from Horus's ranch—those were their directions of travel.
The two lines intersected in a forest. Caesar studied that forest, finding it somewhat familiar.
Caesar looked at Lloyd sitting beside him and handed over the map. "Lloyd, you're much more familiar with Black Pine Valley than I am. Do you know what's in this forest?"
Lloyd took the map, and after seeing the forest clearly, suddenly understood. "Boss, I know why they're going there!"
"This forest is at a lower elevation, not many people pass through, and all the surrounding ranchers are dead. Plus, there's a hunter's cabin inside this forest."
"The hunter who built this cabin did it for safety and concealment. They must have chosen this cabin as their meeting point."
Horus, Leon, and Caesar—all three parties were currently in a state of mutual confrontation. One wrong contact could spark war.
Although Horus and Leon had decided to form an alliance, they still wouldn't go near each other's territory now. That would be like putting their lives in another's hands. Choosing such a neutral location was very appropriate.
Caesar nodded and gave the order to head in that direction.
Meanwhile, Merle drove a pickup to quickly pick up Daryl, Carol, and some other team members.
Caesar had already confirmed that both sides hadn't brought their full forces. For speed and concealment, they'd only brought their most trusted confidants—just a few people each.
Caesar wasn't worried at all about how to eliminate them when battle broke out.
Caesar only worried whether they'd found the wrong location.
The wheels rolled on, and the pickups all stopped at the forest's perimeter. They found some large branches to cover them, trying to conceal the vehicles as much as possible.
Caesar put on his bulletproof vest, shouldered his rifle, and walked before everyone. Caesar swept his gaze over them all, his expression confident—able to give his teammates a certain degree of confidence.
"Move out!"
Daryl and Merle had already split up to lead their teams. Each led a small squad. Daryl's squad now had five people, with Carol beside him.
Merle's squad had thirteen people, each one fierce-looking and ruthless in their methods—you could tell at a glance they were prime candidates for prison.
Good thing they needed their combat capability now, otherwise they could only work jobs like cowboy that required violence.
Besides these two squads, there was Caesar's own direct squad. After Morales's recruitment, it had grown to twenty people.
As their captain, Caesar often took them on field exercises, training their marksmanship. Their discipline was also the strongest.
The three each led a squad, with the three captains charging at the very front, like the point of a spear piercing through the entire forest, rushing toward the hunter's cabin.
Lloyd twisted his body. The bulletproof vest was a bit uncomfortable on him. After all, he had old arms and old legs, and couldn't run as well.
Plus with the serious injuries he'd suffered when younger, he was gasping for breath after running not very far.
Caesar noticed his condition and glanced back at him. He heard Lloyd wave his hand and say, "You go ahead, I'll be right there."
"I'm not old yet. I can definitely catch up with you all."
Caesar smiled, turned his head, and continued forward. The team members followed closely behind.
Ryan looked at Colby and Tate, whose eyes burned with fighting spirit, and said with a smile, "You two hurry up and follow the boss. I'll stay behind to look after Lloyd."
This provoked Lloyd's angry curse: "Screw you, Ryan! You're the one who needs looking after. I'm in great shape. I don't need you to look after me!"
Although Lloyd said this, Ryan didn't take his words seriously. Only after saying it twice more did Colby and Tate leave.
The three squads quickly disappeared from view. Lloyd rested for a while, then prepared to continue forward.
Unexpectedly, Ryan forcefully hoisted Lloyd onto his back and walked forward at a slow pace...
Entering the deeper parts of the forest, the moss around them grew more abundant, the leaves more lush, and the spots of light breaking through countless green leaves fewer and fewer.
Caesar paid no attention to the environmental changes. Instead, he noticed hoofprints on the ground.
The humidity in the forest was relatively high, with frequent puddles. The soil was in a relatively wet state—a single step would leave an impression.
Caesar looked at the very fresh, chaotic tracks in the mud and knew he'd found the right direction.
Daryl beside him had discovered it long ago. He compared the direction of the hoofprints and confirmed it was the hunter's cabin.
After getting confirmation, everyone's confidence surged, and even their footsteps quickened considerably.
...
The hunter's cabin in the forest.
Sunlight passed through the glass window, shining on floorboards covered in a thick layer of dust. Accompanied by movement, dust danced in the light.
"Cough cough cough!" Horus covered his mouth and nose, looking with difficulty at the dilapidated wooden furniture in the room. "Old Man Leon, look at this place you chose—it's such a dump!"
"Fuck, nothing but dust and wooden chairs and tables so old they're about to fall apart."
Horus appeared extremely irritable when speaking.
"You seem to be in a very bad mood, Horus!" Old Man Leon sat on a wooden chair that had been cleaned, looking at Horus in an unhurried manner.
Completely opposite to Horus's thoughts, Horus had suffered certain losses fighting Phil, and then been extorted by Caesar on top of that.
Old Man Leon had gotten rid of Phil, that ungrateful wolf, and the ranch's cohesion had risen to an unprecedented level. Everyone on the ranch was loyal to him.
Old Man Leon was in a very good mood, even looking several years younger.
He hadn't suffered losses, so naturally he wasn't in a hurry.
Horus threw out his arm and glared at Old Man Leon, saying sharply, "Old Man Leon, you should honor our cooperation."
"Mm!" Old Man Leon took the tea his subordinate handed him, closed his eyes and drank it down, then slowly spoke. "The cooperation was set long ago. You kill Phil, I help you kill Caesar."
"Of course I'll honor the agreement. However..."
Old Man Leon immediately put on an expression that things weren't easy to handle. Seeing Horus's face grow darker and darker, he stopped beating around the bush and spoke.
"I definitely want to help you fight Caesar. You know how strong Caesar's people are. You understand the gap in weapons better than I do."
"And they have bulletproof vests. Do you know what that means? With their equipment, even if you and I combined our forces and doubled the manpower, we might not be able to beat him."
Old Man Leon had reaped considerable benefits from this incident. The risk of opposing Caesar was too great. The intention to retreat in his heart grew heavier and heavier.
"Heh heh~" Horus lowered his head and let out a bone-chilling laugh.
That laughter made Old Man Leon's heart feel a bit panicked.
"Old Man Leon, you've betrayed our agreement."
The next moment, Horus's laughter stopped. He raised his head to look at Old Man Leon, his eyes full of resentment. "You won't believe what I'm capable of doing."
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Story Summary: When The Walking Dead universe collides with 7 Days to Die, Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty zombies, Resident Evil, Z Nation, State of Decay, and Dying Light, the world spirals into unprecedented horror. When the people of TWD encounter super corn and the blood moon rises, they finally realize there are things far more terrifying than ordinary walkers. The Wildfire virus merges with the Green Flu. The Blood Plague joins forces with the T-virus. In this nightmarish fusion, can humanity even survive? When disaster struck, half the world's population vanished in an instant. Industrial civilization—humanity's greatest achievement—collapsed in moments. Without engineers, workers, and craftsmen, industrial production became impossible. Humanity suffered total defeat. But when darkness and despair blanketed the earth, one young man carried the flame to relight the beacon. He rebuilt the world's order and proved to every inhuman thing that courage is humanity's greatest anthem. My name is Hanks. This is my story.
40 chapters out so far, first 25 is free