Chapter 92: Fairness
As soon as the sack opened, a rotten stench surged out, and some flies flew out.
Caesar looked up and saw several walker heads squeezed together, opening and closing their mouths.
Daryl, Merle, and other combat squad members had fairly strong resistance to this scene, their expressions unchanged.
Caesar waved his hand. "Hurry up and put that away."
Only then did Ford close the sack, quietly waiting for Caesar to give orders.
Caesar had no intention of making Ford wait. He stood up and extended his palm. "Welcome to the ranch."
Ford showed a delighted expression and quickly reached out to shake hands.
After shaking hands, Caesar said to Daryl: "Help find a place to dispose of these heads."
"Also take Ford and them for a tour."
"Alright." Daryl nodded, knowing there was inevitably an element of surveillance in this.
"Hello, hello." Ford had a very good attitude, smiling like a chrysanthemum, nodding repeatedly at Daryl.
Daryl wasn't too used to such enthusiastic greetings, just nodded with a stern face.
After briefly confirming the relocation time, Caesar excused himself from the meeting room.
Merle slapped his younger brother's shoulder. "Let's go!"
Merle swaggered out of the meeting room, mounted a horse unsteadily, off to crawl into someone's bed somewhere.
Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder and led Ford and his subordinates forward.
The ground was still a gravel road, but under Jacqui's planning, it had already been widened considerably—wide enough for four vehicles to drive side by side.
Daryl pointed at the road. "These roads are all newly built."
Ford nodded as if understanding, though he didn't understand why they needed to build these roads.
Wayne, however, looked carefully at the gravel road underfoot. It was indeed newly built, and wide enough—not only convenient for the town residents' daily lives, but also convenient for combat squad support.
Worthy of Caesar's ranch indeed.
Just from the gravel road expansion, Wayne knew Caesar definitely wasn't some waste who only cared about crazily expanding territory without vision.
Daryl had no gift for words, just walked forward silently leading several people.
The buildings around the council hall were temporarily built before the town construction plan, merely to house the first batch of people who'd just arrived at the ranch.
So the buildings didn't consider much—spacing was fairly cramped, and the construction was neither attractive nor sturdy.
After walking some distance, Ford and his men discovered the surrounding buildings suddenly looked completely different.
It was like the earlier buildings were just small village wooden huts—didn't care about appearance or sturdiness, just livable, like randomly stacked building blocks.
The buildings before their eyes, though some were still under construction, clearly showed unified style in their construction. All wooden houses with certain design—attractive and practical.
The distance maintained between each house was predetermined, and all were on both sides of the road. Transportation was very convenient.
Daryl said drily: "These are all Jacqui's designs."
"She used to work for the Atlanta planning department, skilled at planning this kind of construction."
"When your people relocate over, there probably won't be houses to live in right away. You'll have to wait until new houses are built before there are vacancies."
Ford was stunned, nodding blankly.
He really hadn't expected this at all. He'd thought Caesar just wanted to rule all of Black Pine Valley—to not only survive in the apocalypse, but embrace women left and right, eat, drink and be merry.
Looking at it now, Caesar's ambitions were huge. Perhaps even Black Pine Valley couldn't satisfy his aspirations.
Thinking of this, Ford's entire body felt like his blood was boiling. Before the apocalypse, he could only be a laborer, a smelly cowboy doing hard work.
The apocalypse came, and he could follow a capable boss and accomplish great things. This made him excited beyond measure.
Not just Ford—several of his trusted men were also stunned.
The group walked on the gravel road. Nearby, busy residents constantly moved lumber or building materials back and forth, carrying out construction.
There were many people, each with their own tasks. No one slacked off. Smiles unconsciously appeared on their faces. They'd look up at the unfinished wooden houses before them, their eyes shining.
Jacqui held a notebook and pen, walking along the street, confirming each building's construction status and recording it in the notebook. Occasionally seeing something wrong, she quickly communicated with the resident builders.
Carol also led a group carrying drinks and snacks, walking to the working residents' sides and handing them supplies.
The entire scene looked even warmer and more harmonious than before the apocalypse.
Daryl slowly spoke: "These are all houses everyone will live in themselves. Everyone wants to finish building them quickly and move in."
"Your houses will also be built by yourselves, though we'll provide some help."
Walking further out, beyond this building zone, were vast stretches of grassland.
Hundreds of cattle and sheep made sounds. Cowboys on fine horses herded the livestock.
Not far away was a newly constructed farm.
The farm was separated by wooden fences. Inside were various vegetables. Staple crops and fruits hadn't been planted yet.
In the farm's soil, crops hadn't grown up yet—only some green sprouts.
After touring for just over an hour, Ford and his men were already filled with longing and anticipation for Caesar's ranch.
Daryl escorted them to the ranch entrance and said: "Tomorrow, we'll drive trucks over to help you relocate."
"You need to go back and notify your residents."
"I understand." Ford nodded, smiling as he mounted his horse.
The group quickly disappeared from view.
A day later, Daryl and others drove trucks to Leon's ranch.
A group of people rode various vehicles or horses, large and small bundles of belongings, following behind the heavy trucks, arriving at Caesar's ranch.
The ranch gate stood open. A crowd clustered at the front.
Caesar stood before the crowd, smiling to welcome the new companions.
Ford and his trusted men rode horses at the front. As soon as he saw Caesar, he immediately dismounted and ran eagerly to Caesar.
"Boss, I've brought everyone over."
As he spoke, Ford raised his hand, showing Caesar the newly arrived residents.
The crowd stopped at the front. Their gazes fell on Caesar, their eyes carrying both fear and anticipation about their future lives.
High-level policy changes didn't have much to do with them. They'd only been notified temporarily after everything was settled.
They had no right to resist either. They could only pray the future ranch owner would be a bit merciful.
Caesar smiled and spread his arms. "Welcome everyone to my ranch."
"Since everyone has joined my ranch, I'll treat everyone as family."
"Our ranch doesn't practice communal meals. We distribute contribution points based on each person's labor. Contribution points can be exchanged for some goods at the ranch's official market."
"Believe me, the most important thing at my ranch is fairness. You'll definitely be able to find life's peace again here."