Chapter 94: Mature
Caesar thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered something.
Glenn's squad had gone out on a trip, and when they came back, Morgan had joined them.
That is, the famous binary switch guy—either kill them all, or kill none.
The town had quite a few people joining every day. As the leader, Caesar wouldn't go meet every single person who joined the town.
But Morgan—well, Caesar really did want to see what he was like.
"Glenn's squad then. They haven't been on a mission since they came back. I also want to see what their combat ability is like now." Caesar made his decision.
"Good, I'll go notify them for you." Rip had no objections, urging his horse forward.
While waiting for the squad members to assemble, Caesar arrived early at the town's current gate.
A crude wooden gate, barely able to accommodate a heavy truck passing through.
Caesar thought it was fine. Currently the town was in a stage of rapid development and fast expansion. This gate wouldn't be in use much longer anyway.
Outside they'd placed some chevaux de frise and the like—enough to block walkers.
Inside the gate were two watchtowers with Merle's squad members standing on them. Merle himself was lying on a lounge chair to the side.
The lounge chair had come from a ranch owner's home. That family weren't good people either—they frequently set traps in the mountain forests, specifically targeting hunters.
After catching hunters, they'd steal the hunters' prey and also kill the hunters.
Once they'd gotten careless and a hunter escaped, spreading the story throughout the whole valley.
When they were preparing to flee, Caesar had ordered Merle to eliminate them.
Merle had brought this lounge chair back with him.
Well, a very wise decision.
Merle half-reclined on the lounge chair, the chair rocking back and forth, a cool breeze blowing.
Two squad members stood behind him. Merle looked quite comfortable.
"Merle, your life is more comfortable than mine." Caesar's eyes held a smile as he teased.
Merle didn't consider at all that Caesar was his boss, saying lazily: "Boss, in this life people just live for eating and drinking."
"I don't have anything to do right now, so why not let myself lie down comfortably?"
Caesar thought about it and nodded. "That's true enough."
The two continued chatting as Caesar waited for the others to gather.
Caesar didn't wait long. Tremors came through the ground. He rode Night Fury to move aside on the road.
Before long, over a dozen vehicles arrived at the town gate.
The pickup trucks rumbled to a stop inside the gate. Caesar looked at these vehicles—their engine sounds were quite loud, carrying far.
It would be great if they could use electric vehicles, Caesar thought.
With electric vehicles, the sound would be much quieter and safer.
"Boss!"
Glenn jumped down from the driver's seat, with Jimmy sitting in his passenger seat.
Their squad members also got out of the pickup trucks. Caesar glanced over and saw Rick and Morgan among them, along with some familiar faces.
Glenn's squad had recruited quite a few people these past days. The number of members had reached around twenty—a strong force.
They looked at Caesar, greeting him in unison.
Caesar smiled and waved. "Thank you all for your hard work. Your squad has a mission today."
Beside them was another pickup with Rip and Beth inside.
Rip got out of the vehicle and walked toward Caesar. "Are we leaving now?"
Caesar raised his hand to check his watch, estimating the time. He nodded and said: "Let's depart now. I'm worried about delays on the road."
Just as Caesar was about to set out, Rip patted Night Fury and said: "You're going on horseback?"
"What's wrong?" Caesar didn't understand what Rip meant.
Rip looked at Caesar with amusement. "Did you forget how much the ranch has expanded? If Night Fury runs there, the speed might not lag behind, but it'll definitely tire him out."
Caesar froze for a moment, then said: "Right, I was in such a hurry to get out today, my brain turned to mush."
"Alright, Merle, find someone to help me take Night Fury back to my stable."
"Sure thing."
The ranch gate opened, and the chevaux de frise on both sides were also moved outward.
A line of pickups rapidly drove past.
The pickups encountered nothing along the way. Forget about people—they didn't even see any walkers.
Looking at the green mountains and clear waters, Glenn felt somewhat uncomfortable.
This was in stark contrast to the ruined scenery outside the valley. Here was full of vitality, thriving with life.
Outside was the wasteland after destruction, full of brokenness and fear.
Glenn turned his head to glance at Caesar and couldn't help asking: "Boss, will we only stay inside the valley from now on?"
Caesar sat in the back seat, holding a book and flipping through it.
The valley's entertainment activities were too scarce. There were single-player electronic games brought from the CDC, but they consumed too much electricity. Caesar couldn't play for long.
"Most likely not." Caesar casually answered, then turned another page.
His finger slid across the paper, making a rustling sound.
Caesar's calm voice reached Glenn's ears. "What's wrong? Having trouble adjusting after coming back to the ranch?"
Glenn thought for a moment and nodded.
"I am having some trouble adjusting. Inside the valley and outside are both places where people live, but..." Glenn didn't finish his sentence, but he truly felt despair about the outside world.
Caesar laughed. "Glenn, that's because you just came back to the ranch. The people you're encountering are all normal people I've screened."
"Inside the valley there are also many people who kill their own relatives for profit, and people who kill companions without hesitation to survive. It's actually the same as the outside world."
"It's just that right now you're only seeing the valley's surface appearance. You haven't had contact with people from other ranches, so you've developed a misconception."
"As for the environmental issue, that's about humanity's creativity and destructiveness."
"Competition inside the valley is very fierce. It's just that our ranch defeated the other ranches with overwhelming strength, without causing much harm to the ordinary residents of those ranches."
Caesar continued turning the pages, his voice blending in with them, like the peaceful knowledge from the book.
"Glenn, after being out so long, you should understand what kind of animal humans are, right? The valley isn't as ruined as the outside world simply because there aren't many heavy weapons in the valley."
"Plus our ranch hasn't wantonly destroyed things in the valley. It's that simple."
Glenn nodded repeatedly. Looks like he'd been thinking too simplistically.
In King County, survivors were pitifully few, but Glenn and his squad members had still witnessed quite a few incidents that outraged both humans and gods. His heart held extreme disappointment in humanity.
After returning to the ranch, Glenn had thought that perhaps the outside world and the valley were different.
After listening to Caesar's words, Glenn understood—it was just that Caesar was different from the leaders of those outside factions.
"You've matured a lot." Caesar suddenly said.
Glenn smiled. "Why do you say that?"
"Before, you wouldn't have thought about so many complex things. You only focused on the present. You feared walkers in your heart, but you'd still bravely complete your missions."
"That's also why I wanted you to be my squad leader."