Chapter 99: Good Morning, Everyone
The town had already taken initial shape. The residential and core district buildings were basically complete, all constructed from solid wood.
The surrounding forests had almost been completely cut down.
The entire town overflowed with the breath of new life. Everyone's faces wore smiles, their eyes full of longing for the future.
When the time came, almost all residents walked out of their homes. They walked toward the core district with laughter.
The core district had a very large plaza. The plaza was paved with stone blocks. At the plaza's center was the council hall—the town's governmental office area.
Caesar, Amy, Carol, Merle, Daryl...
A group of the town's core leadership stood before everyone, waiting for the residents to arrive.
After people were more or less assembled, Caesar walked forward a few steps. Morales stepped up and handed him a microphone.
Caesar took it and said loudly: "Everyone, good morning."
Following Caesar's greeting, the crowd instantly erupted with thunderous applause, mixed with some cheers.
Feeling the residents' affection, Caesar's smile widened further. "Today I've gathered everyone here for several matters."
"The first matter—our ranch has become Black Pine Valley's only ranch. The entire valley is ours now."
As soon as the good news was announced, residents with deep feelings for the town excitedly jumped up.
Cheers rang out again, the sound louder, the applause more thunderous.
Caesar was very satisfied with his achievement and continued: "Of course, for everyone's safety, our combat squads run around outside every day."
"They've cleaned up the walkers in the valley for everyone. From now on, everyone can rest assured about the town's safety."
"I'm committed to letting everyone live the peaceful and stable life from before the apocalypse, letting everyone's children run freely on the grasslands, without needing to worry about walkers appearing, without needing to fear death's sudden arrival."
Caesar used children as an introduction, voicing the hearts of many who'd become parents.
Parents in the crowd all unconsciously reached out to pat their children's heads, their eyes full of tenderness.
As parents, who didn't hope their children could have a normal childhood? Yet their children's childhoods would inevitably be accompanied by bloody violence and cruelty.
Caesar's actions and thoughts made them feel incredibly secure. The way they looked at Caesar had already changed from admiration to worship, even somewhat fanatical.
"And from now on, we're officially renamed Yellowstone."
"I make you a promise. I will continuously expand our power, so we can survive easily in the apocalypse. I will continuously develop, so we can live better."
"I will not compromise to outsiders, so we can live with dignity. I will make all of us become the strong in this apocalypse."
Caesar's promises one after another pushed the crowd's emotions to a climax.
Countless people raised their arms and shouted.
"Yellowstone!"
"Yellowstone!"
"Yellowstone!!!"
The mighty sound rushed straight to the clouds.
Caesar looked at them with emotion. This lifetime, he would absolutely live incredibly brilliantly.
"The first matter officially ends. Next, Dr. Jenner will tell everyone about the second matter."
Caesar extended his palm, inviting Dr. Jenner to walk forward.
Dr. Jenner wore a white lab coat. His spirits were much better than when he'd just left the CDC. His complexion was ruddy, and his eyes didn't have many bloodshot veins.
Jenner, full of energy, stepped forward. He nodded at Caesar and took the microphone saying:
"Hello, all residents. I'm Dr. Jenner."
"Many people might not know me. Let me introduce myself. I'm a researcher from the CDC. I participated in the Wildfire Protocol researching a vaccine to treat the walker virus."
The CDC?
The Wildfire Protocol?
A vaccine for the walker virus???
A series of messages bombarded many residents' minds. They'd more or less heard that among the town's leadership was someone who stayed indoors and didn't really manage affairs.
But they hadn't expected it was actually a researcher studying the walker virus, and from the CDC at that.
The CDC meant official certification, genuine.
Actually, it wasn't that residents who'd initially been to the CDC hadn't mentioned it. It's just every time they spoke, no one believed them, and they were even mocked.
Gradually, no one spoke of it anymore.
People who joined the town later naturally didn't know.
The crowd fell into stupor, staring at Dr. Jenner dumbfounded.
Seeing no cheers, Dr. Jenner could only continue: "Next, I need to educate everyone about the walker virus."
Dr. Jenner described all the information he currently understood about the walker virus.
For example, every person was infected with the walker virus. No matter what method, as long as they died they'd turn into walkers.
Also, they couldn't contact walker blood or certain tissue fluids, much less walker flesh and tissue. As long as it entered the body, they'd turn into walkers in minutes.
Besides this, there were walker weaknesses. Also, walkers with arms and jaws removed lost their aggression and could mask the scent of the living. This method could traverse walker herds.
And so on. Everyone listened entranced.
Only now did they know—so walkers did this for such reasons, and walkers could be avoided this way.
The more they understood walkers, the less they feared them.
Caesar stepped forward at this time and said: "From now on, every adult in our town must learn how to fight walkers. We don't need you to practice supreme combat skills, we only hope you have the ability to protect yourself."
After understanding walkers, everyone's fear of walkers dropped to freezing point. Without Caesar needing to waste words, people volunteered one after another, saying they'd kill however many walkers.
Among them were also some more timid and cautious, but the next second people beside them pointed at their heads scolding: "You coward."
Blood rushed to their heads, and they immediately agreed.
This went much more smoothly than the first time.
"Next is the third matter." Caesar pressed both hands downward and said.
The residents below understood and quieted down, extraordinarily obedient.
"Our town needs construction, needs to grow. We need to establish a construction plan. At minimum, our town should have an asphalt road or concrete road, right?"
"Also fix up Buffalo Pass, so walkers can't enter."
"Also farming. The town currently has no self-sufficiency capability. We need to use suitable land to plant..."
Caesar told everyone about the current difficulties.
For a faction to achieve self-sufficiency was very difficult. For instance, Omaha—just because they ate a bit more of Philadelphia's things, they were directly killed by CRM's poison gas bombs.
Caesar had a strong sense of crisis. The food collected in Atlanta was enough for the population at that time to live for a long time, but now the population had multiplied several times and could no longer support them for too long.
Fortunately there were those ranches' stored grain in the valley, barely maintaining survival for a certain time.
Planting was an urgent matter.