Discovering the Objective

"Do you know where? Hurry, take us there!" Shane heard Jason's words and couldn't help but ask the same question again.

Shane's slightly excited tone completely confused Otis, but he still explained everything calmly. "The prison west of Georgia is a bit far from here. It will take about forty minutes to drive there, just one way. By then, it will be dark, considering the time. Why don't we go first thing in the morning?"

At that moment, Jason looked up at the sky, at the sunset. He figured Otis was right, so he didn't insist further, and everyone quickly returned to the farm.

If he thought about it, right now, with the medicine, they weren't in a good position to continue exploring. They needed to return first, drop off everything they had collected today, and then decide whether to keep searching.

Morgan turned his head to look at Jason, who stood beside him with a pensive expression. Even though he seemed like a good leader, Morgan constantly felt that Jason was being cautious about something, and it was making him more impatient. He hoped that after taking the prison, he could finally get some answers.

Sensing Morgan's gaze, Jason turned his head to see the other man's somewhat intrigued expression. He looked around, and after hesitating for a moment, he said, "Lately, I feel like it would be better to leave the city. Something tells me that the longer we stay, the less trustworthy people outside will become."

Shane heard these words and nodded. He knew that out there, many bastards were causing havoc and killing innocent people. They couldn't afford to trust every survivor they rescued and had to always stay alert.

…

At noon the next day, in the lobby of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

"Alright, rookies, we've just taught you everything there is to teach. Now it's up to you to see how much you can do when the time comes. Okay, grab a weapon and go to Mike—he'll assign you to a team to operate together." Merle finished his final survival training explanations.

After that, he pointed out that he had nothing more to teach them, so they should continue learning from other instructors. For now, his presence was needed to work as a community guard.

At that moment, Merle was half-lying on a couch, his eyes half-closed. He didn't care about anything else after finishing his task. Now, he just smiled and made people around him uncomfortable. But everyone present seemed to have gotten used to his behavior—not only did they not feel uneasy, but some even joked and argued with him.

After understanding that the rules had to be followed upon entering the S.C.T. community, he and all the survivors realized how important they were for this place to remain sustainable and continue growing. The vast majority of guards here were military, and those who weren't had learned enough to know how to move, fight, and use a weapon.

At first, some people complained about the attitude of certain guards during training. But after hearing that if they didn't accept these methods, they wouldn't be allowed to stay—and that finding a safe place outside the community was nearly impossible—most of them stopped complaining.

Once all the assigned trainees had finished their survival training, the two Dixon brothers were left alone.

Daryl took his crossbow and began cleaning it while talking to his brother. "Any news about the people who went looking for a new shelter? Staying in this place is becoming torture."

"At this rate, we're not doing anything else. Does Jason just want us stuck here teaching that bunch of morons how to survive?"

Merle, who had been half-lying down without moving, finally reacted. He simply looked at his brother Daryl with an amused expression and then said lazily, "Relax, my good brother, we won't be here much longer. If I'm right, we'll be heading out soon to support the others."

Merle paused for a moment and then said in a mocking tone, "I'm sure those virus researchers won't be making a cure anytime soon, so this whole mess will drag on for a lot longer."

After speaking, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol beside him and took a sip. Merle felt that this place wouldn't be ideal for survival much longer. Now, most of the group—under Jason's orders—was clearing out the city and taking a lot of things they didn't really need.

Why were they collecting tanks, helicopters, and hundreds of Humvees with machine guns? It was obvious that Jason was preparing for a future where the world's order would belong to whoever had the most weapons.

Daryl didn't say a word when he heard his brother speak. He simply continued cleaning his crossbow. Seeing his brother's silence, Merle looked at him and, with a smirk, said, "I heard Jason almost shot you last time when you were out hunting at the quarry. Is that true?"

With a cold expression, Daryl stood up and said loudly, "It was nothing! I almost put an arrow in his chest too, you get that?"

"Ha ha ha!" Merle didn't respond—he just grinned at his brother.

"Your laughter is extremely annoying, you know that?" Daryl looked at his brother, not quite understanding his attitude.

"But you're carrying the new crossbow he gave you, and now you have hundreds of arrows thanks to Jason. I suppose it won't be long before you fall for him like everyone else has."

Just as Daryl was about to respond, the radio on the table suddenly crackled.

"Zz... Can anyone hear me? This is Jason, respond!"

Daryl froze, looked at Merle, and Merle grabbed the radio from the table and tossed it to his brother.

"Come on, brother, don't leave the burden of being the group's spokesperson all to me! Get involved, find some love! Ha ha ha."

Daryl caught the radio his brother had thrown, sneered, and pressed the response button.

"Zz... Copy that! This is Daryl!"

"Zz... Daryl! Get Janner and Felipe together—I have something important to say!"

"Zz... Hold on a moment, I'll contact you later."

Lowering the radio, Daryl tossed it back to Merle, then turned away and said, "You can handle it yourself—I'm not gonna be a damn messenger for those rookies!"

Merle smirked and walked toward the underground living area where the researchers were.

…

Somewhere, two cars were parked on the side of the road. A young Asian man and a burly Black man stood on the roofs of the two cars, keeping watch over the surroundings, while another group of people walked ahead.

This group of people was Jason and the others. Otis walked at the front of the team. The long journey had left him drenched in sweat, and he was out of breath after walking a long distance—a distance that, for many, was relatively short.

The group walked through the forest for more than twenty minutes when they heard Otis up ahead say, "Here, it's just ahead. There's actually a shorter path through the forest that leads to that prison. A friend of mine was locked up here before, so I know the way. But when we reached that intersection, two trees had fallen and blocked the road, so I found this shortcut instead. Look, we're here."

A few people emerged from a forest trail, and the once-dense forest suddenly became sparse, revealing a mountain with a wide-open view. Everyone looked in the direction Otis was pointing, and a large-scale prison appeared before their eyes.

Looking at the familiar prison in front of him, Jason felt a wave of emotion. Too many things happened in this prison in the original story after they took it—most of them tragedies. Now that he was here, he planned to turn this prison into the base for the S.C.T. community and secure humanity's future.

"This place is perfect!" Rick said, looking at the prison. Filled with joy, he couldn't help but admire the place.

Morgan also looked down at the prison and saw the dense cluster of walkers roaming mindlessly near the fence. He couldn't help but voice his concern: "It looks like this place has completely collapsed! Look at all those walkers."

Shane expressed his doubts, looking at Jason as he said, "Jason, with all due respect, we don't know if the facilities inside are secure or not, but from what we can see, there must be hundreds of walkers in every corner of that place."

"I don't think moving here is a good idea! I still believe we can stay at the CDC. The facilities seem impenetrable, a safe and comfortable place."

"Shane, I know you're thinking about the team, but what you need to understand is that staying at the CDC requires fuel, and the demand is enormous. Even with most of the unused equipment shut down, it's still a massive drain. So relocating the refugees is the top priority right now—we don't have a choice."

Jason recognized that Shane was a very defensive and cautious person, as seen in various choices he made in the original story. He was also someone who disliked taking unnecessary risks. His reckless and irritable nature often led him to act impulsively.

At that moment, Shane still wasn't convinced that the prison was a good option. He was about to argue when he heard what Jason was about to say.

"Guys, do you want to know why we have to leave the CDC?"

After pausing for a moment, Jason spoke in a clear voice, "It's because the CDC's fuel supply can never run out. Once we run out of fuel, all the CDC's systems will shut down!"

"At first, I also wanted that place to be our operations center, but I had to take this factor into account."

Shane asked, "Even if there's no electricity, it's still a good shelter!"

Jason shook his head and continued explaining, "Do you know where we are and what the CDC actually does? The CDC stores most of the world's deadliest viruses and bacteria. Once the CDC's power supply is depleted, the central computer will automatically initiate a full decontamination."

Upon hearing this, everyone present asked the same question almost simultaneously:

"What do you mean by 'full decontamination'?"

"It will explode."

"Explode?"

"A high-powered pulse bomb. It contains a two-stage aerosol ignition device, with destruction surpassing all known devices. Its internal devastation will annihilate everything stored inside. The effect is second only to nuclear bombs. The extreme temperature of 6,000 degrees will ignite the air and destroy every hazardous substance in the CDC!"

In the original story, Edwin's explanation had been shocking, and Jason vividly remembered this terrifying bomb, so he tried to explain it as best as he could.

"Are you telling me we've been living on top of a bomb?!"