What's Happening?

Merle seemed surprised and turned his gaze toward Martínez after he asked, "Is what she said true?"

Upon hearing the question, Martínez quickly shook his head and pointed at Michonne before explaining, "Don't listen to her nonsense or make hasty decisions. We didn't kill her friend! She stole our stuff, and we just caught her to bring her back to our shelter. All we were going to do was wait for everyone to decide what we should do with her, that's it."

Martínez's words changed in the most convenient way for survival. Of course, he didn't want to reveal the truth to these people. If the other side discovered what they were really doing, their end would come much faster than they expected.

Merle, like a judge in court, looked back at Michonne, pointed at Martínez, and then asked, "That idiot said you were a thief, how do you explain that?"

Upon hearing those words, Michonne's lips trembled with rage. She turned her head to look directly at Merle and then said, "I'm telling the truth. I can show you my friend's body."

Merle shook his head and then, in a tone that tried to sound apologetic to help Michonne, said, "I'm really sorry, dear, but by now, she's probably a walker!"

"That's impossible! She was shot, and she wasn't infected by the walkers."

Seeing the hatred in Michonne's eyes, Merle immediately realized which side was telling the truth. He then pointed and said, "Well, no matter how you die, everyone eventually turns into a piece of walking meat."

Regardless of the stunned expression on Michonne's face, Merle turned to look at Martínez. "Haha, I think I've already decided who the winner is, but you, bunch of idiots, are lying right in my face."

As he spoke, he raised the gun in his hands for the first time. Seeing this, Martínez's expression drastically changed. Just when he thought he had persuaded the other side, it turned out he hadn't. He pointed, "No, no, please, don't shoot! We're just following orders, our shelter leader told us to do this, and it's not something we can refuse."

"Are you confessing you did it?" Merle's tone turned cold, and at the same time, he extended his hand and grabbed the radio from his vest.

"Zz... Tyler, we have the rats under control. Just now, they killed a survivor. What should we do with these people?"

"Merle, it's Jason, wait a moment while I head to your position."

"Understood!"

After a brief exchange of words, Merle turned off the radio and said, "Take your weapons and bring them to me. You all stay here, don't make any wrong moves."

Michonne had just regained her composure when she heard the words and approached. Just as she bent down to touch the weapon, she heard Merle's voice behind her: "Wait! Don't be impatient, sweetheart."

Perhaps due to Merle's reminder, Michonne had no other thoughts at that moment.

According to Merle's request, she handed over all the weapons around Martínez and the others to the watch team, then approached Crowley, extended her hand, and took the samurai sword from his back. She coldly glared at these people, then slowly walked toward Moore and handed it over.

Merle drew the knife, looked at it, clicked his tongue, and tucked it behind his back.

The group waited for about ten minutes, and as Martínez and the others grew increasingly terrified, they heard the sound of someone approaching. Merle looked back and saw it was Jason, who was followed by Rick, Shane, and another group of ten people.

"Jason!"

Merle hid his cynical expression at that moment, shook his head, and began narrating everything he had learned about this group.

Jason's eyes scanned all these people one by one. Of course, he knew who some of them were, but he hadn't expected to encounter Michonne under these circumstances.

If Andrea was still in the prison, he couldn't understand how Michonne had also ended up at the Governor's shelter. This situation was confusing and had to be handled carefully, so he thought deeply about what to do.

After listening to Merle's words, Jason lowered his gaze and then asked Michonne, "If you said they killed your friend, why did they do it?"

When she heard this, she said, "I don't know, we had no conflict, we didn't argue or steal anything, it was just me and Janet spending the night at their camp."

The more Michonne spoke, the angrier she became about what she had lived through. Jason, on the other hand, thought silently and pieced together how everything had unfolded.

If she hadn't crossed paths with Andrea as in the original story, she somehow met this woman named Janet. This time, the outcome was different—Janet decided to leave the Governor's shelter, which led to her inevitable death.

Now, Jason understood what would have happened to Andrea if she had left that shelter when Michonne did; everything had been explained to him, from the first encounter with those people to how they ended up here.

After hearing Michonne's account, Jason looked at Martínez and the others in his group, walked slowly toward them, and then began to speak: "You all know, don't you? I could kill you all right now. All I need to do is say a word, and your hearts would stop beating!"

Upon hearing these words, Martínez's face was covered in cold sweat, and the others could only remain silent, from nervousness to terror. They couldn't explain it, but they felt that the man in front of them was a real killer.

But this feeling only lasted a moment; there was no need to shout or be pointed at with a weapon to feel it. When everyone looked up again, they saw a man smiling at them. But that smile was anything but reassuring, and immediately, everyone thought Jason was crazy.

Martínez, who was always fighting to protect his life, looked at Jason and persuaded him, "Friend, I recommend you don't kill us. We'll leave now if you let us go. I'm serious, we have a lot of people at our shelter. You and your people definitely don't want to be our enemies."

When Jason heard Martínez's words, he gave him an odd look and said, "First, you beg for your life, then you threaten me. Should I think your leader has no damn idea where we are now?"

After a pause, Jason lowered his voice and said, "But it's fine. I can let you go, but you have to answer some questions honestly."

When everyone heard Jason's words, they were very surprised. Although it's true that the defenses at the prison were now very strong, very few people understood what Jason was trying to do.

Michonne, on the other hand, was the most affected. She looked at Jason and shouted, "No! You can't let them go, these people are murderers."

Jason made a gesture to stop Michonne from speaking further, then turned his gaze toward Martínez and waited for their response.

The few people saw that there was hope of leaving, so they nodded frantically, caring about nothing else.

Upon receiving an answer, Jason nodded and said, "I want you to think carefully about your answers before you say them. I don't like lies. From what I've heard, it seems your leader told you to kill these people. How many times has your leader asked you to do the same?"

Although Jason didn't differ from these orders, like when he asked Tommy to deal with some troublesome people, such as Carol's husband, among other men, he wanted the people around to be aware of the threat they were about to face, of the kind of crazy person they were about to deal with.

"There have been some times, you must know there are many mouths to feed at our refuge, we had to do it for them." Martinez said in an unnatural tone.

"How many people have you killed? Does your leader do it personally, or does he just order you to do it?"

"I don't remember, but when we go out, the Governor is the one who gives the orders. We just follow orders to survive, you must understand that."

"I understand that, I can't blame you." Jason paused and then asked: "What I'm curious about is, do the people in your refuge know how you and your leader obtain the resources you feed on? Do they know?"

Martinez remained silent for a moment before shaking his head. Seeing this, Jason was satisfied with what he had heard, then said: "Alright, you and your friends behind you must listen closely to what I'm about to say next."

They all nodded nervously. Sighing slightly, Jason took a step forward and said: "I just want you to consider one thing and make it clear, today I spared your lives so there wouldn't be conflicts with your people later on. If the Governor of your refuge or you decide to attack us, then neither my people nor I will hesitate to kill you, eliminating the trash that you are."

Martinez and the others finally saw the opportunity to leave, so they didn't pay much attention to Jason's words. Martinez didn't even realize that when they checked him earlier, there was something in his pocket.

"Thank you very much, as a good leader, you made the right decision. We don't want any unnecessary bloodshed either." Martinez said with an expression full of gratitude.

"Alright, if you're leaving, hurry up and don't waste my time any longer."

After speaking, he saw Jason signaling the surroundings, and everyone lowered their weapons as they retreated with Jason and the others.

Martinez also backed away in front of them, retreating more than a dozen meters, before turning and heading off under the protection of the trees in the area.

Ignoring the few people who left, Jason turned to look at Michonne, signaled for her to follow him, and then started walking back to the base.

During this time, Jason had made plans to resolve the Governor issue without shedding too much blood, and that plan was now in motion.

Michonne, who stayed behind, did not follow them. Instead, she decided to ask a question that many were asking: "Why didn't you kill them? Are you afraid of them? Letting them go is a stupid decision, it will bring you problems later!"

Jason smiled, looked at Michonne, and said: "At least you were deceived, I'm glad this game wasn't discovered by those people. Do you really think I let those people go out of fear?"

"Give me my weapon and I'll go alone!" Michonne had no intention of following Jason's group, but she said while looking at the sword behind Merle.

Jason understood what she wanted, walked over to Merle, took the sword from him, threw it to Michonne, and then said: "I can't force you to follow us, but you'll definitely understand my choices in depth if you stay."

Once he finished speaking, he turned around and continued walking back with his people. Michonne was a strong woman, and no matter if she decided to follow him or not, he couldn't force her, considering her character and the way she thinks.

At that moment, Rick looked at the hesitant Michonne, hesitated himself, and said: "I was a police officer before the world ended, I guarantee you that Jason didn't let them leave here just like that. He's a good person, he and his people risked their lives to save many survivors. Not everyone understands what he does, but I can be sure he never makes a mistake."

Michonne looked at the man in the sheriff's uniform standing in front of her. For some reason, she found that her subconscious didn't reject the people from this group. Seeing this, Rick didn't intend to keep persuading her, he turned around and followed his group.

Michonne narrowed her eyes and then looked at the group getting farther and farther away, thinking about what to do next.