Old Donnie observes his surroundings nervously along the way, very afraid that suddenly a group of fast-moving zombie monsters will rush out from all directions, and stop his car and kill him as he just saw.

However, the journey back made him breathe a sigh of relief, and the journey of several hours was not dangerous, and when he was still a few hundred meters away from the Arkansas stronghold, he suddenly received orders from Professor Marlock.

"Mr. Donnie, please stay where you are and don't move on, our staff will disinfect you."

Hearing this, Old Downey was suddenly a little scared, afraid that he would be eliminated as a virus like the plots put in some movies, so he was silent for a few seconds, and asked in a somewhat dry voice:

"Mr. Marlock, are the rest of the team any back?"

Professor Marlock's voice did not fluctuate, and he still said solemnly:

"Not yet, you're the first one to come back."

Old Donnie was silent, he was not a man of words, he looked up the window, seven or eight researchers in closed protective suits, had already walked to his car, holding a jet system like a shower in their hands, and began to use various disinfection methods to disinfect the entire exterior of the car.

A few minutes later, the workers were dealing with Donnie himself and the fungal zombies he had placed in the car.

Eventually, Downey was locked up in a sealed room for observation, while the samples of the fungal zombies he brought back were sent to Professor Marlock's makeshift lab for preliminary research.

Eating, drinking, and sleeping, I was asked some questions about Texas in the middle.

After being locked up for about a week, and having several blood draws and tests, the elder Downey was finally released.

After being released, he learned that of the ten survivors who went to Texas with him, only he and the two middle-aged couples managed to come back alive.

Of course, the Federation of People did not break its promise, and the three survivors not only received a reward of 30,000 contribution points, but even the injection of the mysterious potion that Old Downey was most concerned about would be arranged after the approval of the president.

………………

A week later, after receiving the preliminary data from Professor Marlock at the Melfa Research Center, Leon spoke with Hathaway and Dr. Melfa.

"Not bad, according to Professor Marlock's research, this fungal virus is more infectious, although it is stronger than ordinary zombie viruses."

"But their main way of transmission is still airborne and contact-to-contact, and the possibility of infection to ordinary people is not great."

"As long as the density of fungi in the air does not exceed a certain limit, or we are scratched and bitten by these fungal monsters, we ordinary people will not be infected by these fungal viruses."

Hathaway took the report and quickly entered scholar mode, explaining the information of this fungal virus to Leon in a serious manner.

Dr. Melfa, on the other hand, frowned, picked up the report, and remained silent for a long time.

Leon somewhat understood Dr. Melfa's thoughts, and that virus serum virus antibodies were not an easy project to study, and Dr. Melfa had been working this research for many years.

But in less than four years, the zombie virus serum has mutated several times, and now, another fungal virus has appeared, and it is mixed with the zombie virus, which really catches people off guard.

If it continues to develop like this in the future, zombie virus serum and virus antibodies will be far away if they want to be successfully developed.

However, as a good researcher, Dr. Melfa quickly collected his mood and said to Leon with the report:

"The situation is quite optimistic."

"As long as we do a good job of protecting against this fungal virus and making equipment that can measure its concentration in the air, we can go a long way in preventing ordinary survivors from being infected by it."

"This problem is left to Hathaway and me, and in about half a month, we should be able to build a device that can detect the concentration of fungal viruses in the air."

"When the time comes, we're going to start a new research project to study this new fungal virus."

Hearing that the contagiousness of the fungal virus was not as strong as he thought, Leon secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and he nodded at Dr. Melfa and said:

"No problem, the study of the zombie virus is related to the safety of all our human lives, and I will do my best to assist you."

Hathaway thought for a moment and said to Dr. Melfa:

"Doctor, should we need living specimens too?"

"After all, a report is a report, and Professor Marlock is only a sample collected from a zombie corpse, which cannot be used as the most authentic basis, and we need to study the capabilities of these fungal viruses when they are in a living state."

"Only in this way can we reduce unnecessary surprises."

Dr. Melfa hesitated, and she thought about it for dozens of seconds before she said to Leon and Hathaway:

"We can't confirm at this time whether the live fungal virus is more infectious, so we can't risk bringing them back from Arkansas."

"Well, let's send some more specialized research equipment to Arkansas, where we'll set up a cutting-edge research center, and I'll lead the team myself."

"Although the coexistence of fungal viruses and zombie viruses has made the world more complicated, no one can say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing."

"We have to have the most accurate information so that we can respond accordingly in a timely manner."

Presumably, the appearance of the fungal virus was very devastated by Dr. Melfa, and Leon persuaded him, but the doctor insisted that the details of the fungal virus must be understood as soon as possible in order to contribute to the progress of the study of the virus serum.

Otherwise, even if a serum against the zombie virus is developed, it is not certain that it will be effective against the latest changes in the virus.

The three of them discussed it for a while, but in the end, they couldn't get past the old-fashioned Dr. Melfa.

After thinking about it, Leon finally decided to send both Abraham's group and Jasmine's group near Arkansas to the front strongholds.

With them, the elite members of the Stinger Squad, there is no need for him to worry too much about the combat side.

So, under the operation of Lyon, an expeditionary team of more than 300 people, escorted a large number of supplies, began to travel from Georgia to Arkansas.

At the same time, he also sent a mission to the Jasmine team, and when the expeditionary team arrived, they were to take people to the Vison Virus Research Institute on the Mexican border, and transport the various research equipment there back to the temporary research center in Arkansas.

………………

On the Ohio side, after formally meeting with the leaders of several survivor camps that Jesus had found, Rick decided to talk to the Salvation Army first.

However, his decision was opposed by Sean.

"Rick, your decision was wrong."

"If you go and negotiate with them first, we will lose the opportunity to strike first."

"If we fight again after that, they will inflict more losses on our soldiers."

Rick felt that he was not wrong, although the Salvation Army had done a lot of wrong things, but in order to survive, there were many things that were forced to happen, and there were very few simple good people in this world.

Moreover, the Salvation Army has a team of thousands of people, and it is impossible for everyone to be bad, and once the two sides really start a war, many innocent people will be forced to die in vain.

However, his reason for this was not recognized by Sean.

"The Salvation Army is not a good man and a woman, and the men in the seaside hotel were not killed by them?"

"The hilltop village and the college camp and the miners' camp all died at their hands."

"With so many sacrifices, do we just make us pretend that nothing happened?"

Although Rick felt that what Sean said was also reasonable, his sense of responsibility as a good person forced him to think that he must give the Salvation Army a chance to settle peacefully.

In the end, the two quarreled, and neither could convince the other, and pushed the problem in front of Leon.

For the opposition of the two concepts, Leon found it very interesting.

It stands to reason that Sean's thinking is more in line with the concept of modern survivors, everything is based on himself, as long as it is beneficial to himself, he can do it.

Rick's concept is very human, although some stupid and hypocritical, but if he is just an ordinary team member, an ordinary resident, no one wants their leader to be a selfish and bottomless person.

Just like the heads and tails of the mirror, both have their own strengths and weaknesses, but as a power leader, Leon thought about it and said to Rick:

"Since the Salvation Army is equipped with iron armor and has a large number of people, I will send thirty main battle tanks and twenty other land vehicles, about three hundred mobile troops, to support you."

"Didn't the survivor named Jesus pretend that he was an undercover agent at the top of the mountain?"

"You can set up a deception here, I'll have someone send you a batch of super narcotic smoke so that you can capture a group of Salvation Army soldiers alive."

"When the time comes, you will not only weaken the power of the Salvation Army, but also have bargaining chips with the Salvation Army."

"As for whether or not to completely destroy the Salvation Army, it depends on whether their leaders know each other or not."

With the support of the great president, Rick's heart is full of motivation, and he tells Sean and Jesus about the battle plan he got from Leon.

No one dared to disobey the command of the Supreme Leader of the People's Federation, and Lyon's plan was very feasible, and after they discussed the details and assigned their respective tasks, they began to carry out the plan.

………………

A few days later, Negan, who was in his palace, suddenly heard interesting news.

"The hilltop village has been occupied by a group of soldiers?"

"Yes."

Jesus looked up at the man sitting on the throne, this was the second time he had been close to Negan, and in the past, even when Negan was patrolling his base, he would stay away so as not to attract the attention of this wise man.

But today, he took the initiative to come to the door and report the news, which really aroused Negan's interest.

Negan touched the stubble on his chin, put Lucille on the ground, and asked with interest:

"What kind of soldier is it? How many of them are there? ”

Jesus pretended to remember for a moment and said the words that had been prepared.

"I don't know where the deserters came from, there are not many of them, only about fifty people, but the equipment and weapons are particularly good, as well as a tank and a couple of armored vehicles."

"The people at the top of the hill did not dare to resist when they saw their tanks, and now they have occupied them."

"However, the deserters did not go on a killing spree, but only took some of the food and occupied the place where we lived."

Hearing the number of these soldiers, Negan let down his guard, and in his opinion, no matter how good the soldiers of the army were, a team of fifty would not pose any threat to him.

After thinking about it for more than ten seconds, Negan opened his mouth and commanded:

"You go back and probe their bottom to see if they have any other companions, we won't go to the mountain village to collect tribute this month, it's best not to let them know the news of our Salvation Army."

Jesus nodded, bowed respectfully, and left.

As soon as he was gone, Negan called the rest of his men, found a man with a burn scar on his face, patted him on the face with his hand, and said:

"Dwight, you wait and follow Jesus quietly, and go to the vicinity of the hilltop village to observe their situation, and see if there is really a pair of soldiers who occupy the hilltop village."

"Watch well and tell me everything you see, you know?"

Dwight bowed his head, behaved obediently, and said:

"Yes, great Negan."

Seeing Dwight's docile and obedient appearance, Negan couldn't help but smile smugly on his face, and said:

"I know about you secretly meeting Shirley, but now Shirley is my wife."

"Next time, if I find it again, I'll burn the other side of your face in front of her."

Dwight trembled when he heard this, as if he remembered the pain of being burned off half of his face, and said with a trembling voice:

"Yes, great Negan."

………………

Inside the hilltop village.

Wearing a crisp military uniform, Daryl sat on the seat that originally belonged to Gedegory, looking at the trembling old man in front of him with indifferent eyes.

The knife-like look in his eyes made Gedgori, who had wanted to say something, tremble and couldn't say anything.

In fact, Jesus basically did not lie about Negan's information.

It is true that an army occupied the hilltop village and was armed with many advanced weapons.

It's just that this team is not a deserter from CRM, but an elite unit led by Daryl.

And in order to ensure that the information is not leaked, and also to make the performance more realistic, except for Jesus, everyone in the mountaintop village thinks that this army is really a bad guy, and no one dares to really resist them.

According to the plan discussed with Rick, Daryl restrained the other soldiers in the team and took most of the food and shelter from the hilltop village, but instead of killing them all, he gave the villagers some rations and tents for the army.

As for the so-called leader of the mountaintop, Gedgory, when Daryl learned from Jesus what the old man had done, he instinctively thought that this guy was just a coward, and only gave him a utility room in the mansion to store cleaning tools, and left him alone.

(End of chapter)