I invite you to read my new novel Alice in Borderland and support it with a review.
Thank you for reading and have a nice Sunday.
...
..
.
Chapter 235 - Much More Knowledge
"As for the cult, it's located in a shopping mall in The Galleria..."
Upon hearing the name of that place, Jason murmured it under his breath. He couldn't help but fall into a brief trance. A place that big could definitely house the people this man was referring to. And once he thought about what these people were trying to do, he knew he couldn't take it lightly.
Everything since his arrival in Texas had escalated into increasingly darker and more difficult problems to solve. Now that he had discovered the nuclear warheads, he believed it was actually fortunate—amid all the bad—that he had run into the kind of people who wanted to destroy the world completely.
If he hadn't come to Texas and hadn't crossed paths with these people, what would have happened to this place and the rest of the country? He, his people, friends, and community would have been wiped out without even realizing it.
At that moment, after hearing all this information, Jason actually wanted to take helicopters and destroy the entire place. But he had to be smart—getting that second key and knowing the submarine's location was vital to getting more nuclear weapons under his control. With that kind of power, there would be nothing to fear from the CRM, and he could defend himself even if they had similar weapons.
Unexpectedly, what was originally a major threat might turn into an opportunity to eliminate some problematic enemies and gain a weapon of mass destruction.
As he thought this, Jason asked, "So, since your task is to find that stupid key, where is it, and why were you torturing those people in the basement of your shelter?"
"We haven't found it yet..."
Dario nodded, smiled ironically at random, and said, "However, even though we've been searching this small town for almost half a month, we've finally found an important lead. The people in the basement were connected to a government official who had the second key. Honestly, I suspect the key might be up someone's ass, a place we haven't searched."
"Those people? Seems like you would've never found it anyway. Why do you even follow Teddy's orders?"
"Because he's holding some of our family members. When he recruits a community, he doesn't kill anyone—he just takes some key members who can't defend themselves and threatens to kill them if we don't obey."
Dario didn't hide anything and answered honestly, "There are very few supplies in this small town. We all know we can't find food the way we used to, so we had to split up across the city. Some groups are in charge of food, others of weapons, and the rest deal with walkers."
Speaking of this, Dario looked at Jason and said, "I didn't expect you to target us first. We heard the Vultures were killed, but we couldn't find anything about who was behind it... But that same day, you came for our shelter…"
"Even if we hadn't discovered that you were the ones who destroyed the Vultures, after getting near that damn church, we ran into you. I'm being completely serious here—at Teddy's shelter, not everyone is part of the cult. My daughter is there, and I hope you won't attack without getting them out first."
"How do you expect me to get them out without my men dying in the process?"
Hearing this, Dario didn't know what to say. These things were truly planned out, and he had no idea how to logically convince people to be reasonable when it came to Teddy's cult.
"Heh..."
Seeing the other man fall silent, Jason chuckled quietly and didn't press the topic. Instead, he asked, "I've heard Teddy is a rational man. Maybe he'll try, but I'll have to think about it. Now tell me, where's the submarine?"
"I don't know much. When I told you we found a submarine, I was speaking in general terms. But what I do know is that it's stranded off a beach. Teddy's people are guarding it, but there aren't many of them."
As he spoke, Dario slowly shared what little he knew, just to avoid getting killed: "Teddy is a very rational leader. Even though we don't know exactly where the submarine is, no one really cares. As long as we have food and he treats us well, no one's eager to betray him. But even if you kill me, you should be careful when you head north in Texas."
"North?"
Hearing what Dario said, Jason raised the corner of his mouth and thought, "What the hell do you mean 'be careful'? I'm waiting for you to say something, because I can't figure it out."
Still, even though Jason spoke normally to Dario, his expression remained unchanged, and he kept watching him closely while being judged by Daniel's sharp eyes.
"Long before we met Teddy, we were pretty ignorant about what was really going on in the world. Just grabbing weapons from abandoned houses—we thought life would be easy."
"That's a really stupid way to think..."
Jason mocked him and kept asking, "So, you're saying something truly terrifying is happening in North Texas?"
"That's right."
Dario said, "We searched everywhere—for food, weapons, and medicine. But the rumors from the survivors we've run into say something bad is happening up north. They claim other kinds of infected, different types of undead, are hiding up there. A lot of my people went that way and never came back."
"Oh, no wonder this place is also a damn hellhole. I guess someone hid the walkers in buildings really well."
After hearing this, Jason understood why walkers had appeared so quickly when the helicopter crashed, and also why there weren't many elsewhere.
At this point, he had a general understanding of Teddy's cult. Based on what he'd learned so far, aside from the cult and the submarine, there was no serious threat endangering the success of his objective.
Slightly relieved, Jason no longer asked much about the survivors here. Instead, he became curious about the two groups of survivors who had been fighting when he escaped the tunnel with Alicia.
"Are there survivors not connected to the cult? I heard two groups of survivors were fighting a few days ago—do you know anything about that?"
Dario hadn't expected the other man to still be interested in that and was a bit surprised. But since he wanted to know, Dario said, "I don't know why they were fighting. And no, they're not connected to the cult."
"But I heard that shelter was attacked because they helped a man and a girl escape—people that are being hunted by one of those survivor groups."
"A man and a girl..."
Hearing those words, Jason felt a sense of familiarity, but didn't say anything specific.
Dario continued, "As for other places, there's a relatively large survivor organization in Coleman, just outside the city center. It's a powerful shelter, and they call themselves the 'Fireflies.' They say there are many other bases with the same name, but no one knows for sure."
"Fireflies?"
Hearing of another survivor group, Jason was genuinely surprised.
He really hadn't expected there to be so many survivor organizations in Texas.
"Tell me about them."
"They... they're a very... intense organization..."
As soon as the Fireflies were mentioned, Dario's expression suddenly became more animated, showing fear, dread, and even... a bit of admiration.
Seeing such an obvious change in the man's eyes, Jason couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, showing some interest in this survivor group.
"The Fireflies are a revolutionary militia group. They rose up against supposed military oppression in numerous Quarantine Zones across the United States, trying to restore government control. But they failed in their war against the army. In the meantime, the Fireflies were looking for their own vaccine for the virus. It's said they've spread to many parts of the country, but no one knows anything for sure anymore."
"So why didn't you join them?"
"Join them?" Upon hearing this, Dario shook his head in discouragement and replied in a tired tone, "There are plenty of survivors who want to join them. But since we attacked a group of Fireflies, I'm just happy to be alive for now..."
Having said that, Dario seemed to remember something, and a smug expression appeared on his face as he added, "However, before I left, I heard from other survivors that something happened to them."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Jason didn't mind the other man's storytelling tone and asked with curiosity.
"There were internal conflicts within the Fireflies, and some of their bases were overrun by a lot of walkers. I think their current situation isn't very good."
Dario paused for a moment and said, "They say it was caused by a group of newcomers. One of them is the younger brother of the same man who escaped with the girl and caused them a lot of trouble. I don't know what really happened—this is just what I heard from several survivors I took into my group."
"Eh..."
Seeing the situation, Jason raised his wrist to check the time, and before he realized it, nearly half an hour had passed.
He shrugged, stood up from the chair, smiled at Dario, and said, "It's been a pleasure chatting with you, but this is the end of our conversation. I'm going to speak to the next man now."
As he spoke, Jason walked behind Dario.
Seeing him move, Dario immediately realized what was happening and quickly shouted, "No, I still have more information...!"
"Sleep!"
But before he could finish his sentence, he heard a gust of wind rush past his ear. The words died in his mouth, and he lost consciousness once again.