Airon smiled and asked instead of answering their questions, "Do you think Daryl would talk about us if he's caught by someone?"
Not everyone is stupid, they just didn't realize this detail for a while, but now, when he asked them, everyone reacted, except George, Abraham, and Nick.
"Uh, does that have anything to do with whether we respond or not?"
The newcomer Emilia quickly adapted to the group's atmosphere. She gave a blank look to a soldier and explained with a hint of frustration, "Are you that clueless? If he doesn't mention who he's communicating with, then those people are trying to test him. The other party must have discovered Daryl's radio, and since he was caught, they suspect he has companions nearby."
Airon nodded in agreement, but the conversation continued, "You're right, regardless of why Daryl is here, he won't easily talk about us. I suppose those who have him also discovered his radio. Based on his conservation habit, he will definitely claim that he only uses it to listen to other survivors. A lone tool, presenting himself as a solitary man."
Everyone nodded in astonishment, and the soldier finally understood what it meant. He smiled and continued to dine, whispering to his comrades that Emilia was beautiful.
Airon changed the topic and said with a hint of concern, "But the other party definitely won't let him go, Emilia, did you recognize the voice of the man earlier?"
Emilia was with the group because Adam had successfully entered the enemy base without any issues. After all, the joining process was easy since they didn't enjoy all the resources of the base and could be considered mere tools.
"Sir, the voice should belong to the leader of those people. We had heard that his name was Caine, but we never saw him up close and don't know much about him."
Everyone fell into silence upon hearing Emilia's words, and after a while, Airon spoke, "Don't worry too much, everyone. I believe Daryl must have a way to save his life. Since the other party is willing to spend time playing with a radio, it means they don't intend to kill Daryl."
Glenn's eyes lit up. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Do you think they'll take Daryl to the enemy base?"
"Probably."
After finishing speaking, Airon took out the map and marked a red circle on it. This is a map of the city they are in. From above, you can see approximate information about the terrain and location of the zones, although there aren't many exact details.
But these people didn't feel worried. After all, they will soon go there to visit them, and they already have someone infiltrated, so it will be useful at that time.
"Alright, everyone, don't worry. We need to confirm the route back to the base now, and we can't let Daryl be taken to the base. It will be too difficult to rescue him when we come across the enemy."
As he spoke, he looked at the map again and said, "Now, let's see where we'll launch the attack."
After confirming the location, Airon began to check the route leading to the main base camp and finally confirmed the most important outpost.
...
After Daryl got into the car, two strong men pushed him towards the center of the back row. The narrow space made Daryl feel a bit uncomfortable. He's not someone who enjoys traveling by car.
Making several stops along the way, Caine took some people to search for resources in various places, and Daryl secretly observed.
Obviously, these people are not very familiar with the surrounding area, and it doesn't seem like they're looking for food and other supplies. Every time they stop, it's at some metal workshop or weapons store.
The two guys next to Daryl stopped watching and got out as soon as the car stopped. They stood there on the left and right, chatting a few words occasionally. One of them seemed to be addicted to cigarettes. Basically, every time he got out of the car, he would take out his cigarette and smoke it.
Daryl suddenly leaned towards the car window and said to the smoker, "Friend, do you have an extra one?"
That person was surprised. He didn't expect this person to take the initiative to ask him for a cigarette. But all smokers have one thing in common, whether they know someone or not, they usually give a cigarette to each other because they have experienced that when they don't have a cigarette, they feel uncomfortable being around someone who is smoking.
This person is very addicted to cigarettes. It's impossible to say that he has never experienced that feeling. He then reached out and took out a crumpled cigarette case and tossed it over.
"The last one, you're lucky..."
As soon as Daryl took his cigarette, he felt mockery around him and looked up to find that the man had already lit a match and passed it to him.
"Thanks..."
He wanted to say the other person's name, but then he realized that Caine didn't introduce all his men, and seeing the uncomfortable silence, the man said, "Just call me Arturo..."
"Arturo, alright..."
With this small exchange of words, Daryl began to chat with the two occasionally, and soon he heard a lot of information from the other's words.
These people shouldn't have been in Florida for long, and most of them have a northern accent, and it seems like there are quite a number of them.
As for the nature of these people, he hadn't figured it out yet, but he also took advantage of his free time to get out of the car and rest for a while. He discovered that there were quite a few bullet marks on the car's outer armor, which should have been left after fighting against other survivors.
In just three hours, he discovered many things through observation and soon heard Arturo's reminder.
"Alright, we're almost home, get ready to meet the others..."
Daryl nodded, looking ahead. He could vaguely see a small building surrounded by low-rise buildings; it should be a small town.
The two cars soon approached the front, and then the entire town appeared before Daryl's eyes. It wasn't so much a small town as it was tiny, with only one main street in the whole town. The tallest building in town was the town hall, and the center of the town was surrounded by a circle of obstacles, protecting the area.
The two cars drove slowly in front of a metal gate, and the two people standing on the base wall confirmed their identities and opened the gate.
As soon as he entered through the gate, Daryl saw the bustling crowd busy with various tasks. The workers were dressed in tattered clothes, but there were many of them, and there were some armed individuals walking around, presumably maintaining order among the survivors.
Before he could continue observing, he felt the car's body come to a stop, and the two people around him opened the car door—one on the left and one on the right.
Looking outside, the two cars were currently parked in front of the tallest four-story building.
"Get out of the car and follow me to meet the real leader..."
...
Just as Daryl and his car entered the base, there were numerous vehicles parked on the side of a nearby forest.
This was Airon and his people.
"Airon, it's been several hours, why haven't we attacked? Are you sure Adam can make it here?"
"No, I'm not sure either..."
Glenn was also frowning at this moment, his eyes fixed on the end of the road in the distance.
After a few more minutes, he blinked rapidly, unable to help rubbing his tired eyes with his hands, and said somewhat dejectedly.
"Hey, I feel like we made the wrong bet. The other party probably didn't come this way..."
"Now what?"
Rick was still looking at Airon calmly. He didn't blame the other party for choosing the wrong place. No one was 100% certain about these things. Now that they didn't block the other party, they had to consider how to organize the next step.
Airon quickly tapped his fingers on his knees. Seeing that it was getting late, he finally gritted his teeth and said:
"First, let's find a place to spend the night. Tomorrow, I will personally go outside the enemy base to take control of all this. Notify the central base that they should send combat helicopters to support the joint attack on all checkpoints."