What happened next was relatively straightforward: most of the former Saviors surrendered, and a small group of stubborn men were taken down without hesitation.
However, all of this took a long time. After forty minutes, many of the survivors, a total of eight thousand five hundred people, were gathered in the city center, where there were now countless corpses being removed by Airon's personnel.
Looking at all these people, who had been gathered from various locations eliminated by his army, Airon knew that they were all afraid. So, with a strong and clear voice, aided by a megaphone, he shouted, "No one else will be in danger today, there will be no more suffering because we are here!"
"Since the end of the world changed, we have been working on what scares us the most to get one more day of life. We are in the midst of a dark story where children suffer the most! You have no purpose or home, not a grand world..."
"You only have emptiness, without a world to call home... I understand, that was my life in the first days since all this happened..." Airon opened his hands and directly communicated with everyone, trying to connect with all of them.
"Both now and before, our great depression is our life. We are hopeful for a safe place to deceive ourselves and believe that someday this hell will change. All of you dream of living like before, but that is impossible with the lifestyle you had..."
"You will never be safe, and you will clearly realize that later, I assure you!"
Airon spoke non-stop, as if he could see into the souls of all the people, and he shouted without taking a breath, "My destiny is to protect all of you, without exception!"
After saying that, there was a long silence, and Airon said, "Now tell me, look at me and tell me! Is your destiny with me or in this dump, living worse than a dog?"
"We... We will be with you!"
A frightened girl in a torn dress emerged from the crowd and said those words. Her face had a severe burn wound that was still bleeding, but she said those words with determination.
"Yes!"
"We will be with you, sir!"
"My name is Airon!" Seeing the faces of these people, Airon introduced himself. "I am the commander of the S.C.T. organization, and I promise you a better future, a just government without discrimination. I promise you that everyone will have a safe world again starting from this moment."
"We have done what others have never been able to do. We have secured Alabama without any walkers, Georgia is also free of infected, South Carolina flies our flag, and I swear to God that in a few months, Florida will be completely walker-free!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
The gleam in the people's eyes sparkled, but just as the group was preparing to clear this place, Airon looked up at the sky, and soon two small black dots appeared in the distance.
"That is..."
"Helicopter!"
Airon raised his binoculars and looked towards the sky, soon discovering two black helicopters in the distance. However, due to the distance, he couldn't clearly see the specific situation.
"Attention, everyone, hide quickly in the forest, now!"
The two helicopters approached rapidly, and soon everyone heard the sound of the rotors, which gradually grew louder.
Looking at the state of the convoy, Airon knew it would be difficult for them to hide before the arrival of the two helicopters, and combined with what Simon said before he died, the helicopters' target should be them.
The other group should have seen them. Thinking about this, Airon urged the convoy to drive quickly towards the forest south of the city.
There were special buses to transport all the survivors, but it was still impossible for them to go too fast due to the number of people, and by the time the group reached the trees, there was still a considerable queue to enter the forest.
Here are trees, Airon knew it was difficult for the enemy to track their movements, but the forest environment is complicated and the trees are dense in many places, making it impossible to drive through. They could only slow down, looking for a way to pass between the trees.
"Airon, are those people?"
Rick looked out at the sky from the gap in the forest, and when he noticed something, he looked at Airon, who was frowning.
The latter nodded and also looked back with some concern.
"Probably, I can't think of any other organization besides CRM that can easily send a helicopter. It's a shame we sent our helicopters back..."
Just as all the vehicles in the convoy entered the forest, the helicopter had already arrived in the sky not far from them.
One of the helicopters slowly landed at the edge of the forest, and the other landed at the Savior's base.
There was gunfire in the distance. It should be those people coming into contact with the walkers. There were shots and shots just now. The walkers wandering nearby walked towards the direction of the town.
In another helicopter near the forest, some people wearing black uniforms and carrying weapons descended.
After these people disembarked, they first looked around and found that there were not many walkers here, so they went straight to the edge of the forest. Instead of entering the forest, they stopped at the edge.
Under the protection of the trees, several people stood silently without rushing to enter, but they were all on guard with their weapons.
A few minutes later, a man dressed in black hung up the radio as if he had received an order and then made a hand gesture. They walked more than ten meters and found several trees. Finally, the soldier dressed in black spoke, "Come out, we've seen you!"
Just as he finished speaking, about a dozen people emerged from the forest, the leader being Rick, holding a gun in his hand, facing the CRM soldier leader, and the surrounding soldiers also aimed at the rest of the people.
"Who are you?"
The man in combat uniform did not respond, he lowered the barrel of the gun slowly and then raised his hands. Rick understood what the other party meant, and he also slowly put away his gun, and the two walked a few steps forward in a very tacit understanding.
The man who appeared to be the leader looked around Rick and the others, and the combat uniforms of the S.C.T. soldiers caught his attention.
"What organization are you from?"
Rick shook his head, looked at the other party with his slightly tired eyes, but kept repeating one word, "No, no, no, it doesn't work like this. Who are you and the people behind you?"
The man in front removed his mask, revealing his face and said in a mocking and arrogant tone, "Do you think we're with those wanderers?"
"Is that so? You still haven't answered my question!"
As soon as those words fell, several people behind Rick aimed their weapons at the man in front of them, who raised his hand again, shrugged indifferently, and spoke in a relaxed tone, "No, we're not with them. Can you answer my question now? Which organization do you belong to?"
Rick narrowed his eyes slightly and only looked at the other party for a moment. The man in front seemed to have no hurry, so he said, "No, I don't intend to answer you. I don't really like your attitude..."
The smile on the man's face gradually disappeared, and he shook his head helplessly, "Listen, friend, you don't want to be our enemy, believe me, I advise you to answer my question with absolute obedience!"
Rick's eyes became sharp, and he replied coldly, "Really? I don't think you have any obvious advantage over us."
After Rick finished speaking, he also looked towards the forest on both sides. The man who was the leader of the CRM soldiers followed his gaze and looked to one side, only to discover that they had been surrounded by a large number of uniformed soldiers at some point.
Rick's eyes never left the face of this man. The man dressed in black didn't have a panicked expression on his face, as if this situation was of no importance.
"How many bullets can your combat suits block? Or is it that you're not afraid of death?"
The man looked at his companions, the people behind him also appeared indifferent. He waved his hand, and the people behind him also lowered their weapons.
"Listen, we're not enemies. The people you eliminated only had a business relationship with us. To be honest, we don't care about their life or death..."
"Since you don't want to reveal your information, let me introduce myself briefly."
"My name is Cesar, and I'm a member of a super large force. I believe the fact that we can easily send two helicopters can prove my words. As for why I came here..."
Having said that, Cesar pointed to the base that still had traces of black smoke not far away and then explained, "The people you eliminated had a business relationship with us, and now that you've eliminated them, we've lost a business partner. We don't care about the life or death of those people, but since the transaction can't continue, we have to find new forces."
"Tell me something of interest so that we can start with you, soldier!" Before Rick could speak, he was interrupted by a voice behind the man in black.
The CRM soldiers were startled by the sound coming from behind them. They raised their weapons reflexively and turned around, only to see a figure with hands behind his back and wearing an Arm-3J combat uniform.
Cesar had already grabbed the radio on his waist and instantly put his finger on the call button, never expecting there would be such a prominent person in this group of wanderers.
"If anything happens to us, the people in the city will immediately contact headquarters, and you definitely won't be able to escape by then."
The man with long hair and an indifferent look was Airon, who walked towards Rick's side with a smile and said, "Come on, tell me, how can we trade?"