Central Base, Atlanta.
"Zz… This is checkpoint, a convoy of five cars is heading from the north directly to our safe zone, proceed with caution."
"Zz… This is South zone, numerous runner-class walkers have appeared in large numbers, we are working to increase security in this part of our territory."
"Zz… Police team here, we've discovered a group of people stealing food. Proceeding with the capture."
At the growth base, where soldiers were trained until the military bases were fully operational, the general communications room was in constant activity.
"Do you want to take control of the satellites?" asked one worker in a low voice.
"Do you think that's possible? They're trying to reestablish communication with some private company satellites to gain real knowledge about the world. I hope at least that can be achieved."
"Do you want to see the whole world dead?"
"Russia should survive. Walkers decrease their activity in the winter season."
"And what if in France or snowy regions there's a new variant we don't know about?"
"That…"
"Get back to work. We need to push ourselves to the limit so there are no mistakes and we're always in constant communication."
"Yes, sir."
...
It turned out his guess was correct. Negan had gone out again to look for medicine for his wife. But after successfully finding the medicine, he didn't encounter any anomalies on the way back.
After giving treatment to his wife, he finally calmed down and began to think about how to thank the doctor. Lucille suggested that the way to thank him would be to hand over some medicine—after all, as a doctor, the most commonly used resources are medicines in general.
When Negan usually went out searching for fuel, he would always sweep the nearby pharmacies. Over time, he had accumulated many common-use medications at home. The two of them didn't need much of it. Putting himself in another's shoes, someone else might desperately need a particular type of medicine to survive.
He agreed with his wife's decision, and the next day, while she was still resting, he left carrying a large bag of common-use medicine.
Just after arriving at the doctor's camp, he discovered they had been attacked. Inside a tent, he found a woman hiding—she was a nurse from the previous camp.
It turned out the place had been attacked by a group of thieves that morning, and the nurse had luckily managed to escape into the tent.
From listening to their conversations, Negan learned the location of the other group's camp. He took the young nurse there to check, and discovered there were only five or six people.
While the others slept at night, he secretly rescued the doctor and his team. Unexpectedly, someone got up to use the bathroom. With no other option, Negan killed him directly with a bat.
The noise outside alerted the rest inside the house, and after a fight, Negan wiped out the group of bastards thanks to his superior skills.
The doctors were grateful for his help, and Franklin looked at him differently. However, this encounter made the doctors decide not to offer help outside anymore. After learning about Lucille's condition and talking a bit more, they followed Negan back to the small town where he lived.
Still, Lucille's illness was quite severe. They had lost much advanced equipment and were unable to provide the proper treatment to help her. Fortunately, the chemotherapy had a decent effect. After the last three treatments, her condition had stabilized significantly.
Several doctors did everything they could to help her recover. Their medical skills were general, and what they could do was limited.
In this way, they formed a small team, and Negan gradually became the leader, taking these people outside for several months.
The team grew larger and larger, from fewer than ten people at the beginning to more than twenty.
Some time ago, more than a dozen of them went out to search for supplies, but only one girl returned, running and saying that the rest had been ambushed by a group of thugs. They chased them here, and then they met Glenn.
From there, everyone eventually arrived at Alexandria, and there's no need to elaborate further.
After hearing the entire incident, Jason couldn't help but sigh in confusion. The world was so transient. He had accidentally killed the three gangsters in a fit of anger, but he never expected it to affect the fate of a group of people and other survivors he didn't even know, who became victims of Negan's tyranny.
But then another thought came to mind—since Negan had appeared here, who was leading the gang that had appeared before? According to George's report, there had apparently been two groups of people, one led by a man named Simon.
He was the one who had been second-in-command of the Saviors, who eventually dueled Negan, lost, and died as a result.
Seeing the situation, Jason knew he needed to go to that group as soon as possible and find out whether they called themselves the Saviors or had another name.
Thoughts flashed through his mind, but he quickly refocused on the present, looking at the man in front of him as a plan slowly formed in his head.
But now wasn't the time to talk about those things—the first thing to solve was the enemy group and to find out if there were any allies captured by them.
"Negan, you saved Glenn. Everyone in our organization is willing to accept you, so I don't intend to play the bad guy. What I want to ask you here is: are you willing to join us?"
"Of course. To be honest, I'm completely willing, since Lucille might have a better future here."
Jason nodded at those words, and after a few seconds, said: "Here's the general report on your wife's condition. Edward did it quickly, so it still needs reviewing, but what we know is that she's no more than two months pregnant."
At that, seeing Negan's obviously emotional reaction, he poured cold water on him.
"Listen to what I'm about to say! This is very important."
"Alright, just say it. I'm all ears."
"Well, at this moment your wife's health is very poor due to the cancer. On top of that, while being with you, she hasn't had sufficient nutrition, and now she's pregnant, which complicates things further. Because of chemotherapy, her body has suffered serious damage, and it's not recommended for women to conceive for a period of time afterward. It's harmful not only to the fetus but also to the pregnant woman."
"Right now, she's already pregnant, so there are two paths forward. The first is to terminate the pregnancy. While this will affect her, it can be managed within an acceptable range for both sides."
"The second is to keep the child. In this case, you must take extreme care of your wife's body, but you will face a problem: if the fetus dies, it will turn into a walker because the Wildfire virus will activate inside her. Pregnant women face this deadly threat."
At those words, Negan's face changed. He hadn't thought of so many things. Quickly, he adjusted his mentality to calm down.
"Are you saying that if the child dies, Lucille will die because of it too?"
Jason nodded, answering the question, then began watching Negan's reaction.
The man was clearly struggling, but it didn't last long. He quickly raised his head.
"The child must be aborted. I don't want Lucille to be in any danger!"
A smile appeared on Jason's face. From Negan's actions, he could tell this man wasn't truly a bad person. Since he hadn't become the Negan of the Saviors, why couldn't he help him?
Thinking this, Jason pulled out a notebook from behind him, flipped to a page, and handed it to Negan.
"What's this?"
"Read it."
Negan glanced at the first line of writing in the notebook, his eyes widened suddenly, and he grabbed it immediately.
"This… this is the existence of a vaccine?"
"To be precise, it's the second-generation vaccine. The first generation was only experimental, but the second generation is already in mass production right now. It's not perfect, but it can effectively kill the virus in the body, allowing pregnant women to conceive safely, and ensuring that people who die accidentally won't turn into walkers."
The vaccine had been successfully produced thanks to test subjects. There had been many errors at first, but they had been corrected little by little. And now, although it wasn't a full vaccine in the strict sense, it could prevent internal infection outbreaks.
With trembling hands holding the notebook, Negan told Jason how excited he was at that moment. Negan knew this was his only hope of keeping the child, and he wanted to agree no matter what!
"Where is this vaccine?"
"At my base."
"Here?"
Jason slowly shook his head and, at the same time, stretched out his hand to point south.
"At my real base."