After planting the seeds, Shawn didn't say anything more.
He just had Shane organize the people to disperse, and then went to see Rick.
The two stayed in the office in the front row on the first floor of the administration building until midnight.
They formulated some rules regarding the 'explosive growth of the Camp's population'.
More labor also meant more potential troubles.
Previously, Shawn and the others numbered no more than fifty, and they trusted each other, so there was naturally no need for everyone to listen to Shawn; everything was settled.
Now that the population had more than tenfold, if not restrained, problems would surely arise.
Minor issues were acceptable; they could be corrected in the early stages of development.
But if it left growing and imperceptible hidden dangers for the Prison, once they erupted, it would be the Prison's undoing.
This matter was not announced to others; only Shawn and Rick discussed it privately.
Because both understood that only the other could stand at the same height and see problems that others could not.
After the two had largely consolidated each other's ideas, the first generation of laws belonging to the Prison was officially passed under an old, yellowish-white desk lamp.
After bidding Rick goodnight, Shawn tiptoed to the third floor.
But just as Shawn pushed open the door and entered, he saw Beth leaning back in the armchair, clearly having waited for him for a long time.
Beth was wearing the Prison Warden's uniform at this time, and when Shawn pushed the door open, her gaze swept over Shawn.
From top to bottom, and then back up again.
Bang--!
Beth slammed the table hard.
"You can't even do a small thing right! I put you in this position, what are you good for?!"
Beth's small face was stern, and her words were completely out of character with her demeanor; she seemed like a different person.
Shawn was stunned for a moment but immediately reacted.
The moment the door behind him closed, Shawn was no longer the Warden but Beth's'soldier'.
It was the first time Shawn had seen this script, and finding it interesting, he lowered his head and feigned nervousness, saying,
"I... I've tried my best, boss. Although it has happened, I've tried my best to make amends."
But who knew Beth's eyes just flashed with a hint of playfulness upon hearing this.
"Not enough!"
"...But, but what can I do? I don't understand."
Beth, wearing the Prison Warden's uniform, walked towards Shawn in high heels.
Each click of her heels against the ground seemed to strike Shawn's heart.
Beth came before Shawn, using her slender fingers to lift Shawn's lowered chin, and in the dim light, their gazes met.
"No, you know, you've always known," Beth hinted strongly.
After speaking, Beth roughly squeezed Shawn's collar, forcing him to lower his head.
The light flickered on and off at this moment, but fortunately, everything was clear and bright in Shawn's eyes.
He watched with wide eyes as the high and mighty Prison Queen gradually fell into a disadvantage, then pleaded like a spoiled child.
Compared to the night he left a month ago,
Shawn won a complete victory this night.
It wasn't until dawn, with Beth soundly asleep, her lips curled up and wrapped in a sheet, that Shawn sat back in his chair.
He rested his chin on his hand, vaguely seeing a few figures moving on the flat grassland outside through the glass window.
'Are they up so early?'
Shawn was a little confused.
But when Shawn saw them all intentionally or unintentionally move towards the spot where he had planted the seeds yesterday, Shawn finally realized.
"So they were worried I was playing the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang card."
They weren't worried that Shawn was lying or deceiving them, but rather that their newly sprouted hope would be ruthlessly crushed.
When Shawn opened the Blood Bar MOD, he saw that these were indeed people from Alexandria and the Hospital.
Having just arrived at a new Camp, their craving for security surpassed that of others.
Of course, there might also be restless ones, those deliberately looking for trouble, but they were destined to be disappointed.
Withdrawing his gaze, Shawn fumbled in the drawer of the desk in front of him for a while, finding a relatively clean notebook with a cowhide cover and a red oil-based pen that leaked a bit of ink.
He flicked the pen tip twice before the ink flowed.
Shawn looked at the sleeping Beth nearby, thought for a moment, and then wrote a line on the notebook.
Title: "On the Practicality of Infinite Energy for the Prison · First Edition"
...
The sunlight was brilliant.
A gentle, not too hot warmth touched Shawn's face through the glass window.
Shawn opened his eyes, inhaling the familiar scent, feeling relaxed and comfortable.
He squinted and looked up, realizing he had slept straight until the afternoon, with people coming and going on the grassland and flat ground outside.
A group of children gathered around the land where Shawn had planted the seeds yesterday, curiously staring at the tiny sprouts that had just emerged from the ground.
And besides them, many newly joined Camp members glanced sideways, pretending not to care.
However, unlike the children, as adults, they seemed a bit too embarrassed to observe as openly as the children, so they just stood nearby for a while and then left.
But they came back shortly after.
Again, they glanced casually, then left, repeating the cycle.
Indeed, the seeds produced by the system shocked them greatly, after all, who had ever seen such grain seeds that could grow and bear fruit rapidly within three to five days, regardless of the season?
No one had ever seen them, so it was destined that they didn't want to miss the entire growth process of these few seeds.
In the corner of the grassland, Shawn saw Carl.
He was happily chatting with several children about his age, even showing off his newly mastered trick.
The children gathered behind Carl, and each time Carl shot an arrow, they gasped in amazement.
Faintly, Carl seemed to be their little leader.
Seeing this scene, Shawn leaned against the window and smiled.
He had never raised children; he had always been the one being raised.
But for Carl, Shawn hoped he could maintain this confidence, spirit, and vitality.
As Rick's child, Carl was destined not to be just an ordinary person; good qualities in an ordinary person would be counterproductive for him.
If possible, Shawn hoped he could always be'superior to others'; this was not a bad thing, but a prerequisite for Carl to always keep up with his and Rick's pace.
Just as Shawn could play the role of a soldier in front of Beth, he would not be a true soldier, nor would he believe he was a soldier.
After all, if one played a soldier for too long, one could truly never become a general.
Besides Carl, there was another child who caught Shawn's eye.
It was Clementine.
Perhaps girls mature faster than boys, Shawn felt like she had grown a bit taller.
When Shawn saw her, she was sitting on the steps, holding a book.
Lee was sitting beside her, not looking at her, but gazing straight ahead, seemingly observing the growth progress of the seeds in the distance like everyone else.
Clementine at various ages.
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