As his voice fell, Milton saw everyone, including Shawn, looking at him silently.
He nervously adjusted his cuffs, suppressing a hint of panic in his heart, and continued, "When a person dies and turns into a Walker, their bodily functions are still intact; at least three of their five senses are complete."
"They are: sight, hearing, and smell."
"However, my research shows that after a few months or even years, a Walker's sight will degenerate, followed by smell, and then hearing."
"The so-called group instinct is that Walkers will always, more or less, inadvertently begin to clump together due to being attracted by sounds and smells, eventually forming what we call hordes or waves of Walkers."
"But Walkers, on the other hand, have no brains; they have no intelligence and are incapable of thought."
"Therefore, the specific direction of their natural movement can be altered by external forces."
"The most common scenario is when a horde of Walkers encounters a mountain or a wall; they will, under the guidance of a leading Walker, start to turn and continue towards their next destination."
At this point, Milton mustered his courage and glanced at Shawn.
"Of course, what the Warden said is not impossible."
"But I just don't understand why they would hide within a horde of Walkers, and how they would guide the horde's direction in such a situation?"
Milton's face showed difficulty.
When it came to research, he could talk for a day and a night.
But if the target was people, he was somewhat helpless… Milton's understanding of humanity was not thorough.
Otherwise, given his position in Woodbury back then, he wouldn't have been kept in the dark by the Governor the entire time.
So it was the same now; he couldn't see through the Governor then, nor could he see through The Whisperers now.
"It's a disguise."
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
As their voices fell, Rick and Glenn's eyes instantly met.
Andrea, T-Dog, and others also reacted similarly.
They suddenly recalled their first meeting with Rick; back then, they all thought Shawn was dead.
To escape the chaotic Atlanta, they would kill a Walker and smear its internal organs and blood on themselves.
Just as Milton had said.
Walkers possess sight, smell, and hearing.
Sight is often useless, especially after degeneration; a Walker's empty skull cannot distinguish disguised humans, as they cannot think.
Therefore, they rely more on smell and hearing.
The strong, inherent scent of a Walker is powerful enough to mask a human's own scent, so as long as one can cover their smell and disguise their face, they can achieve the miraculous effect of infiltrating a horde of Walkers.
"When I was wandering outside the Prison before, I would also cut off two of a Walker's arms and remove their lower jaws to use as talismans to avoid large groups of Walkers."
"This was a trick I discovered by accident."
At this moment, Michonne also spoke, frowning in recollection, trying to provide useful information.
"That makes sense," Rick nodded, his magnetic voice rumbling like muffled thunder.
"I just don't know what specific method the survivors Shawn encountered used?"
Following Rick's gaze, everyone looked at Shawn again.
Taking in the scene of everyone brainstorming, Shawn secretly nodded.
At least within the core group, many people were already capable of standing on their own; the painful experiences they once endured were their most valuable assets.
Shawn cleared his throat; he had been shouting a lot during the Blood Moon.
"These survivors call themselves The Whisperers; they cut off the facial skin of Walkers, along with the entire scalp, and after drying it, it becomes a complete mask."
"Wait, are you saying… they directly wear Walker skin?"
Columbus swallowed, feeling a bit nauseous.
But he didn't hear Shawn's response; he only felt a grayish-white blur flash before his eyes, landing in his hand with a soft touch.
Columbus raised an eyebrow, unable to resist squeezing it.
'What is this? It's quite soft.'
Thinking this, Columbus quickly looked down, but the object that met his gaze made his pupils constrict, and he instinctively threw it away.
The grayish-white object, like a tattered cloth bag, arced through the air and landed on the white tiled floor of the cafeteria.
Everyone's gaze turned towards it, their expressions turning unpleasant.
What lay on the ground was indeed a piece of Walker skin.
The person who peeled it had excellent knife skills, cleanly stripping off an entire, intact piece of Walker skin.
There were two empty holes where the eyes were, appearing just the right size to cover a human's eye sockets.
This was a delicate craft unique to the apocalypse.
Of course, if one didn't look at the toad-like bumps covering the Walker skin, like a sky full of stars, and the few hairs still mixed in with the flesh…
"This skin must have been peeled off not long ago."
Daryl leaned forward, pulling an arrow from his quiver and casually prodding it a few times.
"Daryl, don't touch it; just leave it on the ground."
Amy frowned, feeling a physiological discomfort just looking at the skin.
As Daryl flipped the skin over and over, the feeling of nausea grew stronger.
"If every one of these people has a mask made of Walker skin, then they are either lunatics or perverts."
Hearing Amy's words and getting the answer he wanted, Daryl stood up and gave a conclusion.
However, upon hearing the word 'lunatics,' Elynn, who had been sitting at the dining table reading a book with his head down, suddenly looked up, a bewildered expression on his face.
Seeing that Daryl wasn't talking about him, he let out a sigh of relief and confidently lowered his head to continue reading.
"So, it makes sense that they would deliberately hide within the horde of Walkers."
Shane took over the conversation, but then he frowned and said,
"But if that's the case, doesn't our risk when going out increase exponentially?"
"They hide within the horde, and we can't distinguish them at all, just like this time."
"Not entirely."
Shawn's lips curved into a smile.
This was destined to be the case ever since he obtained the 'Blood Bar MOD'; The Whisperers would be hard-pressed to pose a threat to him.
Shawn was never short of means to combat Walkers; in the entire '7 Days to Die' system, at least 50% of it was specifically designed to eliminate Walkers.
If The Whisperers' strongest method was merely driving hordes of Walkers, then they had truly met their match.
Shawn, one might say, was the most effective counter to The Whisperers on this continent.
On the contrary, Shawn was even looking forward to their next attack.
Because if they did, Shawn would have an endless supply of experience packages to harvest.
Whisperers
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