The Walking Dead: Starting as a Cowboy

Chapter 170 Onlookers

Seeing the governor's expression, Andrea immediately guessed what he was planning to do and spoke up.

"Your Excellency, we cannot afford to lose these residents."

"They are all human beings, while we—don't have much armed force left."

"After all, we need more armed forces to deal with the group that attacked us last night."

Upon hearing this, the governor fell silent.

Yes, too many of my men who could fight have died. The dozen or so men I have left are no match for those bastards from last night.

In addition to the bastards from last night, there's also the group of thugs we encountered before, all eyeing us covetously.

Perhaps those thugs will discover Woodbury's weakness and launch an attack even faster than those bastards from last night.

At that point, let alone revenge, you might not even be able to save your own life.

The governor's anger throbbed as he thought about taking revenge but could not.

Seeing the governor's high spirits, Andrea's lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

The governor paused for a moment before speaking, "It is necessary to appease the residents, but it is not for me to do so."

"Hmm?" Andrea looked at the governor in confusion, only to see the governor point at her, "You go."

Andrea paused for a moment, her lips pursed, and she took two deep breaths to suppress the urge to smile. "This isn't a good idea, Governor."

"I'm just a secretary; my prestige isn't enough to make those residents listen to me."

The more Andrea spoke, the more natural her expression became.

Perhaps due to the intense physical pain, the governor failed to notice Andrea's condition and said weakly, "I am in an even worse state than you would be to dissuade the residents."

"Seeing me injured like this might backfire."

Seeing that the governor had said so, Andrea feigned reluctance and replied, "Then I—will accept."

"Hmm." The governor nodded with his eyes closed.

The ward fell silent again, and just as Andrea was wondering if she should leave, the governor spoke up once more.

"Andrea, are you aware of the current situation at Woodbury?"

The governor's eyes remained sharp, but his weary face revealed his inner dejection.

"Uh—" Andrea hesitated for a moment before answering, "Currently, there are two opposing forces in Woodbury."

"One is those soldiers who extorted money from us before, and the other is the guy who attacked Woodbury last night."

I don't know much about either of these groups.

Andrea answered with the information she was entitled to as a secretary.

The governor nodded and added, "The attack last night was because we arrested their men first."

"And those thugs who extorted us a while ago did so because we took their things, and they came after us."

The governor explained what he knew about the two factions, and Andrea nodded from time to time and asked a couple of questions, looking like a good student.

However, Andrea smiled sarcastically to herself.

What you know, I know; what you don't know, I still know.

Because I'm in cahoots with them.

"So, Your Excellency, what is it you wish to ask me?"

After the governor finished speaking, Andrea asked a question.

"I want to ask you, how do you think we at Woodbury are supposed to survive? After all, both sides have the ability to eliminate us." The governor raised his head and stared intently at Andrea.

Andrea pondered for a moment, "Given our capabilities, it's best to maintain harmony with both sides for now, and let's all coexist peacefully."

A hint of disappointment flashed in the governor's eyes, but he did not interrupt Andrea.

"But if the other side has already launched an attack on us, we must retaliate swiftly. Even if we cannot eliminate the enemy, we must make them understand that we have the ability to kill them and are not to be trifled with."

The disappointment in his eyes vanished, and the governor nodded approvingly. "Go on."

With the governor's affirmation, Andrea seemed even more confident as she said, "Judging from the current situation, one side has become our enemy, while the other side doesn't actually have much of a grudge against us."

"We can unite one side to deal with the other. If we can't win over the other side, we can at least tell them not to cause trouble."

Andrea's thoughts were exactly the same as the governor's, and the governor couldn't help but speak with Andrea.

The two quickly came up with a battle plan.

Andrea's ideas mainly focused on unity and suppression, while the governor's ideas mainly focused on elimination and development.

The governor not only wanted to kill the group from last night, but also the group of thugs from before, and to take all their equipment.

To achieve this goal, he needs to recruit soldiers.

Yes, that's right. He's recruiting soldiers from the residents; he's going to recruit on a massive scale, so that everyone who can handle a gun can take one.

With enough people, even if they are a bit useless, they still have a strong deterrent effect.

The governor had a good plan. He didn't tell Andrea about his recruitment of soldiers, but simply asked Andrea to go back and persuade the residents.

Now, the residents are incredibly important; they are his own arsenal, and he can recruit them as new subordinates at any time.

"Oh, right, Andrea."

Just as Andrea was about to walk to the door, the governor called her back.

"What's wrong?"

"Where were you last night?" The governor sat up straight at some point, and even though he was wearing a hospital gown, he still looked as sharp and menacing as he used to when he held a gun.

"Uh, I drank too much last night and slept at Helena's house," Andrea explained calmly.

She wasn't lying; she did go to Helena's house last night. Helena was one of Andrea's good friends from Woodbury.

The governor's gaze swept over Andrea for a while, but he couldn't detect any sign of lying. He smiled politely and said, "Alright, that's all. You can go back to your work."

Click—

The door closed again; Andrea had already left.

The governor's expression was cold, and he temporarily removed Andrea from his list of spies.

Last night, he knew that the other party already knew a lot about Woodbury, not only where the governor's office was, but also some of the secrets inside.

They really went to great lengths to infiltrate and save Michonne.

The governor thought to himself.

At Woodbury’s main entrance, the tense standoff continues.

Armed men standing on the wall were using their weapons to clear out the zombies outside.

But the zombies outside have been piling up since last night, and there are quite a few of them. Clearing them from the wall is very slow.

And many more zombies, drawn by the commotion at Woodbury, are continuously arriving.

-

Woodbury's armed forces are already short-handed, and the cleanup is very inefficient.

Inside the walled area, several cars blocked Woodbury’s main road, one after another, surrounded by a crowd of emotionally charged people.