Riddles

At 3 AM, Kirk was woken by Little Fatty and then took out his weapon. He was assigned to the third patrol team for the night. After last night's painful lesson, the entire team treated the situation with extreme caution, with patrols constantly on the move and vigilant. It was now Kirk's turn on duty.

The two of them circled Zone D, finding no special circumstances. The walkers at the front gate were still violently banging on the steel door. Plot characters were guarding there, and since The Space had indicated safety for the night, the walkers wouldn't pose a lethal threat at least.

Kirk and Little Fatty walked to the back door of the zone's cell block, where Mori and Daryl were monitoring the walkers. They nodded in greeting upon seeing him.

"Kid, you did well today!" Mori rarely praised Kirk. "First, you made the right decision for that incompetent police officer. Then you finished his business. Honestly, seeing his pathetic state, I wanted to put him out of his misery with a shot."

"Don't say that, Mori, his wife is dead!" Daryl stopped Mori from continuing. "Kirk, look at this!"

Kirk leaned over, and Daryl pointed to where the cell had originally been locked.

"This is where Rick locked it initially, right?"

"Yes, we were all there, saw it clearly. It was locked securely. In my opinion, let alone walkers, even the most skilled thief in Atlanta would have a hard time opening it!" Daryl said with certainty.

"But it was still opened!" Kirk mused thoughtfully.

"I heard your discussion. What that short-haired woman said is utter garbage! I don't know how you guys know the future, but if it was the surviving prisoners, it would have been violent destruction, leaving traces. Daryl and I are experts in this, and we didn't see any suspicious signs of damage." Mori contemptuously spat a glob of phlegm into the gaping mouth of a walker opposite them.

"So you're saying?" Little Fatty's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"It was opened from the inside with a key!" Daryl dropped a bombshell.

"An inside job?" Little Fatty blurted out, then quickly covered his mouth, looking around.

"Two possibilities. One, an inside job. Two, someone from outside infiltrated our cell block. Remember the tire tracks Daryl showed you last time? Tonight we were attacked with grenade launchers and cannons. Don't tell me walkers can use those things. People from outside are attacking us!" Mori yelled.

"The people outside were definitely involved in tonight's attack," Kirk stated confidently. "But how did they infiltrate a prison defended by over a hundred of us, find a gap in the patrol, and open the cell door with a key? First, how did they get the key? Rick always had it, and he wouldn't open the cell to let out the walkers that killed his wife. Second, how did outsiders know our internal situation and the patrol details? These are two key points of doubt."

"So, is it possible it was someone from inside? Someone internal could find a way to get the key or know about the patrols," Little Fatty countered.

"An insider? It's possible. But we're all contractors on the plot team. No matter how much we fight amongst ourselves, it's for our own interests. If the team is wiped out or The Governor wins, what benefit would an insider gain from this?" Kirk was utterly perplexed.

The more he thought about it, the more questions arose.

"Damn it. This is a world of The Walking Dead, not Detective Conan! How can there be such a bizarre deduction problem?" Little Fatty tugged at his hair, sighing in frustration.

"Who was on patrol that night?" Kirk asked.

"Team one, Blondie and four others, 1 AM to 2 AM. Team two, Ma Ruiqi and four others, 3 AM to 4 AM. Team three, 5 AM to 6 AM, Sally, Ranmaru, the Korean kid, and Little Fatty," Daryl said, looking at the patrol records.

"Little Fatty, was there anything unusual with your team at the time?"

"Probably not," Little Fatty scratched his head. "I was at the back, Sally was at the front. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary."

"And the locks you checked, were they all normal?" Kirk continued to ask.

"Completely normal. The locks Rick used are the heavy-duty prison locks, quite sophisticated. The key is digitally controlled and changes frequently. The locks are thick and sturdy; even with bolt cutters, it wouldn't be easy to cut through in half an hour. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless they had the key." Little Fatty said with a grin. "But that's impossible."

Kirk's brow furrowed upon hearing this, then relaxed. "In any case, everyone be careful."

By the time Kirk and Little Fatty finished their shift, it was 5 AM, and the sky was beginning to lighten. They still went back to sleep for two hours.

When Kirk first entered The Space, he was always nervous and didn't rest well. Now he had learned to seize every opportunity to rest and relax. Because rest isn't something you can just do whenever you want, as evidenced by the past few days. Those who can't relax amidst intense combat will be worn down, even if they aren't defeated.

When Kirk got up, he found Rick already gathering people in the lobby. He hurried over. Rick was loading bullets into his riot gun while warning everyone, "We need to break out soon. For the past two hours, Green and Daryl have been scouting outside. They've confirmed that besides walkers, there was a group of humans who attacked us last night, the ones who fired the cannons and grenade launchers. I have a plan for revenge. Step one, we kill all the walkers in the prison and explore it to ensure there are no hostile forces present, and gather all usable supplies. Step two, we scout for the enemy and go eliminate them!" As he spoke, Rick's handsome face contorted with emotion. It was understandable; Laurie was his motivation, and now she had died in the attack, fueling Rick's murderous intent. Carl also clenched his small fists.

Everyone basically agreed with the strategy: secure the perimeter before dealing with external threats.

"Daryl, Michonne, Green, Maggie, Andrea, the five of you are responsible for tracking the group of thugs who attacked us last night and preventing them from attacking us again." Rick handed a signal flare to Daryl. "If you're outnumbered, don't engage directly, retreat. It will take about a day to clear the prison."

"As for here, leave it to me, Shane, the doctor, Mori, T-Dog, and the rest. Today we will clear Zone A and Zone C. I heard there are survivors in Zone A, and we need to find them and get supplies!"

At this point, The Space issued another prompt to every contractor: "Today is the fifth day, and you have survived again. Now you must enthusiastically throw yourselves into work. Please choose:

1. Depart with Daryl's exploration and tracking team. 2. Follow Rick to attack Zone A and obtain supplies from the surviving prisoners. 3. Follow Mori to attack Zone C and eliminate the prison's hidden dangers."

The newcomers again began to form small groups, gathering together. Blondie's team chose to follow Rick, likely for Shane, or for the prisoner supply mission, or perhaps for the backup generator mission in Zone A. Ma Ruiqi, uncharacteristically, did not choose to follow Rick but instead chose to follow Daryl for tracking and exploration. It seemed she had officially broken ties with Rick. This time, she might be aiming to leverage her familiarity with the plot to gain advantages from Daryl. The Japanese "pretty boy" Ranmaru and the Korean kid also followed their respective plot character mentors, Michonne and Green, to join the tracking team. Only Kirk and Little Fatty stuck with Mori to clear Zone C. Kirk's intention, of course, was to learn a few more tricks from Mori. His current Team Contribution Value had reached 339 points, enough to learn three Level 1 skills or upgrade one Level 2 skill.

As for the existence of an insider, and where they might be, Kirk believed that after today, there should be a clear answer.

Kirk and Little Fatty equipped themselves with the [Walker King] and [Walker Slayer] specifically for killing walkers. Walkers had already mutated twice, and one had to utilize every advantage possible. Otherwise, you might hit them in vital spots two or three times without them dying, but one grab from them could be fatal.

"You two idiots, remember, you kill walkers quickly, but they kill you faster! Our only advantage is that we have brains and can cooperate. If you don't fight with your brains, you'll discover how cruel nature is!" Mori pontificated again. "Blackie, isn't that right?"

T-Dog (Note: Black person) flushed red and glared at Mori. "Can't you just shut your damn mouth? What we need now is unity, buddy! Unity!"

Mori smiled without speaking, merely gesturing for everyone to begin forming combat formations. At this moment, Kirk had made his decision.

He spent 100 survival points to check all the team's exchangeable abilities, then unhesitatingly exchanged all 300 Team Contribution points!

Ever since he learned about the possible insider, Kirk had been feeling restless. He decided not to hold back anymore and to cash in all his resources quickly to improve his own abilities! As for potential investment opportunities to turn 100 into 300 again, he had to survive long enough to spend it!

Kirk, in one go, exchanged with Mori for two basic skills and one advanced skill.

[Basic Footwork Mastery] Level 1: Increases walking/running speed by 5%, improves evasion by 5%.

[Basic Medium Blade Mastery] Level 1: Improves mastery of daggers, swords, rapiers, greatswords, axes, etc., increasing their damage by 5%.

[Throat Cut] Level 1: Advanced melee active skill. Under the prerequisite of possessing skills such as [Basic Small Blade Mastery], [Basic Medium Blade Mastery], [Basic Polearm Mastery], and [Mutated Melee Weapon Mastery], this skill can be used when wielding bladed weapons.

Usage: This skill consumes 10 energy and lasts for one attack.

Effect: The next attack using this skill requires the opponent to pass a Toughness check with a -3 penalty. If they fail, the Throat Cut effect is applied. Enemies with less than 100 health die instantly. Enemies with over 100 health suffer a fatal attack, dealing 4 times the basic damage and inflicting a Bleed effect for 5 seconds, dealing 6 damage per second.

Notes: This is an advanced skill that can only be taught by special individuals or through special scrolls. Contractors cannot learn it on their own.

After reading these three skills, Kirk smiled with satisfaction, drew his dagger, and walked deeper into the prison.

Little Fatty followed closely behind. He had also spent 100 Team Contribution Value with T-Dog to learn the [Basic Defense] level 1 skill and was now full of confidence.

Only by constantly evolving can one avoid being eliminated!