In fact, Hanna's thoughts were very simple and not far from what Jason had expected. She didn't know Jason, and establishing a connection of trust with him would be difficult. Although Merle didn't seem to have a good temper, he was still someone reliable in critical moments and had the skills to survive. She would definitely learn a lot by following him.
Merle, who stood to the side, didn't make a sound. He neither expressed acceptance nor opposition. This made Jason understand that Merle had changed. Although he was still self-centered, his behavior had clearly changed a lot, which was a reason for Hanna to follow him.
However, Jason knew he still had to remind the girl in front of him of a few things, and to do that, his tone had to be serious.
"You need to understand that Merle's next moves are quite dangerous. Not only will you have to travel long distances, but you will also have to rely on yourself for many things. If you can't take care of yourself in critical moments, you will die."
Hanna didn't show fear when she heard these words, but she looked at Merle seriously. Seeing that the old man said nothing, she felt even more certain about her decision.
"I'm fine with that. He saved my life in the first place, so I want to learn survival skills from him. Even if I'm in a safe place, who can guarantee that I'll be safe all the time?"
Having said that, Hanna paused, realizing that her words might be inappropriate. Her expression immediately tensed, and she stammered a bit as she tried to explain herself.
"Uh, I… I just… that's not really what I meant. I mean, in today's world, learning skills is the most important thing."
"I understand exactly what you mean. Since you've made your decision, I won't be the one to force you to do otherwise." After resolving this matter with Hanna, Merle led the way toward the mansion.
Little Hanna followed them silently, and soon they arrived at the first basement they had discovered earlier.
Merle went ahead and walked toward a cabinet with ancient weapons in the corner of the basement. He reached out and pulled a decorative strip on the side of the cabinet, and a rather incredible scene appeared.
There was a sound of mechanical operation beneath the glass cabinets in the center. As Merle continued moving his hands, the cabinets in the center began to extend, revealing another entrance below.
Hanna was stunned when she saw this scene. She couldn't understand why such a complicated mechanism existed in this house when all that was stored were just weapons, equipment, and food.
Her confusion didn't last long. The mechanical sound soon stopped, and a darker, more eerie entrance appeared in the center of the basement.
Merle entered first, followed by Jason, several soldiers, and Hanna, who hesitated for a moment before stepping in as well.
Boom!
With a loud sound, the entire place below suddenly lit up, causing Hanna—whose eyes had been wide open in the darkness—to be unable to open them due to the blinding light.
As the dazzling brightness gradually softened, Hanna lowered her hand and tried to open her eyes. She realized it was no longer as blinding, rubbed her eyes, and looked around the place she was in—she couldn't help but be stunned.
What came into view was an exceptionally luxurious room. If she had to compare it to something, the most intuitive feeling was that it was several levels more luxurious than the decoration upstairs.
Looking back toward the entrance, it was clear that it was a metal door, and the key inserted into it was one of the three keys they had found earlier.
After entering through the door, there was a living room of at least several dozen square meters. There were several doors along the walls around the living room, which should be bedrooms or similar rooms.
As soon as they entered, Hanna and the others heard Merle's explanation.
"I found this place by accident. It's really well hidden—so much so that it would be difficult for anyone else to find it."
"Then what is the big discovery you were talking about?"
Merle pointed toward a door deeper inside and gestured for them to follow.
As soon as the door opened, Hanna realized it was not a room as she had imagined, but a corridor—and it stretched very far.
Merle turned on the lights in the corridor again and said at the same time, "The electricity here should be supplied by the photovoltaic power panels on the roof. When I went up to clean the panels, I felt that the entire panel area was too large. If it were only for the radio station on the third floor, it would be unnecessary. So I thought—could there be a basement or something that requires power?"
"However, none of the basements we found before had electricity. But I had found three keys, two of which opened basement doors. I guessed that the remaining special key should be for something like a shelter."
"And it turns out I was right, hehe…"
As soon as Merle finished speaking, everyone walked toward the innermost door. The corridor was really long—more than 30 meters—which made Jason unable to resist glancing back.
The door in front of them was somewhat special. It was made entirely of metal, and there was an electronic lock on the handle.
"I don't know what happened. Maybe the power was cut before. When I came in, the lock might have reset. The door was open, so I didn't dare close it again."
After speaking, he reached out and pushed it open. The door swung inward, revealing a room of more than ten square meters. The room was very messy, and there was a metal table in the center. The atmosphere felt strange, and the entire room was filled with a metallic sheen.
The most eye-catching thing was the huge backlit map on the table in the center of the room.
Merle walked toward the map, gestured for them to come closer, and then pointed to a location on it.
Hanna looked more closely but couldn't understand what kind of map it was. She was sure it had similarities to North America, but it was very different.
At a glance, it was clear that the map was quite intricate, with horizontal and vertical coordinate lines and several red, green, and black points with unknown functions.
Just because Hanna didn't understand didn't mean Jason didn't. He immediately recognized what it was.
This was a very detailed military map of the Appalachian Mountains.
"What are these points?"
Merle looked at Hanna and said, "Go upstairs and call Sergeant Welles. Just say we need him here."
"Ah, okay."
Watching Hanna run upstairs, the corner of Merle's mouth curled slightly, but he quickly pointed at the map and said, "If I'm not mistaken, these black points should be weapons depots, and these red points are food storage sites prepared for some kind of crisis, like war or something important."
After speaking, he pointed to two points that were different from the others—one was red, and the other was green.
"We are here now. These two points are marked with an X. Combined with the materials in the villa's basement, I boldly guess that the owner of this villa must have already emptied these two locations."
"I went to those two places specifically two days ago, and I did find what looked like supply points—but everything had already been taken, so I had no choice but to come back."
Looking at the large number of markings on the map, if all these places were supply points, then it would undoubtedly be an enormous amount of resources.
And besides the red and green points, there were also several black and yellow points on the map—no one knew what those locations were for.
"At least we have all the points in Alabama. That place is currently being taken over by our people," Jason said with a serious expression.
Suddenly, the sound of someone coming down the stairs echoed, followed by a voice:
"Jason, were you looking for me?"