"Thank goodness."
Shawn, who was in the distance, put down his Stone Hammer and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, Carl wasn't scratched, and thankfully, he didn't disappoint him.
Shawn looked up again, and just as he thought Carl would get up and head towards the finish line, something unexpected happened.
Carl stood up, dragging his burning, stinging arm, and suddenly his expression darkened as he looked at the Walker still roaring in the sewer.
His gaze swept around, landing on a barbecue grill in a nearby fence.
Carl stumbled over, took hold of the long fork with two prongs, and then walked back without a word.
He looked down at the sewer Walker from above, the pungent stench assaulting his nostrils. Carl gripped the barbecue fork tightly, his hands trembling slightly.
He seemed to be fighting with his own thoughts. After a long moment, Carl gritted his teeth and finally made a decision.
He slowly inserted the barbecue fork through the sewer grate and, using the daylight, plunged it violently into the Walker's wide-open mouth.
Splat—
The barbecue fork easily pierced through the Walker's head.
Before the Walker fell, Carl pulled the barbecue fork out again and held it in his hand.
After doing all this, Carl straightened up and stared at the gap for a while, as if savoring the moment or perhaps contemplating.
He reflected on every detail of his encounter with the Walker just now, and how he reacted to the Walker's threat.
Shawn watched Carl from a distance, not in a hurry.
He had Carl traverse the town, and rather than caring if Carl completed the task, Shawn was more concerned with the training process.
Fortunately, Carl only paused for about 3 minutes this time before he came back to his senses and carefully checked his injuries.
He tore a strip from the hem of his clothes with the barbecue fork, temporarily making a bandage to wrap around his elbow.
When Carl looked up again, his eyes were filled with determination. With a cold expression, he limped towards the finish line.
"I can do better… I can do better…"
Carl's voice grew more and more resolute, and Shawn, following behind him, nodded secretly.
"As expected of the Crown Prince." Shawn began to truly approve of Carl from the bottom of his heart.
Carl's actions once again confirmed the saying—the offspring of a lion can never be a sheep!
And it was precisely because of this that Carl had once admired Shane so much.
At least in his view, Shane was an insurmountable mountain.
But now, Rick and Shawn had joined them.
Carl took one step at a time, his pace becoming more and more steady.
The discomfort brought on by the Walker's attack quickly faded, and Carl's condition was gradually recovering.
He held the barbecue fork in one hand and had a bandage on the other, like a warrior in wooden armor.
Now, Carl looked more like a survivor of the apocalypse.
The remaining distance of less than 2 kilometers took Carl two whole hours to cover.
When he looked up again, he had already arrived at the Fire Station, the finish line.
Both side doors of the Fire Station were open, just as they were when Shawn first arrived, with no significant changes.
Upon reaching the finish line, Carl first caught his breath, then looked up hesitantly at the sky, turned, and tiptoed into the Fire Station.
Slap—
Shawn, watching Carl's back from behind, slapped his forehead.
"This little guy is clearly running out of stamina, so he wants to find some supplies before getting back on the road."
"But I've already searched everything edible and drinkable in here. How could there be anything left?"
Shawn bared his teeth, regretting his 'locust-like' Search method.
However, thankfully, Shawn knew the Fire Station better than Carl.
Carrying his Stone Hammer, Shawn quickly made his way to the back of the Fire Station, climbed the ladder to the second floor, ensuring he made no noise.
Peeking out from the second floor, Carl was cautiously moving on the first floor, extremely careful.
Shawn quickly withdrew his gaze, took out 2 pieces of bread, 1 compressed biscuit, and a bottle of water from his system backpack, placing them inside the counter in the second-floor rest area.
But after thinking about it, Shawn took the food and water out again and placed them directly on the counter in a conspicuous spot, afraid that little Carl wouldn't see them.
After doing all this, Shawn, mimicking little Carl, tiptoed back out from the second-floor ladder.
He pressed his ear against the wall, listening to everything that would happen next.
He heard Carl push open the door to the back room and instantly let out a surprised gasp.
Shawn's heart tightened, but thankfully, no other sounds followed, suggesting Carl had been startled by the Walker corpse Shawn had killed in the Fire Station earlier.
Then, the sound of footsteps coming upstairs followed, and upon reaching the second floor, another gasp of surprise came.
"This little guy is always so jumpy." Shawn said, annoyed.
The first sound was from being startled by the Walker corpse, while the second sound carried surprise, clearly from seeing the supplies Shawn had left behind.
These supplies weren't much for an adult, but they were perfectly sufficient for little Carl at this moment.
When little Carl emerged from the Fire Station, he was carrying a slightly damaged shoulder bag.
The bag contained half a bottle of water and a piece of bread, Carl's stomach was slightly bulging, and his complexion had improved greatly.
"Mum~"
Carl lowered his head, feeling a bit lost; he missed his mother.
From initial high spirits, then facing setbacks, then regaining high spirits, Carl had expended all his strength and energy in just a few hours.
For Carl, who had the protection of his mother and the Camp, this was almost the greatest test of his life.
Dragging his slightly heavy steps, Carl took a deep breath, turned, and walked back the way he came.
"Having exhausted everything, now is the time to rely on willpower."
After Carl left, Shawn emerged from the back wall of the Fire Station.
He watched Carl's step-by-step, intermittent progress, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
At least from this point on, Carl's performance had already exceeded his expectations.
But even with water and food replenished, his stamina wouldn't recover so quickly, and Carl had been constantly expending energy, so Shawn was a bit worried he wouldn't hold up.
Forcing himself to resist the urge to appear and call a halt, Shawn followed closely behind Carl, fully alert, ready to intervene and rescue him at any moment.
"Come on, Carl."
Shawn silently cheered Carl on in his heart.
Because Shawn knew that only by overcoming this hurdle would Carl truly undergo a complete transformation.
Carl needed to transform; he needed it too much…
But this time, after only ten minutes, Carl's shirt was soaked through again.
The sweat not only drenched his shirt but also soaked the bandage wrapped around his wound.
The salt in the sweat constantly stung the abraded wound, and a large area of the bandage was stained red with blood.
Shawn suppressed his heartache and followed silently behind Carl.
Until the figure following Carl was no longer just one…
Shawn glanced sideways; Walkers were already emerging from the surrounding houses, slowly approaching. Carl's blood made them increasingly agitated, and low growls emanated from their mouths.
Worried about being discovered by the Walkers prematurely, Shawn circled around and moved ahead of Carl.
When he looked again, a small horde of Walkers had gathered behind Carl, a double-digit number of Walkers, which even Shawn couldn't claim to resolve easily.
For Carl, this was almost a certain death situation.
Especially since he had only walked halfway back, and Carl's steps had already gradually slowed.
Sweat obscured Carl's eyes, and he suddenly made a decision—he abruptly threw down his shoulder bag.
Carl was already overwhelmed by the burden.