TWD - Chapter 536: The Magician (Patreon)

In the interrogation room, Carver dragged the Wolf King in from the dungeon with his hands bound behind his back.

The Wolf King’s gaze was unexpectedly calm. It was not forced composure, but the calm of someone who genuinely feared nothing.

As Benson looked into his eyes, a thought crossed his mind: Either this man truly isn’t afraid of death, or he’s an exceptionally good actor.

Carver pushed him into the chair in front of the table. The Wolf King offered no resistance. He sat down, swept his gaze across the room, and finally looked at Calista. “So you really are their leader?”

Calista didn’t answer.

The Wolf King smiled. “So young. And so beautiful!”

Benson muttered under his breath from the side, “I wanted to say that too, but I didn’t have the nerve.”

Leah shot him a glare.

The Wolf King glanced at him as well, his smile deepening. “New here?”

Benson nodded. “Sort of.”

The Wolf King nodded. “A wise choice.”

Carver stood behind him. Upon hearing this, he pressed a hand firmly on the Wolf King’s shoulder. “Behave yourself, or I’ll send you to join your two companions!”

Carver was not being gentle, but the Wolf King did not even furrow his brow, as if death truly meant nothing to him.

Calista spoke up, her voice flat, “What’s your name?”

The Wolf King looked at her. “You want to know my real name?”

“You could give me a fake one.”

The Wolf King smiled strangely. “A fake name is pointless. You can call me W, or you can call me the Wolf King. Either way, it’s me.”

He pursed his lips. “I used to have another name, but that was before the apocalypse. Mentioning it now is like talking about a dead person.”

Calista did not press him. She changed the subject. “How many of you are there?”

The Wolf King shifted slightly to get more comfortable. “There used to be many, but now there are none.”

“What do you mean?”

“You killed them.” The Wolf King looked at her without anger, simply stating a fact. “At the resort, all my people were wiped out. There are only a few stragglers left. Whether they run or not doesn’t matter.”

He paused. “I doubt they’ll get very far. These days, a person can’t survive more than a few days out there alone.”

Calista narrowed her eyes. “Your conflict with that other group, the masked ones. How long has it been going on?”

The Wolf King looked puzzled. “Aren’t you the ones?”

Seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces, he realized they really were two separate groups. How interesting!

“A month,” he said. “Maybe three months. I can’t quite remember.”

“How did it start?”

The Wolf King leaned back in his chair. His hands were tied, but he sat relaxed, as if he were just chatting.

“They struck first,” he said. “My people were operating in that area, killing people and scavenging supplies, when one day a squad suddenly failed to return. I sent people to look and found only bodies. Walkers hadn’t done it.”

“Did you retaliate?”

“Yes,” the Wolf King said. “I led my men into their territory. They were stronger, but clearly short on ammo. We killed one of them, and then they came back to kill us. We kept killing each other back and forth like that until you guys got involved.”

He paused. “To be honest, I’m actually pretty grateful to you guys.”

Benson was taken aback. “Grateful?”

The Wolf King looked at him. “Yes. You captured me, and now it’s over. Saves us from killing each other forever when neither side can finish the other off.”

The room fell silent for a moment. Calista took a step closer. “What did you used to do?”

The Wolf King paused, somewhat puzzled. “Why do you ask?”

Calista looked at him calmly. “Pure curiosity.”

The Wolf King looked at her, a strange gleam in his eyes. “I’m a magician.”

Benson’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

The Wolf King turned to him and nodded. “Really. I performed in Las Vegas for nine years. Close-up magic, stage magic. I knew a bit of both. My specialty was making people disappear.

“Too bad there’s no need for that trick anymore. Everyone’s dead, and they get back up on their own.”

Benson burst out laughing: “Hahahahaha!”

Realizing no one else was laughing, Benson sheepishly stopped: “That joke fell flat.”

“I’m used to it,” the Wolf King said. “Las Vegas audiences were demanding. Bad jokes didn’t survive there. Things are different now. Now even bad jokes can kill.”

He turned back to Calista. “Then the walkers came and I lost everything. My wife died, my child died, my audience died... and then, damn it, they got back up again.

“I wandered the streets alone for three months, eating trash when I was hungry and drinking rainwater when I was thirsty, until I met someone.”

“Who was it?”

“A prophet.” The Wolf King’s expression suddenly changed, taking on a trace of reverence. “He told me this world doesn’t belong to us. The living are only passing through. The walkers are the true masters.”

Calista said nothing.

“He said we should give the world back to them. Killing the living isn’t a crime. It’s liberation. It frees them from suffering and turns them into the true masters!”

The Wolf King’s voice was calm. “At first I didn’t believe him, but later I killed a man, a bastard who stole my food and nearly killed me.

“When I killed him, he looked at me, his eyes filled with fear. Then he died, and three minutes later, he stood up.”

The Wolf King’s voice took on a trace of fervor. “That was when I understood. The Prophet was right. Death isn’t the end. It’s the beginning!”

Benson muttered from the side, “Sounds like a really bad magic show.”

The Wolf King shot him an annoyed look. “Hey! This is more real than a magic show. Magic is a trick. This isn’t.”

Calista pondered for a moment, her brow slightly furrowed. “What about that prophet?”

“Dead.” The Wolf King smiled at Calista. “A walker bit him. He chose it himself. Said he wanted to become one of the masters.”

He paused. “I think that’s fine. At least he’s one of the masters now.”

Calista looked quietly into his eyes. “How many strongholds do you have in Virginia?”

The Wolf King shook his head lightly, flicking the hair out of his eyes. “Just one, the resort. The rest are mobile.”

“What about supplies?”

“Not much. Enough to live on.”

“Your faith. How many people truly believe it?”

The Wolf King thought for a moment. “Not many at first. More later. In the apocalypse, people have to believe in something. Otherwise, they can’t keep living.”

With that in mind, the Wolf King fixed his gaze on her. “What do the people here believe in?”

Calista exchanged a glance with Leah and said earnestly, “They believe they can survive.”

The Wolf King nodded. “That’s not bad either.”

Calista walked up to him and looked down at him. “About your conflict with that masked group. Do you know why they killed your people?”

The Wolf King answered casually, “I do. They think we’re filth, just like we think the walkers are the masters. Everyone’s crazy. Their madness is just more organized.”

“Do you hate them?”

The Wolf King looked at her. “Hate what?”

“Hate them for killing your people.”

“Why should I hate them?” The Wolf King tilted his head, his expression showing a hint of relief. “They’re free now. They no longer have to go hungry, live in fear, or wait to die.”

He looked at Calista. “You will be, too.”

Calista did not respond. She simply looked at him for a long time.

Then she turned and walked back to the table. “Take him away.”

Carver pulled the Wolf King up from the chair. The Wolf King still did not resist. When he reached the doorway, he suddenly stopped and looked back at Benson.

“That pack of Marlboros. Any left?”

Benson paused for a moment. “...How did you know I had Marlboros?”

The Wolf King gave a sly smile and even flashed a wink at Calista. “A magician’s secret~”

Carver let out a dismissive “tsk.”

Benson silently pulled the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, walked over, and pressed it into the Wolf King’s bound hand.

The Wolf King looked down at the cigarette. “Thanks. Next time we meet, I’ll show you a magic trick.”

Benson watched his back disappear through the doorway and muttered, “I hope there isn’t a next time.”

The room fell silent. Benson asked Calista and Leah, “Do you believe what he said?”

Calista did not answer. Leah did. “What he said about the Wolves is probably all true. He has no reason to lie.”

Benson nodded. “The part about the prophet is probably true too. I’ve heard similar stories. There are plenty of lunatics like that these days. To be honest, I kind of understand him.”

Leah looked at him. Benson shrugged. “I don’t mean I understand the killing. I mean I understand wanting something to believe in. These days, it’s hard to keep going if you don’t believe in anything.”

Calista finally spoke. Her voice was perfectly calm, but Leah and Benson both heard the coldness underneath it. “The Wolves are finished. They’re no longer a threat. Now only the Reapers remain.”

Benson turned to look at her, then glanced at Leah. “What do you two want to do?”

Leah: “I’ll go with what Calista says.”

Calista said nothing more. She only patted Benson on the shoulder. “Go get some rest. We have a meeting tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

That night, the Wolf King was locked up in a solitary cell.

The cell was not large, but the conditions were decent. It was the same cell Lorenzo had stayed in before. The Wolf King sat on the bed without sleeping. He did not know what he was waiting for. He simply had a feeling that someone would come tonight.

Perhaps he was waiting for dawn, perhaps for his execution, or perhaps for that young, beautiful woman to come see him again.

But Calista didn’t come. Someone else did.

When the door opened, the Wolf King turned his head and saw Benson standing in the doorway, holding a cigarette. “Want one?”

The Wolf King looked at him and smiled. “You’ve got some damn nerve!”

Benson walked in, sat down beside him, and handed him the cigarette.

The Wolf King took it and sniffed it. “Marlboro. Top-notch stuff!”

Benson lit his own and lit one for the Wolf King as well. The two of them sat on that narrow bed, facing the small skylight in the cell, smoking.

The Wolf King took a drag and spoke first. “So you used to be with those masked guys too?”

Benson nodded.

“And now you’ve defected?”

“I guess so.”

The Wolf King laughed. “How does it feel?”

Benson thought for a moment, then said earnestly, “It’s better than over there.”

“Better in what way?”

“We have dogs here. Over there, we lived like dogs.”

The Wolf King froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. His laughter echoed through the cramped cell, carrying a strange sense of relief.

“Dogs!” He couldn’t stop laughing. “Damn! You defected because of a dog!”

Benson shrugged. “Not just one. I’ve found there are more here. Some guard the gates, others hunt. They live better than I used to.”

The Wolf King laughed until tears streamed down his face. He took a drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled. “My son used to want to get a dog, too, but I’m allergic, so we never did.”

He paused. “Later on, there was no need to get one anyway.”

Benson said nothing.

The Wolf King stubbed out his cigarette on the wall, then carefully tucked the butt into his pocket.

“What are you doing?” Benson asked.

The Wolf King glanced at him. “Keeping it. There aren’t many days left when you can get a cigarette. All right, I’m done. You should go. Leave me alone.”

Benson looked at him calmly. “Do you know what tomorrow will bring?”

The Wolf King nodded. “I know. I’ve waited a long time. I can finally become one of the masters.”

Benson sighed, then stood up and walked toward the door. Before pushing it open, he turned back and said, “If this were before the apocalypse, I think I’d have liked your magic. Maybe during a break between missions, I’d have flown all the way to Las Vegas just to see you perform.”

The Wolf King sat on the edge of the bed. Moonlight fell across his face, catching something bright in his eyes, but the tears never fell. “I think so, you know?

“I’m pretty famous in Las Vegas. If you came, I’d have to reserve tickets for you in advance.

“Damn it, I actually kind of like you. Maybe we could be friends.”

Benson pushed open the door and walked out. “Maybe. This damn apocalypse!”