The Walking Dead : Rules of Survival

Suo Tian took out a bottle of some unknown medicine from the car's trunk.

After sprinkling some onto my wound, he wrapped it up again with a fresh bandage.

Looking at Suo Tian's neat and beautiful bandaging, I couldn't help but compare it in my mind to the one Shen Xue did for me this morning.

I sighed inwardly… The difference between people really can be huge sometimes.

After all the cars were filled up with gas, the supermarket was completely cleaned out as well.

At our strong insistence, Suo Tian and the others finally agreed to assign everyone—except for Shen Xue, Rongrong, and Chen Pu—to night watch duty.

As we chuckled and celebrated finally being able to help out, the man with the full beard grumbled in his hoarse voice, "I really don't get you guys. Why are you so eager to do night watch?"

Smiling, I replied, "We get to breathe in the fresh night air~ and admire the beautiful moonlight. It's such a pleasant thing—honestly, I don't get how you guys don't see all the perks of night duty."

The man with the full beard snorted and ignored me, turning over and lying down on the floor bedding to sleep.

My shift was from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

As night fell, I ate a little something under the light of a flashlight, then lay down on my blanket and closed my eyes to rest.

There was still no electricity here.

After confessing to Suo Tian about my wound, it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted.

It had been my biggest worry recently, and now that it was resolved so easily, I felt incredibly relieved.

Shen Xue, Xu Shu, Rongrong, and I were sleeping between a row of shelves, while the men all slept on a cleared-out area on the other side.

Lying on my blanket in such a good mood, I couldn't fall asleep for a while.

Glancing over at Rongrong, who was fiddling with her fingers, I leaned in close and whispered into her ear, "Want Auntie to teach you a song?"

Rongrong bounced with joy and waved her hands excitedly. "Yes! Yes!"

I cleared my throat softly and began to sing:

"The whole world, only mama's good,

A child with a mama is a treasure.

Falling into mama's arms,

Happiness never ends~"

I didn't even know why I suddenly wanted to teach Rongrong a song.

Poor me—with my pitiful knowledge of music, the only thing I could come up with was that childhood classic, "The Whole World Only Mama's Good."

Rongrong, who had been so excited just moments ago, suddenly went quiet.

I looked at her, puzzled. "What's wrong, Rongrong?"

Could it be… was my singing really that bad?

After a few seconds of silence, Rongrong reached out her short little arms, wrapped them around my neck, and pulled me toward her.

I held myself up with one hand and let her hug me, chuckling softly.

"What's with the sudden clinginess, little one?"

"Auntie…" Her voice had lost its earlier cheerfulness and now carried a trace of tears.

"I miss my mom…"

I froze.

That song—damn it.

How could I forget?

Except for when she was sick last time, Rongrong had always been cheerful and full of life.

I had subconsciously started treating her like family—like a little sister—but I'd completely forgotten how much she must still miss her parents.

Rongrong started sobbing in hiccups.

Maybe she missed them so much, but that tiny heart of hers had been keeping it all buried deep inside—until I accidentally brought it out tonight.

I tried to comfort her, but it was no use.

Rongrong, being so sensible, kept her crying quiet so she wouldn't wake the others—but she still kept sobbing and wiping away tears.

Shen Xue, who was sleeping on the other side, sighed and sat up.

With a bit of helplessness, she said to me, "Chen Yang, seriously… You were notoriously tone-deaf in middle school, no sense of pitch at all. And now you suddenly decide to sing? Fine, sing if you must—but of all songs, why that one?"

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I glanced over at her in the dark.

"You just said I was having a moment—can you really expect anything logical during one of those?"

"Unbelievable," Shen Xue muttered as she got up and walked over, scooping the still-crying Rongrong into her arms.

Having spent so much time with Rongrong, Shen Xue knew exactly how to soothe her.

It wasn't long before the little one, curled up in her embrace, fell into a deep sleep.

To prevent me from doing anything else ridiculous, Shen Xue simply took Rongrong over to sleep beside her.

Lying back down, I felt a bit dejected.

From now on, I swear—I'll never sing again, not even if my life depends on it!

Though the chorus of snores rising and falling from the other side of the shelves was a bit noisy, I still managed to fall asleep.

Humans, when you think about it, are remarkably adaptable.

Take me, for example—back then, I not only had a serious cleanliness obsession, but was also extremely picky about my sleeping conditions.

Things like temperature and lighting could easily keep me awake.

But now, just a few months later, here I was—wearing clothes so filthy their original color was unrecognizable, lying on a supermarket's dirty floor with only a blanket beneath me, and treating the sound of snoring like bedtime music.

I still remember the night when Lili and Wang Jun first joined us—Lili's snoring was so loud I couldn't take it, and ended up sleeping on the couch all night.

In the early morning, I was shaken awake by Shen Feng while I was still in the middle of a dream—wielding a broadsword and hacking away at walkers.

Groggy and disoriented, I blinked at him squatting beside me and, purely on reflex, nearly drew my blade on him.

Luckily, my sense of reason returned just a bit faster than my hand could move.

I sat up, eyes dull and unfocused, dazed for a moment before finally pushing myself to my feet and stumbling toward the front door.

Half-asleep, I couldn't help but think—what Beard said earlier was absolutely right.

I must be out of my mind to have volunteered for night watch.

As I walked out, Shen Feng called from behind, "Chen Yang, a little something showed up outside. Go take a look—you'll definitely like it."

Still groggy, I mumbled a half-hearted "Mm-hmm" and opened the door to step out.

It was winter, after all.

The air outside was colder than indoors, especially with that biting wind.

The moment I stepped out, a gust of cold wind hit me like a slap, making me shiver uncontrollably and snapping my mind wide awake.

After closing the door behind me, I was just about to take a step forward when my gaze swept past the edge of the entrance—and I suddenly saw a little bundle of fluff curled up next to the door.

I don't know what I was thinking, but the moment I saw that fluffy little bundle, I instinctively assumed it was a rat and almost screamed.

But just before I opened my mouth, another thought hit me… where would you even find a rat that big?

Silently mocking myself, I crouched down and crept toward the little thing.

Could this be the "little cutie" Shen Feng mentioned?

Before I could get too close, the fluffball on the ground seemed to sense me approaching.

It stirred, then rolled over and stood up.

Only then did I get a clear look at what it was—and the moment I saw its little face, my heart instantly melted from the cuteness.

It was a tiny Husky!

Judging by the size, it couldn't be more than two months old.

This breed had always been my favorite.

I used to look up pictures of Huskies online all the time and had even thought about getting one.

But back then, just taking care of Yangyang was already exhausting enough—I didn't have the energy to care for a dog too.

I reached out and took a couple more steps forward.

The little guy, just like Zheng Rongrong, wasn't afraid of people at all—its tiny nose twitched as it came closer to me.

I patted its little head.

Its fluffy fur hadn't fully grown in yet, and it felt incredibly soft to the touch.

Crouched in the corner, I quickly bonded with the little thing.

Its adorable antics had me laughing so hard I nearly doubled over.

I completely forgot that I was supposed to be on night watch.

I was only a last-minute addition to the night shift anyway, so the black-clad sentries didn't bother with me.

They just let me play with the puppy for a full two hours!

From time to time, the patrolling sentries passing by the door would crane their necks to get a look too.

Just as I scooped the husky into my arms—while it was rolling around and showing off its cuteness on the ground—we suddenly heard a few shrill growls from some walkers in the distance.

The moment the sound rang out, the click-clack of weapons being loaded echoed across the rooftops nearby.

The little guy, who had just been bouncing around, immediately whimpered when it heard those growls and desperately buried its head into my chest.

I gently patted its body to soothe it, managing to hold it in my left arm while drawing my dagger with my right hand.

I followed behind two of the black-clad men carrying rifles as they headed in the direction the sound had come from.

This gas station was situated at a corner of the small town's main street, offering a wide field of vision.

That meant we didn't have to worry about a large horde of walkers sneaking up on us—but the downside was that it faced the main road, so there were always a few stray walkers passing by now and then.

Before I fell asleep in the first half of the night, I could already hear the sounds of fighting outside.

There were only a dozen or so walkers, not many.

The black-clad night sentries worked with impressive coordination.

Aside from the two left behind to maintain the watch, the rest swiftly drew their blades and charged.

With a series of squelch-squelch sounds as their blades pierced skulls, those dozen walkers were quickly taken down.

Once again, I couldn't help but praise them in my heart—These guys are seriously impressive!

I sheathed my dagger back into my bag and scratched the husky's little tail.

Looks like... me volunteering for night watch really was kind of unnecessary.

However, the appearance of those walkers reminded me of some issues I hadn't paid attention to before.

Looking at the little guy, it was clear it had only recently been born, and with the world having been like this for several months now, its mother must have given birth to it alone, without anyone to care for it.

Considering how long it's been, its mother would have had to find food and water to survive.

As for food, that's another matter, but just water alone...

While huskies are very energetic dogs, they certainly can't open a bottle of water.

This means it must have been relying on drinking possibly contaminated water to survive.

This raises two issues: first, the husky hasn't been infected—could it be because the virus only spreads among humans?

Or is it that... maybe water sources aren't the primary means of transmission, like it's often depicted in movies?

I tried to recall any small animals I had seen recently and whether they seemed normal.

But as I searched my mind, I realized... I hadn't paid attention to anything other than living people and walkers in a long time.

As for whether the water source has been contaminated, I knew I couldn't answer that on my own because I couldn't allow myself or anyone around me to take the risk of trying it.

I sat in the car holding the husky.

The wind outside was so biting, and honestly, they didn't need me out there.

With so many of them, each one seemed to have superhuman abilities.

So, I decided not to join the chaos.

I pulled out a sausage from under the back seat, tore it open, and fed it to the little guy.

This little thing looked quite cute, but its eating habits were a sight to behold.

Before I could even break the sausage into pieces, it immediately came over and snatched it.

When I raised my hand to move it away, it even dared to threaten me with a high-pitched bark.

I felt a little embarrassed...

This little thing and Zheng Rongrong's brat are definitely cut from the same cloth!

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