The Walking Dead : Rules of Survival

I let out a cold laugh, staring mockingly at the two people in front of me whose expressions seemed normal but were, in fact, already twisted with madness.

I sneered, "Making me suffer once? That sounds so easy. Why don't you make yourselves suffer for once? Don't you love your son? Can't bear to see him starve? Then why don't you feed him yourselves?"

The old woman clearly didn't expect me to say that.

The apologetic expression she wore vanished without a trace in an instant.

She looked at me with a fake smile that didn't reach her eyes and said, "If the two of us old folks die, who will feed him then?"

I shook my head, utterly speechless at the sheer stupidity of the people before me.

But what she said suddenly reminded me—when Suo Tian and I had just arrived at the pharmacy, we saw two walkers at the entrance whose flesh still looked relatively fresh.

I turned to glance at the door where they kept the walkers locked in.

Could it be that those two were also captured by these two lunatics and fed to the walkers, only to be released afterward?

Suo Tian was locked outside, and I could be thrown into this room with who-knows-how-many walkers at any moment—but I didn't feel afraid at all.

Perhaps the couple thought I couldn't cause any trouble while tied up, so they simply tossed me aside and ran to the room with the walkers, muttering a whole bunch of nonsense to whatever was inside.

The two of them talked in great detail, covering everything from breakfast in the morning to how they caught me at noon — describing it all as meticulously as if they were reporting their work.

The window had old-fashioned iron security bars, rusted through with age, and a layer of mesh nailed over it, long since blackened with grime.

I couldn't see anything inside, only judge by the sounds — there were at least more than two walkers in that room.

The couple had their backs to me, completely engrossed in chatting with their "son."

Judging by their expressions, you'd think they could actually understand something from those horrible, guttural sounds.

I glanced back at the front door, my mind racing — what was going on with Suo Tian?

Was he really just going to let me be fed to walkers by these two lunatics?

I hadn't even finished complaining in my head when, just as I turned back around, I caught sight of a head peeking over the top of the courtyard wall.

The sudden appearance startled the hell out of me.

But once I saw who it was, I couldn't help but break into a wide grin — though with the two old crazies nearby, I didn't dare make a sound.

Suo Tian leapt onto the wall effortlessly, his movement smooth and graceful.

I rolled my eyes to myself — good thing this old couple hadn't booby-trapped the top of the wall with broken glass like some others do.

Otherwise, Suo Tian would've been done for today… and I probably would be too.

I glanced back at the old couple.

I wasn't sure what they were talking about now, but both of them were wiping tears from their eyes as they faced the window.

The old woman even placed her hand on the mesh-covered window, only to be pulled back by the old man.

It seemed they had their concerns, too.

Suo Tian, still perched on the wall, scanned the courtyard before his eyes landed on me.

He made a hand gesture toward me, signaling for me to stay put.

At this moment, that gesture clearly meant "stay calm, don't act rashly."

Then, in one swift motion, he jumped down from the wall, rolled to absorb the impact, and quickly and quietly dashed to hide behind the nearest pillar under the eaves on the left side.

The couple seemed to have noticed something — they turned their heads and looked around the courtyard suspiciously, exchanging a puzzled glance.

Then their eyes landed on me, pretending to be looking up at the sky.

"All right, enough talking with our son. Let's hurry up and feed him, then we can make ourselves something to eat," the old woman said as she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and turned to the old man.

The old man nodded, and the two of them turned and started walking toward me.

Now things were getting serious.

The moment they grabbed me and hauled me up from the ground, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared—it definitely wasn't the time to act tough.

My eyes kept darting toward the pillar where Suo Tian was hiding, my heart pounding with anxiety.

Normally, I wouldn't be too afraid of facing three to five walkers, but the problem was—my hands were tied.

If I actually got surrounded, all I could hope for was that they'd at least have some taste and go for my throat first.

At least then I'd die quickly.

As they shoved me in front of the door and the old woman pulled out a key to unlock it, I couldn't hold back anymore.

I shouted toward Suo Tian, "Suo Tian! What the hell are you doing? Your wife's about to get eaten by walkers!"

The couple looked at me in confusion, not understanding why I'd suddenly blurt out something like that.

"What nonsense are you yelling!?" the old man barked angrily—only to suddenly freeze in place, staring straight ahead in silence.

A long blade had pierced clean through his chest from behind.

Suo Tian stood calmly behind him, his expression completely composed and indifferent.

The old woman let out a sharp, grief-stricken wail.

Her mouth fell open, her face twisted in disbelief as she stared at the old man, who was somehow still standing upright.

Suo Tian frowned slightly, then yanked the dagger out of the old man's chest in one swift motion.

His gaze shifted toward the old woman, but he didn't move from where he stood.

The moment the blade was pulled out, the old man's body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, convulsing violently on the ground as blood gushed from his mouth in thick streams.

I stood rooted in place, eyes locked on him.

Slowly, the scene before me began to overlap with the memory of that student who had their throat ripped out by Zhao Qiuting back at school.

The difference was—back then, watching the student collapse, all I felt was guilt and disbelief.

But now, watching this old man fall, I felt nothing but a sense that he deserved to die.

The old woman was still standing there, screaming incessantly.

Her eyes were wide, almost bulging, as she stared at the old man lying on the ground.

I walked up to Suo Tian and asked him to untie the ropes binding me.

I was clearly safe now.

With her last pillar of support gone, the old woman—even if she weren't already mad—was no match for the two of us.

My hands were finally free, but they were numb from being tied up for so long.

I couldn't help but keep rubbing them, trying to ease the tingling pain that came with the returning sensation.

Amid the old woman's screams, Suo Tian turned to me and said, "Let's go."

Then after a short pause, he added, "Suo Tian's wife."

I couldn't help but laugh, waved at him, then stepped forward to pick up the key the old woman had thrown aside.

I walked over to the locked door of the walker room, turned back to glance at the still-screaming old woman, took a deep breath, turned my body to the side—and shoved the door open hard.

In an instant, the walkers that had already been drawn to the door by the noise burst out.

The old woman was standing with her back to the door, and almost immediately, the tall walker in front lunged at her and tackled her to the ground.

I quickly dodged to the side.

Suo Tian reached out and pulled me with him, and we dashed toward the courtyard gate.

Behind us, the old woman's shrill screams rose higher and higher in pitch.

I couldn't stop myself from turning to look.

A man, a woman, and a child—three walkers—were holding her down, biting into her savagely.

Blood-soaked chunks of flesh were being torn from her thin frame again and again.

It seemed that the ones locked in that room were their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson.

As Suo Tian opened the door and we stepped out, a thought crossed my mind in some twisted way, had we just helped reunite that family?

Because of their ignorance and self-deception, how many innocent, desperate survivors had that old couple harmed?

Since fate had brought Suo Tian and me to them today, then it was time they faced the consequences.

When I locked the front gate from the outside using the key, the old woman's wailing still echoed from the courtyard.

It seemed her beloved son and grandson weren't so kind as to give her a swift end.

I glanced at the wide stretch of barren farmland in front of the gate, a mess of emotions swirling in my chest.

Back on the vehicle, the old man and woman had played the part of the weak and pitiful, earning my sympathy which had set off the chain of events that followed.

And in the end, they still died in the guise of the weak.

Of course, it wouldn't be long before the two of them stood up again.

But by then, they would no longer be able to use those vile tricks to deceive the kind-hearted.

Whether before or now, the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest—had never changed.

The only difference was that it had shifted from a relatively civilized and restrained form to something brutally bloody and merciless.

I let out a sigh and turned to look at Suo Tian, who was walking silently with his head down, lips pressed tight.

I could see everything clearly now.

After what had just happened—after the lesson that old couple had delivered—I felt like I'd learned something new again.

Something that would help me survive better in this world.

I quickened my pace, stepped forward, and linked arms with Suo Tian, then smiled as I turned to him and said,

"Mr. Suo, mind if I do a quick interview?"

Suo Tian glanced down at me—me, who barely reached up to his shoulder—and, rare for him, actually played along.

"Go ahead, Reporter Chen."

I rested my head lightly on his shoulder, squinting toward the road ahead.

"So, Mr. Suo, do you think Reporter Chen is a very cute woman?"

He didn't answer right away.

I squinted up at him suspiciously and said with mock menace, drawing out each syllable:

"Suo~ Tian~"

He raised an eyebrow, stopped walking, looked me up and down slowly, and finally replied in an unhurried tone:

"Reporter Chen was only cute that one night."

With that, he pressed his lips together again and kept walking forward.

I stood there stunned for a couple of seconds, trying to digest what Suo Tian had just said.

And once I finally realized what "that night" he mentioned actually referred to, the temperature in my ears shot up instantly.

Embarrassed, I nervously glanced around to see if anyone had heard—but then remembered this wasn't the old world anymore.

I couldn't help cursing myself under my breath, "Idiot."

Then I hurried to catch up with Suo Tian, who had already walked ahead.

When we returned to that alley, the few walkers that had fallen into the reeking drainage ditch were still flailing around inside.

Feeling in a rather good mood, I cheerfully greeted them one by one:

"Hi~ Jack~ Hi~ Moriah~ Hi~ Con Con~ Hi~ Mike~."

These four names belonged to people I absolutely despised back in middle school—characters straight out of my English textbook.

Back in the car, as I sank into my seat, I finally felt like I had come back to life.

As the car started moving again, I looked at Suo Tian—focused on driving—and couldn't help myself.

I leaned forward and gave him a quick smooch on the cheek.

Then immediately sat up straight and told him off as he turned to look at me:

"Eyes on the road! Drive properly!"

Hearing his soft chuckle, I blushed and didn't dare look at him again.

For the rest of the ride, I kept my neck stiff, staring determinedly out the window.

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