The Walking Dead : Rules of Survival

"What do you people want?" Suo Tian's eyes were fixed on the couple, while he discreetly began scanning our surroundings.

"We're not 'people.' Just some hicks from the countryside who used to farm," the old man replied in an unusually grim tone.

Then, before Suo Tian could respond, he added, "Young man, if you know what's good for you, stay right where you are. Otherwise, this girl won't live to see another day."

Suo Tian didn't move an inch.

He stood still, eyes locked on the man, lips pressed into a tight line, unreadable.

After a long pause, he finally spoke slowly:

"I'm not moving. What do you want?"

"We don't want anything from you. Just drive off, young man. Leave the girl behind, that's all."

As soon as he said that, maybe as a signal, the force on my neck suddenly tightened.

The old woman yanked me back with even more strength.

It had already been hard to breathe—now it felt like I was suffocating.

I raised my arms and tried to loosen her grip, just enough to catch a breath.

But that slight movement immediately drew the old man's attention.

He kicked me hard in the leg and shouted, "Move again and I'll kill you!"

Pain shot through my leg, and instinctively, I tried to gasp—but the old woman's arm was too strong.

I couldn't get any air in.

My face flushed red as I kept struggling to pry her arm off my throat.

I was absolutely miserable—just moments ago, this couple had been trembling in fear at the sight of a few walkers, and now they were like completely different people.

I could only look helplessly at Suo Tian, hoping he'd quickly think of a way to get the old woman to let go.

I was almost out of air!

Suo Tian, who was standing opposite us, was facing the alley where the couple had first appeared.

He still didn't move, just stared at us in silence—until suddenly, his eyes flashed and he glanced behind us.

His expression changed instantly.

The next moment, a chorus of walker snarls rang out from behind me.

I froze, and the sound sent a jolt of panic through me.

I struggled even harder to pry the old woman's arm off my neck.

These two clearly didn't know how to handle walkers.

Judging by the sound, at least three or five were coming.

If they got scared and used me as a human shield—I'd die a unjust death!

The old woman seemed startled by the walkers' growls; her grip loosened slightly.

I seized the chance to suck in a few deep breaths, fuming—she had nearly choked me to death!

Suo Tian had already reached for his knife bag and was about to draw a dagger when the old man suddenly growled, "Keep an eye on her. I'll go butcher those bastards myself!"

"Okay, but be careful." The old woman, who hadn't spoken this whole time, finally said something again.

Unlike the old man's deep and sudden voice, hers hadn't really changed—it still carried that same nervous tremble from before.

My brain wasn't exactly focused on whether her tone had changed or not.

What really caught my attention was the old man's line: "I'll go butcher those bastards."

Just a moment ago, he'd been so terrified of the walkers he could barely hold a knife—so how could he now speak about killing them like it was no big deal?

I heard the old man's footsteps as he walked away, followed quickly by the unmistakable squelch-squelch of hacking and slashing.

From the sound of it, his technique was remarkably practiced.

If he was this skilled… then why had he acted so pitiful and scared in front of me and Suo Tian earlier?

Could it have been all an act to lower our guard—just to get close and catch me off guard?

But even if that was the case, it clearly wasn't their ultimate goal.

The real question was: why capture me in the first place, and then tell Suo Tian to leave?

Judging by their actions, they clearly weren't after our car.

And right now, with all the supermarkets and shops practically deserted, and with their ability to handle walkers so well, there was no reason for them to kidnap someone just to get supplies.

They could easily go out and get whatever they needed themselves.

So then, what was driving them to do all this?

They'd gone to such lengths to gain my sympathy, catch me off guard, and restrain me.

There had to be something deeper behind it.

My brain was running faster than usual in that instant, rapidly cycling through every possible reason behind all of this.

Finally, after the growls of the walkers behind us fell completely silent, a theory came to my mind—one that seemed absurd at first, but actually had a disturbing logic to it.

Suo Tian had been standing there the whole time, staring at us in silence.

It wasn't until the sound of the old man's footsteps returned behind me that he finally spoke, his voice calm and cold:

"Planning to feed your grandson or son with a live human?"

I stared at Suo Tian in shock—he'd figured it out too.

If he was asking that out loud, then it confirmed my earlier suspicion was likely correct.

The old woman's arm trembled violently, then tightened around my neck again, clearly rattled.

Her voice turned sharp and hostile:

"How do you know that?"

Suo Tian didn't answer her.

Instead, he looked at me.

I stared back at him, unblinking—and then suddenly noticed that his hand, hanging by his side, seemed to move just a little… almost like it was unintentional.

To others, that hand motion might have seemed like a simple, unconscious gesture—but after working with Suo Tian for so long, I knew exactly what it meant: "Wait for the right moment to act."

A spark of excitement lit up in my heart.

That was just like Suo Tian—never one to quietly accept being controlled.

If he was signaling me like this, it meant he was about to make a move.

I subtly curled four of my fingers and left only my thumb extended—a signal back that I understood.

Suo Tian caught a glimpse of my response, then, without changing his expression, turned his gaze toward the couple behind me and spoke in a light, casual tone:

"I guessed it. Beyond that reason, there was really no need for you two to put on such an elaborate act for so long."

"Stop talking to him. Let's head back. Our son must be hungry," the old man said.

His voice, previously deep and menacing, suddenly turned gentle and soft at the mention of their son.

I couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

These two old folks really were foolish enough to come out and catch a living person themselves… just to feed what was most likely their already walker-turned son.

Then, a strong pull came from my neck again, and I was yanked backward once more.

Judging by the distance, we had probably backed up to the entrance of the alley when the old woman began dragging me around in zigzags, stepping over the corpses that were strewn haphazardly across the ground.

I was still facing away from them and could only follow the direction of the force they exerted on me—either turning or stepping backward when pulled.

Suo Tian, still facing us, followed without slowing his pace.

Perhaps the old couple were truly worried that their son would go hungry.

After scolding Suo Tian a few times and seeing that he didn't respond, they simply gave up on trying to stop him and continued dragging me deeper into the alley.

I noticed that this alley wasn't really an alley—it was more like a narrow path.

On the left side were the walls of residential buildings and some yard fences, while on the right was a foul-smelling drainage ditch, and beyond that, a dense stretch of forest.

As I was dragged along this small path, I kept replaying what had just happened.

Something about this couple felt off.

Earlier, their performance was so convincing it could have fooled anyone—Suo Tian included.

But now, over something as "mundane" as their son being hungry, they acted like any ordinary parents rushing home to make a meal.

Not only did they ignore Suo Tian who was following behind, but the couple even started chatting about their son's childhood.

At times, they got so emotional that they burst out laughing together.

However, they kept a tight grip on me—"their son's lunch."

Any slight movement on my part would earn a harsh scolding.

Suo Tian didn't seem in a hurry to make a move.

After I shot him what felt like the hundredth pleading look, he simply turned his head and started surveying the surrounding woods and the garbage-filled drainage ditch.

A few wandering walkers in the forest noticed us and began growling as they stumbled toward us.

But due to their limited intelligence, they all ended up falling into the ditch once they reached it.

Though the ditch wasn't very wide, it had clearly been dug deep enough.

The walkers that fell in were submerged up to their chests in the filthy water.

They slapped at the banks with their arms, howling, but couldn't climb out at all.

I turned my eyes away in disgust.

I didn't even want to imagine what it must smell like when rotting walker flesh mixed with the filthy, stagnant water from that ditch.

With Suo Tian following behind us, to be honest, I didn't feel all that scared.

I kept thinking that as long as he—someone reliable—was around, nothing too bad could really happen.

But that sense of security lasted only a few minutes.

The moment I was yanked by the neck down another narrow path, and heard that couple joyfully shouting, "We're home, we're home," it completely vanished.

Along the way, Suo Tian seemed to get more and more passive.

When he met my pleading gaze this time, he even raised an eyebrow, then turned his head again to continue surveying the surroundings.

My eye twitched uncontrollably.

We didn't walk much farther before the couple stopped.

I soon heard the sound of a lock being opened and a door creaking.

Suo Tian also halted a few steps away.

Once the door opened, I was dragged inside immediately.

Taking advantage of the moment, I barely managed to glance back—and saw that it was actually a rather large courtyard.

Directly across from where we entered stood three rooms, and on the left were two more—all single-story buildings.

Corn was strung up to dry in the courtyard.

At a glance, it really did look like the kind of yard a normal family might have.

From the room on the left came the constant pounding of fists on the door and hoarse, angry roars.

I knew that sound all too well—no matter whether a walker had been a man or woman in life, once they turned, they all made the same guttural, harsh noises.

It was always the same dry, grating tone that made your skin crawl.

The old man shut the main gate behind us and turned back with a cheerful smile, saying to the old woman, "Look at this kid—still so impatient, just like when he was young. Acts like he's been reincarnated from a starving ghost, never gets full no matter how much he eats."

The old woman laughed along and replied with affection in her voice, "Ain't that the truth. Takes after you, old fool—not a trace of my good temperament in him."

The old man didn't respond to the old woman's words.

Instead, he walked under the eaves and took down a length of rope hanging from the wall.

Then he came over to me, firmly grabbed both of my arms, and signaled for the old woman to release her grip from around my neck.

The instant my neck was finally free, my first thought was to run—but unfortunately, the strength of this couple was on a whole other level compared to mine.

Unless I chopped off my own arms, there was no way I could break free.

My arms were wrenched behind my back and tightly bound.

During the process, the old woman spoke to me in a tone laced with a bit of guilt:

"Girl, I can tell you're a good person... but we have no choice. My son needs to eat, so we have to trouble you this once. Don't worry… when you become like my son, we won't kill you—we'll let you go. By then, my son won't want to eat your flesh anymore anyway."

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