If there was anything that left Louis feeling a bit regretful about this miraculous survival of the walker horde's night attack, it was probably that—
Ed, that bastard domestic abuser, was still alive.
However, as things stood, Ed's malicious and stupid accusations had inadvertently done Louis a favor.
He successfully diverted everyone's attention from Louis, drawing the focus of the conflict onto himself.
"What did you say?!"
"Ed! How could you say something like that!"
Several cold and unfriendly gazes fell simultaneously on Ed.
Shane's knuckles turned white as he gripped his gun, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes.
Rick also frowned deeply, looking at Ed with undisguised anger.
Andrea even stepped forward a few paces, ready to give him a piece of her mind.
However, before they could act, a figure rushed forward with a surge of manic hostility.
It was Merle.
Merle, who was closest to him, cracked an extremely 'friendly' grin.
"Hey, fatso," Merle said, rolling his good wrist as he walked over step by step, "What the fuck did you just say? Say it again for me, will ya?"
"I..." Seeing Merle's expression as if he were about to devour him, Ed snapped out of it and instinctively tried to shrink back.
But before he could run, Merle's fist, the size of a sandbag, slammed solidly into his face!
Thud!
"Agh—!"
Ed let out a miserable cry, his bloated body knocked to the ground like a ragged sack.
Merle had no intention of stopping. He straddled Ed, throwing punches with both hands, one after another, raining down on Ed's face and stomach.
"You're unhappy that kid brought me back, huh?"
"While I was out there risking my life, you were hiding in your damn car like a maggot!"
Merle still wasn't satisfied and delivered two more vicious kicks. "Now you have the face to come out? Who the fuck gave you the balls?!"
The women gasped, and Carol turned deathly pale with fright, wanting to step forward but not daring to.
"Alright! Merle! Stop!"
"He's had enough!"
Andrea made a half-hearted attempt to intervene, but her strength in 'breaking up the fight' was clearly not enough to stop the enraged Merle.
Shane watched coldly, trying to control his own urge to join in.
Dale and Rick genuinely wanted to stop it, but they couldn't get in the way in time.
Finally, Daryl couldn't watch anymore and stepped forward to grab his brother's arm.
"That's enough, don't kill him."
Merle spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and stood up from Ed, who was now bruised, swollen, and groaning on the ground, unable to get up.
He straightened his messy tank top, looked at the fat body on the ground, and cursed disdainfully: "Useless trash!"
Only then did Shane step forward to give Ed's injuries a perfunctory check, then frowned and said in a businesslike tone:
"Merle, you were too impulsive just now. Even if Ed was wrong, you shouldn't have been so heavy-handed..."
"But then again," he paused, turning his gaze to Ed on the ground, "Ed, you started this."
"Since you've already taken this beating, learn your lesson and watch yourself next time."
"Exactly," Glenn added, unable to resist chiming in. "It's one thing to hide in the back and do nothing, but to come out and talk trash about a child? You're not a man."
Clutching his swollen, bleeding cheek and seeing the undisguised contempt and disgust in everyone's eyes, Ed couldn't even manage a rebuttal, feeling only humiliation and fear.
Rick sighed, walked over, and bent down to help him up from the ground.
Seeing this, Shane frowned immediately.
What was Rick planning to do?
This guy had just insulted Louis with such vicious words! He wasn't planning on having a friendly chat, was he??
"Do you know why I tried to stop Merle just now?"
Rick didn't let Ed leave immediately. He held the man's arm and looked into his evasive eyes, asking in a calm voice.
Ed looked at him blankly.
Why? Wasn't it to maintain the unity of the camp?
What other reason could there be?
However, in the next second, Rick answered him with action.
Thwack!
Without any warning, Rick's hand on his arm tightened suddenly, while his other hand clenched into a fist and slammed hard into Ed's jaw!
This was followed by a vicious knee strike that sent him tumbling back to the ground!
"Argh—!"
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone! Even Louis almost failed to control his expression.
Ed let out a painful wail, curling up on the ground.
Rick just looked at him coldly, as if looking at a pile of garbage.
"Louis is only eleven years old."
His voice was as calm as ever, but everyone inexplicably felt a chill listening to it.
"How dare you say those things in front of an eleven-year-old child?"
As he spoke, he slowly crouched down and grabbed a handful of Ed's greasy hair, forcing him to look up.
"Especially... when his father is standing right next to him."
The only sound left in the camp was Ed's pleas for mercy, born of fear and pain:
"I... I'm sorry... I've had too much to drink, I was too nervous..."
Rick looked at him, his eyes devoid of any warmth. "I stopped Merle not to maintain some damn unity."
"But because, as a father, I wanted to deal with you bastard myself!"
"You should feel lucky," Rick's voice dropped even lower, his eyes full of cold indifference. "If the children weren't here watching, I would pull those rotten teeth out of your mouth one by one."
"Rick..." Lori had almost never seen this cold side of Rick. She instinctively took two steps forward but was held back by Carl.
Out of trust for her husband and dissatisfaction with Ed's remarks, she hesitated for a moment and did not step forward to stop him again.
Then, Rick suddenly let go, and Ed's head thudded heavily against the ground.
He stood up, looking down at him, and issued a final warning:
"From today on, I don't want to hear another word against my son from your mouth."
"If I find out later that you've made any move against him..."
Rick's gaze slowly swept across the camp members, who were as quiet as cicadas in winter.
"I promise, you'll regret not dying today."
"Do you understand?" he finally looked at Ed.
"I... I understand..." Ed's voice trembled violently with fear.
Everyone was startled by Rick's sudden outburst.
Shane, however, stepped forward and patted Rick hard on the back, whispering, "You should've done that a long time ago."
Finally, with his wife Carol's terrified and cautious support, Ed slunk back to his tent like a stray dog.
The way the others in the camp looked at Rick also quietly changed. Compared to the simple trust from before, there was now a bit more awe.
Except for Merle.
He just chuckled lazily and complained to his brother, "Friendly Cop. Heh."
Although Dale didn't quite agree with such violent threats, he thought of the 'biggest victim' of this incident—the eleven-year-old child who had just saved everyone.
So he just sighed silently and said nothing more.
After all, Louis was still just a child!
Besides, it's not like anything major happened to Ed!