What's going on?
At this moment, Louis, the protagonist at the center of the topic, fell into deep thought.
I haven't even started trying yet, and Ed's already been taken out by his own teammates?
Louis hadn't expected Rick, who always played the role of the nice guy in the camp, to suddenly explode and even resort to violence just to defend him.
After all, although they had the title of father and son, the time they had actually spent together didn't add up to much, did it? Or had he underestimated how much the main group in this show valued children?
Whatever the reason, truth be told, he was actually a little touched.
But these unexpected interludes wouldn't affect the script he had already planned.
Watching Ed's retreating back, Louis lowered his head at the right moment, putting on a look of dejection and grievance after being slandered.
He was just about to work up some emotion and say a few lines fitting his "sad child" persona when he felt himself fall into a warm and firm embrace.
"Louis," Rick's voice sounded above his head, gentle and firm. "No matter what he said, don't remember a single word of it."
He let go and looked into the boy's blue eyes, which seemed to have dimmed slightly, and said seriously, "If it wasn't for you last night, it would have been impossible for all of us to survive."
"You saved us. You are the hero of this camp."
"But..."
"No buts," Rick interrupted him. "You are the best."
Immediately after, Carol, having settled her husband, walked over with eyes full of tears. She crouched down, her face filled with deep guilt and apology.
"Oh, Louis, dear, please don't take Ed's words to heart." Her voice was choked with sobs. "I apologize to you on his behalf. He shouldn't have said those things to you..."
As a mother, she couldn't accept that her husband would say such vicious words to a child, making her feel utterly ashamed.
The others also crowded around, each offering words of comfort to Louis.
"Yeah, Louis, don't be sad!"
"Ed's just a bastard, ignore him!"
Ah, this... Louis was somewhat caught between laughter and tears by this sudden treatment.
Haven't I only been in the camp for a day?
Have I already won people over this much??
It seemed the script he had originally designed could no longer be played out.
Thus, amidst the comforting voices, Louis slowly raised his head. The "unease" on his face gradually faded, replaced by a sense of relief from being understood.
"Thank you, everyone. I'm fine now." He shook his head gently. "Actually, I didn't really take it to heart."
He paused, his gaze slowly sweeping over everyone present. Those deep blue eyes looked exceptionally sincere in the morning light.
"I know what happened last night wasn't my fault."
"Just like I don't think we survived simply because of good luck or because Uncle Jim had some dream."
He looked at Rick, at Shane, at Daryl, and at everyone who had fought a bloody battle the night before.
"When the Walkers came, Officer Rick and Uncle Shane were holding the front line, Uncle Daryl and Uncle Merle were guarding the flanks, and on the roof, Grandpa Dale and Aunt Andrea were also helping..."
He didn't continue listing everyone, but said seriously, "We survived only because everyone picked up a weapon and didn't give up."
At this point, a hint of slyness appeared on Louis's face as he added half-jokingly:
"If you ask me to interpret Uncle Jim's dream, I think the real 'hope' is either Officer Rick, or... that big bag of weapons he brought back."
"After all," he shrugged, "without those weapons, no matter how much I warned everyone, we certainly wouldn't have been able to defeat so many Walkers."
These words dispelled the last trace of unease in everyone's hearts.
The slight unpleasantness caused by Ed earlier also seemed to vanish into thin air with these words.
That's right! Thinking about it carefully, where would there be some miraculous prophet?
Jim's dream was certainly eerie, but in the end, it was just a few ambiguous words.
Hope? Change? These words themselves were full of various interpretive possibilities, depending entirely on what the listener chose to believe.
What truly saved them wasn't some ethereal fate.
It was Louis's extraordinary alertness and early warning that bought them the most precious time to prepare for battle.
It was everyone working together that finally created the miracle of "total survival."
It was precisely because Louis acted too much like a "genius," far beyond common sense, that everyone, in their post-disaster excitement, involuntarily developed some unrealistic associations.
Just like the great geniuses and leaders in history, their deeds were often accompanied by various legends and myths.
For instance, Joan of Arc, who led France out of the gloom of the Hundred Years' War—who could say for sure whether the "divine revelations" she heard were real or fake?
Perhaps it was just a manifestation of her extraordinary faith and insight.
Or King Arthur, who unified England, is the legend of the Sword in the Stone really true?
Having realized this, the way everyone looked at Louis, while still full of wonder and gratitude, lost some of its unrealistic intensity and became more peaceful.
But there were also some who said nothing, silently taking note of the matter.
In any case, at least on the surface, everyone in the camp seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at this more "reasonable" explanation.
However, just as the adults were about to step forward to offer a few more words of comfort to Louis, his attention was not on himself.
He was looking not far away. Carol was holding Sophia tightly, quietly soothing her frightened daughter.
"However... although I don't mind what Mr. Ed said to me," he withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "he should apologize to Aunt Carol and Sophia."
Meeting everyone's gaze, Louis continued, "They only said a few words to help me out of kindness; they shouldn't be blamed like that."
"Aunt Carol," he walked over to the middle-aged woman with short gray hair and looked at her solemnly, "you don't have to apologize to me for him. You didn't do anything wrong."
Then, he turned to Sophia, who was hiding behind Carol and looking at him timidly, and gave her a gentle smile.
"And Sophia, I heard from Duane that you called me a lucky star before." He winked. "Thank you, I'm very happy."
Looking at this sensible child who made her heart ache, Carol could no longer hold back her tears.
She hugged Louis tightly, then hugged her own daughter.
The people around them also sighed in silence.
The situation with Carol's family... Sigh!
"Don't worry, Louis." Shane stepped forward and ruffled his hair, his tone firm. "We'll make him apologize! You don't have to worry."
Only then did Louis show a reassured smile.
"Thank you, Louis." At that moment, Amy came over.
After some rest, her complexion looked much better.
Amy gave Louis a gentle but firm hug and said somewhat choke-fully, "You saved my life yesterday."
Andrea followed closely behind, her voice trembling with emotion and her eyes red. "Child... I don't know how to thank you. I can't imagine... if I had lost her..."
The others also stepped forward one after another, expressing their gratitude once again to the child who had saved the entire camp.
Amidst the warm and tender atmosphere, Daryl walked up to Louis and suddenly spoke, breaking the momentary silence.
"You have keen observation," his sharp eyes stared intently at Louis, as if trying to see through all his secrets. "And your ears are very sharp too."
"Few people could have found so many hidden Walkers under those circumstances last night."
He paused and directly asked the question everyone was curious about: "How did you do it?"