Zhang Hao as Bait

Lin Yang's eyes lit up. "Food..."

While no one was paying attention, Lin Yang walked to the northeast corner of the classroom.

Several overturned desks were piled in the corner. He moved them aside and ran his fingers along the bottom edge of the wall panels.

The putty along the edge of one panel had come loose and crumbled when he picked at it. He pried the panel open with his fingernails, and sure enough, there was a hidden compartment inside.

There was no food in the compartment. Instead, he saw a thin manual and several bottles and jars.

A few blurry words were printed on the cover of the manual: "Guide to Eating Abnormal Foods and Seasoning Recipes."

The pages were yellowed and brittle, but the writing was still legible. Lin Yang turned to the first page, where a line was written in bold:

"The muscle tissue of the tentacled creatures inhabiting the area outside the school is rich in protein, collagen, and various essential amino acids. Under certain conditions, it can serve as an emergency food source."

Below it were densely packed cooking instructions and a hand-drawn diagram of a tentacle's structure. A note in small print appeared beside it.

"Tentacle meat that has not been treated with high heat contains hemolytic toxins. Consumption will cause severe diarrhea and dehydration and may be fatal in serious cases. The following seasoning recipe can neutralize the toxins during cooking, making the meat safe to eat."

The bottles and jars contained salt, seasonings, and a bottle of water that smelled like almonds!

In short, it meant they had to eat tentacles.

Someone noticed him reading and came over. The fatty said, "What are you looking at, Brother Lin?"

His gaze fell on the book. As he read, he was stunned. He even gagged a little!

The picture showed what a tentacle looked like as it was being cooked.

"Cooking a tentacle?"

The fatty's voice rose an octave.

"Brother Lin, where did this come from? We're not really going to eat that thing, are we?"

Lin Yang rolled his eyes. "Eat it or starve to death. Pick one."

The fatty took two steps back, his expression like he was looking at a multiple-choice question on the college entrance exam that he couldn't answer: either starve to death or go kill a tentacle.

Everyone gathered around and saw the cookbook too.

"This... cooking a monster? Does that make sense?"

"What else can we do? Starve to death?"

"The real question is, who can beat that thing? What if it kills us before we get to eat it?"

"And who's going to be the bait?" someone asked.

The classroom fell silent.

Bait!

To hunt the tentacle, someone had to stand outside, on the lawn at the edge of the fog, and use himself as bait to draw it out. Only then could the others make their move!

Everyone had seen what happened to the skinny guy on the day they climbed over the wall. A tentacle had wrapped around his waist, lifted him off the ground, and dragged him into the fog. Then came the crunching sounds of chewing!

No one wanted to be eaten by that damned thing!

The silence lasted a long time, long enough for people to start lifting their gazes from the floor and looking at Lin Yang, hoping he would come up with a plan that didn't require bait.

But Lin Yang didn't. He stood there silently, looking at the faces of the twenty-odd people before him.

"We need bait. Otherwise, we won't be able to catch that thing."

Suddenly, the fatty's gaze fell on Zhang Hao in the corner.

"This guy can't do anything but cause trouble! Why don't we use it as bait?"

Everyone's eyes lit up. Good idea!

"Zhang Hao is of no use either. Bare his chest and let him lure the enemy!"

Lin Yang nodded too. "Makes sense!"

Zhang Hao unleashed a torrent of curses. "You bastards! Are you even human?"

"Hey... don't! Don't do this! I'll join you!"

"..."

He kept struggling, but they hoisted him up anyway.

Lin Yang bent down and picked up the craft knife he had brought out of the classroom. Then he took a detached desk leg from the corner and tested its weight.

"I'll take the lead. I need a few more men!"

The group was afraid of the tentacle, but they were even more afraid of facing it alone. Lin Yang had to step forward and take the lead now, or the others wouldn't follow.

"I'll go." Shen Cheng stepped out of the crowd.

"Me too."

The fatty gritted his teeth, thumped the desk leg against the floor, and then bent down to pick up a rusty wrench that had been dug out from somewhere.

"Fuck it, starving to death is death, and eating myself to death is death. I choose to eat myself to death!"

Three more men stepped forward one after another. Including Lin Yang, Shen Cheng, and the fatty, that made seven!

They found two ladders.

They set one against the outer wall by the school gate and the other on the inside. That way, they could come and go freely.

The ladders were reinforced in several places with wire and strips of cloth. They tested how much weight they could bear, and they were barely adequate.

That afternoon, as the gray daylight began to dim, they climbed over the gate.

Zhang Hao was held up by others and brought onto the lawn.

He was gagged, his eyes full of terror as he whimpered!

The grass was slippery, as though it were secreting some kind of mucus.

Liu Jialiang held him up and walked a few steps forward, stopping about four or five meters from the ladder.

They were already at the edge of the fog, which rose around his ankles.

Lin Yang stood three meters behind him, gripping the craft knife.

The fatty was on the left, Shen Cheng on the right, and the other three men stood on either side with sticks and wrenches.

No one spoke. Everyone stared at the fog, into its depths.

The wind stopped, and the grass lay still. Outside the school, everything was so quiet that only the sound of their breathing remained!

Suddenly!

With a swish!

Something surged toward them from deep within the fog!

A gray-black shadow with a wet surface emerged from the white fog, coming faster and drawing closer!

Then a tentacle covered in suckers shot out of the fog!

It shot straight toward Zhang Hao, tracing a gray arc through the air before wrapping around his waist with a smack!

The suckers contracted, barbs snagged his clothes, and the tentacle yanked backward!

Zhang Hao's feet left the ground, and he was dragged toward the fog. The mucus on the grass kept him from getting any footing!

He screamed desperately and dug his heels into the ground, plowing two slick furrows through it!

Lin Yang was the first to charge forward!

He grabbed Zhang Hao's arm and dug his heels into the mud, but he was still dragged forward!

Then the fatty lunged in from the side, thrust both arms under Zhang Hao's armpits, pressed his chest against Zhang Hao's back, and leaned back with his whole body!

Shen Cheng and the other three men grabbed the fatty around the waist at the same time!

All seven men threw their weight backward, their bodies pulled taut like a rope as they played tug-of-war with the tentacle!

"Pull!! Pull back!"

The tentacle was astonishingly strong. Lin Yang felt as though his fingers were about to break, and the fabric of Liu Jialiang's sleeve dug deep red marks into his palm.

He gritted his teeth, freed his other hand, raised the craft knife, and hacked viciously at the tentacle!

The blade cut into the tentacle's outer skin. No blood sprayed out; only a thick, translucent liquid seeped from the wound!

The tentacle jerked, its suckers loosening half an inch before tightening again!

Lin Yang hacked at it again, then a third time, and a fourth!

The fatty's wrench came crashing down too, while Shen Cheng struck the same spot over and over with his stick!

The tentacle snapped!