Not Even Pretending Anymore

Jiang Yu'an nodded.

"That's right. The broadcast's count has never been wrong. If the number of people doesn't match, that might mean he's still alive."

Someone still asked, "What if Zhang Hao was the one who survived?"

"Impossible. I saw him get stabbed in the carotid artery with my own eyes!"

Shen Yue stared blankly at Jiang Yu'an, then looked at Lin Yang.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Then she rushed over to him and grabbed his sleeve with both hands, tears streaming down her face.

"Really? Brother Lin, is that really true?"

Lin Yang wasn't actually one hundred percent certain.

Maybe he was only seventy percent certain, or maybe sixty, but he nodded anyway.

"It's true."

Shen Yue trembled with excitement, and Jiang Yu'an supported her from behind.

"As long as he's alive, there's still hope!"

The atmosphere in the classroom changed.

It was as though those words had torn a hole in the heavy gloom, and light poured through it.

Though Shen Yue was still worried, most of the gloom in her heart had lifted.

"I told you, Brother Lin wouldn't lie!"

The fatty slapped his thigh beside them, his tone upbeat.

"Heh heh, without Brother Lin, we wouldn't even have the hope that Shen Cheng was alive! We wouldn't even have this meal!

"Without him, I'd have starved to death two days ago! Maybe I'd still be fighting someone to the death over half a piece of moldy bread right now!"

His words seemed to get things started, and several people nearby chimed in.

The middle-aged man in the plaid shirt put down the roasted meat in his hand, stood up, and raised the half piece of tentacle meat he was holding toward Lin Yang. The gesture looked a little comical, but his expression was serious.

"Brother Lin, if it weren't for you, we'd have starved to death yesterday."

Then came the tall, skinny man who had barely spoken, followed by the short man whom the fatty had threatened to kill with a knife.

"Brother Lin Yang, thank you!"

"Lin Yang, thank you."

"Brother Lin, it's all thanks to you."

One after another, some spoke loudly, while others merely looked at Lin Yang and nodded.

After saying his piece, the fatty himself grew a little embarrassed. He scratched his head, sat back down, and turned his attention to the grill.

There was still plenty of meat. The tentacle was over two meters long and had been cut into a huge pile of chunks, far too many to roast in a short time.

He flipped several large pieces over and sprinkled on another handful of dark brown powder. The aroma of roasting meat grew stronger.

Firelight danced across his face, making its fleshy folds gleam with oil. He hummed a few lines of a song with no discernible tune as he cut the meat at a brisk pace.

They ate the meal in peace. No one argued, and no one fought over food.

Now they had fire, enough to light up half the classroom.

The people on night watch no longer had to peer at the outlines of those around them in the dark. They could see every face clearly by the firelight! They could let down much of their guard against Facelings!

Lin Yang sat by the fire, using its light to study the face of everyone present. He was trying to find some trace of a Faceling.

His gaze stopped on a young woman. Her name was Zhao Yao, a name he had learned by asking Jiang Yu'an.

She sat in the farthest corner of the classroom, neither particularly close to nor far from either fire, with her knees drawn up against her chest.

She hadn't initiated a conversation with anyone the entire time. She had been like that since the first day, and Lin Yang had been watching her for several days.

More importantly, despite so many people dying, she had hardly ever cried.

Night fell. The moon began to rise.

When they arranged the night watch, the fatty volunteered for the first shift.

He laid a table leg across his knees and sat between the two fires, his back against an overturned desk. The firelight made his fleshy face gleam with oil, and his eyes were wide open.

"With the fire lighting things up, if a Faceling dares to come, I'll roast the bastard."

The other four people on watch were stationed in the four corners of the classroom. Two guarded the front door, while the other two watched the back door and the ventilation opening.

The fires were bright enough that any movement could be spotted immediately!

Lin Yang checked the office door lock and the ventilation opening. Only after confirming there were no new scratches on the iron bars did he drop into a chair and go to sleep.

At some hour before dawn, he awoke.

A loud shout jolted him awake!

It was the fatty shouting!

His voice was so loud that it made the iron bars on the window buzz!

"Over here!!"

Immediately afterward came the piercing scrape of desks and chairs being knocked over, the dull thud of a stick hitting the floor, and the footsteps of five or six people springing up from the floor at once.

When Lin Yang pushed open the door and rushed out, the firelight illuminated the whole scene like a blood-red stage!

In a corner of the classroom, the fire cast the shadow of a twisted figure on the wall!

The thing looked bizarre.

Its mouth was stretched to its ears, and its lips twitched as though beyond its control. One moment, they curled upward into a smile,

the next, they drooped into a crying face. The two expressions alternated across its face, as though something beneath its skin was desperately trying to crawl out!

Its eyes darted rapidly and erratically! Its knees turned inward, and its arms hung past them.

The joints in its fingers cracked, and with every crack, a finger bent to an angle no normal person could reach!

The fatty supported Liu Jialiang against the wall in the corner. Liu Jialiang held one hand over his side, blood seeping between his fingers. The fatty moved him back.

There was little color in his face, and his lips were pale. He was clearly injured! The Faceling had done it!

"That thing just rushed straight at him and tried to kill him!"

The fatty roared, supporting Liu Jialiang with one hand while holding the table leg across his body with the other.

"Fuck, it's not even pretending anymore!!"

The Faceling tilted its head.

Its neck bent beyond the range of a normal person's movement, and it raised its twisted hands.

"Hello, everyone... uh... I'm your friend..."

Its mouth stretched even wider, and the skin at the corners split open, revealing blackened flesh underneath. It was grotesque and terrifying!

With a swoosh!

It lunged!

Its target was Liu Jialiang!

It moved so fast that it didn't look as though it was running. It was more like something had yanked its whole body forward from behind, closing a distance of three or four meters in an instant!

Its mouth opened to an angle that a human jaw could never reach!

Everyone was so frightened that they took two steps back! "What the hell is that thing?!"

Only the fatty gritted his teeth and swung the table leg in a wide arc! It struck the Faceling squarely in the shoulder.

The blow knocked the Faceling sideways, but it didn't fall. Instead, it took the full force of the stick on its deformed shoulder and stabbed at him!

Its fingers sank two inches into his shoulder, and the fatty screamed in pain. "Help me!!"