PTGWD Chapter 48: Bait

The person beside him hadn’t been sleeping soundly either. As soon as Lu Jianchuan moved, he woke up, drowsily reaching for his slightly warm belly and whispering, “Hungry?”

Lu Jianchuan: “No, no, I ate a lot tonight. Honey, why aren’t you asleep yet? Are you scared of the thunder? Don’t be afraid, I’ll hold you while you sleep.”

He burrowed back under the covers, wrapping his arms around Fang Xingzhou, his breathing still somewhat rapid, his mind already drifting out to the sea.

Fang Xingzhou’s drowsiness gradually faded.

Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky. Fang Xingzhou noticed that Lu Jianchuan’s pupils had completely verticalized, and the faint scent on his body was growing stronger. The humid, stifling air carried an extremely dangerous aura.

Fang Xingzhou slowly began to sweat.

He placed his hand on the restless belly and said softly, “There’s still plenty of food in the fridge. How about we make do with that tonight, and tomorrow… I’ll take you out to eat.”

Lu Jianchuan didn’t hear a single word. Distractedly, he kissed his wife and said, “I’m really not hungry, Zhouzhou. You should sleep, you have work tomorrow.”

“I’m not working tomorrow,” Fang Xingzhou reminded him. “I took the day off.”

Lu Jianchuan: “…”

He looked at Fang Xingzhou, his hunger gnawing at him, torn between hypnotizing him or not for a couple of seconds.

Fang Xingzhou met his gaze without backing down.

The two of them stared at each other in silence for a long time. Lu Jianchuan couldn’t wait any longer, afraid that the storm would stop the next second and he would miss this perfect hunting opportunity.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he closed his eyes again, pulling Fang Xingzhou into his arms, pretending to be ready to sleep. “It’s good to catch up on sleep during your day off. Goodnight, Xingzhou.”

Fang Xingzhou watched him in the dark.

After a while, Lu Jianchuan’s breathing gradually steadied, and the arm around him slipped down, as if he had truly fallen asleep. Fang Xingzhou, however, remained awake, counting his breaths, refusing to fall asleep.

Lu Jianchuan was on the verge of losing control.

In the darkness, a crimson eye hidden beneath the covers emerged from Lu Jianchuan’s neck, silently turning toward Fang Xingzhou.

Fang Xingzhou, extremely perceptive, immediately lifted the covers and looked down—directly into that crimson eye.

He was stunned, but before he could react, he quickly lost consciousness, his eyelids heavy as he fell into a forced deep sleep against the pillow.

Lu Jianchuan opened his eyes.

He leaned closer, repeatedly confirming that Fang Xingzhou was now in a deep sleep, then guiltily kissed his cheek and whispered, “Sweet dreams, baby. I’m going out for a midnight snack and will be back soon.”

Lu Jianchuan quietly got out of bed, opened the bedroom window, and looked out into the stormy night. His pupils glowed brightly, and a cold, excited smile curled on his lips.

Then, he leaped out of the bedroom, extended a tentacle to close the window from afar, and quickly disappeared into the night.

…

The clock ticked away, its sound slow and steady amidst the noisy storm.

In the dark bedroom with no lights on, the person on the bed seemed to be having a nightmare, drenched in cold sweat, and suddenly opened his eyes.

His body was icy, his pupils trembling wildly as he stared at the pitch-black ceiling, trying to pull himself back from the endless crashing waves.

Fragments of his memory began to resurface. He instinctively reached for the other side of the bed, only to find that the person who had been there was gone. The lingering warmth in the covers indicated that he had left not long ago.

Fang Xingzhou quickly sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, and looked at the wall clock.

1:05 AM…

Before losing consciousness, he had noted the time—it was 12:50 AM.

He had been asleep for about fifteen minutes.

Fang Xingzhou’s brow furrowed as he looked out at the stormy night, lightning flashing outside. He opened the wardrobe, threw on a shirt, grabbed his phone and keys, and strode toward the garage.

As he walked, he opened his phone and saw that Lu Jianchuan’s location was already at the seaside.

His frown deepened as he dialed Li Xuan’s number.

He thought it might be too late for the call to go through, but after just one ring, the other end picked up. Li Xuan’s voice carried a hint of sleepiness, asking, “Dr. Fang? What’s wrong at this hour?”

Fang Xingzhou: “Sorry to disturb you so late. Lu Jianchuan has gone hunting at sea.”

Li Xuan paused for two seconds: “?!!!!”

“Hunting? What’s he hunting in this storm? There haven’t been any mysterious creatures active around City C lately. Is he fishing in this downpour??”

Fang Xingzhou summarized succinctly: “The Class E specimen you brought me last time was the egg of a deep-sea monster. Lu Jianchuan mentioned several times that these monsters like to surface during storms. He’s been frequenting the seaside lately and might have found a lead on this creature.”

Li Xuan’s voice was now fully awake: “Did he mention the monster’s name?”

“No, just that it’s a blind deep-sea creature.”

Li Xuan: “Blind… I haven’t heard of that. I’ll send people to the seaside now. Don’t worry too much. Even though Lu Jianchuan is pregnant, he’s not as weak as you think. Tonight might just be a casual outing for him.”

“But you mustn’t go out to sea. In this weather, it could be deadly. Wait for us.”

Fang Xingzhou: “I’m not that impulsive.”

Li Xuan: “Good. See you at the port.”

The call ended.

Fang Xingzhou got into his car and drove into the storm.

The torrential rain pounded against the windshield, the wipers struggling to keep up, barely making a difference. Visibility was nearly zero, forcing him to drive slowly.

It took over twenty minutes to drive from home to the seafood market.

Fang Xingzhou parked his car at the port next to the seafood market and saw that Lu Jianchuan’s location was already 20 kilometers offshore, moving toward deeper waters at a speed no human vessel could match.

Under the heavy rain, the black sea churned violently, like an enraged beast.

Fang Xingzhou’s heart slowly tightened.

Soon, Li Xuan and his colleagues from the Special Research Institute arrived.

A large ship, marked with military insignia, left the port and anchored near the shore. A dozen or so staff in special uniforms were preparing to set sail in the rain. Li Xuan, holding an umbrella, bent down and knocked on Fang Xingzhou’s car window.

Fang Xingzhou got out of the car and saw a remarkably tall man standing next to Li Xuan, at least two meters tall, with legs that seemed oddly twisted, making his stance look particularly strange.

The rain was too loud, so Li Xuan shouted, “This is Yan Xin! I didn’t expect you two to meet a night early!”

Yan Xin, somewhat shy, shook Fang Xingzhou’s hand and also shouted, “Dr. Fang, hello! Do you have Lu Jianchuan’s location? Share it with us. We’re preparing to set sail!”

Fang Xingzhou: “Take me with you!”

Li Xuan immediately refused: “Absolutely not! You’re a civilian. Taking you along would be against regulations, and I’d get in trouble!”

Fang Xingzhou fell silent for a moment.

He leaned closer and said to Li Xuan, “I’ll share the location screen with you, and you can share the live feed from the sea with me. If it involves classified information, you can cut it off.”

Li Xuan and Yan Xin exchanged glances.

After a few seconds of silence, Li Xuan made the decision: “Alright.”

They both pulled out their devices and shared their screens. Li Xuan turned to leave, but Fang Xingzhou stopped him.

“Will it be dangerous?”

Li Xuan: “For Lu Jianchuan? He’ll be fine. Even if you put him through a meat grinder, he’d grow himself back.”

Fang Xingzhou frowned: “No, I meant for your colleagues.”

Yan Xin, hearing this, smiled and said, “Dr. Fang, you’re such a kind person. This is our job. Whenever we discover a new mysterious creature, we must contain it immediately to protect the public. Danger is part of the job, but most of us enjoy the thrill.”

Li Xuan also chuckled, his scar as vivid as the snake that had been hung on the balcony yesterday.

“The bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish. I want to see what’s got our A+ specimen so worked up that he can’t sleep.” He patted Fang Xingzhou. “We’re off. You wait here.”

The two of them, holding umbrellas, exchanged a few shouted words with their colleagues preparing to set sail, and soon they were all on the ship.

In less than five minutes, everything was ready, and the ship headed out into the stormy sea.

Fang Xingzhou got back into his car, propped his phone on the steering wheel, and watched the live feed Li Xuan had shared with him.

…

Lu Jianchuan was piloting a leaky wooden boat, unmoving amidst the massive waves created by the storm.

To be more precise, he was using the boat as a mold, wrapping his tentacles around it to keep it afloat steadily on the sea.

His limbs had disappeared, and only his shoulders and neck remained of his human form, supporting his head.

Below his shoulders, tentacles had taken over, with the densest cluster protecting a tough yet transparent membrane. The membrane bulged high, as if he were ten months pregnant, with thick flesh writhing inside. Several pairs of crimson eyes within the flesh stared excitedly at the sea, emboldened by the protection of their host, recklessly emitting sound waves undetectable to human ears.

Above his shoulders, the handsome human head seemed as if it had been split down the middle with an axe, leaving only half. The other half was a massive brain covered in densely packed eyes.

Perhaps annoyed by the baby’s incessant noise, the half-lip let out a “tsk,” the incomplete vocal cords producing a strange sound.

“Quiet down. You can’t rush a good meal.”

The little monster showed no intention of obeying, thrashing about as if it wanted to be born right then and there, kicking the amniotic sac into various shapes.

Lu Jianchuan was about to scold it further when he suddenly caught a clear scent of prey amidst the storm.

He twitched his half-nose, dozens of eyes locking onto a specific direction. His lips quickly stretched to his ears, revealing half a set of gleaming white teeth that shone under the lightning.

“The fish is here,” he murmured. “…Now all we need is bait.”

The eyes swiveled in unison, scanning all his tentacles before finally settling on the restless amniotic sac.

The grin widened.

The embryo seemed to sense its host’s intent and immediately grew alert.

“Good baby,” Lu Jianchuan said in an eerily gentle tone. “The adult world is tough. Your Fang daddy has to go out hunting every day to earn money, and your Lu daddy has to risk going out to sea to fish. Even then, we can barely afford to raise you, right?”

The embryo began to wail, shrinking into the deepest part of the sac.

“My flesh smells too strong, too easy to recognize. Yours is perfect, an irresistible delicacy for any monster.”

Lu Jianchuan extended half a tongue, licking his teeth.

“Hunting always comes at a cost.”

With that, a tentacle plunged into the amniotic sac, piercing through one of the embryo’s tiny, undeveloped tentacles and drawing out some flesh and blood. It then quickly retracted, and in an instant, the sac returned to normal.

Only the embryo remained inside, howling in protest at its father’s abuse, calling out for its other father, though all that came out were high-frequency screams that would make any ordinary person bleed from their orifices.

Lu Jianchuan paid no heed to the thrashing child. He extended a tentacle, making it long, and whipped it deep into the ocean, beginning to “fish.”

The wind howled, rain poured, and thunder rolled in succession. The vast, endless sea, like a beast awakened by the storm, angrily churned wave after wave. At the crest of the waves, a terrifying monster with half a human face waited with its tentacle as a fishing line, anticipating tonight’s catch.

Another flash of lightning illuminated Lu Jianchuan’s excited grin.

The moment the embryo’s flesh and blood hit the water, the entire sea erupted.

Ordinary fish and genetically mutated monsters alike caught the scent of an irresistible sweetness, a forbidden aroma that drove them mad. Despite the danger, they surged toward the source, desperate to be the first to taste the forbidden fruit.

The sea beneath Lu Jianchuan darkened. In the brief flashes of lightning, one could see the water teeming with fish, frantically riding the waves, trying to breach the surface.

So many fish. Lu Jianchuan couldn’t help but salivate.

The embryo in his belly was practically itching to leap out of the sac and dive into the sea for a feast.

“Quiet,” Lu Jianchuan said, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “We’re not here for small fry today.”

As soon as he spoke.

Suddenly, the massive school of fish scattered. Within a five-kilometer radius of Lu Jianchuan, every living creature fled in panic.

Something was quietly rising from the depths toward the surface…