Chapter 1: Fragrance

Xu Huo pulled the door open. A woman in a courier uniform stood outside, tugging at her collar, which was unbuttoned three buttons down. She said in a coy, delicate voice

"Handsome, my colleague went to the restroom. The fridge you bought is way too heavy; give me a hand and I'll help you move it in."

Xu Huo took a drag of his cigarette, staring at her, unable to stop himself from swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

The woman seemed accustomed to this; she bent down and pushed the cart wheels into the doorway.

After unloading the fridge from the cart, the woman spontaneously sat down on the two-seater sofa in the living room.

Xu Huo stubbed out his cigarette and poured her a glass of water. "It's a hot day, thanks for your hard work."

On the coffee table, his tablet was lit up, displaying a striking red headline

"Newlyweds disappear in the mountains, murderer suspected to be widowed mother. Is this the degradation of morality or the distortion of human nature?"

"Fifty sows scream every night at the village entrance; the culprit is actually him..."

"A tiger won't eat its own cubs; the reason a sexagenarian smothered her seven-year-old grandson is..."

*Click.* The screen went dark. The woman looked up at Xu Huo, her face flushed, her breathing rapid.

Her vigorously beating heart pumped fresh blood, and a rich, full aroma seeped from her pores, making one's mouth water.

"Watch some TV for a while." Xu Huo avoided her gaze and turned on the television. The flat voice of a female anchor sounded

"In recent days, temperatures across the country have changed drastically. Strange celestial phenomena such as hail and snow have appeared in multiple cities experiencing thirty-degree heatwaves..."

Xu Huo changed the channel: "A hiker encountered a tornado in the deep mountains; a live stream recorded the final moment of their disappearance..."

He changed it again: "A black cloud hole appeared over Hai City, sucking in air currents. Experts claim it is a barometric phenomenon caused by the storm..."

"Over a dozen children have gone missing in Bin City in the last month..."

"...During this period of high criminal activity, a dismemberment maniac has appeared in Ting City; victims' remains are incomplete... We warn all citizens to travel in groups and try not to go out after dark..."

*Boom!*

The sky, which had been clear just moments ago, suddenly changed. Dark clouds gathered, and the light in Xu Huo’s small one-bedroom apartment grew dim. As his vision was suppressed, his sense of smell sharpened; the meaty fragrance radiating from the woman sitting beside him became impossible to ignore.

*Gulp!* The sound of swallowing was exceptionally loud, but it wasn't Xu Huo. He turned his head and saw the woman’s face pressed against his. Her mouth was agape, no longer the sweet and pretty look from a few minutes ago. Suspicious red residue was stuck between her teeth, and her wide-open eyes were filled with greed and hunger!

She opened her mouth and lunged to bite his face!

Xu Huo tilted his head and jumped back quickly, grabbing the floor fan and smashing it into the woman as she leaped!

*Bang!* The impact dented the fan, but the woman bounced back onto the sofa as if nothing had happened, crouching like a frog!

"You smell so good." Her saliva dripped out.

Xu Huo set down the fan and lit a cigarette. "Smells good, but doesn't taste good."

The woman hadn't expected him to be so calm and became wary instead. She probed, "Were you on that train too?"

Xu Huo’s eyes brightened, though he didn't show any emotion on his face. However, the woman caught this subtle change and flew into a rage: "You dare lie to me!"

The opponent's speed far exceeded that of a normal person, and her pouncing posture was not human; the force of her leap kicked the sofa three meters away!

The old sofa made a harsh screeching sound against the floor tiles. Xu Huo turned and grabbed the insecticide from the side cabinet, spraying it wildly at the woman. He dodged her grasping hands, took the opportunity to kick her, and turned to run toward the bedroom!

Behind him came the woman’s angry roar, barely audible amidst the thunder. Xu Huo accurately sensed that she was following him and slammed the bedroom door shut the moment he entered!

*Crash!* The finger-thick door panel couldn't withstand the heavy blow, and the lock was ripped right off. By the time the woman kicked the broken door panel aside in a fit of rage, Xu Huo had already grabbed the fruit-knife-turned-spear hidden behind the door and stabbed it into her chest!

The woman was fast and strong, but she was still flesh and blood. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her bleeding chest.

"Ha... ha..." The fruit knife had pierced the woman's lung. She made wheezing sounds, her fierce, violent gaze gradually turning sorrowful. "Save me... save me... You are also an Evolver, you haven't gone through the initial screening yet... I can help you survive..."

The narrow bedroom was filled with the thick scent of blood. The pungent, fishy smell was dizzying. Xu Huo took a deep breath, ignoring the "mellow" and "fragrant" sensations spontaneously rising in his brain. He stepped back, sat on the bed, lit a cigarette, and just stared at the woman.

The woman's rosy complexion gradually turned pale, but she showed no signs of dying. She stared at Xu Huo urgently. "Very hungry, right?"

She wiped some blood and reached out her hand. "Smell it, isn't it fragrant? An Evolver's blood is better than an ordinary person's. Sweet and delicious, more nourishing than breast milk..."

Hearing Xu Huo’s involuntary swallowing, the woman looked smug. "Take a sip and you'll understand. Evolvers like me are the strongest; we have the highest survival rate on the train..."

Silence was his only response. The woman’s tone became urgent. "Aren't you hungry? Don't you want to eat me?"

"...You don't understand how dangerous the initial screening is. More than half of the Evolvers die in the initial screening, you..."

Xu Huo exhaled a puff of smoke, crushed the cigarette butt, and interrupted her: "You're getting more energetic."

The woman’s expression froze. Seeing him walk toward her, her eyes filled with terror.

"What do you want to do!"

"Isn't that what you've been tempting me to do?" Xu Huo countered.

The woman’s facial muscles couldn't adjust in time, and after a distorted smile, she offered her fair arm.

Xu Huo grabbed her wrist and said unhurriedly, "A dismemberment maniac has appeared in Ting City recently; that's your kind, right? You dare offer yourself to me, and you aren't afraid of me, which means this hunger only needs a little bit to be relieved. Or is it that you can even recover lost limbs?"

"The former is more likely."

"Highest survival rate on the train, so there are also... Evolvers on the train?"

"Look at your pathetic state, desperate to drag the whole world into the mud. The consequences of tasting human blood must not be very good... You definitely didn't know before, you only found out after the initial screening?"

The woman’s expression shifted from astonishment and surprise to shock and anger. Her eyes darted around, her teeth ground together, and finally, it turned into bone-deep hatred. "You Evolvers... I'll kill you!"

The moment she lunged at Xu Huo, another fruit knife pierced her throat. Bubbling blood poured out. The woman convulsed and rolled over; the knife in her chest had been pulled out at some point, and the wound was already beginning to heal.

She could automatically heal from fatal wounds. Give her a few more minutes, and a counter-kill wouldn't be a problem.

Xu Huo checked her clothes, finding nothing like medicine or drugs, but he discovered a red serial number tattoo behind her shoulder: E33586.

He said thoughtfully, "Given your intelligence, if I asked you where to find the train for the initial screening, you definitely wouldn't know."

The woman’s eyes bulged, and she breathed her last in hatred.

Xu Huo swallowed, stopped looking at the corpse in the bedroom doorway, and planned to go to the kitchen to get something to eat. Passing through the living room, he saw the newly bought fridge. He tore off the packaging in a few quick motions, and as the door opened, a head flopped out limply.

As expected... He sighed and called the police.

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