A Fragrance

Xu Huo opened the door. A woman in a delivery uniform stood outside, tugging at the collar of her shirt, which was unbuttoned at the top, and speaking in a coquettish voice.

"Handsome guy, my coworker went to the restroom. The fridge you bought is really heavy. Give me a hand and I'll help you bring it inside."

Xu Huo took a drag from his cigarette and stared at her, swallowing involuntarily.

The woman seemed used to this. She bent down and wheeled the dolly inside.

After they unloaded the fridge, the woman had already made herself comfortable on the two-seater sofa in the living room.

Xu Huo put out his cigarette and poured her a glass of water. "It's scorching out. Thanks for the effort."

His tablet was lit up on the coffee table, its eye-catching red headlines reading:

"Newlyweds Vanish in the Mountains; Widowed Mother Suspected of Murder. Is This a Moral Collapse or a Distortion of Human Nature?"

"Fifty sows in a village scream every night. The culprit turns out to be..."

"Even a tiger won't eat its cubs. Why did a sexagenarian smother his seven-year-old grandson?"

With a click, the screen went dark. The woman looked up at Xu Huo, her face flushed and her breathing quickened.

Her heart pounded with vigorous life, pumping fresh blood through her veins. A rich, enticing aroma seeped from her pores, making one's mouth water.

"Let's watch some TV." Xu Huo avoided her gaze and switched on the television. The female host's flat voice rang out:

"In recent days, temperatures have changed drastically across the country. Several cities with temperatures above thirty degrees have experienced unusual weather phenomena, including hail and snowfall..."

Xu Huo changed the channel. "A hiker encountered a tornado deep in the mountains. A livestream recorded the final moments before his disappearance..."

He changed it again. "A black cloud vortex has appeared above Hai City, drawing in air currents. Experts say it is a pressure phenomenon caused by a storm..."

"More than a dozen children have gone missing in Binshi in the past month..."

"...With crime on the rise, a dismemberment maniac has appeared in Ting City. The victims' remains have been found incomplete... The public is advised to travel in groups and avoid going out after dark..."

Rumble!

The sky, which had been clear just moments ago, suddenly changed. Dark clouds gathered, plunging Xu Huo's small one-bedroom apartment into dimness. The oppressive atmosphere sharpened his sense of smell, and the meaty scent coming from the woman beside him became impossible to ignore.

Gulp! The swallow sounded particularly loud, but it hadn't come from Xu Huo. He turned his head and saw the woman's face right beside his. Her mouth had split open; the sweet, charming look she'd had just minutes earlier was gone. Suspicious red scraps were stuck between her teeth, and her wide eyes gleamed with greed and hunger!

With her mouth open, she lunged to bite his face!

Xu Huo tilted his head and sprang aside, snatching up the standing fan and smashing it down on the woman as she leapt at him!

Bang! Her face struck the fan hard enough to dent it. The woman bounced back onto the sofa as if nothing had happened, landing in a frog-like crouch!

"You smell delicious." Drool ran from her mouth.

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. She grew wary and ventured, "You've been on that train too?"

Xu Huo's eyes lit up, but he kept his expression neutral. The woman caught the subtle change at once and flew into a rage. "You dare lie to me!"

She moved far faster than any ordinary person, and her leaping posture was inhuman. The force of her jump sent the sofa skidding three meters!

The old sofa scraped shrilly across the tiles. Xu Huo grabbed the insecticide from the Short Cabinet and sprayed it wildly at her. He dodged the hand she reached for him, kicked her while he had the chance, then turned and ran for the bedroom!

The woman's furious roar came from behind him, barely audible over the thunder. Xu Huo sensed her hot on his heels and slammed the bedroom door shut the moment he darted inside!

Crash! The door, with its finger-thick panel, couldn't withstand the blow. The lock was ripped off along with it. As the woman kicked the wrecked panel aside in a rage, Xu Huo had already snatched up the spear-like Fruit Knife he'd hidden behind the door and stabbed her in the chest!

The woman was fast and strong, but she was still flesh and blood. Clutching her bleeding chest, she fell to the floor.

"Hah... hah..." The Fruit Knife had pierced her lung. Air rasped in her throat as the ferocity in her eyes gave way to sorrow. "Help me... help me... You're an Evolver too. You haven't gone through the initial screening yet... I can help you survive..."

The cramped bedroom reeked of blood. Its pungent stench made Xu Huo dizzy. He drew a deep breath, ignoring the sensations that sprang unbidden into his mind—"smooth," "fragrant"—then took two steps back, sat on the bed, lit a cigarette, and simply watched her.

The color gradually drained from the woman's ruddy face, but she showed no sign of dying. She stared intently at Xu Huo. "You're hungry, aren't you?"

She wiped her bloody hand and held it out. "Smell it. Doesn't it smell delicious? An Evolver's flesh and blood tastes better than an ordinary person's—sweet and delicious, more nourishing than breast milk..."

Hearing Xu Huo swallow despite himself, the woman looked pleased. "One bite and you'll understand. Evolvers like me are the strongest, with the highest survival rate on the train..."

But all she got in response was silence. Her voice grew 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 all Evolvers die during it. You..."

Xu Huo exhaled a plume of smoke. After stubbing out his cigarette, he cut her off. "You're looking more and more lively."

The woman's expression froze. When she saw him walking toward her, fear entered her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Weren't you the one who kept tempting me to eat you?" Xu Huo shot back.

The woman's facial muscles hadn't quite adjusted. Her face twisted into a smile, and she offered him her pale, tender arm.

Xu Huo grasped her wrist and spoke unhurriedly. "A dismemberment maniac has appeared in Ting City recently. He's one of your kind, isn't he? You're willing to let me eat you without worrying I'll devour all your flesh. That means this hunger can be eased with only a little meat. Or can you regenerate even lost limbs?"

"The first seems more likely."

"The people who've eaten meat have the highest survival rate on the train. So there are Evolvers on the train who haven't eaten meat..."

"With that miserable look of yours, like you want to drag the whole world into a pit of filth, the consequences of getting human blood on you can't be good... You probably didn't know that eating people was wrong until you went through the initial screening, did you?"

The woman's expression shifted from shock and surprise to disbelief and rage. Her eyes darted, her teeth ground together, and finally her face twisted with deep-seated hatred. "You Evolvers... I'll kill you!"

As she lunged at Xu Huo, another Fruit Knife pierced her throat. Blood bubbled from the wound as the woman convulsed and rolled onto her side. Somehow, the knife in her chest had been pulled out, and the wound had already begun to heal.

Even a fatal wound could heal on its own. Give her a few more minutes and she might have turned the tables.

Xu Huo brushed off his clothes, finding nothing that looked like a Potion or medicine. But on the back of her shoulder, he spotted a red tattooed number: E33586.

He mused aloud, "With your brains, if I asked where to find the train for the initial screening, you definitely wouldn't know."

The woman's eyes bulged. She died with hatred in her heart.

Xu Huo swallowed, then looked away from the corpse by the bedroom door. He planned to find something to eat in the kitchen. Passing through the living room, he saw the new fridge and quickly tore off its packaging. When he opened the door, a head lolled limply toward him.

Just as he'd thought... He sighed and called the police.