Players, Please Board the Train

Xu Huo opened the door to find a woman in courier uniform standing outside. She tugged at her collar where three buttons were undone and cooed sweetly:

”Handsome, my colleague went to the restroom. The fridge you bought is super heavy. Lend me a hand to move it inside?”

Xu Huo took a drag from his cigarette, staring at her as he unconsciously swallowed hard.

The woman seemed accustomed to such reactions. She bent down to push the dolly wheels inside.

After unloading the fridge from the dolly, the woman had already made herself comfortable on the two-seater sofa in the living room.

Xu Huo stubbed out his cigarette and poured her a glass of water. ”Hot day today. Must be tough.”

On the coffee table, his tablet screen displayed eye-catching red headlines:

”Newlyweds vanish in mountainous area - reclusive mother suspected! Moral decay or human depravity?”

”Village’s 50 sows scream nightly - the shocking culprit is...”

”Even tigers don’t eat their cubs - why a 60-year-old smothered her 7-year-old grandson...”With a click, the screen went dark. The woman looked up at Xu Huo, her face flushed, breathing rapidly.

Her vigorously pumping heart circulated fresh blood, releasing a rich aroma from her pores that made one’s mouth water.

”Let’s watch some TV.” Xu Huo avoided her gaze and turned on the television where a female anchor’s monotone voice reported:

”Recent sudden temperature fluctuations nationwide - hail and snow reported in multiple 30°C cities...”

Xu Huo changed channels: ”Hiker encounters tornado in remote mountains - live footage captures final moments before disappearance...”

Changed again: ”Black cloud vortex appears over coastal city - reverse airflow observed - experts attribute to storm pressure phenomena...”

”Over a dozen child disappearances in Bin City this month...”

”...Crime wave peaks - dismemberment killer strikes in Ting City - victims found incomplete... Authorities warn citizens to avoid going out alone after dark...”

BOOM!

The previously clear sky suddenly darkened with thick clouds. Xu Huo’s small one-bedroom apartment grew dim. As vision weakened, his sense of smell heightened - the meaty aroma emanating from the woman beside him became impossible to ignore.

”Gulp!” The sound of swallowing was unusually loud, but it didn’t come from Xu Huo. He turned to see the woman’s face pressing close - her mouth now gaping wide, completely unlike the sweet, charming appearance from minutes earlier. Suspicious red remnants stuck between her teeth as her wide eyes burned with ravenous hunger!

She opened her jaws, aiming to bite his face!

Xu Huo jerked his head aside and leapt away, grabbing a standing fan to smash down on the pouncing woman!

”CRASH!” The fan dented from the impact, but the woman bounced back onto the sofa unharmed, crouching like a frog!

”You smell delicious,” she drooled.

Xu Huo set down the fan and lit another cigarette. ”Smells good, tastes bad.”

The woman, surprised by his calmness, grew wary. ”You’ve been on that train too?”

Xu Huo’s eyes flickered briefly, though his expression remained neutral. The woman caught this subtle change and flew into a rage: ”You’re lying to me!”

Her speed far surpassed normal humans, her leaping posture completely inhuman - the force of her jump sent the sofa sliding three meters back!

The old sofa screeched across the tiled floor. Xu Huo grabbed insecticide from the side table and sprayed wildly at the woman, dodging her grasping hands to deliver a kick before bolting toward the bedroom!

The woman’s furious roar blended with thunder outside. Xu Huo precisely sensed her pursuit and slammed the bedroom door shut at the last moment!

”BANG!” The inch-thick door couldn’t withstand the impact - the lock tore clean off as the enraged woman kicked the broken door aside, only to find Xu Huo waiting with a fruit knife spear aimed at her chest!

Though fast and strong, she remained mortal flesh. Clutching her bleeding chest, she collapsed.

”Haah...haah...” The knife had punctured her lungs. Her violent glare softened into pleading. ”Save me... You’re an Evolver too, haven’t undergone Initial Screening... I can help you survive...”

The small bedroom reeked of blood - the metallic stench dizzying. Xu Huo took a deep breath, ignoring his brain’s involuntary labeling of the scent as ”mellow” and ”fragrant.” He retreated to sit on the bed, lighting another cigarette while watching her.

The woman’s rosy complexion paled, yet she clung to life, staring intently. ”Hungry, aren’t you?”

She wiped blood and extended her hand. ”Smell this - isn’t it wonderful? Evolver blood tastes better than normal humans’ - sweeter, more nourishing than mother’s milk...”

Hearing Xu Huo’s involuntary swallow, she smirked. ”One taste and you’ll understand. Evolvers like me are strongest - highest survival rates on the train...”

Xu Huo remained silent. Growing desperate, she pressed, ”Aren’t you hungry? Don’t you want to eat me?”

”...You don’t understand how dangerous Initial Screening is - over half of Evolvers die during it, you...”

Xu Huo exhaled smoke before crushing the cigarette. ”You’re looking more lively.”

Her expression froze. As he approached, fear flashed in her eyes.

”What are you doing?”

”Weren’t you tempting me?” Xu Huo countered.

Her facial muscles twitched into a grotesque smile as she offered her pale arm.

Grabbing her wrist, Xu Huo said leisurely, ”That dismemberment killer in Ting City - one of your kind, right? You dare offer yourself because the hunger can be satisfied with small amounts... or can you regenerate lost limbs?”

”Probably the former.”

”’Highest survival on the train’ implies there are Evolvers who don’t make it...”

”Judging by your eagerness to drag everyone into the mud, there must be nasty consequences to tasting human blood... You didn’t know at first - discovered after Initial Screening?”

Her expression cycled through shock, surprise, then bitter hatred. ”You Evolvers... I’ll kill you!”

As she lunged, another fruit knife pierced her throat. Gurgling blood bubbles, she convulsed onto her back - the chest wound already healing.

With such regeneration, she’d have turned the tables in minutes.

Searching her clothes yielded no medicines, but Xu Huo found a red tattooed code on her shoulder: E33586.

Pondering, he remarked, ”Given your intellect, you probably don’t know where to find the Initial Screening train.”

Eyes bulging with hatred, she died.

Swallowing hard, Xu Huo left the corpse and headed for the kitchen. Passing the new fridge, he tore off the packaging - the door swung open to reveal a lolling head.

As expected... Sighing, he called the police.