Chapter 4: Hunger

The executive man voluntarily took out his ID card: "My name is Li Fei, I'm the general manager of Leap Group.""I've noticed people in both the front and rear carriages. Those of us in the same carriage should stick together first, lest something happens and we can't react in time."

A month after Evolvers appeared, many people had encountered their kind. The executive man's words made some sense - they were all grasshoppers tied to the same string. Compared to fellow passengers in their own carriage, they needed to be more wary of the Evolvers in adjacent carriages.

Everyone returned to their seats. The pajama-wearing man and the tank top woman each gave their names.

"My name is Chen Yi, but I didn't bring my ID."

"He Yang."

"Xu Huo." After giving his name simply, Xu Huo lit a cigarette.

"My name is Yan Jiayu. I just returned to secular life." The young girl next to him scratched her unevenly cropped short hair and said shyly, "Could you smoke outside? Secondhand smoke is harmful."

Xu Huo paused mid-motion, couldn't help giving her another look, then nodded.

"Pfft!" The heavily made-up woman across from them sneered: "These days, even nuns are returning to secular life."

Yan Jiayu's face turned slightly red as she lowered her head to fiddle with the small cloth bags on her patched robe. "Amit... my master said my worldly ties aren't severed yet."

But the heavy makeup woman didn't press her, instead turning cold: "Play your nicey-nice games if you want, just leave me out of it."

Li Fei tried to persuade: "This is for everyone's benefit. Knowing each other's names and identities means no one dares act recklessly."

"Everyone knows the government is investigating Evolvers who've eaten people, right?"

"To put it bluntly, if someone has eaten a person, as long as anyone gets off this train after three days, no one can escape."

His righteous words didn't cow the heavy makeup woman. The nearly six-foot-tall woman rose like a drill, strode over and grabbed Li Fei:

"Stop pretending to be a good guy. Didn't you see the plaque at the front of the carriage?"

"Second class. Special class, first class, second class, third class - the more assets you have, the further forward your carriage. Compared to those debt-ridden punks in third class, everyone in this carriage is broke!"

"You're an executive at Leap Group - not some small company. You must make at least hundreds of thousands a year. Care to explain how you ended up here?"

"So this is what the game meant by asset-based seating." Professor Han murmured: "The conversion ratio is roughly 100:1 to cash."

Li Fei's face turned pale: "Lost some money in stocks - that's not illegal, is it? I just want us all to get through these three days peacefully. No ill intentions here."

Clearly unconvinced, the heavy makeup woman shoved him away and scanned the others in the carriage, emphasizing: "I advise you not to trust people too much these days. Fake IDs are easy to come by. Don't be stupid and spill everything about yourself. Even if you survive to get off this train, can you guarantee you'll live long enough to report to the police?"

Sharing identities might seem like added security, but if there were man-eating Evolvers in this carriage, the risks were obvious.

No one was that stupid. Amidst mutual wariness, Li Fei received extra suspicion.

"Do you know about the Preliminary Trial Train situation?" Xu Huo paused while shaking his cigarette.

"Not much. Once you're on this train, there's only one rule - survive until you get off." The heavy makeup woman snorted: "I know some here must have eaten people. I'm warning you all - better not come after me, or else..."

She punched the table, leaving a deep fist imprint in the metal surface - an impressive show of force.

Ordinary Evolvers couldn't yet match steel bare-handed. Xu Huo lifted his heel slightly but felt no changes.

Apparently professional distinctions gave different characteristics.

"Big sister, is there anything else?" The ponytailed girl asked timidly: "How exactly does this game work?"

"Didn't I say survive until departure? Stop asking stupid questions!" The heavy makeup woman sat back down impatiently, glaring at those opposite.

Xu Huo cooperatively took his cigarette toward the front door.

Just as he grasped the handle, Li Fei stopped him: "The announcement said not to go to other carriages randomly. If you open that door and trigger something dangerous, won't you endanger us all?"

Xu Huo pointed to the bathroom outside: "Can't go to other carriages doesn't mean can't go out at all."

Li Fei, having his authority challenged twice, stared at him unhappily.

Xu Huo pulled open the carriage door and stepped out.

The intermediate carriage was half as long as the second-class one, with a bathroom and emergency supplies on the left, boarding doors on the right.

He tried but couldn't open the exterior doors. The train kept speeding straight ahead with unchanging scenery on both sides.

The carriage walls weren't soundproof. Seeing movement in the forward carriage, Xu Huo lit another cigarette and tried the next carriage's door, switching to the call button after two seconds.

The door soon opened, revealing a tattooed bruiser from first class who growled: "What do you want?"

Spotting a familiar face inside, Xu Huo casually offered a cigarette: "Got a light?"

Though visibly annoyed, the tattooed man tossed him a solid copper lighter with a "don't wander around" before quickly shutting the door.

Through the glass, Xu Huo saw Nie Xuan - whom he'd met before - nod at him before heading to the bathroom.

Returning to second class, he found Li Fei and others studying the train rules.

"The mandatory spending makes sense, but why turn off lights?" The oval-faced woman who'd been sitting with the middle-aged woman had joined Li Fei's group, complaining: "This dump doesn't even have beds. Can't even nap properly."

"You want to sleep?" The square-faced man retorted: "Might not wake up at all."

"There's a switch over there if you want light." Li Fei said: "Why argue over something so trivial? Don't let this affect our unity. Remember we've got carriages fore and aft."

"Brother Li is right." The oval-faced woman agreed.

"Homewrecker!" The middle-aged woman muttered angrily under her breath.

"Professor Han, I'm scared." The ponytailed student next to Xu Huo clutched the professor's arm tightly.

"Don't be afraid, I'll protect you." Sweat beaded on Professor Han's forehead, his pale face belying his confident words.

"What's there to fear?" He Yang's fingers flew across her phone as she said: "If someone messes with you, mess back. We're all Evolvers here. The younger you are, the faster you evolve. Right now I could easily take two or three grown men."

Xu Huo noted that the twelve passengers had already formed small factions.

Executive Li Fei, pajama-clad Chen Yi, the oval-faced woman and square-faced man formed one group at a table. Tank top He Yang and the student shared a summer camp keychain on their bags, making them and Professor Han a tentative second group.

The remaining middle-aged woman, heavy makeup woman, Xu Huo with Yan Jiayu beside him, and the elderly man sitting alone in the back row remained unaffiliated.

"If they're teaming up, so should we." The middle-aged woman approached the heavy makeup woman: "They've got four and three respectively. Being alone puts you at a disadvantage."

She then looked at Xu Huo: "Young man, among the rest you seem the most capable. You should step up."

Xu Huo smiled: "Auntie, have you eaten anyone?"

The woman's face stiffened: "What nonsense! How could I have eaten people!"

Xu Huo's stomach growled loudly. He ignored her.

The middle-aged woman huffed and returned to her original seat.

Never eaten anyone?

Since boarding, Xu Huo felt his gluttonous urges had doubled. While he'd maintained control with the "delivery woman," now he had to resist even looking at nearby players. Conversation, movement, arguments - everything amplified the hunger. Yet Li Fei and others appeared completely at ease, clearly not boarding on empty stomachs.

The middle-aged woman even had energy to curse the oval-faced woman, showing none of the tension from hunger nearing its limit.

Normal food couldn't satisfy this gluttony. The likelihood that Li Fei's group hadn't tasted human blood was slim.