“I… I…”

I hesitated.

The adults I had encountered were always like this—their moods were unpredictable.

“Tell Uncle, Uncle won’t hit you,” he said.

Hearing these words made me even more afraid. Every time adults started a conversation with me using this phrase, I would definitely get hit.

For example, when my mother said to me, “Tell me what score you got, I promise I won’t hit you.”

When I told her I scored over seventy points, she would not only hit me but also cry in anguish, saying, “Why is my life so bitter? Even the one I gave birth to with a dick isn’t a dragon.”

For example, when my father said to me, “Tell me who broke this thing, I won’t hit you.”

When I told him I accidentally broke it, he would definitely beat me severely.

I suddenly thought of George Washington.

There was a text in class that said Washington chopped down the cherry tree in the yard, and after he voluntarily admitted his mistake to his father, his father didn’t blame him.

I really envied Washington.

So when Uncle Wan said he wanted to organize everyone into one big “family,” I really wanted to cry. Why couldn’t it be organized into something else? Why did it have to be a “family”…?

“Brother Wan,” Sister finally stood in front of me. “In your current state, you can’t communicate properly with Yingxiong. This child grew up in a bad environment and lacks a sense of security. Acting this way will only backfire. Don’t you want to calm down first?”

“‘Sense of security’…?” Uncle Wan became even angrier. “I’ve already seen so many people disemboweled right in front of me… and you’re telling me this child lacks a ‘sense of security’…? Should I be considering his ‘sense of security’ right now? Who the fuck is giving me a ‘sense of security’?!”

Sister, seeing she had somewhat pacified Uncle Wan, pulled me aside. The scent on her body was still so pleasant.

“Little brother Yingxiong, what exactly happened?” she asked gently. “Why did you say Uncle Wan has the scent of ‘Amplification’?”

I kept my head down, not knowing what to say. In the past, whenever I told the truth, I would always get scolded. So I was very afraid when adults questioned me. Whenever they questioned me, it meant I had to find a way to lie to please them.

“You’re safe now,” Sister said. “Little brother Yingxiong, this conversation between us is equal. I just have some questions, and you happen to know the answers. You can choose to speak or not to speak. Either way, I respect your decision, so there’s no need to be nervous. You also need to know that no matter what happened, none of this is your fault.”

This was the first time I had heard such words, and I felt Sister’s scent had become even more pleasant than before.

Actually, I didn’t trust adults, but I really wanted to trust Sister.

After hesitating for a while, I told her about my ability to smell strange scents, while Uncle Wan listened beside us with his eyes wide open.

I said that Uncle Wan’s body had suddenly emitted a strange fragrance, and at the same time I smelled this fragrance, the two words “Amplification” floated into my mind, and I simply recited what appeared in my thoughts.

I also told them that I had this kind of fragrance too, except my fragrance wasn’t called “Amplification”—it was called “Spirit Scent.” After Sister and Uncle Wan finished listening, they both fell silent. I didn’t know what they were thinking.

“Spirit Scent…?” Sister kept frowning as if pondering something, then picked up a tree branch and wrote two characters on the ground. “Yingxiong, is it this ‘Spirit Scent’?”

I looked at those two characters on the ground, then shook my head. “Sister, I don’t recognize these two characters. What appeared in my mind was just a ‘concept,’ not actual written characters.”

After hearing this, Sister narrowed her eyes and nodded, as if understanding what I meant.

Uncle Wan stared at the characters on the ground for a long time, then pointed at the more complex character and said, “This ‘xiu’ character—doesn’t it mean to smell? Little Li, are you saying…”

“I’m not certain…” Sister’s expression also became grave, and a scent of puzzlement emanated from her body. “But this kind of thing is far too… metaphysical…”

“Not only is it ‘metaphysical,’ it’s also hard to understand… I have a superpower…” Uncle Wan blinked. “My superpower is called ‘Amplification’…?”

“Yingxiong…” Sister turned to look at me. “Do I have the scent of a superpower on me?”

“I don’t know what a ‘superpower’ is. It’s a kind of ‘clear fragrance,'” I said. “But Sister, you don’t have that ‘clear fragrance’ on you, though you still smell very nice.”

Uncle Wan felt something wasn’t quite right at this moment. “Kid, you’ve known all along that I had a superpower, but you’re only telling me now?!”

“Ah?” I was startled. I didn’t like being wrongly accused. “No, Uncle Wan, you didn’t have this clear fragrance on you before. It only started emanating just now.”

“Just now…?”

Uncle Wan’s expression became grave, as if he was pondering something.

Before long, he pulled Sister Siwei aside and said many things I couldn’t understand.

They talked about “creating gods,” “superpowers,” “clear fragrance,” and such. The more I listened, the more confused I became. I only knew that in the end they decided to find other people for me to smell.

Only then did I finally understand that those strange scents could only be smelled by me.

The next day, Uncle Wan really brought back an uncle from outside. Without saying much, they had me smell the scent on this uncle’s body, but aside from “doubt,” the uncle had no other scent.

Uncle Wan still thought I was lying. He had a very poor opinion of me.

But Sister didn’t give up on me. She pacified Uncle Wan and took me to the street, having me smell the scents of passersby who brushed past us.

This was the first time in so many days that I had left the house, but this place was no different from when I first came here.

Sister told me there were two kinds of people here—one kind called “Wanderers” and another kind called “Participants.” I was mainly responsible for smelling the scents on some of the “Participants.”

I saw some masked figures standing sporadically on the street. Sister told me that behind each masked figure was a dangerous game, and I must not go in.

But after we walked for nearly the entire day, we didn’t smell that kind of clear fragrance on anyone. I only smelled “heartbreak” and “despair.”

This place was truly strange. The scents on everyone’s bodies were all filled with despair. Even I began to think I had experienced an illusion. Perhaps I really had smelled that clear fragrance incorrectly?

Just as we were about to give up in the evening, I finally smelled that scent again.