Autophagy

Wei Zhong dropped his digital pen on the ground, looking at Damien with sparkling eyes.

"Do you want to come to the main branch with us?" He asked Damien. Instantly, the whole room went into a state of awkward silence.

"Umm... What is the main branch?" Damien asked cautiously.

"Basically, the main branch is the biggest branch in this district. We are mainly in control of the southeastern part of the alliance. There are seven more main branches. If you come with me, you'll be able to live somewhat comfortably. At least as comfortable as it gets in the New World," said Wei Zhong.

"Why me..?" Damien continued asking. Everyone in the room was wondering the same thing. Why Damien?

"Why you..?" Wei Zhong started talking with a smile on his face. "You're about to awaken your soul. And your skill is pretty good. You should be able to become a great scout or a fighter. To put it in better words, you have incredible potential."

"Umm..." Damien didn't know how to answer as he looked at Old Wolf with furrowed brows.

"You should go," Old Wolf urged him. "This is a great chance for you."

Seeing that Old Wolf wasn't trying to convince him to stay, he turned his head towards Song Lei.

"I agree with Old Wolf," Song Lei said while crossing his arms in front of his chest. "You know we can take care of ourselves."

Damien frowned for a second. He had an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face.

"Then I accept," he said.

"Great choice," Wei Zhong said. Wei Zhong and Wei Ya looked at each other for some time. Wei Zhong got up from his seat. "We'll be leaving now. We'll come back in around a week. You should get ready Damien."

Damien nodded at him. Seeing Damien confirm, Wei Zhong and Wei Ya headed towards the exit.

"Sorry for not being able to help with you guys' problems. We're incredibly busy at the moment. We hope you guys manage to find your friends," Wei Zhong said. "And you don't need to escort us to the exit. We'll be leaving now."

Wei siblings left the meeting room and went their own ways. There was an awkward silence for some time in the meeting room.

"W- Well... I'm going back to my room," He Lingxin said. With him breaking the silence, everyone in the room got up.

"That's okay. Everyone should rest for a week until they come back. We've been through a lot," Old Wolf said. "If we don't rest now, we may not have the chance to do so for a long time."

After the meeting was over, everyone went to their own rooms. Song Lei laid down on his bed and closed his arm over his eyes. To be honest, he was feeling gloomy because he was going to separate from Damien. Damien had been someone that he could easily trust. He made Song Lei feel like he was back in the Old World.

Unfortunately, Damien would be much safer if he went to the main branch. And more so, he could get stronger there and come to help Song Lei and Old Wolf in the future while cleaning up the apartment.

Song Lei chuckled to himself. He didn't know Damien that well. After all, they hadn't interacted with each other that much. However, the hardships they had to endure with each other amplified their friendship a lot. In the end, Song Lei had become a little bit emotionally dependant on Damien.

"Woof! Woof!"

Song Lei jumped in his place from the sudden woofing. He looked around the room to figure out what was going on.

"Oh, it's you," Song Lei muttered. The quake demon jumped on Song Lei and started trying to lick his face. Unfortunately, it couldn't properly make skin contact with him. 'To think that the quake demon was a dog...'

This little guy wasn't that different from a pug. It was just a tad bit bigger and it had heterochromia.

"Well... It must be hungry..." Song Lei thought. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything left to feed this dog. Suddenly, Song Lei's eyes shone with enlightenment.

"Hmm..."

Song Lei quickly left the room and rushed to the 16th floor. He knocked on Isabel's door and entered it.

"Hm? Oh, it's Lei," Isabel muttered to herself. Mia was lying on the bed, sleeping innocently next to Isabel. Song Lei wondered how they could endure such a boring life.

"Yes. It's me," Song Lei answered with a smug smile on his face.

"Huh? You're finally able to communicate with us?" Isabel asked. "That's weird... As far as I know, humans need to awaken and upgrade their soul powers a lot to properly communicate with ghosts."

"Oh well... I've some ways to bypass that," Song Lei said. "Whatever... Where is that guy's corpse?" Song Lei asked.

"That guy? Oh! You mean that guy... It's right there," Isabel said while pointing her finger in a certain direction. Song Lei followed her finger and walked in that direction.

"Hmm... It smells bad," Song Lei muttered.

"Yeah? I'm a spirit so I can't smell it. But I'm sure you're still a human. How could you not smell it as soon as you entered the room?" Isabel asked.

Song Lei thought for a second and answered, "Have you ever tried Amber's food?"

"Oh god. Okay, I understand. There's no need to explain further," Isabel said. Song Lei stood next to Andres' corpse and picked it up. The corpse had already started rotting. Disregarding the smell, Song Lei left the room with the corpse.

"See you later!" He said.

"See you."

Shutting the door behind him, Song Lei started heading towards the staircase. As floor 16 was filled with lava, it was quite hard for him to carry the corpse without burning it.

Just as he was about to leave the floor, a system notification appeared in front of him.

[You can collect red blood beads!]

"Oh..?"

Song Lei dropped the corpse to a side and approved the notification. As soon as he did so, some of the lava on the floor started flying and forming into balls. They all gathered together and flew towards Song Lei, all the while cooling off to a bearable degree.

Song Lei took the newly formed blood beads into his hand and looked at them.

'Well... They are the exact same,' Song Lei thought. These blood beads didn't have any difference from the others. The amount was around the quarter of the blood beads he had collected from this floor initially.

Shoving all of the red blood beads into his backpack, Song Lei picked the corpse back up and carried it to room 1401. He then dissected the body into parts and stored them in his fridge.

'Aren't I becoming more like Xiang Yimu..?' Song Lei thought. He sighed. He didn't want to do such things. Unfortunately, he had to feed the quake demon. 'Well... Whatever.'

After feeding the quake demon, Song Lei took a shower and laid on his bed to take a long-awaited, comfortable sleep.

...

Five hours later, Song Lei woke up from his slumber and wiped his eyes with his hands.

"*Yawn"

After eating, Song Lei decided to spend some time inspecting the red blood beads he had just acquired. According to the branch members, this stuff was really scarce and precious. What intrigued Song Lei the most was what Damien had told him about these beads.

According to him, some branch members used blood beads to upgrade and train their abilities. Song Lei was wondering if he could do the same too.

Holding the blood beads he had in his hands, Song Lei brought up his stat sheet. Since the first time he came to the New World, Song Lei felt that his system was a bit incomplete. The only thing he could see were his stats. Other than that and the occasional system notification, it was very empty.

He wasn't complaining, obviously. After all, his ability was incredibly overpowered compared to most of the other people in the New World. However, he wanted to learn more about it.

'Hmm... What should I do though..?' Song Lei thought while holding his chin. After thinking for some time, he decided to try the easiest thing he could.

*Gulp

Song Lei took a blood bead and swallowed it. As soon as he did so, he felt a burning sensation spreading inside his body. This feeling covered all of his body, then his mind, and lastly, all of his soul. It was like a crimson fire slowly charring him.

However, after a few short seconds, he was back to normal. Looking at his body, Song Lei realized that nothing had changed about him. After deciding that he could spend a few more beads on his first hypothesis, Song Lei gulped down some more beads. The same feeling when he swallowed the first one appeared again and grasped Song Lei totally.

After being burned mercilessly for more than five minutes, Song Lei was left drenched in sweat. However, there was a floating system notification in front of his face that made him grin widely.

[You've unlocked the system shop!]