Autophagy

Song Lei raised his head and looked at the small window he had been looking for. This reunion with the toilet window made him a little emotional. This half of a night he had spent in this basement felt much longer than it actually was. He couldn't wait to get to breathe fresh air.

He slightly jumped and held on to the ledge of the window. He pulled himself up and threw his backpack out. He didn't have any problems while entering but now, as he had returned to his normal body size, he couldn't exit while wearing his backpack.

Finally leaving the basement, Song Lei stretched his body. Just as he was yawning, he felt something approaching him.

'Shit!' Song Lei shouted at the sudden attack as he hadn't felt any malice beforehand. He was truly caught off-guard. Before he could raise his guard and counter the attack, he felt someone tackling him.

"Uhh..."

"I- I got scared you know?" Sugihara said. She was trying to hide the fact that she was crying. Song Lei sighed deeply and patted her back.

"You don't have to... I'm strong after all," Song Lei consoled the crying Sugihara. They stood like that before separating.

"Fufu..." Nishimura chuckled slightly at the two. There was a smug smile on her face. Seeing her reaction, Song Lei sighed. He felt like he was losing some amount of life span every time he sighed.

"Whatever... You guys waited for me here? You should've gone back," Song Lei said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"How could we do that after you saved us from there?" Sugihara asked.

Song Lei looked at her and scratched his cheek.

"Well... I would've done the same too so..." He said. "Anyways. You should go home now. Things will get dangerous."

"What? It isn't over yet?" Nishimura said with a worried expression on her face.

"Not really. However, you won't be able to help me from now on. Now that I've got my powers back, I can deal with things much easier," Song Lei explained.

Sugihara blanked out for a second then sighed. She said, "You're probably right... We would just be burdens for you. I hope you can deal with everything you need to. Make sure that you don't die. Okay?"

Song Lei nodded. There was a longing expression on Sugihara's face. She looked like she wanted to come with Song Lei. However, she knew that she wouldn't be able to help him in any way. Instead, she would just become a burden that he would have to protect.

"Mm," Song Lei nodded with a smile on his face. Seeing him make such a carefree smile made Sugihara relax a little bit. They bade farewell to each other and separated. Seeing the two girls' backs getting farther and farther away, the smile on Song Lei's face disappeared. He sighed deeply and turned around to go back to his home.

'It was great to have somewhat normal friends for once,' Song Lei thought. He had very good companions like Damien and Old Wolf back in the New World but they were very weird people. Even Old Wolf, who was the most normal amongst them, could be considered very weird by the Old World standards. Sugihara and Nishimura, on the other hand, were normal university girls.

If Song Lei hadn't died and had a normal life, he would be studying in a university too. He would just be a tad bit younger than them. Although this made him a bit depressed, there wasn't any use in overthinking about it. What happened had already happened and he didn't have the chance to go back. And after all, they would separate eternally after he left the remnant world.

Song Lei decided not to take the subway back home. In the end, the robed man was still freely roaming. Song Lei didn't know if he would meet another trap if he took the subway. The subway was too dangerous to get in a fight. If he were to fall into a trap in the subway, he would have no way of getting out. It was too much of a restricted space for Song Lei to feel comfortable.

Considering these factors, Song Lei was running home at a comfortable pace which wouldn't tire him out. After all, he had incredibly strong stamina and speed. He was currently running at the sprinting speed of an average adult male. And he didn't even feel like he was running. It felt more like a casual walk for Song Lei.

His university was around 15 kilometers away from his home. It would take him about forty minutes for him to run all the way home. He could do much better if he tried to do so, however, he didn't want to tire himself out for no reason. If he were ambushed in a tired state, it wouldn't be that good for him.

While running, Song Lei took his phone out and looked at the hour. It was already 3.30 a.m. The sun would show itself around 5 a.m. From what he could understand, whatever those noises that would start when the sun disappeared would die out before the morning came.

Song Lei felt himself to be really lucky for this, as he didn't want to get involved with whatever was making those noises.

There were no other people than Song Lei on the streets. Although this place didn't have much nightlife, it was still weird that there were no other people than Song Lei. There weren't even any cars. Song Lei didn't know why, but this situation of loneliness made him feel anxious.

The feeling of being watched had returned instantly after leaving the school premises. He didn't know what was really inspecting him but he hoped that it wasn't something malicious.

Song Lei finally managed to reach the Heaven and Hell apartment, which was actually named Serenity Apartment, after running for more than thirty minutes. He had managed to keep most of his stamina up as he had planned.

He turned a corner and looked at the street that would lead into the apartment. Although there wasn't anything that made it different than the other streets, it felt somewhat darker to Song Lei. As if the faint lights of the moon didn't really reach there, or as if the white street lights weren't working properly.

Song Lei gulped loudly and took a step into the street. After taking two more steps, he felt the temperature suddenly drop as if he had entered a freezer. He kept walking without changing his course. He took the Banisher out of its sheath and held it tightly in his hand. He didn't want to get caught off-guard.

When he reached the middle of the street, the temperature went back to normal. Song Lei looked around to see what was going on.

'Is it back to normal?' He thought. As soon as he did so, all the street lights started turning off one by one. In less than ten seconds, the whole street was plunged into darkness. Song Lei, having improved senses, could still see a little bit.

As his eyes adapted to the darkness, he saw silhouettes walking around. They were sizeable in numbers, so much so that they covered most of the street. They didn't seem like they cared about Song Lei. They were just walking past him without interacting with him. It felt like Song Lei was right in the center of a metropolitan city.

As Song Lei was watching all the silhouettes pass by, all of them flickered out of existence, as a small light was lit up ten meters away from Song Lei. It was floating in the air. Not affected by the slight wind. Song Lei squinted his eyes to take a better look at this light. Although not very prominent, it had a green hue to it. The greenish flame reminded Song Lei of those fox fires in Japanese myths. 

Seeing the flame, Song Lei was about to fall into a daze before pinching himself. The fire seemed to have some kind of sedative effect on him. fortunately, his mind had cleared up, letting him save himself from being entranced.

As he tried to look away from the flame, another one appeared behind Song Lei. This, too, was ten meters away from Song Lei. One by one, those flames kept appearing out of nowhere. Song Lei was keeping an eye out for any attacks.

Soon, he was totally encircled by the fox fires. Having no choice left, Song Lei decided to approach one of those fox fires carefully. After walking ahead five meters, Song Lei jumped back to the spot he was before. As he kept getting near the fox fires, he felt a tugging at his soul, as if they were trying to pull him inside. He was scared that if he went any closer, he would lose his soul.

While Song Lei was looking around, trying to understand what was going on, he heard crisp noises that sounded like they were being made by heels. He turned his head towards the noise and saw a figure slowly coming towards him.

"Well well...."