Autophagy

'Her and this body must've been running for a long time...' Song Lei deduced. 'Well... It's time I take things over.'

Song Lei thought for a second what the best choice to do in this situation was. If they kept running like this, they would eventually tire out. What most of the monsters in the New World had in common was the fact that they would never get tired of chasing people.

While he was thinking, something flashed in the corner of his eyes.

[Body]: 2 (12)

[Mind]: 3 (8)

[Soul]: 13

'Oh? The system is still active?' Song Lei thought. 'Can I use the shop?'

[Shop has been blocked]

'Great,' Song Lei sneered. 'Well... It's better than nothing.'

Closing his stat sheet, Song Lei started making a map of the places they passed by in his head. While doing so, he was also looking for a place that they could escape. Two monsters were very big and they probably couldn't pass through narrow places.

'Hmm...'

Thinking for a few seconds, Song Lei pulled the girl into a sewer entrance. The girl and Song Lei had very small statures compared to the two monsters. although he wasn't sure, Song Lei was guessing that he was a bit shorter than 1.65 meters. The girl next to him wasn't that different and they both were very slim. Especially Song Lei, who seemed a bit malnourished.

"Here," Song Lei said with a firm voice. He held the girl and jumped into the sewer entrance. He started crawling inside the sewer.

"You..." The girl started talking. "Nevermind. Let's escape. This place is disgusting."

Song Lei nodded as they both kept crawling. The sewer was really disgusting, covered with mold, excrement, and overall dirty stuff. If they stood inside there for more than an hour, they would probably get a good amount of lethal diseases.

After crawling for more than twenty minutes, they managed to reach another entrance.

"Ugh... Let's not do that again..." The girl said while trying to wipe her hand on the wall.

"Yeah. Let's not," Song Lei said. He looked around. The rain was still going on, albeit much weaker. It was now more of a drizzle than a storm.

"Achoo!"

The girl sneezed cutely. This almost made Song Lei chuckle, however, he kept his composure.

"Hey! Is there something funny? Lewis?" The girl asked while approaching Song Lei with her fist raised.

"Nothing. You smell. Don't come closer," Song Lei said while pushing her away. Weirdly, the girl was really strong. If she had tried, she would've been able to overpower him easily.

"Sure..." The girl said as she took a step back. "So? What are we doing now?" She reached out to her bag which Song Lei had just noticed now and took out two loaves of bread. "At least these didn't get dirty..."

"You decide. I have no idea," Song Lei said while shrugging. Currently, the only thing that he knew was the fact that his name was Lewis.

Hearing Song Lei, the girl had a puzzled expression on her face. She looked at the two loaves of bread that were in her hands for some time. Shortly after, she gave one of the loaves to Song Lei.

"Here. Take it. You should take this to your brother," she said. Song Lei didn't object and took the bread after thanking her. Seeing that Song Lei took the bread, the girl raised one of her brows and turned around. "I'm going home."

Song Lei stared at the girl's back for some time. Then, he ran towards her and started following.

"Why are you coming with me?" The girl asked. "Aren't you going home?"

Song Lei sighed deeply. 'Okay. Plan B,' he thought. He couldn't try to piece together little pieces of knowledge if he had nothing to begin with. He needed a change of plans.

"Umm... You see," Song Lei started talking. He scratched his cheek and said, "I think I've lost my memory."

"Haha! That's funny! That's the best jo- You're not joking," the girl said with a deadpan expression. She then facepalmed and sighed. "Jesus... When did that happen? Was the reason you looked like you were blacked out back while we were escaping, your memory loss? So that was the reason you just accepted that bread... You would normally try to refuse..."

"Uhh... Yeah. You're overloading a person that has lost their memory with a lot of words. Could you shorten that please?" Song Lei demanded. "For your information, the only thing I currently know is that my name is Lewis. That's all. Nothing more than that," he said.

Feigning memory loss wasn't that ideal normally, as it could easily be figured out by doctors. In the end, no one would lose ALL of their memories suddenly. Now, however, Song Lei was guessing that he was in a dream space that took place in at least a hundred years past from the time he lived. The girl in front of him didn't look very knowledgeable about the situation and from their state, it was easy to guess that they wouldn't be able to go to a doctor any time soon.

"God... Okay. Whatever. Let's go. I will take you to your brother now and while we are doing that, I'll tell you about the things you don't know," the girl said. She changed her direction and started walking. Song Lei looked at her for some time and followed along. "Ask one by one."

Song Lei tapped his chin and started asking, "First of all. What is my name, surname, age, occupation, and where do I live?"

"That's not how one by one works but... Well, whatever. Your name is Lewis Jones, age 16, professional thief, and you live in London," the girl explained in one breath.

"And for what reason were we escaping from those, uhh... Monsters..?" Song Lei asked carefully. He knew that those monsters weren't really monsters but a depiction of some kind. They probably looked different to other people.

"Monsters? Haha! Losing your memory has made you funnier for some reason. Why are you calling the cops monsters?" the girl explained why laughing. She wiped the tears off of her face and continued talking by saying, "We were just stealing some bread and got caught doing so. That's why we were escaping."

"I see. Thank you very much. What was your name by the way? And what kind of relationship do we have to go on casual thievery together?" Song Lei asked while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Hmm... You not remembering me felt much worse than I expected. Anyways. I'm Gabriela Spencer and we are childhood friends," she said. There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"Well... In case I don't recover my memories any time soon, I will be in your care from now on," Song Lei said. "What about my family then? My father? My mom?"

"Oh them? They have been dead since you were, I don't know... six years old? I guess..." Gabriela said with a tinge of uncertainty in her voice. "Oh. We have arrived. Look, that is your house," she said while pointing towards a certain place. "Remember, your brother's name is Adrian and he is sick," she said quickly. As Song Lei turned his head and looked at the place, a deep frown appeared on his face.

"That's a house?" He asked. It was a bit hard to hold himself back from facepalming. "Whatever... Sorry for troubling you to come all the way here. As compensation, I will help you with another thievery in the future. Or... Something like that."

"No problem. See you later," Gabriela said. She turned around and left with quick steps. The rain had already stopped and it was probably midnight. Song Lei waited till he couldn't hear the splashing noises Gabriela made by stepping on small puddles of water. When he was done, he turned around and looked at the so-called house again.

It would be really hard to call this pile of woods a house. It looked more like a wooden cage than a house. At most, two adult people could fit and live in it. This place was the slums of London. There were a few people that were silently watching Song Lei from afar. Song Lei, too, had to keep his awareness up. After all, if he didn't do so, he could be robbed or killed at any time.

Entering his house, Song Lei took the smell of damp woods into his lungs. Fortunately, the roof of the place was covered with a few metal scraps that stopped the water from directly pouring onto them. However, this didn't stop the wooden house from getting damp

"Welcome home brother..." A sickly voice reached out to him. Song Lei, who was staring at the walls, turned his head towards the noise. There were a few sheets, a few pillows, and clothing piled up together to form somewhat of a comfortable bed. There was a very small boy with a malnourished body laying in the bed.

"I'm back, Adrian...."