Autophagy

"Fu Ah is waiting for us," Damien said. They took the talismans off of their heads and placed them back to their initial place.

He Lingxin nodded. His face was flushed and his breathing had become erratic. He Lingxin was one of the more normal people in this apartment. He was quickly discovered after becoming a lost one. If he wasn't discovered quickly enough, he would've probably died on his own. It wasn't actually that rare for a lost one to spawn in the apartment, however, they could rarely survive until they came in contact with the branch.

Only those with strong personalities could survive. Even if someone had a strong ability, they couldn't utilize it without a courageous heart or a smart mind. Those who can survive in the New World all had some kind of strong side to them. However, He Lingxin's shyness and timidness were making him unable to properly utilize his strong sides.

After Damien and He Lingxin reached the 4th floor, they entered the safe room. Fu Ah was sitting on a chair.

"Oh? You've come back? It took longer than I expected," Fu Ah said. She turned her head towards Damien and continued, "Did you have any problems?"

Damien smiled widely. He talked about the horrors that had entered the apartment and the talismans that were left there.

"Hmm... Talismans are Old Wolf's specialty, he may know something about them if we show him," Fu Ah said while holding her chin. She then looked at the Old Wolf who was lying unconscious. "Well... We'll do that when he wakes up."

"For now, let's carry them to the upper floors. In case something happens and the horrors on the first floor are let loose, we'll be safer there," Damien said. Fu Ah nodded and told He Lingxin to carry Old Wolf.

"Oh? You've actually amputated him..." Damien said while looking at Lu Peng. One of Lu Peng's arms had been charred black while he was using his ability. Fu Ah had actually gone ahead and amputated him on her own. "You weren't a doctor right? How did you do it?"

"I read it in a book," Fu Ah said.

"That doesn't seem very reliable," Damien retorted. He then picked up Gao Jing who was the heaviest among the three. Fu Ah followed him and picked Lu Peng up. Fortunately, Lu Peng wasn't heavy. If he were heavier than 60 kg, Fu Ah probably wouldn't be able to carry him.

After making sure that they were ready, they all departed towards the upper floors. They planned to stop by the 7th floor to see if anyone had come. They then would go even higher to the 14th floor and enter the 1401st room.

When they arrived on the 7th floor, they realized that no one had come.

"Everyone other than the people here must've died..." Fu Ah muttered. "It has been more than 24 hours since the Call Gong was rung. They should've had a lot of time to come here. Now that they haven't, we can only guess that they are dead."

"W- What do we do then?" He Lingxin asked timidly. "Isn't that bad? We have 6 people left in this branch. What will we do from now on!?" He was getting very anxious.

"Calm down. Fewer people can be better for these kinds of situations," Fu Ah said. "We'll think about these things after this disaster is over."

"O- okay..." He Lingxin nodded. After they were done talking, they departed for the upper floors.

"Here we are," Damien whispered. The 14th floor wasn't cleared yet. They had to be silent on the floors higher than the 13th.

They entered room 1401 and settled down. Although the walls of the room were covered with slime and blood, it was still better than nothing.

"Why didn't we just go to Song Lei's room?" Fu Ah asked.

"He is feeding a demon in his room. It's better if we don't enter while he isn't with us," Damien explained.

"H- He is what?" He Lingxin asked. Damien looked at him for a second and turned back to Fu Ah.

"I will be going to Song Lei's side now," he said.

"How are you going to pass through the 15th floor?" Fu Ah asked. "You'll probably die before reaching there."

"I will just rush through," Damien said. He was hoping that he wouldn't die as long as he didn't spend a lot of time on the 15th-floor staircases.

"Well... Good luck then," Fu Ah said. Damien closed the door behind him and left the floor.

...

Song Lei opened the door to Isabel's room. The room was covered in pulsating dark veins that were binding a silhouette to the wall. The silhouette was constantly moving, trying to free itself from the veins, but couldn't do so.

"Isabel?" Song Lei muttered unconsciously. 'What is going on..?'

He turned around in his place and looked inside the room to see what was going on. As soon as the silhouette realized that he had entered the room, it became even more restless, constantly moving and flailing around.

'Fuck! This must be a trap!' Song Lei shouted in his mind. He jumped to the side as fast as he could and kept looking around to spot who had attacked him. There was a dark vein that had jumped out of the wall and stabbed the place he had just been standing.

Song Lei wiped the sweat off of his mouth. The room was much bigger than it was initially. If it had been a one-person room before, it was now as big, if not bigger, as the dining room in Isabel's mansion.

"Well well well... Look who is here. I didn't expect you could guess that I was here," a hoarse voice resounded in the room. Song Lei quickly turned his head towards the direction that the voice was coming from. There was a man in a robe standing on the right side of the room. Although his robe was similar to the person in room 1401's, it had more complex designs than that.

"How sad... Truly sad. Such a young soul like you being the first one to find me is truly vexing," the robed man said. "I'm Andres, young man! What is your name?!" He asked viciously.

Song Lei kept looking at his face without saying anything. He was actually thinking about what he would do to beat this man.

"I see I see... So you aren't going to answer huh!? You seem very smart! As if you had answered me, you would already be dead!" The robed man shouted. He took out a straw voodoo doll from his pocket and waved it around. "You see this? This is my precious little baby! You too should become my precious baby!"

Song Lei slapped the wall to find the light switch. When he managed to do so, the room was very dimly illuminated. The light bulb must've been covered with the dark veins, as it wasn't giving out much light at all.

"Ahh!!" The robed man shouted while holding his eyes. "That hurts! I hate light!" He said.

'What is wrong with this person? He acts like a child...' Song Lei thought in his head.

"You've now angered yours truly young boy! You shall meet your demise!" The robed man continued throwing a tantrum. He raised his hand and waved it around. As soon as he did so, Song Lei felt the hairs on his neck standing up. He quickly jumped to the side and dodged another dark vein.

'He seems to be able to control these veins however he wants,' Song Lei thought. 'No... That shouldn't be the case. If he could really control them however he wanted, he would've caught me right as I entered the room...'

Song Lei took a deep breath and readied himself for any incoming attacks.

"Great! Keep dodging like a monkey so I can have some fun boy!" The man named Andres said. He took a grey staff out of nowhere and waved it in the air. As soon as he did so, the room became brighter.

'What is going on?' Song Lei thought. All the darkness in the room started moving towards the man's staff and formed into a single blob of darkness. When it finally finished forming, it started moving on its own. 'What!? He can summon beings out of the darkness!' Song Lei shouted in his mind. "So you were the person behind the darkness infestation..." He muttered.

"That's what you called it? Very very interesting young man. I like it," Andres said. "Unfortunately, what you call it doesn't matter. As you will be dead in near time!"

After speaking, Andres raised his staff again. The room kept getting brighter and brighter as he summoned more and more dark blobs. When he finally stopped summoning dark blobs, the room looked like it was being illuminated by the sun itself.

On the other hand, there were ten whole dark blobs in the room, restlessly jumping around, ready to rip Song Lei into pieces.

A small drop of sweat rolled off of Song Lei's head.

"Attack! My beauties... Bring me his head...!"