Autophagy

As the person was experiencing the effects of Song Lei's high soul stat, Song Lei folded his arms in front of his chest and approached him.

Until Song Lei was a single step away from him, the guy didn't move from his place. He eventually snapped out of his daze once Song Lei got close enough.

"Sup'." Song Lei said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Jin Ru. You must be the branch leader, I assume?" The person introduced himself. His voice was gentle, with a polite speech that seemed to fit his dignified face.

"Yeah?"

"Everyone is waiting for you on the 7th floor. I think it's a bit irresponsible for you to abandon the main floor of this branch," The person named Jin Ru said. Song Lei was slightly irritated by the way this person named Jin Ru was talking to him, however, he didn't let it show on his face.

"Let's go then," Song Lei said. From the looks of it, Wei siblings had come back just like they had said the last time they were here.

With Jin Ru in tow, Song Lei descended to the 7th floor. The sight of all the yellow-paper talismans stuck on walls made him feel nostalgic. After the death of his friends, Song Lei would only occasionally come to this floor to check the Heaven Alliance forum. Seeing floor 7 with its light turned on once more was an interesting experience.

Without further ado, Song Lei led Jin Ru to the meeting room.

He pulled the handle of the door and opened it. Five people were sitting around the table, two of them being the Wei siblings, calmly looking at their hands. The remaining group of three was made up of two men and a woman.

Hearing the door being opened, all of them turned towards Song Lei. Wei Zhong didn't stop there and got up. He went to Song Lei and held his hand out for a shake.

"Thank you very much for agreeing to recruit these newbies into your branch," he said. Song Lei gently smiled and patted Wei Zhong's shoulder. Witnessing the state Song Lei was in after having all his friends get brutally murdered in front of his eyes, Wei Zhong had started feeling a sense of pity and respect towards him. The fact that Song Lei had refused to live a comfortable life inside the main branch and chose to stay here had only furthered that respect.

"No problem," Song Lei answered. After Wei Zhong let his hand go, he walked up to the table and sat at the head of it. Originally, this seat had belonged to Old Wolf. Now, however, Song Lei had taken over his leadership alongside his responsibilities.

As Jin Ru also sat down, everybody was ready for the conversation to come.

"Once again, we want to offer our condolences for your loss," Wei Ya said. She always seemed to be the more calculative one out of the siblings. Her personality was also affecting her speech, making her sound awkwardly cold in such a situation.

"Without further ado, we should come to the main topic," she said. She then took out a briefcase, opening it with two satisfying, almost simultaneous clicks. From the inside of the briefcase, she took out a few pieces of paper. "These are the CVs of these newbies. You still retain the right of disbanding this branch and coming back to the main branch even if you accept them. However, remember that you have to take them back to the main branch safely if you ever decide to do such a thing."

"Until you manage to clear this apartment from head to toe, you won't be able to become a full-fledged branch," she said. "After all, we can't afford to make too many investments in a place that is threatened by unknown entities. However, once this place becomes a full-fledged branch, you will have no way of going back."

"I understand," Song Lei answered as he tapped his finger on the table once. He was sitting upright, calmly staring right into Wei Ya's eyes. This indifference and a hint of vigilance inside his pupils caused Wei Ya to flinch slightly before calming down.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere settling into the room, Wei Zhong put his hand inside the briefcase and started searching for something.

"Although my sister has said it like that, it's not like we can't afford to invest anything," he said. Being visibly happy for finding what he was looking for, he took out a singular piece of paper. "These are the list of the things that we can send you as supplies. Unfortunately, you can only choose two out of these."

Taking the paper from Wei Zhong's hands, Song Lei read through it quickly.

There were all types of supplies written on it, ranging from rations to clothing. However, as Song Lei's eyes wandered further down the list, he started seeing some interesting options.

There was some stuff such as ghost-repellant talismans, blood beads, and technological tools.

"Hm... The quantity on some of these are not written here," Song Lei said. "For example, how many blood beads are you able to send here on a monthly basis?"

"For every month, about a thousand blood beads can be sent here. However, I would advise against ordering those," Wei Zhong said. Ignoring the gentle elbow strike made on his side by his sister, he said, "Blood beads aren't exactly mandatory to have. Yeah, they can help when there are droughts and can help with your skills. But unfortunately, we have recently discovered that it can be dangerous to consume them to get nutrition. Picking food is always the safe choice."

"Hm..."

Song Lei wasn't sure what to pick out of the list. Although what Wei Zhong was saying sounded reasonable, it wasn't like Song Lei needed any of them. He was faring off pretty well on his own without getting any supplies from the main branch. So much so that he would still be able to feed these newbies while keeping a steady income of blood beads.

'Well then, it's best to choose something that is high value,' Song Lei thought. He read through the list once more before turning his head towards Wei Ya.

"Is this the whole list?"

"Yeah. These are everything that you can get with your current branch level."

"I see... Let's do it like this then...."