Autophagy

In the middle of the darkness of room 1401, Song Lei calmly stood on his knees, his eyes closed, and his mind completely focused on his ears.

After closing his spiritual eye using the shamanist ritual, Song Lei's other senses had been improved by leaps and bounds. Using these newly enhanced senses, he had been listening to the voices of his new subordinates that were on the 12th floor.

After listening for some time and hearing that the newbies were safe, Song Lei shifted his attention towards another interesting noise.

He heard a ferocious swishing noise as if someone was swinging a long stick very quickly. As he focused more to better understand what he was hearing, the swishing stopped.

"It's not good to eavesdrop on others..." A vigorous but croaking voice filled Song Lei's ears. Dumbfounded, Song Lei's mind shook with fear and anxiety. He felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head.

What was going on?

How could someone, or something notice that he was listening?

As his insides kept churning because of the immense fear he was feeling, he unconsciously got up and walked towards a corner of the room.

"I said it's not good to eavesdrop on others, young man," the voice said again. This time, however, Song Lei's ears picked up a slight tint of anger in the voice. He felt a gaze wash over him, inspecting him from every angle. Seeing right through his soul. This only improved his fear, as he felt his legs turning into soggy noodles.

Losing his balance, he stumbled backward and fell on his butt. However, his mind was too occupied with how to save himself from his current situation, so he couldn't realize his whereabouts inside the room. Nor could he feel the pain of falling down.

"If you really want to talk, come on your own and face me, young man," the voice repeated again. This time, that anger had dissipated, only to be replaced by a slight disappointment. Shortly after, before Song Lei could overcome his fear and restore his ability to think, he felt something approaching at incredible speeds.

"I- It's coming!" He tried to shout. However, his throat was blocked. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't utter a single word.

'IT' was approaching. A clump of darkness, with a human face, no eyes, no teeth, only an ominous grin spanning from one ear to another, although it wasn't in Song Lei's view, although he had no way of physically seeing it, he knew that it was well on its way. Only a single floor away. He knew that his end was here.

As every single cell in his body shouted at him to run, Song Lei started feeling his arms again. Although he was feeling incredibly hot just a few seconds ago, he realized that in reality, he was freezing. As if blood had been drawn back from there, he felt frostbite burning his face.

The fear of death echoed inside him. 'IT' was running, with uneven footsteps, countless of them. Towards him. It had just stepped on the 14th floor.

Finally pulling his consciousness back together, Song Lei only managed to struggle towards the nearest wall. His back hit the wall in no time, however, he couldn't realize it. He only kept pushing, wishing to be swallowed by the wall so that 'IT' didn't catch him.

'IT' was near. Song Lei was expecting 'IT' to run up, break the door and swallow him. However, 'IT' didn't do any of that. Instead, 'IT' just turned 'IT's face towards Song Lei as soon as 'IT' entered the floor and rushed forward. Phasing through the wall, penetrating what should've been a shelter in mere fractions of a second, it entered the room from its northwest corner.

'IT' came.

As Song Lei saw its hollow eyes approaching him, he felt the world freeze. Once more, he had lost all feelings throughout his body. The only thing that worked at that moment was his eyes.

Eyes...

'IT' disappeared.

As if 'IT' had never been there...

Song Lei was left sitting with his back to the wall, staring towards where 'IT' should've been.

Shortly after noticing that he was alive, Song Lei felt his brain bloat with blood and heat. He felt as if all the veins in his head were about to burst. This blood and heat seemed to have been drawn from the other parts of his body as he noticed that his hands and feet were freezing.

Barely managing to pull his legs towards himself, Song Lei hugged his knees and fell towards his right. Whimpering on the ground with the aftereffects of what had just happened. He felt tears wetting his cheeks, falling to the ground and staining the floor.

"I- I- I'm alive..." He muttered with the weakest voice he had ever made in his life.

"That should teach you not to eavesdrop on people. Now, be off!" The voice said once more, seemingly satisfied. Song Lei wasn't trying to listen, nor did he have the ability to do so now. Instead, the voice had reached his ears on its own.

As he heard the words being transmitted, Song Lei did his best to comprehend them. The single line of thought that he could formulate was a very basic one.

"T- T- That was just an illusion..." He muttered. Whatever had happened had no real effect on him other than scaring him.

Barely managing to push himself to a sitting position, Song Lei sat there defeatedly. A mere illusion had destroyed every bit of defensive measure he had. Neither his high mind stat nor his absurd soul stat helped him. Against whoever this person was, they were useless.

"I- If that person wanted to kill me..." Song Lei spoke to himself, once more causing him to hug his knees.

As he felt the bloatedness in his head disperse, a wave of tiredness washed over his body.

"I- I can't think. I need sleep..." He urged himself to crawl towards the bed. With his current state of mind, he wouldn't be able to defend himself against anything.

After climbing the bed, he curled up into a ball.

In an instant, he drifted off into a deep state of sleep....