Autophagy

Knocking on the door, Song Lei started waiting for a response. There were still about twenty minutes left for the pre-determined time for the meeting.

Shortly after, he heard quick and light footsteps approaching the door. When the door was pulled open, he saw Nakajima Rei, the only female newbie out of the four. She was wearing a kimono with purple and bluish patterns that suited her blue hair well. This attire confused Song Lei a lot, however, he didn't comment on it.

"Welcome. Please, come in," she said as she bowed her head slightly. Holding his mouth back from twitching at Rei's incredibly polite speech, Song Lei stepped inside.

"The others are not here yet," Rei said. Seeing Song Lei nod, she led him inside. "My apologies for not being able to brew you any tea."

"No problem," Song Lei said with a faint smile plastered onto his lips. 'It's my fault that you don't have any after all...' He inwardly muttered. Sitting around a table silently, Song Lei and Rei waited for the others to arrive.

When there were about ten minutes left, the door was knocked on. The one to come this time was Jin Ru. He seemed as reserved and introverted as always. Sitting down, he joined the silent waiting game. Without much time passing, Leon and Lukas also arrived. They subconsciously sat further away from Song Lei, leading him to be the only one to sit isolated. With everyone finally gathering, Song Lei decided to start.

"F- First of all, I want to hear if you have any specific requests you have," Song Lei said, stuttering his first word. 'Shit... Why did I stutter?' He questioned inside his head. He had slightly panicked, however, he didn't let it show on his face. From their expressions, the newbies didn't seem to notice anything weird.

Shortly after, Rei raised her hand. Song Lei nodded towards her to let her speak.

"I want some stuff to redesign my room but... I wonder if that's possible?" She asked. Song Lei nodded silently without saying anything. Whatever she wanted, he could probably buy them from his system.

"Really? You're not going to ask what I want?" Rei asked. She took out a paper and handed it to Song Lei. After taking it, Song Lei read through the list of the things she wanted.

"Hmm..." Song Lei hummed to himself as he raised his gaze towards Rei. There was a few different pieces of furniture written on the paper, alongside tatami mats of certain sizes. From what he could piece together, she was trying to turn this room into a Japanese-style tatami room. 'These should be pretty cheap...' He guessed. Everything pieced together, it probably wouldn't even cost more than a hundred blood beads.

"A- Are you sure that you want these?" Song Lei asked.

"It must be impossible, right..?" Rei muttered to herself dejectedly. 

"N- Not really. I can find all of them. However, I don't know how to place tatamis. You should deal with that on your own," Song Lei reminded. Unfortunately, he couldn't really stop himself from stuttering as he spoke. 'At least it isn't too severe...'

"No problem!" Nakajima Rei said with shining eyes. "I can deal with everything as long as you bring me all of the stuff written there."

"W- Well then, anything else?" Song Lei asked. Leon and Lukas looked at each other for a second, however, none of them seemed to want to speak. "I- If not, I shall start speaking about why I brought you here."

"F- First of all, I officially welcome you to the Hammer Branch of the Heaven Alliance. There are a few things that you have to know about the Heaven and Hell Apartment that you are currently inside."

"T- The most important one is to always remember this isn't a fully cleared apartment. There's always danger lurking around silently," Song Lei said as he inspected the reactions of the newbies. None of them seemed to be particularly distressed by his words.

"To avoid these dangers, you have to remember some rules. The first is, 'don't make too much noise outside of your rooms'. It will trigger a horde of ghosts that lust after your flesh. If you get caught... Well, you will at least die quickly," Song Lei explained. As he did so, the image of Xiang Yimu's room after he had been devoured appeared inside his head. In mere minutes, Xiang Yimu had been reduced to dust.

"The second: While going up and down the stairs, don't get too close to the walls or the railings. There are specifically drawn lines for you to follow," Song Lei said.

"What happens if we do?" Jin Ru asked. There didn't seem to be any malicious intent behind his words. Just genuine intrigue.

"Y- You will get swallowed. It's a bit hard to explain. You can just throw something to test it when you go out," Song Lei answered. Seeing that Jin Ru was satisfied, he continued.

"The next is, if you hear loud noises inside the apartment, go to your rooms, turn off the lights and wait without making any noises for at least one or two hours. You can also stay in one of the rooms on floor 7," Song Lei said. "In such a situation, I will probably be fighting on the upper floors. Trust me, the beings on the upper floors aren't entities you would want to trifle with."

"T- The last but most important is, never go higher than floor 14 on your own," Song Lei said. "If any of you want to do so, they should inform me about it. I may be able to show you around. However, I can't guarantee."

"You should also never, ever enter floor 13," Song Lei warned. As the image of the illusion created by the unknown being resonated inside his head, he hardly held himself back from shivering.

"T- That's about it," Song Lei finished talking. "You can leave your rooms three hours later and wander on your own. Don't go into random rooms if you don't have tools that can harm ethereal beings. Lower floors haven't been cleaned for a long time. You can meet ghosts and whatnot if you are unlucky."

Hearing that he was done, the newbies visibly relaxed. They were worried that Song Lei would restrict them a lot. However, he didn't seem to have such an intention. He also seemed genuinely worried about their well-being, making them warm up to him slightly.

"Y- You are dismissed for now. I will inform you myself if there is going to be a gathering," Song Lei said. The newbies were still wary of him. None of them seemed to have anything to say to him. So he decided to finish the gathering.

After all of them got up, he also left the room and headed upstairs to meet up with Aston....