Autophagy

"Everything seems to be normal," Song Lei said after taking a look at the ongoing festival. Aston smiled widely.

"That's great then. Tonight, we shall start our new plans," he muttered. Carefully, they packed their tools up and slightly opened the door of their room. They both looked outside to the corridor while hiding their bodies behind the door.

The darkness had covered the whole corridor. This eerie darkness felt like it was hiding something from both of them, however, they couldn't see what it was. Throwing aside this unnecessary restlessness from their mind, both of them left the room carefully.

Fortunately, nothing popped out from the darkness and tried to attack them. After getting out on the corridor, they both turned around so that the nearest wall would be to their left. They then put their hands on the wall and started walking. While doing so, they also held each other's hands to make sure that they weren't taken out without the other's notice.

After walking for a minute, they managed to reach the staircase. These stairs were wide enough that eight to ten people could pass at the same time. Just as they were about to start ascending the stairs to reach their destination, Song Lei heard a slight footstep coming from the lower floors.

Instantly, they took a few steps backward and crouched down to the floor, becoming just another shadow in the dark corridor. Amidst the darkness, they looked like a clump of clothes that would look more like a shadow demon when it was in the dark.

As the footsteps came closer and closer, both Song Lei and Aston held their breaths. Shortly after, a silhouette that was nearly 1.8 meters came down from the stairs. The silhouette had slump shoulders and a slumped-over head. He looked like he was sleepwalking.

The silhouette stopped and smelled the air for some time. Song Lei and Aston could clearly hear his rapid and loud breathing. After smelling the air for nearly half a minute, the silhouette turned around and headed towards the lower floors.

After being sure that he was gone, Song Lei and Aston let go of their breathing. After calming down and recuperating for half a minute, they both got up and started walking up the stairs.

After every step, they would wait for a few seconds to make sure that their footsteps were the only ones around. They were worried that there would be someone other than them on the stairs and they wouldn't be able to hear their footsteps because of theirs.

Because of this, them going to the next floor took five long minutes. After stepping onto the new floor, an extremely horrid stench filled their noses. It was bearable for Song Lei, however, the same couldn't be told for Aston. He had to pinch his nose and breathe little by little to get used to the horrid stench.

Song Lei couldn't put a finger on what this smell was made of. He could pick signs of the metallic blood smell. At the same time, he could also figure out the fishy smell of semen. All mixed up with a smell that was similar to that of a rotten egg, a stench that could be able to make any normal person puke in seconds was created.

Moreso, this floor, which was the uppermost floor, was much more loud compared to theirs. There were all kinds of noises coming from different rooms. Moanings, shrill screams, and evil laughter resounded in the corridor, masking any other noise that would appear. Song Lei was incredibly surprised that these noises didn't reach their floor.

Another thing to note was the fact that this floor had a distinctly different design to theirs. While their floor had yellowish walls, this one had pure white walls. While there were all kinds of decorations laid out here and there on their floor, this whole floor was empty, as if someone was deliberately trying to make this place devoid of furniture.

'Hmm...'

Song Lei tried to think about why someone would try to make a place devoid of furniture. After thinking about it for a few seconds, a light bulb went off inside Song Lei's head. Usually, mental asylums would avoid having furniture that the patients could use to hurt themselves. This place looked exactly like that to Song Lei.

As Aston managed to recover, he got up and patted Song Lei's shoulder, indicating that he was okay. As they stepped deeper into the corridor, Song Lei felt a chilly wind pass by. He tried to look for the source of this wind, however, he couldn't find it. Disregarding this, he kept walking together with Aston.

Finally, they managed to reach their destination. Room 1814... They put their ears on the door and listened for any noises that could be coming from inside the room. It was a bit hard to distinguish which noise was coming from where.

After listening for two minutes and deciding that there were no noises, Song Lei slightly knocked on the door. If they were on the lower floor, this knock would echo all throughout the corridor and alert any worm-infected person that was nearby. Fortunately, all the noises that were resounding on this floor kept such a thing from happening.

After waiting for another minute, the door was opened. They both entered the room and closed the door behind them.

"So you guys managed to really come huh?" Marcus said. He was one of the people that were unaffected by the worms. He would always wake up in the night because of all the noises and would have to wait for them to end till 3 a.m. This was truly a hellish experience for him. After all, they had an incredibly tiring schedule that people wouldn't be able to keep up with without proper sleep.

"Yes we did," Song Lei said. "We were almost caught by one of them."

"That would've been bad," Marcus said. "We don't know what they would do to you."

"It's a bit complicated," Aston suddenly said.

"What is?" Song Lei asked. He was puzzled.

"What they would do, it's complicated," Aston explained. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and continued by saying, "In my time here, I've discovered some facts about their behavior patterns," he started explaining. "I think it scales according to their infection rate and their acceptance of the infection rate."

"What do those two mean?" Marcus asked. Song Lei was wondering the same thing too.

"Infection rate is about how much worm is attached to their souls at the same time," Asten explained patiently. "Infection acceptance is a bit different though. These worms attach to their souls and make them bring out their carnal and most inner deep desires. As long as the host accepts their desires and becomes one with the worms, they would be able to keep their sanity."

"Is that the reason why Clark is almost exactly the same as how he is during the day?" Song Lei asked.

"Probably," Aston said. "However, Clark is very special in this aspect. These worms go to sleep when the morning comes, taking the host's memories about the festival with them. Clark is so infected and is so synchronized with his desires that he is even able to bypass that."

"What does infection rate do then?" Marcus asked. He sat down on his bed.

"I am not certain, however, I think it has to do something with the hierarchy between them," Aston said. "You know how Clark is their god? I think it's because of this. And I think that the infection rate has to surpass the host's soul's endurance. I don't know what exactly makes us stronger against those worms, however, that seems to be the most reasonable explanation."

"I understand everything you just said," Song Lei started talking. "However, I don't understand one thing. Why are all these things happening? What do these worms gain by making them do this?"

"I don't think they're doing it intentionally," Marcus said while holding his chin.

"That's what I think too," Aston said. "I think it's just a side product of their existence. They just attach themselves to people's souls and probably suck them out. They're parasites."

"That means..." Song Lei muttered while thinking deeply.

"That means that they may die because of the worm infection in near time," Aston finished Song Lei's words. "However, that's if we assume that they don't kill each other before that. Although the worms give their bodies superior regeneration, it doesn't make them immortal," Aston said. He scratched his cheek and continued by saying, "We wasted a lot of time talking about these things. Marcus, here."

Aston took out his box and opened it. Inside it was another syringe that was filled with the purple medicine Aston had created.

"What is this?" Marcus said. He took the syringe and looked at it skeptically.

"This is a medicine," Aston explained. "Once those worms enter the body, they turn into ethereal beings. This can force them to take shape and push them out of the body."

Hearing Aston's words, Marcus' expression changed slightly. He looked at the syringe in his hand for some time.

"Shit..." He muttered. "Well, whatever," he said. He then stabbed the syringe to his neck....