Autophagy

After all of them managed to beat their opponents, they formed a circle to decide on what they would do next. Compared to Song Lei, the other two had suffered heavy injuries. Although their injuries weren't anything permanent, the trainees' consciousness seemed to be wavering.

Seeing their current state, Song Lei sighed deeply. If in some way, a new fight broke out, he knew that these two wouldn't be able to put up a fight.

"What is exactly going on?" Song Lei asked the two. He didn't bother asking their names as he was pretty sure he would forget them in no time.

"Were you sleeping the entire evening?" One of the trainees asked while rubbing his temples. Seeing Song Lei nod, the other one started explaining for him.

"You know how Section C is made up of problematic people, right?" he said. "They decided to attack and beat us."

"What? Why?" Song Lei asked. He couldn't think of any reasons for people to do such a thing.

"As far as we know, they don't get as good of an education as us," the other trainee said. He had ripped a piece out from the currently unconscious section C trainee's clothes and was using it as a bandage to wrap around his head. "And they don't get the same amount of resources as us. For example, their foods are worse and their training equipment is old."

"Hmm..."

Song Lei held his chin and started thinking about their words. For some reason, he still couldn't understand their reasoning. What would they do? Would they beat them to the ground and steal their resources after conquering their section?

'Is this some kind of real-time strategy game..? This doesn't make sense...' Song Lei sighed in his head. "And how do we stop them from attacking us again and again?" he asked.

"Well... Currently, there is something like a war between sections A and C," one of the trainees said. "The orphanage doesn't seem to care as long as we don't use real weapons or kill each other. So we just knock and tie them up."

'Huh... Is this some kind of weird training set up by the orphanage?' Song Lei wondered. The most plausible explanation he could think of was this. Discarding these thoughts, he cracked his knuckles and turned his head towards the other two trainees.

"Hey. You guys should go and rest," Song Lei said. "You won't be able to fight anymore. I'll go and help other people."

"Sure. See you around," one of the trainees said. He helped his other friend get up and started walking towards the exit of the forest. After watching them walk away for some time, Song Lei sighed and turned towards the four unconscious Section C trainees.

He walked to their side and started inspecting their bodies. After spending about twelve minutes searching their bodies, Song Lei realized that there was a small bump on their napes. Although it was unnoticeable to the eye, he could feel it when he touched it with his hands.

Wondering what it was, he pressed on it harder and crushed it.

"AAHHH!"

As soon as the bump was crushed, the unconscious trainee woke up and started shouting like crazy. His body was flailing around as his eyes were bloodshot. Song Lei took a few steps back and hid in nearby bushes. He was being cautious as this much noise could pull a lot of people to their side.

After screaming for a whole minute, the trainee stopped doing so. His whole body was covered in sweat and he was gasping for air. Seeing that he was still unconscious, Song Lei sighed.

'Wait... He didn't die, right?' A streak of thought ran through Song Lei's mind. He quickly ran to the trainee's side and checked his pulse. 'Oh... He's alive...'

Seeing that there weren't any problems, Song Lei bound them onto a wide tree's trunk and left to search for other people. Although the forest was still noisy, it wasn't as bad compared to the time he first came.

'More and more people must be getting knocked out,' Song Lei thought. What he was wondering the most was the whereabouts of Aston. After all, Song Lei couldn't imagine him willingly going to fight these savages.

After following the noises for some time, Song Lei reached another instance of a fight between ten people. As both sides were equally numbered, Song Lei's arrival quickly broke the status quo and lead the fight to its end.

Fortunately, he was able to meet someone he properly knew this time.

"Hey, Zac!" Song Lei said while waving his hand. As Zac saw him, he smiled and calmly walked to his side.

"Welcome, Lewis. I didn't think that you would be here. You seemed to be in pretty bad condition yesterday after all..." Zac said worriedly. Song Lei smiled at him. Albeit being one of Clark's lackeys, Zac wasn't a bad person. If he were to disregard the fact that he would go crazy every night under the effects of the soul worm, he was a good friend of Song Lei.

"I'm good now. When I didn't see anyone around, I was worried and managed to come here," Song Lei said. He looked around the place and continued by saying, "What is the current situation?"

"It doesn't seem to be going well..." Zac said while scratching the back of his head apologetically. He signaled his friends to tie up their unconscious opponents and continued by saying, "I think Clark and his team are doing very well... However, the rest doesn't seem to be that way."

"I can imagine that..." Song Lei thought while holding his chin. With the frenzy state section C trainees had, they could easily get an advantage over them.

"Are you guys done with your jobs?" Zac turned around and said to his friends. They had already tied up their enemies. "Good job, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Song Lei asked curiously. Zac's friends were carrying their enemies like luggage.

"Where? Back to our base of course. We have to bring these people there. How will they go back to their section if we don't?" Zac said while raising one of his brows. Song Lei smiled awkwardly and didn't say anything further.

'I'm sure they can find a way themselves...' He thought. After everyone was done with their jobs, they departed for the base.

"Where is this base that you're talking about?" Song Lei asked. Zac slightly turned his head to look at Song Lei.

"It's in the east of the forest. I think Clark is there too. He would be happy to see you," Zac said. For most of the other people, Song Lei's best friend was Clark. Whenever they saw him, he would be together with Clark. After all, Song Lei and Aston usually met in hidden places that were devoid of other people.

"How did you guys even prepare this stuff?" Song Lei asked. It had been less than half a day since the war had started. It was true that the trainees were really skilled on various topics, however, he still couldn't understand how almost all of the orphanage would be so ready for this war that was going on.

"What? Oh, so you didn't know..." Zac muttered. "Well... Most of the people learned it yesterday night. However, at that time, you were still sleeping, so no one could tell you."

"Huh... That still doesn't explain much," Song Lei said.

"Wait for me to finish," Zac answered Song Lei's retort calmly. "Clark had insider knowledge on the situation. He had been preparing for this situation with a few of his friends..."

"What? Were you not included in that group of friends?" Song Lei asked. When he examined Zac's face carefully, he saw a bitter smile on his face.

"Unfortunately, no. It seems like Clark doesn't trust me enough..." Zac muttered. Song Lei acted like he was disappointed, however, he was actually amused by this situation. When they produced those soul weapons, Zac would be one of the first people they would cleanse and make him turn to their side.

As their conversation came to an end, Song Lei saw an opening between the trees. Compared to the opening before, this one was much bigger with a diameter of nearly sixty meters. There were tents scattered around the place and most of the trainees that had disappeared were going from one to the other. They seemed to be in a hurry.

"We have arrived," Zac said. He opened his arms to his sides and welcomed Song Lei. "This is our base."

"It looks pretty cool," Song Lei said while scratching his cheek. Amidst the tents was a one with a bigger size, nearly five times the size of a normal one. Pointing towards it, Song Lei asked, "Is that the main tent? Clark must be there..."

"Yes, it is. Let's go," Zac said. He held Song Lei's arm and started pulling him towards Clark's side....