Autophagy

After finishing his jog, Song Lei decided to take a bath. He went back to the base and asked the scout team for any nearby water sources that he could bathe in. Seeing that Song Lei was going for a bath, Aston tagged along as they both walked towards the direction the scouts showed them.

They had to walk for five minutes until the surroundings started getting filled with water vapor. They had to get closer to make sure that they didn't lose each other in the thick fog. It was a bit awkward that this place was covered with such thick fog. Fortunately, they manage to reach their destination after another few minutes of walking.

Song Lei and Aston looked at the hot spring that was spitting out steam like an engine. They could assume that all the fog in the area was caused by it, however, it didn't seem very possible.

"Isn't it a bit weird that this place has a hot spring?" Song Lei asked. Aston didn't know how to answer as he wasn't exactly sure bout the whereabouts of the orphanage.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "Let's survey the area and find out if there is anything dangerous before entering."

"Mm," Song Lei nodded. Before they could depart, however, their target appeared in front of their eyes. Song Lei instantly went into alarm mode and got ready to fight. "Why are you guys here?"

In front of them were three Section C trainees. They all had naturally angry-looking faces. Song Lei was intimidated by their presence.

"What?" One of those trainees said. They all seemed very confused with Song Lei. "Don't you know the rules?"

"What rules?" Song Lei asked.

"This is the neutral zone," a trainee said. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Wherever the fog is, it is a neutral zone. We just came here to have a bath."

"Oh..." Song Lei didn't exactly know what to say. Although he still didn't trust them completely, he guessed that they wouldn't lie about such a thing. "Sorry then."

Section C trainees didn't answer Song Lei and started taking their clothes off. Aston and Song Lei looked at each other and decided that there wasn't a need to patrol the area if it was a neutral area. So they followed Section C trainees and went into the spring.

"Hmm..."

Song Lei had to hold back a moan as the hot water felt incredibly good on his skin. Normally, in the orphanage, they all took showers with ice-cold water. Now that he was able to get in touch with hot water, he felt all the exhaustion getting washed away. Unfortunately, he couldn't fully relax because of the situation he currently was in. He cast a slightly angry glance towards the Section C trainees that were on the other side of the hot spring.

Compared to him, they seemed to be pretty relaxed. They were just sitting without talking with each other.

One of them felt Song Lei's gaze and turned his head towards him.

"So you guys are uninfected?" He suddenly blurted out. Both Song Lei and Aston's attention was piqued instantly. "I mean... It's pretty weird that those worms let you guys live amongst them. I thought that they would puke into your mouths day and night to make you one of them."

"Umm... We have pretty good resistance against them so they don't bother with us. I guess..?" Song Lei said. Just like those trainees, he was clueless about the reason why soul worms gave them such leeway.

"That must be nice," one of the trainees said. "I'm Finn by the way."

"I'm Walter," another one said. Weirdly, they all had similar appearances to one another with dark eyes and jet-black hair. Thinking about it, Song Lei realized that it was the same for every other trainee from Section C.

'Maybe the neural spiders affect their appearances...' Song Lei guessed. His thoughts were cut off by the other trainee introducing himself.

"I'm Mylo. What are your names?" The trainee said. Song Lei was actually surprised by their sudden introduction, however, he didn't let it show on his face.

"I'm Lewis and this is Aston," Song Lei introduced. Weirdly, these people seemed much more docile than he expected. He had initially assumed that Section C trainees were all savages that couldn't hold a normal conversation without starting fights. Now, however, he realized that wasn't the case.

"Nice to meet you guys. Well still, if we meet on the battlefield, we won't be giving you any leeway," the trainee name Walter said. Song Lei chuckled at his notion as he probably wouldn't need any leeways.

After Walter's last sentence, nobody talked again. Eventually, the three trainees from Section C waved goodbye and left the hot spring. Song Lei and Aston were the only ones left.

"What do you think?" Song Lei asked as soon as the three trainees disappeared from their sights.

"They seem much more civilized than I expected," Aston said. "And they don't seem like they're completely devoid of human emotions. Maybe it is because of the sun. From what I know, although not as much as it does against soul worms, it has weakening effects on neural spiders," he said while crossing his arms in front of his chest. "This encounter has been very advantageous for us. Hopefully, we get the chance to interact with them again."

"That's right..." Song Lei muttered while lifting his head. Although the steam coming out of the hot spring blocked his sight, he could still somewhat see the blue sky. After staring at it dazedly for some time, Song Lei snapped out of his daze and looked at Aston. "Should we go back?"

"That would be a good idea," Aston said before leaving the hot spring. He dried himself with a towel and put on his clothes. Song Lei followed along and repeated his actions. Shortly after, they both departed from the hot spring to go back to their base...

...

"What do you think?" The department head asked. This person was the incredibly average-looking director of the Eye Orphanage. He was the person who pulled the strings in a big part of the Eye Organization and a long-time friend of the leader Poison Eye.

"No matter how I look at it, they don't act like spies," Otto reported. "However, they don't exactly seem like normal trainees too."

"In what way?" The department head asked Otto while holding his chin between his hands.

"Their actions... They're both geniuses, truth be told. Especially that Aston kid, he is like a monster," Otto said. "He is incredibly smart at sciences and is cold-blooded. He can keep thinking analytically in almost any situation."

"That's interesting..." The department head muttered. He stretched his back for a second and started spinning a pen between his fingers. "How is the war going between the children? Which side do you think will win?"

"Honestly, Section A seems to be the advantageous side," Otto said.

"Now that's unexpected," the department head said while raising one of his brows. "Weren't all of those statistics showing that Section C would win? Even I thought that they would be the side that would come out on top..."

"That kid called Lewis seems to have blended into Section A properly. He even gave them help. I think that was the reason why Section A gained the upper hand," Otto said. The department head's ears arched up with interest.

"This experiment has been going very well. You can expect a raise soon," he said. "How are the researchers? Are they able to gather enough data from the battlefield?"

"Yes sir. They have been able to record almost every single event that has happened. This war you've arranged hasn't been in vain," Otto reported. A wide smile appeared on the department head's face.

"That's good then. When we are finished with the experiment, we'll be able to produce the best super soldiers that have ever existed," he said. "You can leave now. I will think about some things. Let's go drinking this evening."

"Of course sir," Otto said before leaving the department head's room.

When the department head heard the door's click, he opened one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out a document. On it was all kinds of information about a certain trainee.

"Lewis..." The department head muttered while reading through the document. He had been interested in this particular trainee for a long time. He turned the page and another trainee's information appeared. 'And Aston...' He thought. 'They're lucky for being able to meet each other. If they hadn't neither would've been able to graduate from this place amidst these monsters.'

After reading through the documents a few more times, he threw them back into his drawer and shut it close. He then got up and slightly pulled on the white blinds that were attached to the windows to peek out of it. After looking out of the window for some time, a creepy grin appeared on his face.

"Keep entertaining me...."