Autophagy

"Just follow along," Song Lei answered. He held Aston's arm and started running towards the place their fight against three Section C trainees had taken place. It didn't take them long to reach there as they were pretty fast runners.

"Act quick. Take off their clothes," he said. Aston's face soured for a second, then he realized what Song Lei was trying to do. They stripped the unconscious trainees and wore their clothes.

"Wait... Wouldn't they understand that we are not infected?" Aston asked. "I remember those three from the hot spring being able to discern us from the soul worms at a single glance."

"We'll only be utilizing the chaos. There's no need to be in complete disguise," Song Lei said while pulling his pants up. "Even if they understand we're not from Section C, it will be too late for them."

"Okay then..." Aston muttered without inquiring further. They kept their pace and ran back to the base. Section C and A were having a fierce battle. Section A's numbers were constantly dwindling against the human wave tactics of Section C.

Clark seemed to be distressed with the fact that he was about to lose his everything. He would occasionally fight against a few trainees all on his own and then pull back to rain orders on the other trainees.

"We have to act quick," Song Lei said. "Create chaos."

"What?" Aston asked. He couldn't understand what Song Lei was saying. Song Lei gave him a glance and repeated.

"Create chaos. The means don't matter. As long as you can create chaos, I'll make us win," he said. "Make sure to not get close to any Section C trainees. You'll be sniffed out if you do. We'll separate here now."

Aston nodded without asking anything and went off in a different direction. Song Lei knew that Aston could handle his task, so he had no worries on that aspect.

After separating from Aston, Song Lei started walking through the base carefully. He would avoid coming in close contact with Section C trainees. That way, they wouldn't be able to differentiate him from themselves. Not all the Section C trainees were participating in the ongoing battle. About fifty of them were patrolling through the base to make sure they weren't ambushed from behind. 

Some of them were also deployed on the premises of the encampment to make sure no one escaped from the enemy side. Walking through the base, Song Lei reached the place he had been searching for.

He stood in front of a tent that was slightly bigger than a normal one. This tent was being used as coal storage. Naturally, Section A trainees would need to keep themselves warm during the nights. To do that, they would create a few campfires all around the encampment. However, they would need to be careful to make sure they didn't start wildfires. Although the danger was a bit lower because of the winter, it was still there.

A wide smile appeared on Song Lei's face. He looked around to see if any patrols were near the area. Seeing that there were none, he picked up a few coals and started distributing them to a few different tents. These tents were also made from flammable material.

He would occasionally have to take out a few trainees, however, none of them were able to alert others before getting knocked out. This was like a weird training session for Song Lei that he would continuously train his one-hit knock-out skills.

After making sure that everything was ready, he used the knowledge he had learned in their classes. All of the trainees would be taught advanced camping skills as they could be needed in a wide variety of situations. Song Lei was no different. He quickly started a small fire using a few sticks that he had found lying around.

The small fire started spreading quickly with the preparations Song Lei had made. In no time, the small, spark-like fire became like the sun slowly enveloping the earth. Song Lei had to escape, as Section C trainees' attentions would be gathered here in no time.

Hopefully, this, alongside whatever Aston would do, would divert at least some attention from the battle. After making sure that the fire had spread enough, Song Lei returned to a pre-determined location that they had decided on together with Aston. Aston was already waiting for him there.

"What did you do?" Song Lei asked.

"You told me to create chaos so I just did that," Aston said. "I started a fire."

"What?" Song Lei asked. "Ugh... On which side of the base?"

"North," Aston answered.

"Well, that's okay. Let's proceed to our second plan," Song Lei said without pondering on the fact that he and Aston had thought exactly the same idea.

After making sure that the enemy's attention had been diverted, Song Lei and Aston hurried back to the place that the battle was going on. As expected, the Section C trainee's numbers had gone down to one hundred fifty because of the fire. What they wanted was mainly the information in the base.

They had come here so that they could steal every bit of knowledge and plan from Section A. If all of them were burnt down to the ground, they would fail this mission. For this reason, they had to spend a huge part of their forces to keep the fire under control. On the contrary, Song Lei could count about one hundred and twenty trainees on Section A's side. This was more than enough for what he needed.

Section A's forces had their back towards the forest. As long as Song Lei and Aston were careful enough, they would be able to reach them. For now, though, they needed to clear the forest from enemy forces that were lying in wait. Fortunately, this was something that Song Lei and Aston had gotten used to.

The enemy was split into a few groups made up of two people each. All of them were taken down without being able to inform others as Song Lei and Aston traversed the forest like two ghosts. Wherever they went, the muffled noise of flesh hitting flesh would resound. Then two bodies would drop down on the ground before they proceeded to their next target.

In no time, they managed to take down all the ambush forces the enemy had. Song Lei took out a few circular balls that seemed to be wrapped up by bandages and gave them to Aston.

"I'm ready," Aston said. Song Lei nodded.

"Wait for my signal," he ordered Aston. Seeing Aston confirm by nodding, Song Lei left the forest and went to Clark's side.

"What!? Lewis? Were you the one who set the camp on fire?" Clark asked with a tinge of anger in his voice. Song Lei disregarded the fact that he was being disrespected by a worm and calmed him down.

"Calm down. When I give the signal, pull your men back to the forest and make them climb the trees," Song Lei ordered Clark. He couldn't care less about what Clark had to say, so he silenced him before he could retort. "Don't worry. I have something to gain out of this too. If you trust me, you'll be the winner."

Seeing the confidence in Song Lei's voice, Clark was surprised. He had never seen Song Lei act with so much confidence. As this was a first, he decided to put his hopes into his enemy.

"Okay," he said.

Seeing Clark agree, Song Lei sighed a breath of relief and turned his head towards the place Aston laid in wait. He raised his hand and gave Aston the signal.

In less than five seconds, more than ten circular silhouettes came out of the forest, flying and dropping towards the middle of the battlefield. All of them burst into a veil of smoke at the same time, covering the whole battlefield. No one could see past their hands. Amidst this chaos, a crisp voice resounded.

"Pull back woods climb trees!" Clark shouted. This was a language that Section A trainees had created between them. Although it was very basic, it was enough to convey their plans during such a time. Hearing the orders, all of the Section A trainees pulled back into the woods and climbed the trees without being seen with the help of the smokescreen. After everyone concealed themselves in the forest, the smokescreen started dissipating.

Aston and Song Lei were on the branches of a tree too. At the moment, the only thing that they could do was to wait and hope that Section C would send their forces to chase them.

After waiting for a minute, Song Lei and Aston's prayers were accepted. More than one hundred trainees from Section C started traversing the forest without any care in the world. None of them were able to notice the danger that was lying in wait just a few meters above them.

After seeing that the enemy had fallen to their trap like a group of rats, Clark's crisp voice resounded across the forest once again.

"Take them down...!"