Autophagy

Managing to hit the target, the instructor lowered his gun and turned back towards the trainees that were watching him with awe.

"And the second is the fact that they cost a lot of money. So take proper care of them," he said. These guns were made especially for the Eye Orphanage trainees. They had incredible long-range shooting capabilities for the time. With the Mk.2 version of the gun, all of the reliability issues the former version had disappeared, leaving an incredible sniper rifle.

If you disregarded the incredibly high production cost of the gun, it was almost fifty years ahead of its time. 

"For now, I will start by teaching about the parts of the rifle. You should know how to assemble and disassemble all kinds of firearms so that you can properly take care of it," the instructor said. He then started talking about all kinds of things about the rifle.

...

After the firearms lesson was over, all of Song Lei's dorm mates gathered. They would have an hour of free time.

"We thought of going to the ring today," Clark said. "Do you want to come along?"

"Sure," said Song Lei. He didn't think much about it and started walking alongside his dorm mates.

After walking for some time, they reached a separate building from section A's main building. It was smaller in size, however, it looked newer.

After entering the building, they walked to its northwest and gathered around one of the four fighting rings. It was a bit bigger than the one in section B. There were about ten people around it, watching two trainees fighting each other.

"Yeah. Umm..? What are we going to do here?" Song Lei asked.

"What? Obviously, we're going to train with the others," Clark said. "If you don't want to, you can just watch. Of course, if you get bored, you can do whatever you want."

"Hmm..." Song Lei thought. "I think I'll watch for some time," he said. Although he felt like he could somewhat take them on, he didn't want to get beaten up for no reason in case he couldn't.

"Sure," Clark said. They then went to the other's side. Clark quickly arranged himself a fight with a trainee of similar size. After the current ongoing one was over, both of them got up on the ring. They weren't wearing any protective gear. Song Lei wondered how they would make sure that they would be fine.

Shortly after, the fight began. Both of them started coming closer to each other while taking firm steps. One could hear their footsteps from quite a distance. Their normally cheerful demeanor was gone, replaced by a serene calmness. They looked like two predators that had nothing other than killing their opponent.

As the distance between them shortened, Clark sent an incredibly fast jab towards his opponent. Seeing the oncoming jab, the guy weaved perfectly and took a step forward. As they had gotten so close to each other, the guy went for a quick elbow strike to Clark's chest.

However, Clark had already prepared himself for the upcoming counter-attack since he had missed his own. Guessing the trajectory of the elbow strike, he turned around in his place. Although the elbow strike did connect with him, because of his movements, it did minimal to no damage.

His opponent wasn't expecting Clark to be able to mitigate the damage in such a way, so he was slightly out of balance. Utilizing this opening, Clark wrapped his arms around his opponent's neck and took him in a reverse neck choke.

Seeing that he had been locked, his opponent instantly tapped Clark's arm. Seeing that he had surrendered, Clark let him go. There wasn't a meaning to continue this fight. There wasn't an expression of sadness or anger on his face. He just slightly backed out and started getting ready for the next fight.

Seeing the fight end, Song Lei took a deep breath in.

'I think I did the right choice by not fighting,' he thought. If he were to fight Clark, he would probably instantly lose.

"They're good right?" Aston said to Song Lei. His sudden appearance made Song Lei slightly jump in his place. Maybe because he was focusing on the fight, Song Lei hadn't felt Aston coming up to him.

"Yeah. I don't think I would be able to beat them even if I were to fight them 100 times," Song Lei said. Although he had great battle senses as the instructor had said, he wouldn't be able to match these people in technique.

"That's normal. These two are the greatest fighters amongst the current batch of trainees," Aston explained.

"Is that so..?" Song Lei muttered to himself.

"Are you sure you don't want to give it a try?" Aston asked. "The others aren't as good as them. You don't have to worry."

"Hmm..." Song Lei was seriously contemplating. Albeit his weak body, his mind was telling him to join in the fight. With time, he was becoming more and more like a battle junkie. "I think I'll still pass."

"Whatever you say..." Aston muttered and went away.

Song Lei used the rest of his time watching people fight each other. Just like Aston had said, Clark and his opponent were exceptional. None of the other trainees would be able to match them in technique. However, Rufus would probably overpower them in pure strength.

As the CQC training started, Song Lei stood against Aston. Everyone was matched with their dorm mates. Because Clark and Rufus were much stronger than both of them, Aston and Song Lei would be matched against each other.

Their instructor would guide everyone one by one. In these three hours, Song Lei learned a lot. He was like a sponge, sucking in all the knowledge and guidance given to him by his instructor and adapting his fighting style.

He felt that this class was one of the most important ones. It would be useful both in the dream space and in the New World. Knowing how to fight fist to fist would be important to Song Lei.

After the class and dinner were over, Song Lei decided to go to the library in his leftover time. He wanted to read some books. After all, it looked like he would spend a long time in this dream space. The amount of time he had spent in Isabel's dream space would probably be minimal compared to the one he would eventually spend here.

As the time neared 22:00, Song Lei left the library and went back to his dorm room. Rufus and Clark were already in their bed, sleeping soundly even though the lights were on. Aston was sitting in his study, silently trying to put something together. Wondering what he was doing, Song Lei walked towards him.

"What are you doing?" Song Lei asked while slightly bending forward to take a look. There were a few chemicals, metals, and plastic laying around all over the table. Hearing, Song Lei's question, Aston kept looking at what he was working on. After thirty silent seconds of awkwardness, he finally answered.

"Bombs," Aston said shortly. Song Lei's mouth slightly twitched after hearing Aston's answer.

"Do they really let you do that?" Song Lei asked.

"As long as I don't blow up the place? Yeah," Aston said. Song Lei facepalmed and decided to not pry further into this topic. He didn't want to disturb Aston more, as he feared that that would distract him and make him blow up the place.

As the curfew bell rang, both of them laid down on their beds. Song Lei went into sleep while listening to the soft breathing of his roommates...

...

In the middle of the night, Song Lei woke up to sounds of scratchings and moaning. He instantly got up from his place and looked around the room. Because he had woken up from an emergency, his mind was bursting with alertness. He looked around the room and saw a few silhouettes wandering around. However, those quickly disappeared.

'I haven't fully woken up yet,' Song Lei thought. Because he had woken up so suddenly, his mind was still half asleep. As those silhouettes disappeared from his sight, Song Lei sighed a breath of relief. 'Must've been the wind.'

Just as he was about to go back to sleep, he realized that those scratching and moaning were still going on.

'Hm?' Song Lei stopped and looked around the room once again. His roommates' beds were empty. They were gone. 'Shit. What is happening?' Song Lei did his best to guess what was happening, however, he couldn't.

Having no choice left, Song Lei carefully and silently descended the ladder. A creaking noise resounded as his feet connected with the ground.

Not knowing what was going on, he decided to look out of the window the get an understanding of the situation.

Walking up to the window, Song Lei slightly pulled aside the curtains, creating a small crack that he could look out from. As he peeked out of the window, a frown appeared on his face.

"Great...."