Autophagy

*BANG

"And that's another one for our unbeaten champion!" Zac shouted. His voice resounded in the whole building, traveling to the ears of more than a hundred spectators. Song Lei took a step back and wiped the sweat off of his face as he took deep breaths. 

A towel flew in the air and hit Song Lei's face. Song Lei stopped using his hand to wipe his face and changed to the towel.

In these five months, Song Lei had been fighting on this ring every night to satisfy Clark. Although Song Lei didn't want to get used by Clark in the beginning, he quickly realized that this was benefitting him too. With the five months that had passed, he had become incredibly adept at CQC. Pairing all the classes he took with these fights he had every night, he had managed to beat the third best fighter in the whole orphanage, taking his place.

And that wasn't all. Lewis' body looked more like a skeleton with skin rather than a proper human the first time Song Lei had gotten into the dream space. Now, however, his body had gotten much taller in only five months, becoming nearly 1.8 meters. He had also gotten much more muscular. Although not bulky, his body had nicely shaped abs and obliques paired with strong arms and legs.

Moreso, he had gained some of the most lacking things about him. Knowledge... In these five months, he was able to take in the knowledge handed by his instructors and teachers like a sponge. From survival in the wild to basic science and psychology, Song Lei had been educated in countless topics.

He had also become very skilled at handling firearms, nearing the skills of a professional sharpshooter.

However, obviously, he had to sacrifice some things to achieve such things.

'My body is breaking down...' He thought. His eyes had noticeably big bags under them. In these last five months, he would always keep awake to make sure that nothing happened to him and Aston during their sleep time. Although Aston offered to take over the guard duty, Song Lei rejected that offer.

He didn't want Aston's thinking capabilities to lessen even a little bit. Because in these last five months, Aston had managed to invent all kinds of things. Proper sleep played an incredibly important place in creative thinking. Song Lei wanted him to keep producing at full speed. However, Song Lei knew that he couldn't keep on going like this. Two hours of sleep a day was much less than any human could live with. This was the same for Song Lei.

"Today is our star's last match of the month!" Zac shouted. The audience went quiet and started listening to him. "He will be fighting our orphanage's second strongest trainee! Lucas!"

As Zac announced the name, the whole audience broke out into cheers. As Song Lei and a bunch of other trainees kept having CQC matches in this place, it got more and more popular, eventually becoming one of the most frequented entertainment ways in the orphanage.

After the crowd's cheering calmed down and turned into occasional chatters, Zac continued his speech.

"Lucas has been the runner-up since he came here!" Zac said while pointing his finger towards Lucas. "No one other than Clark, the god of fighting, has been able to beat him! Will our rising star with no losses be able to keep his streak against him? Or will he succumb to Lucas' strength?! Here's Lucas, The Quicksilver!"

As Zac's announcement came to an end, Lucas jumped up onto the ring. Compared to the first time Song Lei had seen him fight against Clark, he had become much bigger in size. Song Lei knew that Lucas had been training non-stop, trying to reach the level of Clark. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't be able to do so.

Song Lei and Lucas walked towards each other and stood face to face. There were three meters between them.

"I'm sorry Lewis. But I will have to beat you," Lucas said calmly. "After all, there's no one who can beat me other than Clark."

"We'll see about that," Song Lei said. He yawned loudly and slapped himself on both of his cheeks to gather his focus. Beating Lucas wouldn't be easy even if he was in tiptop condition. With his tired state, he was at an absolute disadvantage.

"3!" Zac shouted. Song Lei clenched his fists.

"2!" Zac shouted again. This time, the crowd accompanied him. 

"1!"

Song Lei raised his fist and got into a boxing stance while pulling his right leg back.

"Start!"

As soon as Zac finished counting down, Song Lei and Lucas kicked off the ground. The three meters between them seemed like it was nonexistent because of their speed, as they quickly got into close range. They were both throwing jabs at each other while weaving and dodging the other's punches.

For now, neither Song Lei nor Lucas acted carelessly. They were trying to measure each other and see what the opponent could do. They both knew that their opponents were formidable.

This stalemate of punches went on for half a minute before they took a few steps back. After taking a few breaths and gathering their strength, they both charged at each other again. This time, Lucas had begun his signature move.

The audience usually called it the quicksilver dash. Lucas would start charging into his opponent while doing some movements that made him look slow and steady, flowing like quicksilver. Although it was enough to deceive untrained eyes, in front of Song Lei, it looked more like a small gimmick.

Quickly figuring out the flow of Lucas' movements, Song Lei sent a jab. Although it looked like he was punching randomly, his fist met Lucas' chest, pushing him back a few steps.

Seeing Lucas get pushed back, the whole audience started cheering for Song Lei. As the underdog, he was obviously the crowd's favorite.

"You're good," Lucas muttered. He knew the flaws in his technique and was surprised that Song Lei could figure out and utilize those flaws so quickly. "However, it isn't enough," he said. After finishing his words, took two wide steps.

Because of his long legs and strong muscles, he was able to close the distance between him and Song Lei incredibly quickly. Seeing his enemy come closer to him, Song Lei decided to go all-in as well. If he tried to escape Lucas, he would catch up to him without any problems. If he wanted to get an advantage, he would have to come even closer to him.

Because Song Lei and Lucas stepped towards each other at the same time, the distance between them instantly fell to zero. Song Lei grabbed Lucas' clothes and threw him into the air while using his own body as a leverage point.

After being thrown, Lucas somersaulted in the air and stepped on the ground with perfect balance. Currently, Song Lei and Lucas looked more like they were putting up a show, nonetheless, it was enough for the audience to break into another wave of cheers.

For Song Lei and Lucas, those cheers faded away into the distance as they got more and more into the zone. Their senses were being enhanced by the adrenaline running through their veins.

Deciding that prolonging the fight wouldn't be good, both Song Lei and Lucas charged towards each other for one last attack. During this whole match, the only hit that had landed was a single punch of Song Lei that didn't have much effect on Lucas. Now, however, they would instantly decide the match's winner.

As the distance between them closed, they both sent two incredibly fast punches towards each other. There was so much force behind those two punches that anyone in the crowd could easily hear them whizz.

Song Lei looked at the upcoming full-force jab towards his face and slightly weaved. Lucas reacted in the exact same way as Song Lei. Unfortunately for him, this would mark his loss. Lucas' punch whizzed past Song Lei's head, even taking a few strands of hair with it. Song Lei's punch, however, suddenly changed its trajectory in the air and followed where Lucas had dodged.

Not expecting Song Lei to be able to do such an absurd thing, Lucas was caught off-guard. The last thing he saw was Song Lei's punch nearing his face in slow motion. Shortly after, he felt a huge force coming down on his face, instantly knocking him out of consciousness.

As Lucas fell to the ground unconscious, an awkward silence covered the building. The clear thud of Lucas' body hitting the cold hard ring floor was clearly audible for the whole audience.

As the realization of Song Lei's win settled in, the crowd broke into a cheer that had never been seen before.

"And he does it! He knocks Lucas out with a clear jab to the face!" Zac shouted.

Shortly after Song Lei confirmed his win, he felt his body weakening.

'Shit...' Was the last word Song Lei could think of before fainting....