Autophagy

Song Lei watched the entrance of the pub for five minutes and decided to enter. Fortunately, the age-restriction laws on alcohol weren't there in this day and age, So Song Lei wouldn't have any problems going in.

Gathering his thoughts, he walked inside the pub called White Hart. As soon as he opened the door, a gust of beer smell accompanied by puke and sweat smells hit his face. His nostrils contracted at the disgusting smell for a second. However, for Song Lei who had seen much nastier stuff, this wasn't much.

'Huh... This is more desolate than I had expected. Shouldn't it be more crowded around these times..?' Song Lei thought. There were a few drunken people lying around. Some would occasionally burp, some would order another beer. However, that was it.

He quickly got used to the smell and walked to the bar before sitting down on one of the bar stools. Quickly, the bartender came to his side.

The bartender was a middle-aged man with relatively sizeable muscles. Although he wouldn't stand out too much in the modern-day world, he seemed like a monster compared to the others in this day and age. After all, the commoners in the late 19th century in England lived in very bad conditions. Most of them had malnourished bodies because of a lack of proper nutrition.

The bartender had brown hair alongside hazy, black eyes. Although his demeanor seemed calm and collected, Song Lei could feel that this person was a tiger deep inside his heart.

Song Lei ordered himself a drink and started waiting with a melancholic expression. Fortunately, what he was doing worked out for him. The bartender struck up a conversation while bringing his drink.

"What happened young man? Drinking at this hour... Especially with these rumors going around, it's not really a great idea to stay out so late," The bartender said. Song Lei slightly lifted his face and stared at the bartender.

"What do you mean..?" He asked. "I'm new around here so I don't know what those rumors you are talking about are."

"They say that a vampire is going around killing people. I don't really believe it but... It means that something dangerous is out there I guess..." The bartender said while cleaning a glass cup. Song Lei had to hold himself back from frowning.

"I'll be careful about that..." Song Lei muttered. He took a sip from his drink and placed his elbow on the table to support his head with his hand. He looked around the place. Although the pub had a relatively new design, its interior seemed to have been harmed by a storm. There were countless dents and cracks on the walls and the floor. "What happened here?" Song Lei asked while looking at the biggest dent on the wall.

"Oh, that? Just some thugs..." The bartender said helplessly. There were sizeable bags under his eyes. His face was oozing with the need for sleep.

"You seem tired. Do you take care of this place the whole day?" Song Lei asked.

"Yes. I'm also the owner and I don't really want to hire someone else..." The man muttered as he rubbed one of his eyes. Song Lei was about to ask the bartender if he had a wife, however, he thought that it could be a sensitive subject and decided not to do so.

From then on, there was an awkward silence between the two. Song Lei had to think up something quickly, or the man would get bored and walk away from him.

"Can you elaborate on those thugs a little bit? I can't imagine a bunch of ordinary thugs just walking in here and thrashing this place..." Song Lei said. Although he didn't show it on his face, he was worried about whether it would work or not.

"Oh, those? Well..." The bartender muttered. He hesitated for a seconds before continuing by saying, "I think their name is something like The Wolf Gang... I don't know a lot about them. I know that their leader is called Hector and that's pretty much it."

'The Wolf Gang... Considering the fact that their leader is called Hector, this should be our target,' Song Lei thought.

"Huh... Do their general range of activities consist of vandalism or is this something special to you?" He asked while taking a short glance towards the worn-out walls.

"Well... They extort money from different pubs and stores. I refused to pay tribute so they did this. They also do some shady business but I don't really know the details," the man explained. Slowly, a suspicious expression appeared on his face. Although he quickly went back to his default expression, Song Lei was able to catch onto it. "You seem to be interested in this organization."

Song Lei's heart shook in its place for a second before calming down instantly. Song Lei was good at controlling his body language and expression, so he didn't show it in any way.

"Not really..." Song Lei said. "I just needed to talk about something random and this seemed to be a good topic."

The man frowned a little bit. Although his hunch was telling him that there was more to Song Lei than what it looked like.

He had gathered a great amount of experience on reading people's emotions working here, however, he couldn't see past this young man in front of him. As if Song Lei's entire soul and mind were shrouded in a cloak of darkness, he didn't let him look through.

In such a situation, the best option was to ask about it.

"What is your name young man?" The bartender asked.

Song Lei turned his head back towards the bartender.

"I'm Lewis," he said.

"And I'm Zach," the bartender said without waiting for Song Lei to ask. "For some reason, I feel like there's more to your story than what you show. Do you want to talk about it?"

Song Lei was slightly dumbfounded at the man's sudden question. His brain forced itself to think of what he should do. Considering that he was just starting his investigation, Song Lei sighed inside his head. He wasn't in urgent need of information, so he decided to refuse the man.

"Sorry-"

"Hey Hey! Isn't this Zach!?" A snarky voice resounded in the pub. The front door was opened harshly. Three men with black trench coats entered the place with iron rods in their hands. As soon as they entered the place, one of them hit the table right next to the entrance with the rod, denting it.

"Cayden..." Zach muttered after seeing the person. His face was stoic as ever, however, Song Lei could see that he was squeezing his fists.

'Wait... Is this real? Did I really get caught up in a situation like this..?' Song Lei thought. He was hoping that he wouldn't come into direct confrontation with The Wolf Gang as all he needed to do was to assassinate the leader. Considering this, he pulled his hat lower in hopes of hiding his face and not pulling any attention towards himself. He did his best to blend in with the place.

"Do you remember the last time you didn't pay your protection fees?! If you don't want to have your place run down and your customers beaten, pay up!" The person called Cayden shouted. His constant shouting was like a very loud buzzing, irritating Song Lei.

"Look Cayden. Are you guys stupid? How do you expect me to pay you the money if you beat my customers and destroy my place? I can't make any money if you keep coming here like this. Just go back to your little hole. When I get the money, I'll pay it," Zach spoke in a single breath. His words sounded harsh, however, they were true.

Cayden seemed like he wasn't able to handle the fact that he was being called stupid, so an angry expression appeared on his face. Just like Song Lei had expected, the only sentence he had listened to was Zach asking him if he were stupid.

'These third-rate villains...' Song Lei thought helplessly in his head.

"That's good... Very good... So you think you have the right to make snarky comments like that huh!? Boys! Destroy this place!" Cayden ordered his men. They started smashing the walls and the tables. Song Lei didn't want to get caught up, so he kept drinking without moving from his place. From what it looked like Cayden and his men didn't do anything to the drunk customers.

There was grief and anger on Zach's face. Song Lei could see it, the fire burning in his eyes was ready to spread out.

"Why don't you stop them?" Song Lei asked quietly. Zach shook his head helplessly.

"Even if I tried to, I wouldn't be able to do so. And the authorities here don't seem to care about them..." Zach said. After a few minutes, Cayden and his men finished their fit of anger by smashing all the tables. Not a single one was left untouched.

They approached the counter and hit it with the rod in their hands, denting it.

Song Lei felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey kid! Aren't you too young to be drinking here? How about you give us all of your money and get the fuck out of here?" Cayden sneered. Song Lei hardly held himself back from facepalming.

'Now you just had to go and mess with me....'