Autophagy

"You guys really tire me out..." Song Lei muttered as he facepalmed. He rubbed his temples for some time. After he felt that he was ready, he gestured Aston to lead the way.

Aston didn't make him wait and left the room. Song Lei followed along. It didn't take two of them long to reach their secret hideout.

"Boss," the trainees greeted.

"You guys don't really need to call me that you know..." Song Lei muttered. "We have already finished our original plan after all."

"We need you to lead us once more," Aston said. "It's similar to the last one. You just have to come out and help us once you see our signal."

"Ugh... Okay..." Song Lei muttered. Although his body was tired, he couldn't do anything about it. "Bring me my dagger," Song Lei said. One of the trainees had a piece of cloth in their hands. He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a purple dagger underneath.

"Let's go..." Song Lei said. Everyone departed quickly and went to their spots. Song Lei waited for the signal to come as he silently watched the midnight festival from the main entrance.

'Something is awkward...' Song Lei thought. The festival seemed to be much more peaceful than it would normally be.

Song Lei's line of thought was disturbed by a streak of light hitting his eye. This was the signal he was waiting for. He opened the main entrance and dashed out of the building.

As he arrived in the middle of the field, he was met with an awkward scenery.

"Happy birthday!" Everyone in the field shouted. About one thousand trainees were all scattered around the place, shouting Song Lei's name with excitement in their voices.

"Happy birthday, Lewis," a voice woke Song Lei up from his daze. This voice belonged to Aston. He walked to Song Lei's side and patted his shoulder. "This was an awkward and roundabout way of doing things. Unfortunately, we couldn't think of a better way to bring you here."

Song Lei slightly turned his head to look at Aston confusedly. "Today isn't my birthday though..."

"We know that," Aston said with a wide smile on his face. "You don't even know what your birthday is, right?" Aston asked. They had had this talk with Song Lei before. As he had never seen his parents before, Lewis didn't know what his birthday was. Song Lei, too, had no idea.

"Yeah..."

"That's right. We gathered and thought that the day you woke up would be the best day to do so," Aston said. "In the end, the lucky day was 14/07," Aston said. Song Lei's mouth twitched as he heard the number. "And I think it's quite nice that the number is the same as our dorm room number."

Song Lei forcefully stopped his mouth from twitching once more and chuckled lightly. This number didn't seem like it wanted to leave him any time soon. The number 1407 showed itself quite often.

'Maybe it has a specific meaning...' Song Lei muttered inwardly.

"There's someone that wants to talk to you," Aston said. His words woke Song Lei up from his daze. From the crowd, someone that Song Lei would never expect to see again came out.

"Umm..." Clark muttered. Song Lei's surprise started calming down, however, he still couldn't understand how Clark was alive. "I don't really know what to say but... I'm sorry," Clark said. Although his sentence was short, he was sincere. Song Lei could tell that. Clark was fidgety. He had an expression that he had never shown to any other person in a long time. An expression of genuine sadness.

"Don't worry," Song Lei said. "It wasn't your fault."

Hearing Song Lei's words, Clark's eyes moistened. Although he knew that he wasn't the one to be held responsible for the soul worm infestation, he still felt guilty.

"Now that we're done with the awkward apology, let's start the festival!" Aston said as he clapped his hands together. Although that clap wasn't anything special, it dispersed the heavy ambiance that had formed around Song Lei and Clark in an instance.

Hearing his words, all the trainees broke out into cheers. Although they were in such a state, they remembered most of the things that transpired during the time they were infected after being freed. They were incredibly grateful for everything Song Lei had done.

"Come come," Aston said. He pulled Song Lei by his arm and brought him closer to the huge bonfire that had been lit in the middle of the field. There were all kinds of delicacies and food to enjoy laid out on a long table.

"How did you guys get this stuff?" Song Lei asked. Normally, the only source they could get food from was the cafeteria. He walked and picked a cupcake and threw it into his mouth.

"Huh... This tastes great," Song Lei muttered without waiting for an answer. This made things even more awkward. The food provided by the cafeteria wasn't nearly as tasty as this. Instead, they were like bags of nutrients that only focused on making the trainees get everything they need.

"We asked Otto," Aston said. "He is pretty cool. He bought all these and brought them here. I think the department head was also okay with it. I'm not sure though..."

"That's nice..." Song Lei muttered. He was surprised that Otto would do such a thing.

"Tonight is about you, Lewis. Now that you have a birthday for yourself, we can celebrate it every year," Aston said excitedly. Song Lei raised one of his brows as he kept munching on a piece of apple pie. Aston was acting awkward. He had never been such a cheerful person before.

"Is something wrong?" Song Lei asked. Aston's big smile crumbled for a second before he pulled it back together.

"Of course not, what do you mean?" he asked. Song Lei threw the rest of the pie into his mouth and swallowed it whole. He then picked up another dessert.

"If you don't tell me, I won't be able to help you," Song Lei said. He had spent a good amount of time with Aston. He could pretty much figure out what he was thinking. "Is it guilt?"

Aston's smile turned into a bittersweet one after hearing Song Lei's words.

"Maybe... I'm not sure..." He muttered. "I need some more time. Would you be willing to wait?"

"Sure. I'm always here," Song Lei said. The rest of the birthday party went pretty okay. Aston didn't act weird in any way and Song Lei had a proper birthday for the first time in a long while. Since the time his mother died, he never had the chance to be selfish again. So he had to push such superficial things like his birthday aside. Today, however, to be valued so much slightly warmed his heart.

After the party was over, they tidied the place up. It was still the middle of the night and everyone was very tired. Their training schedule was back to normal, so everyone other than Song Lei had to get at least some sleep...

...

"That was pretty impressive Mr. Lewis," The department head said. "Do you want something to drink by the way?"

"There's no need to. Thank you very much," Song Lei rejected respectfully. The department head clasped his hands together and supported his chin with them.

"Do you know why I called you here?" He asked.

"I have some guesses..." Song Lei muttered.

"Hmm..."

The department head didn't say anything and got up from his chair. He walked up to one of the drawers that was to the right of him and opened it. He took out a few documents from inside and closed the drawer.

"Here," he said as he threw the documents toward Song Lei. He then sat down on his chair.

"The Infestation Project..." He muttered. Song Lei was initially reading the documents, however, after hearing the department head's words, he lifted his head and looked towards him. "It was something I was most proud of," The department head said as he took a pen into his hands and started spinning it.

"I worked hard, hired a lot of people, and used all of my connections," he said. "And you went ahead and destroyed it altogether."

"Umm..."

"No need to talk. I'm not angry at you or anything."

"Then why..?"

"To thank you," the department head said. "What I was searching for was an answer. Your friend is a scientist, right? I'm a bit of a scientist too."

"What was the question of the answer you were looking for?" Song Lei asked. His interest had been piqued.

"I took over this orphanage years ago," he said. "Since that time, I've been dealing with every affair of this place all on my own."

"Poison Eye was a very important friend of mine, so I wanted to help him in any way I could," Clark said. He started tapping on the table and looked right into Song Lei's eyes.

"What I wanted was to find the best way of helping him...."