Autophagy

"And when he killed that Pillar, the sky collapsed. Those yellow clouds aren't actually clouds after all."

"Then what are they?" Song Lei asked.

"They're boundaries," Wei Zhong said. "They're boundaries that separate us from 'The Outside'..." He continued with shivers running down his spine. Without waiting for Song Lei to ask what The Outside was, he continued.

"Still, to this day, not much is known about The Outside. Some people think of it to be an emptiness that consumes every material that goes inside it," Wei Zhong said. This reminded Song Lei of his time in Isabel's mansion. There, the lower floor would be devoid of any floorings when he had his eyes open. Instead, there would be a white emptiness, staining every existence that touches it with non-existence.

"There are also some people who think that salvation is behind those clouds, out there in The Outside," Wei Zhong continued. "We also have a certain opinion about this topic but that isn't related to what we are talking about. All in all, what you should know is that The Outside isn't something you can come in contact with, unless you want to become 'non-existent', of course."

"I see..." Song Lei muttered as he, once again, lifted his head up to see the dark yellow clouds. It was honestly a bizarre and apocalyptic view, one that would fill people with despair and dark thoughts. Fortunately, though, the New World seemed relatively bright. Although it wasn't as bright as a normal day in the Old World, it was somewhere between being dark and bright.

"Do you have day and night cycles here?" Song Lei asked.

"Hmm..." Wei Zhong thought of an answer. "Technically? No. But if you ever see that the sky is becoming darker, I advise you to run as far as you can."

"What? Why?"

"Just do whatever I say," Wei Zhong urged. "If you see the sky darken, run until you are in the bright again. At least that's a smart thing to do."

"When will I be able to traverse these places as you guys do?" Song Lei asked. He also wanted to be able to leave the apartment whenever he wanted to go around.

"Considering your combat power right now, you should be somewhere around between Soul Grandmaster and Soul Master, which is actually incredible," Wei Zhong started evaluating. "However, being able to traverse the New World's streets as you want isn't exactly related to that."

"Then what is it?"

"You see, there are two main requirements," Wei Zhong started counting out. "First is physical strength, or the ability to get on top of the apartments, shall I say."

"As you may have realized, the New World is entirely made of apartments and streets, spanning in every direction with no end to it. Still to this day, we don't know why that is the case, however, what we know is that the rooftops of these apartments are the safest spaces in it. Well, the safest you can be unless you count in other humans."

"For some reason, the black smog doesn't travel up to the rooftops. If it did, we wouldn't even have this minimal society in this place. No one would ever be able to form huge groups outside of their apartments."

"Well," Song Lei said. "What is this black smog, exactly?"

"I was coming to that," Wei Zhong said. He walked back to the side of the corpses and looked towards the horizon, seeing that his sister was approaching slowly from the distance, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with relative ease. "The black smog is like a mixture of different substances and non-substances."

"At least that's what our technicians say," said Wei Ya, Wei Zhong's sister, as she jumped over from another building. "Nice to meet you once more Mr. Lei."

"Nice to meet you too," Song Lei said in answer. Seeing the corpses of the remaining members of the branch laid out on the roof, Wei Ya's face soured up momentarily before returning to normal.

"I'm sorry for your loss," she muttered. Song Lei nodded his head briefly before gesturing them to continue. Wei Ya went next to the corpses and crouched before taking out a sewing kit. She then started sewing together the separated body parts of the corpses. Song Lei didn't really feel like he had the strength to look at the sight of his companions' corpses anymore as he diverted his eyes.

"That black smog is made up of a few things. Mostly of the mixed-up spiritual forms of countless ghosts and ethereal beings, living on in absolute agony and starvation, they constantly wander these streets to find proper food for themselves."

"However, those are not the only things that create the black smog, if it was like that, they would instead all be in separated forms."

"The main thing pulling and blending them together is the emotions of humans. Hate, anger, pride..." He counted with his fingers. "These are the pillars of that black smog."

"This is also directly related to the second part of being able to traverse the New World on your own," Wei Zhong continued explaining. "If someone wants to traverse the New World, no matter where they are, they will eventually have to go down from the rooftops."

"There are a few ways of avoiding being consumed alive by the black smog," Wei Zhong said as he shifted his weight from one leg to another.

"For your current level, you can always rely on those cloaking talismans to get you from one place to another. It will make you practically untouchable in these parts of the New World."

"There are also other ways. For example, you can radiate your soul energy. If you have enough of it and radiate it enough, it will repel the black smog to a certain distance. However, this is a very cost-heavy method on its own. There is equipment that can help you in such situations," he said.

"You see how our suits are almost identical, right?" Wei Zhong asked as he pointed towards Wei Ya. "These are actually artifacts that help us repel the black smog. Without these, even we wouldn't be able to go out into the New World."

"I see..." Song Lei once more muttered.

"That's pretty much how that works. Let's go back to our main task before continuing on in the apartment," Wei Zhong said. He walked towards where the corpses of Song Lei's friends were lined up side by side. He got on one of his knees and clasped his hands before closing his eyes. He then started moving his mouth rapidly, albeit without making any actual noises.

Song Lei watched Wei Zhong complete the awkward ritual without saying anything.

Shortly after, Wei Zhong opened his eyes and got up. He then took out his sword. Gathering his breath, his sword suddenly caught fire. That fire flared up and expanded until it was double the size of Wei Zhong's sword.

After Wei Zhong slightly prodded Damien's corpse with the flame sword, the fire spread almost instantly, encasing the three corpses in its warm embrace.

After that, there was a three-minute silence where no one moved from their places. Although the Wei siblings didn't know these people very well, they still mourned for them.

"Now, their souls should be able to reincarnate freely," Wei Zhong said as he put his sword back into its sheath. "In the New World, it's not easy to reincarnate. Normal people naturally do so in the Old World, however, most who die here, stay here, trapped in an endless cycle of agony where they constantly get swung around."

As he finished his words, the last bit of fire was extinguished, leaving a pile of ash on the ground, slowly whittling away with the help of the roaring winds.

"So that's it..." Song Lei muttered. He could feel the smell of burnt human meat quickly fading away. "Let's go back inside the apartment."

"Yeah," Wei Zhong said. "Let's do that."

After agreeing, Wei Zhong once more lifted Song Lei and jumped off the roof. After arriving at the entrance of the apartment once more, they entered it.

Song Lei led the Wei siblings up to the 7th floor. On their way, Song Lei briefed them about the situation, telling them whatever he knew while avoiding the topics about the new faction he had established. After arriving and pushing the door open, they all went inside the meeting room.

"Do you guys want something to drink?" Song Lei asked. Seeing the Wei siblings shake their heads, he sat down on one of the chairs. "So, what now? What will happen to me now that I am alone in this branch?"

"There are two options," Wei Ya said. She pulled on her sleeve and straightened her back before saying, "And you can choose which of them you want."

"First of all, now that you have awakened your soul, you can come to the main branch and live there," she said.

"What is the main branch actually like?" Song Lei asked.

"There are a bunch of fully conquered apartments with very solid bridges connecting their rooftops to each other. Although you can't live as if you were in the Old World, it is still a considerably safe place compared to this apartment."

Considering the option, Song Lei tapped his chin for a second before saying, "What is the other option?"

"The other option is..." Wei Ya muttered. She and Wei Zhong looked at each other's faces briefly before she continued by saying, "We have new lost ones. Not educated about the ways of this world and don't have even a little bit of ability to control their souls. If you want, you can continue this branch here. We'll provide you with resources and send those recruits over, so you can train them to your liking."

"Yeah. Especially now that you have awakened your soul, this branch will be a high-leveled one," Wei Zhong took over where Wei Ya left off. "In the end, it's entirely up to you."

This was a hard decision for Song Lei. The thought of living in a safe place with relative leisure seemed alluring to the ears. However...

'No. I can't leave this place,' he steeled his resolve. A brief flash of complex emotions appeared in his eyes before quickly disappearing. He had been here since the beginning. And no, this wasn't just a puny matter of nostalgia. He had a goal, to expand his faction in secrecy, to make it so that fewer souls suffered in this hellish world, and most importantly, to go back to his sister, he had to stay in the apartment.

"Heh..." Song Lei chuckled blandly.

"I will stay here..."

[End of volume 1]