Autophagy

"What?!" Song Lei shouted. He closed the door and quickly ran up to Mia. "Oh. She hasn't taken her pills for some time right?" He asked. When he was in Mia's body, he had to take a pill every time he woke up. If he didn't, he would lose all of his strength, not even being able to lift his arms.

"What pills?" Isabel asked while fidgeting. She seemed to be sweating out of nervousness.

'Do spirits even sweat?' Song Lei asked himself.

"Check out her pockets. There must be a pill inside one of them. If she takes it, she'll be fine," he explained. Isabel nodded and started looking through Mia's pockets. When she finally found the pills, she made the little girl take them. Song Lei was really surprised that the little girl could actually swallow these gigantic pills. Even he would have some hardship doing so in his normal body.

Isabel finished her job and took a few steps back. After waiting for some time, Mia finally regained her strength. Isabel hugged her for a long while.

"Thank you, Lei," Isabel said. She turned around and smiled at Song Lei. "Oh god! You're drenched in blood! Are you okay?"

Song Lei tried to put up a smile and answered back, "I'm fine. No problem."

He sat on the bed and took a deep breath. Honestly, he was not in a good spot. His wounds had healed thanks to the stats he spent but he was still very tired. He closed his eyes.

"Are you really okay? You seem very tired," Isabel said while frowning. She came closer to Song Lei and sat beside him.

"I'll be fine after sleeping a bit," Song Lei explained while yawning. It was getting harder and harder to stay awake.

"Yes. You're right. You should sleep," Isabel said while smiling. She pulled Song Lei's head and rested it on her lap.

'A lap pillow in a moment like this?' Song Lei smiled widely. He was too tired to get nervous about something like this. 'This is very uncomfortable,' he thought. He used to watch some anime back in Jia Feng's house and had seen this trope many times. It always seemed to be a great way of relaxing but for some reason, it made his neck hurt a little bit. 'Well, I should do my best to enjoy it.'

He felt Isabel's hand gently patting his head. He hadn't felt this sensation for a long time. Relaxation...

He had been living on the edge since his mother had died. He always had to fend for himself and his sister. He had to live all of his life alert. He couldn't relax for even a moment. He just didn't have the chance to do so. Taking care of his sister and putting up a strong act was his only duty. He had lived his life this way up until now.

But now, he could feel his mind wandering off. Right here, in this shithole of a dream space, he was sleeping on the lap pillow of a ghost. It was strange. He had shut off his imagination a long time ago but even if he hadn't done so, he wouldn't be able to think of such a situation. He probably couldn't see his sister anymore, he couldn't enjoy reading novels in Jia Feng's house anymore but there was still hope.

As all of his senses faded away, he felt his brain slowly going into sleep mode. He closed his eyes...

...

Song Lei darted out of bed. He turned around to take a proper look at everything in the room. Isabel was sitting on the bed wide-eyed. Mia was playing with a ball next to the bed. She, too, was dumbfounded by Song Lei's actions.

"Uhh... Sorry. Habits..." Song Lei said while scratching the back of his head. His face reddened a little bit. Because he was used to sleeping in an alert way, even very small sounds could easily wake him up. Mia had probably made a sound while playing with the ball and woke Song Lei up.

"No problem, do you want to keep sleeping?" Isabel asked Song Lei while patting her leg. Song Lei shook his head.

"I've rested enough. I need your help with something else," Song Lei said. "No matter what happens to me during the next few hours, don't interfere. Just make sure that you protect me."

Isabel raised one of her eyebrows. When she saw that Song Lei wasn't going to explain, she nodded and smiled. "Sure."

Song Lei turned his head to the system notification to his right. It had been staying there for a long time.

[Do you want to complete the acquisition of the skill "Tri-force I"?]

Song Lei gulped and raised his hand. He could use his mind to approve but chose to do it manually.

After clicking the "YES" button, Song Lei felt tingling in his muscles. It was an abstract feeling and he couldn't exactly locate where it was. Suddenly, he felt his body temperature rising abruptly. He quickly took his shirt off. If he was alone, he would've taken his pants off too.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck" Song Lei shouted. No matter what he did, his temperature wouldn't stop rising. Eventually, his skin caught on fire and started peeling off. Weird thing was, the fire coming out of his skin was white. There was no tinge of blue, red, or orange on it. It was pure white. It made Song Lei look heavenly as if he was being purified by the heavens itself. Fortunately, flames didn't seem to affect the surrounding.

As the flames kept burning Song Lei's body, he felt his bones becoming soft. He fell to the ground and couldn't move anymore. He didn't have the strength to scream anymore.

Isabel had been staring at him dumbfounded, clasping her hands over her mouth.

"Oh god! Lei!" Isabel shouted and tried to approach him.

"Stop! Don't come!" Song Lei said with his remaining energy. He was scared that if Isabel interfered, his body would stay like it is now. Slowly, his body became numb to the pain. After some time, the flames burnt out and disappeared. For some reason though, Song Lei still couldn't move his body.

A few minutes passed and the tingling came back. This time, it was in his head.

"Oh fuck...."