Autophagy

*Flush

"Yep... Not doing that again."

There were different reasons for traumas; Bullying, childhood traumas, medical traumas...

But that day, the history was rewritten, as Song Lei was probably the first person to be traumatized by a toilet demon.

[Congratulations! You have managed to befriend a toilet mimic! As long as you keep feeding him, he will be your friend. He will also help you have a healthy bowel movement cycle!]

'Fuck... Do I have to do this every day?'

The toilet slowly faded away as Song Lei left the bathroom.

'I wonder how this thing lived here till now. Do mimics starve? I don't think anyone was using the toilet in this room,' Song Lei thought. Xiang Yimu used this room to keep his pet quake demon.

'Did he realize that there was a toilet mimic as well? I don't think so...'

Song Lei sat on his bed after feeding the quake demon. The food Xiang Yimu prepared for it would eventually run out. He had to find something to feed the quake demon, preferably not a human corpse. He would hardly hold himself back from puking every time he had to feed the quake demon. It was impossible to get used to the grotesque view he would see when he opened the fridge. Human limbs severed and stuffed together with organs inside a fridge were definitely not things that a normal human would see every day.

'I don't think I can sleep anymore. I should do something productive,' Song Lei thought. It was 3 a.m at that moment. 'Did I really sleep for ten hours?'

Normally, he would sleep for 8 hours a day at most. Right now, even though his body was much more energetic, things he had gone through made him tired mentally. This resulted in him sleeping more than usual.

Song Lei kept sitting on the bed for some time, he then picked up a notebook from the ground and searched the room for a pen.

'Here it is!'

He started noting down the things he had learned yesterday.

'There are different types of abilities like offensive and defensive ones. If my ability is the system, then it doesn't fit into any of these categories...'

Song Lei kept writing about the lost ones and the horde. The page was filled with the things he knew and his guesses.

'Initially, those people had thought that a poltergeist had haunted the room and killed Xiang Yimu, they quickly realized that that was not the case. The reason was the fact that poltergeist didn't leave behind goo...'

'Then they left... The woman had said that they should report the things to the boss,' Song Lei thought. 'They already determined that I was dead but the boss might not have the same idea as them. He might send some people to search the floor. If I get caught, they might kill me.'

Song Lei stopped writing and circled a sentence with his pen.

"All in all... I have to leave this place," said Song Lei with a determined look in his eyes. 'It doesn't have to be permanent, I should be proactive. If I keep waiting for them, I will eventually fall into their hands. I don't know how many people they have but one thing is certain...' Song Lei closed the notebook.

'They have much more experience than me.'

He didn't know how strong his opponents were, but he knew that they were very experienced from the way they analyzed Xiang Yimu's death.

'I should keep to my plans and go to the staircase. I have to figure out where I am and start venturing into the other floors.'

Song Lei put his backpack on and grabbed his knife. After turning his flashlight on, he opened the door of the room and stepped out.

'Nothing out of ordinary. The same, gloomy place.'

Song Lei started walking carefully and passed by a few rooms, he stopped in front of room 1401 for a moment and used that time to collect his breath. Fortunately this time, he managed to reach the staircase without being pulled into a room.

The staircase wasn't much different from the hallway. There were some bloodstains here and there.

'Uhh...'

After Song Lei turned his head, he found a sentence written with blood on the wall.

"DON'T GET NEAR THE RAILINGS"

Song Lei started sweating when he tried to guess what would happen if he did. He ripped a piece of clothing from his suit and rolled it up. He then threw it to the stairs. It stopped near the railings.

*Rattle

Song Lei furrowed his brows. A few seconds after he threw the bait, countless small hands appeared from the railings and grabbed it. The bait was squished and thrown down the stairwell.

He ripped another piece and threw it near the wall. This time, the wall liquified and caved in. It pulled the bait in and solidified.

'It doesn't seem like it's a smart idea to walk near the sides when using the stairs.'

Song Lei ripped one final piece and threw it to the middle of the stairs. Nothing happened.

'It's as expected. Those people probably use these stairs too so it shouldn't be impossible to pass.'

After examining the stairs a bit more carefully with his flashlight, Song Lei realized that two lines were drawn all the way down to the other floor.

'Oh! These must be the safety lines!' Song Lei guessed. 'I wonder who drew them. Was it those guys?'

Song Lei used the safety lines as guides and started slowly descending the stairs. On every floor, there was a window that could be used to look outside. The problem was, they were all covered with wooden planks just like the one in room 1401. There were no gaps in between so it was impossible to see outside. He couldn't rip them open as that would make a lot of noise. The last thing Song Lei wanted was a horde steamrolling him.

He ventured down and reached floor 13. There were some other words written with blood on the walls. This time, it was a sign. There was an upwards arrow written 'hell' next to it and there was a downwards arrow written 'heaven' next to it.

'Isn't it supposed to be the opposite?'

Floor 13 wasn't much different from floor 14. There were doors on each side that were covered in moss and dust. Song Lei drew a map of the hallway and noted down the doors that were cleaner than the others. He couldn't just enter those rooms as there could be dangerous people or ghosts inside.

After noting down everything he found useful on floor 13, Song Lei went back up to floor 14 and entered room 1401. This room was like an oasis for him. He knew that there were no residing ghosts in it yet, so he could use it to calm down without going all the way back to room 1407.

After organizing his thoughts, Song Lei left room 1401 and started drawing a map of the 14th floor. There weren't any other clean doors other than rooms 1407 and 1401. This was both a good and a bad thing. On the good side, this might mean that no other living beings were left on this floor other than Song Lei himself. On the other side, however, this would make it much more obvious that there was a living person in room 1407. If those people sent a scouting team to floor 14, he would probably be doomed.

Song Lei finished drawing the map and went back into room 1407. There were 14 rooms on floors 14 and 13.

'It must be the same for the other floors.'

It was already 5 a.m by the time Song Lei got back to room 1407. He had gained a lot from his outing this time....