Autophagy

The man and the woman in suits looked at each other.

"You wretches of the Secret Blood Order are destined to die today," the man said without any empathy in his voice. He then took a knife out of his sleeve and threw it at Song Lei.

Song Lei's eyes widened as he used The Banisher to block the knife. The knife was incredibly fast. So much so that Song Lei wouldn't have been able to react to it if his body hadn't been raised to 12.

"Stop! We're not from the Secret Blood Order!" Song Lei shouted. "We aren't wearing those robes, right? We should sit down and talk first!"

The man didn't listen to Song Lei's words and was about to throw another knife at him before the woman next to him stopped her.

"Let's hear them out first," The woman said. As the man lowered his knife, Old Wolf invited them to the upper floors. However, they refused and said that whatever they were going to talk about should be talked about on the first floor.

"We've received signals from this place indicating that one of our branches was being attacked. Is there anyone called Ming Lei amongst you?" The man said with disdain on his face. Hearing his words, Old Wolf stepped forward.

"I'm Ming Lei," he said. Seeing him step forward decisively, the man in suit raised one of his brows. He took out a notebook from seemingly out of nowhere. Although this motion of his startled everyone, none of them dared to comment on it.

"Show me your ability," the man said. Old Wolf nodded and released a weak shockwave. He didn't want to force himself as he was still tired from overusing his energy. As soon as the man saw Old Wolf's ability, the disdain on his face disappeared.

"I'm sorry fellow alliance member. We thought that you guys were already wiped out by the Secret Blood Order cultists. They are a handful bunch and you guys shouldn't have any soul users amongst your ranks. How did you beat them?" The man asked.

Song Lei took a step forward and started talking about the things that happened in the apartment. He made sure to hide the things that he couldn't talk about. Telling the man that they made the ghosts in the apartment fight those cultists. After all, he could trust in Old Wolf and Damien, but not these people.

Listening to his words, the man touched his chin.

"I see," he said. "First of all, why don't we go to this safe floor you mentioned? We can continue our talk there."

Everyone nodded and led the way for the man. After settling around the meeting table, the man started talking.

"I'm sorry for our rudeness from before. I would like to introduce myself properly," he said with an apologetic expression. "I'm Wei Zhong. And this is my sister Wei Ya. We're Soul Grandmasters associated with the Heaven Alliance. We've come here because of the unnatural evil energy that was spreading from the apartment."

"However, it seems like you guys have already solved that problem by yourselves," Wei Ya said. She looked around the room for a second and continued by saying, "By the way, why is this place so empty? Shouldn't you guys have more members?"

Hearing her words, a sad smile formed on Old Wolf's face.

"Most of them died during the Secret Blood Order's attack. And some more have been kidnapped by some people. We don't know who it is..."

"Sorry for asking..." Wei Ya apologized.

"There's no need to. What happened has happened," Old Wolf said while sighing deeply. "So? What are you guys going to do now? Didn't you guys completely waste your time by coming here?"

Wei siblings looked at each other for a second thoughtfully.

"Well... It may look like we may have wasted our time by coming here but we can always find ways to make our time worth it," Wei Zhong said. "First of all, I want to praise you guys for your incredible achievement. Being able to beat those people without having any awakeners amongst your ranks should be impossible normally. However, we indeed can't sense any soul awareness from you guys. Indicating that you're not lying."

"Another thing to note is that you guys have provided us important information about the Secret Blood Order's plans. As a reward, we'll be gifting you guys this," Wei Ya continued Wei Zhong's words. She took out two items that he never thought he would see from out of nowhere. Song Lei was truly wondering where this stuff came out from. 

'A laptop and a modem..?'

"What are we going to do with these?" Old Wolf asked. He didn't think that they would be able to get an internet connection here.

"You don't have to worry. This modem doesn't work in conventional ways. It was made using high-level techno-sorcery. The laptop is pretty normal though. You guys can use these two to have a stable connection with the HQ," Wei Zhong said.

"And this is not all," Wei Ya continued. "We'll be bringing you guys a pack of necessities that are normally given to official branches in another week or so. Unfortunately, we don't have the right to promote you guys to an official branch."

"This is definitely good enough for us," Old Wolf said.

"We hope so. Anyways. Now that his stuff has been dealt with, we have some things to deal with here," Wei Zhong said.

"Before that, why don't we help them set up the communication system?" Wei Ya asked.

"Right. Let's do that," Wei Zhong said. "Please deal with that on your own."

Wei Ya nodded and got up.

"Where should I set them up?" She asked Old Wolf. "You know what? Just come with me."

Old Wolf got up and left the room with Wei Ya to set up the modem and the laptop. Seeing them leave, Wei Zhong turned his head towards the remaining members of the branch.

"Well... We now have to do some things with you guys. I need some information so that I can register you into the alliance database," Wei Zhong said. He took out a smartphone from his pocket and tapped on it for some time. "I need your names, age before being spawned into the New World, and your abilities."

Hearing his words, Song Lei, Damien, and He Lingxin started providing the answers to those questions. Although they were a bit reluctant to tell him about their abilities, they didn't have the choice to refute. As Wei Zhong could probably wipe them out of the New World in a matter of seconds.

After giving him their names and ages, it was time to record their abilities.

"What is your ability?" Wei Zhong asked He Lingxin.

"It's telepathy," He Lingxin muttered.

"Demonstrate please."

"Uhmm... I can't use it on you for some reason," He Lingxin said reluctantly. Wei Zhong raised his brow for a second, however, an apologetic smile appeared on his face shortly after.

"Sorry. I forgot to deactivate my mental barrier," Wei Zhong apologized. Shortly after, a gentle wave of air spread around the room. "Go on," he said. He Lingxin used his ability. Wei Zhong typed something on his phone.

"Next one," he said after he was done typing.

"My ability is a passive one so I can't show it properly," Song Lei said.

"Really? What is it?"

"I have strengthened neural functions," Song Lei answered. Hearing his answer, Wei Zhong took some papers and a weird device out of his pocket.

"Solve these questions and this puzzle," he said while giving the papers and the device to Song Lei.

Having 8 points on his mind stat, Song Lei didn't have to spend much time doing the tasks given to him.

"Great. Take this and focus on the writings as best as you can," Wei Zhong continued. He took the papers and the device back, giving Song Lei a small, yellow paper.

Song Lei took the paper and focused on the letter just like Wei Zhong had said. As soon as he did so, the paper instantly burned into ashes.

"Wow! Your skill is really high level and your soul power is really high. It's a pity that it's a passive one and you probably won't be able to awaken your soul. But seeing it now, I can understand how you guys managed to deceive the Secret Blood Order," Wei Zhong praised Song Lei.

"Do- Do I have to pay for the paper?" Song Lei asked nervously.

"Haha! No no. There's no need to. Anyways. The next one please," Wei Zhong said after he finished typing on his phone.

Damien took a step forward and used his ability as best as he could, forcing his limits till their end. While he was doing so, Old Wolf and Wei Ya entered the room.

As Damien kept using his skill, the golden glow in his eyes got shinier and shinier, eventually forming a little layer around them.

As soon as that happened, Wei Zhong dropped his pen on the ground with shining eyes.

"Do you want to come with us to the main branch...?"