Autophagy

"...Are their imperfections," Song Lei finished talking. He looked at the slowly disappearing Chester. Even now, that condescending look was in his eyes. Looking at everything in the world as if he was a god. At this point, no matter what Song Lei said, he wouldn't change his ways.

"*Sigh"

Song Lei let go of Chester's body and head. He was already about to turn to dust. There was no need to be careful anymore.

[Congratulations! You've managed to exorcise Domain-Bound Mental Demon Chester. You've leveled up and gained two stat points.]

[As you've beaten a being with an awakened soul, your proficiency in the skill "Tri-force I" has risen!]

Song Lei read the notifications and swept them away with his hand.

'The only one left is Alan...' Song Lei thought. He walked to the door and opened it. Weirdly, the dark green corridor wasn't there. Instead, the nothingness was laid in front of him. Song Lei took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

'I've already beat Emma and Chester. From now on, things will get really hard. I don't know about the dad but Alan is probably very dangerous,' Song Lei guessed.

He left the room and went upstairs to meet up with Isabel. He had to rest as he was really tired at the moment.

'What are these?' Song Lei thought. There was some purple goo dripping from the ceiling. When it touched the tentacles that represented Amber's power, it would slowly cover them, rendering them immobile.

Song Lei held his knife tightly and touched some of the goo with it. Weirdly, it didn't spread on the knife like it did on the tentacles. He ran some tests on the goo to see what it was but unfortunately, it didn't seem to do anything when it came in contact with an inanimate object.

His last choice was to touch the goo. He carefully got some of it on his knife and backed off to the stairs.

'Uh...' Song Lei's mind went blank the moment he touched the goo. A pleasure he had never felt in his life before filled his body. Although it was enjoyable, it brought disgust to Song Lei. He wanted to pull his hand back but couldn't do so no matter what he did.

As a last choice, he brought up the system and put a point in mind. Seeing that the effects of the goo weakened, Song Lei put another point in mind. Finally, he managed to pull his hand back.

"Huff... Huff..."

Song Lei was left gasping for breath as he crumbled down on the floor. His heart was beating like crazy.

"That wasn't very smart of me..." He said weakly.

He decided to stop any experiments he was doing on the goo. He didn't want to come in contact with it anymore.

Instead, he got up from the ground and passed the corridor looking out for any unwanted contact with the purple goo. He reached Isabel's room.

When he opened the door, he saw Isabel pacing around in the room. She didn't realize Song Lei entering the room and continued what she was doing.

"Isabel?" Song Lei spoke. Finally, when she heard his voice, Isabel turned to him.

"There aren't any left," she said while fidgeting. Song Lei looked at her without saying anything for some time.

"The pills! We don't have any left. In this situation, without Mia's help, I won't be able to beat Amber!" Isabel shouted. In response, Song Lei held his chin and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Hmm... Where do you think we could find more? There should be more of those pills in the mansion right?" Song Lei asked. Isabel herself wasn't enough to stand their ground against Amber. Even though Mia was a child, she was still a ghost. She would be of tremendous help if she could fight alongside Isabel. But currently, unless they could find the pills, she wouldn't be able to move from her spot.

"There should be some left in the kitchen..." Isabel said while looking at Mia who was lying on the bed.

"Okay then... I'll go get them," Song Lei said without hesitation. "Where can I find the kitchen?" He asked.

Isabel nodded and answered, "It should be at the end of the lower floor corridor."

Song Lei didn't say anything and turned around to leave the room. Isabel grabbed his arm just before leaving the room.

"Wait! Did you manage to beat any other ghosts?" Isabel asked.

"I exorcised Chester," Song Lei said. "Why?"

Isabel gulped loudly and said, "That's great. But be careful. I feel a malicious being getting stronger and stronger in the mansion. It might be Alan. He seems to be gathering power."

Song Lei looked at her for some time and opened the door. "You mean this?" He asked while showing her the purple goo that was covering up the corridor.

"Probably..." Isabel said while frowning.

"Well..." Song Lei said while scratching the back of his head. "I should get going..."

"Don't die. I have no idea what's going on in the mansion right now. Alan seems to be slowly taking over the mansion. If Alan and Amber fight each other, we can use that opening and deal the last blow," Amber said. She backed away from the door. "If you can take as many pills as you can and come back in time, we'll be at a huge advantage."

Song Lei nodded and left the room. After closing the door, he went to the stairs and tried to locate the kitchen before stepping out to the nothingness.

'That must be it...' Song Lei thought. He looked at the door at the end of the corridor. The corridor had an eerie silence to it. For some reason, Song Lei was much more nervous than he would be normally.

Steeling his resolve, Song Lei closed his eyes and stepped out. He kept walking while putting his hand on the walls to act as a guide for him.

Song Lei felt a wooden gate under his hand after walking for some time.

'This must be the dining room!' Song Lei shouted in his mind. He remembered the design of the gate leading to the dining room. Cutlery noises were coming from it, implying that it was dinner time.

'Fuck. The kitchen must be very crowded at the moment,' Song Lei thought. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and kept walking. 'I can't back off now. We don't have much time left. If I can't get the pills in time and an all-out fight starts between Amber and Alan, we will miss the chance.'

Considering that the benefits outweighed the risks, Song Lei walked past the dining room and reached the end of the corridor.

'This is it...'

He pulled the handle of the door...