Autophagy

"You better keep an eye out," Isabel said. "And learn as much as you can about controlling your soul."

Song Lei nodded. "I will," he reassured. Isabel looked at his face and sighed.

"You better do so," she said. "Enough of that. Tell me about what you did out there."

Song Lei pondered while looking at the ceiling for a while. He laid on the bed and closed his eyes.

"You see, I met with something that looked like a pig," he said. "It was incredibly strong. I\'m surprised that I could actually beat it."

Isabel thought with her hand on her chin. "A pig huh..." She murmured. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "Right! That must be Emma!" She said with excitement.

Song Lei nodded.

"Emma is one of Amber\'s daughters. She was literally like a pig. She had no idea about the ways of the world. The only thing she knew was how to eat," Isabel said while frowning. "She must\'ve been considerably powerful. How did you beat it?"

Song Lei turned his head towards Isabel and said, "Mostly, a fistfight. I finished her off with the cursed knife though."

"Huh... I didn\'t think you could go even in a fistfight against that. But now that I look at you properly, you seem very muscular," Isabel said while sizing up Song Lei. "Is your skill strength related?" She asked.

Song Lei shook his head. "No. Not really," he said. "It\'s a brain enhancement ability," Song Lei lied. He didn\'t want to reveal his real skill no matter who he was talking with. Even if Isabel didn\'t share it with anyone, he didn\'t know who his enemies were. And it was quite possible that at least one of them had a mind-reading ability.

"That ability suits you a lot for some reason," Isabel said while smiling. "I wonder though... Does it just make you smarter or is it just a brain enhancement?" She asked curiously.

Song Lei scratched his cheek and thought about a proper answer. Actually, he, too, wondered what the mind stat exactly did. "Well... I\'m not sure but from what I can understand. It seems to make my senses, thought speed, memory, and general motor functions better. But it doesn\'t exactly make me smarter. For example, if I\'m going to think of something stupid, I just think it faster. Although it betters my decision-making to some extent, in the end, wisdom and intelligence are very reliant on experience and knowledge," he explained in one breath.

Isabel listened to him intently. "Mm. Well, you\'ll learn more about it with more time. Now that your soul has experienced an awakening, it definitely means that your ability is not an ordinary one," Isabel said. She walked up to the window and looked out.

"Yes. Now, we have another problem at our hands. I don\'t know how many monsters are left in the mansion. I need to keep cleaning them up," Song Lei said. "Do you have any information that could be useful?" He asked.

Isabel turned towards him and answered, "I have some. There are 4 dangerous monsters in this mansion other than Amber. One of them was Emma that you killed back there. Two of the others are Amber\'s other children. The last one is her husband."

Song Lei nodded while inspecting the cursed knife. "Why didn\'t you say that before?" He asked.

"You just rushed out in excitement when you heard that you had to hunt. I couldn\'t tell you in time," she said.

Song Lei raised one of his brows and said, "that\'s fair."

"Anyways. I don\'t have a lot of knowledge about those two children," Isabel continued. She walked to the bed and sat down. "One of them is called Alan. He\'s the oldest child of Amber and from what I know, he is a total playboy. He always messes around with the maids in the mansion and always gets into scandals with women."

Song Lei frowned and got up from the bed. He put the cursed knife back into his backpack and took out some energy bars from it. Now that he had the time to sit and calm down, he realized that he was incredibly hungry. He didn\'t know that he could get hungry in the dream space. Fortunately, he would always carry some rations in his backpack. Now that the dream space\'s restrictions were lifted, he had got his backpack back with all of the items inside.

"The other is the most horrible... That little demon was still like a monster even back in the Old World," Isabel said while massaging her temples.

"What do you mean by that?" Song Lei muffled out as he was stuffing himself with different kinds of snacks.

"Literally just what I said. He was like a demon. The youngest son, Chester... He was just a little bit mischievous when he was little. But as he grew older, around 10 years old, he started becoming more and more absurd," Isabel spoke. She sighed and patted Mia that was still laying on the bed. "One day, he scared a maid with a prank so much that the maid resigned. Another day, he locked a maid in the freezer. And another day, eventually, he killed a maid by stuffing her inside an oven. He literally drugged her and put her in an oven..."

Song Lei shuddered in his place as he tried to imagine the pain and horror those maids had to suffer through. "Then? What happened to him?" He asked.

"Nothing. He didn\'t even get a punishment for what he did. Because of Amber\'s and her husband\'s families\' connections, an insignificant maid dying in their mansion was easily covered up," Isabel explained with a grim expression. "That little brat became more and more obnoxious with time, finding unimaginable ways to torture the people around him."

"Why would maids even work here then? Wouldn\'t they just quit?" Song Lei asked. Isabel shook her head and looked directly into his eyes.

"No. You don\'t seem to realize the power of money. As Chester\'s shenanigans became more and more prominent, the maid\'s salaries increased. I think it even hit 20 thousand euros monthly at some point," Isabel said.

Song Lei thought expressionlessly for some time. "How much is that in Yuan?" He asked. He wasn\'t sure about the exchange rates.

Isabel closed her eyes and frowned for some time. She ruffled Mia\'s hair as Mia tried to push her hand away.

"I think it\'s around a hundred and fifty thousand Yuans... I\'m not sure though," she said. Song Lei\'s eyes widened.

"M- monthly?!" Song Lei shouted. He quickly calmed himself down. "R- Right... It should be normal. In the end, they were working while risking their lives," Song Lei said.

"Yes. That\'s right," Isabel agreed. "Now, for the husband...."