Autophagy

After organizing and eating some canned beans, Song Lei left room 1407 again and started the second part of his plan.

\'It\'s time for looting!\' He had to look for useful items he could use against those people. If he wanted to stay alive, he had to acquire items like the cursed knife. He couldn\'t head to the upper or lower floors as that would increase his chances of meeting with bad people. For now, he had some amount of knowledge about floors 14 and 13. He had to search the rooms probably filled with different kinds of monsters.

He raised his knife and crossed the hallway to reach room 1408. He leaned on the door to listen to whether voices were coming from the inside or not. After listening for a few minutes, he couldn\'t hear anything. He backed off for a little bit and tried to open the door.

\'It\'s locked. I think I should try another one,\' Song Lei thought.

"W- who are you, mister?" A voice asked.

Song Lei jumped in his place and stopped walking away.

\'What was that? Did it come from room 1408?\' Song Lei thought while leaning in to look into the peephole of room 1408. He couldn\'t see anything.

"Are you my dad?" The voice was heard again. It sounded like a scared little girl. Song Lei\'s hair stood on its end. What was a little girl doing in this apartment?

"Uh... I\'m n-" Song Lei\'s words got cut off by the little girl.

"You are my dad right?" The little girl\'s voice was becoming more and more anxious. Prior to this, her voice was weepy. But now, she sounded more like she was angry.

"Umm... As I said, I\'m not your dad," said Song Lei. He was alerted. This girl was not normal. There was no way that a little girl could survive in an apartment like this. He slowly started backing away.

"Don\'t run away! You\'re my dad! Daddy needs me!" Shouted the little girl. The door was suddenly banged open. The room was completely dark. Even though he was holding a flashlight into the room. It was like a wall was blocking the light from passing through.

Two pairs of grey and veiny hands grabbed Song Lei and pulled him inside. The door was closed behind him.

Song Lei was being thrown around in the room by the pairs of hands. He couldn\'t see anything and he had dropped his phone. He still had his knife with him but he couldn\'t use it as he was unable to move his arms at that moment.

After being thrown around for some time, the girl threw Song Lei to a wall.

\'Fuck! I will die if this goes on!\' Song Lei thought while trying to breathe. Some of his bones were probably broken. \'I have no other choice!\'

"Yes! I\'m your dad!" Song Lei shouted with all his might. The little girl stopped swinging Song Lei like a baseball bat.

Song Lei\'s body was aching in every corner. It took him quite a long time to collect himself. He couldn\'t see anything and his heart was about to burst out from his chest. Suddenly, a small hand held his arm and started pulling him gently. He couldn\'t see anything but he knew that his best choice would be to follow whoever was pulling him.

"Here daddy, sit down. I will prepare the meal for you. So don\'t go anywhere okay?" The little girl said.

Song Lei sat down. He heard some footsteps. After being sure that the girl was gone, Song Lei started feeling his surrounding vicinity to get a vague idea of the place. There was a wall just behind him and a floor table in front of him. His right and left sides were mostly empty. He didn\'t dare to go too far as that might alert the girl and make her go berserk again.

Song Lei just kept waiting and trying to stop himself from shaking. There were some cutlery sounds coming from somewhere. It was a pretty weird feeling. Although the sounds were very loud and noticeable, Song Lei couldn\'t identify where they were coming from.

After the sounds stopped, the footsteps came back.

"Here it\'s daddy! I\'ve made your favorite today! I\'ll help you eat it."

Song Lei felt a cold hand holding him. It raised his hand and made him hold a spoon.

"Eat it!" The girl said. Song Lei followed along and put the spoon in his mouth.

\'What is this?\' Song Lei drank the soup. It didn\'t have much of a taste, he couldn\'t even identify what he was eating. He was scared of seeing what it actually was.

\'Ignorance is bliss I guess...\' Song Lei thought. \'I should stop eating now.\'

"Daughter I\'m full now... I don\'t think I can eat anymore." Song Lei said with an awkward smile on his face.

"It\'s okay... I\'m actually surprised you could eat this much!" Said the little girl. "I will clean up the table. So stay right here."

Song Lei didn\'t dare to move. \'What does this ghost want from me? How can I leave here?\'

"Daddy! I\'ve cleaned the table! I wanna play games with you!"

Song Lei kept the awkward smile on his face while saying, "Of course. What do you want to play with me?"

"Ai wants to play hide and seek!" The little girl said. Song Lei frowned for a second. His little sister\'s name was Ai too. This made him remember her. \'I wonder how she is doing right now?\'

"Let\'s play then. I will hide and you seek okay?" Song Lei asked. \'Maybe I can sneak out while we\'re playing.\'

Song Lei had tried to memorize the place when he first entered. Even though he was tossed around by the little girl, he still had a vague idea of where the door was.

"Okay! I will count till ten and you will hide during that time!" Ai said excitedly. After she started counting, Song Lei quickly got up. His legs were numb from sitting for so long.

\'I should leave the room quickly. I don\'t know what will happen to me if I keep staying here. Problem is, she will probably notice immediately as soon as I leave the room. Should I just go for it?\' Song Lei thought for a moment. \'I can\'t. It\'s too risky.\'

Song Lei changed his initial plan and started touching the walls to find a place to hide. \'This one!\' As he kept feeling around, he felt a smooth texture under his hands. \'This is a bed! I can hide under it.\'

Song Lei laid down and rolled under the bed. He still couldn\'t see anything.

"2..!"

"1..!"

"Here I come!"