Autophagy

Song Lei took a deep breath and crouched next to the invisible monster's room. Isabel had told him to make it a one versus one against Amber for her, so Song Lei was doing exactly that.

He started by going out to the corridor and taking a look around. The corridor was mostly the same, what was different was the fact that the flesh parts in the corridor were gone, leaving the green, purple tentacles protruding out of the walls. According to what Isabel said, these were the representation of Amber's control over the mansion. Song Lei had tried to cut them off and realized that they quickly regenerated as soon as he cut them off.

*Knock

Song Lei knocked on the door of the invisible monster and bit his lip. This would be his first direct attack against a ghost. Although it made him nervous, he had gone through plenty of hardships since he came to the new world. He was getting used to it.

Just before he had left for hunting, Isabel had told him about the mansion. There was a strict hierarchy in it. With Amber being the top of the food chain and invisible maids being the lowest. This made Song Lei decide on attacking the sole maid on this floor. Amber's children and husband were distributed in between. Isabel and Mia were counted as one entity and they had the power to fight toe-to-toe against Amber. At that moment, Song Lei could easily become the tie-breaker.

Invisible monsters represented the maids of the mansion. They always kept their silence while Mia and Isabel were slowly dying. They never objected no matter what Amber said or did in the mansion and always acted like they were invisible. This was the reason why they had the invisibility ability in the dream space. There were also some stronger maid-type monsters that had occasionally tortured Mia when she was alive.

Song Lei closed his eyes to make sure that he didn't get stunned by the monster's speech and gulped loudly. He focused on his ears to not miss a single sound.

*Creak

As soon as Song Lei heard the door open, he darted at the door holding his knife up. He felt it penetrating soft tissue as a shrill scream echoed throughout the corridor. Song Lei felt a gooey substance splashing on his face. It didn't have any smell.

He felt the being he had just stabbed struggling to get away. He pulled the knife out while taking a step ahead and stabbed again. The cursed knife, again, stabbed the maid. Song Lei felt that there were no further movements from the maid's side so he opened his eyes. There were lines of words floating in front of him.

[Congratulations! You've managed to exorcise a "Maid of the Mansion" You've gained Exp!]

[Congratulations! As you've killed their subordinate, Domain-bound Mental Demon Amber Houghton has weakened.]

'Huh... That was much easier than I expected.'

Song Lei swept the notification away with his hand and looked at the body lying on the floor.

'So they become visible after they die? And why did a ghost leave behind a corpse?' He asked himself. The maid lying on the ground wasn't very different from a normal human. Albeit her pale skin, she didn't have any weird features.

Song Lei frowned and pulled the corpse of the ghost into the room. He lifted the sheet of the bed and covered the maid with it. He sighed while wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his hand.

'Wait... I remember the quake demon consuming Yao Ai after defeating it. Consuming other supernatural beings seem to make them stronger. Would Isabel get more powerful if I gave it to her?' Song Lei asked himself while glancing at the maid. 'Ugh... I don't want to think about that...'

Song Lei stopped thinking about it and decided to ask it to Isabel later. He started rummaging through the room. He wasn't really sure how valuable the things maid had would be as it was very weak but there was no harm in trying. After a few minutes of turning the room upside down, Song Lei found nothing of use.

"I have to go downstairs..." Song Lei whispered to himself. There was nothing left to do on this floor.

He left the room and went to the stairs.

Song Lei looked down the stairs and saw the nothingness, still churning with all kinds of emotions.

'It's still here...' He thought. 'Back when I was dragged down to the lower floor, there was a floor that I could step on. But when I was kicked out of the dining room, the nothingness was there,' he compared. 'What was the difference?' He tried to remember. 'Oh great...'

When he realized the solution, Song Lei facepalmed. He had to close his eyes again to venture into the lower floor.

'The instant I open my eyes on the lower floor, nothingness will come back. But I've no other choice...' Song Lei sighed. 'Should I take Mia with me as a guide?' He thought. 'No... I can't risk her.'

Song Lei couldn't dare to bring Mia with him as he couldn't guarantee her safety. If something happened to Mia, they would lose their winning chances against the mansion. Isabel couldn't come too. If she made a move at the moment, Amber too would take action. Song Lei had to trim the mansion forces down first before fighting against Amber.

Song Lei took a deep breath and started descending the stairs. While doing so, he looked between the railings and tried to memorize the doors he could see. There was an open door in a further corner of the corridor that he could see through. 'The rooms seem to have proper floors instead of nothingness,' he deducted.

When he reached the last step, he closed his eyes and stepped down while biting his lip.

*Thud

"Huff... Huff..."

Song Lei took deep breaths. Although he hadn't done much, he was exhausted. 'I'm alive,' he thought.

He started moving according to his memorization. He took a few steps and reached out to see whether he had reached the door or not. When he felt the polished wood under his hand, he readied himself and pulled the door's handle.

'Here I come!'

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