Autophagy

Song Lei woke up with a sore feeling all over his body. The last day's ordeals must've been very hard on his body as he could feel his fragile body screaming for him to stay in bed. He turned his head to the side to look at the clock. It was still 4 a.m. He had woken up much sooner than the schedule.

Looking at his dorm mates, Song Lei saw that Clark and Rufus were still sleeping. Surprisingly, all of his dorm mates were really quiet. There were no snorings. They seemed to have gotten used to sleeping silently. Although Song Lei didn't know how one would get used to that, as snoring was mostly a physical condition, he didn't believe that Rufus would be the type to sleep so quietly.

He reached his head slightly to the lower part of his bunk and saw Aston sitting like he was meditating. Not wanting to disturb him, Song Lei sat up straight and started assessing the things that happened since he entered the dream space.

If he were to try climbing down the bunk now, it would make an incredible amount of creaking noises and wake everyone up. He didn't want to become his dormmate's mortal enemy right from the first day.

The system shop was still out of use. After sitting there for half an hour, Song Lei heard a shuffling in the room. It was Clark. He had woken up and was rubbing his eye with his hand. Slightly raising his head, he looked at Song Lei.

When he saw that Song Lei was staring right back at him, Clark's eyes got slightly bigger, showing that he was surprised. Shortly after, that expression of shock turned into a gentle smile. He got up from his bed and slapped Rufus on his arm.

Feeling Clark's slap, Rufus woke up quickly. He jumped down from the bunk and stretched. Song Lei climbed down using the ladder of the bunk. Aston, who looked like he was meditating, got up from his bed too. All four teenagers now stood in a circle.

"You woke up earlier than us huh?" Clark said. "You'll probably get used to this place pretty quickly."

"Why do you guys wake up this early on?" Song Lei asked. He normally didn't think about when he would wake up. It was just that he slept less than other people. It had been this way since he was ten years old. He would always sleep late and wake up early. Fortunately, this didn't have any effect on his stamina.

"To be more ready for the morning training. It's usually not good enough if we wake up at 5:00," Aston said.

"Anyways," Clark cut him off. "Let us show you around the dorm."

"That would be great," Song Lei said. He wasn't very good with maps and remembering places. If he were on his own, he would spend most of his time trying to figure out what was where.

After washing up and getting ready for the morning training, they had a bit more than thirty minutes left for them to show Song Lei around the place.

Most upper floors of the building were made up of dorms. There seemed to be more than a hundred section A trainees in the orphanage.

To Song Lei's surprise, most of the trainees woke up before 5 a.m, just like his dorm mates. Everyone seemed to have something to do on their own. It looked like they valued their free time a lot. Even going as far as cutting their sleep short to create more of it.

Because this place was for well-behaved trainees, everyone was somewhat kind towards Song Lei. The worst reaction he got was from people that were neutral towards him. There were no trainees that acted rude for no reason. This surprised Song Lei a lot, as he was expecting to deal with lots of angry and psychologically-damaged teenagers.

Lower floors of the building were reserved for all kinds of classrooms, spanning from theoretical ones to practical ones. It seemed like the Eye Orphanage did its best to give its trainees the best education they could.

After showing Song Lei several different living facilities to meet his daily needs such as bathrooms, the cafeteria, or such, they were done with their little introduction of the orphanage. They had nine more minutes before the physical training started. Song Lei didn't know how he would deal with the training as his body was much weaker compared to the others.

As they reached the training grounds, 20 trainees were standing side by side, forming a single long line. All of their expressions were emotionless. They were neither sleepy nor energetic. It seemed like they had gotten used to the general schedule of this place.

As the time reached 5:20, an instructor walked to their front. He was a man with tanned skin. There were a few scars on his face, making him look more intimidating. His height seemed to be around 1.9 meters. Along with his slim-muscular body, he looked like a model.

After doing their morning greets, the instructor looked at a form that was in his hands.

"Lewis? Is Lewis here?" He asked after reading the name out loud. He looked around to see who would step up.

Song Lei took a step forward and showed himself.

"You are supposed to go to section B from now on on the mornings. Until they tell you otherwise, keep doing that in the mornings. You have to come back here before the morning training is over," the instructor said.

"Yes sir!" Song Lei confirmed and left for section B. He was curious about how he would deal with the physical training, however, he had forgotten the doctor telling him that he would go to section B to get rehabilitative training.

After taking his map out, Song Lei started another session of searching for section B. Searching for ten minutes, he managed to reach the place he needed to go.

There were no other trainees in the rehabilitative training gym. There was only a male with a muscular body and black hair. Compared to the other instructor, this person looked less intimidating. There were no scars on his face and he had a scholarly aura around him.

"Are you Lewis?" The man asked. "I'm your instructor and you're two minutes late. From now on, I expect you to be more careful. Weren't you informed that you would come here in the morning?" He asked with somewhat of an angry expression.

"No sir! I've just learned it from the other instructor," Song Lei said respectfully. Hearing him, the instructor's expression softened a little bit.

"Okay then. Remember to be punctual in this orphanage. If you aren't, you will not have a good time," the instructor advised Song Lei.

"Yes sir," Song Lei confirmed. He wasn't worried about it as he had always been a punctual person.

"Anyways. We'll start by a few measuring. I have a general idea of it from your medical report but I want to see it with my own eyes," he said. After he was done talking, he gestured Song Lei to follow him and started making him go through a few different machines.

When they were done, Song Lei was left drenched in sweat.

"Your general constitution is okay and you can exert much more strength than what your body should be capable of, however, you're still weak," his instructor said while noting down a few things. After he was done, he put the paper to a side and brought Song Lei to a place that looked like a ring.

"Come up," he said after going up on the ring. Song Lei followed along, however, he had a slight headache while guessing what would happen next. "Attack me however you want," the instructor said. Song Lei had to spend quite a bit of effort to not facepalm.

'I knew it...'

Taking a deep breath, Song Lei decided to charge in and do his best. After all, he would never be able to beat the instructor who had years of experience.

Closing the distance between them in a few seconds, Song Lei tried to strike the man's abdomen. Because of their height difference, he couldn't properly punch the instructor's jaw. The highest he could properly punch would be his chest, which wouldn't do anything.

As Song Lei's punch was traveling through the air, the instructor sent his hand forward to grab his wrist. Knowing that he would probably lose his ability to move completely if he were to get caught, Song Lei stopped his punch mid-air and jumped back.

When he managed to get his balance back, he looked at his instructor. There was a frown on the instructor's face. A very prominent one actually. He looked to be both troubled and shocked at the same time. Song Lei couldn't understand the exact reason for this as he raised his guard once more.

"Did you just stop your punch mid air...?"