Autophagy

"Are you planning to keep all the fun to yourself? Of course, I'll come along," Aston said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Song Lei sighed at Aston's notion.

"Let's go then..." Song Lei muttered defeatedly. During the time they were talking, the footsteps had already disappeared. Although it was still possible to hear some people chattering and going around, they had lessened a lot.

Song Lei slightly pushed the tent's entrance and peeked outside. There were a few gas lamps dimly illuminating the base. He could see a few silhouettes moving around aimlessly with their own gas lamps. They seemed to be patrolling around the base.

Song Lei pulled his head back into the room and signaled Aston to follow him. Seeing his gesture, Aston crouched and started following Song Lei. They both left the tent and sneaked around it. Their tent's entrance was directed towards the center of the base. This was probably placed this way to keep a better eye on them.

After reaching the tent's back, they were met with the chilling protection of the cold forest. Although it was eerie and dark, it was better than what they would probably experience in case they were discovered.

They dove right into the forest to cloak themselves from others' eyes and started walking. Fortunately, Aston had surveyed the area during the day and made a map of the surroundings in his mind. He also knew where one of the enemy bases was. If that base was the same as the one that the assault would be launched on, they could go and spectate as much as they wanted.

"The forest is pretty thick around those areas, so it will be easy to hide," Aston muttered. Normally, the forest was pretty loud during the night. With the help of the night animals, it was even louder than it was during the day.

"Are you sure? What if they dispatch too many scouts and we get located?" Song Lei asked. It was always possible that they would get caught. He didn't want to think what would happen if they were caught.

"Don't worry," Aston said. He seemed pretty relaxed compared to Song Lei. There wasn't the smallest tinge of anxiousness on his face. "The forest is too loud for us to make noticeable sounds. At the same time, it's too dark for us to get spotted."

Song Lei nodded and did his best to stop worrying. As they kept walking through the forest, Aston suddenly stopped Song Lei and crouched on the ground. Song Lei imitated him and crouched behind a bush.

Shortly after, he realized that there were a few light sources far away in the forest. Although they were too far for them to properly see, they were still pretty obvious. Whatever those things were, they cut through the darkness of the forest like holy blades.

"They must be scouts..." Aston muttered silently. Song Lei had to do his best to hear what he was saying, so he leaned closer to Aston. "Look at the way they move. Their gas lamps are probably attached to sticks. They're constantly waving them around, indicating that they're trying to see around them."

After hearing Aston's words, Song Lei focused and watched the light for some time. Every word Aston had said just now seemed to be pretty much true.

"So? What do we do?" Song Lei asked quietly. Aston didn't turn his head and kept looking at the lights.

"Let's follow them while keeping our distance," Aston said. Song Lei nodded as they both started walking through the forest stealthily all the while following the scouts.

"Which side do you think those scouts are from?" Song Lei asked. Because of the distance between them and the blinding light, their appearance was indistinguishable.

"It doesn't matter," Aston said. "As long as we follow them, we'll reach our destination," he stated. After looking at his face, Aston realized that Song Lei wouldn't be so easily convinced so easily. "Hmm... If I were to guess, I would probably say they are from Section C."

"Why is that?" Song Lei asked.

"Look at their numbers," Aston said. "The average scout team would be much smaller as they would have to move quickly near the enemy premises. That's the reason why these people are probably from Section C. Another thing to note would be the fact that we are probably near their base."

"That seems reasonable," Song Lei said. They continued following the lights. After a few minutes, the lights left the forest and reached an opening.

Song Lei and Aston followed them without leaving the forest. Suddenly, their eyes were hit with blinding lights. Although it wasn't that bright, it was still a lot for a night in the forest where the moon couldn't illuminate much.

After their eyes got used to the light, Song Lei and Aston realized that they had, indeed, reached the enemy base. It was pretty similar to the one Section A had. Albeit a bit more populous.

With a gesture of Aston, both Song Lei and he climbed onto the branches of a tree and kept watching from there. Song Lei had to wave his hands around a little bit to clear the place from any bugs.

Everything seemed to be normal in Section C's base. There were a few trainees running around, carrying things and having fun. They weren't doing anything out of the ordinary unlike the horrific festivals of the soul worms.

"Watch them more carefully," Aston said. Hearing his words, Song Lei looked at him, raised one of his brows, and turned his head back towards the encampment. "Look at their expression," Aston clarified.

After Song Lei looked at the trainees for some time, he realized that not everything was going on like how he thought it was. Although the trainees were acting like they were just having fun and drinking. A lot of them had stiff expressions. From their unnatural behavior, Song Lei could understand that they were actually in a highly alert state.

It was understandable, after all, they were currently in a war against their greatest enemy. If they knew a few things about the soul worms, they would be aware of the fact that they would become more active during the night. They had to defend their base that was covered with thick forests against their enemies. They could always get assaulted from every single direction. They would be taken out quickly in case they were careless.

"What are they trying to do?" Song Lei asked. From what he could understand, these people were purposefully trying to act like they weren't in an alert state. However, for a proper scout, it would be very easy to figure out their act.

"You're looking at it from the wrong perspective," Aston started explaining. There was a solemn expression on his face. "Remember. These people are not exactly humans at the moment. They don't have the skills to act as good as a normal human, however, their enemies are also very bad at figuring it out. Think about it, you had to take a second look to understand they were acting. The soul worms won't able to do so."

"Hm... What about Clark? Would he be able to understand?" Song Lei asked another question. After hearing his words, Aston thought for a few seconds.

"Probably. The soul worms have already taken him over and are able to perfectly function as a human during the day," Aston muttered. After thinking about his words for a second, an awkward smile appeared on Song Lei's face.

"Then doesn't that mean their plan will fail?" Song Lei asked.

"And it won't be just a failure. It'll be a catastrophic one. Of course, this is if we assume that they only have one plan," Aston said.

While Song Lei and Aston were constantly whispering into each others' ears, they heard a commotion nearby. From what Song Lei could pick up, it came from somewhere around fifteen to twenty meters.

"They are here! On the east side!" A shout resounded from the encampment. The whole section C base went into chaos. More than half of all the trainees started running towards the east side of the base. The remaining was carefully watching the surroundings to make sure that they weren't backstabbed.

Meanwhile, Song Lei and Aston got off the tree and carefully climbed on top of another tree to get a proper view of what was going on.

They saw about fifty section A trainees confronting the  Section C trainees. They were pretty quick and tenacious with great unity. There was a leader amongst them that Song Lei didn't recognize. He was using Song Lei's tactic, separating his forces into a mobile assault force and a defensive line. Every now and then, the mobile assault force would take out a few section C trainees, gradually increasing the pressure on their defensive line.

However, Section C wouldn't go down without a fight too. They were slowly managing to counter the mobile assault force by forming one of their own.

"This is going to be brutal...."

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