Autophagy

Song Lei patted his stomach while leaving the pub.

"That was good..." He muttered as he walked towards their house. It was already midnight by the time he left the pub. He had spent a bit more time than he needed with Zach chatting.

The streets were empty. Song Lei felt chilling loneliness creeping into his body. He rubbed his arms and blew air onto his hands to warm them up. Fortunately, the rain was already over.

Feeling the cold and the creepy atmosphere, an anxious feeling appeared in his heart. Trusting his sixth sense, Song Lei hastened his steps. He was almost running right now.

Reaching the house, he opened the door and threw himself in. The empty house gave him an eerie feeling as if every piece of furniture that should've been here had been swallowed by the walls. He calmed himself down quickly and climbed the stairs.

As he got nearer and nearer to his room, the anxiousness in his heart grew. He raised his hand and pulled the door's handle.

*Creak

"You're back?" Aston's calm voice resounded. Seeing him, Song Lei breathed a sigh of relief. For some reason, he had felt that something had happened to Aston, however, that feeling disappeared after seeing him.

"Yes. I'm back," Song Lei said. He changed his clothes and walked up to Aston. "Have you finished your blueprint?"

"Yeah. I finished it an hour ago or something..." He muttered while rubbing his eyes. There was a book in his hands. Song Lei guessed it to be a romance novel from its title "For A Long Life With You". It belonged to an author Song Lei had never heard of. After Aston closed the book and got up, Song Lei took it from the desk and opened it to read a little bit.

"So you read stuff like this in your free time?" Asked Song Lei. Aston stretched for a second and threw himself on the bed.

"From time to time. I read all genres," he said. He crumpled the bed sheet a little bit and hugged it. "How did it go?"

"It was fine. I got into a small fight, unfortunately..." Song Lei muttered as he kept flipping through the book. He wasn't as tired as Aston, so he still had a bit more energy to spare.

"Really? I remember telling you to not cause trouble..." Aston said as he raised his head.

"They initiated the attack. Just a bunch of thugs," Song Lei said.

"And by any chance, are those thugs from the same organization as our target?" Aston asked. Song Lei's mouth twitched at Aston's keen senses.

"Umm... Don't worry. They didn't see my face," Song Lei reassured Aston. Aston sighed deeply without answering.

"Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm too tired to think right now," he said. Song Lei nodded and kept flipping through the book for fifteen minutes. Although it wasn't his cup of tea, it was still a pastime.

'Isn't this place a bit too cold..?' Song Lei thought. 'As if the window was open before I came here.'

Thinking about this, Song Lei closed the book in his hand and put it back on the table without making any sounds. He didn't want to disturb Aston. He opened the window in the same manner and looked outside.

There wasn't anything out of ordinary. After staring around for another half a minute, Song Lei closed the window.

'Something feels weird...' He thought. After throwing the awkward feeling aside, he went to sleep...

...

As the morning came, Aston and Song Lei left the house together. For the first day, Song Lei would accompany Aston and help out with anything that he may need while he forged the weapons.

Mornings in Brighton were much different to those of London's. London had been grasped in the claws of the industrial revolution. The whole United Kingdom was troubled because of the same thing. Their society and laws couldn't match the technological and productive development brought by the industrial revolution.

As a result, most of the cities were surrounded by slums filled with poor people that couldn't afford proper food. The cities smelled of trash and most of the people had to live in unsanitary places. This situation also affected the streets of London. The smog caused by the factories, the ash that would rain from above, and the smell caused by garbage would make anyone from the 21st century lose their mind.

Brighton, on the contrary, wasn't like that. It was still bad and most of the residents lived in slums, however, it was much better than London in this aspect.

It didn't take Song Lei and Aston too long to go to their destination. In less than twenty minutes, they were able to arrive at the blacksmith they were looking for.

They entered the place as a gust of hot air and iron dust hit their face, irritating their eyes. Song Lei looked around after his eyes got used to the surroundings.

It was pretty much how he had imagined the place to be. It was dusty, hot, and smelled of sweat. A rhythmic noise of metal hitting metal resounded constantly. Right in the middle of the tools and machines stood a relatively young man, probably about 20 to 25 years old. He had bulging muscles that would stand out in this day and age.

He held a hammer in his hand, constantly pounding away at a piece of steel on top of an anvil. He would occasionally heat it again and return hitting it. Aston and Song Lei walked to his side and waited without disturbing the man.

After watching him for twenty minutes, the man wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Song Lei and Aston had sweated too, however, they didn't complain about it.

"Oh? Sorry, I didn't see you there," the man said as he continued with his job. This time, however, his attention was on Song Lei and Aston. "Are you guys here to commission something?"

Song Lei and Aston looked at each other for a split second before Aston took a step forward.

"We are actually not here for that," Aston said. As soon as the man heard his words, a deep frown appeared on his face. "We want to use this place."

The frown on the man's face disappeared as it was replaced by an awkward smile.

"I don't understand... You mean... This blacksmith?" He asked. With the industrial revolution, this occupation was becoming more and more extinct. He wasn't expecting someone to ask to use this place.

"Yes. I'm Aston and this is Lewis. We crucially need to use this place," Aston answered truthfully. The blacksmith guy scratched the back of his neck and thought about Aston's words.

"Well... I want to ask you guys why you need it but..." He said. After looking at Song Lei and Aston's facial expressions, he sighed and continued by saying, "You guys don't seem like you would talk about that."

After not getting an answer from Song Lei and Aston, the man sighed deeply.

"As long as you pay the money, I don't mind it," he said. He took out his apron and gestured Song Lei and Aston to follow him before going through a door.

They followed him without any complaints and passed through the door too. Much to their surprise, this place seemed like a proper shop. There were all kinds of metal equipment, tools, and items attached to the walls. Right in the middle of this place was a table.

"Come and sit please," the blacksmith said. He looked around confusedly for a second. After that, an angry expression appeared on his face. "Where did this girl go again... Ahem... Anyways. I'm Calvin and I own this shop. I have an assistant but she seems to be slacking again..."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Aston said.

"Well... If you guys want to borrow the forge, you must've prepared the money right?" Calvin said. He started tapping on his leg as he stared at Song Lei and Aston's stoic faces.

"Of course," Aston said. He took out half of the money they had prepared for this deal and put it on the table. As soon as he did so, Calvin's eyes widened.

"Deal," he said. Song Lei and Aston looked at each other confusedly for a second. They had expected that they would have to haggle a lot, however, that didn't seem to be the case.

'Did we underestimate the money given to us by the orphanage..?' Song Lei couldn't stop himself from thinking. The orphanage had given them some money, however, both he and Aston weren't sure how much it was actually worth. Seeing Calvin's reaction, they couldn't help but guess that they had offered him a high amount of money.

Calvin quickly counted the money as an ecstatic expression appeared on his face. While he was busy counting the money, the shop's door was opened.

"Honey! I mean... Boss! I'm back!" A girl's voice resounded in the shop. "I brought you some food. Oh? We have customers?"

Calvin got up from the place he was sitting and hugged the woman that had just entered the shop. She didn't seem to be older than twenty years old.

"These two are our new customers. They want to borrow the forgery for some time," Calvin said. As soon as the woman heard what he said, she pulled him aside and started whispering something to him.

Song Lei and Aston looked at each other awkwardly as they waited for the couple to calm down. It took them about five minutes to stop arguing. As soon as Calvin showed the money to the woman, she shrieked.

They both went to Song Lei and Aston's side.

"Please use our forge however you want...."