He's Shrunk to 5 cm and Now He Must Survive! - Manhwa Recap

Our protagonist, Sushia, is jolted awake by an incessant ringing in the background. He gets up and wipes the sleepiness from his eyes. Annoyed by the ringing, he looks around cluelessly, trying to make sense of where he was. It looks like a dark tunnel, but the walls are far too soft and have a cloth-like texture. He follows the trail out of the mysterious place and is blinded by the lights at the exit. He could have fallen to his death had he taken one extra step. Upon exit, as Sushia steps back, we see that the mysterious

place he crawled out of is the space under his blankets. The cliff that he was close to falling off was the bed itself. For some bizarre, unknown reason, he has shrunk to 5 cm, about as big as a matchstick. His first reasonable thought is that he is dreaming, but slapping himself does not pull him out of reality. He also notices that he is buck naked, so it is no wonder it is so chilly. Fortunately, he has some tissue on his bed for a particular reason we can't talk about; he uses those to make some pants.

As for that incessant ringing that woke him up, it was coming from his phone alarm. Realizing that he has some way to call for help, he rushes to the phone, jumps down on its home button, and sees that it has no signal. That might be the case, but he should still be able to call the emergency line, right? He dances around the phone's screen and manages to type the emergency numbers. He is so into it, and the number is so long that he accidentally slips off the screen and into the crevice between his bed and

nightstand. As he falls, he laments dying in such a horribly depressing way. His fall to the bedroom floor makes a slight thump and knocks all the dust loose, causing Sushia to cough for air. But it looks like he is okay because of his shrunken body; his air resistance has dramatically increased, like a tiny insect resistant to falling on the ground. Light is non-existent, and a weird noise is droning around him. He walks towards the exit of the crevice, and the bizarre sound keeps getting closer. He makes a run for it in fear of a lurking

cockroach or something. When he finally gets out, the source of that sound reveals itself: a freaking praying mantis. Thankfully, Sushia sees the shadow of the grotesque insect before it slices down with its scythe. He manages to stumble away from the attack, but his tissue pants are ruined. The mantis continues chasing after him like a relentless killer as he finds himself seeking safety inside his Crocs clogs. From the holes of the Crocs, the insect's sharp blade starts playing reverse whack-a-mole; it wounds Sushia's arms and then stops. As he wonders if the threat is gone, he looks

to the side and sees the mantis find its way inside the clogs. Fortunately, his shrunken body can fit in one of the holes, making it out safely and trapping the bug. Thinking he is in the clear, he starts considering a hideout, but the praying mantis manages to get out of the hole and chases after him. He starts running while surveying his empty bedroom floor, with nowhere to hide. After running for a while, he spots a used-up mosquito coil and some matches. He quickly digs into the matchbox as the mantis catches up and rewinds its blades.

Before the sharp limb can slice him open, Sushia gets a matchstick out of the box, swipes it on the striker, and lights a torch with which he can stab the insect. If you played Pokémon, you'd know that fire dumpsters bugs. Waving the torch, he taunts the mantis for round two, but it flies away in defeat. Instead, Sushia has become more susceptible to feeling cold with his shrunken body. His next survival move is to tear off some tissue from his pants and make a ragged shirt to stave off the cold. He could only blame himself for

renting an old suburban house plagued with insects. Sushia takes a few more matchsticks and tears some sheets of match strikers to use as his fire starter belt. The next problem is food. Luckily, he has some cookies left beside his bed from last night, a spot that is way too high to climb, but he has no other choice. He needs food for sustenance and to avoid freezing to stave off the rapid loss of body temperature. He manages to scale the unscalable using his fan's power cord as a rope. When he gets there, his cookies are being

carted off by an army of ants. When they see him, they start turning their attention to Sushia. His idea of bringing some matches pays off immediately; he uses the torch to stave off the pesky ants. Then he takes some crumpled tissue paper nearby, lights it up, and kicks it to the ants. It is a successful clearing operation that makes it possible to break off some cookie crumbs to eat. But the ants come back more aggressive than before; they start crawling all over his body. He has to use another one of his matchsticks to keep them

away and retreat to safety, but the ants drive him to the edge of the nightstand. Sushia immediately throws the matchstick torch to the critters, holds the cookie crumb firmly with his mouth, and uses the charger cable as a zip line. With the help of the last matchstick, he successfully zip lines back to the bed as the ants retreat. Those bastards were just trying to protect their food, not to eat Sushia for dinner. Since he's back on his phone's spot, he calls the landlord next door for help. He goes to the voice recorder app on his

phone and starts recording his desperate shout for help. He plays that recording repeatedly for a long time, but it doesn't pay off. It has since turned dark now as night crept in. Sushia wants to use the light on his phone screen to fend off nightlife creatures, but he is too late. A big ass mosquito has already latched itself onto his back, draining his blood. Sushia freaks out and swipes the mosquito away. He turns around and sees a buzzing army of blood suckers in the air. This leads to another chase, which he manages to avoid by

going back under the blanket and sealing the entrance. The mosquito bite immediately starts hurting and itching. Furthermore, there's not a lot of air under the blanket, and he starts having a hard time breathing. He tears some more tissue from his clothes and makes a mask to sneak some air from the outside, but the mosquitoes are too persistent, camping outside the blanket. With no other choice, Sushia decides to ditch the suffocating blanket and run for his life. He heads for his last matchstick near the phone. He strikes it, lights it, and waves the torch around to

repel the bugs. Sushia waves it a little too hard, breaking off the tip. With no more fire to save them off, the mosquitoes suck him dry like a free blood bag. This couldn't go on any longer. Sushia remembers that he had some mosquito coils lying around somewhere. He swiftly turns to the edge of the bed and jumps down, parkouring to the floor, expecting that the fall wouldn't harm him—and it didn't. His target was the box of mosquito coils. He breaks off a tiny piece and lights it up with the matches nearby. His bold plan succeeds,

and he should be safe now, right? Wrong. This dude got ripped off and bought some fake mosquito coils. The mosquitoes were more afraid of matchstick flames than the coil smoke. Sushia does some more cardio and finds himself in another furniture crevice. The sound of mosquito buzzes is replaced with chirping. He thinks it is a mouse, but it turns out to be a baby lizard locked on as prey by the praying mantis. Sushia wants to use this opportunity to end this hateful bug once and for all. For this, he uses two torches to bum rush the

insect. The mantis had learned its lesson and immediately retreated at the sight of fire. When it rushed out of the crevice, the only ones left were the poor little lizard and Sushia. The little fella instantly liked Sushia very much. Upon thinking about it, he decided to eliminate the little lizard in fear of such a dangerous carnivore when it matures. The little guy jumped out of his stomp attack at the last second. He looked to the side and realized that it didn't intend to dodge his stomp; it was aiming for the mosquito nearby. That's right—the adorable

baby lizard that he rescued is a perfect mosquito-killing machine! One after another, it precisely aimed at the buzzing mosquitoes using its tongue. Sushia made up his mind and decided to pick up the baby lizard. He tied it up with a string and lugged the poor thing around like a portable insect repellent. Sushia had a good dream that night; he was feasting on a spread of delicious dishes. But the dream was ruined when the roasted pork started licking him. He realized that it was just the little lizard trying to wake him up. He's currently down to

the last little cookie crumb before running out of food. He turned to the side and started thinking about just how good a roasted lizard would taste. But when he tried to sneak up on the little guy, it won him over with its adorable antics. Sushia chose to postpone his plans to eat the little fella until it got bigger and named it Barbecue. Barbecue liked his new name. Furthermore, Barbecue could do some nifty tricks; the little fella is pretty intelligent. They were playing catch with a matchstick when Sushia's throat started hurting from severe dehydration. To solve

this very pressing problem, he went back to the nightstand via the charging cable because there was a cup of water there. The ants were still there, and they must have sensed Sushia and his pet touching down. This time, he didn't panic and just tasked Barbecue to charge against the incoming army. While the ants were preoccupied with Barbecue, Sushia dragged the cookie tray out of the box. He needed to drink some water soon, so he used the tray as a ladder to climb to the cup. He took off his tissue paper clothes and dunked the tray

inside the cup to safely get down to the water. The plan was sketchy at best, and it led to him falling straight down into the water. He started sinking down the cup helplessly. Is this how he dies, drowning in a cup? He couldn't rely on Barbecue to save him, as the little guy was busy with the ants. But he underestimated this baby lizard. It bravely jumped down into the water upon seeing Sushia sinking. Like him, Barbecue struggled to stay afloat. For a moment, it looked like the two friends were about to die from drowning, but

Sushia caught a second wind and rescued Barbecue and himself. He thanked his little buddy for giving him the much-needed push to continue surviving. Prior to shrinking to 5 cm, Sushia was just an 18-year-old about to start university. One day, he woke up, and everything had changed. The cold, hunger, and bugs have made survival extremely hard. Today, he managed to reach the landlord's door next door. He snuck in through the door's gap with his trusty pet lizard. He came into a very ordinary... the means to create a makeshift blanket. With their new bedding setup and a

safe hiding place, Sushia and Leu felt a sense of accomplishment. They were ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead, determined to survive in this vast and dangerous world, even at their tiny size. As they settled into their new hiding spot, both knew that teamwork and resourcefulness would be essential for their continued survival. A needle; he carefully threaded some cotton strands and got ready to show off his sewing skills. With every swish of the needle, the thread followed until Sushia finished making a shirt. He even made some pants out of the pillowcases, and don't forget underwear!

The next thing he wanted to make was an essential item of clothing—a warm jacket. He confidently focused on the task at hand, and the coat was finished. Sushia was done, and he could finally change out of his tissue paper outfit. He mocked the landlord for being so slow with her needlework when he was already done with his fit. Leisa wasn't bothered; she just carefully continued sewing. When she turned around after hearing a rustling, she saw Sushia wearing the outfit he was so proud of—looking straight out of a child's bad drawing. His shoddy work reared its

head when the coat stitching opened. He had an excessively short tank top underneath, his pant legs were of different lengths, and worst of all, his underwear was way too tight. He had to swallow his pride and remake the whole fit. Today was a day of sewing clothes until the sun went down. Liu was looking drippy with her full set of clothes made from scratch; so was Sushia, when he took his time to do it right. With these new, warm clothes, they could probably explore away from the comfort of the bed. For now, they needed to

go back to their nest to boil and filter some dangerous dew to drink and hope for the best. Tomorrow, they planned to go to the balcony to make an eye-catching call for help, but tonight wasn't going to pass by peacefully, as Sushia's deep sleep was interrupted by a scream. He was confident it was a human voice. On day four, Sushia brought up the sound he had heard the night before. He didn't know where exactly it came from, but he was sure it was nearby. They couldn't afford to let possible clues go by, so LeWay wanted

to investigate right away. On the way up, near the window, the duo took out the pen and paper they had prepared to write a help signal. Once they finished this SOS signal, it was time to set off again. Set off they did; it took a while—about half a day. They never thought that walking from the bedroom to the balcony would be such an arduous trip. Below the fences, they decided to take a break after making the climb. It was an arduous climb for the duo, but it was a brief for barbecue. The little fellow was

the first one up. Little Barbecue started chirping urgently, and LeWay promptly prepared her hairclip bow. It turned out that the baby lizard was just hyped about a spiderweb. Seeing that there were no immediate threats around, LeWay decided to push forward. They arrived at the balcony right where the potted plants were situated, basking in the sun. Not only was it pleasing to the eyes, but the dew on their leaves could also serve as a valuable source of water. Next on their to-do list was to hang up the banners they made in hopes of getting rescued before

their last two matches ran out. Sushia managed to accomplish the task quickly, but seeing that there were no signs of activity in the neighborhood, they knew that rescue wouldn't come easily. The day went by without a single soul passing through the streets. After a fruitless endeavor, Leu wanted to call it a day and come back with a new plan tomorrow, but Sua stood his ground. He wanted to see if there would be human activity around by night. He assured Xou that he wouldn't do anything reckless, so it would be fine. They devised a plan for

a quick in-and-out system for the balcony using an empty water bottle. The duo hitched the bottle with a rope and used its weight as a counterbalance to get down to the ground. This empty bottle securely lodged into the high balcony, giving the duo a rare small win. Leu praised his unexpected creativity; that compliment was nearly washed away by the fact that he couldn't open the empty bottle. Fortunately, he had the idea to burn a small hole into the bottle, so they could use it to hide themselves. The duo gathered some dried leaves, intending to use

their second-to-last matchstick. But running out of matches shouldn't be a big deal with the lady's survival skills. The two managed to make a pretty decent temporary base camp inside the plastic bottle. She insisted that she also wanted to sleep on the balcony tonight to see what was going on, but Sushia was just happy that he got to spend another night with the beautiful lady again. The fire they started was attracting bugs, but that same fire could also be used to have a warm meal outside. Looking around the neighborhood, Leu didn't see any light at all

within the vicinity. Refusing to believe that there was no one out there, Sushia took a peek at what was happening. The duo looked at each other as if they had just struck gold while asking each other the same question. This nightlight revived all Sushia's hopes of rescue. He was so overcome with emotions that he didn't realize he was hugging the landlord. Since they couldn't move in the dark, they had a long day ahead of them tomorrow. This may be their last hope—a risky one at that. What lay beyond the light in that particular window was

a mystery. That night, Sushia had an equally mysterious dream where he was reaching for a glowing fruit while being beckoned by a hypnotizing voice from the other building. He was slapped back into reality by Leou pointing outside their base camp—a silhouette of a rat. was roaming around the plastic bottle, and it was bigger than the last one they encountered. Still, they couldn't give up now; they needed to go out, or they'd run out of resources and die. Going out of the bottle after the rat lost interest, the group ventured forth and saw a potted plant

with a familiar fruit growing. It was the kumquat he had dreamed of earlier. They scaled the pot, aiming to get some delicious fruit. Sushia wasn't the best climber, so Leeway took charge. She knocked the fruit loose, and he stayed on the ground to take it. They dug in using the beetle blade, and the sweet, citrusy smell made their mouths water. They split it up equally, and even Barbeque got some. The little lizard was hesitant at first, but he ended up liking it. He liked it so much that he wanted more. Seeing that it was safe

to eat, they started carving up the fruit. They munched on the fresh juices while Barbeq was in charge of cleaning up the peel. This little picnic of theirs attracted the attention of the roaming rat from earlier. It crashed the scene, and the group had to shift into battle mode swiftly. Sushia wanted to charge at the rat with his toothpick spear, but he didn't expect to jump so high. He landed behind the rat's head and stabbed the spear right in its nape. It angered the vermin, but it didn't get the chance to retaliate as a toothpick

arrow flew out to poke one of its eyes. The rat writhed in pain, accidentally falling off the balcony. The group got lucky that the rat fell, and Sushia felt more robust than usual as the potted plant started withering. The duo could feel their vision and strength being enhanced. Perhaps all these bizarre phenomena stemmed from consuming the fruit. Nevertheless, a stronger physique would significantly increase their chances of survival. They decided to head back to the kitchen to gather some more supplies before heading out. In such a big kitchen, the only thing they got was some salt

and a small plastic bag. Seeing how high the balcony was from the ground, Sushia was having second thoughts about their journey to the outside world. Leier, on the other hand, was repelling down the rope like it was the simplest thing in the world. Once they were low enough, they used the plant overgrowth on the wall as support. Lisu set their destination to reach before dark: the peach tree in the orchard. They swiftly reached the corpse of the fallen rat and started carving up some rat meat. They obviously couldn't take everything, so a lot of rat

meat was wasted. Now that they were out in the open elements, the real test begins. It did not take too long for the group to get into the groove of hunting prey. This time, it was multiple black bugs that they painstakingly hunted. Lii was in charge of carving up their prey and reminding Sushia to retrieve their limited weapons. It's around noon now, so it's time for a short break. Once they weaved through the thick grasslands, a face with hollowed eyes made a surprise appearance. Leisu panicked for a second but realized that it was just the

head of a doll. Despite that jump scare, they decided to camp in the nearby open area. Barbeque seemed agitated for some reason, but today they'll have a hearty lunch consisting of various bug legs and rat meat cuts. Yum! They made a fire using wood, as the last matchstick should be saved for emergencies. Unfortunately for them, the little fire they made to cook their lunch seemed to have attracted an unwelcome element. Everything's been cooked and ready to get devoured, but a wild snake reared its ugly head. It lunged at the group without warning. The group barely

got out of the way, then the running started—another exhausting chase with empty stomachs. But they can't keep running; snakes have a keen sense of smell, and they'll stalk them forever if they must. So their idea was to hide separately and look for opportunities to attack and kill. Once the snake got close to where Sushia's hideout was, toothpick arrows started stabbing the beast all over. When it turned its attention to the attacker, Sushia used the opportunity to mount his own offense. He lodged the spear in his hand to the snake's body as deep as he could.

The problem was, he stabbed it so deep that it got stuck. That momentary panic gave the snake the opportunity to constrict his whole body when it primed itself to munch on Sushia. Barbeque came to the rescue and bit down on the snake as hard as his little jaws would allow. It was enough to buy some time for Leu to come to the rescue. She glided through the foliage and jumped down to plunge a toothpick deep into the snake's eye. The snake promptly retreated with its serious wounds. Leu scolded Sushia for hesitating when they needed to

make quick decisions to survive. Leu might seem cold, but she just doesn't want her teammates to die because of negligence. Using Barbeque's sharp sense of smell, the little lizard led them inside the broken doll's head. There were snake eggs inside, which must have been the snake's nest. Liu carefully surveyed the area and found something unnerving under the dried leaves: there was an old miniature shoe—something that would fit a shrunken human. This presented the possibility that other people had also shrunk. Aside from the shoe, there was no other evidence, so Sushia intended to use Barbeque's sense

of smell to track its owner. The search led them outside the broken doll's creepy head. The little lizard led them to a spot behind a thick layer of grass. Inside, they saw what looked like a colorless human limb, but it was just... A little doll again! The snake must have taken the toy's clothes and shoes to make its nest cozier. Thankfully, the debacle with the snake didn't deviate much from their path, so they were on track to reach the peach tree. By the time the sun went down, they had already set up camp on one

of the tree's branches. It was a tough day, and it was possible that they would go through a tough night too. When it was Sushia's turn to watch and guard against anything unforeseen, he dozed off, entering deep sleep. He started dreaming about the light on the other building again. His dream was once again interrupted by Barbec's incessant chirping. It turned out that it was for a good reason, as a dark human-like figure was trying to quietly sneak into Lou's tent. When Sushia screamed to alert his teammate, the figure turned around and laughed mischievously. He tried

to throw a spear at the intruder, but it dodged and expertly scaled the peach tree. Barbecue wasn't going to let this guy get away; he was going to chase while the little lizard tracked the dark figure. Sushia checked in on his teammate. She was unresponsive, so he got closer. Sushia stepped back in horror. The person inside the tent wasn't Lee; it was another one of those dark figures who was laughing at him. Then the second intruder lunged at him like a wild animal. He reacted by instinct and kicked the stranger out of the tent and

down to the ground. Now wasn't the time to make sense of the situation; he needed to calm down and find his teammate first. Sushia steadily went around the area calling Lisu's name when something dropped down from the top of the tree and into his arms. It was Barbec! Now they really needed to find Lee, and it seemed like Barbec had an idea as to where she was. That is one bright baby lizard. They climbed up to the higher branches of the tree, much to Sushia's struggle, but at the tip-top stood a young woman gazing directly

at the building's light. She looked like she wanted to touch the warmth of the light itself, but was interrupted by Sushia's yelling. When Leua turned around to see her teammate, it looked as though she had just snapped out of a trance. The last thing she remembered was a weird dream of the light calling to her, the same odd dream that Sushia had been having. They had no clue as to what was even happening anymore, but light meant people, and people meant help. He gave her the rundown regarding the shadows that attacked their camp. It turned

out that those shadows were targeting their supplies; they stole everything the team had. Thankfully, they had Barbu's trusty nose to track the intruders. Seeing that those bastards were on the ground, Sushia wanted to jump right into action, but Lee advised against roaming the ground at night due to the countless dangerous factors down there. Their most prudent move would be to wait to act until tomorrow and focus on staying safe for now. They could always replenish supplies when needed. The night passed without further incidents. Barbecue still had the scent of the perpetrators memorized. They traversed the

ground covered with the early morning haze. There was so much dew that their clothes were getting wet. After walking for a while, they picked up some tracks. It led them to a tetrapod territory, so caution was necessary. Carefully wading through the grass, they spotted a makeshift gazebo made from sticks and leaves. Inside the gazebo were their backpacks, supplies, and equipment. Leu wanted to get a better look around this camp, so they climbed up the gazebo behind the leaf roof. A rotten smell was peering through. When Leisa swiped the leaves open, flies started bolting out from

inside. Now that the coast was clear, the team decided to enter the upstairs room hidden by leaves. Inside was a dead body with its left arm and leg cut off. There were traces of bandaging, but the poor guy must have died due to excessive blood loss. It was a mystery why those shadow figures would leave a body hidden here. The walls were coated with barbed vines and a few words were engraved in them. The message simply read, "Not only traps." The team had no clue what that could possibly mean. Lishu started noticing that something had

been watching them behind the leaves. She swiped the cover swiftly and neutralized the shadowy figure. Sushia made sure to get some trash talk in as the guy fell down from the gazebo's roof. The haze was still thick, and the duo could only rely on Barbu's nose to track down the shadows. After venturing far enough, the obscured figures tried to jump Lee from behind. She swiftly tossed her bow aside and went hand-to-hand with the assailant. On the other side, Sushia redeemed himself by tackling the other shadow. He quickly restrained the goon's arms while pinning the enemy

down with his own body. When he finally got a look at the person he attacked, he noticed that it was a woman. He couldn't tell if that fact softened him up or had the opposite effect, but everyone's attention swiftly shifted to Barbec's chirps. The little fellow was signaling towards the silhouette of two people behind the haze. The silhouettes in question were just a duo of travelers, the same as Sushia and his team. Fortunately, the teammates had already apprehended, tied up, and gagged the shadows. Lee tasked Sushia to get out and check what was up with

the people behind the haze. He emerged from the foliage with his most friendly smile, trying to look as harmless as possible. The travelers looked happy to see another human; fortunately, the tied-up criminals didn't bother the travelers. Though Barbecue was still apprehensive of the blue-haired strangers, their names were Chinlu and Chin Yong. Just like our team, they had camped out in the forest through the night and got their stuff stolen on the way to the building's light. On the way, they found some grassroots that could be eaten as a quick snack. The mysterious thieves were weird;

they kept yapping about not allowing anyone to reach the light. It made sense that they stole the supplies of travelers—they were preventing anyone from going further. And so, the coalition of two teams left the lunatics tied up in a relatively safe place where they wouldn't be able to interfere anymore. Fortunately, Chinlu was a pretty good navigator, making the journey smoother and faster. Sushia was just engaging in some friendly banter while leading the way when he missed the downward slope he was stepping on. He managed to let out a scream of caution, but it was too

late—Leue was falling too. She was falling because Chinlu and Chin Yong deliberately bumped her down the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff, all four of them were trying to regain their bearings. Chin Yong profusely apologized for causing this whole incident. Now that they were trapped at the bottom of a damp ditch, the most important thing was to warm their bodies. But it seemed like the blue-haired travelers weren't bothered by the cold. Leuse wanted to ask how these two managed to miss this deep ditch when they claimed to be familiar with the area. When she

turned around, she saw that Chin Yong had a wound on her shoulder and it was bleeding with blue blood. The sketchy traveler immediately covered it up, and Sushia interjected that they should focus on reaching dry ground. Liac worriedly relayed what she saw to her teammate, but Sushia thought that his landl was just mistaken. To dispel any doubt, he approached Chin Yong to make her show her shoulder. The young lady removed the covers on her shoulder; wounds of blue blood were nowhere to be seen. Chin Yong even cried, feeling offended to be accused of such a

ridiculous notion. From then on, the two groups maintained their distance. Leue still held on to what she saw; Sushia just wanted to get to a warmer place as soon as possible. They had no time to entertain such otherworldly ideas. Little did he know those otherworldly ideas might hold some truth. Let's take a break from the story and see where Barbecue came from. He came from a lone lizard egg accidentally left by the pet owner. When he hatched, the little lizard already had the light of wonder in his eyes. He looked at everything with curiosity and

a smile. That's when he met the rabid rat on the floor below. Barbecue eventually found himself out of the cage and into the outside world where wonders and horrors were endless. He could have died countless times, but he always stumbled into safety. His antics led him to the crevice between Sua's bed and nightstand. Luckily for Barbecue, this place was a buffet of pesky mosquitoes. He was enjoying his private selection of bugs when a bigger bug interfered: the praying mantis. At that time, death felt closer than ever before, until the temperature rose and the mantis's face

was suddenly burning. It was the day that Barbecue met his master, Sushia. Leue was still harboring doubts about the travelers walking behind them. Meanwhile, Sushia was starting to collapse from the drastic temperature drop as they traversed the wet ditch. But Leue thought that this was more than just the cold; something was in the water and they needed to get out. Thankfully, she managed to drag her teammate out into a patch of mud. Sushia couldn't feel his legs anymore on account of a leech draining him of blood. It was a good thing they brought salt to

make the leech wriggle in pain, releasing its suction from Sua's leg. They had no choice but to camp in this mud patch. First, at that moment, Chinlu and Chin Yong caught up to them, and Sushia asked them to sit down around the camp. While he was chilling with his injured leg, Leue was out hunting a toad for a fresh meal. Hearing that Sushia was alone and vulnerable, Chin Yong stopped acting like a sweet girl and lunged at Sushia to choke him out. Surprisingly, Sushia got up without any problems and started choking Chin Yong in return.

Barbecue also did his job and bit down on Chinlu's leg. Once the traitor was held in place, Leue's arrows started whistling through the air. Chinlu dodged the incoming attack but got knocked down by a single follow-up kick, and so another duo of strangers was apprehended and tied up. Chin Yong was confused as to how Sushia could move when he was supposed to be seriously injured, but the guy was just a good actor; the leech injury was no big deal. The cold was the biggest enemy in this place. Sushia and Leue trusted each other and were

smart enough to catch the suspicious travelers. The path they took, the bump that led to the fall down the cliff, and Barbecue's distrust, on top of all that, the mysterious blue blood—Leue demanded to know who these two really were and what they wanted. Chin Yong laughed and acknowledged the duo's capabilities but lamented that it was too late to run now. Sushia held Leue back and urged her to stay on course and leave the traders behind. That's when some dark tendrils started shooting up from the water. This is what Chin Yong was waiting for. Shrunken humans

with blue hair that looked like carbon copies of the Chin partners emerged from the water with their tattered clothes. They spawned two at a time, and their numbers were increasing by the second. Sushia and Leue... stood back to back, ready to defend themselves in the middle of a mud patch under a wet ditch. They must survive the charge of enigmatic clones. The duo put up an impressive fight, knocking clones away left and right with their toothpicks, but these things just kept recovering and respawning, their actions suggesting that they weren't aiming to kill. Sushia had an

idea to force the clones back and open an opportunity to escape. He turned the tip of his toothpick to his own neck and threatened to harm himself if the clones didn't back off. The clones weren't buying the act, but they couldn't afford to risk Sushia harming himself. The space this trick opened up was enough to boost Leu out of harm's way. She managed to hold on near the top of the ditch, but Sushia was left to get dragged away by the clones. When he woke up, he was buck naked again, with a headache and a

bright light lighting up the room. He looked behind and saw that there was some sort of creepy tube attached to the back of his neck. He tore it off and put on his jacket. The floor was made of wriggling tendrils, and Barbecue was trapped in one of the knots. When he ran towards the little lizard, a naked young man stood in his way. It was a perfect clone of Sushia, and there were a lot of them. Confused and scared, Sushia made a run for it, but at every turn he took, more clones emerged. Before long,

he was mercilessly beating up the clones, revealing their blue blood. He struggled out of that hell hole with tenacious grit and found himself at a cliff face. The rustling of his creepy pursuers behind was enough motivation to suck it up and make the jump to a nearby leaf. Some of the clones didn't bother checking what was beyond the exit and fell into endless darkness. Sushia took the opportunity to make his way back up to the surface; if he could do that, his clones could too. So, when one of his impostors managed to catch up, he

mercilessly kicked the fool down to the depths. The only thing on Sushia's mind was to find and make sure that Leu was safe so they could mount a rescue mission for Barbecue. It did not take too long for the duo to reunite. Leu was so worried that she immediately hugged him tightly as soon as they laid eyes on each other. When she realized that she'd been holding on for an awkwardly long time, she shoved Sushia away and asked him where Barbecue was. They only had four hours until it got dark—four hours to rescue their lizard

friend. The duo repelled to the hole where Sushia had crawled out. The infiltration into the weird underground base was successful; there wasn't even a single guard posted up. Using the narrow tunnels, they should be safe even if there was an ambush. Their walk into the depths of the tunnel system was unnerving but safe. They reached the creepy room where he had woken up, but Barbecue was nowhere to be seen. What they saw was even more clones breaking out of their wet pods. They wanted to run, but they were quickly surrounded on all sides. Just as

they were beating up clones to make an exit path, another Sushia, wearing a white shirt, came out. Unlike the clones, this one seemed genuinely concerned about Leu's safety. She immediately raised her toothpick against this suspicious white-shirted Sushia. Sushia also noticed that this white-shirt impostor was acting strangely. The white shirt started doubting if he was a clone, but he refused to believe that his memories were intact. So, he walked towards Jacket and used the toothpick tip to wound his hand. Red blood spurted out. Confident that he was the real deal, the white shirt Sushia questioned Jacket.

Jacket did the same thing, but his wound bled blue. The sight of the blue blood flowing out of his flesh jolted his earliest memory of stepping out of the pod. Right from the get-go, Jacket had been programmed to bring Leu back to this place. His whole worldview started crumbling. Anyone would feel the same if they realized they were just a clone. The real duo did what they did best: they ran away. They needed to retrieve Barbecue and exit through the small cave mouth, but the clones were starting to do their best to deter them from

leaving. The clones were relentless and single-minded; they were an effective team. Meanwhile, Jacket Sushia was talking to the brain of the tendril monster that made the clones underground. The Jacket had been dubbed a masterpiece of wisdom and strength, a fitting extension for the monster's will. Jacket's order was to eliminate the original Sushia to remain the real one. Leu, on the other hand, could be a blueprint for an even stronger clone. When Jacket saw Leu struggling in pain, he tried to plead with the monster brain to let his friend go, but it just continued preparing the

cloning process. Jacket laughed as he took up a toothpick spear and charged at the emotionless brain monster. As a clone, he would be erased if the brain died. Jacket Sushia already knew that, yet he still plunged the toothpick deeper into the brain. He believed that clones should not have been brought into this world. The brain's final words were a warning for the ongoing doomsday. Jacket crawled his way to Leu before he and the rest of the clones turned to mud. He just wanted to get one last look at her before the tunnels collapsed. The real

Sushia woke up with Barbecue and Leu looking at him with concerned gazes. She gave him the rundown of how they got out, thanks to a single clone that sacrificed itself. It was... Getting dark, so they needed to find refuge as soon as possible. The weather was terrible, with harsh winds making the grassland move erratically. Luckily, they managed to spot an empty open can in the front. They rushed towards it; Barbu jumped into Sua's arms, afraid of the thunder when the rain started dropping. Each droplet could seriously injure a shrunken person. Sushia was hit by a

single drop, and Leu had to drag him the rest of the way. As luck would have it, the can they chose for refuge already had a resident; they had nowhere else to retreat to. Sua was confident they could get through this as they always do. He tied a rope around Barbu's body and tasked the little guy to go deeper into the dark and call out at the first sign of trouble. Barbu bravely ventured forth. When the chirping started, Sushia immediately yanked the rope back, making the monster inside the can work for its supposed dinner. It

was a lizard of some sort. After reeling it in, Leu started blasting toothpick arrows that made the monster apprehensive. This reptile looked a little too lumpy, and it was unbearably aggressive with its charges. It took Leu a couple more tries, but she successfully landed an arrow that deterred the monster's movement, killing it. The badass landlady fearlessly marched forth to finish the job by thrusting a toothpick deep into the reptile's brain. The always curious Barbu wanted to touch the moldy lumps on the reptile's body, but Sua stopped him in time. Upon death, the fungal lumps in

the reptile's body started growing at an unprecedented rate. Seeing that the abnormal growth wasn't attacking them directly, Leu wanted to make a fire to burn the fungus down. Later, after setting up camp, Leu took off her clothes and asked Sushia to take a look at the wound on her back. He came closer to take a look and didn't see any severe wounds, just some marks from dried blue blood. Sushia was taken aback and asked if Leu had been cloned. While she held him in place, Sushia regretted not being careful enough; he couldn't beat her or

run away. There was no recourse. In response to his question, Leu just told him to lift his shirt up. The two calmed down for a second as she heated up a beetle blade. She promptly wounded her hand, letting the red blood spill out to prove that she was real. But the weird thing was that the wound started healing at a superhuman rate. The brain monster injected something into their bodies while making the clones; she theorized that it was a substance that prevented them from dying too quickly. Another problem was its lumpy head. The fungi they

left alone for a few minutes were spawning red bumps all over. It was about time to burn them down. When she opened her eyes, Sushia tried to keep her conscious; he couldn't lose her, not right now, as the red spores contaminated the air. In a blaze of glory, the team passed out cold. By the time the contaminant had run out, Sushia woke up. They were both in a coma for a very short time; inhaling the dust or spores from those fungi must have been the reason. Venturing deeper into the empty can, they saw a few

more decomposed remains with wild fungal growth around them. They backed away slowly, and thankfully another spore explosion didn't occur. Trying to burn those lumps up was the wrong move. The rain was winding down outside, and it would be ideal to leave at dawn. Hungry, Sushia started using his toothpick to skewer some slugs and snails to cook in the fire. Leu started to have doubts about whether they should continue moving forward or not; there were just way too many unknown and unpredictable variables. Their worries were forced into the back seat as Barbu started chirping like a

security alarm. The duo quickly armed themselves and saw two hooded figures heading toward their position. The hooded duo just continued running in, not even acknowledging their presence. Behind them, a feral stray cat was in hunting mode, so Sushia and Leu were roped into another massive problem by strangers. The feral cat snarled at the group, and Sushia gave a subtle signal to Leu. She stretched her bowstring and he warned the strangers to hold their breath. Her target was the abnormal fungal growth on the side; it swiftly exploded, proliferating spores all around the can. It was pretty

effective in making the feral cat struggle, but despite inhaling copious amounts of the mysterious spores, the stray still had enough presence of mind to attack. Thankfully, Sushia moved fast enough to land a kick on its face. He was dropped to the ground in return, trapped by the cat's paw, its claws digging through his chest. When Leu tried to help him out, she too got wounded—a nasty scratch to the back. At least Sushia had broken free from the paw trap to try and rescue the falling landlady, but the cat's erratic movements threw him off. The can

had gotten so chaotic that he was almost flattened by their emergency shelter. Just as he thought he was safe, he saw the cat's paw coming down on his head. He managed to dodge in the nick of time, but being hunted like this was exhausting. Sushia was severely injured, her back bleeding from the open scratch wound. The cat had already lost interest in the tiny humans. Leu needed to get treated as soon as possible. The strangers were tasked with gathering dry firewood while Sushia kept his partner warm in his arms. They boiled some water and remade

the camp. The strangers introduced themselves as Jang Fang and Chenin. Jang Fang handed Sushia some plant ash to help stifle his partner's bleeding as soon as Leu threw. Her torch illuminated the lumps; they started bursting open and spreading crimson powder spores. Just like him, Barbecue was very concerned about Lee Shouer, too. Thankfully, the old no-nonsense was back; she scolded her teammate for hugging her and instructed him not to let her back touch the ground. There were some sewing needles left in their backpack; they could use hair scalded in boiling water as threads to suture the

wound. All he had to do was help her close the two sides of the back wound together and let the mysterious healing power take care of the rest. For someone with no sewing skills, Sushia did a pretty good job with the whole process. Near the campfire, that dude named Chin Shin was doubtful that such a method would work. Sushia cleaned the wound and warned Lee that the next step would hurt like hell. She gritted her teeth through the pain as Sushia carefully closed the wound. It took a while to finish the stitches—long enough that the

bonfire ran out of fire. Sushia was absolutely exhausted, but he started worrying when Lee wasn't responding to his calls anymore. But she was still breathing, and her fever had gone down; she had just passed out. Now it was time for Sushia to deal with his own severe wound. His solution was to get some dirt and cram it into his chest wound. He bandaged himself up and went to bed beside Lee Shouer; it was only fair that the stranger duo should stand guard for the night. But just to be sure, Sushia secretly tasked Barbecue with keeping

an eye on their guests. Xenin admitted that the duo was badass, but with their injuries, recovering would be tough. They could just take all their good stuff, like the paperclip bow and food supplies. Jang Fong resented that idea. Chenin refused to take responsibility for luring the cat to this place, claiming they had no other choice. He just didn't want to waste such good stuff when it was within arm's reach. Once it was his turn to stand guard while everyone else slept, Chen immediately enacted his robbery, even kicking Barbecue away in the process as the baby

lizard tried to stop him. Then the bastard took a toothpick arrow, loaded it into the bow, and aimed it toward Barbecue. That was when Lee woke up; her voice freaked out Chen Shin, and the fool's hand slipped, releasing the arrow right into the sleeping Sushia. Fortunately, Lee had superhuman reflexes and caught the toothpick in midair. Chenin tried to weasel his way out of his shenanigans, and she choked him out in response. Based on her superhuman strength, no one would think that she was heavily wounded the day before. Shang Fong woke up from the noise of

the commotion and ran toward Chen Xin's side. Sushia's rest was also disturbed by the noise of fighting; he was more interested in Lee's recovery than anything else. This proved that they really had some extraordinary regenerative ability. The sin of taking their stuff in the middle of the night was grave, but when Barbecue told him that the bastard hit him, Sushia's tone shifted grimly. That bushy-browed, saucer-eyed prick really tried to steal their stuff and bully their friend! Chenin stumbled over his words, insisting that he was just trying out the bow and arrows. Sushia just wanted to

intimidate the guy. Lisa was surprised that Sushia could understand what Barbecue said; that's because the little guy was getting smarter every day. Stepping out of the darkness, a new day awaited in a flooded forest of tall grass. At this point, hunting a beetle was no problem at all. It turned out that these strangers were also headed for the light. The flood wouldn't settle for another hour and a half, but they needed to get going. Jang Fong tried to offer some beetle meat to the hateful Chen Shin, but the prick harshly rejected it. He wanted to

make a stand and refused to take something hunted by the jacket duo, but his stomach growled, betraying his words. After having their fill, Le took charge of moving away from the flooded area. Chen Shin, the coward, opposed the idea of using grass as a pathway, afraid of falling into the water. Jang Fong had no qualms about leaving his ass to join the powerhouse duo, afraid and alone inside the can. Chenin swallowed his pride and followed suit. More people meant more trouble, but they could manage, right? Moreover, Sushia just found an excellent find: a piece of

Styrofoam floating in the water. After making sure that it was safe, everyone boarded their new boat. The healing process for their wounds consumed a lot of energy, so they'd need to find some decent food on the shore. Sushia decided to climb back up to the stalks. Upon seeing some insects lurking around, he found a group of aphids; they could eat these plainly or sip their fragrant honeydew. He brought down a whole bag of these aphids, but his descent to the boat was interrupted by another praying mantis attack. With the help of Lee's cover fire, he

made quick work of neutralizing and dropping the attacker into the water. Sushia assured his partner that it was all good, but there were some wriggly black worms moving behind him. These creepy things, constricting him, were horsehair worms; they were coming out of the dead mantis's body, seemingly trying to take over Sushia. Instead, Lee went to the rescue, cutting down the critters with the beetle knife. Seeing that there were more worms in the water, Chen Shin started panicking again and began rowing without waiting for the powerhouse duo. The bastard was so selfish that he tried to

shove Jang Fong into the water for trying to stop him. Sushia managed to respond in time, catching the lady Lee as well. Into the boat, and immediately put the useless punk in a choke hold, threatening to drop him into the worm-infested water. In the end, they still spared the bastard but made him their designated rower. Sushia busted out the aphids that he harvested to share the weird sweet treat. When the ladies tried it, they couldn't believe how sweet the aphid essence was. Sushia neglected to tell them that they were sucking on poop; that certainly ruined

the sweet treat, but he insisted that aphid poop is safe to eat, as their diet consists solely of plant sap. Susha noticed that they were going a little too fast, and it wasn't because of Chen Chin's rowing; the water itself was dragging the boat away. This could only mean one thing: they were headed for a waterfall up ahead. Seeing the steep drop ahead, Chen immediately started telling them that the group should have listened to him and waited for the water to dry, but it was too late now. Leu planned to jump on the grass ahead

and cut it so everyone could hang on. Her movements were fast and masterful, scaling the grass stalk with ease while holding a knife. Upon reaching the halfway point, she started sawing off the stalk's body. The other survivors were beginning to panic, but Sushia just told them to trust the landlady. The grass stalk was finally cut down, and he led the other two towards the tip. They all managed to jump in time, letting the boat go down the fall. Chen started trying to discourage Jung Fang from joining these two superhumans again, but she had a brain,

and the logical choice was to stick with strong allies. Sushia couldn't stop snacking on the aphids in his bag; he was starting to notice that there was something special about them. He and Barbecue continued their binge. Sushia presented the idea of cutting more stalks to make a bridge, but transferring from one blade to another would be impossible. That's when Sua's eyes started glowing with a green hue, and something inside him began to change and grow. An untold strength started coursing through his veins; the aphid poop made him feel like he could fly. He grabbed the

cut-down stalk that saved them from the fall and started lifting it back into place. This mysterious boost in his strength was the perfect tool to go with his plan. Just a single jump was enough for him to reach the next stalk from afar. Sushia immediately started crafting the grass bridge as the rest of the gang crossed. He was feeling so good that he might even be able to kill a gigantic cow. Scratch that—maybe just a chicken. Speaking of chickens, a bird just came down from the skies, mistaking them for prey, and got its talons broken.

Sushia bashed the bird from left to right, teaching it a lesson. With the bird neutralized, he started craving grilled wings for lunch. He might be hyped, but Liay was getting a little concerned at this sudden boost in strength. She was worried that this aphid poop augmentation could have some side effects. Just as Sushia was about to assure her that everything was fine, his face contorted into a crazy grimace, and he proceeded to pass out cold. Sushia woke up after Barbecue dropped a few more drops of aphid poop in his mouth. With humans shrinking down, maybe

other creatures were also affected in some way, like these aphids. He cataloged this phenomenon and labeled the snacks he was sipping on as violent aphids. There was also the parasitic mushroom, or Little Red Riding Hood. While they were resting, Jung Fong suggested the possibility of hitting a bigger road for safety, but they couldn't afford to take the long way. Besides, going on the big roads would leave them exposed to feral cats and dogs. They needed to stay on course and adapt to whatever came. Chen hated everything about their situation, and he believed that reaching the

light would bring them back to the normal world. Sushia certainly hoped that it could be that simple, but just taking a glance at the light from far away made him hear all kinds of seductive voices calling him in. They needed to cross the river, and the injured bird was trying to sneak out while they were planning how to do so. With the bird's wings broken, it was nothing more than a living meat supply. To cross the rest of the river, they would need to rely on Sua's aphid-fortified strength. He estimated that his limit would be

around two minutes, but that should be plenty to build a stalk bridge. Sushia delivered; he was fast and efficient. All that was left to do was connect the cut-down stalks together. The bridge was swiftly finished, and he beckoned the group to walk through it. Unfortunately, the aphid side effect kicked in before Sushia could reach the ground on the other side; he collapsed, and his body started falling into the water. Lei tried her best to rescue her partner, but she was too late. Fortunately, Sushia had learned to be cautious over the past few days and tied

his waist around the bridge, verifying that the bridge was safe. The injured sparrow was next up on the line to cross. Xen Shin and Jang Fang had to poke the bird with a stick to force it to cross the stalks. Upon reaching the other side, Leu tried to tame the sparrow, but it was too arrogant. She had no time to waste taking it easy, so she beat the poor bird into submission. They used the injured sparrow as a mount the rest of the way. It might not be able to fly, but it could still run.

When Sua came around, he was situated below Leu's body; it wasn't the worst position to be. In after a poopy side effect, he was out for so long that the dark was starting to set in. Their camp for tonight would be the big tree up ahead on the way to the next resting area. Chien Chin started suffering an unbearable itch on his back; there were some nasty marks protruding from his skin. The team reached the big tree without any more trouble. When Barbecue and the sparrow had the chance to interact properly on land, the bird

started attacking the lizard immediately. Barbecue was confused at first but brought out his baby claws afterward. That sparrow saved the group a lot of time and effort by acting as a mule. Unfortunately, it wasn't as smart as Barbecue. They didn't see how the fight between the pets went down, but the only thing you need to know is that the bird was traumatized. To make matters worse, the PowerHouse Duo thought that the sparrow was the bully. Tonight, aphid husks were on the menu for dinner. They only had four loaded aphid honeydew poops, but Sua intended to

gather some more. Shenin finally brought up the itch on his back, which had been a bother. He wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, so he wanted to take the first watch shift. The guy had proven that he was unreliable when it mattered, so Barbecue was tasked to stay up as well throughout the night. All the prick did was scratch his back vigorously; then he just stopped and slowly made his way towards the direction of the PowerHouse Duo. It was past midnight, and Sushia had just woken up to start his watch shift. Leaky must have sensed

something hostile closing in and woke up to raise her toothpick spear. Once they got a good look at the bastard's face, his eyes were moving erratically, and his body was convulsing bizarrely. Sushia asked Chenin what was going on, but the punk just roared and charged at him. It only took a single kick to repel his charge. Whatever was happening, they should tie up the fool first. After finishing the bindings, Chenin started wriggling on the floor in agony; he just felt an unbearable itch spreading all over his body. Sushia decided to turn the captive around and

check on Chen Chin's back, where signs of fungal growth were starting to fester. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the parasitic Little Red Riding Hood fungi. If that's the case, Jong Fang might be infected as well. Sua tried to wake her up, but it might be a little too late; she was suffering the symptoms already. They might have been parasitized in the feral cat encounter. They must have inhaled a small number of spores, but the PowerHouse Duo was fine, and they were the ones that were exposed to more spores. If the mushroom's growth depends on

the host's health, then maybe a burst of potential from the violent aphids would alleviate the fungal growth. It's also possible that the parasite would just absorb the aphids' potency. Nevertheless, it was too late for that prick Chen Shin; his whole backside burst open, spawning a whole bunch of fungal parasites. If they didn't want Jong Fang to suffer the same brutal fate, then they needed to hurry up with the aphid plan. She was in agony, but when presented with a difficult choice, Jong Fang chose to take her chance with the aphid essence. As soon as the

poop drops were absorbed into her body, a qualitative change occurred inside her. Before Sushia could react, the augmented Jong Fang was already clutching his neck with incredible grip strength. He tried to reason with her, but there were simply no thoughts behind those glowing green eyes. Jong Fang went ahead and tried to bite him in the neck; she would have taken a decent chunk if it wasn't for Liu dragging her away by the hair. While the PowerHouse Duo was bickering, Jong Fang grabbed Sushia and threw him to his partner. The throw was so strong that the

impact nearly shattered the ground. She was even more potent than Sushia under the aphid enhancement, but since she was infected by the fungi, she should be weak enough to tire too, right? Knowing her weakness was useless if they didn't find a way to stop her onslaught first. Luckily, Sushia was blasted off near the campfire and immediately went straight for the flames. He waved a torch around, and she backed off. He was confident that he found the answer, but Jong Fang simply tapped the torch away from his hand. With no more ideas left, Sushia kneeled and

tried to redirect zombie Jong Fang's attention to the sparrow and its delicious meat, but her target was Sushia, and even a sneaky toothpick arrow coming from behind wouldn't stop her. It was as if she had Ultra Instinct, catching the incoming attack with her bare hands. Then she used the arrow that she had caught to attack Sushia. He wanted to do the same thing and grabbed the toothpick, too. He managed to do that, but the force behind the throw was so powerful that it swept him off his feet. For a moment, it looked like the PowerHouse

Duo was really done for. Sushia could only hope that Barbecue would be smart enough to run away. That's when a sudden explosion of black dust interrupted the attack. As soon as the dust settled, a pair of glowing eyes made themselves known. It was a massive red lizard, and it was directing its hostility towards zombie Jong Fang. The duo had no idea what this thing was, but it was fast and strong enough to keep up with the supercharged zombie. They needed to take this chance to get to safety. The lizard had the upper hand, pushing the

zombie to desperation. When Jong Fang tried to attack its body, the beast responded with a tail. Whip! Then he ferociously charged, only to have all momentum sapped out upon tanking a kick. The second kick was a critical strike to the side. These two supernatural creatures were at a standoff, and zombie Jang Fang broke it off by running away. She blended into the darkness of the night and went off to God knows where. Mr. Red Lizard looked around but wasn't able to keep up; meanwhile, the duo got as far away as they could. They were far

enough to rest up and tend to their severe injuries, but with their extraordinary physique, recovery shouldn't be a problem. Their only concern was the missing barbecue. Unbeknownst to the duo, a pair of predatory reptilian eyes were lurking in the background. Sushia surveyed the area and heard some rustling. He went to check it out, hoping it was barbecue. Unfortunately for him, it was a different reptile—another snake hunting for prey. Leu reacted as soon as she saw the predator near her partner; she grabbed him by the hand and started running again. There were a few close calls,

but Sushia kept dodging certain death by a hair's breadth. When it got close enough to land a surefire blow, the red lizard from earlier made its appearance and thwarted the snake's attempt to have some human dinner. Instead of getting a bite out of shrunken humans, the snake suffered a painful chomp to the body. The red lizard was tough and scrappy, biting the snake into submission. He finished the fight by making a knot out of the poor snake's body. Then the red lizard started suffering from the same side effects that Sushia had with violent aphid consumption.

Coincidentally, Barbec's chirping became audible. When the duo checked out the source, they found the baby lizard passed out in an open clearing. The little fellow wasn't moving at all, which worried the duo. Leisa thought Barbec just passed out from fear, but we know better than that, right? They couldn't help but praise the strength of that red lizard that tied the snake up like a bow. With that taken care of, they needed to pack up and check if the sparrow was still alive. Thankfully, the bird was still tied up in the base camp along with all

the supplies. Seeing their transport vehicle alive was relieving, but the little birdie looked like he saw a ghost upon seeing Barbec. The sparrow knew that Barbec and the red lizard were one and the same; he wouldn't dare pick a fight against that cute baby reptile again. Thankfully, all the equipment was accounted for, even the violent aphid supplies. They made a bridle for the bird to make the journey smoother; it wasn't even acting up at this point. Sushia rode on the back of the bird and made himself comfortable behind Leu. She had to put all their

stuff in the middle to prevent our boy from getting too close. As soon as they exited the area, zombie Jang Fang stepped out of the shadows. Meanwhile, a different group of shrunken survivors came across the Red Riding Hood growth from the camp. It sounded like this group had been actively searching for Sushia and the gang for their high potential in their quest to find the powerhouse duo. They would need to deal with the supercharged, parasitized zombie known as Jang Fang. This group wasn't made up of scrubs; they managed to guard against a perfect sneak attack.

Still, the supercharged zombie was just too strong and fast. The group's answer was to bust out the makeshift flamethrower. Jang Fang was caught off guard and succumbed to the flames immediately. The leader of the group wasn't bothered by the attack; he just wanted to catch up to their real objective. Once they started lowering their guard, something shifted. Zombie Jang Fang was resilient enough to tank the fire and close the distance to wreck the flamethrower. After destroying the weapon, she targeted the man it was strapped to. Much to her surprise, her flawless movement was stopped by

a heavy swing of a blade. The group's leader managed to react faster than she could move, saving his subordinate. This opened the opportunity to gang up against the infected lady. She used the momentum of dodging the attack to propel herself backward; her aim was to control the plentiful bloom of the Red Riding Hood that Chien Chin's body left behind. The zombie didn't even touch the fungal growth, and its red lumps started detonating one after the other; it dispersed the crimson spores into the air. Jang Fang used this as a highly effective cover while she ran

away. The group managed to cover their mouths and noses in time. Their scout noticed that the zombie lady had the same smell as the spores. The leader didn't want to chase; their time would be better spent going after their actual target. Mr. Scout was confident that tracking down that duo wouldn't be a problem. Using the sparrow as a proper landlocked mount, our duo's progress was relatively fast. Leisa decided to halt their push as she spotted a tripwire trap, indicating someone must be camping ahead. As usual, Sushia was tasked with going out in the open to

greet the strangers as cheerfully as he could. The straw-wearing men were quick to draw their weapons; they were cautious. Sushia assured them that he meant no harm and was just wondering if they could share camps for a bit. The older gentleman asked Sushia how he bypassed the tripwires they had set up. Well, he's been a victim of one, and his partner is an expert in setting them up. Seeing that the straw men were willing to cooperate, Sushia called Leu to come out, but she burst out of the bushes due to a hostile force. The group

that was hunting them had caught up and now set their sights on Leu. As well, she warned her partner that these hunters were strong and motivated. They appeared out of nowhere so quickly that Barbecue didn't even have time to give a warning. The older strawman, called Wong, assured them that he'd take care of the hunters. His idea of dealing with them was sitting down and talking things out first. When the hunters refused peace and attacked instead, Wong just caught the incoming blade with his bare hands covered in scales. The hunter leader didn't like the look

of those scales at all, so it was a battle between Wong and the hunter leader. Well, it wasn't really much of a fight; the hunter leader was too fast and vicious. He grabbed Wong by the throat and bit down on the artery with his vampiric fangs. Wong tried to struggle, but every ounce of strength in his body was drained. The scales on his hands disappeared, and the leader threw his limp body away, complaining that it was too greasy. After the bite, the vampire could now coat his skin with scales. He was a vampire who could

absorb other people's abilities, and now his sights were set on making Leue his vampire bride. The superhuman duo tried to make their usual sequence of attacks, but defending against them was child's play for the hunter vampire. The guy didn't even bother with Suia and went straight for the girl. While chaos ensued, Barbecue was hidden in the foliage, trying to squeeze some poop out of the aphids. The duo dealt with the other two hunters easily, but the leader was a different beast. He dragged Suia near Leu to make him witness how she'd be sucked dry of

everything she had. The vampire made sure that he'd watch every second of this villainy. Even if he wanted to act, there was nothing he could realistically do at that point. The vampire's sanguine feast was interrupted by the appearance of the crimson lizard, Barbu's augmented form. He knew that he needed to take this fight seriously if he were to survive. Impatiently, the vampire charged first and found himself promptly put in his place. The dirt he refused to yield to a mere beast, but he found himself unable to lift his head. Barbecue looked at his friend in

a miserable state and began banging the vampire's head on the floor out of anger. He continued until the seemingly unbeatable enemy succumbed to unconsciousness. Before losing consciousness, Suia finally realized that the red lizard aiding them was Barbecue all along. He awoke once again in the dream world. The enticing voice made him realize his deepest desire: power, power to protect his companions from harm and suffering. His dream provided an answer to that desire: the white dust floating all around him. This was the solution to his powerlessness. When the white dust touched his hand, it emitted a

blinding light and roused him from his slumber. Suia surveyed his surroundings, relieved to find himself still alive. Leu fashioned a wooden splint for his broken arm, and it appeared that neither of them was too badly hurt. Currently, the fierce landlady was in the process of interrogating the subdued hunters. Upon awakening, the trio found themselves half dead on the ground. So, she bound them. During the interrogation, the duo turned the blade's threat towards the leader. The fool openly admitted that he could extract the blood of exceptional individuals to mimic their abilities. They had been trailing the

duo for their first-level physique. The higher the physique level, the greater the rewards for absorption. Presently, the vampire hunter was at level three. Reaching level three afforded him a different perspective of the world. While divulging the information, he slowly burned his restraints. Despite being interrogated, the scoundrel audaciously attempted to sweet-talk Leu. As the restraints sufficiently burned away, the vampire swiftly reversed the situation and seized Leu by the neck, threatening to crush her windpipe. This time, he anticipated being able to feast to his heart's content, but Suia felt the frustration of his lack of power surging

within him, and a mysterious energy began to coalesce in his arm. As the vampire continued boasting about his imminent meal, Suia seized the opportunity to telekinetically control the blade behind him, causing it to rise and stab through the vampire's heart. It was a one-shot, one-kill move that left Suia utterly exhausted. Far away, within the same forest, a meditating old man sensed the energy unleashed by the young man in his moment of crisis. He surmised that someone had just utilized something known as the primary spirit. The old man swiftly descended from his meditation spot, landing as

lightly as a feather. A young man addressed him as Grandpa NE, though he preferred to be called Senior. Grandpa N informed the young man that he had a task to complete and would return once it was done. The rest of their group, currently grilling a rat, expressed concern for their safety now that Grandpa was absent. Being a group of individuals with unique abilities, they reassured themselves that they would be fine. Meanwhile, our superhuman duo resumed their recovery efforts. Sua's newly awakened special ability was undeniably linked to the white dust blips he had encountered in the

dreamland. He knew that the answers to his myriad questions could only be found within that illuminated room. While trapped in the dreamland, he attempted to control the blips to enter his body, and they complied. This process also manifested itself in the real world; his nose began to bleed, and mysterious blips leaked from his head. It took some time, but he managed to absorb every blip in the dreamland. Upon awakening, everything seemed ordinary. Suia felt compelled to meditate as the mist within his body began to move in a specific order, supplementing his recovery. Most of the

blips condensed in his brain while he was... Preoccupied with exploring the mystery of power, the other Hunters regained consciousness and sought revenge to silence their incessant chatter. Sushia opened his eyes and, using his mind, controlled a blade, launching it toward the hunters and stopping it just inches from killing one. The hunters finally retreated in cowardice. Sushia could sense that telekinesis was merely a superficial application of the mysterious energy within him. He was convinced that there was more to this ability to contemplate; perhaps his new ability was even linked to the shrinking incident. Meanwhile, Grandpa NE

flew, surveying the area and expertly tracking the source of the primary Spirit. He encountered Zombie Jang Fang and effortlessly dispatched the seemingly unkillable monster with a single Thunder Ray. It didn't take long for him to locate Sushia. Gran landed on the ground and closed the distance without moving a muscle, proceeding to trap our boy in an earth prison. The earth swiftly coalesced, encasing the young man in a cage. As he attempted to disrupt the formation by wielding a blade in response, Gran summoned a perfectly sculpted dragon head, launching the monolith forward as if it were

a real mythical creature. It coiled around Sushia, his forceful resistance echoing out. Gran was impressed with how the young man handled his attacks. "Rarely does one possess such a tacit understanding of the magic of the Imperial sword," he thought. He intended to test Sushia, but he nearly lost his life to a flying blade. The old man clarified that he meant no harm when asked about his identity. Grandpa NE insisted it wasn't necessary; he came to see the talented individual favored by the Lord. Gran, instructed by his God, led the duo to his camp promptly, where

they would find answers. Using his flawless magic control, the old man included the duo and barbecue in his flight, showcasing just one of the many uses of the primary Spirit. However, Sushia's Imperial sword marked him as a genius. Sushia had the potential to become an enlightened spirit through consciousness boundaries and accepting the full blessing of the primary Spirit. The flight didn't last long. Grandpa NE instructed the team to climb to the second floor where the Lord awaited. The mysterious building with the light was the camp Gran spoke of. Beneath the window lay a mysterious human

settlement. Gran's mission was complete; his only task was to deliver the gifted Sushia. With his purpose fulfilled, Grandpa collapsed to the ground as the settlers explained that the old man had returned to the origin. The Lord led surviving humans to this place through various methods, but Sushia was different; he was special. After ascending to the second floor, they entered a market-like area. Near the walls, peddlers of various goods and services flooded them, quickly shooed away by one of the Lord's followers. The follower assured Sushia that after meeting the Lord, accommodations and travel would be taken

care of, and even Le and Barbecue could tour the place freely. Sushia was led toward a massive door, the crowd following, eager for the spectacle. The hooded follower touched the door, and golden electric energy spread around its surface. It creaked open, revealing a warm light. Sushia knew he had to enter, no matter what. Inside was a sphere of sheer power, resembling the sun, surrounded by golden specks of energy akin to the blips in his dreams. The otherworldly voice from his Dreamland warmly welcomed him. This sunsphere was the Lord, impressed with Sushia's talent and disposition, seeking

someone like him for a long time. The golden specks lifted Sushia into the air as the Lord promised to reveal the truth, extending a fraction of his sphere body directly into the young man's mind. He saw visions of people praying and devoting themselves to the golden light, piercing the heavens as believers celebrated success, opening the door to the great spirit world and making Earth their 32nd subor. When the Lord ascended, the rules of fusion between worlds dramatically changed, resulting in an unstable body in dire need of replacement. A human body proved the most compatible; its

consciousness vast. Despite shrinking in size, the Lord created puppets to search for a special soul, finding Sushia the perfect vessel. This union would make the Lord stronger than ever, fulfilling all future plans. However, as the spherical body of the Lord began assimilating with Sushia, the deity panicked, and his godly essence overpowered and absorbed the deity's followers lined up to witness the events at the sacred site. When the door opened, everyone subconsciously took a step back, overwhelmed by the presence of the young man floating in the air, bathed in golden light. His eyes glowed with a

golden hue, his body unmoving. The followers chanted their welcome to their Lord, while Le and Barbecue found themselves in an unexpected situation. The supposed Lord had one question for Le: if she had found a good place to eat, as he was starving.