The air at 5,000 feet wasn't a place to breathe. It was a war zone.Je floated in the empty air, just a split second after jumping from the branch of the Tree of Life. Around him, dozens of Harpies mutant women with jet wings—buzzed like angry flies."Target locked!" one Harpy yelled, her voice shrill and metallic. The assault rifle in her hand barked.RAT-TAT-TAT!Bullets flew.Je couldn't fly, but he could fall with precision. He spun his body in the air, letting the bullets whiz past his ears."Rara! Stairs!" Je yelled.Rara, falling beside him, understood the signal. She fired her bio-webbing at the nearest Harpy's leg.SPLAT!"What—?!" The Harpy jerked in surprise."Coming through!" Rara pulled the web, launching herself towards the Harpy.Rara landed on the bird-woman's back. Her claws instantly dug into the mechanical wings.CRACK!The jet wing broke. The Harpy lost control, spinning wildly in the air."Je! Catch!" Rara kicked the spinning Harpy toward Je.Je, who was free-fall

"That cloud ahead looks like a drunkard's vomit."Guntur leaned his forehead against the cockpit glass of the Red Corsair. The space pirate ship vibrated violently, its anti-gravity engine roaring against the strong headwind. Below them, the South China Sea looked turbulent, its black waves crashing against the remnants of offshore oil rigs that had become sea monster nests."That's no ordinary cloud, Stumpy," Captain Bara blew smoke from her electronic cigar. She sat in the pilot's seat with her feet up on the console. "That's an Acid Monsoon. The rain there has a pH of 1. Enough to make your skin blister in five seconds.""And we're going through that?" Sinta asked, her finger tapping the glitchy hologram map. "The detour route via the Philippines is safer, Captain.""Safe is slow," Bara grinned, showing her gold teeth. "And we're low on fuel. We punch through. Unless the Big Boss has objections."Bara glanced at the captain's cabin door behind the cockpit. The door had been shut ti

SPLAAASH!They landed in waist-deep slime. The fluid was warm, sticky, and yellow-green. It smelled like a mix of sulfur and meat fermented for a thousand years."Pah! It got in my mouth!" Guntur spat repeatedly, his face turning green. He shook his robotic hand, now covered in slime. "Je, are you sure this is the way to Beijing? This looks like the way to a septic tank!""Every road to power goes through shit, Gun," Je answered flatly. He pulled Rara out of the fluid.Rara looked delighted. She licked the slime on her arm."Acidic," Rara commented, her eyes sparkling. "But there is a taste... of history. I can taste the blood of forced laborers in this fluid."Sinta turned on the flashlight on her combat helmet. The light pierced the darkness of the organic cave.They were inside a giant tunnel with walls made of ancient bricks that "breathed." Between the cement, blood seeped out. Flesh stalactites hung from the ceiling, dripping digestive enzymes."This isn't a normal intestine," S

The walls of the Forbidden City weren't just closing in; they were chewing.The sound of grinding bones and rubbing wet flesh filled Je's ears. The once-majestic marble floor had now turned into a giant undulating tongue, pushing them backward—back into the darkness of the intestines."We're being pushed in!" Guntur yelled, firing lasers from his robotic hand at a giant uvula trying to snare his neck. "I don't want to die as dragon shit, Je!""Sinta! Find a way out!" Je ordered, slashing at acid tentacles trying to grab Rara's legs.Sinta ran while looking at her tablet. "The structure is shifting randomly! But there's airflow up there! That's the esophagus! It's trying to swallow us into the stomach, but the path is two-way!"Je looked up. On the ceiling of the chest cavity, there was a sphincter hole pulsing shut. That was the way to the dragon's mouth... the exit.But the hole was fifty meters up, and the surrounding walls were slippery with slime."We have to climb while it tries

The Wendigo didn't attack with claws. It attacked with a wide-open mouth, its jaw unhinging like a python.CHOMP!Ice-cold needle teeth sank into Je's left shoulder."ARGH!" Je screamed.The pain wasn't just from torn flesh. The Wendigo's saliva was liquid nitrogen. Je's shoulder froze instantly, ice crystals creeping into his blood vessels, trying to stop his heart.But the Wendigo made one fatal mistake.It drank Je's blood.Dhampir blood mixed with Rot and Genesis was no ordinary blood. In this absolute zero environment, Je's blood was magma.HISSSSSS!The Wendigo's mouth hissed. White smoke billowed. Je's blood burned the monster's tongue and throat from the inside."GYYAAAAAA!" The Wendigo backed away, clutching its blistered throat. It vomited Je's boiling black blood onto the ice floor."Spicy, huh?" Je smirked, his teeth stained with his own blood. He didn't let the monster recover.Although his legs were stiff, Je jumped. He had no weapon, so he used the monster's own body.J