Wasteland Border Inspector

"How... how do you feel?"

Seeing Cheng Ye frozen in front of the water, staring directly at the Crab-man underwater, Luokuke hurriedly ran to the front of him.

Not daring to get too close, he shouted with his head tilted back, his voice still trembling with lingering shock.

This was the first time he witnessed someone actively infect themselves with an A-grade benign infection source. Although Cheng Ye still retained his human silhouette, he exuded an "inhuman" aura of intimidation.

If he didn’t have a hot weapon in his hand, no normal person would even think about resisting.

"I..."

Cheng Ye slowly turned his head. Under Luokuke’s stunned gaze, his originally more than five-meter tall body began to shrink rapidly.

The golden carapace membrane receded like a tide, muscle outlines narrowed, and compound eyes reverted to human pupils.

In just more than ten seconds, he completely returned to a normal size, as if the previous gigantic form had been merely an illusion.

"I... I’m great!"

Cheng Ye shook his neck, his bones making a soft "crack" sound, and couldn’t help but grin.

"I’ve never felt so good before!"

No wonder villains in movies and anime would stop at nothing for power; this feeling of having control over everything is undeniably alluring, irresistibly desirable.

After entering the Shrinking Earth Giant Louse state, the immense power brought him an unprecedented peace.

The stability of having your fate firmly in your own hands is more tempting than anything.

"Well then..."

"Wait, I still need to familiarize myself a bit more."

Cheng Ye looked down, only to realize he was stark naked at the moment.

During the growth spurt, his clothes had been torn to shreds long ago, and both Cheng Long’s Red Blade and Wang Cheng’s Purple Blade, in the gigantic form, looked just like toys. If he really had to fight, he didn’t even have a handy weapon.

"I’ll go get you a spare set of clothes!" Luokuke reacted, quickly turning around and running toward the camp.

As he left, the interface automatically unfolded in Cheng Ye’s view, popping up a new prompt:

[Detected that the Collector used "Shrinking Earth Giant Louse Coexistence State," incurring an unavoidable cost]

[Current cost required: Mid-intensity exercise of 100 kilometers (to be completed within 7 days)]

[Note: The cost task can be voluntarily initiated at any time within the period; once started, it must be completed without interruption, and cannot be paused midway]

[Note: If not voluntarily initiated by the end of the period, the cost will be forcibly and passively activated until completion]

...

"It actually lets me choose when to start?"

Cheng Ye was taken aback.

This was quite different from the described infection sources that forcibly extracted a cost.

The Shrinking Earth Giant Louse didn’t seem to forcefully take over his body, but rather reached some sort of cooperative symbiosis, even leaving buffer space for the cost.

It even felt similar to the Flame; only the Flame had established a strong connection with him since birth, resembling a twin birth, sharing life and abilities.

The Shrinking Earth Giant Louse, on the other hand, was a complete external invader, viewing him merely as a vessel for collecting nutrients.

"Could it be that the Shrinking Earth Giant Louse might upgrade to Lv6, or even higher levels in the future?"

As Cheng Ye pondered, he willed the interface to switch to the personal page.

[Collector: Cheng Ye]

[Current Rank: lv.2 Newcomer (81.2/100)]

[Life Level: 2]

[Skills: Shrinking Earth Giant Louse*, Heart-Protecting Fire, Zeye Physique, Fish Mimic State, Snake Power]

[Abilities]: Shrinking Earth Giant Louse Coexistence State* (Mature), Scorching Eagle Coexistence State (Modeling)

[Unlock pending]:

[Evaluation: Life Level...]

...

The evaluation hadn’t fully refreshed yet, but the rank information had quietly increased to 81.9%,

With less than 20 points to go to Lv.3!

Cheng Ye felt a surge of joy; he hadn’t expected the continuous encounters with Immortal Objects, Demon Eye Sponge, and benign infection sources to bring unexpected advancement in rank.

His gaze quickly landed on the leftmost side of the skill bar, and indeed "Shrinking Earth Giant Louse" was marked in red, with a small lock hanging next to the icon.

With a mental tap on the icon, the complete skill description immediately popped up:

[Shrinking Earth Giant Louse* (lv5; Parasitic Talent)]

[Description]: Derived from the legacy of the old era’s Extraordinary Epoch, its ancestors were ordinary golden wind lice, who fell into the budding flower of the Extraordinary Spirit Plant "Wishful Size Flower" by accident. Nourished by the spirit liquid within the flower bud, it unexpectedly stole the primordial Extraordinary Power of "Size Scaling."

Later, it was invaded by an unknown special virus, fortunately protected by the remaining flower fluid, not only resisting the virus’s destructive erosion but also awakening through the intertwined mutation of the spirit liquid and virus, gaining initial intelligence, and surviving through time.

The symbiont of this giant louse can utilize the primordial essence of Wishful Size stored within it, allowing for free control over the density of one’s bones, the elasticity of muscle fibers, and the rate of blood circulation, achieving seamless switching between "Giant" and "Miniature" forms.

Moreover, physical attributes will accurately scale or adapt proportionally with body size changes.

[Growth Value]: Lv5 (42.67%)

[Growth Method]:

1. The Shrinking Earth Giant Louse has completed symbiosis with the Collector and will absorb the Collector’s Life Force to gain Growth Value.

2. Detection indicates that the Collector has chosen a joint path and has the function ’Information Fusion,’ allowing unlocking:

Fusion with specially marked skills can grant additional Growth Value

Note: Fusion has a certain probability of causing skill mutations, resulting in irreversible consequences, please attempt with caution

[Current Efficiency]:

1. When equipped, the absorption speed of external nutrients (including energy crystals, special flesh, etc.) is fixedly increased by 200%

2. When equipped, special ability "Shrinking Earth Giant Louse Coexistence State" can be activated

...

Golden Wind Lice?

Wishful Size Flower?