The two crawled silently through the exhaust duct, their movements light and nearly soundless.
As they pressed forward, a sudden thought struck Akashi.
There's still one more check-in left today.
He wasn't coming back to Black Dove Pharmaceutical Factory ever again.
With Shiho's escape and the base's exposure, the Organization would undoubtedly relocate everything—people, equipment, research.
If I don't check in now, I'll lose the chance forever.
Without hesitation, he issued the command in his mind.
System, start the check-in.
[Ding! Check-in successful! Congratulations, host! You have obtained: Unstable Medicine Furnace and Grasp of Immortality Lv1!]
[Ding!Grasp of Immortality skill upgraded to Lv2!]
[Unstable Medicine Furnace: A special item stored in the host's personal space. Can be activated once a day to generate a random medicine with unique effects.]
Reading the description, Akashi's brows furrowed.
Is this a good reward or a bad one?
Did checking in at Black Dove Pharmaceutical Factory result in obtaining a medicine-related item?
Only one way to find out.
He immediately activated the furnace.
[Ding! The Unstable Medicine Furnace has produced: I Love a Stick of Firewood!]
[I Love a Stick of Firewood: A powdered drug that absorbs instantly upon contact. Causes the affected person to experience intense desire. When they see stick-shaped objects, they blush and enter a state of madness.]
Akashi stared at the description in stunned silence.
…What the hell is this?
A furnace, sure—but all it produces is questionable medication?!
In that instant, he recalled a certain red-faced master from the Deer and Cauldron novel he had read in his past life. A chill ran down his spine.
Nope. Not thinking about it.
Shoving aside his unease, Akashi focused on crawling forward.
Meanwhile, little Shiho, ahead of him, was still struggling to adjust to her new, smaller body.
Even crawling, her movements were awkward and clumsy.
To make matters worse, she kept dropping things as she went.
Naturally, Akashi picked them up.
A white bra.
At this scale, it really felt like a land of untapped resources.
Huh.
Who would have thought Shiho was so well-endowed?
Compared to her sister, she was… ahem, let's just say, significantly more developed.
And she was only eighteen—still room for growth.
Suppressing unnecessary thoughts, they crawled past the corridor's exhaust fan.
Below, Vodka stood, holding a walkie-talkie, directing teams as they carried out a thorough search of the facility.
As for Gin and Vermouth—they were nowhere to be seen.
They must've gone to the control room.
Akashi considered his options.
Initially, he had planned to release the Ghost Cloak, summon the Bandage Monster, and cause absolute chaos—
『Ghost Cloak: A one-time prop that summons a bandaged ghost monster to fight for twenty minutes! 』
An all-out distraction to divert attention away from them.
But now—
There's a better way.
With a thought, he retrieved the I Love a Stick of Firewood powder from his personal space.
A small packet of fine, white powder.
The next moment—Updraft Lv2 activated!
In this world, there are no useless skills—only useless users.
Even a simple updraft could be weaponized in the right hands.
With precise control, Akashi directed the powder-laden wind through the exhaust fan vent—
Directly onto Vodka.
The fine dust settled evenly across his exposed skin.
Perfect.
With the job done, Akashi dusted off his hands and continued climbing forward.
With Vodka drugged, escaping this pharmaceutical factory would be a walk in the park.
But—
An unforeseen problem arose.
The updraft, after delivering the payload, looped back around—
And somehow blew into the exhaust pipe itself.
The next second—
Little Shiho, wrapped in her oversized white coat, was hit head-on by the gust.
Her coat flipped up.
A glimpse of pale, snow-white skin flashed before him.
A small, flat chest—nothing much to see.
But—
The white panties weren't fitting quite right…
Shiho immediately realized what had happened.
Her face turned bright red as she yanked her coat back down.
And then—
With blood rushing to her face, she whipped around and shot a murderous glare at Akashi.
Her message was clear:
You. Are. Dead.
"???"
But this bizarre and demonic turn of events had nothing to do with Akashi!
Shiho, however, had nowhere to vent her frustration.
Her sharp eyes quickly noticed something—Akashi was holding a piece of her underwear.
It had been part of the "equipment" that got blown away earlier.
A perfectly valid reason for an attack.
"Pervert!"
Her tiny, sock-covered foot, drowning in fabric far too large for her new body, shot out—striking Akashi right in the cheek.
As the self-proclaimed warden, Akashi faced the prisoner's retaliation head-on.
Yet, instead of getting mad, an oddly satisfied smile spread across his face.
Doesn't stink… still smells nice.
Shiho saw the expression on his face—
Her own flushed an even deeper shade of red.
Quickly, she straightened her clothes and crawled forward without another word.
Behind her, Akashi lowered his voice and explained,
"I'm not a pervert. This is your stuff. I can't just leave it behind in the pipeline."
"If someone finds it, they'll realize we shrank!"
This exhaust pipe was impossible for adults to pass through—only children could move freely inside.
Hearing this, Shiho begrudgingly accepted the explanation.
But deep down, she made a mental note:
She'd definitely get back at this guy once they were out of here.
Of course, Akashi's attention to detail extended far beyond just collecting Shiho's scattered belongings.
With expert precision, he manipulated his bandages, erasing all traces of their movements as they crawled.
This bandage control ability is seriously useful.
Meanwhile—
Back in the corridor…
Vodka's "medicine" finally kicked in.
His face flushed red in an instant, and an inexplicable excitement surged through him.
As black-clad Organization members ran past, patrolling the area, his eyes darted around like a hungry beast.
Then—
He reached out and grabbed one of his subordinates.
The subordinate, not daring to go against one of the Organization's elites, immediately stopped, expecting orders.
But—
Vodka didn't give any orders.
Instead—
He slowly pulled out his pistol.
And then—
With a twisted expression on his face, he began licking it.
…Right in front of everyone.
A wave of disgust rippled through the surrounding low-ranking agents.
They instinctively took a step back.
This… is insane.
This… is disturbing.
In full view of the base's personnel, Vodka continued his deranged performance, escalating from licking to—
Attempting to shove the gun into his mouth.
—What the actual hell?!
A few higher-ranking agents immediately sensed something was very, very wrong.
They rushed into the surveillance room and reported the situation.
"Gin-sama! Something's wrong with Vodka-sama!"
Gin, who had been monitoring the security feeds, furrowed his brows at the report.
Vodka was his trusted right-hand man.
If something was happening to him, he had to see it for himself.
Without hesitation, Gin stood up.
As he did, he reached for a tall, black pointed hat resting on the table beside him—a bizarrely straight, twenty-centimeter-tall piece of headwear.
He placed it on his head.
Surprisingly—
It suited him perfectly.
The tall hat, combined with his already towering presence, made him look even more intimidating.
Then, without another word, he pushed open the door and stepped into the corridor.
The moment Vodka, still in the midst of his gun-swallowing performance, laid eyes on Gin—
His dazed, drugged mind didn't recognize him as his superior.
Instead—
His sunglasses-clad eyes lit up with crazed excitement.
And then—
With unnerving enthusiasm, he charged at Gin—the man in the ridiculously tall hat.