Over the next two days, Wayne carefully surveyed the outskirts of the jungle, gradually gaining a clearer understanding of the area beyond it.
This jungle wasn't particularly vast — its radius spanned only a few thousand meters. Terrains like this were common throughout the lower strata of Hueco Mundo: isolated pockets where lesser Hollows gathered, fought, and devoured each other in the endless cycle of predation.
It didn't take Wayne two days because he was slow. Rather, it was because within several hundred meters of the forest, he hardly saw a single Hollow that looked weak enough to fight. Most that passed nearby were massive, exuding pressure that made his instincts scream at him to hide. A few lumbered into the forest without noticing his presence, their spiritual pressure alone strong enough to make the ground hum faintly.
During this time, he also witnessed nearly a dozen strange-shaped Hollows approaching the forest. Some clashed immediately, tearing at each other with mindless fury before even entering the treeline.
Wayne didn't intervene. He wasn't here to scavenge corpses — not yet. His goal was simpler: to understand his own power.
Still, after two days of silent observation, he began to realize he might have overestimated himself.
He had no system, no cheat, no god-given boon. After dying and awakening in this world, he possessed only the instincts of a Hollow — hunger, caution, and a fragile will to survive. Among the vast hierarchy of Hueco Mundo, he was likely at the very bottom.
---
On the third day, Wayne finally found a suitable target.
Among the ruins of a collapsed structure, a lizard-shaped Hollow coiled lazily around a dead tree. Wayne crouched nearby and observed it for a long time. Judging by its movements, this creature was nothing more than a beast-class Hollow — a predator driven purely by instinct, without the faintest trace of sentience.
It was roughly a meter long. Small, but dangerous enough for a test.
After confirming there were no other spiritual signatures nearby, Wayne began to move.
> "If it's one of this level... I should be fine,"
he whispered, lowering his body and creeping closer step by step.
When he was only a few paces away, the lizard suddenly turned its head. A faint spiritual pressure flared from its mask — weak, but instinctively hostile.
For a brief instant, the opposing pressures clashed. Wayne's aura rippled, suppressing the weaker one.
The result was clear. The creature was weaker than him.
Without hesitation, Wayne burst forward. His left arm tensed, claws gleaming as he prepared to strike—
But the lizard Hollow shrieked, opening its jaws wide and spraying a jet of black liquid laced with faint spirit energy.
Wayne reacted instantly. Pivoting on his left foot, he twisted aside, the corrosive spray whistling past his face. Using the same motion's momentum, he spun, raised his right claw, and slashed downward.
A sharp, wet crack echoed.
The blow cleaved the lizard cleanly, slicing both the creature and the dead tree beneath it into several neat pieces. Its head landed with a dull thud, writhing briefly before going still. Crimson ichor soaked the sand beneath. Within seconds, the body stopped twitching, lifeless.
Wayne exhaled slowly.
> "Even the lowest Hollows can develop attack forms, huh..."
He turned his gaze toward the black liquid that had splattered nearby. The sand where it fell was hissing and smoking, eaten away by corrosion.
Out of curiosity, Wayne dipped a claw into the residue — and immediately jerked it back as white smoke hissed upward.
Wiping the acid off against the sand, he shook his hand and crouched beside the corpse, examining it closely.
> "According to the anime... when a Hollow is purified by a Shinigami's Zanpakutō, its body disperses into reishi immediately."
"But when one is killed by another Hollow... it leaves a corpse."
His eyes shifted toward the lizard's shattered mask. He reached down and lifted the piece that connected to its head.
> "So the Zanpakutō must be the key — the purifier of souls..."
He paused, staring at the fragment of mask in his hand. His throat moved slightly, as though tempted to devour it — yet he hesitated.
During the past few days of exploration, Wayne hadn't eaten anything at all.
As a Hollow, he knew that every being like him required immense amounts of energy to sustain the spiritual power coursing through their bodies.
That energy could be obtained in only two ways — by devouring the souls of humans or consuming other beings imbued with spiritual power, such as Shinigami… or fellow Hollows.
Yet even after days without nourishment, Wayne found it nearly impossible to stomach the half-broken lizard lying before him — a grotesque creature leaking some unknown red fluid from its wounds.
Time passed, minute by minute.
Wayne sat there, blankly staring at the carcass in his hands.
The other four fragments of the creature had already begun to disintegrate into spirit particles, vanishing into the air one after another. Only the section still attached to its mask remained intact.
> "Forget it," he muttered, clicking his tongue. "If I can't stand it, I'll just spit it out."
At last, he forced himself to bite.
Hiss—
To his surprise, the flesh tore easily.
He had expected it to be tough and indestructible, but the resistance was almost nonexistent. Perhaps the Hollow's death had dissipated its protective reiryoku — or maybe the corpse had already begun to convert into spirit particles, making it soft and weightless.
The "meat" didn't even require chewing. It melted instantly into liquid energy, spreading through his body like warm water filling a frozen vessel. Though it had no taste, the warmth that followed made every nerve in his body hum with relief.
Still, the idea of devouring such a thing sent a chill down his spine.
He swallowed hard. "It's fine… think like Bear Grylls. It tastes like chicken. Crispy chicken," he lied to himself.
Without allowing his mind to linger, Wayne continued eating.
Piece by piece, the Hollow's remains vanished into his mouth. The warmth spreading through his body grew stronger, and for the first time since arriving in this desolate world, he no longer felt the biting cold of Hueco Mundo's wind.
In the end, only the creature's head and mask remained.
When he tore the mask away, the lizard's skull crumbled into spirit particles and vanished. The white mask, however, persisted in his palm — pristine, pulsing faintly with lingering energy.
Only then did he recall something crucial: a Hollow's spiritual core was concentrated in its mask. No matter how much flesh he ate, the true essence — at least four-fifths of its total energy — was sealed within that pale shell.
Ordinary Hollows, driven purely by instinct, devoured everything indiscriminately.
But Wayne, who retained intelligence, hesitated.
After a moment's pause, instinct triumphed over reason.
He opened his mouth and bit down.
The mask dissolved instantly, flooding his body with dense, vibrant reishi. The rush of power was intoxicating — warm, clean, almost euphoric. For a fleeting second, Wayne thought he might cry out in relief.
When the last trace of the mask disappeared, Wayne made a silent vow to himself:
> "Unless I have no other choice… I'll never eat such disgusting weaklings again."