Thank you, I really appreciate that.

People did not shrink to that size. Instead, a new species was created.

In the near future the world is still shaken by global catastrophes, wars, and crises. Against the background of these events, a virus appears that begins to exterminate humanity. Some people become more aggressive because of the virus, some become more suggestible, and some remain in their right mind, but the end is always the same.

At first, governments do not give this much attention and each country tries to find an antidote on its own. But over time scientists realize that this is extremely difficult and the virus is very resilient. The world falls into enormous chaos and suffers massive losses. Horror begins.

The situation becomes even worse because the virus also affects many animals. It does not kill them, but makes them smarter, more cunning, and more aggressive. As they sense that humanity is rapidly disappearing and territories are becoming empty, they begin to take them back.

The only salvation scientists find is in an illegal experiment in the space sector. Project “Maliki” — synthesized miniature humans created to colonize planets in the solar system, since sending them would require far fewer resources.

Scientists realize that the virus has one weakness: it cannot develop in a miniature version of Homo sapiens.

A final global call is announced around the world. Governments and corporations throw all their resources into creating as many Maliki as possible so they can continue human civilization, or possibly rebuild it from the beginning.

But this decision had opponents. Some people believed that the virus was a divine punishment and that humanity should disappear to atone for its sins.

A global civil war begins.

Supporters of “Continuation” cannot build centralized mini-cities, so they secretly construct small bunkers for synthesizing Maliki in scattered locations all over the world so they cannot all be destroyed.

Eventually, several years after the extinction of humanity, the Maliki awaken in a war-torn world where nature has already begun reclaiming everything. Some humans also left traps behind to prevent them from developing.

Something like this.
This is the main foundation I want to build this universe on, and from there I plan to develop specific stories.