The Shrinking Town

The cramped, suffocating firewood shed was filled with the shrill screams of a young boy tied to a post, tortured by his own parents. The sound was so wretched that even Li Huowang felt a pang of sympathy.

After a moment, the iron rack that had been pulling him apart finally loosened. The boy's head lolled to the side, and he gasped for air in the brief respite.

Immediately, the well-dressed couple crouched down, peering intently at their son’s lower body.

“Well? Did it work? Did Jing’er’s bird come back out any?”

At the woman’s question, the man carefully measured with his fingers. His expression fell. “It didn’t! It still shrank in some more. We can’t wait any longer. We have to put the lock on, or it’ll be too late!”

The child, his hair soaked with sweat, stiffened in terror at the words. His voice choked with sobs as he begged, “Dad, I don’t want the lock! I don’t want it!”

The man’s heart ached as well, but in the end, he just sighed and gently stroked the back of his son’s head.

“Be good, Jing’er. A real man isn’t afraid of a little pain. Once the lock is on, you’ll be fine. It might hurt for a bit, but without your manhood, you won’t even be a man when you grow up.”

“Then I don’t want to be a man! I don’t want to be a man!” the boy screamed at his father, grasping at the words like a lifeline.

Hearing his son’s cries, the man looked agonized. But still, tears streaming down his face, he turned and picked up an iron box from the floor.

He opened it, pulling out a small silver lock on a silver chain.

“Dad! Dad! No, please!” the boy screamed in despair, anticipating the searing pain.

Just as the sharp tip of the lock drew near, the door to the shed was suddenly flung open. A gust of wind rushed in, forcing the three inside to squint.

Sensing danger, the man holding the copper lock spun around, spreading his arms to shield his son and wife. His face was frantic. “Who’s there! Show yourself! Guards! Guards! Someone’s trying to assassinate this official!”

Within moments, several green-clad constables hurried in. They gripped their straight sabers and clasped their hands in salute. “Magistrate Yang, are you alright?”

Yang Hongzhi, the magistrate of Pi County, pointed a trembling, terrified finger at the open shed door. “The door just opened on its own! It’s here! That thing is here!”

On the deserted street, Li Huowang walked back with a strange look on his face. His mind was a tangled mess as he replayed what he had just seen, muttering to himself over and over. “They… they…”

Just then, he heard another sound from a courtyard beside him. He immediately activated his invisibility, vaulted over the wall, and pried open a paper window.

Inside, he saw a gaunt man sitting half on the edge of a bed. With his head tilted back and his shirt pulled open, he was baring himself to the woman in front of him like a dissected bat. His expression was nervous, as if awaiting a final judgment. “My dear… well? Is it… is it smaller?”

The woman studied him for a moment, then said hesitantly, “Husband, I… I don’t think it’s smaller.”

Hearing this, the man exploded. “You’re lying! It’s clearly a lot smaller than yesterday! I measured it! It’s over, it’s over! Tying a rope around it didn’t work! I’m going to become a eunuch! I’m going to die of yang-shrinkage!”

The woman, now panicked as well, asked, “Then… then what do we do? If even tying a rope around it didn’t work…”

Her husband, his despair turning to a savage desperation, pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. “Damn it! No! I don’t have a son yet! You have to give me a son, right now!”

Watching them, and recalling the boy tied to the post, Li Huowang got back up, his expression unreadable. “So… everyone in Pi County is afraid of… penile retraction? No wonder they were using those chains to pull it out. But how is that even possible?”

Suddenly, a cold feeling ran through him. “Wait… is this… real or not?”

“Ow! Husband! You’re hurting me! That’s locked, you know!”

The woman’s pained cry drew Li Huowang’s gaze back inside. He had no interest in the mass of tangled flesh, but his eyes caught the chain wrapped around the edge of her chest.

Compared to the silver chain on the boy, this family could only afford an iron one.

The sharp chain was cinched tightly around her chest, digging into her skin. The points of contact where metal met flesh were chafed and bleeding. The chain itself, corroded by the blood, had started to rust. It was nothing short of torture.

Li Huowang finally understood where the smell of blood and rust on the woman earlier had come from. To prevent their own organs from shrinking away, they were using locks to hold them in place.

“Husband, don’t panic. See? I’m using a chain to lock it, so it won’t shrink. Maybe you should try tying yourself up with a chain, too.”

“The men are pulling, and the women are pulling too. It’s not just penile retraction; it’s vaginal retraction as well… What happened to these people to make them like this?” A heavy feeling settled in Li Huowang’s heart. Even with all his experience, he had never seen a transformation this bizarre.

Now that he knew what the people of Pi County were afraid of, he was still as lost as a headless fly. He had no idea what had caused this retraction.

Other problems, he could deal with, but this was a phenomenon without any logic. He couldn’t even find a target.

Standing on the roof, Li Huowang surveyed the desolate town of Pi County. He pushed off the tiles and shot toward the inn. “I can’t waste any more time. Who knows how this retraction is caused? I have to find the source, fast!”

To Li Huowang, the entire town now felt like a trap. Even using some unconventional methods was better than just sitting around and waiting for death. These people obviously knew something, but they refused to tell him. If being nice didn’t work, he would have to use force.

As Li Huowang stepped back into the inn, he saw that the Lü family troupe had taken advantage of the empty lobby to start an erotic opera. There weren’t many people watching, but there were some.

Gouwa, who was lounging in a chair with a pear-faced woman on his lap, waved him over. “Brother Li, hurry up and come watch! The Lü troupe’s show is a lot more fun now!”

Li Huowang glanced at him, then turned and walked toward his room. His voice was cold. “Gouwa, tell the waiter to come to my room.”

“Alright, you got it!”