[EARLY ACCESS] SHRINK IMPACT | GENSHIN IMPACT - CHAPTER 39

While Xianyun had been distracted, the two now tiny girls had figured that, at the very least, they ought to try and escape. If they could get away, maybe they could come up with a plan. Maybe there was some way to save you and get out of there together.

Mona glanced at Ganyu, her own chest rising and falling with the force of her panic. The crack in the wall—barely visible from above, but a beckoning chasm now—was the only hope. She squeezed Ganyu’s hand, her voice a frantic whisper. “Go on my mark. Stay low, and don’t look back.”

Ganyu’s voice trembled, but she nodded. “We’ll do it together.”

They began their escape with agonizing care, crawling on hands and knees down the tangled landscape of Xianyun’s bedding. The once-soft fabric was now treacherous, bunching into rolling dunes beneath their palms. Each rustle, each tremor from the adeptus above as she frantically searched for that potion, made them freeze, hearts in their throats.

Half-sliding, half-falling, they dropped onto the lacquered wood of the floor below, landing in the shadow of Xianyun’s bed.

The chill hit them at once—gone was the warmth of silk, replaced by the polished, cold, perilous floor, littered with the remnants of broken bottles and magical debris. Somewhere close, they could see the lifeless form of a shrunken scholar, twisted awkwardly where she had fallen from a shattered jar. Mona swallowed her horror and focused on the crack, glimmering faintly under the baseboard.

“We have to go, now,” Mona hissed, pulling Ganyu behind her. They darted across the slick surface, feet slapping in near silence. Each step brought them closer to the wall, and the illusion of hope grew brighter.

But Xianyun had finally swallowed you again, and she turned. For a moment, she merely watched, the corner of her mouth curling. Then, her gaze sharpened—a gleam of amusement, of cruel curiosity.

“Oh?” Her voice was honeyed, her tone light. “Little mice, you scurry well, but this one is not yet through.”

With a shift of her massive frame, Xianyun brought her feet into play. She flexed her toes within her stockinged soles, the soft fabric taut and gleaming in the lamplight.

The floor shook as she came rushing toward them, a single foot falling with a ponderous thump inches behind the fleeing pair. The pressure sent tremors up through Mona and Ganyu’s bodies, nearly knocking them flat.

Mona looked back just in time to see the immense pale sole—every thread of the stocking now a rope, every toe the size of her own head—lift high. Xianyun wiggled her toes, savoring the chase.

Ganyu screamed, “Move!” and threw herself into a desperate dash. Mona followed, both of them weaving between fallen vials, sticky pools of spilled tincture, and sharp splinters of glass.

Xianyun gave chase, stalking them with terrifying grace, her feet slapping the floor with methodical purpose. She pressed one foot down with a slow, deliberate thud just behind Mona, sending her sprawling forward.

Ganyu, more agile, slipped away and reached the crack—a breathless dive that sent her tumbling out of sight, into darkness.

Mona saw her friend vanish and surged forward, hoping she could reach her in time, but Xianyun’s shadow swallowed her. The adeptus’s other foot hovered for a moment, then crashed down across Mona’s legs.

The pain was immediate and electrifying. Bones snapped, nerves lit up with agony. Mona screamed, her voice tiny and reedy, barely more than a squeak beneath the thunder of Xianyun’s satisfaction.

Xianyun pressed her toes down, pinning Mona in place. The fabric of her stocking was soft but relentless, the scent of her skin, faintly perfumed and impossibly huge, filling Mona’s lungs. She struggled to free herself, clawing at the woven threads, but Xianyun’s weight was absolute.

“Caught so easily,” Xianyun mused, her voice shaking the floor. “One might savor you slowly, little oracle… but perhaps another lesson is required.” She lifted her foot and Mona gasped for air, but there was no respite. Xianyun bent low, taloned fingers descending like the claws of her crane form, pinching Mona by the torso.

She was lifted skyward, pain radiating from her ruined leg, the room spinning as she was brought to Xianyun’s face. Mona’s view was filled with immense red glasses, a smile of cold triumph, and the humid cave of the adeptus’s mouth as it opened, glistening and eager.

“You taste best when you despair,” Xianyun whispered, and Mona was pressed past her lips, the slick warmth enveloping her instantly. The adeptus’s tongue rolled her, savoring the mix of terror and bitterness. Mona’s cries were swallowed whole, her body coated in saliva, limbs kicking feebly against the muscle and heat.

Xianyun moaned quietly, savoring her prize. She tilted her head back and swallowed, her throat muscles contracting in a powerful, irresistible wave. Mona slid down, helpless, into the living dark.

…

Inside, you fought for every breath as the stomach’s walls writhed and squeezed. The acids had subsided after the tincture, but the air was still thick and sour. When Mona’s limp, slick body tumbled into the pit beside you, you gasped in horror and recognition.

“Mona!” you cried, pulling her close. Mona’s skin was clammy, her eyes wide with terror and pain, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

“You… you’re… she shrank you too?” you managed, clutching her. “Are you—oh gods, Mona, your leg—”

Mona sobbed, shaking her head. “She caught me. I couldn’t… Ganyu got away, but… I’m sorry, Traveler. I’m so sorry…”

The two of you clung together as the stomach’s walls pressed in. Mona tried to steady herself, swallowing her sobs. “It’s not over. Ganyu’s still free. She’ll find a way. We have to hold on.”

You nodded, blinking tears from your eyes. “We have to. She won’t stop—she’ll eat Ganyu too if she can.”

Above, Xianyun settled back on her bed, her hand pressing lightly to her belly, satisfaction written in every line of her posture, her eyes focusing now on the crack she’d seen Ganyu vanish into.

“Delicious,” she whispered to herself. “And the night is still young.”