[EARLY ACCESS] SHRINK IMPACT | GENSHIN IMPACT - CHAPTER 35

The moment the wet darkness closed over you, all hope of escape seemed to vanish.

You tumbled into a slick, cramped world of pulsing flesh and suffocating heat. A chamber that was just like a living nightmare, and at first, you wanted to believe that’s what it was. That you had somehow passed out and imagined this. But the heat, the press, the overwhelming wetness left no room for denial. 

It was real. 

The walls closed in, alive and hungry, a rippling, shifting prison. You were deep inside Xianyun now—her prey, her secret, her meal.

I’m gonna die in here.

Of course, you panicked and fought back, refusing to accept your fate. You braced your feet against the yielding, slimy wall and tried to climb, desperate for any purchase. But the wrinkled flesh was too slick, too soft, giving way beneath your hands. 

Each time you managed to scramble upward, the walls clenched, flexed, and forced you back down. Your legs and arms slipped, coated in mucus and saliva, leaving you shivering with fear and exhaustion.

You pounded at the walls, shouting with all your remaining strength.

“Let me out! Please—Mona! Ganyu! Anyone!”

Your fists made only a dull, wet thudding, quite literally swallowed instantly by the relentless squelching and gurgling all around you. 

The adeptus’s stomach just pulsed in reply, tightening in slow, lazy waves that drew you deeper, kneading you like dough, prepping you for what was soon to come. It thought you were simply food. 

You tried again; clawing, pushing, fighting for every inch. The air was hot, thick, and it carried upon it a sour, stinging tang that burned your eyes and nose. Your head spun. Already it felt like you’d pass out at any moment.

For a moment you pressed your cheek to the fleshy wall, searching for any sign of the outside world: a voice, a tremor, anything. Maybe the sound of Mona and Ganyu charging in to your rescue.

But all you could hear were the grotesque, rhythmic sounds of digestion—echoes of her pleasure, the sluggish churn of her body now focused entirely on claiming you.

Above, a lethargic thudding. You realized, with cold horror, that you could sense her slowing heartbeat, the rise and fall of her breathing as it deepened, grew steadier. 

She was relaxing, letting herself drift on the afterglow of her pleasure. Her hand pressed contentedly to her belly, a soft smile on her lips as she savored the fullness you provided.

You screamed for her attention, pounding again and again, but her only reply was a lazy, satisfied murmur—a rumble that echoed through the tight space, making the walls squeeze and shift. You felt yourself roll with her breathing, squeezed by each flex of her stomach, your body sinking deeper into the humid, pulsing heat.

Then came the realization, a terror colder than the air was hot:

She was dozing off.

Her breathing slowed, grew heavy, the movement of her body less frequent, more sluggish. With each minute, the stomach’s squeezing became more methodical, the acid’s sting a little sharper, the world growing darker and heavier.

You braced yourself, using the last of your strength to claw desperately upward, your fingernails raking the slick walls, searching for even a fold or seam. But the stomach only pressed in tighter, oozing more fluid, a relentless, living vice.

“Please…” you whispered now, voice cracking. “Mona…Ganyu…please, hurry. I can’t…”

A new wave of acid burned your skin, and the walls pulsed, kneading you in slow, cruel rhythm. You sobbed and pounded, weaker now, the darkness pressing in as your hope faded. Your skin was getting red, starting to burn a little. You didn’t imagine it would take much more before it started to really eat away at you. 

In your mind’s eye, you pictured Mona and Ganyu racing through the mountain paths, searching, calling your name.

But the adeptus above you slept deeper with every breath, her hand unconsciously stroking her belly in delight. Utterly content to let her body claim you while she dreamed.

You curled into a ball, praying—hoping for rescue, for a miracle, for anything—before the stomach’s grasp, and her ancient, inhuman hunger, finished what she had started.

And above, the only answer was her heartbeat, slow and content, the rhythm of a predator satisfied as the darkness claimed you.

…

At first, Mona and Ganyu waited anxiously by the edge of the spring, watching the mist swirl and listening for any sign of footsteps. 

The minutes stretched longer, and longer, and longer…until they began to wonder. Mona paced, her cloak snapping in the wind, while Ganyu stood statue-still, eyes fixed on the path Xianyun had taken.

“This is taking too long,” Mona muttered, glancing back for the hundredth time. “She said she’d only assess the Traveler’s condition. Why haven’t they come back?”

Ganyu hugged herself, her brow furrowed with worry. 

“Maybe there’s something wrong with the purification…Or maybe the Traveler’s state was worse than we thought.” She tried to sound calm, but her voice wavered with every word.

They waited another agonizing moment, but it wasn’t long before their patience broke. Mona turned sharply on her heel. “That’s it. I’m not waiting another minute.” She strode toward the entrance Xianyun had taken, Ganyu hurrying at her side.

But as they reached the carved archway, a shimmering, opaque barrier flared into existence—a sheet of swirling clouds and pale blue sigils that filled the corridor, humming with adeptal power.

Mona reached out, her palm meeting resistance. The magic stung, crackling with warning. “It’s a seal,” she said, frustration mounting. “She doesn’t want anyone to enter. Or leave.”

Ganyu’s eyes widened with alarm. “That’s not normal. She would only raise a barrier if—” She stopped herself, the thought too dreadful to finish.

Mona drew a breath, her eyes flashing with resolve. “We’re not leaving the Traveler alone in there. If Xianyun thinks she can just lock us out, she’s got another thing coming.”

Side by side, they summoned their power: Mona tracing hydromancy sigils that glimmered with star-bright water, Ganyu drawing on the icy, ancient force of her adeptal blood. The barrier shuddered as Mona’s illusions and Ganyu’s glacial arrows hammered it in tandem, swirling clouds boiling and parting with every strike.

The mountain echoed with the force of their magic, sweat beading on Mona’s brow as she chanted, Ganyu’s arrows freezing and fracturing each ward. At last, with a thunderous snap, the seal broke apart, clouds dissolving into mist that vanished on the wind.

For a moment, all was silent but for their pounding hearts. Then Mona stepped forward, determination etched on her face.

“Come on. The Traveler needs us.”

Ganyu nodded, following, ready for anything.