Chapter 272
Chapter 272
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 272
>Chapter Title: Yin-Yang
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In the stifling, cramped woodshed, the young boy tied to the pillar screamed incessantly under torment from his own parents. His cries were utterly heartbreaking—even Li Huowang felt a pang of pity.
After a while, the iron frame finally gave way with a tug. The boy’s head lolled to the side as he gasped for air in the brief respite.
The brightly dressed couple immediately crouched down, scrutinizing their son’s lower body with intense focus.
“How is it? Any use?”
Upon hearing the woman’s question, the man carefully prodded with his fingers. His expression turned deeply dejected as he replied, “No good! We can’t delay any longer. We have to lock it, or it’ll be too late!”
The child, his hair soaked with sweat, jolted in terror at those words. His voice cracked with sobs as he begged frantically, “Dad, no lock! I don’t want the lock!”
The man looked equally heartbroken, but he sighed at last and gently stroked the back of his child’s head.
“Jing’er, be a good boy. Real men don’t fear a little pain. Once it’s locked, you’ll be fine. It might hurt a bit, but without your manhood, you won’t even be a man anymore.”
“Then I don’t wanna be a man! I don’t wanna be a man!!” The boy shouted desperately at his father, clutching at this lifeline.
Hearing his son’s pleas, the man looked torn with reluctance. Yet tears streamed down his face as he turned and picked up an iron box from the floor beside them.
He opened the box, revealing a small silver square lock attached to a silver chain, which he lifted out.
“Dad!! Dad!! Nooo!!” Foreseeing the agony, the boy wailed in despair.
Just as the sharp lock edge drew perilously close, the woodshed door burst open with a bang. A fierce gust of wind swept in, forcing the three inside to squeeze their eyes shut.
Sensing danger, the man clutching the copper lock whirled around. Panic twisted his face as he spread his arms to shield his son and wife. “Who’s there?! Who?! Guards! Someone come quick!! They’re assassinating this official!”
Moments later, several green-robed constables rushed in, knives drawn. They clasped fists toward the man. “Lord Yang, what happened?”
Pi County Magistrate Yang Hongzhi pointed a trembling, terrified finger at the open woodshed door. “The door—it just flew open! It’s here! That thing is here!!”
On the desolate street, Li Huowang walked back with a bizarre expression. His mind reeled from what he’d just witnessed, his lips mumbling repeatedly, “They... they...”
At that moment, he heard a noise from the courtyard beside him. He vanished into stealth again, vaulted the nearby wall, and peeled back a paper window with his fingers.
Soon, Li Huowang spotted a gaunt man inside. Half his buttock perched on the bed’s edge, he threw his head back and flung open his robes—like a dissected bat, baring himself raw to the woman before him.
The man’s face betrayed deep anxiety, as if awaiting a final verdict. “Darling, how’s it look? Smaller, right?”
The woman peered closely for a moment before replying uncertainly, “Husband, I don’t think it’s smaller.”
But at her words, the man erupted like a boiling pot, his voice surging with agitation. “Liar!! I measured it! It’s over—tying it with rope didn’t work! I’m turning into a eunuch!”
Hearing this, his wife panicked too. “Then what do we do? Even rope didn’t hold it?”
The despairing man pounced on her like a starving tiger, pinning her to the floor. Despair twisted into fury on his face.
“Damn it! No way! I don’t have a son yet! You’re giving me one right now!”
Realizing what they were doing—and linking it to the boy bound to the pillar earlier—Li Huowang stood with a strange look on his face.
“So everyone in Pi County is terrified of this... No wonder they were yanking with chains before. But how is that even possible?”
Suddenly, a chill ran through him. “Wait—this... is it real or fake?”
“Ah! Husband! You’re hurting me—it’s locked on!” The woman’s cry of pain drew Li Huowang’s gaze back inside.
The writhing mass of pale flesh held little interest, but he noted the chain at her chest.
Compared to the silver one before, this family made do with iron.
The sharp chain bit cruelly into her chest, hauling her breasts outward. Where skin met metal, it had chafed bloody.
Corroded by blood, the chain had rusted too. This was outright torture.
Seeing this, Li Huowang finally understood the source of the blood and rust smell on that earlier woman. To stop their organs from retracting, they were locking them in place.
“Husband, don’t panic. See? I’ve chained mine so it won’t shrink back. Why don’t you do the same?”
“Men are pulling, women are pulling—what could’ve happened to make them like this?” Li Huowang’s heart grew heavy. Even with his vast experience, he’d never encountered such eerie transformations.
Though he now knew what terrified Pi County’s people, Li Huowang was still like a headless fly—clueless about the cause.
Other problems, he could tackle. But something so utterly irrational left him without even a target.
Standing on a rooftop, Li Huowang scanned the eerily quiet Pi County. He leaped from the tiles and dashed toward the inn.
“No more dallying. Who knows what’s causing this? I need to find the reason fast!!”
To him now, the entire county was a minefield of traps. Even unorthodox methods beat sitting idly by.
These Pi County folk clearly knew something, yet refused to tell him. Soft approaches had failed—so hard it would be.
As Li Huowang entered the inn, he saw the Lv Family Troupe performing a powder play in the empty lobby.
Scant audience, but at least someone watched.
Gouwa, legs crossed and arm around a pear-faced woman, waved Li Huowang over as he arrived. “Brother Li, come quick! The Lv Troupe’s show’s gotten way more interesting!”
Li Huowang glanced over, then headed to his room, his voice laced with chill. “Gouwa, fetch the innkeeper to my room.”
“Hey! Right away!”