Chapter 21: The Magical Store (Part 9)
Bit by bit, he callously stripped away the delicate features from the doll's face.
Unlike the bare arms that had been exposed, their flesh faintly flushed with a reddish hue, the doll's face,乖巧ly tilted upward, was pallid like inferior paper.
Exceedingly rough, as if it were grit.
Qi An gazed at it with his obsidian-black eyes, then paused momentarily on the doll's fingers that kept moving, and a faint smile appeared on his face—his body was weak, so even his smile seemed unreal and illusory. "Mm. I can see all of you now."
A scene completely different from the warm and holy environment.
The faceless doll, the bloodstained severed arm, the shadows that had taken solid form, and the clock that kept turning...
Like sins hidden beneath a saintly exterior.
They had all gained their own consciousness, most having sprouted their own facial features and limbs, tightly circling around the frail youth on the daybed, then gazing at him intently.
Their gaze was so focused that it seemed nothing else in the world mattered except Qi An.
Yet they dared not truly approach the youth, maintaining a distance from Qi An that was both intimate and safe.
As if some subtle agreement had been reached.
Qi An's soft reply soon triggered a tremendous change. These ghosts that had been quietly staying in place suddenly grew excited. They swayed their rigid bodies as if dancing, humming obscure, nameless tunes.
They held hands, wearing sweet yet stiff smiles, performing an unknown dance around Qi An.
On the verdant green grass, the thin-bodied youth appeared confused and helpless as he surveyed his surroundings. The warm sunshine affectionately spread across him, revealing that exquisite face without reservation.
And around him circled countless grotesque creatures, their faces like鬼魅 shrouded in a cold gray mist—a stark contrast to the pale, refined features of the youth at the center.
This image of剧烈冲击 strangely possessed an artistic kind of beauty.
Because—these ghosts who were said to have no emotion and be cold and indifferent, their eyes at this moment burst forth with intense human-like emotions, staring at the youth in the center like prey.
Sensual and ambiguous.
Qi An rose, and the ghosts beside him stopped moving. They became docile and harmless once more.
Qi An glanced at them, then试着 to take a step.
No one stopped him.
Qi An raised his brows, then proceeded to walk about this grassland. He slowly and leisurely walked across the entire meadow, passing the angel statue and fountain, finally stopping before the ivory-white, saintly palace.
And around him throughout, there had always been a group of ghosts like bodyguards.
Qi An concealed a hint of deep thought, then stepped into the palace.
A cold, gloomy aura rose from the soles of his feet and spread upward. Qi An's expression flickered; he wanted to pull back his foot, only to find his foot was like stepping into a swamp, being pulled into the abyss by some unknown force.
The more he struggled, the stronger this attraction became.
Something wanted him to go in.
"You mustn't go in."
When his consciousness was growing hazy, the doll's eerie voice再次 sounded beside Qi An's ear.
The small doll ran over quickly. It stretched out its white, tender hands and began pulling at the hem of Qi An's pants. These slender, delicate hands seemed to possess some kind of miraculous power—Qi An felt the suction holding his feet begin to dissipate little by little.
His vision cleared once more.
Under the doll's gentle tugging, Qi An returned to the grassland before the palace. Gazing at the洁白 elegant palace for a while, Qi An turned his head to look at the small doll at his feet, and in his weak voice there was a trace of indiscernible试探. "Why can't I go in?"
The doll said nothing. Its faceless head tilted as if in thought. If it still had features, this gesture might have been quite cute, but now it only had a pale flesh like rotting skin.
Its僵硬 tilting head made it look like a broken toy.
"Because you'll die if you go in."
A voice emerged from somewhere on the doll's body. "Everything in there wants to kill you."
It掰断 the fingers on its palm one by one, then reattached them one by one. Creak, creak—like a melody of peculiar rhythm played. The doll seemed quite satisfied with this crisp sound, its head swaying constantly to the rhythm.
"You're too fragrant. It's a sweetness that can drive the things in there to lose their senses... As long as you go in, those things willpounce on you like mad..."
"They'll grab you and lock you in a place of absolute darkness, where there's no light and no living people—only you, all alone, helplessly staying there... They'll give you the water and food you need each day, but they won't come to see you..."
"Because, you see, they'll butcher each other like animals over even a tiny bit of food, competing to determine who the so-called strongest is, to decide your归属..."
In the doll's eerie tone, an image suddenly appeared in Qi An's mind.
A pale, fragile youth curled up in a corner. He wanted to pursue the existence of light, yet his entire being was deeply sunken in darkness.
Darkness was like a greedy devil, tightly wrapping around the youth, arbitrarily侵占 all its possessions.
Whenever a faint sound came, the youth would raise his hands that had never seen light, struggling to escape. When those fair, jade-like hands finally gripped the black shackles tightly, the only sound would dissipate like bubbles.
The youth呆呆地 lifted his pale cheeks in the darkness, confused like a lost child.
Those hands, as if meticulously carved, raised countless times only to weakly fall back down.
Then...
Lose the self.
"So you have to乖乖地 stay here." A诡异的smile appeared in the doll's voice. "Only this way can we protect you. Only by our side can you survive here."
This sentence was like opening some subtle switch—the emotions in those gazes that turned toward him could no longer be suppressed.
That was concealed pleasure and aggression.
So, come rely on me.
If you want to survive, come seek our庇护.
I need you.
They stared死 at the youth surrounded by them, and the expressions on their faces showed startling similarity.
Qi An's eyes flickered. In this moment, these ghosts surrounding him suddenly merged with that bright-smiling male student. Qi An thought of the man who had just held him, thought of that trembling diary.
The frail youth gazed at the doll that had been stripped of its features, at the intense emotions welling up in its eyes, and suddenly gave a light laugh.
He knew who the store's店主 was.