# Chapter 22: The Magical Shop (Part 10)
He had always found Pei Ying's face strange. Her face was indeed beautiful, but it radiated an undeniable sense of incongruity. Qi An had observed that young woman many times, and he discovered something peculiar.
She rarely showed any change in expression, maintaining the same look almost constantly. Even when she truly couldn't suppress her emotions, her expression remained only lightly touched by feeling.
She kept this range of emotional expression within a safe zone—as if... she couldn't fully control that face of hers. If she exceeded this range even slightly, that extremely beautiful face would be ruined.
Qi An remembered how Pei Ying's face would turn abnormally pale at certain moments. That sensation was exactly like the cheap leather skin of a doll—equally inferior in quality.
She had swapped the doll's face for her own.
She had forcefully fitted a beautiful face onto her own body.
And the doll... had a significant connection to that shop owner. As the medium of exchange between Pei Ying and the shop owner, it must belong to one of them, or...
A complex emotion flickered in Qi An's eyes. His memory was excellent—once he understood one thing, his mind would migrate that understanding to other matters.
That man who had just pulled him inside.
When they entered, Qi An had heard a lot of chaotic sounds around them. Their surroundings should have been in disarray, yet these disturbances didn't bother that person. Those unknown entities deliberately avoided the man.
This person held a high status here.
He had pulled Qi An away from the chaos to this place, but the hand holding his felt familiar. Those broad, powerful hands had faint calluses at the finger joints—the marks left by years of exercise. Qi An had felt that same warmth on another person's hands.
His... warm-smiling roommate.
Beyond that, there were the heartbeat sounds—the man holding him, his roommate, and the ghost that had watched him all night...
The melody of these vivid, pulsing heartbeats had subtly begun to overlap.
And also... the paper from the previous world.
The keepsake left by his... fiancée from his past life.
Qi An's face was pale, as white as the remaining thin snow, easily shattered by the slightest external change.
But precisely because of this, even his slightest expression carried a heart-stirring beauty.
Like a blooming epiphyllum, here and gone.
Qi An lowered his head, gently stroking the doll's slightly flushed cheek with an unknown meaning. His hands, weakened by years of frailty, carried a certain languid tenderness.
"Will you protect me?"
His voice seemed to carry a hint of fear, his dark lashes trembling slightly, like a helpless echo of what the doll had said before. This display of weakness clearly delighted the doll, which tilted its head. Its body trembled with excitement, and the dress it wore rippled like flowing water.
It stretched out its fair, tender hands to grasp Qi An's jade-like hands, then rubbed its face against those slender fingers狠狠地.
The flawless, exquisite fingers formed a stark contrast with the crude leather skin, but the breathing around them grew hurried. Their crimson eyes burned with jealousy as they watched the doll禁锢着少年的手.
It was defiling the young man with that ugly leather skin.
But strangely, besides jealousy, expressions of excitement and satisfaction also appeared on their faces.
As if they both resented the doll for being able to touch the young man, yet were thrilled that the young man could be treated this way.
They watched the doll use its cheeks to touch the young man, playing with him slowly—from the smooth, round fingertips up to the slender wrist, then rubbing back and forth.
"Yes, I will protect you." The doll's voice held a beguiling power. It gazed up at the helpless young man standing before the palace, then suddenly let out a sharp, piercing laugh.
Behind the young man lay a paradise of breathtaking beauty.
This was something it had meticulously decorated. The disguised warmth, the endless lawns symbolizing freedom, and the statues representing beauty—all of it, the moment it first saw the young man, it had thought of this.
Only such a perfect, warm environment was fitting for this delicate young man.
It had crafted this world just for him, and the young man must乖乖地 stay here.
乖乖地... seeking its protection.
【Main Quest: Survive (Incomplete) Find the Shop Owner (Complete)
Side Quest 1: Kill the Shop Owner (Incomplete)
Side Quest 2: Save Those Children (Incomplete)】
The sound of quest progress changes appeared simultaneously in the minds of all transmigrators.
Zhang Zhaoqi's expression shifted instantly. Morning self-study had already passed, and it was now class time. The teacher's voice still echoed endlessly from the podium. He barely managed to steady the hand taking notes, but it became disordered once more.
Zhang Zhaoqi stared at this school full of youthful vitality and furrowed his brow.
Even though they had hurried back to school, the time had already become morning. The mysterious passage leading to the shop seemed to have a different flow of time.
After returning to school, facing the students flooding into the teaching building, the transfer students had no choice but to pose as normal students and re-enter the classroom to avoid attracting the attention of the ghosts on campus.
Except for Qi An, none of the other boys and girls from yesterday had returned to school. Facing nine missing students, the homeroom teacher's first reaction was anger. But after genuinely being unable to find out where they had gone, she became panicked. She quickly asked the current teacher to substitute for her class, then rushed upstairs—presumably to report the incident to the administration.
The teacher taking the class was very good-tempered, completely unable to control the lively Class F. Many students had already begun discussing the nine people absent today.
"It's those guys, right? I heard them talking yesterday about going to the rooftop. Do you think there's really something up there?" A male student lowered his voice.
"The rooftop? Why?" The male student beside him looked confused.
"It's all because of Li Li. She's really acting strange now..." The first male student continued, "I heard she told a bunch of people yesterday that she saw an angel up there and received an invitation to heaven. But with the way she's acting so bizarre now, hardly anyone believes her or wants to engage with her..."
"The ones who disappeared today—do you know? They clearly had it out for Li Li, so they wanted to check out the rooftop to prove that Li Li was definitely crazy..." The male student's expression suddenly wrinkled, "Only, I don't know why they all disappeared together."
"And..." The male student paused, "it seems like not just Li Li—people from other classes have also suddenly started acting strange..."