Chapter 30: The Magical Shop (Complete)
【Main Quest: Survive (Completed) Find the Shop Owner (Completed)
Side Quest 1: Kill the Shop Owner (Completed)
Side Quest 2: Save Those Children (Completed)】
【Number of Transmigrators: 4, Survivors: 4】
【Exit the world?】
The mural-adorned walls were completely shattered, fragments of stone scattered across the floor. The colorful brushstrokes on those stones vanished strangely, and like something had drained their energy, they instantly became rough and coarse, completely losing the smooth delicacy they'd possessed when still part of the mural.
At the same time, a sound that was neither liberation nor lament drifted in from far off to the side. Their voices carried the shrillness unique to a child crying in the dead of night, but they didn't last long—losing all strength, they faded into halos along with the low partition door on the western side of the shop.
Qi An glanced at Zhang Zhaoqi standing calmly before the ruined wall, then shifted his gaze to Zhao Qizhu, who was still giggling away. Beautiful, painting-like brows creased with a hint of deep thought. This wall had been destroyed by the combined effort of Zhang Zhaoqi and Zhao Qizhu. The moment the wall shattered, the system prompted that the quest was complete.
Almost simultaneously, Gu Wang's face instantly turned ashen, his sturdy body gradually becoming transparent.
This strange scene naturally drew the close attention of everyone else—Gu Wang's true identity was now self-evident. Zhang Zhaoqi and Zhao Qizhu's expressions didn't change much; they simply waited for Gu Wang's body to vanish completely. Only Ji Xiaoyu stared intently at the smiling boy with her beautiful eyes, afraid he might unleash some devastating final move before dying.
[How interesting.]
Qi An's gaze lingered on Gu Wang for a moment, then calmly withdrew it. The latter's eyes had been almost constantly fixed on him. This penetrating stare would have made an ordinary person fidgety.
He seemed to want to express something through that gaze:
I want to watch you.
Just wanting to watch you.
Even if I'm about to die, I want to watch you.
Gu Wang ignored everyone else's gazes, lightly trembled his lips a few times, then smiled like an ordinary high school student—sunny and full of vitality.
But Qi An's reaction to this gaze and gesture was rather indifferent. Still, he dutifully maintained his persona, keeping up his weak and helpless appearance, like a delicate flower battered by night rain, able only to gently sway his fragile, beautiful form in the storm.
He pressed the exit button in his mind. Qi An glanced at the other three transmigrators still present in this world. When he was certain no one was looking, he bestowed a smile upon Gu Wang, then completely vanished from this world.
His smile carried a hint of warmth—something that rarely appeared on Qi An's face. It successfully deepened the expression on Gu Wang's face.
But even with a smile on Qi An's lips, his eyes flashed with hidden meaning.
He wondered if anyone else had noticed, but Qi An, who always harbored doubts and paid attention to his surroundings, had caught something. Before Zhang Zhaoqi and Zhao Qizhu broke through the wall together, Gu Wang had shown subtle signs of wanting to stop it.
However, the boy's expression shifted once more, and he stopped his actions.
Even knowing that breaking that mural would mean his death, Gu Wang seemed to have thought of something and forcibly stopped resisting, standing there watching his life begin to fade.
The boy beside him who had been standing not far away had already departed from this world. This action unexpectedly drew Zhang Zhaoqi's immediate attention. He glanced at Gu Wang, whose expression was unclear and who seemed to be faintly smiling. His heart stirred with an urge to leave this world too, but until Ji Xiaoyu and Zhao Qizhu departed one after the other, he still hadn't truly carried out this decision.
Because a voice was telling him.
He couldn't leave.
Gu Wang's gaze left the spot where the young man had vanished, then he glanced at Zhang Zhaoqi with what seemed like displeasure. His body, transparent and nearly dissipated, strangely solidified back into physical form at this moment. Zhang Zhaoqi saw this person who was equally irritating to him and spoke with jealousy, "What a讨厌的家伙—you're basically the same person as me, yet..."
"Only you."
"But no matter what, no matter who it is, no matter what method the prince used, the prince only wanted to obtain... his princess."
White halos descended one by one from the ceiling of the vast white rest lounge, falling vertically. Qi An felt the warm, healing aura around him, casually finding a secluded corner to sit in, waiting for Zhang Zhaoqi and the others to return.
"Have you heard? It seems several big shots from the Quick-Pass Bureau are transferring over to our bureau." The rest lounge of the Transmigration Bureau maintained a rather restrained quietness most of the time. Though never officially mandated, everyone tacitly followed an unwritten rule.
Which was to keep things as quiet as possible, striving to create a relatively favorable space for emotional recovery.
But today was exceptionally different. Though Qi An sat in a remote corner, he could still hear the faint murmur of conversation. This situation was extremely rare—it meant whatever they were discussing was likely extremely important. Or one could say, it concerned the entire Transmigration Bureau.
"I know, they just transferred over. And after those big shots transferred, they basically all got the highest authority. One of them was paired with Lu Wuye on their very first mission to this Transmigration Bureau, and then it seems like they developed some grudge. Now the inside of the Transmigration Bureau is in an uproar, with factions forming left and right."
"Yeah, I heard about that too. The conflicts between those big shots—we little nobodies can't possibly intervene. I'm currently afraid to enter the inner areas, terrified I'll get caught in the crossfire." A burly man with a fierce look around the edges of his eyes smacked his lips. "And it seems like the higher-ups aren't planning to intervene either."
"Right, they all seem to be focused on something else. I heard the higher-ups are in some emergency meeting—I guess this matter won't get their attention unless it gets particularly huge."
"Ah, that's how it is. It's tough being a nobody." The previous man continued, "In the past, we were all transmigrators—after entering mission worlds, most of us would support each other. But now that's probably over. I heard in one world, because fans of two rival big shots collided, they started killing each other, and the death rate skyrocketed instantly."
"Qi An."
From a distance, Ji Xiaoyu spotted the young man being watched by others with varying degrees of attention. She ran over, surprised to find that the young man who had returned to the rest lounge looked infinitely better than he had in the mission world.
This change seemed to make the young man even more eye-catching. Blinking, Ji Xiaoyu also found a random spot nearby to sit, then listened to the discussions around her as expressions shifted constantly across her face.
"Those big shots transferred over?" Ji Xiaoyu's expression was somewhat excited. "How wonderful, I want to run into them."
"Why?" Qi An looked at her strangely.
"Because they seem way too amazing." Ji Xiaoyu blinked. "They do solo missions while we do team missions. Right now, relying on the team's advantage, we can still win by riding along, but if we ever want to become big shots of the Quick-Pass Bureau, we definitely need real skills. I've always dreamed of running into one of them."
"Ah, after the mission settles, I'll go check out the inner areas, see if I can bump into a big shot, and maybe exchange some stuff at the mall." The girl seemed lost in some emotion, talking endlessly. "But why would the big shots transfer groups recently? Never mind, never mind, that's not important. What matters is whether I can run into a big shot."
After the girl enthusiastically finished expressing her thoughts, Zhao Qizhu and Zhang Zhaoqi also returned to the rest lounge one after the other. However, the two of them seemed to have no opinion on this matter at all, as if not the slightest bit worried that this change might bring them difficulties in future missions.
"Let's submit the mission." After Zhang Zhaoqi returned, he was silent for a moment before speaking coldly.
Qi An glanced at Zhang Zhaoqi without moving a muscle, then slightly furrowed his brow, selecting the submit mission option on the system panel.
【Mission Reward Distributed: Points +50】
His gaze swept roughly across it, and Qi An closed the panel. Ji Xiaoyu seemed not to have expected the points reward for this world to be so substantial either. She smiled sweetly, waved her hand, "Bye, I'm going to check out the inner areas. I hope we can still run into each other in future worlds."
Watching the girl directly dash toward the gate leading to the inner Transmigration Bureau, Zhao Qizhu's eyes rolled, then she turned to look at Qi An with a giggling smile. "Little brother, are you going to the next world now? Want to team up with me? I'm really powerful—I can protect little brother, you know."
At the end, the girl smiled sweetly once more, her eyebrows curving into lovely crescent moons. She licked her lips, leaving a patch of crimson on her lower lip. "Little brother is really interesting. I want to study you... properly."
Qi An was stunned. Before he could speak, Zhang Zhaoqi glanced coldly at Zhao Qizhu and spoke up for Qi An. "He'll be teaming with me."
"Oh?" Zhao Qizhu's rolling eyes suddenly paused, like a machine had been hit with a sudden pause button, her face going stiff and wooden. The girl blinked, then returned to her lively and spirited appearance. "Is that so, little brother?"
Qi An glanced at Zhang Zhaoqi, then lightly nodded. "Yeah."
"Then fine." The girl seemed to have just thrown out an invitation casually. She giggled and waved at them, but after walking a bit, she turned her neck, bypassing the densely packed crowd, and gazed toward Qi An.
Then she smiled sweetly, licking her lips.
Author's Note:
Because some cuties didn't understand, it's my writing skill and logic that's the problem~ So I'll explain here~ (Feeling so low-level, even my writing isn't clear TaT), and I'll revise it once my writing improves~
An'an's reason for being sent to all horror worlds is that the Transmigration Bureau specially arranged it. It's related to the protagonist—he's a big shot, but due to certain reasons, he fragmented himself~
Except for Zhang (the protagonist), every world has a piece of the protagonist's split consciousness, but these fragments all die, and then they merge back with the protagonist~
So even if they didn't team up in the second world, An'an and Zhang would still be arranged to be in the same world~
Then regarding the second world~
An'an has heavy yin energy. After his constitution was strengthened, his attraction to ghostly entities increased, giving him a sweet scent that draws ghosts to kill him. The school students encountered a supernatural incident, so they could also sense this yin energy and smell this scent.
Exchanges at the shop require a type of energy. The previous owner discovered the issue and conducted an experiment, merging the energy with Gu—this is also why two factions of ghosts appeared in the shop. One faction is the original, lacking reason, wanting to kill An'an. The other faction, influenced by Gu, would protect An'an, but also has a kind of obsession~
Gu merged with the energy, then used it to construct an independent space—the mural. He wanted to trap An'an there. That mural is very important, so even if the shop is turned upside down, the ghosts protect the mural and it remains intact.
Once the mural is destroyed, Gu dies. All the ghosts in the shop lose their energy source and vanish. Without this threat, surviving is judged successful.
But at the very end, Gu remembered the original protagonist's memories, so he didn't resist.
The original world scenario was~
Only those with strong desires can come to the shop. Pei and Fang both had desires. But Fang ultimately gave up on the exchange, so that memory would be erased. Pei completed the exchange, trading for a beautiful face and demanding revenge on the entire academy.
After completing the exchange, Pei cleared her name, which created conflict between her and the former class beauty Li. Also because of the exchange, the academy would be haunted. Students encountering supernatural events would gradually lose their sanity.
Later, Fang recovered his memories and completed the exchange with the shop again, returning the academy to normal. Pei, who had been following behind him, felt guilty, then recognized her own problems. The academy students heard Fang's inner voice, and feelings of enlightenment arose in their hearts, completing the side quest~
So messy... Are there any cuties who actually read all the way to the end, meow...