A very tall figure suddenly blocked the sunlight.

Shirley, who had just finished watering the open space in front of the store and was about to go back with an empty basin, was stunned for a moment, looked up, and saw the judge standing quietly in front of her in the backlight.

“…Fuck!” She screamed subconsciously, but then she reacted suddenly, coughed twice, and organized her words nervously, “Um, that, you…you…”

Vanna frowned slightly. For some reason, she always felt that this short and thin girl seemed too nervous when she saw her. It was like this the last time she and Heidi came to this antique shop, and it was still like this now.

But she didn't think much about it. After all, for various reasons, she was actually used to this kind of "nervous reaction" of others after seeing her.

"I remember your name is Shirley," Vanna said with a smile, trying to make the short girl relax with her smile, "Don't be so nervous, I'm just here to hang out."

Shirley quickly stood up and nodded stiffly: "Uh... Hey! Okay, then welcome..."

Vanna shook her head helplessly, walked past the still tense Shirley, nodded and greeted Nina who was looking at this side curiously, and walked straight to the antique shop in front of her.

Pushing open the door, the crisp sound of bells broke the silence on the first floor of the antique shop. Vanna stepped into the store, her eyes cast on the figure behind the counter.

The next second, she frowned in surprise.

In the early morning sunshine, a blonde woman whom I had never seen before was sitting behind the counter. She was a very... beautiful lady, with an elegance and mysterious temperament that seemed not to belong to this place, or even to this era. Her profile seemed to be glowing with a warm glow in the sunlight.

After hearing the noise coming from the store door, the blonde woman behind the counter raised her head and looked at Vanna curiously. She smiled faintly and said in a soft and slightly magnetic voice, "Welcome, are you looking around?"

Fanna was a little dazed. For some reason, she always felt that this new face who appeared in the antique shop shouldn't be here. But the next second, she felt that the other party's mysterious and elegant temperament seemed to fit the...atmosphere presented by the antique shop.

This place is filled with all kinds of things that look quite quaint and mysterious, so there should be a lady with a mysterious and elegant temperament sitting behind the counter.

But all the items in this antique shop are fakes.

Vanna stared intently at the blonde woman behind the counter.

Ah, yes, a fake.

"Excuse me..." Alice looked at Vanna, who suddenly stood there in a daze after walking in, with some confusion. The situation in front of her seemed to exceed the "standard process of entertaining guests" that the captain had instructed her to do. This made her a little confused about what to do. "Do you want to buy something?"

Vanna suddenly woke up with a start.

A chaotic feeling of numbness and dizziness filled her mind, making her thoughts intermittent. She vaguely remembered that she seemed to have seen something or thought of something just now, but the sudden chaos completely covered up everything she saw and knew at that moment.

The next second, the gentle sound of waves rang in her mind again. In the sound of the waves, she completely forgot the chaos, numbness and dizziness she had just felt.

She felt like she had just walked into the store and the young woman behind the counter was talking to her.

"Ah, Mr. Duncan isn't here?" Vanna looked around the first floor curiously, but couldn't find the antique shop manager. "I know him."

"Mr. Duncan? He went upstairs to put something down and will be down soon." Alice didn't care about the other party's daze just now. Anyway, as long as the conversation could continue, she thought it was fine. "Do you want to buy something? Do you have a pre-ordered item? I can help you find it - although I may not be able to find it..."

What a straightforward statement.

Vanna felt strange. She instinctively felt that there was something wrong with the beautiful young woman in front of her, but every time she tried to focus on this issue, she would immediately forget her thoughts, which made her speak slower than usual: "I... just take a look. I'll be fine in a moment. Excuse me... are you new here? I haven't seen you the last time I came here."

"Ah, I'm new here. My name is Alice," Alice said immediately with a smile. She liked to introduce her name to others. "Mr. Duncan asked me to help look after the store."

Faintly, Vanna seemed to sense something strange. This strangeness was hidden in Alice's reserved yet slightly stiff movements, in her perfect yet too perfect smile, and even in the breathless sound of her words.

The Inquisitor frowned, not really noticing anything unusual.

Just a new clerk, nothing unusual.

At this moment, a sound of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs next to them, interrupting the conversation between Vanna and Alice.

Duncan appeared on the stairs.

Just now, he sensed the appearance of Vanna. Just to confirm the purpose of the judge's visit, he deliberately waited for a few more minutes on the second floor. Then he found that the other party did not seem to have any special purpose, so he came down.

"It looks like we have a special guest," Duncan said to the puppet lady behind the counter, "I'll take care of him. He's someone I know - Alice, go make some tea."

"Yes, Mr. Duncan!"

Alice stood up happily, agreed, and walked to the small stove on the other side of the stairs. Duncan came to Vanna and smiled and greeted the Inquisitor, whom he had met many times. "Long time no see, Miss Inquisitor."

"Just call me by my name," Vanna rubbed her forehead, "Sorry for the sudden visit. I actually have some questions I want to confirm."

"Problem?" Duncan raised his eyebrows. "What's the problem?"

Vanna calmed herself down and considered how to start her speech.

Some vague clues pointed to this ordinary shop, and some intuitive guidance led her to this place. The Inquisitor's experience and sense of smell seemed to be beating faintly, but the church had conducted an investigation through official channels before and found nothing unusual. The only reason that could support her coming to investigate this time seemed to be the "amulet" of her best friend.

"As far as I know, Heidi once had an amulet from here," Vanna said slowly, "and she had been wearing it before the reality pollution disaster."

"Oh, I remember that," Duncan nodded calmly, with a look of realization on his face. "I gave that amulet to Mr. Morris - and I gave another one away in the past two days."

As he spoke, he turned around, took another amulet from the shelf behind him and showed it to Vanna.

“That’s it.”

Fanna looked at the antique shop manager in front of her with a strange look as he openly took out the "collections" in the shop as if they were mass-produced goods: "You have a lot of these amulets here?"

"I bought a large box, and I've sold and given away a total of 21 so far," Duncan nodded seriously. "Are you interested too?"

As he spoke, he subconsciously looked at the young judge again.

Vanna gave him a very strange feeling today. She seemed a little dazed and her speech was a little slow. But compared to these superficial abnormalities, what was more wrong was her unstable "aura" at the moment.

Duncan said he didn't understand what was going on, but the feeling that the young Inquisitor gave him at the moment was... as if there was another person hidden in her mind, and another pair of eyes hidden in her eyes. She was talking to herself here, but it seemed that there was something else hidden deep in her consciousness.

Vanna didn't seem to notice Duncan's scrutiny. She was just a little unaccustomed to his frank business attitude - although she knew from the beginning that there was nothing real in this store. "Uh... no, I'm just here to investigate. I want to ask about the specific procurement channels for these amulets, and also whether they have ever shown anything special, or whether the people who bought them have ever reported any unusual situations?"

"you mean……"

"Heidi believes that the amulet she wore at the time played a real protective role, and even helped her maintain consciousness during the 'disaster' at the time," Vanna said simply, without going into too many details. "I think the amulet you gave to Mr. Morris at the time was very likely to have been affected by...supernatural power, so I came here to investigate. Of course, you don't have to be nervous. Judging from the current information, this is not a bad influence."

She said this, but there was one more thing she didn't say: Investigation is investigation, she didn't expect Duncan to have a whole box of similar amulets before she came! And so many of them have been sold!

Duncan's heart moved slightly after hearing Vanna's words.

That thing... really worked? The "gift" I casually gave away actually protected the psychiatrist's self-awareness?

Why does this happen?

What is the key?

Is it the act of "giving a gift" itself, or is it because the psychiatrist's "inspiration" is too high?