By now, Xia De and Priest Augustus roughly understood the basic characteristics of the relic oil painting.
The house model in the oil painting would correspond to the real house, and when people inside the real house directly touched the oil painting, a puppet corresponding to the toucher would appear in the oil painting.
The puppet had its own instinctive wisdom and would actively avoid the killer inside the model house. The puppet's movement depended on the real person's location. If the real person was in the house, the puppet could only move within the corresponding house inside the building; if the real person was not in the house, the puppet was very likely to move randomly.
The Bandaged Killer Puppet would continuously pursue other puppets in the oil painting, and the puppet's injuries would directly reflect on the real people, ultimately leading to the real person's death. It was probable that Mr. Freeman's fall to his death was the result of his corresponding puppet in the oil painting finally being killed by the Bandaged Puppet after half a month of pursuit.
After ordinary people touched the oil painting, they would forget about it, occasionally seeing phantom images of the Bandaged Puppet in reality, and suffering mental torment in their dreams, leading to mental problems.
The only known possible containment method was to remove the painting itself from the house, which Mrs. Freeman, an ordinary person, had once managed to do.
After Mr. Freeman's death, with no corresponding puppet in the oil painting's house model, the oil painting could be taken out of the real building. Once it was taken out of the real building, it could not meet the condition of being touched inside the building, thus causing a puppet to appear in the house model within the oil painting.
However, Xia De and the Boy of the Freeman family could not commit suicide now, so this method could not be attempted.
In fact, Xia De had another idea, which was to demolish the house in reality, causing the oil painting to lose its corresponding building. But Xia De was unsure if this would cause other strange changes to the relic, such as the Bandaged Puppet directly breaking through the house model's limitations. Therefore, this idea was only a last resort.
The five people rushing out onto the street just now had already attracted the attention of passersby. After Xia De, Mrs. Freeman, and young Freeman returned to the house, confirming that the Bandaged Puppet in the oil painting was still some distance from the first floor, Xia De said to the Priest outside the door:
"Priest Augustus, please take the girl to Doctor Schneider's clinic and have the doctor look after her for now. If Doctor Schneider has time, ask him to come over as well. Although I already have some ideas, safety comes first; no amount of caution is too much when dealing with something like this."
Mrs. Freeman also agreed to temporarily send her daughter to a safe place. While the Priest was away, Xia De had the two ordinary people stand further away. With his back to them, he tried various methods to destroy the oil painting in the hallway. However, since it was a relic, it would naturally not be so easily destroyed. Neither gunshots, the Moonlight Greatsword, nor even the Moonlight's slashes could leave a mark on the oil painting.
In fact, Xia De's attacks made the Bandaged Puppet in the oil painting move much faster. It seemed the oil painting knew someone was trying to destroy it, thus accelerating its attack on Xia De.
But this thing's rating was at most Document-level, and most likely Poet Grade, like a City legend that could be talked about everywhere. Its killing efficiency was extremely slow, and even when facing ordinary people, it tried to face only one person at a time.
For a Ring術士, although it would be quite troublesome if they were unfortunately caught up in it, there were other ways to deal with it.
Priest Augustus returned quickly, but Doctor Schneider was not with him. The doctor was fortunately out on a house call and not currently at the clinic, so he would not be involved in this matter.
Priest Augustus seemed a bit worried. After learning that Xia De had tried to destroy the oil painting but failed, the wrinkles on his brow deepened. He lowered his aged voice and asked Xia De in the hallway:
"Before I left, you said you had other methods."
"Yes, Mr. Freeman was obsessed with wood carving before he died. This shouldn't be a change of interest. Although he forgot about the oil painting and didn't know what he had encountered, he definitely had an idea. At least a week before his death, he vaguely realized what he needed to do. That painter's inspiration was truly amazing; he must have thought of a way when he touched the oil painting in his dreams."
Xia De obtained Mr. Freeman's relic, which was that crudely made wood carving, from Priest Augustus, and then carefully placed the wood carving on the oil painting.
The Boy was pulled by Mrs. Freeman to stand behind the stairs, with only the two Ring術士 directly looking at the oil painting. Under their gaze, the small wood carving in the shape of a man actually melted into the surface of the oil painting like cream.
Subsequently, a new puppet appeared inside the model house in the oil painting. It appeared at the model's doorway. As a gray light from the depths of the oil painting's scene entered the puppet, the new puppet joined the two puppets, one large and one small, representing the Detective and the Boy.
The puppets could not show expressions, but the three clearly saw Mr. Freeman's puppet approach the smaller puppet. It "came alive"; Mr. Freeman's soul was actually inside the oil painting.
Then, George, the Boy being held by his mother, suddenly widened his eyes and looked around:
"Father, oh, is that you? Father!"
Although the middle-aged woman could not see what the Detective and the Priest had done, she seemed to understand, sobbing softly and squatting down to hug her son.
Xia De then asked the Priest in a low voice:
"It seems this idea is correct. The carver of the puppet was killed by this painting, so it can enter the painting to help you. But what use would a puppet carved by a living person be? Can we get more puppets, like a Priest's puppet, a soldier's puppet, or even a God's—"
"Only puppets personally made by people affected by this relic are useful. Detective, do you remember? Mr. Freeman went to the church before he died and also received a Holy Prayer Festival commemorative puppet, but he still died. Therefore, I believe only personally made puppets are useful. Otherwise, wouldn't the method to break this relic be too easy? How could something be so simple?"
Priest Augustus deduced, then looked at Xia De:
"Although I don't know what use it would be to put a puppet you carved yourself inside, Detective, can you carve puppets?"
"Of course not, but I have another way."
Xia De said, taking out the MI6-issued revolver from his waist, and then taking out a handkerchief.
He covered the gun with the handkerchief, and when he removed the handkerchief, a small toy gun puppet appeared in his palm:
"A puppet gun I made myself."
Xia De said with a smile.
"You really have a way."
Priest Augustus also smiled.