Just like before, Xia De placed the puppet pistol on the oil painting, and it indeed melted into the painting, then appeared at the entrance of the model house.
The puppet associated with Xia De walked to the pistol but did not bend down to pick it up. Mr. Freeman's puppet also looked at the pistol but did not pick it up either.
"Credentials."
Priest Augustus thought for a moment and then suddenly said, and Xia De realized. He sent his MI6 credentials and gun license, also as puppets, into the oil painting. The puppet corresponding to Xia De first picked up the credentials, then finally bent down to pick up the toy pistol, its fingers even making a clear motion of checking the bullets.
The puppets in the oil painting and the real people in reality are not copies or connected by any soul; they can only transfer damage. The puppets cannot use Ring術士 abilities like Xia De, but at least the puppets can shoot.
However, when transmitting weapons this way, the puppets Xia De created could only be used by himself, not by Freeman.
But this was enough. Leaving Mrs. Freeman and the Boy in the foyer, Xia De and Priest Augustus went upstairs with the oil painting.
The gun-wielding puppet in the oil painting also moved towards the second floor of the model and met the bandaged puppet in the second-floor living room.
The oil painting could not emit sound, so the two outside could only see the puppet's gun-raising action in the painting.
But unfortunately, even with a revolver as a weapon, the gun-wielding puppet still couldn't defeat the bandaged puppet. The opponent was not only tall but also excellent at dodging, and when in the same room as the victim puppet, it could perform short-distance spatial movement within the model. Even if hit by a bullet, it did not affect its movement at all, and even gave Xia De's puppet another stab.
So, after the pistol's bullets ran out, the injured Xia De could only temporarily retreat to the first-floor foyer to hide.
And because of the previous fight, the bandaged puppet had already reached the stairs and would probably enter the foyer in about half an hour.
The gun-wielding puppet threw the credentials and the revolver out of the model house, and they immediately appeared on the surface of the oil painting. Xia De reloaded the pistol but did not send it back into the oil painting.
"The intelligence level of ordinary puppets is too low; they can't compare to the bandaged puppet. I think your puppet needs other helpers."
Priest Augustus suddenly said.
"Are you referring to Mr. Freeman and the little Boy? Have them fight alongside my puppet?"
Xia De pointed to the two puppets cuddling together in the oil painting, shook his head, and reminded:
"The Boy is too weak, and although Freeman's puppet has normal intelligence, its strength is too poor."
"I mean myself."
Priest Augustus said calmly:
"I know you can't turn me into a puppet, but I can actively touch that painting and let a puppet corresponding to me appear in the painting."
Xia De immediately shook his head:
"Priest Augustus, more people may not necessarily be useful, but it will definitely put you in danger. Let me think..."
He looked at the pistol he was holding, then at the oil painting.
He again covered the revolver with a handkerchief, but the wooden toy that appeared afterward was almost the same size as the original, not thumb-sized.
Xia De threw the 1:1 scale wooden toy back into the oil painting, but this time the pistol did not appear in the house model; instead, it appeared on the tabletop next to the model, and the pistol in the painting had actually reverted to a real pistol. It was too big to enter the house model at all.
This bold attempt taught Xia De another rule: puppets small enough to enter the house would maintain their puppet form and enter the house model. Puppets too large to enter the house model would appear on the tabletop and transform into their real item form.
"Can this gun be taken out?"
Seeing this happen, Priest Augustus, who was nearby, asked curiously.
Xia De shook his head, indicating he didn't know, and scanned the painting more carefully. He then saw very faint text on the curtain in the oil painting, which served as the background.
The curtain itself was in sunlight, and the color of this line of text was extremely similar to the curtain, so it wasn't discovered immediately:
【Inside and outside the oil painting, inside and outside the painter.】
He pondered as he read this line of text, hesitated for a moment, and then softly read the text aloud. Afterward, Xia De's hand touched the oil painting, and his hand actually reached inside the painting.
"Oh?"
Priest Augustus looked on curiously, and Xia De also frowned.
He first reached out to touch his pistol, then successfully retrieved it from the painting.
"Does this mean..."
Priest Augustus whispered, and Xia De nodded, reaching his hand into the painting again, but Priest Augustus stopped him:
"This time, I'll do it."
He didn't ask Xia De how he understood those strange texts, as Xia De had previously demonstrated the ability to know texts due to 【Time-Space】 during study sessions.
Xia De told Priest Augustus the specific pronunciation of those ancient letters. Priest Augustus tried twice and then successfully extended his hand into the painting.
His hand reached for the model of the house, and as expected, he couldn't touch it, as if there was a glass cover blocking Priest Augustus's hand outside the model.
Then Priest Augustus reached for other items on the table in the painting. Holding these things, he still couldn't touch the house model, but all these items could be taken out.
But whether it was a vase, a rotten apple, a statue resembling the Old God 【Distant Crack】, or a small pendant, these were all ordinary items. So the two speculated that these were test items thrown into the oil painting by the painting's previous owners when they tried to confront the house model.
It is currently unknown what the creation conditions are for other puppets that can be thrown into the oil painting, besides Xia De's 【Toy Manufacturing】. In a sense, this painting actually has the function of turning puppets into real existences.
"My hand can't reach the model, shouldn't we think of another way?"
Priest Augustus fell into thought again, but Xia De had already found a solution, and a relaxed expression appeared on his face:
"Priest Augustus, please go out again, go to my house, and bring Mia."
Thinking of the cat at home, Xia De added:
"Oh, she might not let you hold her. You can tell her I'm in trouble, like last time, and then lure her into the carriage with your clothes."
Xia De handed over his house key and blood-stained coat. Seeing that Priest Augustus was still puzzled, he reminded him:
"Priest Augustus, although we can reach our hands into the painting, strictly speaking, we are still outside the painting, so we cannot touch the house model inside the painting. And when holding something from within the painting, it is very likely that the item and our body are judged as the same item."
"Inside the oil painting? Outside the oil painting? Can your cat..."
The Old Priest smiled, nodded knowingly, and after admonishing Xia De to be careful, he took the key and Xia De's coat and left.
While Priest Augustus was away, Xia De also instructed Mrs. Freeman, who was waiting nearby, to not tell anyone about this matter after it was over.
Mrs. Freeman naturally understood. After all, encountering a supernatural event in one's home was not a good thing, and revealing it might even affect her children's future marriages. She immediately pulled her son and together they swore to God that they would not tell anyone the whole story.
But Xia De was still thinking that he should find time to have Doctor Schneider come over and use his abilities as a Psychologist to make the Freeman family forget all this.
The Doctor cannot completely erase memories; that would cause permanent damage to the brain. But he can make the Freeman family's memories of this event blurry, until years later they suspect it was just a dream.
For ordinary people, forgetting contact with the mysterious and the extraordinary is what's best for them.
Including riding in the carriage and luring that timid and alert cat in Saint Delan Square, Priest Augustus took over an hour for the round trip.
During this time, the bandaged puppet in the model house had already moved from the stairs to the foyer. To avoid it, Xia De used a Miracle to open the door of the landlord's house on the first floor and temporarily hid inside.
Although doing so was a bit improper, the group would not mess with other people's belongings, so it was a last resort.
Perhaps it was Xia De's previous attempt to touch the house model that made the relic feel a greater crisis, as the bandaged puppet's movement speed increased again. Before Priest Augustus returned, it had already cornered the three puppets in the large bedroom on the first floor within the model.
Xia De sent the pistol back into the oil painting, and the three puppets were forced to contend with the bandaged puppet. The smaller puppet ran first, the two larger puppets jointly entangled the bandaged puppet, and then left the room in sequence, just like in reality.
But even with three puppets fighting one, the bandaged puppet still had the upper hand. Although Xia De was not injured this time, the puppet hosting Mr. Freeman's soul was severely injured because it had been protecting the small puppet at all costs.
Fortunately, Mr. Freeman was already dead, and the puppet in the painting being injured was just that—injured.
"Is Father back?"
For safety, Xia De had not allowed the little Boy to touch or watch the oil painting again. But the child, holding his mother's hand, vaguely felt Mr. Freeman protecting him.
When the group of three moved back to the second floor, the little Boy was still looking around, seemingly expecting his father to suddenly walk out of the room with a smile. But that painter could not possibly return; if he really did, Xia De would be even more troubled.
In short, the oil painting seemed to sense that the people outside the painting had a way to deal with it, so it gave the bandaged puppet in the painting more power.
And as the bandaged puppet's movements quickened, Xia De and the Boy, who were affected by the relic, became increasingly dangerous. The whisper element of the relic was already affecting the Boy, and even with Xia De watching over him, if this matter wasn't resolved quickly, the Boy turning into a lunatic would probably be the best outcome.
Fortunately, Priest Augustus successfully returned with Mia.
That wary orange cat indeed didn't let Priest Augustus hold her, but instead followed Priest Augustus and jumped up the stairs. Seeing Xia De sitting in the living room, the cat immediately pounced on him excitedly.
Xia De, who had been tense, finally smiled when he saw his familiar cat. Holding Mia, he continuously stroked the cat's head. The orange cat meowed, and as Xia De stroked her, her fluffy little head also swayed, allowing him to touch her better.
