"The plan is like this."
After greeting the happy cat, Xia De motioned for the Priest to sit down with him, while Mrs. Freeman held the Boy and sat on a single sofa further away.
"Don't move."
Keeping the cat quiet on his lap, Mia, with wide eyes, watched Xia De place a pillowcase over it. A few seconds later, the pillowcase sank slightly, as if Mia had shrunk out of thin air. When the pillowcase was removed, a wooden toy Mia, about one-third smaller, appeared on Xia De's lap.
The oil painting was placed on the coffee table. Xia De placed the Mia wooden toy on the oil painting:
"We cannot interfere with what is inside the oil painting from the outside, but things inside the oil painting can interfere with what is inside the oil painting."
He said, letting go of his hand, and the lifelike, adorable wooden puppet Mia, with wide eyes, immediately melted into the oil painting. Because the puppet was too large, it did not enter the model of the house, but instead appeared on the tabletop, and transformed from its puppet form back into its normal form.
Suddenly appearing in an unfamiliar environment, the cat once again showed a look of fright. But before it could puff up its fur, Xia De's hand reached into the oil painting and gently patted the cat's small head.
"Meow~"
Now the orange cat was no longer afraid. It narrowed its eyes and lowered its head to lick its paws. This cat believed that wherever Xia De was, there would be no danger.
"This, touch this."
After patting the cat a few times, Xia De's hand pointed to the house toy model on the table. Because he didn't know if the sound from outside could be heard inside, Xia De also gestured a few times with his hand.
The cat, which had become increasingly intelligent recently, immediately looked in the direction of the finger, which was the house model. But because the pet cat had always been well-behaved, it didn't have the habit of randomly destroying items. It squatted there, stretching its head to rub against Xia De's hand, staring with wide amber eyes, just looking, but not moving.
"In that case..."
Xia De thought for a moment and reached out again to touch the house model. After his hand was blocked by an invisible barrier, he shook his hand within the oil painting, making it appear as if his hand was injured. After emitting a weak wail outside the picture, he let his hand drop to the tabletop, twitched once, and the hand remained motionless as if dead.
Priest Augustus was stifling a laugh beside him.
"Meow!"
Mia immediately showed a look of fright in the picture. It stretched its head to rub against the "dead" hand, and seeing that it indeed remained motionless, it immediately blocked Xia De's hand and made a threatening gesture towards the house model.
Seeing that the other party didn't move at all and didn't roar at it, the cat's courage immediately grew. With its head down, the orange cat charged, directly knocking the house model two inches (about 5.08 cm) towards the edge of the table.
Seeing that the other party still didn't move, the cat became even bolder. It used its head to push the model, slowly moving it towards the edge of the table. As more than half of the model's base hung in the air, it finally fell onto the ground outside the oil painting, disappearing from the range that Xia De and Priest Augustus could observe.
For the first time, a sound came from the painting, the sound of the house model crashing.
Xia De scooped the cat out of the oil painting. The cat meowed excitedly, rubbing against Xia De's right hand, its tail wagging, as if happy that it had done something big.
"Is it over?"
The Priest asked with a frown, after all, it was only their guess that destroying the house in the painting would remove the influence.
But at least when the house fell to the ground, neither Xia De nor the Boy were harmed, which indicated that at least their passive damage-taking relationship with the puppet had been lifted.
"Wait. Quick, Mrs. Freeman, quickly take the child and retreat to the wall!"
Black smoke suddenly drifted out of the oil painting. The Priest and Xia De immediately stood up, while the middle-aged woman was a step slow.
The black smoke had already landed on the floor. A strange person, over two and a half meters tall, wrapped in bandages all over its body, with only one eye exposed, and wearing a broken black hat on its head, actually appeared in the real world.
It seemed to be completely irrational. After arriving in the real world, it first looked up and roared, then its right hand, entangled with black smoke, held a knife and stabbed towards the Boy in Mrs. Freeman's arms, who was closest to it.
Xia De raised his hand and waved out Moonlight, but the Priest was faster, and a gray ball of light in his hand also flew out. However, even if neither of them had acted, the Boy would have been fine, because another wisp of black smoke flew out of the oil painting, and Mr. Freeman in his undead state blocked the tall monster's weapon with his soul.
This was a true undead. It seemed that with the destruction of the house model, not only the bandage puppet, but even the undigested souls inside the painting could escape. However, the soul looked very weak, becoming even weaker after being slashed by the bandage monster in the real world.
He turned around sadly. Mrs. Freeman and the Boy could not see him in his soul state.
Xia De's Moonlight and the Priest's gray ball of light had already reached the monster's back. Moonlight cut off its head, and the gray ball of light directly exploded its chest.
This thing was truly pitifully weak. After suffering such injuries, it slowly turned into Ashes and disappeared.
And looking back at that oil painting, the bandage puppet stood alone in the original position of the house model, motionless like a real puppet. It seemed that only when this painting was brought into a new building again, and the oil painting itself was touched by someone, would it once again exhibit its characteristics.
After waiting for a while and confirming that the matter was completely resolved, Xia De and Priest Augustus finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's over, Mrs. Freeman, no need to worry, this matter is over."
The Old Priest comforted her.
"In the future, will it..."
The middle-aged woman was truly frightened.
"Don't worry, this matter is completely over, but we will take this painting with us. If you are still worried, you can go to the church to pray. I remember that you do not believe in our Lord, Mr. Dawn. Madam, would you like to hear our Lord's teachings? May the Light of Dawn forever shine upon us!"
Priest Augustus said cheerfully while drawing a holy emblem on his chest, while Mrs. Freeman smiled awkwardly and then said to Xia De:
"You two have been a great help. Please take this painting, we don't dare to keep it."
She held the Boy's hand, wanting to bow to thank the two of them. But the Boy looked around, and no matter how he looked, he could not see Mr. Freeman, who was standing beside them helplessly at this moment.
He was already dead, and his soul had not been completely absorbed by the relic, which was why he could be saved. But dead is dead, and weak souls cannot be seen by ordinary people.
Xia De held the cat, while Priest Augustus briefly explained the whole story to Mrs. Freeman, making her understand that the matter was completely over.
Then, the Priest gave Xia De a look, instructing him to take Mrs. Freeman and the Boy to Doctor Schneider's clinic to pick up the little girl, while Xia De was responsible for handling the painting.
When the group separated downstairs in the rented apartment building, Mrs. Freeman was still holding Xia De's hand, thanking him profusely. After they left, Xia De held Mia in one arm and carried the drawing board with the oil painting in the other, then looked at the soul standing in the shadow of the house beside him.
Dealing with this relic still required going to the doctor's place. Priest Augustus didn't go with Xia De because he wanted Xia De to stay and handle this soul, persuading it to move on rather than remain here.
