Chapter 364: Madman Sean's Oil Painting House

"Sir, thank you both."

The soul avoided the sunlight and bowed slightly to Xia De in the shadow. Xia De shook his head, indicating it was nothing.

Xiao Miya looked at the soul, but Xia De didn't notice the cat's action.

"I don't know if you still remember, actually we met once at the church. I didn't discover the problem with you at the time, otherwise, maybe..."

"I have no 'if' anymore."

The soul said with a wry smile. Compared to the souls Xia De encountered in the cemetery related to love, family affection, and love-hate entanglements spanning half a century, Mr. Freeman was more like a person:

"I know I shouldn't stay here, I should go. It's just that I want to ask you to do one thing for me."

He bowed again. Xia De thought for a moment:

"You tell me what you want to do first, I won't promise people things casually."

"I actually saved a sum of private money privately. I don't know if you are married; men who have families have this habit."

He smiled embarrassedly and continued to explain:

"That sum of money is about 50 pounds or so, I have saved it for ten years. Originally, I planned to buy things that my wife thought were a waste of pounds behind her back, such as pure handmade brass battleship models from Karsenrik, or commemorative stamps worth collecting... That money is hidden in our original home, there is a hole under the floor of the attic..."

The hole for hiding money was probably too small, so Xia De and the priest didn't find it when checking in the morning.

"Please bring this money to my family, this is very important to them now... You can take half, and give the remaining half to them."

He showed an unnatural smile to Xia De, obviously worried that Xia De would swallow it alone. But he had no other way; after all, he was just a soul.

"Since it's like this, I guarantee to 【Mr. Dawn】, I will only take the carriage fee for coming and going and a 1-pound commission. Although I am not a rich man, I won't earn this kind of money."

Xia De said softly. The soul's expression froze slightly, and then he bowed to Xia De for the third time, and then, when Xia De blinked at some point, he disappeared into the shadow.

He continued walking, and went to the place he should go.

When Xia De came back with the money from Hangerton Garden Street, Mrs. Freeman and her group hadn't returned home yet. So he took the liberty of opening someone else's door, came to the second floor, and after deducting the carriage fee and 1 pound, put the remaining change into the wooden box used for moving that had been opened.

Of course, the oil painting was still in the painting folder and hadn't been touched, so the relic's characteristics didn't take effect.

To prevent Mrs. Freeman from not seeing this money, Xia De also very considerately placed the banknotes on top of the sundries, pressing one side with the children's cloth toys.

But probably because that cloth toy that looked well-made was also in the image of a cat, this made Xiao Miya, who was held by Xia De, very dissatisfied. If it weren't for Xia De stopping it, it would even want to rush into the wooden box and fight to the death with that "cat."

Xiao Miya, although cowardly, would show great courage and strength once it encountered a guy it didn't think was its opponent. This was also the reason why little Xiao Miya could leave a deep impression on the owner of the pet store.

"You performed well today, let's eat something good for dinner."

Xia De said happily holding the orange cat. He liked the self-satisfaction brought to him by doing good deeds.

Walking from the apartment temporarily rented by the Freeman family to Doctor Schneider's clinic, Mrs. Freeman happened to be taking her two children home.

Doctor Schneider had already returned to the clinic. After wasting some time blurring the family's memory, they met Xia De at the entrance of the clinic.

The memory had been blurred, but Mrs. Freeman's impression of Xia De didn't fade away so quickly. When they met, the middle-aged woman thanked Xia De again, and then left with her two children.

Xia De stood at the door watching their backs disappear into the distance of the street, thinking about the relationship between mystery and ordinary people, only then shaking his head and turning into the clinic.

The doctor and the priest were waiting for him in the study on the second floor. When Xia De entered the room, Doctor Schneider was listening to Priest Ao Gu Si telling about what they did today.

"Very good, Xia De, this is the standard containment process for relics. Discover the problem, investigate, encounter danger, solve difficulties, contain the relic. This time you acted with Priest Ao Gu Si, but you gained more than following me or Lu Yisha."

The doctor praised. The old priest smiled and narrowed his eyes, saying very modestly that today's credit belonged to Xia De.

Xia De was in a good mood, sat down too, and then showed the oil painting to the doctor. As expected, a new house model appeared in the oil painting, which was exactly the appearance of this clinic.

But because no one touched it, the oil painting could be brought out of the clinic. When entering the next house, the model on the table would become a new appearance.

"According to your description, I think it's more likely that this relic is 【Document-level】 (Level 4)."

The blue-eyed doctor thought carefully and made a cautious judgment, and explained the reason:

"When you first encountered it, you didn't discover that it could realize the function of turning wood into real existing items. Compared to the bandaged puppet chasing you in the house, the transformation between wood and real objects, and the internal model of complex buildings generated without cost, this is the most valuable characteristic of this relic."

"But currently we still don't know, besides the puppets that Xia De made with strange arts that were originally real items, how exactly can puppets that can be accepted by this painting be made in other situations."

Priest Ao Gu Si pointed out:

"So, I still think it's more likely that this item is 【Poet-level】."

Of course, the final rating of the relic also depended on the Academy's records. If there were no records, it had to be compared with the materials of other Academies and churches. If there were still no records, it had to go through long tests to get a conclusion.

The containment report for the relic couldn't be written all at once, but the relic could be submitted directly to the Academy. No one wanted to keep this kind of thing in their own home.

Of course, submitting the relic couldn't be done by directly transmitting it with the paper pages of 【Poet Cohen's Manuscript】. To prevent correspondence students from transmitting strange things, the paper pages were usually stored separately in a secure compartment.

The doctor first sent a note explaining that the group wanted to submit a relic. After receiving the Academy's reply, Xia De simply described the appearance and basic characteristics of the relic, and then sent the message to the Academy.

This time, they waited for a full half hour before the other side sent a message allowing the transmission of the relic. This half hour was used by the Academy to search for information and build suitable containment measures; no one knew what the correspondence students would send.

The oil painting was rolled into a cylinder by Xia De and stood on the manuscript paper page in the doctor's hand. Not long after it disappeared, a receipt appeared from the manuscript paper page, representing that St. Byrons had received the relic sent by the student.

Another ten minutes passed before a document paper printed with the St. Byrons school emblem was sent over.

This was the official relic receipt, stating the time and place, the name of the student who submitted the relic, and the names of the professors from the student management office and the library academy on duty that day.

In the middle, it stated the specific information of the relic, which meant that corresponding information was found in the data, and it was a known relic that had been recorded before.

Doctor Schneider's view was correct; this was a Document-level (Level 4) relic.

【Madman Sean's Oil Painting House】, a work created by an unknown painter in the Fourth Era, had been recorded in detail in the Fifth Era.

The specific characteristics of the relic were also roughly tested by Xia De and Priest Ao Gu Si in today's adventure. The only thing they didn't know was what kind of puppets could enter the oil painting, and the Academy's data gave the answer.

"Puppets made with all passion and heart, endowed with unique inspiration and creativity. For ordinary people, it will consume great mental power, and may even cause mental disorders. For Ringed Shushi, besides high-level artistic skills, it also requires spirit and huge passion and concentration.

Living people send puppets made in their own image into the oil painting, which can replace their own puppets in the oil painting and enhance the puppet's intelligence and movement speed. If the living person affected by the relic dies, the puppet that enters the oil painting can become the carrier of his soul. Before the puppet is destroyed, the soul will not be absorbed by the oil painting."

Xia De read those words. Doctor Schneider clicked his tongue with a wine glass. After returning from the house call, his work today had ended, so the middle-aged man could leisurely drink "after-work wine" here and chat with the two:

"If someone really carved such a puppet, but unfortunately died, and the carved puppet entered the picture after death, and the oil painting was never touched by anyone else afterward. Doesn't this mean that the unlucky guy has to circle with the bandaged murderer puppet you mentioned in the oil painting for hundreds of years, until he is caught or gives up himself."

"That's how it is."

Xia De nodded and continued reading the Academy's documents.

"Xia De, besides methods like ours, such as destroying the house in the oil painting, are there any other ways to contain this relic?"

The priest asked with great interest. The method Xia De used was absolutely impossible for most people to repeat.

"Indeed there are, the method we used is a very rare situation. The correct method recorded by the Academy is to find more people proficient in carpentry, let them send the puppets they carved themselves into the oil painting together, and then let those puppets defeat the bandaged puppet. In this way, everyone involved can gain freedom."

Xia De paused and turned the page:

"This method won't cause the bandaged monster to run into the real world, because it was eliminated in the painting. And although our method is simple, we must face the final attack."

"Then what about the containment method? What will happen if this thing gets out of control?"

"The containment method is very simple, just store it in an ordinary way and don't let it be touched by people. The loss of control of this item will only happen during the period when the characteristics of the oil painting take effect. If someone tries to add content to the oil painting with a paintbrush, then the bandaged monster will grab that brush and walk out of the painting."

Xia De said, and Priest Ao Gu Si showed a look of relief:

"Fortunately, we didn't think of this method, really thanks to Mr. Freeman, he pointed out the direction for us."

"Ran out? Just like the one you and Priest Ao Gu Si encountered?"

The doctor asked with a smile:

"Isn't the other party very weak?"

The priest, who was leaning over to look at the document in Xia De's hand, shook his head:

"The Academy said that what we encountered was an incomplete bandaged monster, because we had already contained it. The complete bandaged monster carries whisper elements, and is an extremely powerful evil being that only a Ringed Shushi of at least 11 rings can deal with."

The three showed expressions of amazement at the same time.

"Fortunately I didn't go, otherwise I would very likely have proposed using a paintbrush to change the oil painting."

The doctor even whispered. ===== CHAPTER 365 =====