Why are all your skill bars full of weird moves?

"Hey bro, come look at this."

Balk stood in front of the wall above the fireplace.

Hanging there is an oil painting.

The painting depicts a middle-aged couple; the man is wearing a miner's uniform, and the woman is wearing a floral apron.

In terms of composition, there is a clear blank space between the two people, and the man's right hand is placed in the empty space, with an extremely unnatural posture, somewhat like the gesture of putting his hand on someone's shoulder.

But that spot was empty.

Gauss peered closer at the painting and noticed that the color difference in the paint was very subtle. However, when the Eye of Fate magnified the details, the problem became obvious: the paint layer in the middle area was thinner than that on the sides.

Someone covered up the third person in the painting with paint.

Based on the height and bending angle of the man's arm, the person being covered is approximately 1.2 meters tall.

It must be a child.

Gauss took the painting down from the wall, turned it over, and saw a line of small characters engraved on the wooden frame:

"Gregory and Martha, with their daughter Irene, in the spring of 1547, Third Age."

He clearly said he had a beloved daughter, but there were only two people in the painting.

Just then, footsteps came from the front door, and Ula and Mia walked in.

"How strange, the painting across the street has the names of three children, but there are only the husband and wife in the painting." Ula's voice was very low.

"It's not about erasing, I feel..." Mia clutched the pendant, her voice trembling, "It's like someone is making them try to forget."

Gauss put down his oil painting.

It turns out that this wasn't the only family that lost a child; others had too.

The trail of missing children outside went cold here, and the children here have also vanished. The mine has been shut down, and the source of the scorch marks in the town remains unknown.

These scattered clues seem to be connected, yet they also seem to be connected.

If the children's disappearances are linked to the burning, could it be that all of these children were burned?

You must understand that in a feudal society where information was scarce, if a cultist came to preach and told everyone that children were a calamity, these ignorant people could actually do things like sacrificing their own flesh and blood.

Gauss did not want this conjecture to come true, much less did he want it to be the end.

The four-person team continued to look at the other empty houses, and unsurprisingly, every house had an oil painting, but no children were present.

Gauss knew that his only hope now lay with the person who had never shown up—the mayor.

……

The group of four climbed the stone steps, and the number of houses on both sides decreased, while the smell of decaying earth in the air became stronger.

The mayor's residence is the most respectable building in the entire town of Bullhorn. It is a three-story stone wall structure with stained glass windows, but the entire wall is covered with the same thorny vines as those on the city walls.

Even if someone is sick at home, there are still people living there, so how could it be so dilapidated?

With questions in mind, Gauss pushed open the door, and the hinges emitted a piercing whine.

"Light Spell!"

With a soft sigh, Gauss was able to see the internal layout.

The entire building features a three-story openwork design, with furniture primarily made of high-end solid wood, which has become the spider's new home. However, what is truly eye-catching are the deer antlers hanging on the walls and several oil paintings.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust but there were no footprints, making it look like a desolate ruin.

The townspeople said the mayor was sick at home, but the place didn't look like anyone lived there.

Is the problem with the townspeople, or are they out of touch with the information?

"etc."

Mia suddenly closed her eyes, clasped her hands together on the pendant, and after a few seconds of her lips moving, she suddenly opened her eyes.

"There is a seal inside this house."

Balk tilted his head, looking puzzled.

"Young pastor, you don't seem like someone who would lie. We're all inside, so how come there's still a seal?"

"Perhaps it's not us that's being sealed off," Mia said slowly, looking up and surveying her surroundings. "It's something about the house itself, or perhaps... it's protecting it."

Ula scanned the corridor, her tone skeptical.

"I also sensed unusual magical fluctuations. If this is a seal, it definitely has the effect of a fifth ring."

Fifth Ring Spell...Seal...

Gauss was very suspicious that he had entered the so-called Dark Region.

Therefore, he activated both the Eye of Destiny and the Heat Source Perception in succession.

Information is normal... No other heat source is displayed.

"We will continue to explore further, but we must remain vigilant."

"I'll be in charge of finding clues, Balk will keep watch nearby, Ula will keep an eye on the upstairs, and Mia will keep an eye on the situation on the first floor in the distance."

Perhaps influenced by the goblin incident, the three of them now trusted Gauss's words completely.

There were no dissenting voices, and everyone took their positions as instructed.

The group walked through the corridor, past the study and dining room, and arrived at the door of what appeared to be the master bedroom on the second floor.

The door was ajar, and Gauss stepped inside.

The master bedroom was large, the canopy of the four-poster bed was moldy, and the mirror on the dressing table was half cracked, but Gauss's attention was drawn to the oil painting on the wall.

This painting is three times larger than the one downstairs. It depicts a middle-aged man with a mustache, wearing a velvet suit, leaning against a carriage with a serious yet gentle expression.

To his right stands a little girl holding a daisy, smiling out of the painting.

She looked about seven or eight years old, with hair and eyebrows as white as the first snow, two braids, and a blue floral dress.

It was not covered up, it was not erased.

This is the only painting in the entire town of Oxhorn that retains the child's face.

Gauss approached the painting, carefully removed it from the wall, and turned it over.

Two lines of text are engraved on the inside of the wooden frame:

"May the moonlight forever shine on the smiles of Carl Wendell and his beloved daughter Zoe Wendell."

"Zoe..." Mia whispered the name.

Gauss hung the painting back in its original position and took two steps back.

"All the children we saw before were erased, except for the painting in the mayor's house, which remained intact." Gauss turned to Mia. "The seal you mentioned, in which direction does it originate?"

Mia raised the pendant, and the silver light drew out extremely thin rays of light that drifted towards the end of the corridor.

"Third floor."

The group arrived on the third floor, where there was only one oak door, thicker than any other door in the mansion. The door frame was engraved with dense runes, and a silver light shimmered faintly within the patterns.

"This door also has a seal, but it's not quite the same as the seal on the whole house." Mia placed her palm on the door, glanced back at Gauss, and said, "But I can purify it with 'Dispel Magic'."

Mia began chanting a prayer, and silver light spread from her palms. The people around her also raised their weapons and entered a fighting stance.

"Click."

Gauss looked around and saw that the room was not large, but he could vaguely see a sealing effect similar to a pentagram on the window.

A single bed is placed against the wall, with a patched-up rag rabbit next to the pillow.

However, in the center of the bed, there was a large area of ​​dried, dark brown bloodstains.

Suddenly, the air began to cool, and even Gauss's breath turned into white mist.

"Something's wrong! Retreat!"

Just as everyone slowly retreated, the air above the bed began to distort.

A semi-transparent humanoid silhouette emerged from the void.

White hair, braids, floral dress—exactly like in the oil painting.

Zoe's soul hovered above her bed, her head tilted, her illusory eyes scrutinizing the intruder.

Who are you?