Please be my partner.

After taking a quick look, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head slightly at Mellen.

Melen immediately understood that this meant that after testing with the spirit crystal, there was no sign that Mr. Nia's memory had been tampered with.

This means that he probably really has a daughter, and she is really missing? !

Salim said, "Mr. Nia, would it be convenient for us to go into the house and take a look? It would be better if you could provide us with some of your daughter's daily necessities so that it would facilitate our investigation."

Mr. Nia wiped his tears and said quickly, "Of course! Of course! Please come in, please come in!"

Mr. Nia did not hire a maid, and he himself did not seem to tidy up much, so the environment in his home was quite bad.

After the two entered the house, he seemed to want to pour them some drinks, but embarrassingly, he couldn't find any coffee or tea after searching for a long time, and even the water in the kettle was cold.

Salim had to interrupt Mr. Nia: "Take us to see your daughter's daily necessities."

Mr. Nia then hurriedly led them to the second floor.

When he came to a room, he said, "This is my daughter's room."

As he said that, he opened the door.

Just as Salim was about to enter, he suddenly stopped. He felt Mellen pulling him. Although he didn't know why, this action made him slightly more alert.

The reason why Melen pulled Salim was because the sensor brooch he was wearing showed signs of heating up, as if there was something evil in the room.

However, the temperature rise was extremely subtle, and it would have been difficult to detect if Mellen had not been paying close attention.

The two looked at each other and entered the room cautiously.

This is a room dominated by pink tones, which looks quite warm. There are a few cute dolls scattered on the bed, and a faint fragrance lingers in the air.

But what made Melen frown was that among these fragrances, there was also a subtle... stench.

After a quick check and finding nothing dangerous, the two relaxed a little and began to search carefully.

This investigation revealed many suspicious points.

There are many clothes for little girls in the closet, but their sizes range widely, from those suitable for six-year-olds to those suitable for nine-year-olds.

Moreover, they are placed too scattered.

Normally, even if you don't want to throw away the clothes your child wore when they were young, you should find a special place to put them instead of mixing them with the clothes they are currently wearing, right?!

More importantly, Spike didn't smell any other person's scent on these clothes. It seemed that they were all brand new and had never been worn.

At the same time, Mellen found the source of the stench he had smelled earlier in the corner of the room.

It was a small piece that had dried up, like some kind of corroded residue.

Things have become a little weird now. The current situation shows that Mr. Nia does not have a daughter. In addition, the spirit crystal proves that his memory has not been tampered with. So...

Is all this just his imagination, or is it just fabricated?!

Melen looked at Salim, who shook his head slightly, signaling him not to act rashly.

At this time, Mr. Nia was still talking about every little detail between him and his daughter, even down to the little stories that happened between him and each doll.

At this time, Salim interrupted Mr. Nia and asked, "Mr. Nia, according to the information we have, your daughter's name is Sevilla and she is nine years old. Is that correct?"

Mr. Nia nodded quickly.

Salim continued, "Then, may I ask, who is your wife, Sevilla's mother, and where is she now?"

A moment of hesitation and confusion flashed across Mr. Nia's face. After a moment of silence, he said irritably, "I don't want to mention her. She has nothing to do with the current incident. I just want to find my daughter! My Sevilla!"

Salim raised his eyebrows, as if confirming something, and did not continue the topic. Instead, he said, "Mr. Nia, I heard that you are a painter? Can you let us see your paintings?"

Hearing this, the anxiety on Mr. Nia's face turned into excitement. He even ignored his daughter and hurriedly led them downstairs.

There is a small door behind the stairs on the first floor. When you open it, you will see a corridor leading to the basement.

The moment the small door was opened, Xiao Honglian let out a low growl. Melen looked at the little guy and got the message that there was a smell of blood coming from below.

Salim also narrowed his eyes slightly.

Mr. Nia was completely unaware and was leading the way while telling about his creative process.

When he arrived at the basement door, Mr. Nia opened it without hesitation, and suddenly...

A somewhat disgusting fishy smell hit me in the face.

Chapter 57 Mutation

The door of the basement was opened. Since I had not yet adapted to the darkness, I could not see clearly what was inside for a moment. I only felt that it was full of shadows and a strong stench.

Mellen calmly took a half step back and came behind Salim, while Spike stood on his other side.

Salim's expression turned cold as he stared at Mr. Nia, releasing a heavy pressure.

Mr. Nia suddenly felt his whole body tense up. He looked at Salim in confusion. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he waved his hands frantically and said, "Sir! Sir! Wait! I think you may have misunderstood!"

As he said that, he crawled into the basement.

Seeing that Mr. Nia's expression did not seem fake, Salim thought for a moment and did not stop the latter's actions.

After Mr. Nia groped in the basement for a while, the gas lamp was lit.

Mellen looked carefully, but did not see the scene of a basement slaughterhouse as he had expected.

There were many easels placed in a messy manner inside, and there was a painting on each easel.

Melen only took a quick glance and found that the styles of these paintings were all dark.

For example, in a gloomy street, a little boy lowered his head with no expression on his face, and in front of him was a kitten lying on the ground.

The entire painting is black and gray, except for a sharp stone in the little boy's hand, which has dark red traces that look like dried-up blood dripping down.

For example, on the river bank, a beautiful woman dressed in fashionable and bright clothes is laughing towards the sky.

However, her smile was a little crazy, and when she took one foot out, it seemed as if she was about to fall into the rushing river.

……

Salim asked in a deep voice, "Mr. Nia, please explain why there is such a strong smell of blood in your basement?!"

Mr. Nia was silent for a moment, then under Salim's increasingly stern gaze, he smiled bitterly and rolled up his sleeves.

The two of them immediately saw that his arms were covered with knife scratches.

Mr. Nia explained, "I got a secret recipe a long time ago. Adding blood when mixing colors can make the colors more vivid. I tried the blood of many animals, but I was not satisfied with any of them. Finally..."

At this point, Mr. Nia's tone became passionate, and he said excitedly: "When I used my own blood, I succeeded!"

"Don't you think the colors of my paintings are very unique?! Haha! Hahahahaha!"

Looking at Mr. Nia who seemed crazy, Melen and Salim exchanged a subtle glance.

Finally, after a brief tour of the basement, they confirmed that the stench was indeed coming from these paintings.

Apartment door.

Salim said seriously, "Don't worry, Mr. Nia. We will immediately investigate your daughter's disappearance. Once we have any news, we will inform you as soon as possible."

Amidst Mr. Nia's profuse thanks, the two of them slowly left.

After they walked away, Melen complained, "What's wrong with this Mr. Nia? Why does he look like a psychopath?"

Salim said, "Hasn't your school taught you this? Artists who become painters and musicians are often more sensitive than the average person. This allows them to more easily perceive deeper aspects of spirituality. If these aspects contain some strange elements, they can become more neurotic."

"Is that so?" Mellen nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "What should we do now? There's no sign of anyone else living in the room. That so-called daughter is clearly a figment of Mr. Painter's imagination."

Salim said, "That's normal. E-level missions are ambiguous events to ordinary people. If it's confirmed to be unrelated to the extraordinary, report it to the bureau and someone else will naturally take over."

At this moment, Melen thought of the faint heat emitted by the brooch when they entered Mr. Nia's daughter's room, so he said, "It may not be unrelated to the extraordinary. Remember I pulled you before?"

"Huh?!" Salim raised his eyebrows and teased, "Weren't you afraid at that time, but discovered something?!"

Ignoring these words, Melen pointed to the induction brooch pinned on his lining and explained its principle and discovery.

then……

"Wow! As expected of you, Master Mellen, you're as well prepared as ever!"

Mellen's face was expressionless, and a vein appeared on his forehead.

Salim waved his hand and said thoughtfully, "In that case, perhaps we should take this painter back to the General Administration and have professionals conduct a more detailed and comprehensive examination."

"But before that, let's finish our routine work first."

Then, the two visited Mr. Nia's neighbors, who all said that they were not familiar with him and had never seen him have any daughter or anything like that.

They also heard a strange story about Mr. Nia from the owner of a nearby grain store.

That was two or three months ago. When the boss was returning home at night and passed by Mr. Nia's house, he saw that the latter had fainted from hunger at the door. It was only after the boss fed him the food and water he had with him that he was able to revive him.

At that time, the boss asked Mr. Nia why this happened. The latter explained that he was so focused on painting that he forgot everything else.

Hearing this, Salim had an idea and asked the boss to hand over the account book.

Although the boss was unwilling, he could not refuse the request of the Special Affairs Bureau members.

Salim picked up the account book and flipped through it quickly for a moment before suddenly saying in a deep voice, "The number is wrong!"

The sudden words startled the boss, and he asked tremblingly: "Sir, what's wrong?!"

Salim glanced at the boss, not bothering to pay attention, and said directly to Mellen, "The food that Mr. Nia has purchased in the past three months is far more than one person can consume. It's almost enough for five people!"

Mellen was a little confused, thinking of Mr. Nia's weak look. He had previously thought that it was caused by the latter's frequent bloodletting, but now it seems that there may be something else going on.

Throwing the account book behind them, the two of them quickly left under the boss's relieved gaze.

On the way, Mellen asked, "So, what's the situation now?"

Salim shook his head and said, "I'm not sure yet. I suspect there might be something parasitic on Mr. Nia. If that's the case, our arrival might have alerted him!"

"It doesn't matter if we guessed wrong. We were planning to bring him back to the headquarters anyway."

When they arrived at Mr. Nia's house, they realized it was too late.

From a distance, one could smell an extremely strong smell of blood, and there was also a faint trace of red light breaking through the barrier of the house and spreading around.

Mellen sighed: "What a pity, if we..."

Before he could finish, Salim interrupted, "There's no such thing as ifs! This is the capital, and the Special Affairs Bureau has its own procedures. Unless it's an emergency, we must follow the rules!"

Seeing that Mellen was still a little depressed, Salim consoled him, "If my guess is correct, Mr. Nia was parasitized several months ago and should be beyond help by now!"

Melen felt a warm feeling in his heart, and shook his head slightly, saying, "Don't worry, I'm not that fragile. I just feel a little sad. Ordinary people are really powerless in the face of the extraordinary and the mysterious."

Salim nodded in agreement, then said, "Speaking of which, Master Mellen, you're truly 'lucky' to encounter such an unexpected incident on your first investigator mission!"

Hard!

Mellen's fist hardened!

"Is this the time to talk about this? What should we do now? Should we go up and solve the problem? Or call for reinforcements?!"

Salim said calmly, "I've already notified the bureau and asked them to clean up the mess."

"The aftermath?!" Melen looked puzzled.

Salim laughed and said, "Of course it's the aftermath. Don't worry, as long as it's not a Grade A incident, I can easily handle it!"

Chapter 58 Bloody Monster

As Salim finished speaking, a heavy aura rose from him.

A blue-grey light surged, condensing into a solid, ancient knight's armor on his body. He stretched out his right hand and clenched it suddenly. The same blue-grey light gushed out from his palm and condensed into a knight's lance.

In just a moment, Salim was 'armed' and transformed into a knight galloping on the battlefield.

He squatted down slightly, and with a bang, cracks appeared on the ground beneath his feet, and he disappeared from the spot the next moment.

Mr. Nia's apartment door was directly broken down, revealing the scene inside.

I saw countless flesh and blood tentacles crisscrossing the room, and poor Mr. Nia was hanging in the air in the room.

At this time, his stomach had swelled to its maximum size, even becoming translucent, and one could see the stretched blood vessels and crushed internal organs. A bloody meatball-like monster was constantly stirring inside.

In contrast, his limbs and head became extremely atrophied, leaving only a layer of skin covering the bones.

Mr. Nia's mental state at this time was also very strange. He seemed to be in pain and despair, but also seemed to be in joy and excitement. He kept muttering to himself:

"Sevilla...my angel...it's almost there...it's almost there..."