"It's Alice." Jiang Xian recognized the little girl bathed in light at a glance, the golden wool roll, the bright red dress, and the blue eyes, all of which indicated her identity Alice's hand pointed to a certain place on the stairs, and then raised her hands above her head, waving back and forth vigorously, as if to greet the direction she had just pointed into.

So the three of them looked in the direction Alice was looking, and with a single glance, they unconsciously stepped back, their bodies defensively and on guard before they thought, all because of the man standing on the stairs.

The long, large, sharp scythe behind his back, the all-black cloak wrapped from head to toe, the terrifying tawny mask, the blood-red candle burning with orange light, illuminated his face very clearly, the masked man let out a very pleasant laugh, and his gaze seemed to be locked on Alice below.

"Alice is in danger." Jiang Xian was about to reach out and take out the props, but she was stopped by Jun Yao, she shook her head, "If you take a closer look, this masked man has no intention of attacking, and the scythe has been behind him from beginning to end, and there is no intention of being taken out and used." And the candle flame was so bright, so clear that the masked man was illuminated, how could Alice not see the sickle behind him, such a danger was clearly seen, but Alice was not flustered at all, it could only mean one thing......"

"Alice knows the masked man." Xu Qingran nodded and continued what Jun Yao had not finished. As soon as he finished speaking, the masked man leaped over the handrail of the staircase, his black cloak flipped up in the air, revealing a piece of brown fabric. The masked man fell extremely fast, and instantly stood in front of Alice.

Alice's smile widened, "So you're here!" Well, I think it's not time yet! And I found you again, so it's Alice who wins! ”

The Masked Man looked like he sighed. He stretched out his right hand, it was a dry and scarred hand, it was gently placed on the top of Alice's head, and then gently stroked it twice, the yellow-brown mask covered the man's face, and all the expressions were hidden under the mask, but at that moment, Jun Yao felt that the mask man's expression should be gentle.

The masked man withdrew his right hand, and Alice tilted her head, as if listening to the masked man, but the three people standing in the distance did not see any movement of the masked man's face, nor did they hear any sound. In a moment of surprise, Alice nodded, "Mm-hmm, my father's puppets are my favorite!" ”

The masked man nodded, picked Alice up, held it to his chest, and spun in circles, and Alice followed his movements in a circle in the air.

Jun Yao looked at the scene in front of her, it was obviously a warm and harmonious scene, but she saw that cold sweat broke out on her back, and a chill surged up from the soles of her feet.

The bright red skirt flew in the air, drawing red ripples, Alice's legs loomed, and Jun Yao saw something clearly in that blurred light and shadow.

Alice's legs are wood-colored, and the position of the left and right feet, as well as the position of the front and back heels, are reversed.

Alice isn't a living child anymore, she's a puppet!

Jun Yao tugged at Xu Qingran's sleeve, Xu Qingran looked down at Jun Yao pulling his sleeve in confusion, and then met Jun Yao's eyes, just a glance, Xu Qingran actually avoided her gaze.

Jun Yao: ?

"Light dye, take a closer look at Alice's legs." Jun Yao saw that Xu Qingran still refused to look at herself, so she had to speak softly, she was afraid that the masked man and Alice in the distance would hear, so she had to lean in the direction of Xu Qingran until she collided with his elbow.

Xu Qingran seemed to deliberately avoid her contact, and his eyes fell on Alice's legs, and he took a deep breath, but he couldn't spit it out.

Jiang Xian also noticed Alice's unusual physical characteristics, and the three of them were stunned for a while, not knowing what to do next, and at this moment, the sickle behind the masked man moved.

The scythe was freed from the restraints of the masked man's back as if it had come to life, and spun twice in the air, the masked man still holding Alice and playing happily, but his face looked in the direction where the three were standing.

The Masked Man has spotted them!

The scythe came through the wind, the speed was extremely fast, and it didn't give people time to react at all, and when Xu Qingran's hand clicked on the task page, the scythe had already killed in front of them.

It's over.

Xu Qingran's first thought was this.

Jiang Xian took a step forward at this time, and with a wave of her right hand, an orange-yellow light flew out of her palm, and collided with the tip of the sickle with a crisp "dang" sound, and then she turned around and shouted at Jun Yao and Xu Qingran, "Hold on to me!" ”

So Jun Yao and Xu Qingran reached out and grabbed Jiang Xian's clothes at the same time, only to feel dizzy for a while, and the sound of the music disappeared.

The soft grass beneath his feet, the darkness of the night in front of him, the familiar houses not far away, and the silence all around him was only the sound of rapid breathing.

Jiang Xian squatted down and pulled out the civet cat statue buried in the dirt, and by the bright moonlight, Jun Yao could see clearly that there was a crack in the left ear of the civet statue.

"Props are also lost, even if they are not marked as consumable items on the system interface, they will still be lost. If you use items too often, or if you use them too much, it will lead to the wear and tear of these permanent items. Xu Qingran explained.

"Since there is wear and tear, it shouldn't be called a permanent prop." Jun Yao asked suspiciously.

"The Tao has loss, but it does not disappear, but with the degree of its loss, its function decreases and weakens." Xu Qingran shook his head and continued to explain for Jun Yao, "Take your prop [Bone Flute] as an example, its current function is that both defense and attack are 15 minutes, but as you use it more times in the future, the bone flute may be lost, then its performance will also decrease, and it may change from the previous fifteen minutes to ten minutes, and then five minutes." Of course, the reduction of item loss will not be endless, the system will set a default base value for each permanent item, and when your item loss reaches this base value, the system will prompt you, and even if you use it later, it will not reduce its value. ”

"That's the case......" Jiang Xian also heard about such a thing for the first time, and nodded hurriedly, looking like she had been taught.

Xu Qingran shook his head, "However, props that are close to or have reached the bottom value are equivalent to none, and the effect of using them is even worse than that of not using them." ”

"And such a thing? Why is that? "Jiang Xian doesn't understand very much, the use of props will make the situation worse? This doesn't seem to be the original purpose of the prop's existence.

"Is it because the item has aggro points?" Jun Yao said a term often used in games, Xu Qingran glanced at her, and was about to say something, when an all-black figure suddenly appeared in the afterglow.

It's Arthur!

He was still wearing the black cloak that almost blended into the night, unlike when they saw it, Arthur had only taken a kerosene lamp when he left the house, but when he came back now, the kerosene lamp had been left in the castle in the forest, and there were two more children behind him.

These two children, Jun Yao, they have never seen each other, and they should be the children who should be missing tonight!

Jiang Xian was about to get up and rush out to stop the two children in the next second, but was stopped by Jun Yao.

The two children followed Arthur in despair, their steps floating and their walks staggering, as if they were going to faint in the next second.

Jun Yao said softly, "Look at the feet of those two children, does it seem like something is entangled in them?" ”

Xu Qingran and Jiang Xian looked intently for a while, and then they realized that the feet of the two children were really entangled in thin, transparent threads that were almost impossible to find.

"The other end of the line is in Arthur's hand." Xu Qingran saw Arthur's right hand holding a round object, and one end of the slender transparent line seemed to be the round thing.

"Arthur brought back two children, and they ...... Could it be the missing child who will be found tomorrow? ”

"I think so."

"So we're just watching now?" Jiang Xian still seemed to have the idea of wanting to save the children, but Jun Yao and Xu Qingran did not respond, and the two looked much calmer and more rational than Jiang Xian.

"We can't afford to act rashly, and don't forget that we're completing a side quest right now." Xu Qingran reminded that although they have seen many unexpected things, their current actions still do not deviate from the original setting of the system - they are going to Arthur's house at midnight and find clues. Although they said that they saw Arthur take the children, but the system did not remind the task to be completed and update the new task, which can explain two things.

First, they didn't need to save the two children that Arthur had taken, or they couldn't save the two children at all. Second, the clues that the system needs them to find are not "Arthur took the two children" but other clues, which require them to sort out what is happening and deduce another conclusion.

Arthur stood in his garden, his hands slowly raised from his sides, as if to hold up something, until his hands were at the same height as his forehead, he stopped, and then muttered something, high-fived, and then slowly released. Golden powder spilled from his palms, and a black door appeared in the courtyard.

Arthur pushed the door open, and the two children walked in consciously, so Arthur looked around as if he was on guard, and when he was sure of the situation, he closed the door and walked in the direction of the door. The black gate suddenly made a loud noise, as if a switch had been turned on, and disappeared into the garden in an instant.

Arthur returned to his house, his figure disappearing behind the white gate.

Jun Yao and the three of them were not worried about Arthur, afraid that he would sneak out later again, so they decided to change shifts and stay at the door of Arthur's house until dawn.

As it turned out, the three of them were completely overwhelmed, and Arthur seemed to wash up and rest when he got home, the lights on the first floor went out, and the lights on the second floor were on for a short time, and then dimmed. Arthur slept all night at home, and Jun Yao and the three of them were on duty in shifts, feeding mosquitoes in the grass all night.

[Special Missions 1-4 Completed]

[Special Quest 1-5: At midnight Arthur went out alone, but when he returned, he brought back something he shouldn't have brought back.] Comb through all the clues and deduce the whole thing! Mayor James is waiting for your answers in the mayor's office. 】