"Junior?"
Aglaia was puzzled. "Did you meet someone you know here?"
"Sort of."
Hoffa replied as he walked.
"Eh!?" Aglaia was shocked. "Aren't you an orphan? Don't tell me you met your long-lost … "
Hoffa smacked her head. "Shut up."
The town was not big. Following the tavern owner's instructions, Hoffa quickly walked out of the town. At this moment, the rain had become much lighter. The drizzle had turned into a wandering mist, shrouding the river outside the town.
After walking along the river bank for a short distance, Hoffa saw a small, crooked house. The house was so crooked that it looked like an ultra-low-end version of a shack. The surrounding trash was piled up, weeds grew from the ground, and there was a huge tin chimney at the top of the house.
The house was dark, without any light. It stood in the middle of the dead forest. The surrounding trees seemed to have experienced a fire. There was not a single leaf, and the trunks were charred black.
There was no sign of life.
The stray dogs on the side of the road noticed the footsteps of someone approaching. They stopped rummaging through the trash and stared at the direction of the sound with their green eyes.
When the thin figure appeared, the stray dogs immediately scattered into the weeds.
Aglaia touched a burned tree trunk beside her and asked in disbelief, "Someone would actually live in a place like this …?"
"Do you think everyone lives in a castle?"
Hoffa replied faintly.
"Hey, how can you say that?" Aglaia punched him unhappily.
Hoffa did not answer. He walked to the door of the house and knocked slightly. No one answered.
After waiting for a moment, he slightly increased the strength of his knocking. Knock, knock, knock!
There was still no response. He tiptoed and looked through the window. It was dark inside. He could not see anything.
Aglaia asked curiously, "Are you kidding me? Who are you looking for?"
"Do you know Rupert Hagrid?"
"What the hell Hagrid … Wait a minute."
Aglaia was stunned. "You mean Hagrid?"
"What?"
"Norbert Hagrid?"
"You know him."
"Yeah, he's a pretty famous alchemist. I read about him in a wizard magazine a few years ago, but he's been missing for many years. I didn't expect to live in a place like this. "
Alchemist? Hagrid's father was actually an alchemist.
Hoffa thought carefully and realized that the only alchemist he knew of was Nick Lemay. Even though he had never met the other party before, it was unlikely that such a person would be lacking in money. Why would he stay in such a place?
While he was thinking, Aglaia suddenly poked him.
"Do you smell it?"
Hoffa sniffed. He didn't notice it earlier, but after Aglaia reminded him, he sniffed carefully. Sure enough, there was a bloody smell mixed in with the wet rain and mud.
The smell was coming from inside the house. His expression changed, and he pushed the door open easily. It was not locked.
The room was dark. Aglaia raised his wand and said, "Fluorescent Dance."
Specks of light flew out from her wand and illuminated the room.
The terrifying scene that he had imagined did not appear. There was only a pile of chicken feathers on the ground. The bloody smell came from some of the dead chickens on the ground.
These poultry had just been slaughtered and plucked. They were probably ready to be cooked, but the owner had gone out.
Hoffa sighed in relief and secretly blamed himself for being too sensitive.
However, he also took this opportunity to clearly see the living environment of Hagrid's childhood. The room was filled with broken furniture, two rows of furry sofas with exposed springs, an old armchair, and a rickety table. Old parchments were scattered all over the place. A few candles that were about to burn their butts were stuck on the table.
The ground was dripping with rainwater from the roof, and there were a few strange crow masks hanging on the wall.
He picked up a piece of parchment and saw that it was filled with words that he could not understand. It seemed to be German.
After putting down the parchment and looking around, Hoffa's gaze was attracted to a wooden box by the fireplace.
There was no other reason. The wooden box contained an egg that was placed in the weeds. The egg was as big as an ostrich egg.
When he saw this thing, Hoffa first thought was the Thunderbird egg that the Thunderbird Talas spat out two years ago. It was about the same size.
However, it was not grayish white like the Thunderbird's or other creatures' eggs.
Its color was very strange. It did not have a fixed color to speak of. Under the fluorescent light, it slowly changed color, as if there was a rainbow flowing on top of it.
Hoffa's brain tried to figure out the meaning of the color, but he found that it was beyond his previous level of understanding.
Not only that, standing next to it, Hoffa seemed to be able to feel the emotion of the egg. It was an emotion that represented hunger.
What is this?
He frowned and slowly walked to the side of the gorgeous egg. He bent down and wanted to take a closer look.
Just as he bent down, Hoffa felt that something in his body flowed to the egg. Then, the gorgeous colors on the egg quickly flowed and reformed. A pair of pale golden eyes appeared on the surface of the egg.
Hoffa looked at it.
It also looked at Hoffa.
It was like looking into a mirror.
Heads grew around the eyes, each with a different expression. They opened their mouths and began to speak.
It was silent, but it reached the depths of the mind.
(We, are unprecedented and will never be repeated …)
(We, carry out all things …)
(We, are one …)
Suddenly, a black path appeared in Hoffa's mind. As long as he wanted to, it was as if he could directly walk through it …
The meditation technique automatically operated. A sharp pain came from the depths of his mind, as if a knife was cutting it. The black path disappeared.
This time, Hoffa had goosebumps all over his body. He quickly got up and stepped back, bumping into Aglaia.
Aglaia held Hoffa with her magic wand and asked, "Hey, what are you looking at?"
Hoffa looked at the egg with lingering fear. The face on the egg had disappeared, but he clearly felt that this thing was swallowing and fusing with his magic power.
"What is that?" He immediately asked Aglaia. Aglaia's knowledge was profound, Hoffa felt that she would have an answer.
Aglaia looked and shrugged. "An egg, an ostrich egg, a rhinoceros egg, anything is possible, judging by its size."
Hoffa: "Are you kidding, an ostrich egg can change color?"
"Change color?" Aglaia stared back at Hoffa. "What are you talking about, isn't it just a gray egg?"
The surroundings quieted down. Hoffa looked at Aglaia. After a while, he swallowed. "You said, this thing is gray."
"Yeah."
Hoffa looked at the egg carefully. There was no doubt that its surface was flowing with gorgeous colors. Was there something wrong with his eyes or with Aglaia's eyes?
"But what I saw was clearly colored," he muttered.
"Really?" Aglaia's eyes sparkled with curiosity. "Is it as mysterious as you say? It didn't change color at all."
As she spoke, she stretched out her hand, wanting to touch the egg.
However, at this moment, waves of crying came from afar. Aglaia immediately withdrew his hand. A tall figure and a short figure appeared in the rainy night outside the door. The short figure was angrily scolding the tall figure.
"Idiot, can't you even buy a bottle of wine?" (Sounds of gulping wine)
"I … I didn't know … that I would be …"
"What do you know? Tell me, did you use it to buy snacks? "
"No … no … the money was stolen."
"Trash!" The man jumped up and slapped the boy's head. "Who stole it?"
"A … a guy with gray hair and golden eyes," Rupert Hagrid said as he held his head that was slapped.
"Idiot, are you blind? How can anyone look like that …"
The short figure shut his mouth because he realized that the door of his house was wide open, and the guy with gray hair and golden eyes was looking at him from inside the house.
He stopped scolding his son. Both of them stood in the white fog and stared at each other for a few seconds.
The short man and the tall boy formed an unusually strong contrast. If Huo Fa only looked at their silhouettes, he would even confuse the two of them. However, he knew that the short wizard should be Hagrid's father, a warrior who could even defeat giants.
However, this wasn't a good time for an interview. Huo Fa could sense an extremely unstable spiritual force field on the adept's body.
Suddenly, without saying a word, the short man threw out a bottle of wine and pulled out his wand.
"Faint to the ground!"
A red light shot out. Hoffa was already on guard. He raised his hand and cast a shield spell, shattering the wine bottle.
He turned around and picked up Aglaia and immediately entered Ghost Walk. The Faint spell went through Hoffa's shadow, but it was ineffective.
The short man had no intention of negotiating. He jumped into the house furiously and waved his wand.
"Petrify!"
"Die a horrible death!"
"Obstacles!"
The magic in the air surged, and the house was blown into a mess. Rupert Hagrid, who was far away, was frightened. He rushed up and hugged Norber Hagrid's arm. "Father … Father …"
"Get out of my way, you idiot!"
He elbowed his son in the stomach and continued to wave his wand.
However, when he waved his hand, he hit nothing.
His wrist tilted, and the wand was taken away and thrown to the ground.
Hoffa went out of Ghost Walk. Aglaia pointed her wand at Norber Hagrid's head and threatened, "Don't move!"
In less than five seconds, the conflict was over. At this time, Hoffa saw the man's face clearly. He was almost a miniature version of the future Hagrid.
He was slightly fat, and his eyes were brown like pearls. There was almost no white in his eyes. His hair was messy like a beggar's, and he wore a fur coat of unknown creatures. He smelled of alcohol and rancid because he had not bathed for a long time.
"Who are you?"
With Aglaia's wand against his head, Norber leaned back on the table and said in a trembling voice, "Who sent you? I've quit. It has nothing to do with you!"
Hoffa was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
The dirty short man held the table and slowly retreated to the front of the fireplace, as if he wanted to hide something.
"What is that?"
Hoffa asked curiously.
"Nothing. The short man picked up a cooking spoon and waved it at Hoffa." I'm warning you, don't come over. I won't give my research results to anyone. Give up! "
"… Okay."
Hoffa shrugged speechlessly, wondering what was wrong with this guy. Was he afraid that others would not know what kind of nonsense he was researching?
However, Hoffa did not want to care about all this. He said rationally, "I'm here to return the money and ask for directions. I entered your house because I smelled blood. I was afraid that something had happened to your family. Can you believe me? "
"Really?"
The man still pointed at Hoffa with the spoon.
"Really."
"What does the smell of blood have to do with you? I didn't steal it, and I didn't rob it! "
The man appeared to be tough on the outside but weak on the inside.
"It doesn't matter. I just saw your son."
Hoffa pointed at Hagrid, who was in a daze. "I took his money by accident. It's that simple."
Norbert suddenly looked at Hagrid and spat on him. The muscles on his face contorted. "Trash … Trash!!"
He was almost morbidly agitated.
When Hoffa saw this, it was as if his brain was split open by an axe. Two voices appeared at the same time. One said, "Take care of it," while the other said rationally, "It has nothing to do with you."
This feeling was very strange. It had never happened before, but it was so natural, as if he was born this way …
However, at this time, Aglaia said angrily, "Is this how a father should act?"
"Is it any of your business?" Norbert suddenly looked at him and roared. "How I discipline my son, is it any of your business? He messed up his work, is it any of your business? "
Aglaea took out a gold coin and put it on the table. She said, "Then, if I return the money to you, will you make a profit in the end?"
Norbert did not speak. He stared at Aglaia with one eye like a beast and Hoffa with the other.
"The money has been returned. We don't owe you anything. But you'd better treat your son better. Otherwise, you'll regret it the moment he runs away. "Aglaia finished and came to Hoffa's side.
"Let's go."
Hoffa did not move. He was still facing Norbert Hagrid.
"Let's go," Aglaia reminded him.
"Is that a dragon egg behind you?" Hoffa suddenly asked Norbert.
"You still deny it!!"
The man let out a short scream. He seemed to have gone crazy. His whole body was shaking. He raised the spoon and pointed at Hoffa and Aglaia. "You still deny it … You still deny it!! Don't think, don't think about getting anything from me, anything!!! "
As he spoke, he picked up the strange egg behind him and rushed to the place where the wand was thrown.
Hoffa had expected this. He raised his hand and a few stone hands appeared on the ground and pressed down on his wand.
Who would have thought that the crazy man would suddenly turn around and make a feint. He hugged the oddly colored egg and ran away.
He knocked Hoffa away and also knocked away Rupert Hagrid, who was standing there dumbfounded. With a crackle, Mirage disappeared into the fog. He left his wand and his son in the broken house.
Seeing the man disappear into the fog with Mirage, Hoffa and Aglaia were dumbfounded.
"What … What's going on?"
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