In the open space in the middle of the dock, dozens of armed thugs with guns aimed at the head of the gray-haired young man in the middle. The air was filled with the sound of guns being cocked.
Hoffa shielded Chloe behind him and looked unfriendly.
"Wait a minute … wait a minute … don't, don't get excited …"
A nervous voice came from afar.
Hearing the voice, Hoffa turned around and saw a young woman in her twenties.
She wore a black embroidered coat and a black top hat. Her black hair was combed back and tied into a ponytail with a white ribbon. Her skin was sickly pale and tired, but still smooth and plump. She looked like a beautiful but decadent porcelain doll.
"Frank is a woman?" Chloe asked in shock.
"No, can you shut up first?"
He looked at the woman in her twenties and bowed slightly. "Long time no see, Mrs. Dean."
"Ahem … Matthew, this is Mr. Bach, Mr. Frank's friend," the black-haired woman said to the supervisor. The black-haired woman said to the supervisor, "Tell them to put … put … their weapons away, Matthew."
Friend …
The supervisor named Matthew touched the blood on his face from the explosion and waved his hand hatefully. The armed thugs put away their weapons one after another.
"Thank you …"
The restless black-haired woman breathed a sigh of relief.
"Long time no see, Mr. Bach. This is …?"
She pointed at the nun.
"Chloe, my friend."
Hoffa said, "We're here to find Frank."
"Looking for Frank?"
The woman's expression became a little dazed. Hoffa reached out and waved his hand in front of her face. She suddenly woke up and a hollow smile appeared on her pale face. She looked tired as if she hadn't slept for three or four days.
"Okay, then … then come with me."
When the woman turned around, Hoffa whispered to Chloe, "Don't worry.
"Frank has a wife named Mary who helps him with all kinds of chores."
"She's the one who made those slaves?"
Chloe was still confused.
"No."
Hoffa warned him softly, "Listen, Frank isn't a Muggle. He's a wizard in the gray area. He's ruthless. He doesn't have any psychological burden when it comes to controlling these refugees. It's just like how pure-blooded adepts use house elves. "
He patiently explained everything to Chloe, but it was clear that his words had no effect on a nun who grew up in a convent.
"This … This is the 20th century. How can there still be people who openly enslave others?"
She said with a trembling voice.
Hoffa thought that her naivety was ridiculous. He had been getting along well with the nun these days, but she always had a bad habit. She always seemed to be particularly serious when it came to inexplicable details.
A few days ago, when she was on the road, she met a few stray dogs on the road and insisted on sending them to a safe place, which delayed her for a whole day. Later, she whimsically wanted to dig a hole and bury all the corpses she saw on the road.
Hoffa almost went crazy. This was 1942. There were as many corpses on the road as there were plastic bags in the 21st century. By the time they got to England, the war would be over.
"What does slavery have to do with time? If there's a need, it'll exist. Existence is reasonable."
She didn't say anything. After a while, she sneered coldly, "Are all your friends like this? I thought that people from Hogwarts School of Magic would be friends with more promising people. "
"This isn't a convent. Don't be rash. Frank isn't a kind priest. If we piss him off and can't borrow a boat, we … "
"Okay, okay, I know. Don't be so long-winded."
The nun turned her head away with an irritated expression.
Hoffa sighed inwardly. He definitely couldn't let this woman see a smuggler like Frank. Otherwise, they would fight as soon as they met.
.....
.....
Frank's house was located behind a warehouse by the harbor. It was a domed stone house with gray fabric stretched over thin steel cables. There was a door at each end of the porch. The ceiling was made of plywood and there were fluorescent light rings in between. Most of them were broken. The damp air was filled with the smell of burnt ashes and concrete.
The woman in black politely opened the door for the two.
Hoffa said to Chloe, "Don't go in. Wait for me here."
Chloe snorted in annoyance and stood there with her arms crossed.
Hoffa and Mary walked into Frank's house alone.
Hundreds of candles burned in the dimly lit room. White wax was piled up everywhere like rocks. In front of them was a huge stone table. On the stone table was a black marble coffin.
Huo Fa didn't expect to see such a scene the moment he entered the room. He couldn't help but turn his head and look at the woman in black in confusion.
"I don't see Frank."
"Yes."
Mary pursed her lips. "There."
Following her gaze, Hoffa looked at the stone coffin. He stared at it for a long time and then turned his head mechanically. "What did you say? Where is Frank?"
"He's in there."
After a pause, she squeezed out a sad expression on her pale and tired face. "You came at a bad time. He just died yesterday."
The room fell into absolute silence.
Hoffa: "I'm sorry … What did you say?"
"Go and see for yourself."
Mary sadly turned her head away.
He quickly stepped forward and stopped next to the marble coffin.
The words "Frank Dean" were pasted on the coffin. Inside the dark green square glass cover, an old copper lamp shone, covering Frank's wrinkled old face.
Frank? Dean was forty-five years old. He was lying in a circle of plants that weren't very fresh. He looked as withered as an eighty-year-old man. His body was covered with fish-scale tattoos.
Frank died?
Before he came, he thought of a hundred possibilities. He thought about what if Frank wasn't willing to lend him a boat. He thought about what if he was too snobbish and asked for too much. He even thought about what would happen if this guy defected to Germany.
But he didn't expect him to die this month after he wrote him a letter last month.
This made Huo Fa want to laugh for some reason.
From the first time he saw this guy, he spent his time in endless smuggling and all kinds of business. He was cunning and cautious by nature and was a well-known expert among the Gray Wizards.
He didn't die early … He didn't die late …
What should he do now? Without a boat, the plan to go to England was simply a fantasy.
His gaze shifted to Frank's wife, Mary, whose face was full of sorrow. Since he was dead, then it was natural to mention the boat to his wife. But when the words came to his mouth, Hoffa found it difficult to speak. Her husband just died, and he came to ask for a boat. This was too realistic.
"How did he die?"
He asked with a heavy tone.
"I don't know. When he went out to sea, he met some scary guy. When he came back, he was already in this state when his subordinates brought him back."
As she spoke, the woman covered her mouth with a handkerchief.
She pointed to the middle of the man's body.
Hoffa's gaze stopped in the middle. He could vaguely see that under the clothes, Frank's body was actually two halves. He had been cleanly cut into two halves.
This made his heart skip a beat.
Such a sharp sword wound, to be able to do this … Could that guy be nearby?
"My condolences, madam." He patted the widow's shoulder and said politely.
"It's okay. May I ask, Mr. Bach, why are you here?" The woman wiped her tears and asked.
"Oh, it's like this. I'm here to …"
However, before he could explain his intentions clearly, a voice rang out.
Bang!!
A loud gunshot outside the house interrupted his plan to borrow a boat.
It was followed by screams and angry rebukes. "… Put down the gun, you useless barbarian!!"
.....
.....
Hearing the sound, the two's expression changed. Hoffa immediately left the young widow and hurriedly left the dark room.
At this moment, a chaotic scene was happening outside the house. A few packages of unopened biscuits and bread were scattered on the concrete floor of the dock. A group of skinny children were lying on the ground like monkeys, like a pack of dogs fighting for food, scrambling to shove food into their mouths. Some of them were so anxious that they even ate the soil.
At the side, a few fully armed men raised their guns and tried to pull the children away from the food. One of the armed thugs who looked like a baboon did not hesitate to grab a refugee child by the collar, dragged him up, and slammed him on the ground.
Chloe tried to push the armed thugs away with his hands, but the effect was the opposite of what he wanted. The baboon-like man had no intention of stopping. With a backhand push, he pushed the nun to the ground.
Bang!
Then, he fired another shot into the sky, trying to scare the nun away. However, the nun did not hesitate to get up and stood in front of him angrily. "What are you doing!?"
The baboon-like man spat on the ground fiercely. "I should be the one asking! What are you doing in my territory? "
"I'm giving them some food! What do you care? "
"Here, if I say no one is allowed to eat, no one is allowed to eat!"
"Who do you think you are, Caesar?"
"You …!"
"Enough!!"
Hoffa looked at the group of children who were scrambling for food like wild dogs on the ground, and knew what was going on even if he used his butt to think.
This motherly nun didn't listen to his words at all. As soon as he left, she stirred up a big mess.
He rushed forward, pushed the supervisor away with one hand, and protected Chloe behind him with the other.
"Take care of your girl!"
The armed thug angrily bumped Hoffa's forehead.
Hoffa was furious. At this moment, he did not like Chloe, and the baboon in front of him was even more so. However, he still needed to borrow the boat, so he could not fall out with the smugglers. He could only glare back fiercely.
At this moment, the young widow came out. Seeing the chaos, she covered her mouth and immediately shrank back into the house.
The nun saw her and turned her head to greet her.
"Why don't you take care of your men?" She asked in the same way. The armed thug beside her was furious.
"Uh … This, I … I … That's not …"
The twenty-year-old woman was being questioned so aggressively by a girl who was three or four years younger than her. She was stuttering and could not say a word.
"You watched those children starve to death without doing anything?" The nun used her best moral condemnation.
"I … I … didn't …"
The young widow's face was gloomy and ashamed. She looked regretful because of her negligence. She shed tears and looked at her men for help.
The baboon man, Matthew, puffed up his chest and strode in front of Mary. He angrily rebuked Chloe, "You're crazy! What does it have to do with you whether we care about their lives or not?"
He sneered at the nun, "It's not like we caused them to fall to this state. We didn't force them to live here."
The widow heaved a sigh of relief when she heard this, and an expression of relief appeared on her face. After calming down, she showed a bitter smile.
"Matthew, that's not right."
"Mary."
"You … Go do what you need to do. Leave this to me. "
Matthew snorted and gave Chloe and Hoffa a warning thumbs up. He then led his men away in twos and threes.
After leaving, Mary grabbed Chloe's wrist in embarrassment and said uneasily, "It's … It's my negligence. I'll be more careful, sir."
"You should at least help them. You don't look like you lack food."
"Yes, yes, it's my negligence."
"What about that guy called Frank? What's his relationship with you?"
"He … he's my husband …"
The widow stammered.
(She was talking to Chloe, but she was looking at Hoffa from the corner of her eyes.)
The nun still wanted to say something, but Huo Fa dragged her to a corner without a word, not allowing her to resist. He forcibly took her away from Frank's mortuary.
The group of armed thugs who left earlier were smoking in the corner. When Hoffa and Chloe passed by, the baboon-like thug bumped Chloe with his shoulder and deliberately shouted, "Jesus above, how did this kind of person live for so long!?"
The group of armed thugs roared with laughter when Chloe turned around angrily.
.....
.....
When they reached the corner of the pier, Chloe shook off Hoffa's arm, her chest heaving up and down.
"What's wrong with you?" Hoffa was like a father educating his daughter. "Didn't I tell you to mind your own business?"
Chloe didn't say anything and just stared at him, as if she believed that he and Frank were birds of the same feather.
"What's with that look?"
She turned her head and didn't even bother to answer.
"If you're like this, we'll part ways here." Hoffa threatened her.
"I didn't ask you to send me!"
"Oh …!" Hoffa raised his eyebrows. "You're really something."
"Can't you stand on my side and say something for me?"
"If I help you, who's going to be responsible if we can't borrow a boat?"
"I thought your relationship with that Frank guy would be a little more solid."
Hoffa thought that Frank was already dead, so what was the point of being close?
At this moment, soft footsteps sounded behind him.
He quickly turned around.
It wasn't the thugs, but a few emaciated children. They were sneakily hiding in the shadows of the buildings, their eyes flashing with hunger.
"War orphans …"
Hoffa sighed. No one cared about the lives of these children who lost their homes because of the war. Frank kept them alive just to increase his chances of enslaving the adults.
He put his hand into his pocket. This action caused a commotion among the peeping children. Some stepped back in fear, some covered their heads.
But what Hoffa took out wasn't a weapon, but a chocolate bar. He stretched out his hand and gestured for them to come and take it.
Seeing the food, the children rushed up, grabbed the chocolate and stuffed it into their mouths without even opening the cover. After wolfing it down, they looked at the gray-haired youth, wanting more.
Hoffa patted one of the children's yellow head and said softly, "There's no more, come back tomorrow."
After getting a positive answer, the children thanked them in a low voice and left the two people's side while looking back repeatedly with every step.
When they turned back, Chloe looked at him with a friendlier gaze, no longer as disgusted as before.
Hoffa said, "Why did you offend them?"
"I didn't want to take their boat at all." Chloe said, "These guys aren't good people. They won't even let children go."
Hoffa shook his head. "When the war is over, you'll have plenty of opportunities to save them. But now, we can't care about anyone."
"But …"
"No buts. We're not here for charity. The German Wizards are still looking for us. We have to leave this land as soon as possible. Can you understand? "
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