The English Channel.
On the deck of the Scharnhorst warship.
A row of crew members and a group of children knelt on the ground with their hands on their heads. Behind them stood a group of fully armed soldiers with guns. The strong sea breeze blew, and the metal plates on the helmets of the soldiers clanged against each other.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven …"
A pair of black boots stepped in front of them. He counted as he stepped, and when he reached the end, he counted again. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven …"
In the middle of the deck.
Meulemans sat on a chair with an expressionless face. His eyes were dark as he looked at the kneeling sailors and his subordinates. The careless counting sound gave him a headache. These damned wizards were so stupid. They could have just lined up in two lines, but they had to line up in a long line. God knows if they had learned mathematics.
"Seven, eight, nine, eleven, twelve …"
The sound pulled him into a whirlpool of memories. He remembered the black robe that dragged in front of him, and the pale hair of the owner of the robe.
It was a cold winter three years ago. He was ordered to leave Munich's elite troops for Berlin to carry out a special mission. He vaguely remembered seeing a line of a few hundred people after he got off the Opel truck.
In the dark hall, Grindelwald was the same, casually counting the people. He still remembered the man's cold, bone-chilling finger that slid across his forehead like an ice blade. He counted as he slid, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
From the beginning to the end, no one was willing to look at his face. They could only hear his voice floating in the dark night.
"… I don't care if you are Muggles or wizards. But before I choose, I want to know the quality of your souls. "
The man said casually, "Thieves and robbers can talk about souls. Porters and boatmen can talk about souls. Businessmen and politicians can talk about souls. Warriors and killers can talk about souls. Muggles and wizards can talk about souls. But what exactly is a soul? Who can answer me? "
The long line was silent under his cold fingers.
"No one answered. Looks like it's still too early to awaken. A flower that lives in a greenhouse won't understand what a soul is, let alone need a soul. Only when one has nothing can one understand what a soul is. Only when one's life is in pain and humility can one touch the essence of the soul. I think that everyone has the potential to awaken their own soul, and the key to awakening this potential is pain. Without pain, there is no soul, so … in order to find the one I want … "
He took out his black wand and smiled.
"Heart Drilling Carpal Bone."
A red light flashed.
"My Lord." The voice beside him woke Manse from his memories. He slowly raised his head and asked, "Have you counted clearly?"
"Thirty-seven people."
He whispered.
"Only thirty-seven people."
"Yes."
"What about them? Have you found them?"
"No, we searched the entire area within twenty nautical miles, including the seabed, but we didn't find any traces of Lemour or Bach."
"Is that so …" He sighed and seemed to be talking to himself. "I paid the price of two Association Wizards to catch thirty-seven Muggles. How stupid am I?"
"What do we do now?" His subordinate asked uneasily.
"Go straight to the British mainland to prevent Lemour from escaping before us."
"No, I'm talking about Aldo and Anker."
Black Robe's question made Manse frown. He stood up and walked to the edge of the deck. He looked at the vast ocean and the rolling white clouds in the distance and remained silent. The group of captured Muggles trembled beside him, like wooden planks in the waves. They didn't know where their fate lay.
"Let them be." Manse finally said, "We've done our best. Even if we can't find them, we have to control the losses to an acceptable level."
After he finished speaking, Black Robe looked at him motionlessly.
"What, didn't you hear my orders?"
"Mr. Manse, there's something I have to remind you of." Black Robe bowed and said, "Aldo is fine, but Anker, Anker belongs to the Kleist family, which is one of the most famous Wizard families in Europe. Their family is not only famous in the Wizard World, but also in the Muggles' domain. Anker's father is one of the higher-ups of the Association. If we can't find him, I'm afraid … "
"I'm afraid my life will be in danger, right?"
"Very likely."
.....
.....
The strangeness of the dream was once again beyond Anker's expectations. The cave just now was full of rocks, but in the blink of an eye, it was as intact as a wall. There wasn't even a crack in the wall.
He touched the wall and murmured, "Can't you be more reasonable?"
Hoffa thought to himself that there would be something wrong with being reasonable in a dream.
Although he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction when he saw Anker being defeated, the uneasiness in his heart could not be dispelled.
It had been almost two days, and he had no idea where his physical body was. It could be floating on the sea, or it could be caught by someone else.
The worst thing was that he still had no way to store even a little bit of magic power. He had no control over the current terrible situation.
Chloe suddenly shouted from behind, "Hey, you two, look over here!"
The two turned around and saw Chloe pointing to the ground with a puzzled expression. They walked to the place where Aldo had fallen and saw another small path five meters away.
The small path was in the shape of a cave, and inside it was a broken staircase that led downwards. It was dark and deep, as if it was a dog hole that led straight to hell. A gust of wind blew out from inside, blowing on the three bewildered faces, causing the three sober people in the cave to be confused.
Anker swallowed his saliva, "Why is there a wind blowing from underground? What, what does this mean? "
Hoffa said, "You're asking me, but who should I ask? But from the looks of it, there's something that wants us to go down. "
He grabbed a stone and threw it into the hole. The stone made a pleasant tinkling sound and did not return, as if it had no intention of touching the bottom.
"I refuse to go down," Anker said without thinking, "God knows what's down there."
"No one is forcing you to go down." Hoffa stepped back and sat beside Chloe, his expression calm.
"Hmph."
Anker sat down as well. He looked at the hole that had appeared out of nowhere with a heavy heart. Then, he looked at Huo Fa with a sinister look. His eyes darted back and forth.
In this cave that was less than 30 square meters, Chloe could not help but grab the arm of the boy beside her. She was really scared.
Feeling the nervous hand on his elbow, Hoffa felt a little uncomfortable. If it was any other time, he would be happy that Chloe had finally admitted defeat and was willing to reconcile with him. But now, what was the point of reconciliation?
After sitting for a while, Anker stood up anxiously. He looked hatefully at the still unconscious Aldo. "There's no way out just sitting here," he repeated, "We have to find a way out."
Hoffa sat cross-legged by the fire and said calmly, "I'm not forcing you to stay here."
"Is this your attitude towards cooperation?"
"I'm not forcing you to cooperate with me."
"Fine, fine. You and Miss Lemour are just going to sit here and wait for death? "
"That's not bad. At least she's pretty, so it's not a loss for her to die with me."
(The hand on his arm let go)
Anker gritted his teeth. Because of the darkness in the cave, Hoffa could not see his expression clearly. He could only hear the creaking of his teeth, but he guessed that the veins on his forehead were bulging. However, he had already figured out what Anker was thinking.
"Anker, no matter what you say, I won't go down there and risk my life to scout for you." Hoffa said softly, "Besides, I remember that our agreement was that you would gather information, and I would find a way to get you out of here, right?"
"You …!?"
"Or are you just saying it casually?"
Anker's expression changed again and again. Finally, he raised a fist and grimaced. "Rock, paper, scissors. This is the fairest way. Whoever loses gets to scout."
Hoffa smiled. "No."
"You motherf * cker …" Anker strode toward Hoffa.
"Anker."
"What?"
"Have you thought about something? If Aldo wakes up later, what will he think of you? Whether or not we can get out is another matter, but at least for now, in this small group of ours, you may become isolated and helpless. "
Anker stopped and looked at him deeply, the murderous intent in his eyes almost bursting out.
"You win, Bach."
He reached out and pulled out a torch from the fire and strode toward the entrance of the cave. When he reached the entrance, he said coldly, "In that case, I'll go check the path. Hopefully, when I come back, you'll still be safe in this cave."
After that, he walked down the dark stairs without looking back.
Hoffa leaned on the edge of the cave entrance, watching the guy holding the torch disappear into the darkness. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Let's go," he said to Chloe.
This was the first time he sat alone with Chloe in a few days. If not for Aldo, who had fainted, he felt that they needed to have a good talk.
Chloe sat by the fire and looked at him coldly. "Is it fun to scheme and scheme?"
His words about being buried with the dead had angered the nun. Even in this strange and ever-changing environment, she still did not give him a good look. Perhaps she never intended to reconcile with him in the first place.
Hoffa: "Are you still angry with me?"
Chloe: "Why wouldn't I be angry with you?"
Hoffa: "Don't you feel ashamed? If you weren't so impulsive, would I have to go through all this trouble?"
"Fine, it's my fault too. It's all my fault." Chloe turned her head away angrily.
"It's great that you think that way."
Hoffa retorted indifferently. He did not want to waste time arguing with her. He just looked at the cave where Anker disappeared.
For some reason, he started to worry.
If it was in the normal world, he would want the black robes of the Empire's Wizard Association to die. They were all Grindelwald's lackeys.
This was especially true for Anker. From the moment they first met, this guy had the attitude of wanting to kill him. Even under such circumstances, he was still thinking that he would rather die than himself.
But at this moment, he more or less hoped that Anker would return safely and tell him that this was a door to the real world.
After thinking about it, he felt that he was really stupid. The probability of this happening was similar to Tom Liddell doing charity when he grew up, or Chloe becoming a chainsaw murderer.
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