241 Chapter 41, Alumni

The night fell, and the November snap made the land of England colder than that of France. The sky was blazed with dim stars like dying fireworks.

Hoffa walks along the long coastline with a torch in hand, with only one nun at his side, and desolate, empty towns.

He didn't use light magic, and it was not difficult for him to use the light spell without using a wand, but he didn't want anyone to notice that he was abnormal.

However, for a period of time after the two landed on the coast, nothing unexpected happened. For a long time, none of them met a single person.

I didn't see dark witches walking everywhere, there were as many ghost corpses as dogs, and I didn't see the legendary Muggle army. There are only empty lands due to wars, and abandoned towns densely covered with water vapor.

Even the low creak of footsteps seemed resounding in comparison to the dead silence of the land, save for the constant howling of the wind when it came. No bird sings in the woods, no man walks in the street.

There are only dilapidated and collapsed houses, and intertwined dead brambles growing on the rocks bare, and the few weeds are almost all nettles, and occasionally some plants with sawtooth or spikes.

There are even some smelly plants, if you accidentally step on it, the rancidity will overflow. Even where the moonlight shines, there is no warmth at all. A pale half-moon hangs over the forest tops in the west, with a hint of coldness in the light, as if mixed into the shadows.

Occasionally, pools of dried blood could be seen on the ground. They were scattered everywhere like brown lichen, but surprisingly, there were no corpses.

The calm is terrifying.

If it weren't for the freezing cold on his face after waking up every morning, and his hungry stomach growling every night because of the food shortage, Hoffa would almost think that he had entered some weird dream again.

It was another long walk in no man's land, from day to night, after nightfall.

"Would you like to take a break? We've been walking for a day."

Chloe asked in a low voice beside Hoffa. Her clothes were sloppy at the moment, but the ugly makeup on her face gradually disappeared, revealing a tired but refined face.

"OK."

Hoffa didn't talk too much nonsense, he pressed the ground, used the transformation technique to create a simple cave on the rock, and started a bonfire. In some empty towns around, he collected some food for Chloe and himself.

Most of them are ordinary canned food, hard and moldy cheese, or marching rations discarded by some soldiers. But they can't be picky at this time, they can only eat what they have.

It was approaching the middle of November, and Hoffa couldn't help but wonder if his judgment was correct. If Mueller Mans wasn't as shrewd as he imagined, he wouldn't have bet on those children at all and waited on the shore. .

Or Chloe is not that important to them, he turned around and returned to Germany long ago, wouldn't his search during this period of time be a waste of time.

The flames were crackling and burning in the dark night, and there were only the two of them around, and they had almost talked about everything they could talk about. Most of the time, there was only silence between them.

"Are you still looking for it?" Suddenly Chloe asked, hugging her knees.

"Not looking!?"

Hoffa fiddled with the fire. This was the first time the nun had given up on him in a long time.

"I'm just asking, I don't mean to give up."

"Go on then," Hoffa said.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"Why did you send me back? Did Delphine promise you any benefits, or do you need me to help you?" She asked half jokingly and half seriously.

"Huh? Why are you asking this?"

"I want to know," the nun said in a rare and charming tone, "tell me."

"I'll tell you when I get to London."

Hoffa said absently, "He doesn't really want to talk about this topic."

"Okay." The nun said with a weary smile, "You are not quite the same as when I first met."

"Really or not," Hoffa was curious, "what's the difference?"

"Well," the nun thought for a moment, "I'll tell you when we get to London."

Hoffa curled his lips, "Rest early and continue tomorrow."

The stars in the sky were a little brighter, and the nun leaned on the rock after eating a simple dinner, and began to take a nap. Asleep, she slid her head onto Hoffa's shoulder.

I don't know if it was the first time she fell asleep and leaned against her body. It might be because of the cold, or it might just be that her shoulders were a little softer than the stone.

Hoffa didn't push her away. In this empty and lonely environment, he was glad that there was a life beside him.

Maybe two. He took out the glass ball at his waist and looked at the unknown creature he had captured. It stretched its tentacles, slowly spinning and flying in the glass ball made by the transformation technique.

These days, he curiously took out this thing every night to observe it, hoping to figure out its hidden secrets.

But it just hovers in the glass bottle every day, neither eating nor drinking, let alone communicating with Hoffa. Even if he stabbed it with a sharp thorn in the glass vial, it just circled gracefully and moved away silently.

However, the creature behaved a little strangely today. When it realized that Hoffa was looking at it, its chaotic smoky head opened like a flower, and the starlight passed through the smog and refracted on the glass ball, forming a circle map.

On the map, he saw the bonfire he lit, the sleeping Chloe, and a moving light point in the distance.

"What does it mean?"

Hoffa came to his senses, and he asked in a low voice, this little monster that can bring nightmares is mysterious, and until now, he has not figured out what its ability is.

The monster in the glass bottle is just rising and hovering, like an elf in a bottle, silent but enchanting.

"Chloe?"

He pushed the nun beside him, and the nun breathed evenly, curled up beside his arm as lazy as a cat, and didn't seem to think of it.

Hoffa gave up the idea of ​​waking her up. He pushed her head away little by little, stood up, and stared at the moving light spot on the map. Is this little monster reminding him that there are people nearby?

I can't see anyone for so many days. If I can find someone to ask and understand the situation, that would be great.

The spot of light was not far from his position. In the end, Hoffa made up his mind that he was going to have a look. Covered Chloe with a piece of clothing, and cast a protective spell around her. Then set off quickly.

His speed was very fast, he looked like a ghost in the night, and there was no one in the empty town at night to hinder him. Soon, he followed the route map on the glass ball to the mouth of the offshore river.

Here, he found a freighter stranded at the estuary, with a large hole in its belly blasted by artillery fire. It was the small freighter they were on after they arrived at the port of Normandy, France.

Seeing this ship, Hoffa's eyes lit up, and he stepped onto the freighter crooked on the sand in three steps.

However, when he boarded the ship, there was no one on board, and the messy and bloody deck still told of the chaos and cruelty that had happened here. Hoffa touched the dried and browned blood on the ground, and frowned.

Everyone was taken away.

He took out the glass ball, and the light spot on the glass ball flickered less than five meters away from him, moving slightly.

"Who's there!?" he asked.

No one answered.

In such a quiet but chilling atmosphere, his plans for peaceful interrogation gradually came to nothing. He put on his own metal glove, and the black iron sheet covered his right hand little by little.

As if sensing danger, the monster in the glass ball closed its head and continued to hover aimlessly.

The light of the glass ball went out, and Hoffa raised his finger and chanted softly, "Fluorescence flying." A silver light spot flew upwards from his fingertips in an anti-gravity way, and circled around his head for a circle.

Continuing to walk in, the light of the fluorescent spell seemed to meet some resistance and became dim.

This place is completely different from the ship he saw when he crossed the sea. There are spots of blood on the white painted walls.

On the wall by the door was a stick with a clothes hook stuck in it. That's where the crew used to hang their clothes. Newspapers were pasted under the sticks. The newspaper was full of scratches. When someone was being dragged away from here, someone grabbed the wooden board vigorously, but nothing happened.

Next to the wall. There is nothing left. Only the wires hanging above were originally connected to the door opening of the captain's cabin. I don't know if it was blasted away by the curse or by the artillery fire, and a piece of it was smashed to pieces on the ground.

He went all the way down.

The sloping stairs creaked under his feet. He still remembered this place. When it was at sea, there were many children running around in this corridor.

When he walked to the left staircase on the second floor below the deck, the ground became more dilapidated and chaotic, and he stepped on something that was half soft but not hard. When I removed the foot, it turned out to be a human hand.

Bombed broken manpower.

Looking along the broken part, he saw moonlight shining in from the huge gap in the bulkhead. It was a gap blown out by artillery fire, and a man's head was still hanging on the metal of the gap.

Under the fluttering fluorescent lights, Hoffa walked up to the man's head.

It's Matthew.

The thug who planned to throw himself into the sea to feed the fish at the beginning looked at him with a pale and hideous posture under the light of the flying fluorescent light, as if he was complaining about the ruthlessness and cruelty at the moment of crisis.

Hoffa looked away, looking at the ground.

The pedal is covered with thick coagulated blood, which has been coagulated for a long time, but still has the unique texture of blood. In the dried blood, some footprints can be seen, very shallow, left not long ago.

He lightly put his foot on the pedal and stepped on it. There was a creaking sound, the explosion did not completely destroy the structure of the hull, and it could still bear its own weight.

So I kept going down to the bottom floor, and saw that the door of the room I used to live in was now open. The opening method was not because the explosion was shaken away, but because someone pushed the handle to open it.

He touched the wall, his vigilance raised again.

If it was as expected, all the people here should have been taken away by Mance. Under the attack of so many wizards, could there be any fish that slipped through the net?

Or is it that their people are sure that they will come back?

So stay here and plug yourself.

The fluorescent spell disappeared.

He concentrated and calmed down, his body fluctuated like a chameleon and disappeared into the air, at the same time. He carefully kicked away the scattered glass shards on the ground, and stood at the door of the room like a ghost. Under the cold moonlight, he saw the spots of light on the ground in the room blurred quickly.

someone.

He is sure of that.

But he was equally sure that the other party could not see him. Like he couldn't see the guy either.

There was a stalemate like this for about three or four minutes, and a dark cloud in the sky covered the bright moonlight. There was a light sound from the corner, and there was a faint wave of magic power, and the shadows on the ground blurred again.

Hoffa turned immediately, and a dangerous stun spell drifted past him. There was a dangerous red light on his magic glove, and he raised his hand and slammed it back.

The wooden door panel seemed to be hit by an invisible air hammer, and it slammed down, followed by a muffled groan suppressing pain.

"come out."

Hoffa firmly pressed the invisible transparent head with his hands.

This time, the answer was a sharp knife, which was a deformed wand. Hoffa knew this kind of trick all too well, and he only slightly missed it. Under the confrontation of mental power, the transformation spell was quickly disintegrated, and the opponent's sharp knife turned back into a magic wand. Not only that, he also grabbed the transparent wrist of the man opposite.

"Is it only this level?" Hoffa said.

The phantom man struggled for a while, but did not break free, he chanted in a low voice: "Burning in flames!"

Orange flames rose from the transparent arm, scalding his arm a little bit. Hoffa threw his arm away, took his wand at the same time, and quickly took three steps back.

"If you don't come out again, don't blame me for being rude."

Accompanied by Sen Leng's words, except for his feet, other parts of the cabin deformed, and sharp iron thorns grew out.

Crackling, a soft sound accompanied by violent fluctuations in magic power. The man actually abandoned his wand, intending to Apparate, Hoffa's fingers snapped together, and the spikes bent and grew wildly five meters away.

"Ouch!" With a cry that took away the Cockney accent, "Let me go!"

A wizard was abruptly pulled out of the apparition state. It was a tall, broad-jawed man in a black and yellow robe, and he didn't look very old, only a year or two older than Hoffa.

If it was an opponent encountered in this environment in the past, Hoffa would probably not hesitate to make the opponent lose all mobility, and then interrogate him.

But this time, he didn't choose to do that, but let go of the boy in front of him as he said. Because he has a badger tattooed on the chest of his yellow and black wizard robe. This was a Hogwarts student, and a Hufflepuff.