#465 - Purpose and Exchange

Kariel looked at the person he used to consider his mother, knowing that her proactive and enthusiastic greeting was to prevent him from calling out "Mom" first.

Because Wade knew his real mother and his memories hadn't been tampered with.

Although they had already arrived at the door and there was no one around, the vampires in the room were numerous enough to fill a classroom, but out of fear of Dumbledore, they still wanted to lure Wade into the room before taking action.

Kariel didn't intend to deliberately oppose her; he simply turned to look at Wade, his eyes appearing very indifferent.

Even now, it was impossible for Wade to regret and want to leave.

Kariel's gaze swept over his neck, his fingers twitching a few times, his pupils slightly constricting, and his breathing quietly becoming rapid.

Wade in front of him seemed to notice nothing, smiling with his eyes crinkled, like a normal, ordinary student visiting a classmate's house, saying, "Good afternoon, Madam."

He walked past the plump woman without any wariness and entered the room.

The woman exchanged a glance with Kariel, revealing a satisfied and secretive smile. After he entered, she looked around and closed the door behind her.

"Bang!"

The sound of the wooden door slamming and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground rang out simultaneously, shaking the floor as if it had jumped twice.

Kariel paused in the foyer for a moment before walking in. After entering, he saw Wade sprawled on the ground in a disheveled state, already bound. Baird had searched him and was holding his wand, examining it.

"Is that it?" the scarred vampire smacked his lips in dissatisfaction, grumbling, "It's a bit too easy, mate."

"Did you expect to fight to the death with a Hogwarts wizard?" Roberts said happily, "It's best if there are no casualties… I didn't expect it to go so smoothly."

"Who's this kid?" a vampire asked, looking at Kariel, "Are you a vampire too? Why are you wearing a Hogwarts uniform?"

"This is my son; he has some magical talent," Baird said, "Thanks to Dumbledore's 'tolerance,' he's even willing to accept vampires into the school, which gave us this opportunity."

When he said "tolerance," he emphasized the word, the meaning of mockery was obvious, and the vampires all laughed along.

"Well done, kid!"

Someone even opened a bottle of wine and raised a glass, saying loudly.

"Although we didn't have a chance to act, Baird, everyone here came with the determination that they might die doing this job."

The burned vampire suddenly spoke, coldly saying, "The promised reward… you won't go back on your word, will you?"

The laughter suddenly stopped.

"Of course not; the wealth in this kid's vault still belongs to you."

Baird was actually regretting it, but under the gaze of the room full of vampires, he still showed a confident smile and said.

"That's great!" the burned vampire laughed, "As far as I know, for wizards who have a lot of business dealings, even if they don't personally show up, a single letter can allow the goblins to withdraw money from the vault—Baird, I only need a letter now."

"Me too," the scarred vampire quickly said, seemingly feeling embarrassed for not contributing anything, he added, "I'm not hoping for more wealth, but the agreed-upon 30,000 Galleons can't be less."

"Yeah, Baird," the other vampires also chimed in, "With him in hand, you'll have a constant stream of wealth. Now, a single letter can send us away. You won't go back on your word, will you?"

"Letters to Gringotts seem to have to be handwritten. How many letters can he write in a short time? Who gets it first, who gets it later? To avoid disputes, let's wait until we move to a safe place to slowly handle the letter writing."

Roberts urged, "In this ghostly place, I always feel worried, like Dumbledore might appear at any moment."

Gahr hurriedly said, "That's right, we'd better leave now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt Wade Greengrass on the ground suddenly turn his head and look at him. For some reason, Gahr suddenly regretted interrupting.

Perhaps it was because the other party's gaze was eerily calm, causing the alarm in his mind to almost sound like a sharp wail.

"I understand," Kariel said obediently, lowering his head.

A drunken vampire sneered, "You're too careful, Baird."

Kariel saw Baird grabbing Wade and heading towards the fireplace. The plump woman had already prepared a large bowl of Floo Powder, and hurriedly chased after him, saying, "That… Dad…"

"You're not going soft, are you, kid? Showing school spirit now?" the scarred vampire mocked.

"No, it's not that," Kariel lowered his voice, looking pleadingly at Baird, saying, "Wade Greengrass has a magical item on him that I really like… Dad, can I keep it?"

"Of course… what is it?"

With his long-term goal finally achieved, Baird was in a good mood and readily agreed.

"It's… a necklace."

Kalil walked over and met Vede's indifferent gaze, subconsciously lowering his eyes. Then, he reached out and took a slender gold necklace from around his neck, which had a shiny, golden hourglass-shaped timer hanging from it.

When he held the Time-Turner, Kalil's hands couldn't help but tremble slightly, and his usually slow heartbeat became more rapid than ever before.

"What is that thing, kid?" a thin vampire suddenly asked, staring at the gold chain with a probing and greedy gaze.

He didn't know what the thing did, but he could see something unusual in Kalil's face.

Kalil's fingers trembled, and before he could speak, Roberts said:

"Alright, Tucker. This kid performed a great service today and deserves a reward. Besides, with thirty thousand Galleons, what magical trinket can't we buy?"

Tucker looked around, seeing that the other vampires seemed to think it was in poor taste for him to covet the thing in the child's hand, and besides, he hadn't actually done anything today. So, reluctantly, he shut his mouth.

Kalil clutched the timer in his hand, feeling a stinging pain in his palm.

Just then, Vede suddenly laughed.

"I've been wondering why you're so obedient to them... So that's your goal, Kalil."

He looked up at Kalil, his eyes seeming to hold a hint of pity, and said, "But that's impossible... It can't change anything."

Hearing this, Kalil sneered, "Do you think you're the only one who reads books? I've read Magical History too, I know what happened!"

He was originally only worried that Vede would say the name of the Time-Turner, but for some reason, facing that indifferent gaze that seemed to look at him like a stone, an uncontrollable surge of anger welled up in his heart.

He would rather Vede burst into a torrent of abuse, denouncing his betrayal and baseness, than be looked at with that kind of gaze.

"Alright, you'll have plenty of time to chat later."

Byrd became impatient. He pushed Vede to the fireplace, grabbed some Floo Powder, and threw it into the fire. The flames suddenly turned green, and he led Vede into it, shouting, "Milltown, Number 25!"

Kalil had quietly retreated to the door, just about to slip away unnoticed, when he suddenly noticed that there was someone else who seemed to have the same goal.

The two looked at each other, and Gar gave an awkward smile: "Um... I need to use the restroom..."

A surprised voice suddenly rang out in the living room: "What's going on?"

Kalil turned his head and saw that Vede and Byrd were still standing in the flames of the fireplace, and had not been transported away by the Floo Powder.

The people in the room immediately panicked. The scarred vampire grabbed the two and pulled them out, saying, "Let me try!"

He threw down the Floo Powder and clearly said, "Milltown, Number 25!"

After waiting a few seconds, the flames did not react in any way.

"Try another place..." Roberts suggested in a panic, "Try the Leaky Cauldron!"

But the scarred vampire still wasn't transported away.

"The Floo Network has been cut off from this fireplace!" Byrd had more knowledge than most vampires, and upon seeing this, he gritted his teeth with a grim expression.

"What do we do now?" Artemis said helplessly. "Are we going to have to take this kid to the village to find a working fireplace?"

"Idiot! The Floo Network being cut off means this place has already been targeted!" The burned vampire strode to the front, holding a knife to Vede's neck and angrily said, "If you don't want to die, contact the people behind you and have them reconnect the Floo Network!"

Vede smiled, his tone still carrying a strange calmness, and asked, "Or what? Are you going to chop off my head? Then everything you want—wealth, safety, and the alchemical knowledge in my head—will all be gone."

His gaze swept over the faces of the crowd, which were filled with fear, as if his life wasn't being held in their hands.

The burned vampire narrowed his eyes and sneered, "Just because we can't kill you doesn't mean we can't make you suffer a little!"

He turned the blade and unhesitatingly stabbed Vede in the shoulder with force.

Gar's body trembled, and he subconsciously pressed his own shoulder.

But then, he found that the young wizard hadn't let out a scream. Instead, the burned vampire, who looked so fierce, had an incredulous expression.

"Damn it! What's going on?"

He pulled out the dagger and saw that Vede's shoulder wasn't bleeding at all. There wasn't even any muscle or bone to be seen. The opening was only filled with pale, soil-like material.

"Too bad. I quite liked this robe."

"Vede" said, and his arm twisted somehow, causing the ropes binding him to fall off.

"What kind of monster are you?" a vampire who lacked knowledge of the magical world asked in horror.

"A puppet!" Kalil said in shock, "How could it be a puppet?"

"Impossible!" Byrd said with a distorted and crazed expression, "I could clearly hear your heartbeat! And the sound of blood flowing!"

"Oh, you mean this!" The puppet Vede took off a badge from his chest and said calmly, "Recording a sound and playing it back is something even Muggles can do. But you're in luck—because what you heard was indeed my master's heartbeat, just from yesterday."

As soon as the badge left his chest, the vampires desperately realized that the sound was indeed not coming from him.

Byrd immediately looked at Kalil with a fierce gaze, and Kalil also said in astonishment, "The one who was talking to me before was clearly Vede... Could it be that you were pretending then too?"

"Your feeling wasn't wrong." The puppet Vede gave a faint smile and asked, "Guess when we switched places? Kalil."