Chapter 317: Chapter 317: Bracelet and Awakening (Edited)
Taking into account the genres from the previously provided list, translate the following text into English:
Tom was stunned for a moment as he looked at the bracelet. At that moment, a shout was heard beside him.
"Watch out!"
Then, a bowl of thick French fish soup spilled over Tom, leaving him covered in sauce.
"Sir, I'm so sorry!" The trembling waiter who made the mistake was apologizing while holding the tray. The restaurant manager also quickly arrived and began apologizing to Tom while using a napkin to clean him up and apologizing.
Tom felt that something was not right. He reviewed his day's experience and suddenly realized what the problem was: every time he tried to put on the bracelet, various accidents happened: a teapot exploded, the subway arrived earlier than expected, or a waiter spilled fish soup on him...
Not only when he tried to put it on, but even just by looking at the bracelet, accidents and distractions occurred that made him forget about it. It felt as if someone didn't want him to wear that bracelet! If it weren't for the number of accidents he had experienced today, Tom wouldn't have realized this. No, it wasn't too many accidents, but rather the presence of the bracelet was too strong, causing a series of accidents and finally making him aware of it.
Tom ignored the chattering manager beside him and reached into his backpack. He had made a decision: today, he had to take out that bracelet and put it on. Nothing and no one could stop him.
The moment he reached into the backpack, the crystal chandelier from the restaurant ceiling came crashing down, hitting the waiter and the manager next to him. There were many screams and cries.
The chandelier reinforced his belief that he was now going to take out the bracelet and no one could stop him.
He reached into his backpack and took out the bracelet that looked a bit rough and very simple. The moment he touched it, the restaurant ceiling began to shake.
"An earthquake, it's an earthquake!" That voice was heard shouting beside him. Tom heard it clearly. It was the same girl he had gone on a date with.
With a strong tremor, the floor collapsed, the walls crumbled, and Tom fell to the ground. A large piece of ceiling fell near him, but the table behind him blocked it, preventing the ceiling from falling directly on his head, forming a simple triangular structure with the table and the floor.
"No resources," Tom said, lifting his head and looking at the ceiling, as if he were looking through it to the existence in the sky, with a contemptuous expression. "Hehe."
The moment he put the bracelet on his hand, he felt a burning sensation on his wrist, and a strange vision appeared before him: what looked like a beautifully decorated train carriage, memories rushed into his mind as if they had broken through the chains, and Tom opened his eyes.
He was still in the luxurious dining carriage of the Golden Eagle train, only now the diners who had been laughing and joking before were lying unconscious on the floor. Hermione was also crouched over the table, her bracelet had fallen to the ground, although the bell on her ankle bracelet continued to ring as the train moved.
Before he could do anything else, he felt a strong breeze behind his head and ducked as an ice pick grazed his ear and stuck into the table.
The attacker was the same waiter who had served him the food earlier. He missed and immediately pulled out a watermelon knife from under the cart and tried to stab again, but Tom also drew his wand: "Expelliarmus!"
The watermelon knife flew upside down and stuck into the carriage wall. Tom disarmed the waiter with a quick movement and then, with another petrification spell, had him completely under control.
Before he could approach and ask questions, hurried footsteps were heard from outside the dining carriage. In the next moment, several burly and robust train guards kicked open the carriage door and entered with their weapons.
Tom felt a sense of danger in his mind and cast a repelling spell (Depulso) directly at them. In this strange situation, he dared not reason with the Russian guards, so he decided to overpower them with force.
The repelling spell (Depulso) worked well in the confined space, and the three guards who had entered first fell to the ground as if they had been hit by a stunning grenade, but the next moment they were standing up and pulling the triggers with a speed that exceeded human reaction.
Although their aim was slightly off, those guards who had been knocked down by the explosive spell seconds earlier were able to quickly get up and retaliate by firing. It was suspicious, but as strange as it was, he couldn't defy the laws of physics or the conditions of their own bodies. For example, the guard in front had a fractured wrist, and his hand holding the gun was drifting upward each time he fired. How could he aim properly?
"Protego!" Tom conjured a protective charm and blocked the point-blank shots, while quickly transforming into a giant snake and pouncing on the guards: physical attacks were not very effective, so it was time to resort to magic.
Three of the guards were petrified under the basilisk's gaze, while the remaining stewards and waiters were petrified upon encountering Tom's gaze.
Tom moved his enormous body and pushed the tables and chairs along with the petrified guards aside, exiting the dining carriage to eliminate the remaining conspirators.
In theory, normal people would be scared and flee in all directions upon seeing a giant snake emerge from a train carriage that petrifies anyone who looks at it, but this group of train staff approached like fearless soldiers. After several of them were petrified, they also found a countermeasure: closing their eyes. If they didn't look at the snake, they wouldn't be petrified.
Then, several members of the train staff advanced toward Tom, waving fire axes with their eyes closed. Tom didn't want to prolong the battle, so he transformed back into his human form, quickly retreated into the dining carriage, and continued casting stunning and petrification spells.
The train staff was limited, with only about a dozen frenzied individuals, and Tom quickly brought them down. Some were petrified by his basilisk form, others were stunned by the stunning spell, and then tied up like crabs.
Tom wiped the sweat from his forehead, the encounter had been quick and fierce, and although the battle was one-sided, he had the advantage. The small size of the carriage and the amount of decoration in it were not conducive to the use of long-handled weapons, and if the guards had had automatic rifles and shotguns in their hands, he might have been the one lying on the floor now.
Tom stepped over the equipment that was strewn on the ground and rearranged the table and chairs that had been knocked over in the fight when he felt a wave of dizziness in his brain and the dreamlike scenes came back to him, as if in one moment he was on the Golden Eagle train and the next back in the Muggle city, and staying there for longer each time.
Tom suppressed his discomfort and pointed his wand at the carriage window, "Reducto!"
With a crunch, the window shattered, and a cool breeze entered the carriage, refreshing the air inside and lifting Tom's spirits from the confused state he was in.
He found Hermione's bracelet on the floor and put it on his wrist. After putting it on, Hermione shivered and opened her eyes.
Her eyes were a bit dazed as she woke up, but soon cleared.
"Tom?" Her lips parted slightly as she called his name, and a tear rolled down her cheek.
"I'm here, I've always been here." Tom quickly grabbed Hermione's hand and let her rest her head on his shoulder.
"That dream... it was truly horrible..." Hermione seemed to have experienced something terrible, her body trembled slightly.
"It doesn't matter, it's alright, it was all false," Tom comforted, then turned to the bouquet of flowers that the waiter had brought to the end of the dining carriage. "It's this bouquet that's playing tricks on us."
Tom took a deep breath, held his breath, and approached the bouquet of flowers. He cast the Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) and watched as the blazing flames consumed the flowers, releasing twisted black smoke until there was no trace of ashes left.
"The nightmare is over, now let's go to the source of the dream," Tom returned to Hermione, wand in hand, ready to attack. "In my opinion, the culprit is in these two carriages-"
"You're lying!" The waiter who entered first suddenly shrieked sharply, grabbing both of their attention.
Tom and Hermione: ?
Of course, the waiter was still immobilized by the petrification spell, lying rigid on the floor. His eyes were blank, with only a blood-filled white pupil remaining.
But there was something to be said about the petrification spell, skilled wizards could cast it in a way that the victim couldn't even blink, but ordinary wizards could only petrify the target's limbs, and even some mediocre spells could only lock a joint, and the duration of the spell varied.
Perhaps because the effect of Tom's spell was slowly fading, the waiter surprisingly was able to speak.
"What I give you is not a nightmare! It's a good dream!" Although the waiter didn't change his facial expression, Tom could hear the indignation in his tone. "How dare you tarnish my reputation without any evidence?"
"I offered you a job on your first day, then you'll fall asleep, get a job, your book will sell, and you'll meet a beautiful woman on a blind date and be happy for the rest of your life. Can you call that a nightmare?" The waiter explained his plan to Tom in a rapid voice.
Telling Tom's dream wasn't enough; he turned to Hermione. "And you, don't you like reading and getting good grades on exams? Then I'll set a trap for you, ensure that you get perfect grades in every subject, always be first, get into the Ministry of Magic after graduation, and eventually become the Minister of Magic... Is there anything you can complain about?"
Tom: ...
"Well, I'll borrow what an old and unpleasant bee used to say because you don't know 'love,' so you can't shape our true dreams." At this point, Tom sounded like Dumbledore: Dumbledore would have laughed with relief and given Ravenclaw ten bonus points if he had heard it.
"I don't know love? How can that be?" The waiter put on a face as if he had heard a great falsehood. "I have looked into the minds of so many people, no one in the world knows more about love than I do! The crew, the passengers on board, all of them, surrender to the dreams I've woven. And you tell me I don't know love?"
"Yes, you don't understand," Hermione replied determinedly. "The dreams you gave me... they were boring and lonely. I didn't like them."
After saying those words, she smiled. "And I don't need your dreams to get first place in every subject."
Waiter: What?
Tom extended his hands. "I don't even need a blind date to find the person I love the most. Isn't that unnecessary? Besides, the dream you gave me on my first day was also terrible. Who would consider an office worker's dream a beautiful dream?"
"Listen to my explanation," the waiter hastily explained that the pleasant dream was coming after the initial suffering.
"Listen, then I can judge your dream based on the experience of online writing, the beginning is utterly incompetent, your start is so depressing that I leave before reaching the so-called 'good part.' What sense does such a dream make?" Tom also gave up.
"It's a society with increasing pressure. Even web novels have changed because of it. At first, the protagonists of web novels traveled to a different world and thrived with their own abilities. Then, they were failed individuals who discovered extraordinary talents when traveling to a different world and then rose up. Then, a little supernatural help had to be added to survive in the different world. But soon, even that became unpopular. Authors made the protagonists go back to Earth years earlier, becoming winners in life thanks to their knowledge of the future. You see? They no longer believe they can succeed through effort alone. But even gradually knowing the future wasn't enough, so the protagonists started having supernatural powers, becoming more powerful every day, even reaching the point of having all sorts of divine abilities just by signing..."
Tom looked at the waiter lying on the floor. "You sent me back to that reality and made me an office employee. Do you really think that's a beautiful dream?"
The waiter was left speechless.
"That's enough, we're going to find its true origin. This situation should end now," Tom said, with no intention of continuing to talk to this stranger. He could tell that the culprit behind this series of events was some special plant that controlled people's minds with its aroma, plunging them into addictive dreams. He was still unsure how it controlled the train staff, but it could be something related to spores that parasitized the brain.
He decided to search the train, looking for the culprit's hiding place.
"Wait, I think we can still cooperate..." the waiter shouted from behind, but seeing that Tom didn't react, he began to threaten loudly, "It's useless, you won't be able to find me!"
"So, Tom, do you know where it is in person?" Hermione caught up with him and asked after exiting the carriage.
"I don't know, but there's a simple way: just burn the entire train. Wouldn't that be a way to eliminate it?" Tom smiled slightly, providing a very radical solution.
Chapter 318: Chapter 318: This Flower Gives Many Magic Stones (Edited)
Taking into account the genders from the list provided earlier, translate the following text into English:
[What should I do if the enemy lurks in a specific area?]
[A: Leave, if you can't see them, they don't exist]
[B: Enter the area and search]
[C: Launch a bombardment]
[Correct answer: C]
Why bother with strategies and tactics when you can simply open fire and annihilate everything? Tom loved JoJo's action principle: Is the enemy hiding among the crowd? Then hit them all!
Tom led Hermione to the control room located at the front of the train. The train conductor had already disappeared, and the train was running without a driver. However, since its speed was not high, not even exceeding forty kilometers per hour, there wasn't much danger.
Tom looked around and pointed to a red button on the control panel as he asked Hermione, "Pressing this button would stop the train's operation, right?"
Hermione: !
"Don't you know how to stop a train?" She couldn't help but ask in turn, surprised that Tom didn't know how to stop the train and had the audacity to fiddle with the console.
Of course, Tom didn't know. He had never been on a train since he was little, nor did he know anything about train controls. How could he know how to operate a train?
"Don't touch anything," Hermione warned as she pressed Tom's hand to prevent it from trembling and causing a disaster by abruptly braking the train. Uncontrolled braking could derail the train.
"Let's see if there are staff members who are not under mind control," Hermione suggested, seeking a safer approach.
They went through the carriages one by one in search of unconscious staff members and found several assistants passed out. However, the assistants were not useful; they were only responsible for attending to the passengers, like flight attendants on an airplane. What flight attendant would know how to pilot a plane?
The only thing Tom could do was burn the flowers around them and gather them in the dining car. It was not uncommon for the waiter to look at them with disdain when they entered the carriage.
The culprit hiding on the train was cunning. They controlled key personnel on the train, such as the train conductor, the doctor, and the cook. The only ones left free were assistants, head assistants, nurses, and waiters, insignificant supporting roles.
Just as Tom was about to go to the control room to look for an "instruction manual" and try to learn how to operate the train, the elderly man who had sat next to him during the meal and had given him a chicken leg regained consciousness. The mist created by the flowers in the carriage had already dissipated, and the source of the aroma had been destroyed. It was only a matter of time before people regained consciousness.
"A good nap!" The old man stretched before realizing that the atmosphere in the carriage was not quite right, if one could put it that way, as if two gangs had engaged in a shootout.
Seeing Tom and Hermione carrying the unconscious people to the dining car, the old man couldn't help but ask, "Young ones... what has happened here?"
"I don't know, I just heard a loud noise, and when I woke up, everything around me was like this. Everyone else on the train fainted..." Naturally, Tom couldn't tell him the truth, so he had to lie.
"Well..." the old man pondered for a couple of seconds, suddenly looking up. "Was there anyone else in the train control room?"
"Hmm..." The old man thought for a few seconds and then raised his head. "Is there anyone in the train control room?"
"Ah, I'll do it." The old man clapped his left hand onto his right palm. "Russian trains are like this, very similar. Take me to the control room. Although the train runs without a driver, it's not entirely safe. Don't look at me like that; in my younger years, I also had some interesting stories."
Tom couldn't believe that such a complicated problem would be resolved in that way. Until the train stopped and found itself standing in an open field, he was still stunned.
The train had left Yaroslavl station only a few hours ago, and the distance to Moscow was less than 200 kilometers. At that time, the train did not stop in the desolate wastelands of Siberia since, after all, Russia is a vast and sparsely populated country outside the cities.
The old man dialed the train's distress number, and in about an hour, a rescue team would arrive to take the crew and passengers back to Moscow for treatment. But just when he felt relieved, a stunning spell hit him from behind.
The responsible for the spell was, of course, Tom. A combination of stunning spell and Obliviate was enough to erase any unwanted memories from the old man's mind. From that moment on, Tom and Hermione worked together as if they were slaves, removing the unconscious passengers and staff members from the carriage and then thoroughly checking each carriage, from the front to the back, to ensure that no one was left on board. Then, Tom cast a "Diabolical Protego Charm" on the train.
The "Diabolical Protego Charm" was a modification of the Fiendfyre Charm created by Grindelwald. It involved creating a protective barrier around oneself using the Fiendfyre Charm and then lifting the spell when the fire became weaker. If not controlled properly, the Fiendfyre Charm could get out of control and consume everything within reach.
Only when the blue flames engulfed the carriage did the assistant become completely alarmed.
"Brother, we can really talk about this."
"Friend! There's no need to go to extremes with this."
"Save me, older brother. Even if only for the quality of your sleep, I can adapt your dreams. I'm an expert at that."
Tom and Hermione looked at each other, only to realize that the man surrounding them was a true troublemaker. But as the fire spread, he soon ceased being noisy. His pleas for mercy turned into curses, then lamentations, and finally silence.
The Golden Eagle train was engulfed in blue flames, from which all kinds of magical creatures emerged, writhing among the flames, throwing carriage ornaments, and then devouring them with their mouths wide open. In doing so, their bodies grew slightly, and they emitted terrifying howls.
Anyone with a keen eye could see that if they kept eating, they would soon turn into uncontrollable gigantic fire beasts. But Tom wasn't worried; he knew someone would arrive soon to deal with the situation.
An enormous Fire Chimera lifted a section of the train floor, and suddenly a black root shot out from beneath the floor, striking the Chimera forcefully and splitting it in two. If it were any other magical creature, that blow would have caused severe damage, but the Fire Chimera simply rolled through the flames and regenerated instantly.
After the Fire Chimera was pushed aside, a flower the size of an elephant emerged from the train floor. As it emerged, the flower realized its mistake: the larger it was, the more areas were affected by the flames, so it quickly "shrunk" to the height of an average adult. With thunderous bursts, the train floors lifted, and the roots that were rooted in them were ripped out by the flower from the bottom of the carriage.
The flower was brightly colored and looked similar to the one they had brought into the dining car, except it was much larger. It was so deeply embedded in the carriage, so well hidden, that it could have remained concealed if the Fire Chimera hadn't lifted the floor.
However, there were advantages and disadvantages. The roots of the flower were too deeply rooted, and its connection to the train was too strong, making it impossible for it to escape the fire.
When the strange flower emerged, the fire-formed magical beasts pounced on it as if they had found a new toy, and one by one, they devoured it.
Listening to the heart-wrenching howls coming from the fire, Tom and Hermione shuddered.
The parts consumed by the fire quickly released columns of black and multicolored smoke, making the sight dazzling and mesmerizing.
Through the mist, Tom managed to see a woman reclining on a vine chair, dressed in a long luxurious robe. She was deeply asleep, with her chest exposed. Next to her, a bouquet of exotic-looking flowers swayed gently.
[Kill "Illusory Dream Flower from Another World"]
[Reward: Magic Gem x10000]
[Encyclopedia function unlocked]
["Illusory Dream Flower" encyclopedia has been unlocked]
[Main mission has been updated]
[Main Mission: "Search for the Founders" accepted]
[Mission description: Except for Rowena Ravenclaw, the other three founders of Hogwarts disappeared in their later years. As students of Hogwarts, if the last clues of the founders can be found, great prestige and benefits will be obtained]
[The first stage of the mission has started, please head to the Hogwarts library, search for information, and obtain clues related to the Founders]
By that time, the Illusory Dream Flower had already been completely devoured by the fire creatures. The Chimera seemed very interested in that flower; it ate the most and caused the biggest commotion. After eating, it shook its head and burped. A bunch of black smoke came out of its mouth and fell at Tom's feet.
Tom crouched down and carefully collected the ashes, placing them in a small bottle. The Chimera looked at him, seemed interested for a moment, but eventually got drawn towards the carriages beneath its hooves and joined the rest of the army of magical creatures, having fun together.
[Ashes of the Illusory Dream Flower: Residue from burning the Illusory Dream Flower. If turned into a scented capsule and hung by the bed, it significantly improves sleep quality.]
[Encyclopedia of the Illusory Dream Flower: A flower originating from the "Another World," a magical species coexisting in the lair of the magical creature Chimera. Wizards obtain it, cultivate it, and enhance it to weave beautiful dreams. If left unchecked, this small and charming flower can also cause great destruction.]
Upon seeing this series of pop-up messages, Tom felt a great impact: this flower turned out to be a species from another world and not native to his own world! As for the so-called "Another World," it wasn't as simple as a different world; it was a land closely related to the world Tom was in, a notion from Celtic mythology.
After the sacred people of the Tuatha Dé Danann were defeated by the Milesians in mythology, they opened "Another World" as their own domain, while the Milesians ruled the earthly world, and the Tuatha Dé Danann controlled the dwelling place of spirits underground or at the boundaries of the sea. The sea god, Manannan, erected an invisible barrier that prevented mortals from entering "Another World" —of course, this supposed barrier always had many loopholes, and some heroes or mortals could accidentally or under the guidance of rare magical creatures reach "Another World."
However, although this flower had a mysterious origin, it had an advantage: the amount of magic gems it provided was astonishing! This boosted Tom's gem reserves to an optimistic amount, enough to face the next gem reserve. Previously, Tom worried about not having enough magic gems to draw cards, but now he no longer had to worry.
"Let me see," Hermione said as she took the bottle from Tom and carefully opened the cap to look at the ashes inside. Then she reached out and shook them twice, inhaling their scent.
"It smells really good, I feel calm smelling it," Hermione said with a slight blush on her face. Although she concealed half of the sentence, what she didn't say was that those ashes had a similar smell to Tom's.
As if struck by a sudden idea, Tom extended his wand and transformed two stones on the ground into two plain, unadorned masks, with just two small holes where the eyes would be.
"Put this on so that the officials from the Ministry of Magic who come won't see our true appearance," Tom warned Hermione, urging her to quickly put on the mask. He knew that with all the commotion he had caused, the officials from the Russian Ministry of Magic had probably taken note and could arrive at any moment.
Hermione followed his advice and put on the mask, standing next to Tom in the field as they awaited the arrival of the Ministry of Magic personnel to take care of the rest of the work: modifying the memories of the passengers, dealing with the controlled train staff, and, incidentally, inventing a plausible explanation for the Muggle government.
If they needed help, Tom was happy to lend a hand.
While waiting for the appearance of the Ministry of Magic personnel, Tom and Hermione began to talk. Tom wanted to gather information from Hermione; after all, she was the "know-it-all."
"Does the 'History of Hogwarts' book record the final fate of the Four Founders of Hogwarts?" Tom wondered, because if he wanted to investigate the fate of the Four Founders, the book "Hogwarts: A History" might have answers.
"No, actually, they are not specifically mentioned. The only clear records about the fate of the Four Founders are about Mrs. Ravenclaw, who died of illness in Hogwarts Castle. As for the other three, after Salazar Slytherin left, their whereabouts are unknown, there are no records about Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff," Hermione responded, meeting Tom's expectations by giving a specific answer.
"So..." Tom scratched his chin.
"These matters have been buried in the long river of history..."
"Only those who have personally experienced it can claim to know the truth of history," a voice interrupted Tom and Hermione's conversation. Tom looked towards the source of the voice and saw the person. His pupils contracted: he knew that person.
The approaching person had an elegant and refined face, with black hair and a monocle over their left eye. They wore a double-breasted black coat and held a round top hat.
It was Evans, someone Tom had encountered at the Hog's Head Inn, but he never imagined they would appear here.
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