Chapter 650: Chapter 650: Collusion (Edited)
Once inside the church, the two of them did nothing unnecessary and sat quietly in a corner.
They had tried to walk as stealthily as possible, but they still made some noise in the spacious church, causing several people to turn and look.
Tom also glanced at the two strong men and furrowed his brow; both of them were wearing the emblem of the "Scourers" on their clothes.
He squeezed Hermione's hand, warning her to be alert.
After the "sermon," or rather the strange "mass," the villagers filed out, and Tom and Hermione followed John to leave. However, before leaving, Tom pulled a long flesh-colored string from his pocket.
"What's this?" Hermione curiously looked at the thin string in Tom's hand.
"Extendable Ears, the latest invention by Fred and George," Tom said, taking out the magical device recently invented by Fred and George. It's a device similar to a Muggle hearing aid that allows discreet listening.
Once Tom and Hermione left the church, they found an excuse to temporarily separate from Yuri and Mr. John and made their way together to the edge of the church.
Tom tiptoed, placing one end of the Extendable Ear in the gap of the window, and placed the other end close to their ears and Hermione's. A clear conversation was transmitted from the Extendable Ear.
"Pastor Benjamin, we hope you can assist us; this is an order from the organization," a deep, grave voice said.
"Of course, but can you be any quicker? My girlfriend and I have a date together, or can we do it another day?" another light and coquettish voice was heard. Tom easily recognized it as the pastor.
"Can pastors have girlfriends?" Tom was surprised, as he wasn't sure about the church's rules in that regard.
"Yes, pastors are different from priests, and it's okay for them to dedicate time to girls..." Hermione quickly explained, then hushed Tom, as she wanted to hear what was happening inside the church.
Inside the church, the two men sighed in unison. Obviously, Pastor Benjamin's lazy behavior left them extremely frustrated. However, since he was a religious figure within the Scourers, his status was superior, and the two couldn't do anything about it.
"Can you tell us if there were any suspicious individuals near John yesterday?" they asked.
"I don't know that," the pastor replied with some impatience. "You can ask him directly. John is a very busy person and always has various guests around him. However, he has recently been busy trying to sell his slaughterhouse."
The two men looked at each other and felt they had found an important lead.
"Well, we don't want to bother him further. Goodbye."
"I sincerely hope he maintains his devotion to God and doesn't succumb to material desires..."
"Thank you, but we're leaving," Pastor Benjamin's mind was already elsewhere.
Seeing that the "responsible" person in the town was so useless, the two men felt that the organization's future was bleak.
However, at least they found a lead; the people who wanted to buy John's factory were suspicious.
Within the Scourers, there was a magical and mysterious artifact that could detect wizards among the crowd and alert its bearer. The headquarters of the Scourers would receive a notification and quickly send elite agents to the scene of the incident. However, this artifact was not very common; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many cases of wrongful convictions.
In the past, the Scourers had killed many innocent people. Many ordinary citizens were labeled as wizards simply because their actions were strange or didn't conform to the norm, and then they were exterminated by the Scourers. Often, it was difficult to find one wizard among ten people.
Due to its rarity, when a device that hadn't been activated for nearly a century was activated, the interior of the Scourers took it very seriously and sent two of their elites from headquarters to investigate and retrieve that magical artifact.
However, these two couldn't imagine that, while the mantis was hunting the cicada, a bird was coming from behind; they thought they were the mantis hunting, but in reality, they were the prey in the bird's beak.
After leaving the church, Tom and Hermione followed them closely. The village was sparsely populated, even during the day, there were hardly any people on the streets, offering many opportune places to act.
"Desmaius!"
Tom and Hermione launched a surprise attack with great success, and the two Scourers, who were completely unprepared, were immediately rendered unconscious.
Tom hurriedly approached and dragged them into a warehouse.
After everything was settled, it was time for interrogation.
Tom's right eye turned into a snake-like pupil, and he used Legilimency on one of the men, successfully reading his memories before parting.
"A trace of a wizard has appeared in the Texas village, so you two must investigate and, if possible, capture the wizard, but if you can't, at least recover the detection clock," ordered a man disguised as a priest in a church.
"Yes."
"Hurry, I still have to meet with Mrs. Lestrange; I really don't know what our dear allies want us to do..."
Mrs. Lestrange?
Tom was astonished, and he immediately exited the state of Legilimency.
"What did you see?" Hermione quickly approached, eager to hear Tom's findings.
Tom's expression was very complicated.
"It seems that the Death Eaters are mingling with the Scourers. This information didn't leak at all before, so Voldemort probably considered it a top-priority secret."
Hermione: ???!!!
Upon hearing that the Death Eaters and the Scourers were collaborating, Hermione's initial reaction was to think that Tom had made a mistake.
One of these parties was in favor of pure-blood supremacy, and the other had a deep hatred for wizards. How could they work together? Shouldn't they confront each other and fight to the death as soon as they met?
Tom extended his hands, reality was so absurd.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the Scourers, Voldemort, a madman who only knew how to kill, was much more efficient at killing wizards than they were, so they could use their complementary skills.
But no matter how ridiculous it was, Tom felt he had to report this information to Dumbledore. His spy within the Death Eaters hadn't uncovered this information, suggesting that the connection between the Death Eaters and the Scourers was likely directly controlled by Voldemort or a project under Bellatrix's total authority.
Whatever the possibility, this was extremely valuable information.
Tom and Hermione intended to return to Hogwarts as soon as possible after resolving the case at the slaughterhouse and discussing the cooperation between the Death Eaters and the Scourers with Dumbledore.
"How do we handle these two?" Hermione looked at the two unconscious men, anxious to take action.
"Obliviate."
Of course, Tom chose to use the Memory Charm, altering their memories.
In their minds, the wizard who triggered the alarm had fled, and the detection clock had been successfully recovered.
Chapter 651: Chapter 651: Tom's Philosopher's Stone Factory (Edited)
"We should quickly return to Hogwarts and tell Professor Dumbledore about this..." Hermione thought about sharing the important information that Tom had obtained with Professor Dumbledore.
But Tom didn't share the same idea.
"Foolish, did you forget our most important goal in coming out?" Tom pulled out the rough prototype of the Philosopher's Stone, showing it to Hermione.
"We can leave this here for now; the most important thing is to inform Dumbledore," Hermione tugged at Tom's sleeve.
Tom frowned, looking somewhat annoyed.
"Whether Dumbledore finds out now or later won't make much difference," he said indifferently. "It might take time for him to make a decision, or he might be indecisive in his actions. In my opinion, even if he learns about the collaboration between the Death Eaters and the Scourers, he won't be able to take any effective action. The Order of the Phoenix has limited resources, and the British Ministry of Magic is in a state of decay..."
The frustration in Tom's voice grew with each word, but Hermione quickly stopped him.
"Alright, let's do as you say. First, let's place the Philosopher's Stone."
"As you wish, let's put the Sorcerer's Stone in its place."
Tom closed his mouth, somewhat annoyed.
What he had just said was sincere. In his view, whether Dumbledore found out now or a day later wouldn't make much difference, it was like a four-week experiment, advancing or delaying a few hours would barely have a margin of error. However, Hermione's Philosopher's Stone was different, placing it a day earlier would mean reaping its benefits a day earlier—it was a treasure for extending his life!
Once they agreed, they sought out John and told him they wanted to return to the slaughterhouse one more time. Although it seemed strange to revisit, customers were like gods, and John, the devout follower, wouldn't disappoint his gods. He agreed immediately and drove them back to the slaughterhouse in his truck.
"Is this the facility all the animals have to go through?" Tom looked with interest at a large cylinder the size of a wagon and even touched it.
"Yes, all the animals, cows, sheep, and pigs within a radius of a hundred kilometers, pass through here to ascend to heaven," John nodded. To make it more vivid, he personally restarted the production line so that Tom could see how a cow was automatically sacrificed.
Pressing a button, the production line roared to life, and the gates of the pen not too far away opened. The cows that the breeders had brought walked under the guidance of the workers toward a narrow corridor. Once they entered that corridor, it was the path to certain death.
Because the corridor was very narrow, even if the leader of the group didn't want to move forward, the animals behind it pushed it until it crossed the threshold of death.
Tom watched as a robust cow was led onto a platform, its head trapped, and two electrodes inserted into its forehead, electrocuting it instantly until it was unconscious.
The unconscious cow fell into the massive cylinder, and when it came out, it was already divided in half. Tom felt the prototype of the Philosopher's Stone in his hands warming slightly.
"Very efficient, completely automated operation, hardly requires labor," John was very satisfied with his slaughterhouse.
And most importantly, it wasn't bloody. If it were too bloody, it would attract trouble.
Tom thought the same. In his view, this fully automated slaughterhouse was the most advanced.
"Let me see the biological waste recycling pit," Tom requested with another interest.
"Of course, that's the main attraction," John had mentally prepared for this. A competent slaughterhouse owner would always be concerned about waste management.
"By the way, can I hang a cross here?" Before leaving, Tom made an apparently reasonable request.
The workers here were mostly devout followers, so hanging a cross wouldn't be a problem. If it were the symbol of another religion, it would be a different matter.
After obtaining permission, Tom hung a wooden cross on the wall of this workshop. Apart from Hermione, no one knew that inside that cross was housed the prototype of the Philosopher's Stone. It would absorb the dissipating energy from the animals sacrificed here and eventually become a Philosopher's Stone that would prolong life.
Biological waste was temporarily stored in a large pit.
The enormous pit was filled with blood and animal entrails, emitting a nauseating and unpleasant smell. Occasionally, a mixture of blood and entrails would fall from above through a tube, splashing into the pit and creating a burst of blood splatters.
"It's like a scene from hell. I've been running this factory for decades, but every time I see this, it disgusts me. Now do you understand why I don't want to eat entrails? Many unscrupulous traders get their supplies from these kinds of blood puddles." John shrugged. He didn't want to linger there for too long, so he rarely did, urging, "Can we leave now?"
"You all go first. I want to conduct a small test involving trade secrets," Tom said seriously.
"Okay, okay!" John huffed at Tom's words, but luckily, he didn't have to stay in that blood-scented room for long, so he quickly exited the place.
Once everyone was gone, Tom carefully took out a small glass vial and dropped a drop of Menes' blood into it.
Suddenly, the pit, or rather, the blood puddle, began to boil.
Menes' blood seemed to be breathing, drawing the blood from the pit towards itself. The entire pit seemed to be breathing.
The liquid level decreased rapidly to the naked eye, and the entrails submerged in the pit shrank into completely unusable waste.
When Menes' blood had finally completely absorbed the blood puddle, only withered entrails remained, and the size of the blood drop had multiplied several times.
"See? We've saved the recycling cost!" Tom pointed to the pit that had reduced in size hundreds of times and was very satisfied.
When John re-entered the room, his eyes nearly popped out in surprise. He couldn't imagine what kind of technology could make the blood from a large pit suddenly disappear.
However, he didn't dare to ask, as even a fool knew this must involve extremely valuable formulas.
"Let's go." Tom had no intention of explaining either, and with Hermione, he left the factory.
From now on, he only needed to lower the animal sacrifice price and attract more farmers to bring their animals to the slaughterhouse, then use the money obtained to expand production, and so on...
It wouldn't be long before he could refine the Philosopher's Stone for Hermione. His mission on this trip had already been fulfilled. It was time to return to Hogwarts.
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