บท 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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