In the large conference room of Brooklyn, Magic Security Department.
The atmosphere was as depressing as midnight before a storm.
The long circular conference table was filled with officials from various departments who usually work at Wizarding World.
But today, these Pure-blood gentlemen who are accustomed to looking at people through their nostrils all have pale faces, and some are even rubbing the Wand in their hands uneasily.
Sitting on the chair in the center of the conference room was a young Wizards who was covered in bandages and whose robe was torn into rags.
He is a ranger in charge of the northern border forest area of New York. He is also the only lucky one to escape alive among the dozen Wizards who were sent to patrol the Fantastic Beasts habitat and lost contact in the past month.
"They are not human beings at all... truly irrational beasts."
The young ranger's voice was shaking violently, and he was holding a cup of hot tea with both hands, but the tea kept splashing on the floor as he trembled.
"In the past month, more than half of the Fantastic Beastss in the forest have been captured. In their hands, those Fantastic Beastss are like poultry with their necks pinched."
"Calm down and speak clearly."
The director of Department of Fantastic Beasts Management slammed the table, and his beard stood up in anger, "Which Dark Magic family is the opponent? Or is it the black Wizards who smuggled in from Europe? Didn't you use Wand to fight back!"
"We fought back... we really fought back!"
When the ranger heard this, he suddenly collapsed, endless fear welling up in his eyes.
He raised his head suddenly and shouted at the top of his lungs, "We are in no hurry to take out Wand. Even if we take it out, we can't recite the spell! And they are... endless!"
The entire conference room was silent for a second.
"They are a hundred times more terrifying than Troll!"
The ranger covered his face, tears streaming down his fingers, "They relied on pure physical strength! A monster rushed over and broke my colleague's Wand with his bare hands, and then... then it was like tearing a piece of paper, tearing my colleague in half alive!"
There was a gasp of air in the conference room.
"What's even scarier is that we have placed barriers and Muggle-Repelling Charm outside the forest."
The ranger took a deep breath and dropped a bombshell that sent chills down everyone's backs.
"But when they came in, it was as if they were walking in their own back garden without triggering any alarms. The barrier was deprived of authority from within. Someone... some of our own people sold the coordinates and authority to those monsters!"
With a bang, the conference room completely exploded.
"Traitor! We have a traitor within our ranks!"
"We must find out who did it! This is a declaration of war on the entire North American Wizarding World!"
"Gather all the Aurors immediately! Give those Muggles who can only use their muscles some color, and we will use Killing Curses to burn them to ashes!"
All the officials stood up angrily, banged the table in indignation, and finally turned their attention to the man sitting at the head of the conference table.
Pist.
The acting minister, who had just taken office less than twenty-four hours ago, was currently sitting in the wide, high-backed chair that originally belonged to Joseph.
The suit he was wearing was soaked with cold sweat, and the sweat beads on his forehead were like broken beads.
Pist held a white silk handkerchief in his hand and kept wiping his forehead. He felt like he was sitting on a Gunpowder barrel that was about to explode.
"Pist Minister!"
The director of Department of Fantastic Beasts Management put his hands on the table and stared at him.
"You are the successor personally designated by Minister Joseph. Now that such a big thing has happened, you must give the order immediately! Mobilize all combat readiness resources, find out the truth, and launch a counterattack!"
"Yes! Launch a counterattack!"
The surrounding officials all agreed.
"Everyone... please calm down first."
Pist felt his throat was dry. He forced himself to put on an extremely ugly smile and pressed down with his hands.
"We should not be impulsive in this kind of thing. We haven't figured out the enemy's details yet, and attacking hastily will only cause greater casualties."
His mind is now filled with the deadline of "twelve o'clock tonight" set by the gold-rimmed glasses executive Vought International.
If these Aurors are allowed to rush out and start a war with Bigfoot Gang now, and make things worse, Vought International will definitely crush him to death as soon as possible.
"Why are we trying to find out the details? They have already stepped on our faces!"
A hot-tempered supervisor asked loudly,
"More than a dozen Auror have lost contact, and the connection realm has been breached from within. We are just sitting here waiting for death! Pist, what are you hesitating about? Do you want us to hide here like mice?"
"I said, we need to investigate! We need evidence!"
Pist was forced to panic. He slammed the table and showed his official power as a minister.
"Wizarding World's International Statute of Secrecy is an insurmountable bottom line! If the entire magical society is exposed because of your impulse, who will bear the responsibility? I am the acting minister. I say that we must stand still now and conduct an internal investigation first to find the traitor who leaked the enchantment before making any plans!"
Pist's words were barely tenable, and the use of the big hat International Statute of Secrecy did make several agitated officials calm down a little.
He looked at the somewhat quiet conference room and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as he can survive today and wait until twelve o'clock tonight, the worst he can do is package up the list of these stubborn old guys along with their coordinates and sell them to Vought International, then take the money and run away.
However, Pist still felt relieved.
The heavy mahogany door of the conference room suddenly made a deafening bang.
Bang!!!
The hard wooden door was blasted open with a rough curse, and splinters of wood flew everywhere in the conference room.
All officials pulled out Wand in horror and turned to look at the door.
The thick smoke dissipated, and several old Aurors with gray hair and wounds all over their bodies stood at the door supporting each other.
The leader was none other than Auror supervisor Thomas who was thrown out of the office by Vought's bodyguards in the morning.
One of Thomas's eyes was swollen very high, and there was a gash on his forehead that was bleeding out. It was obvious that he had gone through a life-and-death struggle before fighting his way back.
But his eyes at this moment were like a red-hot sharp knife, nailed to Pist at the head of the conference table.
"Thomas? What did you do?" The director of the Management Department looked at him in surprise.
"Why are we looking for traitors? What evidence are we looking for!"
Thomas pushed away the colleague who came to help him, and walked to the conference table with heavy steps.
With his still bleeding hand, he pointed suddenly at Pist, who was sitting on the minister's chair and trembling all over.
"Don't you want to know who opened the barrier and sold the coordinates to those monsters?"
Thomas's voice was hoarse with anger, but it was like thunder in the quiet conference room.
"Don't be fooled by this sanctimonious bastard! The people who attacked us are mutated monsters created by Vought International in Muggle World! The so-called Supe!"
"And the traitor who secretly colluded with Vought International, betrayed the entire Wizarding World, and even killed Minister Joseph, is sitting on this chair in front of you!"