Lin Ze returned to his residence, washed himself casually and then fell asleep.
Early the next morning, he put on an old coat and went directly to East End of London at Muggle.
The East District is very large, with old houses, narrow streets, and graffiti on the walls.
In some places, you can see entire open spaces and half-demolished ruins.
Bulldozers and fences stood in the morning light, like rows of toothless Giant.
Lin Ze found a phone booth, went in, inserted coins, and dialed the number.
I called three times and no one answered.
The fourth time, a very soft voice suddenly came from the phone, and I couldn't tell the difference between male and female.
"Who are you looking for?"
"I saw your notice." Lin Ze said.
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time. It was so long that Lin Ze thought the other party had hung up the phone, and then he heard the voice say again, "Where's the notice?"
"Next to the mailbox at the entrance of the alley."
There was another moment of silence.
"What's your name?"
"Does it matter?"
"It's not important." The voice chuckled softly, like someone scratching the receiver with a fingernail.
"At ten o'clock tonight, come to Isle of Dogs and find the same notice you saw."
The phone hung up.
Lin Ze held the receiver and listened to the "beep" busy tone inside, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
Isle of Dogs.
After returning to Ministry of Magic, he handled his daily tasks, waited until dark, changed into Muggle's clothes, and then went out.
Lin Ze stood on the street corner of Isle of Dogs. The wind came from the direction of River Thames, carrying the smell of mud and rust.
He specially wore a gray hoodie today, his hair was messy, and he looked like a temporary dock worker who had just gotten off work and couldn't find his way to the north.
Isle of Dogs He had never been here much before, and this place was even worse than he thought.
The houses on both sides of the road seemed to have had their spines ripped out, and some entire walls had collapsed, leaving only the doorframe standing there alone. The street lamps came on every now and then, and the dim yellow light was blown by the wind and swayed.
Lin Ze It was almost ten o'clock when we found the mailbox.
The notice was still posted in its original position, but the corners were wrinkled by the rain, and the pattern of the bat's wings had been crossed out with red paint by someone.
He stood next to the mailbox, pushed his hat down, and began to wait for someone.
At three minutes past ten o'clock, a dirty black van Silencio parked at the entrance of the alley.
The car door slid open a crack, and a hand stretched out from inside and hooked at him.
Lin Ze walked over, bent down and took a look inside.
It was very dark in the car, and only two vague figures could be seen, both wearing black cloth hoods, and even the eyes were sewn with dark mesh.
"Will the night embrace me?" Lin Ze asked.
"Come up."
What answered him was a loud voice.
Lin Ze said nothing and got into the car.
The car door slammed shut, and the car started again, turning here and there in the maze-like alley.
Lin Ze leaned on the seat without asking anything.
"You look very calm." The angry voice sounded again.
"It's okay." Lin Ze said.
The car was silent for two seconds.
"Normal people will be scared when they come here for the first time."
"Are you afraid? I have nothing to lose, so fear should not appear in me."
The man nodded and stopped talking.
The car drove for a long time and finally stopped.
"We're here, get off the car."
Lin Ze was taken into an old house.
The iron door here is very thick and makes a heartbreaking sound when pushed open. Several emergency lights are lit inside, making the dusty walls pale.
There are already about ten people sitting in the room, all tall and short, fat and thin.
There was a huge portrait hanging on the wall. It showed a man hanging upside down in a tree. He was naked, with gray skin, and a pair of broken black wings growing on his sides.
In the lower right corner of the painting, written in dark red paint, "The night will embrace you."
"New guy." The man wearing a black hood pushed Lin Ze towards the middle of the crowd.
Everyone turned their heads, and a dozen eyes fell on him.
A woman in a dark dress came out of the back room.
She looks to be in her forties, with brown hair tied back on her head, deep eye sockets, she is very thin, but her walking posture is extremely dignified, like the nuns who preside over mass in the church.
"New here?" Her voice was soft and low.
Lin Ze nodded.
"Where are you from?"
"London."
"How did you find us?"
"The notice at the entrance of the alley."
"Why would you want to join us?"
Lin Ze was silent for a few seconds, looking down at the toes of his shoes.
"I lost someone very important."
He didn't explain much.
But this sentence is obviously more effective than any rhetoric.
The atmosphere in the room visibly relaxed, and the faces of several people who were staring at him as if they were guarding against thieves had something unclear whether it was sympathy or recognition.
"Everyone of us here has lost something." The woman in the long skirt walked to the center of the room, and the light of the kerosene lamp cast her shadow on the wall, like a prophetess coming out of Old Testament.
"My husband was kidnapped by some masked monsters three years ago and has never come back since."
When she said this, her voice remained calm, but the hands folded in front of her slowly tightened, and her knuckles turned white.
"The police said it was the work of a serial killer."
"But I know that those monsters are not serial killers at all... they are..."
"Wizard."
The last two words seemed to be squeezed out from between the teeth, with a sense of hatred that had been accumulated for many years.
"The monster you are talking about..." Lin Ze spoke hoarsely, as if trying to maintain a certain forbearance.
"Where... are they?"
"Everywhere."
The person who answered was a man sitting in the corner. He was as thin as a bamboo pole and had high cheekbones.
"They are hidden among us. We cannot see them, but they can see us."
His voice was trembling as he spoke.
"My daughter was only seven years old when they took her away."
Seven years old.
Lin Ze After hearing this, his fingers curled up slightly.
He took a deep breath and raised his face to look at the woman in the long skirt.
"What... can we do?"
The woman in the long skirt walked up to the portrait and took out a metal pipe as thick as her little finger from an iron box under the portrait.
Both ends of the tube are sealed with black wax, and the surface is engraved with fine lines.
"There will be a rally tomorrow at midnight."
She held the tube in her palm and looked back at Lin Ze's face.
"If you are willing to accept the trial of the night, take it and go to Warehouse No. 7 of River Thames Old Port."
Lin Ze looked at the metal pipe and did not pick it up.
"Trial?"
"You will understand then."
"... What is this?"
"Something that allows you to see the truth."
Her voice is very soft, but yin.
Lin Ze hesitated for two seconds and reached out to take the metal pipe.
The metal pipe felt cold in my hand, and the coolness was like a small snake crawling along the palm of my hand and up my wrist.
"Tomorrow at midnight, don't be late."
After the woman finished speaking, she nodded towards the two men wearing black hoods.
The two men stepped forward and "invited" Lin Ze out of the house, one from the left and the other from the right.