The next day, Lin Ze got up from the bed after sleeping a little stiffly.
I cast a healing spell on my cervical spine and got out of bed.
There is a piece of parchment taped to the window, with only one letter written on it - K.
He told Ben through the communication badge, and then went directly to Poison Dragon Bar in Knockturn Alley.
Mr. K was wiping the bar with a dirty rag. When he saw Lin Ze coming in, he put the rag on his shoulder.
"Found it."
"So fast?" Lin Ze sat down in front of the bar.
"The number you gave is registered to a rat trapping company."
Lin Ze was stunned for a moment.
"Rat-catching company?"
"Yes, it's called "Sailor Pest and Rodent Control Company"." Mr. K took out the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and patted it in front of Lin Ze.
"Obviously I'm taking orders for rat removal from restaurants and warehouses, but actually..."
He deliberately drawled a long note, picked up the half glass of overnight whiskey on the bar and took a sip before continuing slowly.
"This company has changed its bosses three times. Every time it changes bosses, its previous boss disappears inexplicably."
"Where is this company?"
"In warehouse No. 7 at Isle of Dogs, Old Port."
Old Port Warehouse No. 7, the place the woman mentioned yesterday.
"Anything else?"
"There is a fixed expense in their company's account every month, which is paid to a slaughterhouse whose license has been revoked long ago." Mr. K lowered his voice.
"The slaughterhouse has been receiving a batch of live sheep every month since three years ago, but no meat has ever been produced."
Lin Ze didn't answer, he had already connected these points into a line in his mind.
Rat catching company, Old Port warehouse, slaughterhouse, live sheep.
When these words are put together, they smell like a sacrifice no matter how you look at them.
He took out a few Galleon and pushed them over. Mr. K didn't even look at them. He covered them with a rag and when he opened them again, the money was gone.
"I wish you good luck in your investigation." Mr. K smiled.
Lin Ze came out of the bar "Apparition" and went to River Thames Old Port for a spin.
At 9:40 that night, Lin Ze arrived outside warehouse No. 7 early.
The warehouse is located in the innermost row of the pier. The red brick walls are painted with white paint with long-faded serial numbers. The iron door is half open, and a few rays of light from kerosene lamps leak out from the cracks in the door.
He held the metal pipe in his hands.
In the warehouse, the woman from last night was standing in the center with her back to the door.
At this time, she was dressed in black, with her long hair tightly tied behind her head, revealing a section of the back of her neck that was as white as bloodless.
There were twenty or thirty people standing scattered around, no one spoke, only the occasional slight crackle of the kerosene lamp wick.
Lin Ze walked in and stood in the crowd.
High above, there is a huge hanging portrait.
The ribs of the figure protrude one by one, as if someone had been skinned and hung on a shelf.
"The time has come."
The woman turned around and scanned everyone's faces, finally stopping on Lin Ze.
"Let's get started."
A man walked up, holding the same metal pipe as Lin Ze in his hand.
Lin Ze Then I discovered that everyone attending the rally had one in their hands.
He blended in with the crowd and observed his surroundings calmly.
Among the twenty or thirty people, there were dockworkers wearing old work clothes, housewives with sallow faces, old men as thin as bamboo poles, and a few young men and women who looked to be in their early twenties.
Everyone was holding the metal pipe in their hands like a life-saving straw.
"Let's begin." The woman said again.
The crowd slowly walked towards the depths of the warehouse.
In the innermost part of the warehouse, a semicircular space was surrounded by black cloth, with a rectangular iron table in the middle.
There was a piece of dark purple velvet spread on the table, and a copper candlestick was placed on it. The candle flame was dimly green, and someone didn't know what was mixed in the wax.
Next to the candlestick was a shallow copper basin with a layer of dark brown substance accumulated on the bottom of the basin. Lin Ze could smell the rusty smell from a distance.
"Put your credentials into the basin."
People lined up and stepped forward one by one to unscrew the metal pipe.
Lin Ze stood in the middle of the team, imitating the action of the old man in front, and twisted the metal pipe.
A dark mass rolled out of the tube, wrapped in translucent gel.
Lin Ze didn't have time to take a closer look, so he threw it into the copper basin and glanced at it with his peripheral vision.
The thing was still squirming slightly.
The copper basin was already half full, and those little black things were crowded together, like a nest of newly born flesh worms.
Lin Ze's stomach was churning, and he almost cried out on the spot.
After everyone had finished voting, the woman in black skirt walked to the copper basin, hung her hands above the copper basin, and began to recite a difficult to pronounce prayer.
It was more like humming a tune than a prayer, but the tune was low and weird.
The faces of the people around were full of piety, some had their eyes closed, some were chanting in a low voice, and a middle-aged woman cried.
Lin Ze tried hard to make his expression look less like a lone wolf who accidentally entered the MLM scene.
Just when he was slightly distracted, the black insects in the copper basin suddenly began to twist violently, and then exploded one after another, spraying out a black-red mist.
The mist gathered above the copper basin and slowly rose into the air, condensing into a palm-sized shadow.
The shadow slowly stretched out above the candlelight, like a black veil blown by the wind.
Lin Ze Squinted and looked, the outline of the thing gradually became clear, it turned out to be a moth.
A moth condensed from black and red mist, with two eye-like spots on its wings, fluttered a few times and landed on the shoulder of the woman in black dress.
The woman seemed to have received some kind of oracle, her whole body began to tremble, her arms spread out, her face raised, and she let out a whimper that was so comfortable that it was almost a moan.
The people around him became even more excited, and some people knelt down directly, resting their foreheads on the wet cement floor.
"Great Ancestor! King of the Night! Please give us power! Wash away the sins of this world!" A gray-haired old man raised his head and shouted, the spittle stars spurting from his mouth shining brightly in the green fire.
Lin Ze silently moved half an inch to the side to avoid the other party's splashing saliva.
It can be seen that these Muggle hate wizards to the core, and the source of this hatred is the disaster that Voldemort and Death Eaters brought to them during the war. The disaster caused them to lose their beloved relatives.
The war was started by the wizards, but it was Muggle and these Muggle's relatives who paid for it.
They... want power...
Against the power of wizards...
"New here."
The woman didn't know when she had walked in front of him, and the moth made of black mist was still resting on her shoulder, its wings flapping constantly.
"You have not been tested yet."
Lin Ze looked up at her.
The light from the kerosene lamp hit her from the side, making her face look like half a dry mask.
"Follow me."
The woman turned around and walked deeper into the warehouse.
Lin Ze glanced at the crowd around him.
The eyes of those people changed, some were envious, others were numb.
Lin Ze was excited, wrapped up his clothes and followed.