Chapter 888
The Fire Stealers' Secret Meeting
Chapter 888 The Fire Stealers' Secret Meeting
In a cluttered room filled with books and electronic components, Brian Danis sat in the only clean chair, casually put a rabbit mask on his face, and then typed on the keyboard.
The webcam above the computer seemed to be flashing a faint red light. Becky, the female assistant, placed a cup of coffee next to Danis and then quietly left the room.
A few seconds later, video windows popped up one after another. The people in each video were wearing masks, including golden eagle heads, shields, skulls, butterfly wings, maple leaves, gold coins, purple flowers, and so on.
The video resolution is low, and after the screen is cut into more than a dozen pieces, the images of each person appear even more blurry.
But for most people, this "ambiguity" is exactly what they need.
The butterfly wings spoke first in a processed electronic voice: "You're late, Danis!"
“Yes, because such a big thing happened, I didn’t sit here in a meeting like you guys; instead, I went to investigate,” Danis said bluntly. “Can we skip this useless nonsense and get straight to the point?”
The masked man said, "I think everyone has already received the news. Although the government hasn't announced it, the Harrington family, Blackster, Shaw, Rhodes... overnight, more than a dozen of our people were killed!"
“LeBron is out of contact too.” The man in the gold coin mask said in a low voice, “What a pity, he took care of a lot of troublesome guys for me.”
"He's dead too," Shield said coldly. "His body was found in a safe house in Queens. Those incompetent cops, their investigation concluded that LeBron died suddenly from alcoholism!"
"Without a doubt, this is retaliation from those wizards; they've discovered us!"
The woman with the purple flower mask said with a hint of panic, "Perhaps what we should be doing now is not holding a meeting, but hiding ourselves! Fortunately, we prepared for this day a long time ago, and even among us, not many people know each other's identities..."
"Calm down!" the golden eagle head said. "What we need now is intelligence and analysis, not panic. Doctor, what did you find when you last logged in?"
He knew that if there hadn't been some clue, Danis wouldn't have said those words so confidently.
“Of course!” Danis leaned forward, his gaze seemingly piercing through the camera, looking directly into the eyes of the golden eagle head: “I have two crucial clues.”
"First, snails have suddenly become rampant on the streets of New York."
"Secondly, when the torrential rains caused flooding in some areas, some people were rescued by black dogs that behaved in an unusual way."
Behind the video, everyone remained silent for a moment.
It wasn't shock, but rather a sense of unease—what could these two "clues" possibly mean? Is there harmony between people and animals in New York City?
Fortunately, Danis didn't intend to keep us in suspense. He slowly said, "I strongly suspect that the one who caused us so much damage during the hurricane was not the Magical Congress of the United States, nor the Lich Party that destroyed many of our strongholds, but a more dangerous enemy—Vade Grey!"
Everyone was silent again.
After a moment, Butterfly Wings spoke first: "Wait... where's your logic? How did the biological phenomenon you discovered transfer to that Hogwarts student? And an even more dangerous enemy... Even my tabloid reporters wouldn't dare to make up something like this!"
Danis took a deep breath, held his breath, and then said, "I suspect... those rampant snails are puppet surveillance devices planted by Wade Gray; and the black dog is also a puppet he sent to rescue ordinary people!"
Quiet.
Every time Danis spoke, it caused a brief silence.
After a moment, the skull mask slowly said, "It's not that I don't want to believe you, Doctor... but news of dogs saving people is not uncommon. Besides, after a heavy rain, there's too much water on the ground, and snails crawl to higher ground to breathe—these are all normal phenomena!"
"Phew...that scared me to death." Purple Flower breathed a sigh of relief: "There were two snails on the vines outside my window. I just caught them and took a look. They are normal creatures, not some kind of magical puppets."
The shield asked, "Besides being living beings, what else did you find... evidence that they are puppets?"
Danis said coldly, "I asked the old man who was saved by the black dog, and he testified that the black dog that saved him didn't spit!"
There was silence for a few seconds, both inside and outside the video.
A moment later, someone couldn't help but laugh.
The butterfly wings said, "It was raining then, Doctor, have you forgotten?"
The gold coin mask said, "The memory of the elderly is unreliable, especially under leading questions. They will fabricate memories for themselves and say what you want to hear."
The Maple Leaf Mask said, "Insects everywhere are actually puppets? That's a brilliant idea! If it could really be realized, I'd like to use this method to optimize our population structure first!" The Golden Eagle Head asked gently, "Besides... saliva, I think the Doctor might have other criteria for judgment."
"No!" Danis said in a muffled voice, "But I have a feeling it must be him! I trust my intuition!"
Everyone: "..."
“Well then,” the golden-headed eagle said in a reassuring tone, “I’ll have those wizards we’ve bribed inquire. Hogwarts is already in session, so it should be easy to find out if a celebrity like Wade Grey is at the school.”
Danis fell silent, his brow furrowed in dissatisfaction with the perfunctory answer.
But the others didn't waste much time on his unfounded speculation; they quickly began discussing how to deal with the current situation.
Staff remained silent, like cicadas shedding their shells. Financially, a clear separation was implemented, with crucial data and time-related elements being transferred and stored securely.
Using the influence of the masses at the top of the Muggle world to deal with enemies in the shadows, and using the state apparatus to fight against magic;
Then, by using bribed wizards, they fabricated a murder case to provide irrefutable evidence pointing to the Mafia Party, thus inciting conflict between the Magical Congress and the Mafia Party...
Danis listened listlessly; the strategy part was irrelevant to him, as he was only responsible for the laboratory portion.
And because Danis's role is truly irreplaceable, even though he is difficult to communicate with, has strange needs, wild ideas, and does not follow the rules, everyone still ignores his many shortcomings and tolerates his existence.
The meeting lasted for several hours, during which Danis remained silent, only occasionally glancing at the person wearing the purple flower mask.
—There are two snails on her windowsill?
great!
It seems that even after his warning, she still did not raise her guard against this creature.
I wonder if everyone else is this foolish...
As the meeting ended, the video gradually dimmed, until only the golden eagle head and the rabbit mask representing Danis remained.
"Are you angry that no one took your opinion seriously, Brian?" the golden eagle head asked, his tone much more amiable.
Danis leaned forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Chief, I have studied the UMNO's past behavior patterns. Their style has always been to create panic, publicly execute people, and use decisive and brutal methods, without even caring whether innocent people are implicated."
"But this time is different. This time... it's too precise, like surgery! This is definitely not the style of the UMNO!"
"This isn't even the style of the Magical Congress. They wouldn't kill so quickly! They're even less likely to make a big fuss about it! They're more afraid of the magical world being exposed than we are."
The golden eagle head was silent for a moment: "Why didn't you just say that?... Never mind, go on."
He understood that Danis must have gradually sorted out his thoughts during their discussion. However, because of the previous ridicule and sarcasm from the others, he held his breath and refused to speak.
"And this time, the storm's trajectory, scale, and the extent of the storm were also very strange!"
Danis continued, "It's as if someone used an invisible hand to escort it to New York, and then planted it in the clouds, turning a natural disaster into a weapon that facilitates action!"
On the screen with the golden eagle head, one can vaguely see an old hand suddenly clenching, veins bulging.
He asked in a hoarse voice, "Is...this possible?"
“Our technology isn’t advanced enough—we can’t achieve that level of precision,” Danis said. “But… if I’m not mistaken, the puppet can.”
Silence spread once again.
After a long silence, the golden eagle slowly said, "You know what? Brian... you've raised a very terrifying possibility..."
The cold light from the computer screen danced on their faces as the golden-headed eagle softly uttered the scenario they feared most:
“If Wade Gray is in New York and is cooperating with the Malays against us, then that proves…”
He took a deep breath: "We are facing not just the Malays, but an alliance between Grindelwald and Dumbledore!"
(End of this chapter)