Chapter 934
Intertwined Fates
Chapter 934 Intertwined Fates
Braun leaned against the railing on the hospital rooftop, leisurely observing the street scene, while the inconspicuous communication pea in his ear was getting slightly warm.
On the other end of the communication, Vito was relaying the details of the discussion to him.
A genuine smile slowly spread across Braun's face as he pressed the communication pod, as if he could feel his companions' excitement through it.
"A kingdom entirely of our own? Growing quietly in the Muggle world?... Brilliant."
He spoke in a light tone, a laugh rolling down his throat:
"Is there anything I can do in advance? For example, using my UMNO identity, could I hand out a few business cards in certain places, or... send some small gifts to certain people in advance to pave the way?"
“No, no need,” Vito said. “We want this power to emerge from a pure background, free from any extraneous interference.”
"So if you want to help, Wayne, you can do it yourself, but the UMNO party doesn't need it."
This idea actually seems somewhat naive, just as Wade himself occasionally comes up with some outdated views and insistences.
But Braun did not object; instead, he chuckled softly and happily.
"I wholeheartedly agree."
He spoke with a rare, almost solemn sense of commitment:
"Just call me anytime you need me. Every kingdom needs a shadow."
……
After ending the communication, Braun's relaxed smile slowly faded.
He glanced at the street in the distance, then turned and pushed open an inconspicuous door leading to the building's fire escape, and went downstairs.
A few minutes later, Braun pushed open a heavy, soundproof door marked "Authorized Personnel Access".
Behind the door, the walls and ceiling were snow-white, the floor was milky white, and the sheets and cabinets were also light-colored. The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.
Doctors and nurses hurried down the corridor, each with an unusually solemn expression on their face.
Braun didn't stop, heading straight for an intensive care unit at the far end. There, Abigail was looking inside through the observation window in the door.
Several children lay in the ward, all extremely thin, their faces pale with an unhealthy bluish-gray tinge, and connected to various devices that monitored their vital signs, the beeping sounds echoing continuously.
They all bore gruesome stitched scars, a testament to the immense suffering they had endured. Even in their sleep, their brows furrowed in pain, occasionally punctuated by a faint sob or scream.
These children were all rescued by them from the secret laboratory run by Lightfoot.
Because of their past experiences, some of them have developed a deep aversion and fear of magic, instinctively resisting it and even affecting the healing effects of potions.
The Malay Party could only transfer the children to Muggle hospitals and use ordinary people's medical technology to sustain their lives. At the same time, they sent people to places like Diagon Alley and Echo Alley to buy healing potions made from phoenix tears.
Abigail stood there quietly, her back looking unusually thin and stiff, staring motionlessly at the children's pained expressions.
As Braun approached, he heard Abigail whisper:
"The healer sent by your UMNO party said... there are signs that a child is about to be born as a 'silver leaf'..."
"Hmm," Braun said lightly, "I heard that's how it is."
Abigail frowned slightly: "I heard that decades ago, Mr. Grindelwald longed for the power of the Obscurials..."
Braun chuckled softly: "Why don't you just ask directly—would the Malawis deliberately exacerbate the child's situation in order to obtain the Obscurial?"
Abigail turned to face Braun and asked bluntly, "So, you guys can?"
“Of course not.” Braun crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, saying slowly, “You know what? This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered this situation. The last potential Obscurial was cured, and this one won’t be an exception.”
Abigail didn't believe it completely, but she felt a little relieved.
She subconsciously didn't want to think about the possibility that Braun was deceiving her.
Braun, however, wasn't about to let her off the hook. He asked sarcastically, "What? You're concerned about these children?"
“Can’t I care?” Abigail countered. “Yes, of course you can.” Braun nodded first, then said, “But… how are they any different from Khalil?”
Abigail asked, bewildered, "Kaliel?"
Why mention that child who has already passed away?
“Yes, you remember him, don’t you?” Braun said. “Among the Purifiers who were interrogated at the Magic Congress, someone mentioned that child, saying that he was taken from the training base and never returned.”
“Yes.” A flash of pain crossed Abigail’s face. “He was killed by Hogwarts… or by the British Ministry of Magic!”
"what!"
Braun let out a distinct sneer.
Abigail retorted angrily, "Is it funny?"
“I really don’t understand, dear Sera,” Braun said slowly. “You seem like a smart person, so how come you sometimes act so stupid?”
Suppressing her anger, Abigail gritted her teeth and asked, "What do you mean?"
“Look at what we’re doing… Abigail, we’re the UMNO!”
Braun stared into the man's eyes and said:
"Even we wouldn't casually harm a child who represents the future of the wizarding world. What makes you so sure that Dumbledore, the famously kind white wizard, and the British Ministry of Magic would kill a bewitched child?"
Abigail was stunned.
As if she had been jolted awake from her sleep, her face suddenly lost all expression, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her nails digging deep into her palms, her knuckles turning white from the excessive force, and even trembling slightly.
She trembled all over, but she couldn't stop Braun's voice, like a devil's whisper, from reaching her ears:
"To be honest, even Mr. Grindelwald, or even Voldemort... when they were caught and unable to resist, the British Ministry of Magic would only sentence them to life imprisonment and throw them into Azkaban. They don't kill people... well, they try not to kill."
"You are the ones who truly killed Khalil!"
He paused and continued:
"It is you who purge, and it is you who have given him this fate!"
"That child wasn't originally a vampire; he was a promising wizard! He could have studied and grown up normally at Hogwarts. He wouldn't have become a tool for killing, and his family wouldn't have been destroyed!"
"But your people took him away from his parents, altered his memories, and conducted experiments on him just like those on Prometheus, turning him into a non-human monster!"
"Once you've successfully transformed someone into a vampire, a killer, or a tool, throw him out... throw him into a place where he could have lived a normal life, let him witness firsthand the drastically different fates of his peers, and fuel his anger and hatred!"
"You sent him to deal with Wade, but what is Khalil thinking about? It's the path of his missed destiny, and the parents he can't face!"
"So after the mission failed... in order to save his mother, he chose to kill himself, one life for another... that's why he died."
Having finally received the answer to the question she had been longing for, Abigail felt no relief. Instead, she felt as if she had been struck by an invisible hammer, frozen in place, her breath catching in her throat.
She felt very cold... her whole body was extremely cold, as if her blood had frozen... her teeth chattered uncontrollably, and her voice trembled.
"Khalil...he wasn't...he wasn't a vampire originally?"
“No.” Braun’s mocking smile vanished, replaced by a blank expression. “He is a Muggle-born wizard and Vander Grey’s childhood friend. That’s probably why the Purge chose to use him.”
Abigail asked in a trembling voice, "His parents... what about his parents? Aren't they...?"
Braun frowned. “Landon Johnson and Anne Johnson—his biological parents—are documented in the community where he grew up and the Muggle schools he attended.”
Abigail turned pale and suddenly couldn't say a word.
Braun asked in surprise, "Abigail, are you really a core member of the Purifiers? How come you know nothing about this?"
Before he could finish speaking, he seemed to realize something and exclaimed:
"Khalil's memories have been altered... Could it be yours too?"
"—Sera Abigail, do the memories and thoughts in your mind truly belong to you?"
(End of this chapter)