Chapter 942
The Road That Cannot Be Started
Chapter 942 A Road of No Return
A sickly flush rose on Perez's pale face, and a twisted smile appeared on his face:
"But the Muggles you look down on are much more sincere than the bureaucrats of the wizarding world! They will open all their secrets and all their resources to me!"
Hawthorne couldn't help but say, "Wake up, Reginald! Trusting those Muggles is the stupidest thing you can do."
"They open their secrets to you only to drain your knowledge and magic, and then they will abandon you without mercy!"
"The 'essence of time' that you pursue is nothing more than another 'resource' that can be monopolized and sold in their eyes!"
"Haha!" Perez laughed, his eyes looking at Hawthorne with a hint of superiority.
"Fool! What a fool! Hawthorne, do you think I don't know that Muggles have things they want too? Only a fool would stare at what others have and wish they had nothing at all!"
"But I don't care! I don't care if those stupid Muggles can live forever! I only care about what I can get!"
"As for your suggestion of abandoning them, that's even more ridiculous... Why? Because they know that only I can unravel the mysteries of time magic for them, and only I can free them from the prison of time!"
"In Prometheus, a wizard like me is truly one of a kind!"
He scoffed, his voice filled with disdain:
"Look at that idiot Aldridge Corbitt! For some money... some Muggle-printed paper! He's as happy as a child who got candy, betraying intelligence and his own people!"
"He simply doesn't understand; he's only touched the most superficial, the dirtiest scraps! He hasn't even scratched the surface of what's truly valuable, the power of time itself!"
"And what happened? He was the one who exposed himself first, becoming a ridiculous target... He deserved it!"
……
His excited voice seemed to pierce the night sky, but no one, whether it was the nearby Muggles or the distant Picqueli Manor, was disturbed.
Only one crow, perched on a branch and completely blending into the night, lowered its head and stared intently at them.
A glint of light flickered in its eyes.
……
On a taller building further away, soft light shone from the windows of a penthouse apartment, creating a small patch of light.
Antoine stood by the window and looked into the distance—
He knew the biggest change of the night would happen on that tree-lined road two kilometers away, but naturally, he couldn't see anything from where he was standing.
Antoine turned around and saw that the entire wall was occupied by a magnified mirror. On the smooth mirror surface, several people were shown looking tense, and even Perez's excited voice could be heard.
From the top-down angle, it was impossible to see the expressions of the other two people.
When Antoine heard Perez describe his betrayal as a pursuit of knowledge, he couldn't help but laugh.
“Listen to this guy’s ‘heartfelt words.’ Tsk tsk, if he were at Hogwarts, he would definitely be a Ravenclaw like our kids—the kind who would do anything to pursue knowledge.”
"I wonder what Wade would think if he heard this 'no other choice' argument?"
Grindelwald sat on the sofa with a glass of freshly poured gin in his hand. The light from the shimmering mirror outlined the contours of his profile and the tips of his silver hair.
He stared at Perez on the screen, who was still passionately defending himself, as if he were looking at a worm entangled in a web, still self-righteous.
"Thoughts?" Grindelwald scoffed. "He'll just think this guy is incredibly stupid."
He tilted his head slightly to look at Antoine: "Wade wanted to study time, so he successfully applied for the Time-Turner; he wanted to learn dark magic, and he even got Dumbledore's tacit approval."
“Ha! That’s true.” Antoine laughed. “Just how crazy was this guy when he was young that no one in the entire Magic Council dared to let him touch even the scraps of time magic?”
Grindelwald's gaze returned to Perez, his eyes seeming to pierce through time and see into the hearts of everyone.
"The difference may lie in..."
He spoke slowly, his tone carrying a hint of something unfathomable:
“Wade knows when to appropriately express his desire and when to restrain himself—enough to attract attention and acquire resources, but not enough to make him seem dangerous.” He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips. “Even though what he’s doing is far more dangerous than manipulating a few time particles.”
"That child knows how to restrain himself and be sensible..."
He murmured, as if savoring these two words that were almost entirely foreign to him in his youth.
“That’s what I like most about him… well, one of the things. He knows where the boundaries of power are, and he knows how to use those boundaries themselves to his advantage.”
Sensing the leader's pleasure, Antoine couldn't help but smile: "So, that's why you chose him..."
After a pause, he added, "But you're still not planning to tell him about that? If Wade were here, our... progress would be much faster."
“No rush…no need to rush. I need to take another look…” Grindelwald murmured, his gaze seemingly fixed on someone who wasn’t there.
Antoine was puzzled: "We need to look again... look at what?"
Perez's roar came from the telescope:
"I don't care if those stupid Muggles can live forever! I only care about what I can get!"
These words triggered some memories for Grindelwald, and he turned his gaze back to the Mirror.
He suddenly realized that when he was young, he might have been just as crazy as that poor wretch below.
They just weren't focused on the same things...
What did Dumbledore think when he saw Dumbledore so passionate about his ideals?
Just as his thoughts were drifting away, Antoine's voice rang out:
"Sir, which way do you think the situation in the United States will go after tonight? Will Leila Picqueli and the people behind her control everything, or will Hawthorne be able to stage a comeback?"
“That’s why we’re waiting here, Antoine.”
As Grindelwald spoke, his gaze fell on the man with a straight back and a slightly trembling body.
"The key figure who will ultimately determine the course of the situation may not be those who are good at weighing the pros and cons... but rather the hounds who are driven to the brink of despair yet still wield their blades."
……
Hawthorne took a deep breath, suppressing his cold anger, and said in a heavy voice:
"Reginald, listen to me!"
"The crisis facing the magical world now far exceeds your narrow 'mystery of time.' This is not an academic debate, nor a simple exchange of interests—it is a war for survival!"
“I know Lyra may have told you something, but she’s not one of your allies. And the Muggles want far more than just a few extra years of life! They want to take, to replace, to devour us all!”
"Once the barrier is breached from the inside, our very foundation will crumble, including yours! Turn back now, it's not too late—cooperate with us to stop their plot, protect the magical world, and that is to protect what you truly want to protect—whether it's knowledge or the future!"
Perez scoffed, "Ha, what nonsense are you spouting! What Leila! You think your ambitious assistant could possibly tell me anything? Someone else told me about your plans!"
Hawthorne's expression changed slightly.
"besides--"
Perez opened his arms as if to embrace the golden dust particles suspended beneath the streetlights:
"I chose this path! I mastered the power! Do you see them? These particles... This is the future! A future you can never understand, and you can never reach!"
"The magical world is corrupt, controlled by you old fogies who have stuck in the past! Only your deaths can change this!"
"I don't need to look back. I'm going to keep walking down this road until the end of time!"
His eyes were completely crazed, devoid of any rationality, and any attempts to persuade him were futile.
Just then, Hughes's tightly pursed lips suddenly parted into a cold and sharp arc.
"Then why haven't you made a move yet, Perez?"
(End of this chapter)