A magical journey that begins in Azkaban.

Chapter 541 Baldwin's Crystal Coffin

There was a brief silence in Laboratory 14, and the smell of burning still hung in the air. The Aurors were busy moving the victims, and everyone's face was filled with shock and confusion, obviously thinking about what had just happened.

Drew wiped the sweat from his forehead and murmured, "Merlin bless you, I hope that kid knows what he's doing."

"Don't worry about it, Drew." His partner patted his shoulder, with a hint of awe in his tone: "The boy's magic is so powerful that he doesn't need our help at all. Let's focus on the task at hand."

The Aurors led the hostage out of the tunnel and handed him over to Bellingrum who was waiting outside. Without stopping, they immediately went into the remaining laboratories to continue the search and rescue.

Everyone soon realized that the number of people below was far beyond their expectations. Nearly a thousand terrified Muggles, hundreds of weak wizards, and a large number of unrecognizable infected bodies filled the dark space.

"This place is simply hell on earth. The Death Eaters should be hanged." The Aurors sighed in a low voice, with tears of pity in their eyes.

They put on dragon-skin gloves and carefully opened the swollen pustules on the infected bodies. Despite the risk of being infected with an unknown virus, they still worked tirelessly in the hope of rescuing more survivors.

As more and more people were rescued, violent conflicts broke out among the hostages, and fear and prejudice spread among the crowd.

"Keep these warthogs covered in pus-filled pustule, away from us! Don't you idiots know that these infected carry a deadly virus? They will kill us all!"

His words caused a commotion, and others began to push each other, trying to get away from the poor infected.

"Enough, keep quiet!" a burly Auror roared. His voice was like thunder and instantly calmed the restless crowd.

He glanced at everyone with a stern look, "Have you forgotten where you are here? This is the Dark Lord's territory! If you don't want to be captured by the Death Eaters, just shut up and follow my orders!"

His reprimand was quite effective, and Voldemort's intimidation was far more likely to soothe people's hearts than tender words. People held their breath at the same time, fearing that the Dark Lord who could not be named would suddenly appear in front of them.

However, as time went on, the rescued people gradually formed three distinct groups: the depressed wizards who had lost their wands gathered together and talked in low voices; the uninfected Muggles were panic-stricken and full of doubts about everything around them; and the sickly infected people were isolated aside, the pain and despair on their faces were heartbreaking.

Bellingrum and his hot air balloon were suspended in the sky. No matter how the Auror shouted, he did not come down. "We agreed on 100 Galleons per person... No, wait, Roger said double that, which is 200."

His eyes flashed with the light of gold galleons, and his fingers moved quickly in the air, counting the heads on the ground.

"I'm rich! I'm rich!" He shouted ecstatically, sincerely hoping that the Aurors could continue to work hard and rescue more people. After all, every time he rescued a person, his wallet would be fatter.

The Aurors had nothing to say about the goblins' shamelessness.

Some people cursed under their breath, but more people chose to focus on the rescue work. In such a critical moment, it was obviously meaningless to argue about the morality of the goblins.

At the same time, deep underground, Roger had just used powerful magic to break open the door of Laboratory No. 10. When the dust cleared, he held his breath, expecting to see the passage leading to Baldwin's laboratory.

However, what came into view was not Laboratory No. 9, but a deep and unfathomable underground lake. The calm surface of the water was like a huge black mirror, stretching across the cave.

Roger frowned slightly and raised his wand. A bright light shot out from the tip of the wand, like a nimble firefly, lightly leaping into the lake.

The light spot drew a graceful arc in the water, gradually sinking, illuminating the mysterious outline of the lake bottom.

"No, no! Still no!!" Rogge's eyebrows were knitted together. He glanced at his watch and his heart tightened. There were only 20 minutes left before evacuation.

On the other side of the underground lake, Labs 1-8 had been opened up by Dalish. Through the crow mask, the complementary vision allowed them to have a panoramic view of the underground lake.

"Is there a secret door under the water?" Roger took a deep breath and quickly cast a waterproof spell on his clothes and shoes. Then, he put on the bubble head spell and dived into the water like a fish.

The underwater world instantly opened before his eyes. Roger opened his eyes wide, scanning every corner of the bottom of the water quickly and carefully, not missing any possible clues.

The entire underground lake has been isolated from the outside world for a long time, forming a unique ecosystem. Due to the long-term lack of light, the creatures in the water have evolved special characteristics to adapt to the dark environment.

Transparent and colorless fish swam silently, their eyes had completely degenerated, but their other senses were extremely sharp. The moment Roger entered the water, the changes in water flow and the subtle chemical signals he released were immediately captured by these magical creatures.

Before Roger could fully adapt to this unfamiliar underwater environment, these strange creatures disappeared without a trace like ghosts. He looked around in confusion, only to see some strange fungi scattered on the empty lake bottom, and round stalactites standing quietly.

As for the entrance to Laboratory 9, there was no trace of it at all.

Roger swam another circle without giving up, and spent five minutes conducting another carpet search of the lake bottom.

"There is no trace of magic." He had to surface and rethink the location of Baldwin's laboratory.

"If I were him, where would I place the laboratory?" He shook his head, water droplets splashed everywhere, and his thoughts raced.

Rogge closed his eyes and tried to think from his opponent's perspective: "A secret place, a place that is convenient for virus research and will not be easily discovered or reached by wizards."

He looked up at the jagged stalactites above his head, which were like upside-down swords, exuding a mysterious atmosphere. A voice deep in his heart told him: Baldwin's laboratory must be nearby.

Because all the test subjects are here, and Bella is in a hurry...

"Where is the virus research laboratory?" He asked himself, his brain working rapidly, re-examining every detail he saw along the way.

The snow-covered wilderness, the abandoned Fort Detrick, the smooth tunnel, Laboratory 15...all the images flashed through his mind like slides, but the trace of Laboratory 9 was still elusive.

"When I was doing virus research..." A long-lost memory came to his mind, and Rogge's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had found a breakthrough.

Thinking back to the laboratory at Cambridge Medical, he remembered that although it was well-equipped, it did not require much space.

"Laboratory No. 9 is right above!" This thought exploded in his mind like a thunderbolt. Rogge immediately turned around and flew towards the exit.
"What's wrong?" someone shouted to him, his voice full of confusion.

But Roger had no time to explain. Time was running out and every second was precious.

Rogge quickly flew into the air and overlooked the entire Fort Detrick's buildings and layout.

The entire biological laboratory park is in the shape of an arrow, giving people a sharp and precise feeling. The central building is cleverly spliced ​​with rectangular and long buildings to form a complex and orderly structure. At the tail of the arrow, several buildings with gray-black exterior walls stand quietly, looking like offices and rest areas.

In these seemingly ordinary buildings, there are horrifying secrets. They study, cultivate, and reorganize various deadly biochemical viruses. Anthrax, plague, cholera, Agent Orange... all the biochemical killers you have heard of and haven't heard of in the world are here.

Furthermore, some secret rooms serve mind control experiments, while others may be used to conduct quantitative chemical determinations of human emotions based on human anatomy results.

Rogge had visited some floors and witnessed with his own eyes the cold tubes extracting some kind of nutrient from the baby's body in the cradle behind the glass.

Not to mention the infamous "Building 731". All the crimes committed by the Japanese Kwantung Army in the past were taken over by Fort Detrick.

Roger twisted his neck, his eyes flashing with anger and disgust. But time was running out, and he couldn't search every building and every room one by one. There was only one best way: demolish the building.

"Bellinrum, take them away." Rogge ordered calmly. "But the boat fare..." Bellinrum was about to complain, but when he saw Rogge's cold eyes, he immediately shut up.

He quickly controlled several magic hot air balloons to land, and shouted at the same time: "Hurry up, you poor guys! It's really bad luck that I let you in without paying."

A Muggle stared at Bellingrum in horror and screamed, "What the hell are you... a monster!"

Bellinrum was enraged and angrily cursed: "You are the monster! Your whole family is a monster!"

He turned back and shouted to the Auror, "They should have been left behind. They don't have a single Galleon left. It's no pity for them to die."

Rogge ignored the incident and after the hot air balloon rose slightly, he immediately began to demolish the building.

His eyes were fixed on the two buildings in the center of the park, which were located above the underground lake and were the primary suspects of Laboratory 9.

"Shattered into pieces, rapidly collapsed, and blazing flames." Rogge cast three spells in succession, and as he waved his wand, powerful magic power burst out like lightning.

The walls embedded with steel plates instantly collapsed under the impact of the spell, and then a raging fire swept through the exposed room, reducing everything to ashes.

The first, the second... The white building was reduced to ruins under Rogge's spell, but Lab 9 still did not show up. Thick smoke and dust filled the air, obscuring the view.

Roger calmly said, "Magic Apparition."

A fan-shaped beam of light swept across the ruins, revealing any hidden traces of magic. In the gray-yellow smoke, a few blue beams flashed by.

But they are faint and can be easily overlooked if one is not concentrating fully.

"Clear water like a spring!" He immediately cast the next spell.

Compared to the explosion of flames, the water flow has the characteristic of penetrating all holes. A large stream of water gushed out from the tip of the magic wand, quickly submerging the smoke and ruins.

While increasing his magic output, he kept a close eye on the water surface, looking for a location where a large number of bubbles might appear. That was most likely the entrance to Laboratory No. 9.

A minute later, the water in the entire park had reached a depth of 30 centimeters. Except for the ground under your feet, bubbles were everywhere in the park.

"Isn't it possible that these people have dug a hole down there?" He thought for a moment and decided to use a more advanced spell, "Flood."

Instantly, a more violent torrent of water gushed out of the magic wand, sweeping across the entire park like a flood that broke through a dam. Waves gradually surged, and the water level rose rapidly, soon exceeding one meter in depth.

Rogge flew in the air, vigilantly observing the movement of the water and the distribution of the bubbles.

Blah blah blah, blah blah...

The waves turned bright white in the sunlight, rolling and driving more water into the underground cavity.

A vortex much larger than any other appeared in the ruins in the center of the park. The corners of his mouth slightly raised, and he whispered, "I found you!"

He said without hesitation: "Quickly collapse."

The spell was like a sledgehammer, smashing the hard and thick concrete below the center of the vortex.

"Laboratory No. 9!" Rogge smiled victoriously and stepped into the collapsed pit.

The scene before him was very different from what he had imagined. Baldwin's virus laboratory was not an ordinary brick and stone structure, but was cleverly spliced ​​together from thousands of natural crystals. This design could use the crystal's affinity for magic to shield it from magical detection and avoid being discovered by other wizards.

If it weren't for Rogge's alertness and caution, he might have escaped.

Baldwin in the laboratory heard the noise outside and looked out through the crystal wall. The crow mask on Rogge's face startled him a little, but there was no fear in his eyes, but a hint of calmness.

"Alaho, open." A silver light shot out from the tip of the magic wand, and the crystal door was slightly shaken open. Rogge slid into the room carefully, looking around vigilantly.

"Hahaha." Baldwin sat in front of the experimental table and let out a low and hoarse laugh. "You know, my experiment has been successful. I just assembled it!"

"The Snakeman virus is my stolen achievement. This is my real work." Baldwin picked up the test tube filled with powder-blue liquid, his eyes full of pride: "It has the lethality of the dragon pox virus and can lurk in the soil like anthrax. It can kill all Muggles and all wizards."

"Do you know what this means?" Baldwin stood up slowly, his eyes flashing with fanaticism. "Change the world, let wizards and Muggles be killed by it. Killed by my Death Virus!!"

"But Bella is still not satisfied. She wants me to create a virus that kills half-blood wizards. That stupid woman, what is she talking about purity..."

When Baldwin wanted to continue speaking, Roger calmly raised his wand. Three "God's Shadowless Swords" shot out like lightning, piercing Baldwin's brain and chest accurately.

A trace of doubt flashed in Baldwin's eyes, as if silently asking: "Why didn't you wait for me to finish?" But soon, the light of life disappeared from his eyes. With doubt, he returned to death.

Roger didn't care about Baldwin's research results or the purpose of the powder-blue liquid. In his opinion, these were too dangerous and should not exist in this world.

He summoned up Fiendfyre, a fiery magical flame that raged through the crystal room. Starting from Baldwin's body, it greedily devoured everything that could be burned. Everything in the laboratory: documents, equipment, liquids in test tubes - was reduced to ash in the Fiendfyre.

Roger watched it all calmly, making sure no research material survived.

"4:15, just in time." He looked up at his watch and continued to deal with the 14 underground laboratories.

He carefully checked the entire laboratory to ensure that no potentially dangerous items or information were missed. In the licking of the fierce fire, everything about Baldwin was completely wiped out.

In Rogge's mind, he actually agreed with Baldwin's opinion: it is impossible to create a virus that only targets half-blood wizards.

Because pure-blood is just a social concept based on family bloodline, it does not mean that pure-blood wizards are special in magic.

Even without this group of holy pure-blood families, new holy pure-blood families would be born in the magic world, perhaps with other names, such as the Order of the Phoenix, the Lionheart Alliance, and so on.

As long as they can represent powerful power and huge wealth, they can be called holy pure blood.

In fact, even if he did not take action, Baldwin's fate was already doomed. Bella, a fanatical pure-blood advocate, absolutely could not accept Baldwin's research conclusions.

In her worldview, there are essential differences between wizards, and pure-bloods are superior. Baldwin's discovery shook the foundation of this belief, which Bella could not tolerate.

Rather than saying that the crystals built the laboratory, it would be more accurate to say that they built Baldwin's cell and coffin.

(End of this chapter)