Hogwarts: Voldemort, don't stop me from studying

Chapter 956 Pleasant Fragrance
Wade didn't respond, but simply adjusted his posture slightly and squinted at the front of him.

The lights in the banquet hall slowly dimmed.

The spotlights came on, and Mark Paul walked onto the stage, microphone in hand, with a polite smile on his face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests."

Paul's voice rang clearly throughout the hall, "Welcome to Stonefield Manor. Thank you all for attending tonight's special presentation."

He paused, giving himself a few seconds to wait for the applause to rise and fall in a restrained manner.

"Before we officially begin, please allow me to introduce our main characters for tonight—"

Paul knew what everyone wanted to see, so without saying a word, he turned to the side and made a "please" gesture.

Behind the stage, the heavy curtain slowly opened.

The puppets emerged one after another—

Pale and handsome vampires, tall and burly werewolves, handsome young men, vibrant young girls, dignified middle-aged men, and even teenagers.

A faint smile appeared on Wade's lips.

Illari—the alchemist who supposedly joined the Purifiers—didn't seem to have made much progress in his puppetry skills, but instead devoted a great deal of energy to adjusting the puppets' appearance.

The puppets' movements looked somewhat rigid, like models walking in the same way on a runway. In Wade's eyes, they lacked vitality and realism.

But their smooth skin, beautiful appearance, fluid movements, and ageless bodies were enough to make everyone present suddenly breathe rapidly.

Under Paul's direction, the puppets walked around the stage once, and then performed a variety of movements—

Running, jumping, launching yourself up, spinning 360 degrees, dancing, fighting...

Exclamations and applause rang out one after another, and everyone's attention was drawn to the puppet. Colorful lights were cast down from above the stage, while the lights in the audience seats were dimmed further, leaving only faint guiding lights from the edges of the seats.

The fresh scent in the air became even stronger.

Wade's nose twitched slightly, his brow furrowed, and then he looked at the other Stonefields in the box.

They were still watching the performance with great interest, completely unaware that there was anything wrong with it. Several young people were enthusiastically comparing the puppets on stage with a robot that Japan was preparing to launch.

"I heard they're using the fact that ASIMO can be used to play football as a promotional gimmick!" one of the tall, thin young men exclaimed excitedly, waving his arms. "If you ask me, this is exactly what we want to see!"

"Uncle John, are you leaving?" A young man sitting to the side and behind him saw Wade walking away and quickly stood up to greet him respectfully.

Wade glanced at him and said in John's slightly annoyed tone, "Go to the restroom."

Naturally, no one stopped him, and most people didn't even notice him leaving.

The corridor was equally dimly lit, with only faint indicator lights near the floor. Two bodyguards stood at the door of each private room, and as soon as Wade came out, one of them immediately came forward to greet him.

Before the other person could even get close, Wade waved his hand impatiently and said, "Stop asking so many questions, I just need to use the restroom!"

Perhaps because he was also "Stonefield," the bodyguards stopped in their tracks, and even the servants in the corridor just watched without following him.

Vader strode into the bathroom, took a small bottle of homemade antidote from his pocket which had been enchanted with the Invisible Stretch Charm, and swallowed it. A cooling sensation instantly spread throughout his body, and his drowsy head cleared up.

He rubbed his forehead, his fingers resting on the ventilation window. Hundreds of tiny ants suddenly appeared as he moved, squeezing through the narrow vent and climbing onto the outside wall in the blink of an eye.

Wade himself did not take the opportunity to leave. He flushed the toilet, washed his hands, and then slowly walked out of the bathroom.

As expected, a servant was waiting outside.

He said respectfully in a low voice, "The lighting is dim. I'll take you back to your box, Mr. John Stonefield." "Then turn the lights up!" Wade said, feigning annoyance. "Is there a performance here? Why aren't all the lights on?"

The attendant maintained his bowed posture and said obediently, "Please understand, this is all Sir William's order."

Wade immediately fell silent, clicked his tongue, and waved for the other party to lead the way.

When he returned to the box, the puppet show was still going on, but the music on stage had changed to more energetic electronic music.

In the audience, people were noticeably more excited—

The whispers grew louder, some people unconsciously tapped their feet on the handrails, some stood up and craned their necks to look at their favorite puppets, and everyone's breathing became unusually rapid as they inhaled the fragrant air of the room.

Suddenly, an elderly woman in the audience went limp, her head tilted to one side, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Her companion nudged her, but there was no response. Startled, they thought she had suddenly died. Just as they reached out to check her breathing under her nose, her own body began to sway.

"Pfft!"

The sound of a person falling to the ground, mixed in with the music, was inconspicuous, yet it was like the first domino toppling.

One by one, the guests slumped into their seats, and everywhere there were unconscious people lying on their backs with their eyes rolled back.

Some people tried to stand up, but their legs gave way and they knelt on the ground;
Someone sensed something was wrong and struggled to rush towards the exit, but was immediately covered by the nearest bodyguard;
Someone shouted, "Doctor! Call a doctor!" but the shouts were quickly drowned out by sleepiness.

The whole process lasted only about two minutes.

When the last strong former Marine tried to resist but was pinned to the ground by five bodyguards and injected with a powerful sedative, the entire venue fell completely silent.

On the stage, only the puppets continued to mechanically circle around, and the music ended just in time.

"stop."

Paul's voice rang out.

All the puppets stopped moving at the same time, as if a video had been paused.

Inside the venue, bright lights suddenly shone down, illuminating every corner.

The blinding white light dispelled the ambiguous and hallucinatory atmosphere. The ventilation system was fully activated, and a strange buzzing sound filled the room, as if a sleeping giant beast was snoring inside.

A moment later, the pleasant floral fragrance disappeared, replaced by the cool air of an autumn night.

Under the light, the sleeping postures of the more than two hundred guests were clearly visible in every detail:

Some people were drooling, some were snoring loudly, some were unconsciously twitching, and some had their masks fall to the ground and were carelessly crushed by bodyguards.

Even the members of the Stonefield family inside the private room were not spared and were all unconscious.

"squeak--"

With a soft sound, the side door of the stage opened, and a young man pushed a wheelchair out.

Sitting in the wheelchair was a gaunt old man, as if a gust of wind could blow him away—Sir William Stonefield.

He was dressed in plain white casual clothes, his sparse white hair was plastered to his scalp, his eyebrows were thick, white and messy, and his face was covered with age spots and deep wrinkles.

But his eyes—those deep-set eyes—were unusually bright and sharp as an eagle's.

(End of this chapter)