Chapter 144

At the Magic Research Institute, after Murphy settled Patrick and the other patients and lifted the Stunning Spell from several Muggle Security Corps members whose conditions were not particularly serious, Murphy heard the general sequence of events.

Late last night, more than thirty werewolves who had fully transformed appeared near Patrick's lakeside villa.

Driven by a particularly large werewolf, they attacked the villa. The members of the Security Corps put up fierce resistance, but the werewolves' fur had extremely strong defense, and combined with excellent healing abilities, it was difficult for Muggle firearms to kill them.

Their speed and strength far exceeded that of ordinary humans, and combined with the panic and chaos of suddenly facing such monsters, the Muggle Security Corps immediately fell into a bitter struggle.

Almost in an instant, they lost three companions, and then the werewolves broke into the villa and began the slaughter.

They bit almost everyone, and in the process, several more Security Corps members were killed, while the rest were all seriously injured.

Patrick tried to hide Audrey and Ares, but failed. That particularly large werewolf had keen hearing and discovered Audrey and Ares hidden in a cupboard; he wounded Audrey and took little Ares away before the Muggle police arrived.

Taking human children and transforming them into werewolves was Greyback's sick hobby.

But as a Muggle child, the probability of Ares surviving after being bitten was extremely small.

He had to be found immediately.

Murphy made a call to Rita Skeeter.

"Post a few messages immediately, make sure they are eye-catching. Offer a reward for the location of the werewolves: ten thousand Galleons for providing an exact location, and two thousand Galleons for providing clues. Tell them to call my number if they have information. Also, contact the Wizarding Radio, contact every channel you know, pay to buy all their advertising slots, and publish this reward immediately."

Most werewolves were homeless, and this pack following Greyback were basically all vagrants; even the few werewolves that had been captured didn't know where they would appear tomorrow.

Spells like "Point Me" seemed difficult to work on long-distance targets; Murphy had no choice but to use this method to find their location.

Subsequently, Murphy called the Medical Team, the Transfiguration Research Group, and the Werewolf Treatment Project Group to jointly study the treatment of Patrick and the others.

"For ordinary werewolf bites, they can be cured normally by excising the magically infected area or by using a strong wound-cleaning agent plus a 'Wash-Curse Potion' (Anti-Intruder Jinx) to wash away the magic at the wound."

"We used this method to treat the shop assistants who were bitten by werewolves that hadn't transformed. Mrs. Audrey here only suffered scratches and did not come into contact with the werewolf's toxic saliva, so she should also be treatable through this method."

Elodie had been at the Magic Research Institute for a few months and had adapted to life here, even her way of speaking was leaning towards that of the researchers.

"Hmm, what about those who were bitten? Is there a plan?"

Elodie looked at Andrew, who said: "Yes, we have an idea, but it is very difficult to implement."

"Tell me about it."

"First, let me introduce werewolf syndrome."

"When we studied werewolf syndrome, we discovered that, unlike vampires which have many defects, it actually goes further on the path of the High Magus and is more perfect. Its defect lies in the fact that there are two reasons for the mutation of the Animagus potion: one is the wolf, and the other is the rabies virus that changed the wolf's mental state."

"Therefore, the transformation of a werewolf is actually two processes: one is the wolf-form Animagus transformation process, and the other is the infection process of the magical rabies virus. Among them, viral infection is the way werewolf syndrome spreads."

"If it is in the early stage of infection, viral replication can be inhibited through chemical means or T-cell therapy, thereby achieving a certain therapeutic effect."

"But the infection speed of the magical rabies virus is much faster than that of the ordinary rabies virus. When we examined the cerebrospinal fluid of these patients through lumbar puncture, we had already discovered signs of the existence of the magical rabies virus."

"Ordinary drugs and T-cell therapy are helpless against the virus in nerve cells. Although we can still increase nerve strength through Wisdom Potion and delay the disease by inhibiting viral replication with Wolfsbane Potion, we cannot eliminate the virus."

"Therefore, once it enters this stage, werewolf syndrome is basically very difficult to cure."

"So we thought that perhaps they could survive by successfully transforming into werewolves."

"This is very difficult; the vast majority of Muggles bitten by werewolves do not survive. The success probability is less than 6%."

Andrew said, "We initially speculate that this is because a large amount of energy is absorbed during the transformation process. Wizards can support this process by paying magic power, but Muggles have no magic power in their bodies, so things like their life force will be consumed."

"The manifestation is multiple organ failure. This process will be very fast; generally, Muggles cannot last more than three days, and Mr. Patrick probably only has a few hours left."

"However, there are also werewolves transformed from Muggles," Andrew said, "The secret to their survival lies in magic power."

"After the magical rabies virus invades the brain, due to a mechanism we do not yet understand, Muggles begin to produce magic power. We have also detected this phenomenon through the magic power tester."

"The magic power born through the virus supports the transformation process. This requires both processes to be very balanced; if the transformation process is too fast and the magic power that the magical rabies virus can induce is insufficient, organ failure will occur. If the viral infection is too fast, the person will be killed by the virus before the transformation is complete."

"Therefore, even if we can inhibit the virus through Wolfsbane Potion, we cannot do so, because this will make the magic power supply in Patrick and the others' bodies even less, thereby accelerating organ failure."

"Only by finding a way to replenish their magic power can they complete the transformation and thus escape danger."

"Replenish magic power? Can this be done?" Murphy asked.

Andrew glanced at Haldane next to him, who nodded and said: "We have already developed an injectable magic power potion. It is actually just wizard serum mixed with some ingredients that can maintain magic power."

"However, because everyone's magic power dimension is different, this magic power potion can only be used by oneself. Injecting magic power potion made from someone else's serum may lead to magic power disorder, which is very dangerous."

Murphy looked at Andrew again, "Do you have a solution to this problem?"

Andrew nodded, "This is actually a question of giving magic power a specific 'aura'; we have already encountered this problem."

Murphy immediately understood, "Animagus potion?"

"Yes, if we treat wizards as a kind of animal and build a potion with them as the target, and add the Muggle 'aura' characteristics extracted through Polyjuice Potion halfway through, we can manufacture a magic power potion that possesses that specific Muggle 'aura' characteristic."

"This line of thinking, it wasn't just thought of today, right?" Murphy asked.

"Yes, Director, this is one of the research results of our sub-project—on the research of Muggles transforming into wizards."

After Andrew finished speaking, he looked at Murphy with some trepidation, "If you feel that this project is not suitable to continue to advance, we will stop it right now."

(End of chapter)