Chapter 339: Before the Great War, Have a Bertie Bott's Bean

In the evening, Murphy, who was tuning the supercomputer "Athena" at the Magic Research Institute in preparation for the transfer of Lukas's Horcrux, received an emergency message from an Auror.

"The goblin factory at Sari Mine has been attacked; over a dozen Aurors are unconscious, and three hundred goblins are missing."

Before he could figure out what was going on, another piece of news came: "The Kent goblin factory has been attacked; requesting support. The enemy is Dumbledore! Repeat, the enemy is Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore attacking a goblin factory?

Well, if a wizard like Dumbledore were to lower himself to wage guerrilla warfare against him, he would indeed suffer heavy losses. Ordinary Aurors couldn't be Dumbledore's match, and if he didn't take the field himself, the goblins there would be rescued by Dumbledore.

Although the magic metal production was complete, Murphy wasn't entirely sure if he could achieve the final goal of mass-producing magic metal through the magic radar project. Even if he could, it would take some time. During this period, the goblins' productivity was still highly valued by Murphy.

However, with Dumbledore's ability, if he really wanted to rescue the goblins, he could have done it much more discreetly—quietly taking them away in the dead of night. Choosing to do it in broad daylight was as if he were afraid Murphy wouldn't know.

This was very likely a lure to get Murphy to take the bait.

But the opponent was Dumbledore, and he was the only one on his side who could contend with him.

Murphy now had quite a few trump cards, so he wasn't too worried about the other side's trap. On the contrary, it would be more troublesome if the "Holy Mother" came to lure the tiger away from the mountain again.

But blind defense was meaningless. The Queen was safe in Arkaim; besides that, the things he cared about most were nothing more than the antenna and the Magic Research Institute.

Regarding the antenna, he already had sufficient defense plans, and all the achievements of the research institute to date were stored in his head. Even if it were destroyed, he still had the national laboratories of the Soviet Union and other research institutions that could continue his plan; at most, the progress would be delayed a bit.

Things had come to this; he could afford to lose, but the other side might not.

Let me see what cards you are playing.

……

Kent, when Murphy appeared outside the goblin factory, he saw Dumbledore and Grindelwald, as expected.

Hundreds of goblins were fleeing one after another through the Portkey prepared by Dumbledore.

Murphy didn't go to chase them.

"Does your 'greater good' now include goblins, Mr. Grindelwald?" Murphy teased. "I thought you didn't like them much."

"That depends on who the enemy is," Grindelwald said. "Sometimes we have to make some compromises."

"Are you not using a Space Anchor?" Murphy looked at Dumbledore, then glanced at the goblins behind him, and suddenly understood. "Are you afraid they won't be able to run away?"

"You make me laugh, Murphy; I am always too indecisive," Dumbledore sighed. "Gellert has already scolded me several times just now."

"That wouldn't be the case," Murphy said. "Sometimes I still admire your kindness. Presumably, for you, saving them should be more meaningful than completing the plan, even if you know that without defeating me, these are all temporary."

"You knew we were waiting for you?" Grindelwald asked.

Murphy shrugged. "It's quite obvious."

"Then why did you come?"

"I couldn't just watch you let the goblins go one by one."

Grindelwald was a bit suspicious; he intuitively felt that Murphy was hiding his true purpose, but stalling for time was their plan anyway. Seeing that the goblins had almost escaped, he drew his wand.

But Murphy waved his hand. "I didn't come here to fight. The two of you might not necessarily be able to kill me. Why don't we sit down and talk?"

"At this point, we have nothing to talk about," Grindelwald said.

"That's not necessarily true. We should both still have some questions we hope to get answered, right?"

Murphy said, waving his hand, a table appeared in front of him. He took out a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and poured them out.

"Let's play a game. I'll pick a bean; if you can guess the flavor, I'll answer a question for you. If you can't guess, you answer one for me. Of course, after one question, you can also pick a bean for me to guess. There are... five beans here; we have five questions to ask each other. How about it?"

The two old men looked at each other. Dumbledore relaxed a little after a long time and sat down. "I am an expert on Every Flavor Beans. Can I pick the bean first?"

Murphy smiled. "Please."

……

Lake District.

Suddenly, there was a distortion of space in the forest, and a wizard appeared.

"Alastor!" A low exclamation sounded from the side. "Why did you come too?"

Alastor Moody didn't turn his head, but saw the person beside him through his fake eye. "If I don't come, are we supposed to rely on you rookies to fight?"

Kingsley smiled helplessly, then stepped forward and hugged Alastor. "I thought you had retired."

"I also thought you had fled to America."

Then his single eye scanned the surroundings. "Arthur, Minerva, Hagrid... Emmeline, sigh, why did that scatterbrained Dedalus come too... Ha, the old, the weak, the sick, are we all that's left?"

"Some people couldn't come, and some new personnel can't participate in such activities yet..." Kingsley sighed. The Phoenix Society was indeed in a transition period.

"Where are Lupin and Sirius?" Moody asked.

As the iron triangle of the past, James, Lupin, and Sirius were almost the most combat-capable of the younger generation of the Phoenix Society. How could they not appear on such an occasion?

"Lupin... he is wandering with the werewolf pack, maybe he went to a very far place and might not have received the news. Sirius... he has Harry to take care of..."

"Ha." Moody sneered.

"Can't blame him," Kingsley said. "Murphy's crackdown on the Phoenix Society is very severe. Once Sirius is found helping the Phoenix Society, he might be wanted again immediately and have to be separated from Harry..."

"Hmph, aren't we all the same?" Moody widened his eyes, but then sighed. "Forget it, what is the specific mission?"

"On that mountain," Kingsley pointed to a hill in the distance, "Murphy is using the metal made by goblins to build a structure. I don't quite understand what it is, but Dumbledore says it will bring a huge threat, and our mission is to destroy it. It's best to destroy all those goblin metals too."

"Sounds easy."

"Don't be careless, Alastor. There are over a dozen Auror guards there, and more Aurors and Watchers may come to support at any time. Our action must be fast. Fortunately, Dumbledore has already pinned down Murphy; we only need to deal with those lackeys of his."

As he spoke, Kingsley looked at the sky. "Time is almost up. Get ready."

"This battle concerns the future of the wizarding world; we must win."

……

On the other side of the mountain, under the guard of several Aurors, over a dozen Watchers skilled in the Levitation Charm and Transfiguration Spell were piecing together the magic metal under the direction of Muggle engineers.

Suddenly, the Auror captain received a message from the mental network.

"Everyone, Murphy's crow scouts just sent news that some 'rats' have been discovered nearby."

"Get your spirits up! Prepare for battle."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 340 =====