Chapter 410: Esper

Patrick looked at the photo Murphy handed over, glanced at the ugly corpse on it, and frowned, "The murderer turned out to be this thing?"

Several coastal cities in Great Britain had recently had vicious murder cases where Muggles were disemboweled, and the state of death was extremely miserable, causing great panic in society. Therefore, Patrick, as the president, also knew about this.

He had thought it was some extremely vicious criminal, but he didn't expect it to be a magical creature.

"The magic level in these fish-men is very low, we can't monitor them all the time. The Aurors also realized that wizards were being killed, so they realized that the fish-men were attacking humans. After checking, they found that Muggles were also being attacked."

"No wonder there was a fishy smell and a lot of water traces at the crime scenes. They should have entered the city from the sewers." Patrick said, "But doesn't this thing not have legs?"

"It's not particularly difficult to conjure a pair of legs for a fish-man; that's how the story of the little mermaid came about." Murphy said, "However, their mutation might not be wizard magic, but from another power."

"You mean..." Patrick looked at Murphy, saw the other party nod, and asked suspiciously, "But why? What good does this do for them?"

"They are manifesting their own existence." Murphy said, "They want more people to know about the existence of magic, so as to accelerate the speed of magic recovery."

Murphy said and handed a few more photos to Patrick.

In the first photo, on a beach, a tree of light tens of meters high hung down starlight, and people knelt and prayed around the tree.

In the second photo, in the sky, clouds formed a huge eye, overlooking the earth.

In the third photo, the fish in the seabed formed a huge cross hundreds of meters long and wide.

"Their power is still very weak, so they can only use these illusion-like things to create some 'miracles' to attract the attention of Muggles. But as the magic recovery accelerates, the methods they can use are also increasing. Recently, I heard that the frequency of believers in major sects claiming to see gods in their dreams is dozens of times higher than in the past."

"This... is there anything I can do?" Patrick asked.

Murphy sighed, "When it comes to faith, there's not much you can do."

Atheists are a minority in this world, not even one-fifth of the total population. The vast majority of the rest believe in one or more gods to varying degrees.

Even in the Soviet Union, under Murphy's vigorous promotion, a round after round of religious suppression was carried out, but it could only guarantee the purity of official institutions such as the government. Believers among the masses still occupied the majority.

"Let's not talk about this. The United States is engaging in a trade war again. How do you plan to respond?"

Since the Soviet missile incident, the United States had been desperately promoting the Soviet threat, and even the UK, which was already an ally of the Soviet Union, was implicated and entered the sanctions list. This time, the United States gathered a group of younger brothers, including a group of European countries, and imposed several times the punitive tariffs on the UK, causing the UK now, let alone the various electronic products of the Umbrella, not even a bottle of whiskey could be sold.

Patrick was also under huge pressure. Originally, his various actions in the country had almost offended everyone who could be offended, and he was almost facing the risk of being assassinated at any time. But with the United States making such a fuss, the UK's foreign trade was left with only that one channel with the Soviet Union, and now even ordinary people would be greatly affected.

"Tighten fiscal policy and develop domestic demand," Patrick sighed, "Fortunately, the Augas plan has gradually entered the track, and key industries have also been taken back one after another. We still have good control over the domestic market."

Murphy nodded, "I have a suggestion."

He said, took a map, and pointed to a location in the East, "The Soviet Union has already been in contact. You can also try it here. In any case, we are basically in the same camp now. This market is big enough, big enough to solve the problems of the UK and the Soviet Union, and it is still in the starting stage now, with sufficient potential to be tapped."

"The Arctic Ocean shipping route has already had some clues, and I am even prepared to provide them with magic technology. If we can do a good job of docking the Magic Net here with the other side, relying on the Floo Door, we can build a new global trade network."

Patrick suddenly realized, and then asked, "However, their relationship with the United States was pretty good before... Will they be concerned about the United States and not dare to cooperate with us?"

"Heh," Murphy smiled, "You don't understand that nation. They are not scared. And they value gratitude and righteousness very much. There were some old feelings in the Soviet Union before. If they have to choose between us and the United States, I think they would be more willing to stand on our side. Of course, according to their logic of conduct, they would probably take benefits from both sides."

"Are you very familiar with them?" Patrick asked.

"Consider it knowing some," Murphy smiled, "And there is another crucial reason for cooperating with them."

"The influence of gods on the secular world is largely reflected in faith. And they are a nation that is more thoroughly godless than the Soviet Union as a whole."

Patrick nodded, "I understand, I will try."

After saying this, Patrick remembered another thing, "Recently, we have caught quite a few spies from the United States, and others from other countries. They are all here for those magic technologies of the Umbrella. Regarding magic recovery, they should have already had some guesses."

Murphy nodded, "Everyone is not stupid. This matter cannot be hidden, and our confidentiality policy can only try to delay the time when the truth is fully disclosed. However, their position now should be similar to ours. In order to occupy more advantages, they should also keep this matter in a small range and will not fully disclose it."

"I think magic recovery will eventually become a secret that major powers tacitly understand."

"Is this process really impossible to stop?" Patrick asked.

"Unless I can find the method used to block gods in the past, perhaps it can be used as a reference to drive them away again," Murphy said, "However, there is currently no clue. And as more and more people know about the existence of magic, the later it gets, the less likely it is to stop the recovery."

"What we can do now is to be prepared."

"As for Muggle society, I don't need to remind you too much. The Augas plan and the nationalization of the economy are all conducive to social stability. In this extraordinary period, it is beneficial to the future, so we must push it forward unswervingly."

"Ideology also needs to be grasped tightly. I heard that Americans are already smearing the research on void particles. Even the enemy knows the importance of public opinion warfare, so how can we not be prepared?"

"However, our propaganda must be concentrated on materialism and rationality. Human thought might be our ultimate battlefield. Although it is difficult to reverse people's faith, at least let them know there is another voice."

"As for others, some special phenomena, just leave them to the Countermeasure Bureau."

"Recently, the Transfiguration Research Group has come up with many new technologies, and the strength of the Countermeasure Bureau is no longer what it used to be."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 411 =====