Chapter 419: Set off a big firework

Jacqueline was terrified and furious, immediately demanding revenge on the Muggles.

She immediately blew up a Muggle helicopter and then continuously threw Fiendfyre spells at the crowd.

A wizard who can freely Apparate and cast Fiendfyre is quite destructive when they go crazy, but everything that happened here was soon discovered by the Italian Ministry of Magic. They sent Aurors, and Jacqueline had to flee.

This absurd power grab finally came to an end here.

But the problem facing the Italian Ministry of Magic was even more thorny: neither the Muggle President nor the Prime Minister indicated that they could accept any cover-up of the facts. They demanded that the perpetrators be severely punished and that all wizards be placed under the supervision of the Muggle government.

What a joke. Wizards almost cost them their lives, and they still want them to help cover up the facts? Why on earth should they?

It wasn't just the President or Prime Minister who knew about the existence of wizards now; the entire Italian government had seen wizards with their own eyes and knew of the existence of individuals and organizations with the power to overthrow the regime.

The originally stable power now looked as precarious as a castle in the air. The entire official department reached a consensus at an unprecedented speed: they must control this power at all costs!

But wanting wizards to accept the management of the Muggle government meant the complete failure of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy and also meant handing their fate over to Muggles, which was something the Ministry of Magic could not accept at all.

Without the cooperation of Muggles, it was very difficult for wizards to smooth over the incident.

The Ministry of Magic tried several times to secretly use the Obliviation Charm on some of the parties involved, but all failed due to the high vigilance of the Muggle government, which instead caused the official side to be even more alert. If it weren't for the fact that wizards were constantly trying to seek dialogue channels and the Muggle government really wasn't sure about the strength of the wizards, the wizards would have been defined as terrorists by now.

On the other hand, because of Jacqueline's recklessness, too many Muggles had witnessed the scene of wizards blowing up helicopters, releasing Fiendfyre, and using Apparition.

What was even more terrifying was that more than a year ago, Umbrella's "mobile phone" had been launched. Due to its unparalleled performance, it was very popular globally. Many of the Muggles present at the time owned mobile phones, and naturally, some people filmed this astonishing scene and uploaded it to the internet.

Although the internet at this time was not as developed as in later generations, it was already quite large. A topic as explosive as "Superhumans attack the government" immediately ignited the internet, and it spread overwhelmingly without any public opinion control from the Italian official side.

In this way, even if wizards wanted to use means like "Swooping Evil venom" to erase the memory of the whole city, it would be of no avail.

Soon, many eyewitnesses with official backgrounds also confirmed the authenticity of the event. For a time, topics like "superpowers," "superman," and "magic" immediately became the hottest terms in major online media.

And this was naturally immediately noticed by Murphy, the creator of the internet. He immediately used a large amount of computing power to start blocking public opinion. Countless rumor-debunking posts were created by him and delivered with the most precise push to any user who had seen the report.

He had done this kind of thing more than once.

In fact, the recovery of magic has been intensifying, the frequency of various magic disasters is getting higher and higher, and the impact is getting bigger and bigger. Almost every day, or even every moment, a large amount of news about magic-related events appears, and he has been fighting against it by relying on his absolute control over the internet.

However, this time, the incident was too big, and even he couldn't extinguish all the signs for a while.

Yet at this moment, a voice bypassed the internet and spread through traditional media.

Media in the United States such as Voice of America, CNN, ABC, and Fox, as well as major allied countries, including Italy's own media, began to report on the attack. At the same time, various magic disaster events that had occurred in the past were also reported one after another.

The internet was built by Murphy and Umbrella, so he had almost absolute control over the information on the internet.

However, the time was still too short, and the power of traditional media was still incredibly strong, and this was no longer within Murphy's control.

Under this overwhelming spread, the existence of magic was being exposed to everyone at a terrifying speed.

And Murphy also sensed a trace of power that did not belong to humans.

Washington.

A Baptist pastor stood in a pool and, under the witness of tens of thousands of believers, re-baptized the President of the United States, William.

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I now baptize you." The pastor held William's neck with one hand and pressed his other hand on his forehead. "Don't be afraid, child. The Holy Spirit is with you. Pray devoutly to the Lord, and you will be washed of your old sins and resurrected with Christ."

"Will the Lord forgive all my sins?" William asked.

"Of course, my child, as long as you devoutly believe in Him."

"That's good." William showed his usual smile, but he didn't take it to heart.

Although he was a Baptist believer, his own faith was not very devout. The reason he came here was just to solve his own problems.

Two months ago, because of a meddlesome reporter, his scandal with an intern was reported, and he was caught in a whirlpool of public opinion, with his approval rating falling steadily. Just then, a pastor found him and provided him with an unexpected solution: let God forgive all his faults.

William didn't take it seriously at first, but when he learned that with the frequent occurrence of various "miracle" events in various places, the number of devout believers in the country was rising rapidly, to the point that their influence had become greater than any previous voting group, he immediately realized that this was an extremely feasible plan.

As long as he was baptized again, his past sins would be erased in doctrine, and naturally, his scandal should not be pursued further.

"May the Lord forgive all your sins." The pastor made a cross on his chest and then pressed his hand on William's forehead and pushed down gently.

William took a nervous deep breath and was then pressed into the water by the other party.

He waited patiently for a few seconds. Usually, baptism is just a symbolic ritual, and even if you come out immediately after being submerged, there is no problem. But he was still prepared to do the whole act. After all, whether he could turn things around now depended entirely on those devout believers.

However, after more than ten seconds, William began to panic a little.

Was the time a bit too long?

Why hasn't the pastor pulled him up yet?

He waited for a few more seconds, and seeing that the other party had no intention of pulling him up, he prepared to get up himself. However, as soon as he moved, he immediately felt the strength in the other party's hand.

He tried again, reaching out to pat the back of the other party's hand, signaling that it was about enough and he couldn't hold on much longer.

But the hand that was pressing him remained unmoved.

Now William was completely panicked. What was going on? Could this guy be an assassin? Does he want to kill me?

He immediately began to struggle, using both hands to pry the pastor's hand, but that hand felt like it was made of iron, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake it at all.

He tried in terror to reach his hands out of the water. As long as someone saw him struggling, they would save him.

But when his hands reached the surface of the water, they couldn't reach out no matter what, as if what was above the water wasn't air, but a layer of incredibly hard tempered glass.

William was terrified and struggled desperately at the bottom of the water, trying to create waves, but the surface of the water remained calm, as if nothing had happened.

Although the believers were a bit puzzled that the time was a bit long, seeing the pastor praying as if nothing was wrong, no one questioned it.

And at the bottom of the water, several fish suddenly twitched, and a few thread-like things escaped from the fish's eyes and then drilled into William's mouth and nose.

William twitched violently a few times, but then suddenly relaxed, floating slowly to the surface like a corpse.

The believers were a bit puzzled and were discussing it, but just then, William suddenly opened his eyes, then took a sharp breath and stood up slowly.

He stood in the water, his hands spread out, palms facing the sky, his head lifted slightly, and a smile of joy as if he had been liberated appeared on his face.

"I am resurrected." He smiled.

"Welcome back, my brother." The pastor made a cross on his chest.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 420 =====