[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-wizard-war-at-hogwarts":3,"chapter-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-497":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Wizard War at Hogwarts",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2358470,4612,"Chapter 497","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-497",497,"\u003Cp>In early December, under the leadership of the old acquaintance Lin Shuanghe, fourteen experts from the Celestial Empire arrived in London. Since two of them were Muggle specialists, the Ministry of Magic was informed that no reception duties were required, and all personnel would be accommodated within the Muggle world. This meant that when the joint consultation meeting was set to begin, Harry could not sit in the Ministry’s familiar conference room, but instead had to join several figures from the magical community and travel to a conference center they barely knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When they finally entered the hall, accompanied by the overly curious Arthur and the visibly disoriented Dobby, the Celestial Empire experts had already taken their seats and were chatting casually with Donald Fontroy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the magical community representatives had all arrived, waiters began serving tea and coffee, the air filled with a faint citrus scent. An official picked up the agenda and spoke calmly: “Thank you all for coming. We will now jointly undertake the design and construction of the Floating City. Let us first invite Minister Weisilai to introduce the preliminary proposal.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arthur cleared his throat, opened the prepared parchment, and outlined the Ministry’s vision: they planned to build a large city spanning 40 to 60 square kilometers, with surface zones for administration, residential areas, and ecological zones; underground, four levels would house secondary residential quarters, magical research zones, power and defense sectors, and more, capable of supporting thirty to forty thousand wizards in work and daily life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he finished his grand vision, a Celestial Empire expert immediately dampened the enthusiasm: “Forgive me, Minister Weisilai, but we believe your concept is overly ambitious. Considering time and cost, your side may not be able to bear the burden.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me explain,” said Lin Shuanghe. “Shuntian City is an extremely special case—a unique spectacle built by the Celestial Empire at no cost, driven purely by political factors. We spent nearly twenty trillion U.S. dollars and over seventy years to complete it. Given current time and budget constraints, we strongly recommend you model your project after Baiyujing—the newly constructed magical floating city. Its area is under three square kilometers, with interior living space expandable later. The cost of Baiyujing is approximately 180 billion U.S. dollars, and construction time will be shortened to five to ten years.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was nearly unacceptable. No one wanted their envisioned floating city reduced to a floating town—or worse, a floating village. Before the Minister could speak, the Prime Minister urgently interjected: “We can increase the budget, but at least ensure the floating city has a proper appearance and scale.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, I believe it should be at least 20 to 30 square kilometers—roughly the size of Westminster—to qualify as a floating city.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Preliminary estimates suggest a construction period of fifteen to twenty years,” Lin Shuanghe said, glancing at an expert in his team, who had already begun sketching calculations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The underground sections need not be large during initial construction—we can later expand them using the Undetectable Extension Charm. The surface must be sufficiently grand,” the Prime Minister repeated, clearly viewing the floating city as a symbol above all else. “And perhaps the defense functions can be reduced.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think what we need is not defense, but deterrence,” Donald Fontroy began. His words immediately drew a wry smile from an elder in the Celestial Empire team. “First, we must install the Focusing Rainbow—it is essential. Second, we must construct a charging array around the Focusing Rainbow to summon the entire city’s wizards for a devastating strike when necessary. Third, we must develop a city-scale teleportation array to ensure our floating city can appear anywhere at any time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No sooner had he finished than Dobby, who had been briefed by Harry earlier, objected: “No, sir. I believe this would turn the entire city into a weapon of mass destruction—I’m not opposed to developing such things, but does this not contradict the very purpose of building a floating city?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If the residents of a city must constantly teleport with it, and occasionally contribute their magic to launch attacks, they cannot live normally,” Dobby said in his old-fashioned tone. “Frankly, Mr. Fontroy, what you want is an aerial fortress, a military stronghold. We cannot accept that.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It can be both,” Donald frowned, defending himself. “A city in peace, a stronghold in war. We rarely face war anyway. And if you fear weapon misuse, we can devise complex protocols to ensure the Focusing Rainbow activates only as a last resort…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No,” Snape interjected shrewdly, “if you want a stronghold, you needn’t build it so large—and thus needn’t incur such cost or time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This remark instantly pulled the grandiose Prime Minister into the dove camp. He adopted a solemn expression: “Yes, we cannot build something that threatens world peace—especially not on a wizarding floating city.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“From a technical standpoint,” Lin Shuanghe added supportively, “achieving city-scale teleportation is nearly impossible. We tested it with Baiyujing—the rate of partial separation incidents was extremely high. Each time, some buildings and residents were inevitably lost. The worst incident left us missing nearly half the base.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So the teleportation technology is still immature?” Donald frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Not immature,” Lin Shuanghe said with finality. “It has a hard limit. The greater the mass you wish to teleport, the lower its reliability becomes—down to an unacceptable level.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ve studied the Focusing Rainbow technology,” another Celestial Empire expert said in halting English. “It is a delicate system. If teleportation disrupts the integrity of the magical circuitry, the Focusing Rainbow will fail—and may even trigger a city-wide explosion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But objectively speaking,” another expert chimed in, “even if it merely hovers, a floating city equipped with the Focusing Rainbow remains a formidable deterrent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Donald’s expression eased slightly at the support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Our disagreement is simple,” Snape cut through the technical details. “If you want deterrence, you don’t need such a large city. If you want such a large city, you shouldn’t add weapons.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why can’t we build a large city and mount a weapon on it?” Donald refused to be sidestepped, pressing his demand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It would change the city’s fundamental nature, sir,” Arthur added his opposition. “If our city occasionally launches attacks, residents will feel uneasy—especially since launching attacks requires their magic. They’ll feel like executioners. And if our enemies seek to prevent attacks, they’ll target the city itself—putting residents at risk.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sensing Donald’s gaze turn toward him, Harry knew he had to speak—but cleverly redirected the question: “Er, from a technical perspective, Ms. Lin, what are the advantages and disadvantages of mounting strategic weapons on the floating city? As I understand, Shuntian Prefecture does not possess strategic weapons.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes… and no,” Lin Shuanghe hesitated. “Shuntian Prefecture itself has no offensive capability—its power comes entirely from the forces stationed within. But those forces can carry strategic weapons.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then what about your Baiyujing?” Donald pressed eagerly. “Does it have any?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It needs no strategic weapons at all,” Lin Shuanghe replied naturally. “Our Ancestor is our strategic weapon.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Prime Minister’s eyes lit up. He beamed: “Exactly! We need only build a beautiful, peaceful floating city, then invite Harry to live in it—problem solved.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Harry felt this was slightly unfair to him, but under the current circumstances, he chose to let it pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine,” Donald conceded, facing the growing consensus among the British magical community and the objective technical hurdles. “But the Prime Minister’s suggestion has opened a new path for me. We need to deploy super-wizard forces within the city—not necessarily the Focusing Rainbow, but at least a wizard army—or rather, a special unit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This unit can elect its own captain, freely access city resources for operations, as long as it adheres to one principle: protect the floating city whenever it is threatened,” Donald lowered his stance. “I believe this is still acceptable to everyone?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since this proposal involved no changes to the city’s design, both the varied interests of the magical community and the purely technical-minded Celestial Empire team accepted it without objection. For Harry, he knew he could easily become captain—if he wished. He said nothing in opposition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After another round of discussion, the Celestial Empire team finally presented the basic framework for the new floating city: a regular heptagon, total area approximately 31.6 square kilometers, planned floating altitude of 800 meters, requiring nearly sixteen years and about 1.5 billion Galleons. The Ministry’s annual revenue was clearly insufficient to cover this cost, so expenses payable in pounds would be funded by the Yingzheng Prefecture, while Galleon expenditures would be shared proportionally by the Magical Congress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In return, the Magical Congress could send personnel to participate in the city’s management and operations, and wizards from both nations would enjoy equal citizenship rights. As compensation for rejecting the weapon proposal, Donald Fontroy was granted naming rights—he cheerfully decided to name it “Dalaran.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1468,"2026-06-21T04:54:29.438Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","0e2dfe92d434ae0f1a4a2e030782aafd98fa5bfa844c00f6000ab6610fc1f6ca","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-498","wizard-war-at-hogwarts-chapter-496",528,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwizard-war-at-hogwarts-cover.jpg"]