"...Missing No-Maj children? Well...there are indeed some. But you know, when have there been fewer homeless people on the streets of New York? There are a few missing every month-maybe you were with someone last weekend It often happens that we chat with each other and then never see him again after a few days. As for children, no one will pay attention to them, right?"
In a corner of the noisy bar, a tall man with several scars on his face was lying on a dirty leather sofa, talking drunkenly.
To be honest, you can't really tell the man's specific age just by looking at his appearance. He has a strong and burly physique, and his body is covered with knotted muscles. He was holding a wine bottle in his hand. Every time he raised his neck to drink, he could see the muscles rolling under his tight skin. But judging from the words of the deputy Auror captain, John could tell that the other party was already very old. .
This is a werewolf, and a very powerful werewolf at that. This should be correct.
"Hey! Old William, of course I know what you said, but if I didn't have to find out, I wouldn't have to come to this noisy ghost place to find you, right? Do you have any valuable news? This fussy old guy should give you an accurate answer!"
The vice-captain's posture seemed a bit arrogant, waving his hands unscrupulously and shouting at the top of his voice amidst the deafening music. At the end of the sentence, he even punched the burly man in the chest with a "bang" sound. It seemed that he used quite a lot of force.
John, who was sitting aside, watched this scene. Although he seemed calm on the surface, he seemed to be just swaying to the dynamic music on the stereo. But to be honest, he felt a little unsure.
Although John at that time happened to be the most daring and unrestrained time in his life, on weekdays he just liked to hang out at parties of various young men and women, and at most he would hang out with wizards who were as deviant as him. Just get together and do some weird things.
How had he ever had such close contact with an absolutely dangerous creature like a werewolf
And just when John was watching the unceremonious Auror deputy captain hammering the strong man very aggressively, suddenly, the man who had just been drunk and had blurry eyes suddenly stared at him and grabbed him suddenly. The deputy captain's wrist. The next moment, an extremely dangerous aura emanated from the other party's body.
"Kroger, are you trying to stir up trouble?"
However, at the moment when John felt a chill in his heart, he saw the vice-captain just flicking his hand hard. After realizing that he couldn't get rid of the opponent's hand that grabbed him, he didn't care. He just stared at the opponent fiercely and said loudly:
"It was those damn fanged ghosts who charged last time. What's wrong? Old William, are you planning to take over the empty cells this time?"
"Tsk."
As soon as the vice-captain said these words, the other party's face suddenly darkened. After looking at each other for a while, he finally let go of the former with some unhappiness. Then, John saw old William leaning back on the sofa behind him again, and the fierce aura on his face suddenly receded like a tide.
"What did you say you wanted to know just now?" He raised his neck and took a sip of wine, then returned to his drunken appearance. "Oh, have any children disappeared among the homeless recently?"
"To be more precise, he should have been abducted or kidnapped - at least this possibility is not small!" the vice-captain shook off the wrist that had just been grasped by the other party and added casually.
"Well," Old William thought for a while, and then said, "Don't talk about kidnapping and kidnapping - who cares about this? Just talk about missing, then there must be some... Oh, I remembered, it seems like there in Queens There was once an old woman who suddenly made a noise, saying that her daughter was missing... Well, the subway station in Brooklyn seems to have lost some people recently. There are probably a few young children inside. You can go there some time. Turn around.”
"Really?" Vice Captain Kroger nodded when he heard this, and suddenly seemed to remember something. He turned his head and glanced at John without trace, "By the way, have you seen the new ones recently? ?The little wanderer who shows up alone—you know, that's definitely easier to kill."
"Come alone?" Old William frowned upon hearing this, "This is rare - a child without an adult to take care of him will not live long at all, let alone an outsider. But after hearing what you said, it sounds like..."
He seemed to have thought of something and suddenly began to ponder.
"What is it? Do you have any clues?" the vice-captain raised his eyebrows and asked.
"Huh?" Old William raised his eyelids and came to his senses and said, "Oh, it's the subway station in Brooklyn that I just mentioned. Some time ago, someone seemed to have seen a child dragging him around in the middle of the night. The luggage was wandering everywhere. It didn’t appear in that area soon after, and I don’t know if it was a wanderer from outside... Hmm, maybe it was just a kid who wanted to run away from home on a whim!"
After they finished speaking, the vice-captain and John secretly glanced at each other—whether it was Brooks or Tia, in short, it sounded very consistent with the situation of the two little guys who skipped classes as soon as school started.
After that, the vice-captain had a casual chat with old William and roughly reviewed the relevant information that the other party knew. Immediately, everyone stood up, rejoined several other Auror members who had gone separate ways to inquire for information, and squeezed out of the bar from the chaotic crowd.
As the extremely piercing music was finally blocked by the bar door, the deputy captain Kroger dug his ears hard, then shook his head and said:
"It's so noisy."
"Vice Captain, since that guy's men seem to have seen Tia or Brooks - no matter which one it is, why don't you take out the photo and let him find someone to identify it?"
As soon as he came out, the fellow from the research institute who came with John finally couldn't help but ask.
But when Kroger heard this, he immediately waved his hand.
"Although old William can be regarded as an informant that I have roped in, this old guy is not completely reliable. There are some things that it is best not to let him know. After all, we still have to investigate this case ourselves."
After that, he pressed the handle of the wand under his coat and led the others to the dark alley beside the bar. As he walked, he said:
"Let's go! Anyway, let's go to the subway station in Brooklyn as he just said! There are indeed a lot of homeless people there, since someone has seen a child suspected of playing truant there. , you can always gain something by asking.”