Many people became expendable, and Jensen didn't know why he was lucky... or rather, unlucky to survive each brutal experiment and live through it all.
After a while, the scene shifted again.
Vid stood by a seemingly endless road, watching the Ponytail Wizard running while carrying Jensen, who still looked like a child.
His face was pale and exhausted, yet his eyes were exceptionally determined. Gasping for breath, he intermittently said, "Hang on, kid... we're almost... almost losing those guys!"
Jensen kept his mouth tightly shut, not daring to reveal his identity. Vid clearly saw the emotions hidden in his eyes—struggle, guilt, a longing to live, and even deeper despair.
"Ha!" The Ponytail Wizard spat out some blood, smiling with effort: "Once we're out of here, we'll head to the United Kingdom... to find Dumbledore! He's the greatest wizard, surely he can..."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Clear gunshots suddenly rang out from behind!
The Ponytail Wizard's words were cut off as his body jerked violently, looking down in disbelief to see blood gushing out.
His stomach and chest had been pierced by bullets.
The young wizard's eyes quickly lost focus. His arm, which was carrying Jensen, loosened, and he collapsed limply to the ground.
"No! No! No!" Jensen rushed over, grabbed his shoulders, and pressed his small hands on the bleeding wound, crying out loudly, "Don't die! Use your magic, hurry and heal the wound!"
The sound of a car engine rapidly approached from behind.
The dying Ponytail Wizard focused his gaze on Jensen's terrified little face, using the last of his strength to manage a weak smile.
"Run... survive..."
Before finishing his words, the light in his eyes extinguished completely, and the world in Jensen's memory suddenly turned black.
White mist drifted in and out, and the memory in the Pensieve remained pitch black.
Until he heard the sobbing of a girl, Vid realized—
It wasn't that this memory had completely collapsed, but because Jensen, who left the memory behind... probably couldn't see anymore at this point.
For a blind person, the sense of the world's existence is extremely vague, so there were no "light and shadows" around Vid at this moment, no people or objects, only intermittent sounds.
A girl was crying, and the sound of her sobs was intensely sorrowful, as if she had lost the most important person to her.
Then, Jensen's voice sounded intermittently:
"No... it's useless... you can't save me... nor can I... I can't save him... I'm sorry..."
He spoke with a thin breath:
"Listen to me... take it... take all my memories... I know you all... have this... magic..."
"No, I can't." The girl cried and said, "I only just started learning Memory Magic... if I operate it, I can't extract all the memories! And... and it will cause severe damage to your brain..."
"It doesn't matter." Jensen said intermittently: "I don't care... after all... I'm going to die anyway... but someone must know... what happened there..."
So, entrusting this heavy, terrifying memory became his only obsession before dying.
"Please..."
Jensen begged earnestly: "Do it for him... he was still thinking about... finding someone... called Dumbledore before he died..."
Jensen's breath grew weaker, and finally, the girl agreed, choking with emotion.
She raised her Magic Wand and chanted a complex and lengthy spell with a trembling voice.
Vid could tell that she wasn't being modest, she was indeed not skilled at Memory Magic, as she mispronounced at least three syllables of the spell.
While a wizard at Snape's or Slughorn's level could extract someone else's memory without even chanting a spell.
If it weren't for Jensen's extremely strong desire to give up his memory, easily resonating with the girl's spell, this spell might have failed.
And in the next moment, this void world suddenly lit up slightly—
Accompanied by a cold sensation of extraction, a fragile, seemingly ready to shatter silvery substance drifted like a ribbon in the world of memory.
Vid also saw Jensen. When he first appeared, he was almost unrecognizable, but quickly returned to his normal state—no smaller size, no wounds, and naturally, no bloodstains.
The young soldier opened his eyes, sat up from the ground, initially glanced around in confusion, then looked down at his clothes and hands, felt his intact legs, and touched his eyes.
Vid silently watched this series of actions, but his heart was filled with huge questions—
What is going on?
Could this also be Jensen's memory from then?
Just when he couldn't understand, Jensen, who stood up, adjusted his hat and suddenly turned to lock eyes with Vid!
In that instant, Vid felt a chilling sensation!
Jensen, however, was unaware, and he asked curiously, "Kid, who are you?"
After a pause, he asked again, "What is this place? The world after death? Are you the God of Death?"
"You..."
Vid felt his throat dry up, desperately asking in a hoarse voice, "What do you remember?"
"Me? I seem to... remember everything?" Jensen exclaimed in shock, "Did that girl's magic fail? Didn't she extract my memories?"
Vid: "..."
"No." He worked hard to steady his voice, saying, "She succeeded. What you wanted to convey... we all received."
"Really?"
Jensen didn't seem to have the slightest doubt, as if he knew Vid was telling the truth.
The young soldier showed a brilliant smile: "So it really got through! That's great! By the way... who are you?"
"I am..."
Vid intended to give his name but suddenly remembered that as a common person, Jensen likely hadn't heard the name "Vid Gray" before.
So he said, "I'm sent by Dumbledore... he wants to know what happened."
"Dumbledore?!" Jensen rejoiced, "That's great! With the most powerful wizard involved, those villains will surely be punished, right?"
Vid looked at the person in front of him who seemed familiar and yet strange.
Familiar, because in the Pensieve, Vid had been watching his memories for a long time, able to sketch Jensen's appearance in his mind with eyes closed.
Yet strange... because this Jensen in front of him had none of the cowardice and shrinking from the battlefield, nor the later despair and sorrow, just like someone who had laid down all burdens, cheerful and passionate like a normal person.
A bit like the Ponytail Wizard might have been.
His language, his demeanor, and his face's smile, all seemed ethereal, with an unreal feeling.
—What the hell is going on?
Vid almost swore, pinching his palm hard to suppress the indescribable panic, forcing himself to maintain clear thinking.
Just then, Jensen suddenly said, "Ah, I have to go."
"Go?" Vid said subconsciously.
"Yes!" Jensen pointed to a spot not far away, smiling: "See, it's calling me!"
Looking in that direction, Vid saw nothing but void—a scene unlike any darkness or light, reminiscent of outer space, with no place to land in any direction.
"I have to move forward!" Jensen warmly invited, "Would you like to come too?"
"No!" Vid swallowed, saying, "Dumbledore is still waiting for me to bring back the information!"
"Ah, right... I almost forgot!" Jensen scratched his head in embarrassment, saying, "Then... good luck?"
"...Thank you, we will try our best." Vid cautiously replied.
"Then I'll leave it all up to you!" Jensen waved his hand, saying, "One day, we'll meet again, right? Haha!"
He walked briskly toward the void, his figure quickly engulfed by the formless mist.
Only then did Vid let out a long sigh, his back already drenched in cold sweat.