He had seen Golden Knight visit the Silver Spears headquarters just a few hours ago, yet Hog claimed he had been monitoring Golden Knight all day. That meant when Golden Knight entered the club, there was another Peter wearing a Golden Knight mask active outside.
So, did two Golden Knights appear at that time? This was worth pondering: were both Golden Knights real, or was one of them an imposter?
Upon receiving the information, the first thing that flashed through Alan's mind was actually an item: the Time-Turner. A Time-Turner is a magical device used for time travel, looking like an hourglass hanging on a necklace. Each turn by the user rewinds time by one hour. Typically, users have a five-hour rewind limit; otherwise, severe temporal accidents might occur.
Although Alan was highly interested in time-related magic and alchemy, he was not the type of person who liked to court death. Time-related magic is unstable, and severely violating time rules can lead to catastrophic consequences. Before accumulating enough knowledge, researching this kind of magic was simply suicide, so he didn't know much about it. But the only tool Alan could think of at the moment that could allow one person to appear in two places at once was this.
This could also explain why the other party dared to appear openly in the outside world, and if the German Ministry of Magic truly had such a device recorded, Peter, as the Minister, would have a chance to obtain it. But was that truly the case? Alan was a bit unsure, as there were too many questionable points. For example, Peter was frequently involved in political activities before joining the Ministry of Magic. Did he have a chance to get a Time-Turner then? Furthermore, although for these Silver Spears their lives are almost infinite, was it really necessary to constantly use highly risky time magic for years? Even a slight mistake could lead to disaster. It wasn't the first time in history that a wizard using a Time-Turner mistakenly killed their past or future self.
Shaking his head, feeling a bit of a headache, Alan still couldn't clear his thoughts; there were still too few clues. But today's discovery still provided Alan with more possibilities. Regardless of whether this Peter and Golden Knight were the same person or if one of them was fake, he didn't dare to act rashly against this guy now. What if the other party really had a Time-Turner? He wouldn't just be facing one Silver Spear; he might even be ganged up on.
*Let's not think too much about this for now. We will proceed according to the original plan and find an opportunity to figure out Golden Knight's background later.*
Having thought things through, Alan looked at the two companions beside him. "We can't rest yet. Hog, you stay here and watch the house, and keep an eye on the surveillance. Shalltear, come out with me. We still have work to do tonight."
"Alright! It's finally my turn to shine! I've been so bored these past few days," Shalltear said with a happy grin after hearing Alan's words. She was naturally the type who loved chaos.
"Sir, do you have a new plan?" Hog didn't object to this arrangement, but knowing Alan, he understood that his master was preparing to stir up trouble.
"Yes, I'll tell you later. Keep a close eye on the surveillance. I successfully deployed surveillance spiders at the Silver Spears headquarters today. Record any unusual movements or conversations." After successfully deploying this most important surveillance point, the next step was to arrange for long-term monitoring. The more information collected, the more confident they would be in their subsequent actions.
"No problem, leave it to me. I'm an expert at monitoring," Hog said proudly, patting his chest. Back then, he was known as the surveillance dog, a Siberian husky.
Hearing Hog say that, Alan couldn't help but chuckle softly. He recalled the hound's miraculous operations two years ago. After a few casual remarks, Alan didn't waste any time and immediately grabbed Shalltear, Apparating them out of sight.
…
When the two reappeared, they were in a large mountain forest in the northeast of Cologne, West Germany, which is a nature reserve in the Muggle world. At the same time, one of the Silver Spears' magical creature breeding bases was also hidden here.
"Sir, is there really a breeding base in this broken jungle? I've been flying around for a long time and still haven't found anything." Shalltear, who had just transformed from a bat into human form in the sky, landed and grumbled discontentedly. She had just transformed into a bat and circled this mountainous area several times, but there was nothing but trees and rocks—not even a flicker of light.
"That's perfectly normal. Who would openly display their territory for you to see? Of course, it's hidden with magic." Alan was currently squatting on the ground, a map he bought from a Muggle spread out in front of him. He was comparing the map to their current surroundings while responding to Shalltear.
"If that's the case, then why did you still let me scout ahead? Wasn't that a waste of effort?" Knowing that Alan already knew she wouldn't find anything on her scouting trip, Shalltear immediately pouted unhappily.
"I sent you to scout, not necessarily to find the target," Alan said, giving Shalltear a speechless glance, then pointed to a spot on the map. "If the map's records are correct, there should be a very large depression not far east of our current location. Did you see it?"
"A depression?" Shalltear tilted her head, recalled for a moment, and immediately nodded, saying, "Yes, there is. It's about twenty kilometers from here, I guess. Why? Is that it?"
"Exactly, that's our destination, and it matches the direction from which I sensed the young Thunderbird," Alan confirmed with a nod.
Ever since he successfully forged Eclipse and underwent the lightning baptism, his mental connection with the Thunderbird had greatly strengthened. Since his arrival in Germany, he had been vaguely feeling a life form very close to him constantly calling out to him. But in reality, this mental sensing wasn't as magical as Newt described, capable of precise directional guidance like a compass. Alan even felt that his connection with the Thunderbird seemed to be interfered with by something, causing the link to be very weak.
So, if he relied solely on that mental sensing, he wouldn't be able to determine the exact location. In Berlin, he could only vaguely feel it was in the western direction. Even now, at such a close distance, he didn't feel his connection with the young Thunderbird had strengthened much. This sensing intensity was even weaker than his connection with the adult Thunderbird when he was in Britain.
Based on this, Alan speculated that the protective measures at this breeding base were probably quite extraordinary, but that was normal. These bases were the club's lifeline, so any amount of caution was warranted. And the address here was actually provided by the Thunderbird back then. However, at the time, the Thunderbird only gave a verbal description, so he couldn't find the place immediately. Combining the Thunderbird's information and his sensing with the creature, he quickly located the target.
But even though they were only about twenty kilometers from the target location, Alan didn't take Shalltear and Apparate or fly directly. The intermittent connection with the young Thunderbird made him feel it was better to be cautious. Alan believed that if he were to build a base, he would definitely set up a warning line on the periphery, and for such an important place, the warning line would even be extended very widely—expanding outward by five to ten kilometers would be very normal.
So Alan took Shalltear and walked slowly toward the target location. At the same time, he also had Shalltear carry the tactical map's emitter pole, while he held the map and continuously scanned the surrounding environment with an Echo Charm. Both of them also wore Feedback Cloaks.
The Feedback Cloak equipment can prevent direct detection by some Alarming Spells, similar to applying a radar-absorbing coating to the body. At the same time, when it is detected by sensing magic, it will react, which helps him determine the distance of the warning line.
Although Shalltear looked unwilling, she could only follow Alan step by step toward the depression. However, what made her very speechless was that Alan didn't feel embarrassed at all when it came to making her work. Because now she not only had to climb mountains with Alan, but she also had to carry a heavy metal pole, while Alan, apart from dragging a three-dimensional map that received Echo Charm images, looked like he was on a picnic. So Shalltear couldn't help but grumble and complain all the way.
However, she didn't complain for long before she felt the Feedback Cloak on her body suddenly vibrate slightly, and at the same time, a faint magical pattern appeared on its surface.
"Sir, what is this?" Shalltear immediately looked at Alan beside her after noticing this.
"Hmm, it's a triggered Alarming Spell. It seems we've reached the outer perimeter of the protective circle." Alan naturally noticed this change as well, but it still surprised him a bit, because they had only walked about eight kilometers inward, which meant this base had started setting up warning lines twelve kilometers out.
It should be noted that for every kilometer increased in the outer circle, the diameter to be covered becomes larger, and the area covered increases exponentially, leading to a soaring cost. Given the current coverage area, the Silver Spears could truly be considered immensely wealthy.
"From here on, we need to be extra careful. To cover such a large warning area, there must be magic nodes set up nearby. Try to find them, and there might also be wizards or magical creatures patrolling the area," Alan reminded Shalltear with a solemn expression.
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