Hogwarts Summoning Guide

"Those killed were all mages. Several young members of the Sun family hadn't awakened any mage talent; they were still ordinary people. They miraculously escaped death. It was they who described the situation to the Execution Department," Yan Nishuang said. "The flames started burning from people's throats, gushing from their mouths, then their eyes, ears..."

"Those who survived were all children. After obtaining the necessary information, the Executive Department erased their memories and sent them to an orphanage..." Yan Nishuang said with some reluctance.

"Is that the Yan family girl?" Suddenly, an old voice rang out from behind the rows of corpses, startling Bai Lin, who hadn't even sensed that there was a living person here.

"Grandpa Zong, it's me!" Yan Nishuang replied.

As they spoke, a hunched old man emerged from the dim light. He was emaciated, sallow-faced, and beardless, at least seventy or eighty years old. He was somewhat hunchbacked and had a limp in one leg, but Bai Lin sensed a powerful magic emanating from him. Without making a sound, he scanned him with the Summoning Compendium. Yan Nishuang's magic power was a full 83, while this unassuming Grandpa Zong's was a staggering 92. This was the highest magic power Bai Lin had ever seen besides Dumbledore and himself.

The old man glanced at Bai Lin, then his eyes widened in astonishment. He remained silent for a long time before Yan Nishuang called out, "Grandpa Zong, I brought someone to take a look. Perhaps they can help solve the case."

Bai Lin guessed that the old man must be a senior member of the Execution Department. Such a big case had already been reported in the Imperial Observatory Daily, which must have shocked the entire Eastern magic circle. For established magic families, everyone must be on edge for a while. Even if Yan Nishuang was very capable, the Magic Management Committee would definitely send its most capable magicians to assist in the investigation.

Bai Lin nodded and bowed to the old man, politely saying, "Hello, Grandpa Zong!"

Grandpa Zong's face relaxed, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief, and he said, "This old man is blind and could not see the depth of this young man's magical power."

Yan Nishuang gave a brief introduction to each other. Bai Lin's guess was correct. Grandpa Zong had been fighting against evil wizards from abroad for many years. He was an old retainer of the Execution Department and had been retired for more than 20 years. If it weren't for this major event, they wouldn't have asked him to come out of retirement.

Without much formality, Grandpa Zong opened a body bag on the dissection table, revealing a horrifying and tragic corpse.

A young man's entire head was burned to a blackened skull; the flesh and brain were almost completely burned away, leaving only a skull that looked like it had been splashed with tar. The area below the neck was relatively normal, but a large Y-shaped cut had been made from his chest cavity and abdomen, likely reattached after a forensic autopsy. Normally, the internal organs are removed and preserved after an autopsy, hence the deep indentation in the abdomen. (This will be disposed of during cremation.)

Bai Lin's appearance made him feel nauseous; those dark, hollow eye sockets seemed to be staring at him, sending chills down his spine.

However, Bai Lin was a man of experience. He composed himself, moved closer, and carefully examined the details of the skeleton.

"This fire is indeed burning from the inside out... and it's not a Fiendish Flame Curse... I've never heard of such a spell before... If it can also track targets and deal area damage, then this spell is ridiculously powerful!" Bai Lin said as he looked at it.

Grandpa Zong said, "It is indeed very strange... I have lived for more than ninety years and this is the first time I have ever seen such evil magic. I also searched through the classics and deduced from the fragments that this is a curse magic that was popular in Southeast Asia more than two hundred years ago."

Grandpa Zong continued, "The art of cursing, simply put, is to turn resentment into reality. The stronger the resentment, the more powerful the evil art."

Bai Lin murmured, "It doesn't sound like it's from Southeast Asia, more like it's from the East... There's a movie called Ju-on, which seems to be about using resentment to turn into murderous magic... But in the movie, the caster only gained the ability after death..."

Grandpa Zong raised an eyebrow and said, "You mean Japan? During the war years, Eastern mages fought against Japanese mages many times... Their evil arts are indeed endless, making them difficult to defend against, but I've never seen such a powerful evil art. Although the Sun family isn't a particularly powerful mage family, with over a hundred mages, they are still a force to be reckoned with internationally. To be wiped out in one fell swoop is simply horrific!"

Bai Lin pondered for a moment, then Yan Nishuang asked, "Grandpa Zong, have you discovered anything? Why don't you share it so we can discuss it together?"

Grandpa Zong pointed at the corpse and said, "This is the tenth body we've examined. We still haven't figured out how the fire started. What have we found? What about your side? Have you found out if the Sun family has any enemies? Or if anyone can benefit from the massacre of the Sun family?"

Yan Nishuang shook her head helplessly and said, "These past few days, we've sent three teams to investigate. Anyone with even the slightest suspicion has been apprehended and interrogated for two days and two nights. There are a few with some old or new grudges, but to say they've committed such a big case, those people have neither the ability nor the courage. The main reason is that while the national economy has been booming in recent years, the Sun family's industrial development has been declining, and they've accumulated a lot of debt. If we're talking about who benefits, outsiders won't get any advantage at all."

Grandpa Zong shrugged and said, "Alright, all that work for nothing, we didn't even have a clue."

At this moment, Yan Nishuang noticed Bai Lin's thoughtful expression and couldn't help but ask, "Little Lin, what's your opinion?"

She didn't really expect Bai Lin to help her solve the case. The reason she let Bai Lin participate in the investigation was twofold: firstly, to exchange intelligence with him, and secondly, to give an explanation to her feelings. If she rejected Bai Lin, she might never have the chance to be with him again. Of course, she wouldn't tell anyone about these girlish thoughts.

Bai Lin stroked his chin and said, "There are three suspicious points. First, I've fought many dark wizards in Europe, and they all need to keep their eyes fixed on the target before casting spells, such as the Havada Kedavra curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and even simple petrification and stun spells. I also know some simple group dark magic, but I still need to lock onto a general target with my gaze. If it's a long-range curse, how did the killer lock onto so many targets?"

Grandpa Zong's eyes flickered as he said, "Continue."

Bai Lin asked, "Secondly, why were all the deceased mages, while the ordinary descendants of the Sun family were unharmed? How did the murderer distinguish between mages and ordinary people using his magic?"

"Third, why commit the crime at a wedding? Is it necessary to gather so many people together to cast the spell, or is there some other reason? In the movies I've seen, people who are cursed will be hunted down and killed by resentment even if they run to the ends of the earth."

Yan Nishuang said, "You mean, the murderer did this at the wedding to keep all the targets within his sight? So he must have been there at the time!"

Bai Lin nodded and said, "That's most likely the case. Otherwise, his spellcasting logic wouldn't be explained. There's another problem. We know that the more powerful the magic, the more difficult it is to control precisely. If the murderer could control such a powerful spell so precisely, he would definitely be at the level of a magic master. It's impossible for him to be unknown and disappear without a trace. I think he must have used something to assist him in casting the spell..."

Under the astonished gazes of Grandpa Zong and Yan Nishuang, Bai Lin summoned the red-eyed Niffler. The Niffler landed on the dissection table and began sniffing around.

"This is... Nifulei?" Yan Nishuang asked.

"This is a rare mutant that can smell objects containing dark magic," Bai Lin explained.

Red-Eyed Sniff seemed to dislike the smell of corpses, but out of loyalty to Whitescale, it endured the unpleasant odor and searched the corpses for any traces of dark magic.

However, the head of the corpse had been burned to a bone shell, and the body had been dissected and left empty. Sniff returned empty-handed. Grandpa Zong waved his hand, and the body bag sealed itself, carrying the corpse to a shelf to the side. Another corpse that had not been dissected flew over and landed on the dissection table.

The red-eyed sniffer worked for another five or six minutes, but still hadn't succeeded.

Bai Lin, chin in hand, fell into deep thought. At that moment, Yan Nishuang said, "Perhaps the remains aren't inside the body. Let's go to the forensic department and look!"

Bai Lin nodded, reached out and grabbed Sniff, and Yan Nishuang naturally stepped forward and took his other hand, activating the teleportation talisman.

To be fair, Yan Nishuang's teleportation talisman should be more advanced than ordinary Apparition, because it completely lacks the weightlessness and hypergravity of Apparition, as well as the stomach discomfort after casting the spell. Moreover, Bai Lin's heart stirred as he held her somewhat cold hand.

When they opened their eyes, the three of them were already in another building. The lighting was dim and the temperature was low. However, there were many people hurrying back and forth in the corridor. When they saw them, many people nodded and called out, "Elder Zong, Captain Yan!" and then quickly made way for them.

Yan Nishuang took the lead and strode into an office. The sign on the door read "Department of Magical Authentication". Bai Lin went in and was amazed by what he saw.

From the outside, it looks like an inconspicuous office of just over ten square meters, but inside it is surprisingly large. A row of counters runs across the middle of the room, and near the door are many benches for people to line up and rest. Beyond the counters is a folding space that looks like a giant book, where dozens of staff members are busy working.

Upon seeing Yan Nishuang, a staff member immediately came forward to greet her. After Yan Nishuang gave the case number, he took out a very short wand and waved it. The space behind the counter was like a huge book that was opened, and when the target page was turned, it was opened. Suddenly, a scene composed of countless objects was displayed in front of Bai Lin.

Bai Lin looked and realized why the Sun family's courtyard was so clean, as if nothing had happened. He then saw that the Evidence Department had moved everything that could be moved from the entire courtyard to this place, and all the items were kept in their original positions, suspended in mid-air, as if they were frozen in an invisible ice sheet, just like when the Execution Department arrived at the Sun family's courtyard.

The ground and background were also projected as photos from that time. Although the resolution wasn't very high back then, it was still enough to completely reconstruct the crime scene. The positions of the deceased were replaced by red humanoid models, and there were also a few blue models, which should represent the survivors.

Bai Lin approached and examined the items. Most of them were tableware, wine glasses, dishes, and trash from the wedding banquet, along with some guests' personal belongings, and even two mobile phones. After being magically sealed by the Forensic Science Department, the scene could be reconstructed at any time to find physical evidence, which was far more useful than ordinary forensic work.

Yan Nishuang nodded to the staff, who immediately came over and waved their wands at the three of them. Bai Lin felt a sudden tightness in his hand, and when he looked down, he saw that rubber covers had automatically been put on his hands, feet, and head, and masks had been put on his face to prevent them from contaminating the evidence.

The three of them carefully went inside. Bai Lin held the red-eyed sniffer, trying to prevent it from touching the items, but the sniffer had already entered working mode and started sniffing left and right.

Sealed items are like frozen or frozen in time, making it difficult for them to release substances, so the smell is very faint and difficult to detect.

Just when Bai Lin was about to give up, Sniff suddenly became excited. Bai Lin looked and saw Sniff barking at a pile of empty wine jars in the corner. Bai Lin was startled and quickly took Sniff over. Sniff started twisting its whole body in front of the pile of wine jars. If Bai Lin let go, it would definitely pounce on them.

Bai Lin patted Niffler's head, took out a Gallon from his pocket, infused it with some magic, and handed it to Niffler as a reward. Niffler happily clutched the coin and was put back into its Pokédex.

"There's something wrong with these drinks!" Bai Lin said.

At this point, a staff member nearby said, "The liquor has been tested, and it's not poisonous!"

Yan Nishuang said, "Perhaps it's not poison, but a kind of magical mark. Those who have drunk this wine naturally become targets. At the wedding banquet, apart from a few teenagers and children, most people drank the wine, and thus became targets of the evil magic."

Elder Zong immediately directed the staff to sort through all the wine jars, wine vessels, and the remaining wine collected on site for retesting. However, the staff soon reported: "These wines were all brewed by the Sun family using magic, and they naturally carry a lot of magical energy. We cannot tell whether they have been tampered with, but the tests show that they are all harmless."

Just then, a ringtone sounded from Yan Nishuang's small handbag. She took out a smaller mobile phone and answered it. Huang Chenghua's voice came from the other end: "Captain Yan, something's happened!"

Bai Lin was startled. He wondered if something had happened to Youxi and the others. He wasn't worried about Youxi, though, as she was gentle and wouldn't cause trouble. But Qiqi was different; if anything unexpected happened, she would definitely "fight back."

However, Huang Chenghua on the other end of the phone said, "A thick fog has risen over Yunhu Lake, and thunder can be heard from within the fog, as if someone is casting a large-scale spell."