Hogwarts Summoning Guide

Upon hearing Bai Lin's probing questions, Edogawa Hiroyuki visibly paused for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. Faced with Bai Lin's overwhelming martial prowess, continuing to conceal the truth would be unwise.

Hiroyuki Edogawa swallowed hard, then organized his thoughts and said, "It is indeed related to my sister."

He paused for a moment and said, "When I was five years old, my sister was four years older than me. Our family encountered a shipwreck in the waters off Vietnam... Later, my sister and I were sent to an orphanage in Hong Kong... But when my sister was eleven, she was adopted by a Japanese couple and taken back to Japan. We lost contact with them after that..."

"But that day I met Awen who was poisoned, and he told me that among the stack of documents he stole, there was a photo of a staff member that looked a lot like my sister..." Hiroyuki Edogawa said.

"Oh... if it weren't for the sudden virus attack, I was planning to visit the organization that Zhong Shunwen stole from, to see if there were any clues! If there's a photo of your sister in that pile of documents, shouldn't your sister work at that organization?" Bai Lin asked doubtfully. "Also, since your sister was adopted, shouldn't the orphanage have adoption records? Wouldn't it be easy to find out by checking?"

Hiroyuki Edogawa shrugged. "The adoption record is fake... Based on my analysis of the information I have, the people who adopted my sister were either Professor Fujiwara and his wife—the biologist who published the virus paper—or they were members of the Light Ship organization. And the biological institution called Eden's Summer, which Ah-Wen went to steal the data from, disappeared overnight. After checking, I found out it seems to be an American research institute; they weren't doing anything good in Hong Kong!"

Bai Lin touched his nose, his expression unchanged, but his heart tightened. He said, "Now that you mention it, the virus's trajectory is clearer. You said that Professor Fujiwara discovered the original virus, but judging from how he brazenly published papers, it can be seen that this original virus shouldn't have too much toxicity, and could even cure his daughter's disability. However, the Ship of Light discovered the virus's destructive power."

Bai Lin dipped his finger in tea, drew a circle on the table, then divided it into three pieces, saying, "Professor Fujiwara's original virus revives dead cells; the Lightship's potion enhances the virus's activity, allowing it to take effect in just over ten minutes; and the Eden's Summer Research Institute likely possesses a method to increase the virus's infectivity. These three pieces combined are enough to develop a powerful virus capable of destroying humanity." He added in his mind: This could be an enemy even more dangerous than the Hastur Church. Even a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore would likely be powerless against an infection of the T-virus level.

Hiroyuki Edogawa's expression was very grave. He had indeed realized the seriousness of the situation. He gritted his teeth and said, "I think my sister is either a spy planted in Eden's Summer by the Ship of Light, or an important researcher in Eden's Summer. Nine days have passed. If the Ship of Light wants to achieve a technological breakthrough quickly, the simplest way is to kidnap the existing experts. My sister is very likely in their hands right now!"

Bai Lin nodded and said, "Your reasoning makes some sense, but I think it's the former. Your sister's magical talent must be quite good, right?"

Edogawa Hiroyuki nodded with a complicated expression. His sister's talent far surpassed his; otherwise, it wouldn't have been her who was adopted, not him. Bai Lin's unspoken meaning was still unfinished: since his sister was working at Eden's Summer, why didn't she visit Edogawa Hiroyuki? Unless she didn't want to see her brother at all, or she was engaged in sensitive or even illegal activities.

Now that they had opened their hearts, Bai Lin's doubts about Edogawa Hiroyuki were also resolved. The two found a convenience store and bought a business directory of Kagoshima Prefecture. Although the Internet had begun to be used in this era, it had not yet become widespread among the general public. Many convenience stores and hotels would sell booklets such as "Telephone Directory" or "Local Business Directory" for the convenience of citizens.

"Found it!" Hiroyuki Edogawa quickly found Morisaki Shipping Company. With one phone call, he got the address of their operations department, which was not far from the city center and within walking distance.

But stealing is best done late at night when everyone is quiet. Even though Bai Lin is highly skilled in magic, he doesn't want to make a scene and cause trouble for himself, or even alert the thief.

Kagoshima's nightlife is not vibrant, and the pace of life is far less hectic than in Tokyo. After 8 p.m., only two or three izakayas and ramen shops are still open on the main street, and the streets appear quite deserted in the sea breeze.

Bai Lin and Edogawa Hiroyuki, feeling extremely guilty, covered their faces and only dared to sneak out of the hotel after 11 p.m. They took advantage of the darkness and rode fire crossbows into the Morisaki Shipping Company building. For a wizard of Bai Lin's level, ordinary locks, even those in bank vaults, could be easily broken with a simple spell, making it as if they were in an empty place. The two searched around the office for more than an hour before Edogawa Hiroyuki finally found a rather suspicious ship rental record.

Chartering a cargo ship is not like renting a car or a house, where you only need to pay a small deposit. The lessee is going to sail the ship to a foreign country, so the guarantee is very strict. Otherwise, wouldn't these shipping companies lose the ships they bought at a high price?

On the rental agreement that Hiroyuki Edogawa found, where there should have been a guarantee from a bank or insurance company, a person's name was clearly written, and a 6000-ton cargo ship was rented out with a mere 5,000 yen rental fee and no expiration date.

What shocked Bai Lin the most was that the name was none other than "Fujiwara Ichiura." Instantly, a surge of anger welled up in Bai Lin's heart. How could he forget this name? It was the name of the Yunhu case he had orchestrated in the Southwest Province, which had killed five or six hundred people in total. Among them were dozens of sorcerers from the Eastern Magic Execution Department, including Yan Nishuang's deputy—the honest and simple-minded Huang Chenghua. Bai Lin hated this evil Japanese villain to the bone. Even if he hadn't seen his name today, Bai Lin had planned to find an opportunity to seek revenge in Japan after settling down in the East. Now, it turned out that Fujiwara Ichiura was a member of the Ship of Light. Now he could settle both old and new scores at once.

Fujiwara Ichiura clearly used some kind of mind control magic, so the shipping company didn't ask for any collateral or guarantee and just rented out the ship (or rather, gave it away for free). However, there was still information about the ship's delivery location and the basic information about the first batch of cargo. "Fujiwara Biotherapy Research Institute" was listed, but Edogawa Hiroyuki couldn't find the name of this research institute in the business directory.

Just as Edogawa Hiroyuki was about to carefully examine the ship delivery information, he suddenly felt an intense chill run down his spine. He and Bai Lin, who was equally alert, exchanged a glance. Suddenly, they both felt as if they had been scalded by boiling water on the backs of their hands. They looked over simultaneously and saw a mark that looked somewhat like a triangle on the back of their hands. Bai Lin's encyclopedia system promptly sent a message:

Affected by the mark of the vengeful spirit, it has been locked by the shikigami: the spirit of vengeance, and cannot be removed until the spirit of vengeance is destroyed.

"WTF!" Bai Lin couldn't help but swear.