Volume 1: Welcoming Gotham Chapter 10 A Cat Causes a Tragedy
"This coat is good in every way except that it's a little big and a little smelly."
The body of zombie Hagrid was burning like a bonfire. Mason took off his backpack and used it as a chair. He was giving first aid to the kite man who was sitting cross-legged next to him.
He still perfectly portrayed his "dumb character", but Kite Man, who felt that he was in the same group as Mason, kept complaining.
Mason divided the spoils among him, and he was delighted.
But Mason gave him a smelly piece of clothing covered in blood, and he was unhappy.
"ah."
As Mason tightened the bandage in his hand, the complaining Kite Man twitched suddenly, and a reminder appeared in front of the young man that his first aid proficiency had increased by X5 due to the excellent craftsmanship and quick bandaging.
He nodded with satisfaction, wrapped the bandage into a bow, and motioned to the kite flyer to stretch out his other arm which was badly scratched.
This guy is actually quite lucky.
He was asked by Old K to serve as cannon fodder, but was slapped away by the zombie Hagrid. Given the sharpness of the zombie's mutated claws, he would be dead if the claws had cut this guy's skin.
Although I don’t know if Old K has the antidote for the zombie virus.
But what is certain is that the sinister old guy would never share the precious antidote with a cannon fodder.
"Let's switch."
Although Kite Man had no problem with the new boss's silence, he had his own thoughts. He held the stinking leather coat and said to Mason:
"I'll trade this with you, and I'll let you give me the gun... er, I mean, the knife.
Look at how fine the material is, it's obviously top-quality fur. I'm not exaggerating, after the Joker gang disbanded, I worked odd jobs at Wayne's Mall in Gotham for a while to earn rent.
I have put a lot of effort into identifying fur and I am absolutely professional.
If we take this thing back and repair it, we can sell it for at least several hundred thousand."
"Why don't I give you one million and you give me the clothes."
Old K's voice appeared beside the two men like a ghost. Mason was unmoved, but the Kite Man's whole body tensed up.
"Don't be nervous, my best investigator. You will be the main force in the next task ."
The cunning old man showed a peaceful expression and sat next to Mason and Kite Flyer. While observing Mason's skilled and accurate first aid skills, he casually said to Kite Flyer:
"Mason is so kind to his own people. He gave you such a good magic protective gear without blinking an eye. When I was a rookie, my captain was not so kind to me.
At that time, even an ordinary magic arrow had to be obtained with great effort."
"Magic armor?"
The kite flyer blinked his eyes, looked at the stinky coat in his hand, and asked humbly:
“Is this thing powerful?”
"Well, it's quite impressive. As you saw earlier, this jacket can even withstand small-scale explosions at close range. Ordinary caliber bullets can't penetrate its protection at all."
Old K is an expert in this field.
He reached out and stroked the black moleskin coat in the kite flyer's hand and said:
“Even in the internal trading market of the Star Society, this kind of tough protective gear with magical effects is very popular among D-class personnel.
Of course, more senior members look down on it.
Don't look at me, Charles.
I'm C-rank, I have better things than to take your poor spoils. I'm certainly not a nice guy, but I can be generous when I have to."
As he spoke, Old K took out three slender bottles with blood-red liquid from his belt and handed them to Mason. He looked at Mason and said:
"Give me the knife you got. This is your compensation."
Mason stopped what he was doing and looked at Old K in surprise. He hesitated for a moment, obviously thinking, then took the potion handed to him by Old K and rubbed it in his hands.
The next moment, the character card gave an analysis:
"High-level special alchemical compound detected, analyzing... The item is 'Swallow Potion', which will instantly restore vitality after drinking and heal all injuries no more than [Severe] within the next five minutes.
The alchemy skills knowledge is too low to analyze the complete formula, the 'Healing Potion Elementary' formula has been included. "
Looking at the three high-level potions in front of him, Mason's expression showed some interest.
Under Old K's expectant gaze, Mason pulled out the giant-style hunting knife from his waist and stroked its blade with reluctance.
This thing also has a special tag:
Hagrid's Skinning Knife
Quality: Well-forged items, excellent craftsmanship
Effect: Enchanted with sharpness, but poorly balanced and not good at close combat. Giant Hunter-style knives are great for harvesting leather, and resource collection speed is greatly increased when equipped.
Producer: Friedeufer Hager
Item Description: When you hold it, you will miss the gentle strength of the giant mother when she helped you smash the head of the explosive-toothed bear.
Warning: This item is stained with the blood of the beast tamer Hagrid. It will be very dangerous to approach Hagrid's tamed pets while holding it!
This knife is really nice.
This is the third fine item Mason has obtained in addition to the Penguin's armed umbrella and bat dart.
Although the label states that it is "not good at close combat", when Mason got it before, he held it in his hand and chopped it a few times in the air and found that it had good destructive power and was very easy to use.
This conflict phenomenon is actually easy to understand. The so-called weakness in close combat is based on the giant's size.
This thing is like a table knife in the hands of a half-giant like Hagrid, and is definitely not suitable for close combat, but for humans of standard size, this thing is great.
With its sharpness, chopping off a zombie's head is as easy as cutting grass.
This Old K is indeed an expert in his field.
He had sharp eyes and could tell at a glance that the knife was the most valuable trophy on the zombie, but he did not ask for it right away by relying on his position as captain, but instead exchanged it afterwards.
This action itself represents the kindness that Old K shows to Mason.
He has been saying that he is selecting his future players, and it seems that the ordinary Mason has caught his eye. So the question now is, should he change or not?
Mason stroked the knife in his hand, the white blade reflecting his black hair and yellow skin.
That somewhat childish face was full of hesitation.
But when he saw the tip in the information tag column of the knife again, the young man made up his mind.
Judging from the current situation, Hagrid's "pets" might have turned into zombies, and are perhaps now wandering in the ruins of Hogwarts.
Hagrid, the half-giant, called those things "pets".
But Mason, who has watched movies and read novels, knows the true face of those "little pets" that sound harmless. Bringing this knife into Hogwarts is a terrible hidden danger.
But it is perfect as a "trap".
Changed!
The young man pretended to be reluctant, sighed, and handed the knife to Lao K with both hands.
This action was seen by the Explosive Girl and the Dizzy Count on the other side of the campfire. The hot-tempered girl immediately spat at the side and cursed:
"Bah, lackey!"
"Thanks."
Lao K was also very satisfied with the result.
He generously placed three high-grade potions into Mason's hands, then stood up and tossed a bottle of special liquid to the Kite Flyer, signaling him to pour the potion on his new coat.
Then, Old K put Hagrid's hunting knife on the weapon slot on his back.
In this way, combined with the cool Golden Eagle one-handed sword he already had, he now had two weapons that could be used for close combat.
He didn't have to be so humble.
But unfortunately, the last expedition suffered heavy losses. As a C-level personnel, he almost lost all his belongings. Now he has to start all over again.
This hypocritical guy got the weapon he needed, then walked to the Bomb Girl and the Count of Dizziness with his hands behind his back, smiling, and sat beside them to have a friendly chat. He then took out a second-tier potion and gave it to the two complaining guys, explaining to them how to use the potion.
After seeing the exhausted Explosive Girl and the Dizzy Count drinking the potion doubtfully, the smile on Old K's face became even gentler.
My new team can't just consist of the skeleton staff...
We also need useful cannon fodder.
"Yeah, it doesn't stink anymore! It's as good as new."
On Mason's side, the Kite Man poured the potion given by Old K on Hagrid's leather coat, and a lot of bubbles emerged.
After the kite flyer struggled to lift up the half-giant coat and shake off the foam, the coat, which originally smelled extremely fishy, became as shiny as new.
It's like magic.
Unfortunately, the specifications of this coat are still for half-giants. When Kite Man puts it on, it's like a naughty kid stealing his dad's windbreaker. Even his arms and legs are not visible.
Mason blinked and gestured for Kiteman to hand him the remaining liquid. He took it in his hand and took a look. The information tag quickly popped up:
Stark's Armor Cleaning Fluid
Quality: Standard alchemical items, standard craftsmanship
Effect: Use dry cleaning mode to quickly clean all external stains, and different scents are available, making it a must-have for home and travel.
Item Description: For superheroes and playboys, a perfect appearance at all times is as important as a cool and powerful inner self.
Status: Drawings have been collected.
"Um?"
When Mason saw the name of this thing, his heart moved.
Could this " Stark " be the one... Well, it seems that Old K was not bragging, their Star Club is really powerful.
Thinking of this, Mason touched the three advanced healing potions on his belt, then touched the back of his neck, wondering if the effect of the medicine was enough to save his life when he cut open his spine to remove the bomb.
Uh, it takes five minutes for it to take effect.
I don’t think it will work.
To be on the safe side, we have to find a magic potion that can heal injuries instantly.
There should be something like this in Hogwarts School. The potions and alchemy in this world are very ancient.
"Woo woo woo"
More than 20 minutes later, while Mason, who was pretending to be a mute, was silently completing the maintenance of his gun, a low whistle sounded on the magic platform. He stood up and looked at the fog outside the platform that never dissipated. Soon he saw a steam locomotive-like train breaking through the fog and slowly approaching.
Several other people also got up from their rest, and Old K was fully armed and ready to fight.
But soon, everyone's expressions changed.
That train was attacked!
Although the front of the train remained intact, only two carriages of the train that it was supposed to tow remained.
The last section broke in the middle as if it had exploded from the inside. As the train moved forward, the broken wheel continued to rub against the rails, flashing sparks.
In other words, this thing is a magical creation, otherwise the situation would have gone off track long ago.
"Don't worry, there is no life activity in there."
Old K said, smoking his pipe.
He seemed to have some kind of reconnaissance ability. Mason, who had been observing him, just saw that the shape of Old K's pupils changed.
When the train slowly stopped at the platform, the team leader, Old K, stretched out his hand to push the door of the train but it did not move at all. He frowned and took out some cracking tools and said to the others:
“Back off! There are enchantments cast by wizards in this carriage. It seems that some of them took refuge in this thing when disaster strikes.
A doomsday shelter, ugh, how pathetic."
A few minutes later, the magic barrier was broken and the door of the carriage was kicked open by Lao K.
He was the first to walk up, and everyone followed in. As soon as they entered the carriage, a bad smell made everyone frown.
This intact carriage was littered with corpses and blood. The corpses were still wearing the robes of young wizards, and even some official wizards died tragically in the carriage.
But no one can tell what exactly happened here.
"vomit"
The last kite flyer who got on the bus saw this scene and covered his mouth and rushed down. The faces of the others were also ugly, except for Old K.
The old man grinned and said to the others:
"Get used to it as soon as possible. You will see more exciting things later. Now clean up these bodies. There are exactly four cabins in this carriage.
I'll go to the front of the car to check the situation, you guys take a rest.
According to the information from the forerunners, it will take at least four hours for this car to reach Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
After saying that, Old K nimbly jumped onto the roof of the carriage and walked towards the front of the train. Although the remaining few people were unhappy, for the sake of the next four hours of "travel experience", they still worked together to throw the bodies out.
A few minutes later the train started again, and the cleaned-up carriages were clearly divided. The bomber and the Count Vertigo went to the left compartment, while Mason stayed alone in a compartment.
But when the train left the platform, the kite man walked in again, holding his new coat and touching his head, looking embarrassed.
He said to Mason who was loading bullets into the magazine with an unhappy and embarrassed look:
"Those two guys were really in a good mood to have sex in the carriage. I really admire where they got the mood from."
Mason listened.
Sure enough, a sound like a cat in heat was coming from the back of the car. It seemed that the bomber and the count were under a lot of pressure and both needed to vent in this way.
Well, maybe it’s just possible that they just like it?
As for foreigners, it is understandable.
He glanced again at Kite Man, who was lying on the sofa opposite him, putting on his coat and preparing to take a nap. The latter noticed Mason's strange look and heard the increasingly bold screams of the Bomb Girl.
This guy didn't know what he was thinking about. He immediately covered his butt and shook his head frantically, saying:
"I'm sorry, but I..."
"Shh!"
Mason raised his finger as a gesture to silence him.
He heard a strange noise and cautiously pushed open the sliding door of the box. At that moment, a line of text jumped into his eyes:
"Enter combat mode..."
"grass!"
The young man slammed the hatch door shut with the fastest reaction speed in his life.
Almost at the same time, with a shrill scream, several claw marks appeared on the glass of the closed train door, just like a dagger scratching the glass leaving white marks.
Through the glass, Mason happened to see the attacker.
a cat.
It was a tabby cat that was a size larger than normal. Its eyes, which should have been dark green, had turned a more dangerous bright red, reflecting an ominous glimpse.
What’s even worse is that the cat’s no longer smooth fur is also covered with ulcerated and shriveled scars.
It was now lying in front of the car glass, staring at Mason who was holding the short-barreled blaster cannon with its scarlet eyes, its bald tail waving back and forth in place, like a little tiger who had found fresh food.
Mason was shocked when he saw the iconic square glasses stripes on the tabby cat's face.
Professor McGonagall?
How could this happen?
But before Mason could take a closer look, the zombie tabby cat that was blocked outside the glass heard a more "lively" noise.
It disappeared from Mason's sight with a whoosh, and rushed towards the carriage that kept making "weird noises" and the women's screams were becoming more and more intense.
"That wild couple is finished!"
A thought came to the young man's mind, and the kite flyer behind him jumped in fright.
"What the hell is that?"
"Shut up! Go find Old K! Quick! We've encountered a hidden boss. If he comes any later, we'll all probably die here!"
Mason's eyes fell on Hagrid's leather coat in the Kite Man's hand. Old K said that this thing had magical and tough protection. He snatched it away, put it on, and rushed out of the cabin with his gun in hand.
Only the kite man holding the gun was left standing there in a daze.
"Ah, so you're not mute?"
