Volume 6: Summer at Spider's End Alley Chapter 449 Backstab
Snape covered his stomach, where his robe had been completely torn to pieces and turned into a bloody mess.
Blood kept dripping from his body, but he had no intention of stopping and continued to fly in one direction with a determined purpose.
Behind him, the five Death Eaters were chasing him relentlessly, showing no intention of letting him go.
Even though the order from Voldemort was to capture Snape alive, these pure-bloods also wanted to take this opportunity to make Snape suffer.
There are many ways to capture someone alive, and Snape's obvious attitude of resistance gives them even more reason to "take good care" of this half-blood wizard who has fallen out of favor.
Now this is just an appetizer, it’s not time to feed the real meal yet.
Although they could not understand why Snape would return to England after he had already escaped and was unwilling to return to Voldemort's arms, the Death Eaters knew that Snape's actions were tantamount to walking into a trap.
The current British Ministry of Magic has had an impregnable control over the entire UK over the years. Not only has a stable order been formed in the wizarding world, but it has also inherited the connections and resources of the previous Ministry of Magic in the Muggle government, causing those Muggle politicians to believe that the current British Ministry of Magic is still a group of peace-seeking wizards as before.
This meant that Snape was in a state of no escape from the moment he was discovered. Even if he used Apparition, the Death Eaters would be able to find him immediately based on the traces he left behind.
At this moment, the distance between them and Snape was slowly shortening. The speed of this magical flight created by Voldemort was actually not slow, but Snape had suffered serious injuries before taking off, which seriously slowed down his speed.
Just when they had just left the industrial city and entered the suburbs, Snape suddenly began to fall from the sky, like a kite with a broken string, and fell straight towards a shed in the fields on the ground.
The five Death Eaters chasing behind seemed to be confused about the situation for a moment. They didn't know whether Snape's current state was that he was exhausted and unable to control his flight and fell, or he started to land on his own initiative.
It was precisely because they didn't understand that they began to panic.
Their master is now much crazier than before. As for Snape, Voldemort's requirement is that he must be captured alive, so they absolutely dare not return with Snape's dead body.
If that were the case, they would end up being buried together with Snape!
Then, these Death Eaters began to desperately lower the brooms under them and began to accelerate their descent!
Each of them displayed the professional qualities of Quidditch players in professional games, staring at Snape as if they were staring at the Golden Snitch, and swooping towards him at the same time!
But just when the three fastest flying among them were about to get within ten meters of Snape, Snape's figure suddenly disappeared in mid-air.
The five people were stunned for a second, but then someone reacted quickly!
"He used Apparition! Check it out!"
Among this group of people there was a senior official of the current Department of Magical Sports and Physical Education, who had the highest level of authority to call up Apparition reconnaissance. Almost in the third second after Snape disappeared, he had already determined the landing point of the Apparition.
"It's three kilometers to the left and front below!"
What was puzzling was that Snape's Apparition this time did not teleport to a place too far away or to a place where there were few people, but right under them.
"Chase!"
But no one stopped. This was Britain, their base, so they certainly had nothing to be afraid of.
Soon five Death Eaters rushed to Snape's Apparition landing point, which was a shed that looked like it had been built not long ago.
The Death Eaters rushed into the shed, and Snape sat on a sofa chair in the shed, panting, as if his body had been overdrawn to its limit and the injury in his stomach did not allow him to escape anymore.
Looking at the Death Eaters rushing in, Snape did not beg for mercy, and even his facial expression did not change at all. He just looked at the leader.
"Mulciber, we really are a pair of old friends."
He sighed calmly, and the Death Eater called Mulciber was actually one of Snape's good classmates in Slytherin House during his school days, but now he was looking at Snape with indifference.
"Friendship is friendship, but you should know what kind of mistake you made, Severus. Since you have successfully escaped from Dumbledore, why don't you return to your master immediately?"
Snape smiled, but there was certainly no good smile on his face that always seemed to show sarcasm. It was clearly a sneer.
"Then I wonder if our master has figured out why he is so eager to capture me back?"
Mulciber and his companions looked at each other. None of them understood what Snape was saying, but they all clearly heard the disrespect towards Voldemort in Snape's tone.
Their faces darkened, and everyone raised their wands towards Snape.
It’s not that they are all very loyal to Voldemort now, but no one can guarantee whether the teammates around them are truly loyal. If someone reports this to Voldemort after returning, even if he does not die afterwards, he will definitely be skinned alive.
"The master has his own ideas about what he wants you to do. You should talk to him after you meet him."
Mulciber had lost all his patience. All he wanted now was to capture Snape and report back to Voldemort. Whether he was rewarded or not was secondary. The only thing he wanted was to avoid being punished.
However, just as he finished speaking and was about to command the people around him to take action, a group of people appeared at the entrance of the shed and blocked the sunlight coming in from outside the shed.
Mulciber and the others looked back in horror, but when they saw who was coming, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"So it's Rufus. Did you find me based on the Apparition surveillance? Don't worry, Snape is under our control."
There were three people coming. They were wearing the same black robes as Mulciber and his companions. They were obviously members of the Death Eaters, so after seeing them, Mulciber and his companions were not very wary.
Rufus and the other two, who had been chewing carrots and onions for who knows how many days, had smiles on their faces, as if they were all happy for successfully capturing Snape and now that they could finally go back and report to their master.
"That's great, let's take him back right away!"
Mulciber and the others had no doubts about this. They turned around without any preparation, cast a stunning spell on Snape, and then took him back to report to Voldemort.
Three uniform spells suddenly rang out!
"Avada Kedavra!" ×3
The four men of Mulciber were totally unprepared. In the sudden green light, the life disappeared from the eyes of three of them in the next moment. Even at the last moment before their death, they still showed a reassuring smile to Snape.
The remaining two Death Eaters watched their companion fall to the ground. They obviously hadn't reacted to what was happening. When they were about to turn around to look at Rufus and the others in a daze, without stopping at all, two more killing curses rang out at the same time!
Faced with the backstab of their friendly forces, the five Death Eaters had no time to react at all. None of them had expected that their colleagues, who had been in the same class and had common interests, would just attack without saying a word.
Snape watched this despicable backstabbing with cold eyes and spoke lightly.
"Are you going to kill them directly like this? There aren't that many Death Eaters, and the elites will be fewer if they die. If you really want to kill all of them, how many pure-bloods will be available in the British wizarding world in the future?"
When Rufus heard what Snape said, an expression of disapproval appeared on his face.
"You also know that there are not many elites among us. Do you think Mulciber and his men are worthy of being called elites? These fence-sitters have no loyalty to their masters at all. What's the difference between being dead and alive? It's actually a good thing that we can do a big reshuffle this time. There are too many useless people just sitting there doing nothing."
Snape's voice remained calm.
"No loyalty to the master? Then what you are asking them to be loyal to is which master?"
Hearing this question, the faces of Rufus and the other two turned cold and they stared at Snape.
"Don't play dumb, Severus. I thought you had already realized the situation and were waiting for us to come to you."
"I don't think I'm playing dumb." Snape said calmly, "Which master are you representing? You should at least provide some proof. I thought that if you were to judge by how much he values me, you should come in person."
"You are so presumptuous!"
Rufus's expression didn't seem to be intentional. He looked like he was really angry about Snape's disrespectful remarks.
But he had no intention of doing anything to Snape, because he could see that Snape was actually waiting for them, otherwise he would not have gone to so much trouble to escape from Dumbledore, and after returning to England, he was unwilling to have any contact with the current Voldemort.
Otherwise, who is he waiting for?
Of course the only possibility is that they are waiting for their real master!
As one of the first Death Eaters to come into contact with Voldemort II, Rufus simply sneered at the "great gentleman" today.
The one to whom he truly pledged his loyalty was the man who could truly lead the purebloods to glory, not the madman who was currently preparing to impose his tyranny on the entire British wizarding community.
And now, Snape's various strange behaviors are naturally considered by him to be a person who has the same ideas and aspirations as himself. The changes that Voldemort has undergone before and after the Triwizard Tournament are very obvious. Anyone with a little bit of brains can see that this huge contrast is basically a different person.
As subordinates and servants, Rufis and others were not qualified to understand what exactly went wrong with their masters, but they could choose who they wanted to be loyal to.
As a pure-blood with a discerning vision, Rufis naturally only gave his full loyalty to the master who had truly ruled them for more than a decade.
During this time, they have contacted several colleagues within the Death Eaters who were also tortured by the current Voldemort No. 1, intending to re-screen some servants who are loyal to their true master.
Snape is obviously the most important one. After learning that he had escaped back to England, Voldemort No. 2 contacted Rufus and others, asking them to find an opportunity to contact Snape and bring him back safely.
It was also because of this that Rufus and the others were actually following John and Lily at the beginning, because the Death Eaters' channel was their own people, and once they made a discovery, they would not be able to hide it from them.
Now, as long as they keep their eyes on John, they will have locked out all possible targets who might find Snape.
But yesterday morning, it seemed like they were exposed. They lost their target of Jon and Lily at some point, just when Rufus was searching the city for Jon and the others.
The Death Eaters made the discovery first.
This is of course a good thing for Rufus and the others, as it means they can capture Snape more easily.
As for Snape's request for identity verification, Voldemort II seemed to have considered this matter a long time ago before asking them to come to Snape.
Although Rufus looked reluctant, he still took out a small glass bottle from the pocket of his robe. The bottle contained half a bottle of light golden gravel.
He tossed the bottle of gravel to Snape.
"My master asked me to bring it to you. He also asked me to tell you that no one can replace you."
Snape took the bottle of sand that seemed to be glowing with a faint golden glow, and his usually empty eyes seemed to reflect these tiny golden particles.
"He always thought I let it go."
For some unknown reason, he suddenly said this.
"Over the years, I have been increasingly violent and abusive towards Lily, even willing to use the Killing Curse on her. This has made him think that I really don't care about such a lowly woman. Just like he once told me, there are many better people in the world than her. But in fact, I really want to tell him in person that he is wrong."
Rufus suddenly had a very bad premonition in his heart. They stared at Snape and clenched their wands. Just when they were considering whether to take action directly, Snape's faint voice sounded again.
"The things have been obtained. How long do you want to stand aside and watch the show?"
