## 388. Magic Golem Attack
"Thunk."
A cup of coffee was placed on the table, its rich aroma spreading with the rising steam.
"Upton, your coffee."
"Thanks."
The bespectacled man quickly took a sip, then continued typing away at his keyboard.
"Here, Zeke."
Veronica, the woman in red, handed another cup of coffee to the man with the ponytail.
Zeke, the ponytail man, took the coffee and frowned, asking, "Still haven't found that woman?"
Veronica shook her head. "No. The forest has been searched five times, the sensors on the beach and in the shallow sea haven't been triggered, and every possible hiding spot in the factory has been checked."
"What about the sausage production workshop?"
"Checked."
"The prison cells?"
"Checked those too."
"Are there any places on the island we don't control? The Chamber of Secrets? Caves, dungeons?"
The man's voice grew louder and louder, and for a moment, no one in the room dared to speak.
No one knew the layout of this island better than Zeke, the ponytail man.
Their surveillance covered the entire island—except for individual privacy barely maintained in each person's dorm and bathroom, every accessible area was under surveillance.
But for an adult woman who seemed not particularly bright to simply vanish from the island without a trace, it was as incredible as her sudden appearance.
Zeke, the ponytail man, narrowed his eyes, scanning his surroundings, his voice laced with ice.
"It couldn't be... someone is secretly helping her, could it? Hmm?"
He looked at each person around him in turn.
Veronica was also a woman, and sometimes she would sympathize with the children on the island, secretly slipping them a few candies.
Upton, the bespectacled man, was short, fat, and timid; no woman liked him... and while that blonde woman might be foolish, she was genuinely good-looking.
What about the others on the island? Were they undercover agents sent by the wizards? Or perhaps controlled by wizard magic?
He'd heard there was a Love Potion that could make people fall so deeply in love they'd abandon even their own families...
Those stared at by his suspicious gaze involuntarily shivered, afraid they would be dragged away for interrogation at any moment.
On this island, there were too many things that made life worse than death.
Veronica quickly said, "Actually, I've always wondered, is that woman really still on the island?"
Meeting the man's icy gaze, she plunged ahead. "Perhaps she's already escaped... After all, wizards can fly, can be invisible, or even transform into mermaids and leave by sea..."
Zeke stared at her, his eyes flickering, and a layer of cold sweat gradually appeared on Veronica's forehead.
Suddenly, Upton, the bespectacled man, saw the footage from several cameras on the monitor blur. He couldn't help but lean closer to look, and the image quickly returned to normal.
—Maybe a bird startled the camera?
He checked the signals from the sensors. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that the signals in a few places were slightly higher than usual... about ten percent higher...
He opened his mouth to speak but, sensing the tense atmosphere behind him, Upton wisely closed it again.
If Zeke checked and found everything normal, then he, who had falsely reported military intelligence, would be the one to suffer.
Zeke didn't notice Upton, who was on the verge of speaking. He frowned and said, "Then how do you explain the message on the Book of Friends?"
Hearing this, Veronica knew he shared her suspicion. She breathed a sigh of relief and picked up a blank sheet of paper from the table.
"The Book of Friends—this is, after all, a wizard's invention. While the imitation products controlled by those Alchemists are very similar to the genuine article, they are not exactly the same."
"What if the hidden trick has been discovered? Then the message she sent would have been nothing but a ploy to toy with us."
"Making us believe she was still on the island, concentrating our search efforts, and thereby creating an opportunity for her to escape..."
Veronica's voice was soft, and her smile alluring. Upton unconsciously admired Veronica's shapely figure reflected in the screen behind her.
As he watched, he suddenly felt something move in his peripheral vision. Upton glanced over—
It was a Tabby cat batting at a camera.
—It's a cat!
Upton confidently looked away, watched for another two seconds, then his heart suddenly leaped, as if he had stepped into an empty space.
—Only Veronica kept a white cat as a pet on the island; where did a Tabby cat come from?
He abruptly turned his head, but the Tabby cat was no longer in the screen. Upton quickly brought up all the cameras in that nearby area and finally found the Tabby cat again.
The cat was standing in front of an electrical box. It had somehow opened the lid and was raising its soft paws towards the electrical cables.
A kitten, the size of a yarn ball, stood inside the tall electrical box, baring its claws at cables thicker than its tail. This scene should have been adorable, but Upton was filled with a sense of dread.
He couldn't help but shout, "Stop—"
Everyone in the room turned to look at him, not understanding what he was yelling about.
Zeke hadn't done anything to Veronica; in fact, they had finally started drinking coffee.
But the tabby cat on the screen, of course, heard nothing. It calmly waved a paw, and a cold glint flashed—the thick cable snapped in two, with a perfectly smooth cut.
The screen suddenly went black.
Upton sat frozen in his chair, unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
On the large screens around him, twenty or thirty surveillance feeds sequentially turned black, looking like a mosaic had been added.
"What happened?"
Zeke and the others were startled.
In response, more screens suddenly turned completely black, leaving only a few still working.
On the island, large areas lost their lights, the roaring machinery stopped, and the conveyor belts that crisscrossed the entire area and had been constantly running came to a halt.
A boy whose face had been grim suddenly had a spark of hope ignite in his eyes. He whimpered and struggled desperately, but he was firmly restrained to the bed by straps.
Several people in surgical scrubs nearby exchanged glances.
"What's going on?"
"Power outage?"
"Wait a moment, maybe it's equipment maintenance."
Their voices were flat as they spoke, as if they hadn't seen the boy whimpering and crying on the bed at all.
A few minutes later, the backup generator started, and the sound of metal instruments clanking echoed in the room once more.
In another room, Hailey looked up at the relit lights, her pupils contracting as if pricked. She quickly raised a small hand to cover her eyes.
Beside her sat a plump woman, who smiled and said, "The circuit connection might be unstable... Don't worry about it. Shall we continue reading?"
Hailey whispered, "Can I go back after we finish?"
The plump woman asked strangely, "Go back for what? Do you like prison?"
"No," Hailey shook her head, then added, "But Mabel is still waiting for me!"
The plump woman stroked her soft hair and said, "Mabel has her mission, and you have your destiny. Be a good girl, Hailey."
Hailey's body trembled slightly. She lowered her head without a word.
The plump woman praised, "Good child."
The two sat quietly for a while, the only sound in the room being the rustling of pages.
Hailey was thirsty, but she looked up at the woman and didn't dare ask for water.
She lowered her head again.
The picture book in her hands was the story of Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the Big Bad Wolf and then rescued by the hunter.
In the corner of the picture book, someone had written a small, blurry name in pencil.
[Salah].
Hailey remembered that strange child, with very dark skin, in the room diagonally opposite theirs.
Sometimes he would sing songs no one understood, sometimes he would use broken English to describe various animals from the savanna, and tell stories of fighting with other children for water.
It sounded like he was from another world.
Was he also brought to this place to read a book over a month ago?
Suddenly, the door to this reading room was pushed open, and a woman in green stood at the doorway.
"Bring her in."
She said.
Hailey was pulled to her feet by the plump woman. She looked back blankly, seeing Little Red Riding Hood in the picture book happily reuniting with her grandmother, led by the hunter.
The wind in the corridor stirred the pages, and with a rustle, it changed to the scene of Little Red Riding Hood being swallowed whole by the Big Bad Wolf.
...
At this moment, most areas on the island had actually descended into chaos.
Countless strange animals suddenly appeared. They had cute appearances, but their sharp claws and teeth didn't match their looks.
With a light swing, even thick cables and iron frames could be cut through. The automatic machine guns installed on the perimeter wall were cut into pieces by Diffindo before they could even fire.
Some sparrow-like birds swooped down from high altitudes, their sharp beaks piercing people's thighs like bullets. Guards holding guns fell to the ground, screaming.
Swordsmen charged forward in big strides, women like housekeepers swung pruning shears, snapping guards' arms, and there were even small people the length of an arm, and even fist-sized Magic Golems, screaming as they charged, strong enough to knock adult men flying.
The most bizarre thing was that brooms and dustpans were also attacking the base—
The slender brooms, though unpiloted, spun madly, smashing weapons and people alike.
The dustpans pounded like hammers, sending the soldiers scattering in panic.
Those who hadn't been attacked yet decisively picked up their guns and returned fire, a continuous barrage of "bang, bang, bang" echoing through the air.
A cat with one leg broken still managed to leap and pounce agilely on its remaining three legs.
The other people or objects, even when hit by bullets, seemed to feel no pain at all; they merely paused briefly before immediately resuming their attacks.
Only a very few would suddenly stop moving, collapse with a thud, and then fall silent forever.
"Aim for the head! Shoot these monsters in the head!"
Someone successfully "killed" a leopard and eagerly shouted their experience to the others.
A soldier, struggling not to be flung off a wildly spinning broom, cried out, "Where's its head?! Tell me, where is it?!"
The fine twigs on the broom's head didn't look like a vital spot at all.
The next second, the soldier left a parabolic arc in the air.
But not everyone was as unlucky as him; most of the attackers did have a "head" as part of their body.
So the previously scattered bullets immediately concentrated on the head, and the head of the foremost maid was practically riddled with holes.
The soldier in front of it broke into a joyful smile and shouted, "Die, monster!"
Then, a heavy blow landed on his face, nearly embedding him into the ground.
Silence fell over the surroundings.
Under the horrified gazes of everyone, the headless maid reached up and touched the half-destroyed remains of her head, then suddenly went into a frenzy, attacking the surrounding soldiers wildly.
Everyone was practically scared out of their wits, screaming and dropping their guns as they fled backward.
The maid roared and chased after them, followed by all sorts of grotesque attackers.
A pack of recently released hounds came face to face with the rampaging headless maid, whimpering in fear, tucking their tails between their legs, and turning to run, leaving behind a trail of pitiful yelps.
Everyone was too busy to fight back, wishing they had two more legs.
"Ohm—"
The island's humming sound suddenly began.
Everyone knew that when this sound started, it meant the island had activated a strong magnetic field. Most people would quietly stay in their rooms at this time, and those needing to patrol outside would wear radiation suits.
As they ran, they suddenly noticed the shouts of battle behind them had significantly diminished.
They hesitated, stopping and looking back, only to see the previously arrogant attackers lying on the ground like scrap metal. Only a few could still make a dying struggle.
The soldiers were stunned for a moment, then all cheered, some even jumping over and stomping on the attackers a couple of times.
They knew the strong magnetic field also harmed their bodies, but what did it matter? It was better than being killed by monsters.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the Magic Golems distracting the base's personnel, Wade and Dumbledore, who had already infiltrated the base, also heard the sound.
One leaned on a table, the other against a wall, gritting their teeth and enduring silently.
The concrete walls and shielding suits had blocked most of the damage, but even with just a little impact remaining, the sensation of pins and needles throughout their entire body, including their internal organs, was incredibly unpleasant.
Wade saw the headmaster's arm trembling slightly and thoughtfully turned his gaze away.
It had nothing to do with how powerful one's magic was; in fact, the stronger the magic and the more acute the perception, the worse it felt at that moment.
They couldn't even use spells like Shield Charm or Impediment Jinx to resist—any magic leaving their bodies would be disrupted.
Two or three seconds later, the humming finally stopped.
It was a while longer before Wade could finally stand steady, his back drenched in cold sweat.
"That was intense!" he couldn't help but say, unzipping his shielding suit. "The machine needs at least half an hour to cool down. This is our chance."
"Don't take off your cloak," Dumbledore stopped him, saying, "They might have similar weapons."
"...Right." Wade put his protective suit back on, then suddenly asked, "Professor, do you think... we still need to hold back against these people?"
On the table beside him lay several blood-stained photographs.
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