A rustling sound came from the bushes, and a figure stumbled out.
It was the woman who called herself Mu Guiying.
Her dark green qipao was now in tatters, the left sleeve completely torn away, revealing a honey-skinned arm covered in scratches.
She was dragging a tightly bound man by her hand like a dead dog.
With a heavy thud, the man was flung onto the sandy beach.
It was the Shuar.
His eyes were vacant, his body trembling violently, clearly frightened out of his wits.
“Don’t worry, little Mr. Scamander. I’m not here to fight.”
The woman leaned against a tree trunk, panting heavily, clearly exhausted.
“Here, this is Banco. He’s the one who shot the arrow that wounded the old gentleman. He tried to slip into the forest during the chaos, so I grabbed him on my way. Consider it a meeting gift.”
Frey rolled his stiff neck and said coldly, “Miss Mu, thank you for your help. Please bind him to that tree over there and keep him quiet. Also, that big cat from earlier… if it’s your pet, thank it for me too. But as I said last time, the dragon egg is not for sale.”
“You’ve met privately, other than that time in Quito?” Newt’s weak voice came from behind.
“More than just met!” Hermione suddenly erupted, stopping what she was doing and shouting petulantly.
“Just the day before yesterday! That time he said he went to hunt jaguars in the middle of the night! When he came back, he was covered in a woman’s scent! I knew something was off about him!”
Frey didn’t dare to argue.
He just shrugged his shoulders, gesturing for Hermione to apply more pressure.
“And I bet when you let her go that night, you didn’t even think about using your wand! Frey, your defenses against beautiful women are weaker than a slug’s.”
Hermione gave him an angry punch, but her fingers still rested on him involuntarily, carefully kneading his cramped muscles.
The woman knocked Banco unconscious and turned back to watch this scene, a self-deprecating curve touching her pale lips.
“I’m not here to buy dragon eggs today. I want to… change the terms of our deal.”
“The Scamanders do not refuse reasonable requests, but we are never coerced either.” Newt propped himself up.
“Let’s hear it.”
The woman fell silent, biting her lower lip as if she might draw blood.
After a long moment, she bowed and said softly, “Everyone says honesty is a Scamander virtue. I trust you. But if a deal cannot be struck, I ask that the three of you keep my secret.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her body underwent a spine-chilling transformation.
The glamorous woman vanished, replaced by a crouching Taowu.
“Oh, goodness…” Hermione let out a sharp gasp, her wand slipping from her fingers.
“I thought that was a beast you had enslaved!”
“No… children, we were wrong. This isn’t enslavement.” Newt stared at the fierce beast before them and let out a long sigh.
“A Maledictus. I’m afraid… I cannot help you. In my youth, I met a gentle, beautiful Maledictus in Indonesia. Later… she… vanished without a trace.”
“What is a Maledictus?” Hermione asked nervously, instinctively opening her notebook.
Newt watched as the Taowu shifted back into the slender woman amid a distortion of light and shadow.
He began slowly, “Hermione, this is an unfortunate tragedy passed down through the blood. It is not a species of beast, but a never-ending death sentence. In the East, especially in the wizarding communities of southern China and Southeast Asia, this curse is passed from mother to daughter, lurking in the blood. At first, they can transform freely between human and animal form, much like an Animagus…”
The woman collapsed onto the ground and picked up where Newt left off.
“As they grow older, or experience severe emotional turmoil, the beast’s nature will completely cut off the way back. By then, they will be forever trapped in the body of a beast. Their humanity will be erased, their memories consumed, until they finally become a true monster. The oldest Maledictus I know of didn’t make it past forty. Some of my sisters couldn’t change back when they were fifteen. I’m eighteen this year… I can feel the exit shrinking. If I don’t find a way, maybe after my next transformation, or maybe next year, I will cease to be myself.”
Newt said in a low voice, “I am so sorry. I have saved thousands of magical creatures, but curses… they are the malice of the gods. My late son, Draco, studied the Maledictus deeply. If he were still here, there might have been a way. But he… has been gone for a long time.”
“We know of a formula. Taking the blood of a young dragon and mixing it with specific herbs can create an alchemical potion that delays the beast transformation. I came here because I received word that a Peruvian Vipertooth was about to give birth. I did it to survive.” You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
Newt frowned.
“A dragon’s life force is indeed the most vibrant in nature… Who gave you this idea?”
“I don’t know. It was about a dozen years ago, when I was still a child.”
“Frey, help me into the backpack. This Miss Mu…”
“My name is Long Jiu,” the woman said, her head bowed, her voice barely audible.
“Mu Guiying… was just a joke to deceive myself. I don’t have her luck…” She cast a glance at Frey.
“I won’t meet my Yang Zongbao.”
“Your surname is Long?” Newt paused.
“You’re with the Nine Dragons Society?”
Hermione asked, “What is the Nine Dragons Society?”
Frey explained to her in a whisper that the Nine Dragons Society was the world’s largest illegal magical beast trafficking organization—in other words, a poachers’ alliance.
“Yes, I’m an orphan they adopted. They train the Maledictuses to be hunting hounds. But to them, we are only tools.” The woman’s voice grew lower and lower, almost to a whisper…
Newt: “Come inside with us. The wind is picking up out here. Hermione, sorry to trouble you, but keep an eye on the surroundings. Don’t let some wild beast run off with the backpack. If anything happens, shout for us. Also, roast some potatoes. There’s no time to hunt today, so we’ll have to make do with roasted potatoes.”
***
Inside the backpack.
Long Jiu followed Newt and Frey inside, instinctively assessing the load-bearing walls of the room and looking for escape routes.
Neat sandalwood floors, a soft bed, an alchemy workbench, and even a steaming cup of black tea sitting on the table…
The next moment, she uneasily tugged at her tattered qipao.
To move easily after transforming into a Taowu, she hadn’t even brought a change of clothes.
Yet they had a space inside a backpack large enough to raise dragons, and even a two-bedroom apartment?
Supported by Frey, Newt sat down on the bed in the master bedroom, his sharp gaze fixed on Long Jiu.
Long Jiu pulled down the hem of her qipao.
Under the legendary old man’s gaze, she felt naked, as if she had no secrets left.
“They had you steal the dragon egg because they actually wanted the hatchling’s bone marrow, didn’t they?” Newt suddenly demanded.
Long Jiu was taken aback.
“I… I don’t know… The Society only told me to bring the dragon egg back and raise it to harvest blood.”
“Naive,” Newt scoffed.
“Blood can only temporarily alleviate the symptoms. Only bone marrow, which contains the power of the soul, can truly maintain the balance. But do you know that if too much bone marrow is extracted, the hatchlings will never grow to adulthood? They will become deformed monsters, alive but unable to grow. And I am certain that with the Nine Dragons Society’s style of doing things…”
Long Jiu’s face turned pale.
She knew Newt was speaking the truth.
The Nine Dragons Society would definitely drain the hatchling’s marrow repeatedly.
As long as it didn’t die, keeping it weak would only make it easier to control.
Long Jiu sat on the floor, hugging her legs.
“I… I didn’t know… No one speaks the truth to a beast that can be discarded at any moment.”
“One last question.” Newt’s gaze shifted to the silent Frey, his tone dropping a bit.
“You saw my grandson turn into a dragon?”
Long Jiu looked at Frey first. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
A flash of dread, adoration, and a hint of longing crossed her eyes, and then she slowly nodded.
“The Taowu is best at concealment and perception, possessing the sharpest senses.
You can feel the life force in his blood, thousands of times more surging than those unhatched dragonets, correct?” Newt pressed, “So, you’ve changed your mind.
You don’t want the egg anymore.
You want his blood?”
The air in the room froze.
“Grandpa, she never initiated an attack on us,” Frey interjected.
“She hired Banco to steal the egg, but she didn’t expect him to lure the Vipertooth to the village. She wanted the egg, but she always tried to negotiate with us without resorting to violence. And she’s helped us quite a bit!”
With tears in her eyes, Long Jiu glanced at Frey, stood up, and bowed respectfully to Newt.
“Respected Mr. Newt Scamander, we have an old saying in China: ‘A long journey tests a horse’s strength, and time reveals a person’s heart.’ If you don’t trust me, you can let me follow you… for a while.
Once you can trust me, you can give me some blood—just a little is enough.
If it doesn’t work… the Taowu is a highly prized magical beast.
I suppose once I completely lose my humanity, you would be willing to adopt a Taowu.
Just don’t send me back to the Nine Dragons Society.
They will kill me for my parts.
I can help you row.
I’m a decent sailor.
I can also deliver messages for you.
I know there’s a Muggle town downstream where you can have your friends wait.
In your current physical condition, continuing deeper into the uninhabited wilderness is suicide.”
Newt said nothing.
His skeletal fingers tapped rhythmically against the edge of the bed.
After a long while, he looked at Frey, his tone as calm as if they were discussing tomorrow’s breakfast.
“You decide, Frey.”
“Me?” Frey was stunned.
“Sooner or later, you’ll be the one running this family. Why not start today?” Newt lay back down and turned over, turning his back on them.
“While I’m still alive, I can still give you some advice.”
Frey looked at the beautiful, dangerous, yet fragile Eastern woman before him.
He remembered the expression on her face when she had remarked on the branch the day before yesterday about how “the men of the Yang family all die young.”
He rubbed his temples, which were still throbbing with pain, and curled his lip.
“Can you cook?”
Long Jiu froze, clearly failing to keep up with this Scamander’s train of thought.
“…A little. I can do Chinese stir-fry and barbecue. But we probably won’t find green onions and ginger here.”
“Then tag along for now. If you dare lay a single finger on Hermione or Grandpa, I’ll let you taste the breath of an Icelandic Blue-Ridge.”
Long Jiu gave Frey a deep look, then softly murmured a sentence in Chinese.
“Then I’ll be in your care, Mr. Yang.”