Long Jiu’s arrival immediately improved the team’s quality of life.
The folding table was no longer covered in those charred, burnt offerings, and certainly didn’t have the roasted potatoes that Frey had been avoiding like the plague.
An appetizing aroma of fat and spices filled the air, rising from a plate of crisp, sour and spicy shredded potatoes, a wild rainforest vegetable stir-fry with smoked bacon, and a massive, bubbling pot of rich, thick stew.
Hermione put down her utensils, rubbed her slightly tight stomach, and let out a long sigh.
“I’m completely convinced now. Our British food rankings really must be near the bottom of the world. I’m already worrying about how I’ll face my mother’s… well, boiled beans, cooked with love, once I get back.”
Long Jiu sat on a nearby tree root, gnawing shamelessly on a thick bone, not caring at all about the few grease spots on the collar of her white T-shirt.
“You guys are just spoiled. When normal wizard expeditions enter the rainforest, being able to eat a warm meal of boiled beans is a luxury. Who else has a mobile estate they carry around like you do?”
Frey’s focus was elsewhere.
“Are you sure those maniacs from Third Salem won’t chase us here?”
Long Jiu shook her head.
“Well, I’ve hidden here twice before, and they never came in. Those people have a natural fear of places with magical interference so chaotic it’d spin a detector’s needle like a propeller. They won’t be able to detect us using magic here, but whether it’ll attract other things is beyond me.”
Newt leaned back in his wicker chair, his eyes scanning the dark, gloomy thickets with caution.
“Don’t let your guard down. Any place that can make rabid dogs like Third Salem halt is bound to be dangerous. We should still be careful. The ecological niche here might be even higher than outside.”
Long Jiu gestured with her chin toward a shadow deep within the valley.
“There’s a big guy behind that stone wall, but it seems to have been sleeping the whole time. Anyway, whenever I passed by here over the last two years, it hadn’t moved an inch. I don’t think we’ll be unlucky enough to catch it waking up.”
“What is it?” Hermione immediately pulled out her notebook.
“No idea, I didn’t dare get too close. But I can sense it when I transform into Taowu.” Long Jiu stood up.
“Keep eating. I’m going into the woods to see if I can get some midnight snacks for the ancestor in the bag.”
With that, she checked the throwing knives at her waist, stepped into the woods, and vanished.
Only the grandfather, grandson, and Hermione remained by the campfire.
Newt was staring at the bat in the net bag, unable to tear his eyes away, as if admiring the rarest gem in the world.
The bat was bizarre-looking: a pair of bright little eyes were hidden in its furry body, its ears were long and thin, its nose was flat, and its jaw protruded.
Most terrifying of all were the two outward-curving incisors on its upper jaw, which were razor-thin and incredibly sharp.
Even stranger, its body was almost entirely transparent.
Through its paper-thin wing membranes, Frey could clearly see the tiny heart beating in its chest cavity, as well as a sloshing pool of dark red liquid in its stomach.
“It looks almost like some kind of ghost…” Frey muttered in awe.
“This is likely the first time this creature has ever been recorded by humans,” Newt said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
“When we get back, I’ll have to verify this with the International Confederation of Wizards. If we really did discover it, we’ll have naming rights. How about we call it the Miss Granger Vampire Bat?”
“Absolutely not!” Hermione shrieked in protest.
She shrank back in disgust, covering her neck.
“I don’t want my family name permanently tied to some transparent, blood-sucking little monster! That pool of liquid in its stomach… is that all my blood? I didn’t feel a thing when it bit me.”
“I’m afraid so. Look at its incisors; they’re sharper than a goblin-forged dagger. Slicing through your skin would be child’s play for it.”
Newt theorized, “And its saliva likely contains a highly concentrated magic inhibitor and anesthetic, which is why you didn’t feel anything. Judging by how quickly your blood clotted, it probably also has an anticoagulant.”
As he spoke, Newt lifted the net bag closer to Frey.
The bat’s mouth opened and closed in quick succession, seemingly screaming frantically, but Frey immediately lost all sound of Newt’s voice.
“See? That’s the most brilliant part. This thing can absorb sound waves through some physical or magical means. The reason we couldn’t hear anything in the canyon earlier was probably because thousands of these little guys were silencing the area at the same time.”
“I’m guessing it’s not absorbing, but emitting some kind of phase-canceling ultrasound,” Frey offered, resting his chin on his hand as he put forward a wild guess.
After all, he was very familiar with noise-canceling headphones.
“But either way, if this thing can really cancel sound, people would pay Gold Galleons for it.”
“We won’t know for sure until we run some tests back home. Frey, take it into the bag. Find a separate, dark space to keep it. It needs quiet.”
Newt handed the net bag to Frey.
“Hermione, when you have time, help me analyze its saliva. Frey hasn’t studied Potions systematically, so you’re the only one who can do this. Keep detailed records. This might be the greatest trophy of our adventure.”
After settling Miss Granger in, Frey had just stepped out of the backpack when he saw Long Jiu return from the forest.
She was squatting on the ground, dressing the carcass of a medium-sized red deer. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Frey’s sharp eyes caught a willow-leaf throwing knife embedded in the deer’s throat.
“You hunted it with a throwing knife? Not bad. Don’t forget to collect some fresh blood for Miss Granger.”
“I know, I know. Look, I brought back a Scamander while I was at it,” Long Jiu teased.
Frey was completely baffled.
“A what?”
Newt let out a hearty laugh.
He waved Frey over, pointing to a dead tree trunk nearby.
Frey walked over and saw a creature that looked like a cross between a lizard and a salamander, sparks faintly drifting off its body, crawling sluggishly along.
“A Fire Salamander. In many ancient texts, it was referred to as a ‘Scamander,'” Newt explained to Hermione.
“But it’s so ugly!” Hermione whispered as she watched the spark-spitting Scamander, then turned to look at the hale and hearty Newt, and then at the dashing Frey.
“It doesn’t look like either of you at all.”
The night wind grew colder.
The day’s exhausting travel, fighting, falling, and the aftereffects of his transformation finally caught up to Frey like a rising tide.
He lay in the makeshift hammock, habitually flipping a Gold Galleon to soothe the last lingering traces of his headache, his body swaying gently with the breeze.
Nearby, Hermione was tirelessly rambling to the Fire Salamander.
In the distance, Newt was quietly asking Long Jiu about the exact distance to Iquitos, Peru.
“If we have time,” Newt’s voice drifted over, faint and muffled, “I’d love to take a proper look at this valley… It’s an untouched land, utterly unique…”
“From here to Iquitos, a normal boat would take two or three days. If we use Frey’s method of propulsion, I reckon we can make it in one…”
Frey’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
Noticing that Frey’s breathing had become steady, Hermione stopped her pen.
She gestured toward him, putting a finger to her lips to signal Newt and Long Jiu to keep it down.