"Anais!" Aseria's heart ached when she saw her sister's pained expression. She looked nervously at Alan. "Master, what's wrong with my sister? Nothing bad has happened, has it?"
"Don't be nervous." Alan calmly shook his head. "The Dragon Pox Curse is very stubborn. Peeling it away is not an easy task. Your sister is experiencing pain because she has endured this curse for too long, and it has formed a certain degree of symbiotic relationship with her body. To completely remove the curse will inevitably cause some damage to the body, just like a patient recovering from a serious illness will always be weak for a period. However, as long as she recuperates well afterward, Anais will gradually recover her health."
Speaking of which, Alan took out a small wooden box from his spatial ring and handed it to Anais. "Inside are two dozen vitality tonics. Keep them safe. When you go back, take half a bottle, dilute it with water at a one-to-one ratio, and drink it once a day. You'll be back to normal in a month." Then he smiled and looked at Aseria, "It's a good thing we removed it early. If we had waited a few more years, even if the curse was cleared, Anais would probably only have half a life left. This result is still optimistic."
"Thank goodness!" Aseria breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, then angrily cursed again, "It's all that damned Fwooper's fault!"
Anais didn't understand the conversation between Aseria and Alan, but she could feel that the illness in her body had indeed been removed. Although she was very weak now, she felt a sense of lightness all over her body. For this, Anais was still grateful to Alan. "Thank you, sir. I truly don't know how to repay you for your help."
"Aseria has already paid for your treatment. If you want to say thank you, say it to her." Alan smiled slightly, then looked at Aseria nearby. "You two have a good reunion here. Karkaroff and I still have some matters to attend to."
Aseria heard Alan speak up for her like that and nodded gratefully, then pulled Anais to the side. Alan then looked at a bewildered Karkaroff, "Come in with me for a moment; I need your help with something!" With that, he ignored Karkaroff and directly entered the opened suitcase. Although Karkaroff didn't understand what Alan wanted him for, he instinctively obeyed the order.
Upon entering Alan's suitcase space, Karkaroff was stunned by the magnificent sight before him. After raiding the breeding park, Alan re-adjusted the internal layout to optimize the suitcase space.
Upon entering from the suitcase's entrance, one would first see a metal passage resembling a fully enclosed atrium in a military submarine. This entrance shaft was at least tens of meters high from the top of the entrance to the ground, connected by a straight up-and-down metal ladder and a metal pole for quick sliding. Those who knew understood this was Alan's suitcase space; those who didn't might think it was a fire department's emergency exit. And what met the eye around them were plain and simple, yet extremely hardcore, all-metal walls covered with warning and protective equipment, much like the vertical passages of a spacecraft.
Of course, Alan had actually modified it to military base standards, in order to prevent ill-intentioned individuals from trespassing, as there were simply too many valuable items in his suitcase now. He had equipped the suitcase with a high-power positioning device, so he wasn't afraid of losing it, but it would be troublesome if even one or two of the precious resources inside were stolen. So, he used a large amount of construction materials obtained from the breeding park to comprehensively upgrade the internal security facilities.
At the bottom of the entrance chamber was a large door with multiple magic locks. After following Alan through this door, Karkaroff realized what it meant for something to be a world unto itself.
The entire suitcase space was like a huge square box with a thin metal tube inserted through the middle, but the internal style was vastly different from the military hardcore style of the entrance chamber. In Karkaroff's eyes, this was like a huge country estate. The first thing that caught his eye were two five-story stone buildings, their roofs almost touching the ceiling, at least vertically, no space was wasted.
At the same time, the architectural styles of these two buildings were quite distinct. One was a Gothic residential style, obviously Shalltear's handiwork, and this was Alan and his companions' mobile residence. It contained not only a large number of guest rooms, but also spacious entertainment rooms, a library, a kitchen, a dining room, a reception room, a sizable bathroom, and other living facilities. It also had storerooms for a large amount of living supplies; most of the supplies the club provided to Fwooper had been collected here.
The other building perfectly matched Alan's style; even its exterior was a pure display of utilitarianism, a perfect square, with a clean and solemn appearance, comparable to a Muggle military camp. Inside this building were Alan's various laboratories, a shooting range, military conference rooms, and various alchemy equipment. The conference rooms Alan previously used for meetings with the Aurors had largely been moved here. Of course, in addition to laboratories and equipment, there was also an equally large storeroom, where he kept the non-living materials he had collected, such as various construction materials, alchemy materials, finished and semi-finished alchemy tools, and potion ingredients, all neatly categorized and stored here.
And the space beyond these two buildings was the large magical creature breeding area that astonished Karkaroff. In Karkaroff's line of sight, there was a large fenced-off area covered in green grass, where hundreds of Tebo Warthogs and Re'em were free-ranging. These giant creatures, with an average height of three meters, were now roaming peacefully and orderly like livestock in an ordinary pasture. Above them, a young Thunderbird and a phoenix flew crisscrossing, as if patrolling their territory.
Next to this mixed pig and cattle enclosure was another area for magical creatures, but this one was now divided into several sections, each housing different magical creatures, such as Thestrals, Hippogriffs, Swooping Evils, Graphorns, Mooncalves, and so on. He even saw a few small Peruvian Vipertooths. At this time, next to this area, a young girl in a Gothic lace dress was busy building shelters for the magical creatures. When she saw Karkaroff, she even took a moment to make a funny face at him.
"Don't just stand there; come with me!" Seeing Karkaroff frozen in place, observing the surroundings, Alan couldn't help but urge him.
"Oh! Yes, master!" Prompted by Alan, Karkaroff finally snapped out of his awe at the magnificent sight and quickly followed the other party into the plain, stone-box-like building.
Upon entering the building, Karkaroff found that its interior layout was basically consistent with its exterior, consisting of various rooms whose purpose was not immediately apparent. As he followed Alan through several twists and turns into a large open space, Karkaroff realized that dozens of familiar-looking people were being held there, none other than the club wizards he and Seth had attacked earlier.
They were all stripped down to their underwear, firmly secured to vertical medical beds by magic chains enchanted with the energy absorption spell, and their mouths were bound by a special muzzle. So, although these wizards were conscious at the moment, they could only stare wide-eyed at Alan and Karkaroff, unable to utter a single word. To be honest, this sight was quite horrifying; after all, being stared at by dozens of pairs of eyes simultaneously was very unsettling. Karkaroff was startled when he entered.
"My… my master, aren't these the wizards you rescued before?" Karkaroff nervously sidled up to Alan, asking in a hushed whisper.
"Isn't that obvious?" Alan rolled his eyes at Karkaroff for asking such pointless questions, then specifically gestured with his chin in a certain direction, "There, that's the Death Eater Otis Yaxley you've been thinking about. Do you feel a sense of familiarity seeing an acquaintance?"
*Who the hell was thinking about them, and familiar? These guys would rather tear me limb from limb!* Although he knew Alan was joking with him, Karkaroff couldn't help but complain wildly in his mind.
"You called me here just to see them?" Karkaroff didn't dare to ask how these people were captured by Alan. He only knew that he felt out of place with the terrifying scene before him. Why did he have to witness this? Was Alan trying to warn him through these captives? But he had always been devoted to Alan and had never entertained the thought of betrayal.
"Nothing…" Alan sneered, pursing his lips and looking at Karkaroff teasingly, "I called you over just to have you assist me with some experiments. Besides, didn't you always put off the tasks I gave you because of the Death Eater threat? Now that these Death Eaters are in my hands, you should be able to relax, right?"
*Indeed! My master is displeased with my previous performance!*
Karkaroff broke out in a cold sweat as Alan pointed it out. "I'm sorry, my master, it's all my fault. I was too timid and delayed your important matters. I will never dare to do so again, I promise you!" Karkaroff genuinely feared Alan before him. He was truly afraid that if the other party was in a bad mood, he would be captured and turned into one of these terrifying human cocoons, just like these wizards. Of course, with his limited knowledge, that was the only way he could describe these people.