Weilan and the others squatted in the dim treehouse, quietly listening to Barty explain the whole story.
"So you came here to settle accounts with the Veela?"
Mrs. Lupin asked him.
"Her name is Olena Dniprova," Barty replied.
"Olena Dniprova... that's an Eastern European name."
Weilan finally learned the name of the evil Veela.
He wasn't very surprised by the Eastern European name.
Since Veela could appear as mascots for the Bulgarian team at the Quidditch World Cup, it meant their main distribution area should be in Eastern Europe.
Pulling his thoughts back from the name, Weilan reconsidered what to do with Barty in front of him.
Although Barty was guilty of many crimes, he couldn't die here.
He had to get out alive to prove to everyone that the Ministry of Magic's high-ranking officials had become Olena's puppets.
If Barty died in the Forbidden Forest like this, even if they brought the truth out, the Ministry of Magic they faced would still be a dead end.
Olena controlled more than one Ministry of Magic official.
These officials covered for each other, making it unbreakable; only by bringing Barty out as a witness could they blast a hole in this airtight bunker.
Mrs. Lupin raised her wand, wanting to cast healing magic, but the other party's identity as a Death Eater made her unable to do it.
Carson saw Barty still breathing and motioned to Mrs. Lupin not to be in such a hurry to relieve his pain and stop the bleeding.
"You came here looking for Olena, and then what?" Carson continued to ask him.
"She still has a trump card," Barty said, clenching his fist and punching the ground in anger. "I never knew those Dementors also followed her orders."
"Not only that, she also prepared a large number of Inferi."
"I was caught off guard, and Olena caught me."
"She forcibly opened my eyelids, wanting me to look at her so she could enchant me."
"I couldn't be enchanted, so I used my last bit of strength to poke out my own eyes."
Weilan automatically summarized the keywords:
"There are Dementors, and there are Inferi."
Thinking carefully, Olena controlling the Dementors had long been traceable.
For example, Peter, Mr. Malfoy, and Mr. Bagman.
Why send them directly to Azkaban? Because Olena controlled the Dementors, and Azkaban was her sphere of influence!
Moreover, Lily, who returned to work after recovering, also mentioned that the number of Dementors in Azkaban often didn't add up.
"Then how did you escape later?" Mrs. Lupin asked the last question.
"After I went blind, I couldn't see anything."
Barty replied, "I was controlled by a Levitation Charm at the time. But suddenly, a third person attacked Olena."
A third person? There was a third person present at the time?
"I don't know who this third person is; I thought there were only the two of us present."
Barty knew what they were curious about:
"But the third person saved me and held Olena back, which allowed me to escape from underground to here."
"So, is that 'third person' still underground in this treehouse?"
Barty nodded.
Carson saw Barty's breathing weaken slightly before he stopped the bleeding from his wound.
"Do you have any more questions?" Mrs. Lupin raised her wand and looked around at everyone.
Weilan still had questions:
"Crouch, I want to know, what is the general layout of the underground area of the treehouse like? Is it sealed or open? Are there many tunnels? Are there multiple exits?"
Barty shook his head: "The underground space is very large, but the terrain is not complicated. I suspect the underground space was recently dug by Olena. It's a sealed space with no air movement."
"Alright, I'm done asking," Weilan looked at Mrs. Lupin.
After Mrs. Lupin confirmed that Barty had nothing more to say, she told him, "Then you can sleep for a while—Stupefy!"
Barty fell into a coma.
"Hagrid, this fellow is in your hands. Protect him well; he is our important witness."
Carson put Barty's wand into his pocket and began to discuss the next plan.
"Little Crouch's blood dripped from the stairs," he said, "so that downward staircase leads directly to the underground of the treehouse. Following it down, we can meet that Veela named Dniprova."
He looked at Weilan and Mrs. Lupin with concern in his eyes:
"I don't think continuing the pursuit at this moment is a good idea. We considered meeting that special Veela before we came, so we brought Weilan."
"But we didn't consider Dementors and Inferi."
"Inferi are not difficult to deal with; they fear fire. But if there are too many Dementors, even if we can cast Patronuses, we may not be able to protect everyone—"
Carson looked at Weilan and Hagrid.
"I can cast the Patronus Charm," Weilan defended himself, "Professor Lupin taught me."
Hagrid shook his head: "But I can't, you know, I..."
"And we also have a burden we can't help but bring along," Carson said, pointing his wand at the unconscious Barty.
"The current situation is that we don't know the number of Dementors, and there's also a 'third party' whose stance and strength are unclear... At the same time, the opponent is hiding underground, which is an unexpected situation we didn't consider."
"If we go underground now, not only will we face the disadvantage of fighting on unfamiliar ground, but if we encounter any fatal danger, there's no way to release smoke or fireworks to call for help from Dumbledore outside the Forbidden Forest."
"So, my suggestion is to quit while we're ahead; Barty's testimony is already a huge gain."
"Let's go out first, verify the exact number of missing Dementors at Azkaban, organize a dozen Aurors, and then..."
"And then? Then what do you want, my little darling—"
The temperature plummeted, and a biting cold permeated Weilan's exposed skin. The already poorly lit treehouse suddenly became even darker.
A cold, sticky, slippery female voice drilled into Weilan's ear.
Not good!
An alarm blared in Weilan's mind, and he shouted with all his might:
"Close your eyes quickly, Olena is out!"
Along with Olena came about four or five Dementors and five or six... Inferi?
Weilan wasn't sure if they were Inferi.
Professor Lupin had spoken about Inferi, these Dark Arts creatures; they were usually highly decomposed corpses formed after Dark magic was applied to them.
Inferi emitted a strong stench of decay and would follow the will of the Dark Wizard who created them to attack enemies.
But those things, whose postures and demeanor were so similar to Inferi, were not highly decomposed human corpses.
They were House-elves' corpses, those House-elves buried here.
Weilan thought of the exposed graves outside the treehouse and couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.
It seemed clear who had managed to make the House-elves' bodies rise from the earth, and where those elf bodies had gone.
It was this woman; she used the House-elves' corpses, using their bodies to create these dark creatures that resembled Inferi!
Olena, the tall, beautiful Veela, dressed in a black cloak, stood before Weilan.
She was surrounded by Inferi and Dementors, yet she herself was completely immune to the mental effects brought by the Dementors.
She led the Dementors and Inferi, blocking the room's only exit!
"The exit is blocked!"
Weilan roared, "Turn around, break the window!"
