Several shoppers carrying delicate bags walked quickly towards the restroom. Before they were close, they saw the area was completely surrounded by yellow caution tape, with the words "Do Not Cross" written on it.
A man in a black suit with a solemn expression stood nearby. When someone approached, he displayed a badge and photo ID and said assertively:
"FBI! This is a controlled area, please don't come closer."
Two young female agents walked into the women's restroom, but before the shoppers could take a good look, they hurriedly left under the cold stare of the FBI.
"What's going on?"
"Definitely a murder case! Someone must have died in there!"
"Or maybe it's a suicide... Did you smell that odor?"
"But why would the FBI get involved?"
"Maybe it's a serial killer! Like the Green River Killer... Or the victim is a high-ranking government official!"
...
Curious shoppers speculated, quickly rationalizing the restroom being cordoned off and the faint burning smell in the air.
On the floor of the restroom stall, the ashes of burned clothes were quietly piled in the corner.
Outside the stall, neatly laid out were items salvaged in time by the Witch Pure Party, like half a boot, a charred necklace, and a pocket watch with a shattered glass face.
Seeing Vid and Antoine enter, a member of the Witch Pure Party stepped forward, holding out a palm with a partially melted metal badge that had intersecting stars and magic wand designs still visible.
"This is..." Antoine recognized it, saying in surprise, "A presidential badge?"
"Yes." The person reported softly, "Found among the ashes."
While speaking, he curiously glanced at the unfamiliar young man beside Antoine, who entered the stall sideways.
Antoine picked up the badge, and his white gloves immediately acquired a conspicuous blackened stain.
He chuckled, saying, "To even burn such a thing... She seems determined to clean away anything traceable. Only pursued twice... quite a reaction!"
Vid didn't look at the badge; his gaze fell on a blackened corner of the wall, reaching out a finger to gently approach the patterned cracks in the tiles.
Seeing this, Antoine waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to leave, then walked over to Vid.
Just as a tiny ant crawled out from the crack, it slowly reached Vid's fingertip before collapsing, seemingly exhausted, with only its antennae faintly trembling.
Antoine found it amusing.
It was funny he could glean a "collapsed from exhaustion" impression from such a tiny ant, primarily because of how spread out its six legs were, which was quite obvious.
A normal ant certainly wouldn't behave this way, Antoine's eyes flashed with understanding.
Vid placed the ant into his pocket, where it slid into a pen bag, later transferred to an internal closet space.
Originally scattered, those wasp puppets and ant poppets gathered around their returning companion, surrounding it, antennae vibrating, silently exchanging information understood only by each other.
Some insect poppets gently touched the ant's black shell with their forelimbs, seemingly consoling this injured sentinel.
Outside in the restroom, Antoine asked as Vid retrieved his hand, raising an eyebrow:
"You haven't interacted with Laira or Fontana lately. How did you send this little thing to them unnoticed?"
Vid raised his eyes, answering, "Naturally, through Stonefield."
The Stonefield Clan was colluding with the upper echelons of Congress. When the clan suddenly collapsed overnight, the related wizards wouldn't just sit by.
They'd surely visit the site personally, checking for any evidence against them or any chance for a final profit.
Before that, Vid had quietly released hundreds of tiny ants.
Back then, he wasn't sure that within hours, the Stonefield Clan's glory would turn into history, and the invited guests would become corpses.
The command to them was—to cling to every person entering and leaving the Manor, tracking them to later net Prometheus's forces entirely.
Shortly after, with guests dead and many ant poppets losing their targets, Vid left without reclaiming them.
They monitored the manor's servants and the police investigating, while others spread across Stonefield Manor, especially near the study, Chamber of Secret, vault, and Stonefield grandfather and grandson's corpses.
"They're too small, the only magic they possess is locating, their magic power fluctuation nearly nonexistent, even less than a casual Lumos Spell. Compared to real ants, they feel similar."
Vid explained, "Even Fontana, without a targeted search, would struggle to find these little things."
"After Stonefield's demise, even before related news appeared in the papers, the 'visitor' I was waiting for silently crossed the Muggle police's caution tape and infiltrated the site."
"At that moment..."
Vid's gaze swept over the half-burned boot, saying, "Several ants climbed onto their boots, into the lace crevices, or hid within the pants folds, consistently tracking their whereabouts for me."
Antoine, upon hearing, showed admiration: "Wizard's Chess has been around for hundreds of years, why after reaching you, does it evolve into such magical wonders?"
But geniuses are geniuses because they can accomplish what ordinary people cannot imagine.
Antoine wasn't tangled over this answer, instead saying with a smile: "I'm already looking forward to your poppet legion taking shape and debuting! It'll surely amaze everyone!"
——even Mr. Grindelwald!
Antoine couldn't help but reveal a longing expression, imagining the scene, he chuckled uncontrollably.
Vid lowered his eyes and smiled slightly as well.
Then Antoine began worrying again: "But we let them escape, what's next? Without these little creatures, can we still find those two slippery people?"
After pausing, he added:
"Although Mr. Grindelwald would surely understand Agilbert Fontaine's tricky nature and wouldn't blame us, but..."
If every time, the centenarian leader had to clean up their work, what significance did their existence hold?
Vid sighed lightly, showing a nearly helpless expression: "There's still a way to find them."
Antoine was taken aback, asking, "What way?"
Vid replied, "Divination."