Chapter 799: Chapter 178: The Dark Wizard’s Transformation

"Some of our young Half-Bloods have done market research in Muggle Society—hair growth, beauty, weight loss, and..."

Delaine took a sip of coffee, a faint, unreadable smile on his face, and said lightly:

"—virility enhancement. The demand for these drugs among Muggles far exceeds expectations. With these, we can easily rake in enormous wealth."

"And the Muggles have long since figured out that money reshapes the world more silently than force. By using ’economy’ as a weapon, they’ve accomplished what the Killing Curse and Imperio could never achieve—making the whole society willingly domesticate itself."

Vid frowned slightly, rubbing the rim of his cup with his fingertips, and said, "Don’t get careless. Their legal system is extremely complex, with all kinds of patent laws and antitrust regulations. Step over the line even a little, and they’ll use perfectly legal means to strip a rising company of all its profits."

The corner of Delaine’s mouth curled. "Have you forgotten who we are, Vid? In competition within the rules, with Magic on our side, Muggles can’t compete with us. As for methods outside the rules..."

He chuckled and didn’t finish the sentence.

There were indeed Wizards in this world who abided by the law and restrained their power, but such Wizards absolutely did not exist within the Witch Pure Party.

"Wait!"

Antoine, who had been leaning back and snacking, suddenly looked up and said, "Beauty Magic Potions are one thing, but if Muggles take weight-loss Magic Potions, won’t they be killed?"

Delaine and Vid exchanged a glance, both a little surprised at Antoine’s extraordinarily long reaction time.

"If used directly, there is indeed a certain... risk."

Delaine said, "But as long as we find a way to substitute some ordinary ingredients and dilute the efficacy, we can achieve a relatively safe standard—that part has already been verified."

Naturally the process was nowhere near as simple as it sounded, but the Witch Pure Party had some exceptionally gifted Master of Potions, including several old hands who had lived through the World Wars, their experience with Magic Potions almost unparalleled.

Vid, however, had heard something in that. His brow twitched almost imperceptibly, and he asked, "...relatively safe?"

Delaine explained patiently, "There is indeed some damage to the human body, but it’s no more dangerous than the ham and cheese they eat. Once they stop using it for a while, the body will naturally heal itself."

Vid gave him a speechless look, not having expected Delaine to crack this kind of Hell joke with such a straight face.

Just a couple of years ago, a large batch of ham and cheese had been contaminated with Listeria, causing dozens of deaths. Even the Prophet Daily had reported the incident to warn Wizards—because some Wizards bought food from Muggle shops as well.

He fell briefly silent, then asked, "You used Muggles for human experimentation?"

Antoine’s shoulders tensed slightly. He looked at Vid, then turned his head toward Delaine.

"It’s an indispensable step in drug development. Otherwise, the medicines we produce would only be even more dangerous."

Delaine said calmly, "Don’t worry, we didn’t grab innocents off the street as test subjects. All the ’consumables’ we used were scum in Muggle Society who were more than deserving of death. If I told you everything they’d done, you’d only complain that they got off too easy."

Vid slowly let out a breath. "Sorry, I... I’m a bit sensitive about this kind of topic."

He had always known what the Witch Pure Party’s methods were like; the fact that they weren’t casually experimenting on ordinary people was already enough to give Vid a measure of relief.

As for the rest... even ordinary drug production can hardly do without human trials. The so-called embodiment of "humanistic spirit" in Muggle Society is merely paying test subjects to "participate voluntarily."

"I understand." Delaine nodded slowly. "I know you once set foot on that island that spawned an Obscurus."

As if they’d all recalled similar scenes they had witnessed, the few of them fell silent. Flames roared and leapt in the brazier, and a wisp of steam rose from the kettle above it, making the air in the tent warm and humid.

A moment later, Vid asked, "Have there been any recent cases of Muggles experimenting on underage Young Wizards?"

"There haven’t been any new discoveries for over half a year. But Mr. Grindelwald believes that similar institutions must still exist; they’re just more secretive now, known only to a handful even among the Muggle upper echelons. That’s the only way they could evade our eyes."

Delaine said, "And you know, there are some regions... where our influence simply cannot penetrate."

The boy inclined his head slightly, his gaze still lowered.

Outside the tent came the sound of fireworks being set off, mingled with people’s laughter and shrieks.

Vid skipped over that unpleasant topic and returned to the earlier question. "I’ve been thinking—when we improve the Magic Potions in future, it might be better to make them into cosmetics."

"...Cosmetics?" Antoine tilted his head. "Wouldn’t that exclude most men from the customer base?"

At that, even Delaine couldn’t help but smile.

"Why would it? As long as it works, men and women alike will scramble to buy it."

He said slowly, "Human desire is limitless; it won’t be constrained by some simple definition. As long as something benefits them, Muggles will naturally create all sorts of new rules to prove it’s reasonable."

"And besides..."

He looked at Vid, a glimmer of comprehension in his eyes. "Products used on the skin, even if they contain toxins, are much less harmful than something you swallow directly—is that what you were thinking, Vid?"