"What are you yelling about?" Peter glared at his companion, clearly dissatisfied. Outside the door was a public space; how could he directly shout the club's name?
After observing left and right to make sure no one was around, Peter pulled Michelle into the room. "Speak slowly, what exactly happened? If there was a major incident at the club, it's impossible that no one would have informed me."
"You… I…" Michelle's expression was extremely awkward at this moment. After struggling for a long time, he stuffed the newspaper in his hand into Peter's arms. "See for yourself, this is very difficult for me to describe to you!"
Peter took the newspaper in surprise, and on the front page, he saw the headline that greatly shocked him: *The Savior of the German Wizarding World Emerges, Director Andre Fights Bravely, Rescuing Thousands of Innocent Wizards!*
After being startled by this exaggerated and somewhat ridiculous headline, Peter carefully read the detailed article, and the more he read, the more he was alarmed.
This report briefly described how Jason and another person went to the Ministry of Magic for help last night, and then Director Andre led the Aurors to rescue many wizards, an act of righteousness, while also including a few interviews with the parties involved. And whether it was the content of the interviews or the description of the writer, all pointed their fingers at the Silver Spears club, claiming that the club, a smuggling group, had hoarded magical creatures in Germany and illegally imprisoned a large number of ordinary wizards. They even attempted to use cruel methods like brainwashing on those prisoners, which was simply inhumane. If not for a few wizards who risked their lives to escape and report it, and Director Andre's display of power, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
However, due to Director Andre's instructions, those wizards who were interviewed did not reveal the conspiracy of the club colluding with high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Magic to divide Germany. Therefore, the entire report mainly focused on condemning the Silver Spears and praising Andre.
"What exactly is going on?" Michelle looked at Peter, somewhat flustered. "Didn't you say before that those few parks were attacked, which led to the loss of magical creatures and personnel? How did it become the club that captured those people now? Have you been deceiving us all along? And what should we do now that the Aurors have rounded them all up?"
"You ask me, who should I ask?" Peter's face was grim as he scanned the content of the newspaper. He replied unhappily, "This is definitely not done by the club! Our parks took more than ten years of effort to build. Why would we go to such extra trouble? There must be something wrong here!"
"It wasn't done by you? But these hundreds of people are very certain that it was the Silver Spears that imprisoned them! Could it be that someone is impersonating people from the club?" Michelle actually also felt that Peter wouldn't do such a foolish thing, and in the previous period, Michelle had seen Peter busy with the park attacks.
"There is such a possibility! Could it be Andre who did it? But that shouldn't be; with his personality, he wouldn't do such underhanded things, and using private torture on civilians is not his style. Besides, the cost and resources needed to accommodate hundreds of people are not small." Peter scanned the newspaper back and forth in confusion, trying to find something.
Soon, Peter's attention was drawn to one of the names. "These people are now being housed by the Schmidt family. Could it be that they are opposing the club? With their financial resources, they could indeed achieve this step, but how did they break through the parks without a sound in the first place? Was there internal collusion? Or is the Schmidt family's hidden strength stronger than imagined?"
Receiving so much information all at once made Peter's head ache for a moment, and various possibilities surfaced in his mind, even making him paranoid. A particular thought even popped into his head. That is, could it be that the attacks on these breeding parks were carried out by someone within the Silver Spears? Or was it done by a leader in the club in collusion with outsiders?
Because he was too clear about how high the security intensity of these few parks was. It was absolutely not something that could be breached silently just by being powerful, and without prior preparation, it would be impossible to settle so many people and magical creatures within a few days. So although Andre had disappeared for two or three days, Peter had never seriously suspected him, and he believed he understood Andre's way of doing things very well. The other party was not the type of person who liked to play schemes and tricks. If he discovered that the club had a breeding base, he would definitely gather his forces and directly charge in.
After much thought, Peter still couldn't be sure of the exact situation, so he could only say to Michelle, "I still can't figure out the specific situation. You go back to the Ministry of Magic first to inquire about it, and I'll be there shortly!"
Michelle was also at a loss at this moment. He joined the club hoping to benefit from it, but who would have thought it would turn into this situation now? He could already foresee that if this incident was truly characterized as such, the Silver Spears would become pariahs in Germany. But at this moment, Michelle knew he was already too deeply involved and had no possibility of withdrawing from Peter's camp, so he could only brace himself and agree.
After dismissing Michelle, Peter immediately returned to his bedroom, where another person had appeared. This person was wearing the club's attire, but he wasn't wearing a mask. His face was very young, looking only about twenty or thirty years old, but upon closer inspection, one could still see many similarities between his appearance and Peter's, as if he were a younger version of Peter.
"This incident is far too strange. I'm afraid there's an unknown force hidden behind it. I must immediately return to the Ministry of Magic to investigate thoroughly." Peter looked at the figure in front of him with a serious expression without much explanation. "Don't just sit around either. Immediately return to headquarters and summon all the leaders you can contact for a meeting."
"Now is not the time for a meeting. They probably won't respond." At this moment, the figure opposite Peter spoke with a voice identical to his, as if directly answering his question, or as if Peter was talking to himself.
"I can't worry about that much now!" Peter frowned anxiously. "Call as many as you can. I suspect there's a problem within the club, and it's a big one! Moreover, the transport team from Northern Europe still hasn't sent back any news. It's been so long; by rights, they should have been reorganized and set off again by now, but there hasn't been any news at all. It's too abnormal! We also need to arrange someone to confirm the news!"
"Alright." The figure opposite nodded in response. "Do you have any suspects among those leaders? Could it be one of us four? Otherwise, it simply doesn't make sense."
"There is indeed this possibility, but Black Dragon is still in America, so theoretically he doesn't meet the conditions. The only ones worth scrutinizing are Thunderbird and Phoenix, but do they have the motive? Without having the formula for the Elixir of Life, capturing those wizards would simply be asking for trouble." Peter's mind was a mess at this moment.
"No matter what, let's wait until we've seen them. Phoenix should be staying in Germany these days for matters concerning civilian organizations, but I don't know if Thunderbird is willing to show up. But honestly, compared to Phoenix, I'm more willing to trust Thunderbird." After speaking, this younger version of Peter put on his faceless mask and Apparated away.
"Thunderbird, that lunatic, would naturally not do such a thing, but that doesn't mean he's on our side," Peter muttered to himself, lowering his head, then changed into formal attire and headed straight for the Ministry of Magic.
Upon arriving at the Ministry of Magic, Peter didn't return to his own office but went directly to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and found Andre.
"Director Andre, such a big thing happened, why didn't you inform me? I actually had to read about your heroic deeds in the newspaper." After knocking on the door of the director's office, Peter said with a smile, as if half-jokingly, complaining to Andre.
"It's my fault, Minister Peter." Andre had just returned to the Ministry of Magic at this time, and upon seeing Peter, he also showed a fake, insincere smile. "Mainly, things happened too suddenly; I almost didn't even have time to react, and the situation was urgent at the time. Those two wizards who came for help were almost crying themselves unconscious on the spot."
"So that's how it is." Peter nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this. "I haven't heard you specifically recount your experience from last night yet. Could you tell me in detail?"
"Of course." Andre shook his head indifferently. "Last night, due to a social engagement, I was in my office entertaining Edmund, the head of the Schmidt family, and Mr. Wilson of the Silver Lightning Trading Company, and then…" Andre did not beat around the bush and immediately gave Peter a rough account of what happened last night, only omitting a lot of key information, such as matters between the civilian organizations and the club.
"So that's how it is, but are you so sure that it was people from the Silver Spears who harmed those wizards? Isn't it too arbitrary to identify them solely based on their clothing?" Peter probed, intentionally or unintentionally.
"It's not just me saying this." Andre shook his head as if playing dumb. "It was those ordinary wizards who were rescued who said that people from the club were imprisoning them, and some of these people were even former collaborators of the club. Even they insisted on this result."
*Could it be that there were people among the guards whom those collaborators knew?* After hearing Andre's description, Peter couldn't help but feel uneasy again, but he still looked at Andre with a serious expression. "Why did those ordinary wizards have to be housed at the Schmidt family estate?"
"This is actually unavoidable." Andre shook his head helplessly. "You should have seen the miserable state of those people from the newspaper photos. Many of them suffer from illnesses, and many of them are also suspects, so they must be housed together first. Only after they fully recover and pass screening can they be allowed to go home."