#167 - Big Killer

Later, he planned to upgrade all the protective magic on this house. These Death Eaters had such poor security, neglecting many areas and leaving a lot of loopholes. Reading М

After dealing with the basement, the two returned to the second floor. The four Death Eaters were still unconscious, seemingly quite tormented by Anduin's experiments.

Anduin pulled a potion from his pouch and tossed it to Karkaroff, "Give this to Torkil and wake him up."

Karkaroff respectfully nodded as he took the potion, then helped the man up and forcefully poured the potion down Torkil's throat, as if venting his anger.

"Cough, cough."

With violent coughing, Torkil gradually woke up. He felt an intense pain in his head, as if he had a terrible nightmare, being captured by a young wizard still studying at Hogwarts, who subjected him to cruel torture, both physically and mentally.

Just when he thought he was waking up from a dream, he opened his eyes to see that same demonic young face. What was going on? Was he still dreaming? Or was everything that happened before real?

Torkil's pupils contracted, his mind constantly falling into self-doubt between dream and reality. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he went mad.

Anduin, seeing Torkil dazed after waking up, felt a little dissatisfied, so he slipped on his knuckle dusters and punched him twice.

Ah!!!

The pain dragged Torkil's consciousness back to reality. Seeing Anduin raise his hand to punch him again, he quickly begged for mercy, "Don't, don't hit me, please!"

"Awake now?"

Anduin's slow, heavy voice reached Torkil's ears, and Torkil nodded repeatedly.

"Good, I woke you up to ask you something." Anduin took out the Gringotts key and asked, "Recognize this?"

Torkil looked at the key in Anduin's hand, his face changing drastically. He looked at the key, then at Anduin's face, and asked urgently, "This, how did you find it?"

Anduin smiled disdainfully, "Do you want to ask how I opened the basement? Or how I cracked the safe?"

Hearing Anduin directly reveal the secrets of this house, Torkil felt a chill in his heart. How was it possible? Those memories should have been protected by mental protection charms. It was over, all over. He found this key, so doesn't that mean the land deed was also...?

Torkil's body softened and he was about to fall, but Karkaroff reacted quickly and immediately supported him.

"Quickly answer the master's question, and be honest," Karkaroff's expression changed rapidly as he sternly shouted at Torkil.

"Karkaroff, have you betrayed me too?" Torkil glanced at the bearded man beside him, his anger temporarily overcoming his fear, his face twisted, "Wait, when the Dark Lord returns, he will surely make you suffer a fate worse than death!"

Bang!

Seeing that he still had the strength to make threats, Anduin punched him in the face again, causing Torkil's tears to flow.

"Stop talking nonsense. I don't want to waste Veritaserum, and I don't have time to waste on you. Speak!" Anduin impatiently took out a bottle of potion and asked, ready to use Veritaserum for interrogation at any time.

This punch scattered the anger Torkil had just mustered. He answered timidly, "Don't, I'll talk."

Then Torkil swallowed, "That's the key to a mid-level vault in Gringotts."

"What's in the vault? Is identification required?" Anduin continued to ask.

"That vault doesn't belong to me. It's Yulia's private vault. She needs to be present in person with the key to open it. Both are indispensable. The key is also unique, cannot be reported lost, and does not accept any supporting documents. Inside… inside is…"

At this point, Torkil's expression became unnatural, as if he had some unspeakable secret, but seeing Anduin flick his thumb, popping open the Veritaserum bottle, looking ready to give him the potion at any time, he closed his eyes and shouted.

"It's all ledgers inside!"

"Ledgers?" Anduin seemed to have thought of something, but still continued to ask, "What kind of ledgers?"

"Just, just some ordinary ledgers of families doing business." Saying this, Torkil didn't dare to look directly at Anduin, his eyes flickering.

Having endured a night of torment, he had become extremely fragile both physiologically and psychologically. Coupled with the pressure Anduin brought him, he didn't even have the energy to concoct lies.

Anduin's mind raced, and he immediately came up with a guess.

"They're your smuggling ledgers, right? Aren't there also some ledgers of your secret dealings with high-ranking Ministry officials and other families? Perhaps in addition to your own secret ledgers, there are more incriminating records of transactions between other families and officials," Anduin speculated while bluffing.

"You, how do you know?" As soon as he said this, Torkil knew he had fallen for it, and then he shut his mouth tightly.

"Heh, I'm curious, how dare you put these things in a Gringotts vault? Could it be that?" A flash of inspiration struck Anduin, and he seemed to have thought of something again, "This key is also part of what you planned to trade?"

This time Torkil didn't dare to respond, but from his flickering eyes, Anduin once again confirmed that what he thought was correct.

"So who are you planning to trade this key with?" Anduin stared intently into Torkil's eyes, and tested him again, word by word, "Is it with other pure-blood families? A Wizengamot member? A high-ranking Ministry official? Or… Millicent Bagnold?"

But when Anduin said Millicent Bagnold's name, Torkil's pupils shook and contracted violently.

At this time, Anduin's eyes were clear.

"I see, this is the biggest guarantee your family has prepared for itself. On the one hand, these secrets can be used to blackmail those families and officials who have secret dealings with you. On the other hand, if your family faces a real crisis, this key is the best bargaining chip, which can be used to trade with those in power and seek political asylum. I'm not wrong, am I?" The corners of Anduin's mouth slowly widened, and he laughed mockingly.

And through Torkil's reaction, his judgment was further confirmed to be correct.

It has to be said that these long-established pure-blood families are quite forward-looking, and their sense of crisis has reached this point. Not only did they build a safe house on this legal land where no one can investigate the origins, but they also hold this political weapon of mass destruction. Compared to the rogue strategy of running away after something happens, this is more like the decision these nobles would make.