#743 - A new look (seeking monthly ticket recommendation ticket)

“Stop acting all sanctimonious in front of me, Dumbledore!” Voldemort's resentful, raspy voice echoed from within the Soul-Sucking Bead. “I never thought our Dumbledore would resort to such insidious methods to deal with his opponents. You’re truly a sight to behold!”

Although Voldemort hadn't witnessed Anduin explaining the plan, he only needed a moment's thought to realize Dumbledore must have been involved.

“You can mock all you like, but unfortunately, you won't be able to continue your evil deeds in the future. My greatest regret back then was failing to guide you onto the right path, allowing you to waste such outstanding talent on dark endeavors.”

Seeing the enemy who had entangled with him for so many years captured so easily by Anduin, Dumbledore couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.

“Hmph, are you done lecturing?” Voldemort's voice dripped with extreme disgust. “What I hate most is your endless preaching, as if you can represent everyone. Do you really think your ideas are always correct? Absurd!”

“Besides!” Voldemort sneered before adding with a cold laugh, “Don't think you can trap me for long. Sooner or later, I'll find a way to escape this broken bead. When that time comes, don't expect me to spare you! Albus! Anduin! Snape! Quirrell! Every single one of you will become a ghost under my hand!”

Voldemort unleashed a curse-like roar filled with deep resentment, the sound so chilling that Quirrell, standing nearby, trembled in fear.

“Still dare to be presumptuous at this point!” Anduin snorted coldly, then pointed remotely at the Soul-Sucking Bead.

“Ah!!”

As intense lightning flashed on the bead, Voldemort's screams echoed throughout the Headmaster's office, making anyone who didn't know better think the place was haunted.

Voldemort's current disheveled state stood in stark contrast to the arrogance he had displayed earlier, which relieved Quirrell and Snape.

After tormenting Voldemort for a good while, Anduin finally stopped. “Headmaster Dumbledore, this guy's mind is still a bit muddled right now. After I 'tutor' him for a while, he should learn how to speak properly.”

“You…” Dumbledore glanced at Anduin speechlessly, suddenly feeling somewhat sorry for Voldemort.

How could this guy be so unlucky as to run into Anduin? That fellow had never been an easy character since he was a child. His opponents either died or went insane. Now that Voldemort had fallen into his hands, he was in for a lot of suffering.

“Tom, you should reflect on your actions in this bead.” Dumbledore shook his head helplessly, then gently closed the box.

“Anduin! I will never let you go…” Voldemort was still shouting vigorously before the box was closed, but in the current environment, it only made him seem more like he was raging impotently.

“Anduin, I didn't expect you to actually succeed.” After blocking out Voldemort, Dumbledore looked at Anduin with a sense of profound emotion. “The surprise you brought today has truly made this old man feel ashamed. Compared to you, I seem rather incompetent.”

“Don't say that.” Anduin said modestly, “The plan to capture Voldemort was something we devised together. If you hadn't successfully predicted Voldemort's thoughts and behavioral patterns, this operation wouldn't have gone so smoothly.”

“Moreover, Voldemort was indeed very weak at the time. At most, I can only be considered to have taken advantage of his weakness. However, his soul state is very special, and given how confident he seemed just now, we shouldn't be too happy too soon, lest something unexpected happen.”

“Mm.” Dumbledore lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement. “You're still the most thorough. It's more reassuring to have you watching him.”

After saying that, Dumbledore turned to look at Quirrell. “I've learned everything about your situation from Anduin. Since you made such a great sacrifice in this operation, I won't continue to pursue the matter of you joining Voldemort and helping him infiltrate Hogwarts. Furthermore, I will vouch for you with the Ministry of Magic and Gringotts.”

“Th… thank you, Headmaster!” Seeing Dumbledore personally express his support, Quirrell clenched his fists in elation. As expected, Anduin and Dumbledore were more reliable than Voldemort! He was grateful he had chosen the right path earlier.

“My idea is to send Quirrell out of Britain first.” Anduin said at this time, stating his plan. “I think we should keep the things he did a secret for now. We can't be sure of the goblins' attitude.”

“That's fine too.” Dumbledore nodded. “I have no objections. Staying away from the British wizarding world will also keep Quirrell away from danger. It would be troublesome if those Death Eaters noticed anything.”

“Mm, then regarding how to deal with Voldemort, what do you think…” After resolving the issue of Quirrell's placement, Anduin tentatively asked the question he was most concerned about.

Anduin naturally wanted to keep Voldemort by his side for research at any time. He was very interested in the special nature of the other party's immortal soul, but this Dark Lord's identity was too sensitive. He had to ask Dumbledore's opinion first.

“I have no objections to you keeping him.” Dumbledore saw through Anduin's thoughts at a glance. “But I must remind you that the reason he became like this has a lot to do with his obsession with dark magic. I only hope that no matter what you dig out of him, don't become obsessed with it.”

“Don't worry, I know my limits.” After receiving Dumbledore's approval, Anduin also breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Dumbledore had no objections, he wasn't afraid of others hindering him.

“I knew you had limits, that's why I agreed so readily.” Dumbledore smiled, then said seriously, “But before that, I suggest you first communicate with the Ministry of Magic.”

“Is that necessary? As far as they're concerned, Voldemort died ten years ago. Telling them the truth might cause panic, right?”

Anduin frowned upon hearing this. He didn't really want to involve the Ministry of Magic, as it would likely lead to some unnecessary trouble.

“There are indeed many people in the Ministry of Magic who hold this view, such as our Minister Fudge, but not everyone is so certain, especially some Death Eaters and pure-blood families who still harbor fantasies about the Dark Lord!” Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his pupils.

“I see, you want to use Voldemort to completely dispel the thoughts of those jumping clowns, right?” Anduin nodded understandingly. “That's a good idea. Compared to that, it seems this living Dark Lord is more valuable than the dead one.”

“The benefits are not just that.” Dumbledore chuckled. “Don't you want Sirius Black to come back? This is a very good opportunity!”

“Oh?” Anduin pondered slightly upon hearing this, then understood Dumbledore's meaning.

The main reason Sirius was able to be released but then exiled was because there wasn't enough evidence to convince most wizards. After all, relying solely on indirect evidence like memories to prove that Black wasn't the one who leaked the Potters' address was indeed a bit far-fetched.

But if they had Voldemort's own testimony, then even if they hadn't found Peter Pettigrew yet, they could still confirm the misunderstanding back then!

“You're still the most thoughtful.” Anduin nodded in satisfaction. “After sending Quirrell away, I'll go to the Ministry of Magic. At that time, I might need you to come forward and testify.”

“No problem, I'm duty-bound to do so in this matter.” Dumbledore smiled.

Snape, who was standing nearby, rolled his eyes in displeasure after hearing the conversation between the two. He was extremely disgusted with Sirius Black. He was the most opposed to releasing Black back then. The thought of possibly seeing that guy again made Snape furious.

“I hope that guy can learn to keep his tail between his legs in the future, otherwise I won't give him a good look!” Snape couldn't help but complain in the end.

Dumbledore and Anduin, upon hearing this, naturally knew who Snape was referring to, so they couldn't help but smile at each other.

…

After leaving Dumbledore's office, Anduin didn't stop, taking Quirrell through several arbitrary doors to transfer to Germany.

The Silver Flash Trading Company here was originally entrusted to 'Von', an intelligence merchant he met in Germany, to manage.

Speaking of which, this intelligence merchant helped Anduin a lot when he was in Germany, but then suddenly disappeared for a while.

Mainly because 'Von' at the time saw that Anduin was very concerned about the Silver Spear information. In order to please this wealthy man, he spent a lot of time specifically investigating the Silver Spear Club.

Don't underestimate this unremarkable guy, he actually found a lot of things later, and even touched the clues of those breeding parks, and almost really let him find one of the parks.

It was a pity that under Anduin's swift and decisive means, the Silver Spear quickly disintegrated. As a result, Von found that the things he had finally found suddenly appeared in the newspaper for no reason.

This change made Von confused, and later when Anduin found him again, this guy was still drinking sullenly in the bar with a depressed face.

Anduin, after learning about Von's gains, knew that he was a rare talent, because he had the memory of the 'Thunderbird' to dig out the Silver Spear so quickly.

As a result, this little dwarf actually relied on the resources and clues in his hand to analyze so much intelligence.

Therefore, Anduin quickly recruited Von into the Silver Flash Trading Company and entrusted him with important tasks, letting him be fully responsible for the German branch's business and casually collect local and European intelligence for him.

The reason why the Silver Flash Trading Company's acquisition of the owl post office in Germany was so smooth before was mainly due to his intelligence advantage. This guy almost found out all the information about the German wizarding business world.

The reason why Germany is now being built into Anduin's second base camp is not only his relationship with Andre and fixed assets, but more importantly because he is too familiar with this place, even if he himself does not stay here all year round.

So Anduin is very relieved to place Quirrell under Von's hands. He is confident that in the next two to three years, he will build Germany into an iron plate, and no one will want to find trouble for him in this area.

After entrusting Quirrell to Von, Anduin returned to England non-stop, and the next day he went to the British Ministry of Magic.

The environment in the British Ministry of Magic at this time can be said to have undergone earth-shaking changes compared to four years ago.

If you use one word to describe the current Ministry of Magic, it is - rich!

As soon as you enter the main hall on the eighth floor underground, you can see a whole row of the latest summer magic lamps floating on the ceiling. The purple lavender petals attached to the magic lamps fall slowly like snowflakes.

Not only can the people coming and going under these lamps smell the faint floral fragrance, but they can also experience bursts of cool breeze, making people feel refreshed.

Like this set of lamps calculated by the dozen, the British Ministry of Magic will replace a batch every quarter! And they are all the latest models at the moment. The eliminated old lamps are not kept at all, and they are basically directly distributed to outstanding employees as benefits.

Of course, the Silver Flash Trading Company supplies these lamps to the Ministry of Magic at a low price. After all, displaying these new lamps in the main hall of the Ministry of Magic is also a kind of GG in itself.

When approaching the visitor entrance, you can see a whole row of magic security check doors, which look like a guardrail is pulled out on the road.

These security check doors can remove the transfiguration and invisibility effects on wizards, and can also detect whether they are carrying black magic items or illegal alchemy props.

Of course, the so-called illegal alchemy props are actually alchemy products that are not produced by Silver Flash Trading Company and its partners. If you buy any pirated alchemy items, you can't even enter the door of the Ministry of Magic.

As for the visitor hall, the magic brothers fountain in the center is still there, but the pure gold statue erected in the center of the fountain is already inlaid with colorful gems.

This exaggerated and outrageous design was only created after Fudge came to power. This guy likes to do some face-saving projects. Although Anduin has never been very interested in this, he can't say much, who makes people's funds explode.

In addition to the fountain statue, a giant crystal magic lamp with a diameter of ten meters hangs above the visitor hall!

This magic lamp is round in shape, looking like a multiple concentric circle. Each layer of round crystals will release a circle of different kinds of magic creature light and shadow, including fire dragons, phoenixes, griffins, pegasus, unicorns, etc.

Each of those magic light and shadows is golden, not only illuminating the hall, but also bringing a trace of warmth to the wizards. In fact, each circle of magic light released is attached with different spell effects.

In addition to basic functions such as 'waterproof and moisture-proof' and 'cleaning', there are also various holy light spells that can dispel curses and negative energy, and blessing magic that invigorates the spirit, and even some uhe runes that can be actively opened, including control, killing, and protection.

First release latest.