Greed and desire are the defining labels of the human species.
They are instincts engraved into human DNA since ancient times.
They are the purest form of beastliness.
In Link's previous life, many people believed that it was precisely the existence of war that caused modern human technology to advance by leaps and bounds.
Some ill-intentioned "50-centers" even twisted this theory further and arrived at a horrifying "truth", that a certain ancient country with thousands of years of history was able to develop into its current prosperous state entirely because it had been continuously invaded and ruled by foreign powers.
If it weren't for foreign invaders coming in to destroy the place every time that ancient country became extremely rotten internally, then by now it would probably have been turned into something like the neighboring Ah-San country, where the entire population is brainwashed and indoctrinated, and crazies are everywhere.
Without a doubt, this is a crooked argument.
The reason such a conclusion can be drawn is not because one's position determines one's thinking, but because this theory is fundamentally wrong at the level of basic logic.
What has driven human development has never been war, but desire and greed themselves.
It is precisely because of humanity's instinctive desire to possess resources and its greed that the Industrial Revolution was born, that explosive technological growth occurred, and that the monster called war was created.
But even though greed and desire have changed our lives, that does not mean greed is a good thing.
Greed can just as easily lead people to destruction.
It is a double-edged sword.
That is why Link has always believed that when facing greed, one must remain cautious at all times.
This applies to one's own inner greed, and even more so to the greed of others that can threaten oneself.
So, holding to this principle, when deep in the night Old Barty, wrapped in a heavy hood, pushed open the door of the Room of Requirement as instructed by Link and appeared before him, Link didn't waste a single word.
He didn't even wait for Old Barty to take off his hood and bow. He impatiently raised his wand.
"Legilimency!"
As white light flashed, Old Barty's entire body stiffened as if electrocuted, then he collapsed to the floor and began convulsing violently.
To ensure the authenticity of the information obtained, Link was using his full strength in the truest sense this time.
This inevitably caused Old Barty intense pain, but Link didn't think it was a big deal.
Compared to the fact that, because of his own oversight, the Dementors had escaped into Voldemort's camp, this was really nothing more than a small punishment.
After more than ten full minutes, Link finally lowered his wand and closed his eyes, savoring the memory images he had just seen.
Things were already very clear.
The reason Voldemort was still able to win over the Dementors' support even though Link had received the information in advance was not because Old Barty or Percy had chosen to betray him.
This also matched Link's earlier speculation.
After all, Percy's wings were not yet fully grown, and he was far from being able to fly solo.
As for Old Barty, he had signed an "Unbreakable Vow" with Link.
During that signing, Old Barty had agreed to countless unequal clauses. Link felt that even if Old Barty were smart enough to find loopholes, it wouldn't come to the point of outright betrayal.
From this perspective, Old Barty's position within Link's organization really was lower than Percy's.
At least Percy could barely be considered one of Link's subordinates, while Old Barty was a complete and total slave.
The real reason all of this happened was actually very simple.
After Old Barty defeated Fudge with Link's support, their power within the Ministry of Magic began to grow in an extremely savage manner.
And once that expansion reached a certain point, internal friction began.
Especially after Percy gained a certain amount of power, everyone finally returned to a familiar environment of opposition, and the original internal consumption turned into internal strife.
Driven by desire and greed, Percy and Old Barty both, without prior coordination, made defeating the other and monopolizing the Ministry of Magic their top priority.
As a result, Link's orders regarding vigilance against the Dementors were naturally pushed down to second priority.
Link sat back down on the sofa, picked up the wine glass on the coffee table, and slowly sipped the dark brown liquid inside, mouthful by mouthful.
Old Barty lay limply at his feet, his entire body soaked with sweat, gasping for air like a stranded fish.
As someone who had personally lived through the entire Second Wizarding War, Old Barty had also suffered the Cruciatus Curse inflicted by Death Eaters in his youth.
But even the pain brought by that Unforgivable Curse was nowhere near half of what Link had just inflicted on him.
That agony, like having one's skull pried open, the brain taken out and exposed to the air, then constantly kneaded, pierced with needles, hacked with knives, and burned with fire, was simply the most terrifying punishment in the world.
Compared to that, the humiliation of having one's memories casually rifled through became not worth mentioning at all.
This also made Old Barty think of Bellatrix, whose photo he had seen just that morning.
How exactly did the Longbottoms, who had been tortured into madness by her back then, manage to endure it?
Or did they not endure it at all, and Bellatrix simply continued tormenting them deliberately in order to avenge Voldemort?
Just as Old Barty's mind was wandering wildly from overstimulation, Link had already drained the last drop of wine from his glass.
He casually tossed the glass back onto the coffee table and turned to look at Old Barty, sighing softly.
The barely audible sigh had only just sounded when Old Barty struggled to kneel on the floor, pressing his head hard against the cold marble ground.
In the nearby fireplace, orange-yellow flames were leaping and flickering.
The light and shadow from the flames reflected on the smooth floor and shone into Old Barty's eyes, giving him the illusion that a venomous snake was baring its fangs at him.
And in fact, this could hardly be called an illusion.
Because Arkam had indeed crawled out from Link's collar and was now arching its body, observing Old Barty.
Just as Arkam's muscles tensed more and more, clearly about to pounce and bite, Link finally spoke,
"How is your son doing now?"
Old Barty shuddered and hurriedly answered, "He's currently being held in the Auror interrogation room at the Ministry of Magic. The Aurors are using Legilimency and Veritaserum to try to make him confess information about Voldemort."
"But since he also knows Occlumency, they've been using quite a lot of Veritaserum. At the moment, he has indeed provided some lists of personnel, but the man himself is basically broken."
"Please don't worry, the interrogation isn't over yet. We'll definitely be able to dig out more intelligence!"
A cold smile appeared on Link's face.
Everything Old Barty had just said, Link had already seen through Legilimency.
The whole matter really was exactly as Old Barty described.
But Old Barty was absolutely not doing this to extract any intelligence, he simply didn't want to kill his own son.
On this point, even Link had to admit that Old Barty, as a father, had indeed gone to the extreme.
After all, his son, Barty Jr., had gone to great lengths to frame him and had almost even taken his life.
But this behavior of Old Barty's was also a form of contempt toward Link.
Link had returned Barty Jr. to him back then not so that the two of them could reunite as father and son.
"Old Barty, you've gotten swollen." With a light laugh, Link said slowly.
At the same time, Arkam sensed the fluctuation in Link's emotions and lazily avoided the cold marble floor, climbing along the coffee table and onto Old Barty's body.
Feeling the rustling sound by his ear, Old Barty was on the verge of collapse.
Trembling all over, he knelt prostrate on the ground. He didn't even have the presence of mind to care that the clothes on his lower body were being soaked by uncontrollable fluids, and he kept babbling, "Master, I was wrong! Master! Please…"
Clink! Clink! Clink!
A brand-new gold coin bounced its way to Old Barty's front. Just as Old Barty shifted his gaze toward it, he heard Link say, "Relax. I'm not Voldemort, and I naturally won't kill people casually."
"But I am quite interested in the information your son knows. Since you can't get anything out of him, why not let my side take over?"
Old Barty raised his head in shock, then lowered it again even faster, trembling as he said, "Yes… yes, Master!"
"The person coming to receive Barty Jr. will show up in front of you tomorrow with a gold coin just like this one. Just hand him over," Link said expressionlessly, tilting his head.
"As for you, I hope you remember that you're not the only puppet I can use."
"You may look down on Percy as a backup, but Fudge should be no problem, right?"
"His arrogant temperament has already been polished down quite a bit anyway."
"If I wanted to drive him, even making him sign an 'Unbreakable Vow' shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Old Barty froze completely.
The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably, as if he had lost all control.
This reaction was even stronger than when he had just heard that his son was about to be taken away by Link's people.
But this really wasn't his fault.
Because he knew very well that Link was absolutely not joking just now.
Link had genuinely considered re-activating Fudge, and someone like Fudge would never miss such an opportunity.
And if all of this really came true…
With Fudge's temperament, once he gained power, Old Barty's fate…
Old Barty instantly felt as if his soul was about to leave his body.
It wasn't until Link lightly said "Get lost" again that Old Barty finally struggled to his feet, picked up the gold coin from the floor, and left the Room of Requirement in a dazed state.
"Hiss, hiss, hiss!~" (He's really disgusting!)
As it spoke, Arkam slowly crawled back onto Link, influenced by snake instincts, its movement speed in winter was terribly slow.
"Yeah. Who isn't, right?" Link said, stroking Arkam's smooth head.
It was precisely those two disgusting guys, Old Barty and Percy, who had allowed Voldemort to score another point.
But setting Percy aside, Old Barty, bound by an "Unbreakable Vow," really shouldn't have done these things.
Could it be that damned plot inertia was at work again?
Link shook his head.
Since things had already happened, the most important thing was to solve the problem, not dwell on past mistakes.
At present, after removing the puppet minister Fudge, the Ministry of Magic was in a classic three-way standoff.
Percy, Old Barty, and Scrimgeour respectively controlled the administrative and military power of the entire British wizarding world.
Among them, after tonight's warning, Old Barty's swollen heart should return to calm.
Percy was even simpler.
In Link's eyes, both he and Old Barty were nothing more than dogs leashed by the chain of power.
The only difference was that Old Barty was like an old dog that usually didn't bark, even if you kicked it, it would endure and wait for the right moment to bite back, making it something to be wary of.
Percy was simply a yellow dog that only knew how to bark but couldn't bite.
There was no need for any special methods to deal with a dog like that.
When Link sent Old Beckman to the Ministry of Magic to take custody of Barty Jr., he planned to casually give Percy a beating as well, just to make him understand his master's displeasure.
The only one who gave Link some pause was Scrimgeour.
He was a purely hardline military figure, with absolutely no possibility of being bought or controlled.
At the same time, while aggressively expanding Auror recruitment, he had also been constantly pushing personal worship within the Auror Office and the Hit Wizard units.
If he continued to swell like this, someone who held such overwhelming military power might very well threaten the positions of Old Barty and Percy.
But this wasn't a big problem either.
With just a bit of thought, Link came up with a solution.
Since Scrimgeour was currently putting all his effort into strengthening the Aurors so they could better serve king and country, then he could be sent to deal with the Dementor rebellion.
The Dementor issue had to be resolved anyway, and Scrimgeour certainly wouldn't refuse this task.
Aurors under his command clashing head-on with Voldemort's Death Eaters would be the most favorable situation for Link.
Having made this decision, a smile finally returned to Link's face.
He glanced at the sky outside the window, which was gradually turning pale, and casually left the Room of Requirement, heading toward the M.O.M.H.L. factory.
Since it was the weekend, even though it was already the time when people would normally be getting up for classes, the halls and corridors Link passed through were still completely empty.
This situation didn't change until Link walked into a workshop inside the M.O.M.H.L. factory.
This workshop was a studio Link had specifically provided for the Kennedy siblings to conduct alchemy experiments.
Only people like Emily and Cedric, who truly understood Link, knew that among all the newly selected followers, the ones Link valued most were not Newland or Sigfin, but the Kennedy siblings.
To be precise, it was the alchemical research the Kennedy siblings were carrying out.
That was why, when preparing this workshop, Link had directly allocated nearly 20,000 Galleons in funding.
On top of pushing the hardware level of the lab to the maximum, he had also deliberately taken comfort and aesthetics into account.
But now, when Link returned to this experimental workshop that had once satisfied him after several days away, the scene before his eyes made even someone like him, who had weathered countless storms, freeze for a moment.