The way Michelle and the other senior directors had been shut out was eerily similar, and they hadn't been able to get any useful information either.
At that moment, Pete felt as if an invisible hand was slowly tightening its grip around him until he was completely trapped.
'No... this black hand behind the scenes is probably targeting me,' he thought grimly.
He wasn't a fool; he understood how serious things had become.
But just how bad was the situation?
Different problems called for different responses, but now the only information they could get came from newspapers.
Had their civil society activities been exposed?
Was their connection to the club leaked?
Or, in the worst-case scenario, had Pete, Michelle, and the others been identified?
That seemed impossible.
Among the wizards in the park, only Claremont knew Pete's true identity.
Pete trusted Claremont's loyalty, believing there was no way he would reveal their secret, especially since Claremont was bound by a powerful magical contract.
If the worst-case scenario was ruled out, then the civil society's activities must have been exposed and linked to separatists like them.
After considering everything, Pete came to this conclusion, which also explained why the Wizengamot members treated him with such cold indifference.
If that was the case, the situation wasn't completely hopeless.
After all, the cooperating wizards couldn't provide any solid evidence to back up their suspicions.
As long as they kept making big profits for the Wizengamot members, they'd surely manage to cover up this whole issue.
But Pete just didn't understand the Schmidt family's position at all.
They used to work together smoothly, but now they didn't even want to see him face to face.
Their relationship had cooled off quite a bit.
While Pete frowned over this, trouble was brewing at the silver wand headquarters, where the 'Golden Snidget' was also having a hard time.
"What's going on with Phoenix? She's supposed to be in her safe period right now, so why hasn't she replied to any messages?"
Golden Snidget paced around the living room of the headquarters, clearly frustrated, muttering to himself.
He had come in early that morning and sent out emergency contact requests to all the Spear members through their masks.
Many responded quickly, but the Phoenix, the one he was most sure he could reach, was nowhere to be found.
This made Golden Snidget frown deeply.
"Could Phoenix have returned to France? If she's too far away, there would be a delay in mask communication, and beyond a certain distance, it might be impossible to contact her at all."
The Ashwinder beside him also looked at the Snidget with a hint of doubt.
"No way. I spoke with her just two days ago. She's supposed to be in Germany, helping with the situation in East Germany right now," Golden Snidget said firmly.
"By the way, have we heard anything from the Augurey? Didn't they try to contact them with owls a couple of days ago? They should be close to Germany, so mask communication should still work."
This was one of the limitations of their club's tech.
Because the Augurey's location was so remote, apart from using the door key to communicate, they had to rely on more traditional methods like owls.
"Still no news," the Ashwinder said, shaking its head helplessly. "Neither the owl nor the mask has gotten through. Shall we send the moke to check?"
The Snidget sighed, clearly worried.
"If there's a problem with the goods coming from Northern Europe, then we're in serious trouble. What's going on lately? Why are all these clubs running into problems one after another?"
Ashwinder looked worried, but suddenly paused and said, "Someone just showed up at the headquarters gate, it's Thunderbird!"
Golden Snidget raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Oh? I didn't expect him to be the first to respond. That's unusual. Hurry up and let him in!"
Maybe this rebellious guy was more reliable after all.
Moments later, a furious Thunderbird kicked open the reception room door and stormed in.
"What do you mean by this emergency contact you sent? Have the people and magical creatures stolen from the park been found? Or have you caught the mastermind behind it all?"
Golden Snidget, irritated, snapped back, "What do you mean? Don't you read the papers every day?"
He tossed over the morning newspaper.
Thunderbird's eyes widened as he read the headline about Aurors being rescued from the silver wand.
"Wait, what? You arranged to transfer those parks?"
Golden Snidget was so frustrated he nearly swore.
"Do I look like I'm just twiddling my thumbs? This situation is clearly complicated, why can't you see that?"
Thunderbird's expression shifted to one of realization.
"Complicated? Are you saying someone pretended to be us and attacked those parks? Then the culprit must have a personal stake in this, maybe Andre from the Ministry of Magic or that Schmidt family?"
He hesitated.
"But that seems unlikely."
He frowned.
"Managing these people is hard enough, and with thousands of magical creatures, how could they hide so much? Didn't you investigate them recently? Find anything suspicious?"
Golden Snidget chimed in, equally puzzled.
"Whether it's Andre or the local wizard families in Germany, I've done thorough checks, especially on personnel transfers. Everyone seemed normal, meaning the guards in the park aren't from those groups."
Thunderbird muttered thoughtfully, "If they're not theirs, then who?"
"Could it be ours?"
Then realization suddenly dawned on him.
"Could it be?"
"Exactly," Golden Snidget agreed.
Golden Snidget realized Thunderbird had grasped the key point too.
"I'm pretty sure this was done secretly by someone inside the club. Otherwise, there's no way they could have moved that many people so smoothly and quietly," Golden Snidget said.
Thunderbird nodded thoughtfully.
"Whoever did this must know the parks really well and have a lot of people working under them, probably someone who's not even from around here," he muttered.
Then he looked up.
"Where's Phoenix? When is she supposed to arrive? These past couple of days should be her safe period, so she wouldn't respond to you, right?"
Golden Snidget sighed in frustration.
"I still haven't been able to get in touch with Phoenix. Logically, she must be in Germany."
Thunderbird's eyes lit up as he clenched the newspaper in his hand.
"Is it really her? Could Phoenix actually be behind this? Why else would she do something like this? Maybe her so-called research has actually managed to reverse the elixir's formula."
Following Thunderbird's quiet murmur, Golden Snidget's heart skipped a beat.
'That's right. Phoenix had been researching the mystery of eternal life for years.'
Everyone who'd been around a while knew that.
Could it be that their research had finally paid off?
Had they managed to reverse-engineer the elixir's formula?