Chapter 1325: 83. A Clue

"Senior?"

"What? From the way you say that, junior, do you hate seeing me?"

"That's not what I mean."

Breathing in that enchanting fragrance, Muen gave a wry smile. "How could I possibly hate seeing you, senior?"

"Then......are you still angry with me? After all, I was one of the main culprits who left you in such a miserable state."

Anna's eyes shimmered as her gaze swept over the snow-white blanket covering Muen. Then she suddenly turned around and presented her pert little backside to him.

"How about this? If junior wants, senior's little butt is always available for you to spank. However you want, for as long as you want, until you've completely vented your anger."

Her soft, fragrant backside was pointed directly at him. Although the hem of her skirt still covered it, that alone was enough to inspire endless wonderful fantasies.

Unlike Liya, who had only been spanked because Muen was angry with her, senior was actively twisting her waist like this. Rather than offering herself up for punishment, it seemed more like she was......

"Senior, are you trying to seduce me?"

Muen bared his teeth.

"Oh? Is that what junior thinks?"

Anna glanced back slightly and blinked at him, playful and alluring. "If junior wants to use that kind of method as punishment......that's fine too. I won't resist. Whether it's spanking me or doing that, junior can do whatever you want."

As she spoke, almost as if deliberately making things easier for Muen, Anna pulled over a small table beside the hospital bed, planted both hands on it, and bent her waist into a perfect curve, naturally raising her little backside even higher.

No matter how you looked at it, this was a position that invited him to do as he pleased, so enticing it was difficult to put into words.

Probably no normal man could refuse.

But......

"Why are you acting exactly like a certain little minx too?"

Muen instead put on a stern expression and said severely, "Do you people think that no matter what mistake you've made, all you have to do is this and I'll instantly forgive you because I'm some horny old pervert?"

"Oh my?"

Anna looked surprised. "Aren't you?"

"Absolutely not!"

Muen became furious.

Just what did every single one of them think of him?

As Belrand's famously good man, he had always regarded self-restraint and remaining unmoved by temptation as principles to live by. Treating him like some horny bastard who could be placated with a little sacrifice of feminine beauty was the greatest possible insult to his character!

"You actually dare humiliate me like this. Looks like I really do need to teach you a proper lesson!"

As he spoke, Muen's disciplining hand swept toward senior's pert backside......

Anna had clearly expected it too. She lifted her hips slightly, eagerly awaiting what came next......

But......

Halfway there, Muen suddenly thought of something. His hand abruptly stopped, and he withdrew it before lying back down.

"Forget it."

He stared at the ceiling with the numb expression of a salted fish. "I genuinely have no worldly desires right now. I'll save this punishment for later."

"Oh?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Junior isn't playing hard to get, is he?"

"Do you think I'd use such a low-level trick? I've simply suddenly comprehended the true meaning of life and realized that all these things are meaningless!"

"Meaningless?"

Anna suddenly lifted the hem of her skirt herself. "Even if I'm wearing junior's favorite black one-piece stockings?"

Gulp.

Beneath the light, understated skirt was a pair of glossy black stockings, smooth and silky to an extreme. The sheer visual impact made Muen's eyes instantly go straight.

Admittedly, he, Muen Campbell, was Belrand's famously good man and a genuine gentleman.

But what gentleman could possibly withstand the power of black stockings?

Anyone claiming otherwise was nothing but a shameless fraud deceiving the world!

Only a man capable of sincerely acknowledging what lay within his own heart could be called a true man!

That's right.

He, Muen Campbell, loved black stockings!

However......

"Still, forget it."

Muen swallowed and forcibly dragged his gaze away from those breathtaking black stockings. "The old me did indeed like black stockings, but today's me temporarily doesn't."

"Is that so?"

Anna turned around and gave Muen a meaningful look. "Even black stockings don't work. Looks like junior really was squeezed dry quite badly this time."

"Squeezed dry?"

Muen glared back at her with dead-fish eyes. "That wasn't fucking squeezing! That was crushing! Like an entire mountain grinding over me from left to right, top to bottom, all three hundred and sixty degrees without a single blind spot! From ancient times to the present, there probably hasn't been anyone as miserable as me!"

After enduring a calamity like that, the fact that he had merely entered sage mode was already impressive enough that even he himself had to marvel at his own strength.

Amazing.

I'm incredible.

"All right, all right. I know junior suffered this time. Don't worry, I won't run away from my punishment. Whenever junior really feels like punishing senior in the future......you can use any punishment method you like."

Anna leaned down and gently stroked Muen's cheek. "After all, I feel terrible seeing junior suffer too."

"Senior......"

Muen's restless heart gradually settled again.

Senior Anna had always been like this.

You could say she loved joking around. You could say she had the temperament of a little devil, loved teasing people through all kinds of tricks, loved fanning the flames, and quietly gave countless matters a push from behind the scenes—including, in a way, this whole incident where he'd gotten run over by a dragon cart.

But there was one thing......

Whenever you were injured or suffering, she could always become a warm harbor, allowing you to feel utterly at peace.

That was simply who she was—eyes like autumn waters, and a heart broad enough to embrace everything.

"Senior didn't come here just to visit me, did you?"

Muen said while enjoying the softness of senior's little hand.

"Oh? Junior can even tell that?" Anna looked surprised.

"Who am I? I'm your most, most beloved junior. If you can tell what I'm feeling, why shouldn't I be able to tell that something is on senior's mind too?"

Muen smiled and rubbed his head against Anna's chest. "Your heartbeat is one or two beats faster than usual. That means there are other thoughts running through your head right now."

"How nauseating."

Anna rolled her eyes at him reproachfully. "And you can determine that my thoughts are in turmoil just from that? My dear junior, if you're going to brag, at least make it sound believable. Otherwise, even I won't know how to play along."

"Who said your thoughts were in turmoil? My dear senior, I'm sure the vast majority of your thoughts are currently occupied by your most handsome junior. You've merely reserved one small corner of your mind for something else."

Muen said seriously, "And I just happen to be able to sense the existence of that little corner."

"Junior, that silver tongue of yours hasn't diminished in the slightest even after ending up like this."

Anna playfully pinched the sensitive flesh at Muen's side and sighed helplessly.

"In the end, you were just guessing, weren't you?"

"Senior really is amazing. You saw through me instantly......that's right. I was guessing."

"Then you really did guess quite accurately."

Anna withdrew her hand, swept her hair aside once more, and smiled with pursed lips.

"You're right. I really do have one tiny bit of serious business to discuss with junior this time."

"See? I told you we're connected heart to heart."

Muen responded with a handsome wink, then immediately lay back down and resumed being a salted fish.

Flirt and flee.

That too was an essential quality of a good man.

"Go ahead. What little matter is it?"

"It's very simple. It's about what junior told me before—the possibility that the corrupted Love God may have taken control of certain human organizations and been using them to conduct material and economic transactions......I've found a lead."

"So it's that little matter. I thought......"

Muen froze.

Then he instantly jolted upright.

"What did you say?"

"Oh my. Was I not clear enough?"

Anna blinked. "Then I'll say it again. It's that little matter junior mentioned before, about how there may be certain organizations on the continent controlled by that Love God, and that they may still be......I......"

"Stop, stop!"

Muen hurriedly cut her off, the corner of his mouth twitching. "You don't need to repeat it. I just feel like......this doesn't exactly count as a little matter, does it?"

Back in that frontier town, after realizing that the Love God might already have spread a vast web throughout the human world, he had casually mentioned it to senior as well.

But he hadn't expected results this quickly.

At the time, he'd been thinking he'd need to seriously communicate with the upper ranks of the various major powers and warn them to stay vigilant......

Who would've thought senior would work this efficiently?

So this was the Silent Bureau?

He loved it. ℴℴ𝘮

"Compared to junior being injured this badly by that calamity, to the point that you've even lost interest in black stockings, what I'm talking about really is a little matter."

Anna covered her mouth and chuckled. "But of course, from another perspective, it really is a major matter. Otherwise, I wouldn't still have reserved a 'tiny little corner' of my mind for it under circumstances like these."

"So? Did senior find detailed information on those organizations?"

Muen sat upright, his expression turning serious.

This concerned a certain Little Love.

Even though he still hadn't completely escaped the shadow of the dragon cart incident, Muen had no choice but to take it seriously.

After all, you could say Little Love had suffered defeat after defeat and fully deserved the title of disgrace among Evil Gods......

But you couldn't deny that the things it had been doing lately were becoming bigger and bigger.

From the time he'd first encountered it until now, there was a seventy or eighty percent chance that the major incidents Muen had experienced had involved that thing somehow.

Granted, most of the time it had merely shown up to pick up scraps and play the clown, but the simple fact that it kept appearing in those incidents said a great deal by itself.

The Love God......

It was definitely plotting some enormous event behind the scenes!

Even though it had suffered heavy blows in the Shattered Sea and, even earlier, in Belrand, an entity possessing such disgusting Authority could never have its foundations within the human world shaken so easily.

That was precisely why Muen cared so much about this rare loose thread they'd finally managed to grab.

"As for the things junior told me before, I used the Silent Bureau's intelligence channels to conduct a careful investigation. We really did identify quite a few organizations operating in gray areas. They make their living trafficking rare ores and people, so it's very easy for them to become entangled with certain dark forces."

"And then?"

Organizations that were already committing crimes?

Muen instinctively felt it couldn't possibly be that simple.

If they could be uncovered this easily, they felt more like expendable pieces that could be thrown out at any time as smoke screens.

"Junior guessed correctly. Even finding those organizations isn't particularly useful, because they can be completely wiped out whenever necessary."

Anna saw through Muen's thoughts and said calmly, "They're merely disposable black gloves. Most of their members are simply believers of the Love God, and they're unlikely to have truly participated in much of this so-called 'web.' The real problem is whoever is hiding behind them."

"Senior means......there's a big fish?"

A sharp light flashed through Muen's eyes.

"Whether it's truly a big fish remains unclear. This matter is too complicated. Just as junior said, with such an enormous volume of supplies involved, if we really dig into every detail and start pulling up everything connected to it, there probably isn't a single power on the entire continent that would come out completely clean......"

Anna continued, "But among such a massive volume of goods, certain special items are much easier to trace......for example, magical materials strictly regulated by every nation and major power, as well as various high-purity magic stones."

"Magical materials......magic stones......"

Muen's thoughts raced.

Indeed, New Tars had possessed such things too, and in substantial quantities.

After all, without magical materials and magic stones, how could those survivors possibly have armed New Tars's residents and prepared them to fight against the evil dragon?

"Senior means......"

"By tracing unusually large or suspicious transactions involving magical materials and magic stones over the past several years, I really did manage to catch hold of the tail of a certain power."

"Oh? And which power is it......"

"Coincidentally, that power just happens to be the 'manufacturer' of the highest-quality magical materials and magic stones on the entire continent."

Anna looked directly into Muen's eyes and slowly enunciated each word:

"It is......the cradle of the continent's finest mages—the Origin Tower."