Joseph fell on the dusty floor, looking at the trembling compatriots below, shaking his head desperately.
His withered hands gripped his hair tightly, and his voice revealed a deep resistance and exhaustion.
"I can't do it...John, I beg you, please let me go."
Joseph raised his head, his face covered with tears,
"I have been working for Wizarding World for most of my life, but I ended up being played like a fool. This place is too dirty and too painful."
He held on to the railing and stood up reluctantly, with only pleading in his eyes.
"I'm going to Europe. My daughter and granddaughter are still waiting for me over there. I just want to spend the past few years with them in peace. I really don't want to care about Wizarding World's things and Vought International's things anymore."
John stood less than one meter away from him.
The rainwater on the hoodie dripped down the hem and fell to the floor, making a slight sound.
He looked at the old man who was trying to escape. There was no sympathy in Azure's eyes.
"You have to stay whether you want to stay or not."
John's tone did not fluctuate.
Joseph was stunned.
"Do you think I let you sit in this position because I lack a butler?"
John stretched out his finger and pointed at the hundreds of silent Wizards in the hall downstairs, "I let you stay to save them."
John took half a step forward, and Apex Predator's sense of oppression instantly enveloped the old Wizards.
"Lynn is gone. I will not keep any force that may pose a threat to me or Long Island Estate. If you walk out of this door today, the unrestrained North American Ministry of Magic will be a hidden danger that must be cleared up for me."
John looked into Joseph's eyes and said word for word, "If you leave, I will go down and kill them all right now, leaving no one alive. If you stay, I trust you, and they will survive."
These words hit Joseph hard on the back.
The power of life and death over hundreds of lives was tied tightly to his neck by John.
Joseph looked at his former colleagues downstairs, young Auror. They were looking at him with a look of fear mixed with expectation.
He knew that John was definitely not joking.
If he takes this step, the hall will immediately turn into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Old Wizards closed his eyes in pain.
After his chest rose and fell violently several times, his originally straight back stooped, and his whole body seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.
"Okay... I'll stay."
Joseph's voice is hoarse,
"But before I take over all this, let me make a phone call and calculate the time. My daughter and granddaughter should have settled down in Europe. I have never dared to contact them in order to prevent Vought International from being tracked."
He raised his head, with the last hint of humble prayer as a father in his eyes. "I just want to hear their voices."
John did not speak, but silently took a step aside.
Joseph took a deep breath and took out a mobile phone from the inside pocket of his duffle coat.
This was specially prepared by him to keep in touch with his daughter.
His fingers trembled as he pressed the familiar numbers, then put the phone to his ear.
The hall was deathly silent, except for the "beep... beep..." sound coming from the mobile phone receiver.
It rang for more than ten seconds and no one answered.
Joseph swallowed and comforted himself that it might be a jet lag problem or they were busy.
He dialed again.
There is still a long and monotonous busy tone.
Joseph's face changed.
His breathing began to become rapid.
A trace of uneasiness wormed its way into his heart like a poisonous snake.
He suddenly stuffed his phone back into his pocket, and with trembling hands, he took out a scratched silver coin from another secret pocket.
This is Alchemical Object used for long-distance communication.
He rubbed the surface of the coin vigorously twice and uttered a brief spell in his mouth.
There was a faint light on the surface of the coin, and then a male voice with a strong Europe accent came out.
"Joseph? Is that you?"
The voice on the other side sounded a bit confused.
"It's me, old friend."
Joseph said to the coin eagerly, his voice split due to nervousness, "My daughters... are they settling well at your place? Why don't they answer the phone?"
Long before sending his daughter away from United States, he had already contacted this old friend who held a high position in European Ministry of Magic and asked him to secretly take care of his family.
This is also his only retreat.
However, there was a brief silence on the other end of the coin.
"What are you talking about, Joseph?"
The old friend's voice was full of surprise and confusion,
"I sent people to London's ports and airports to keep an eye on them for a whole week, but they didn't come to Europe at all. I thought things had changed on your side and the plan was temporarily canceled."
When the words "Europe didn't come at all" came out from the coin.
Joseph felt as if his heart had been stabbed hard with a sharp knife and then stirred hard.
A chilling feeling of fear spread all over my body, from the soles of my feet to the sky.
They didn't go to Europe.
Before they boarded the cruise ship, they were intercepted by Vought International people.
In fact, the person who tipped off Edgar was Old Minister who patted his chest and promised to protect him.
"No... impossible..."
Joseph The silver coin in his hand fell to the wooden floor with a clang.
His legs weakened and he knelt heavily on the corridor.
There were no heart-rending roars or hysterical curses.
This kind of grief that exceeded the limit of human endurance caused old Wizards to directly lose the ability to speak.
His mouth was wide open and his chest was twitching violently, like a fish that was thrown to the shore and was dying.
Big drops of tears mixed with snot covered the old face in an imageless manner.
He betrayed his faith and conscience, sent countless Fantastic Beasts lives to the Vought International autopsy table, and even indirectly killed three hundred Auror.
He was burdened with the infamy of the ages and endured humiliation like a dog just to give his family a way to survive.
But in the end, everything was in vain.
His compromise only resulted in the separation of his wife and family.
Even Lynn, the man who took him in without reservation and gave him a cup of hot tea in Long Island Estate, died tragically because he led a wolf into the house.
"Uh... ah..."
The extremely suppressed sobs of pain echoed in the empty corridor.
Old Wizards banged his head on the floor, and his fingers scratched out several bloody traces on the wooden floor.
John stood aside, not comforting him or urging him.
He just looked quietly at the old man who collapsed in despair.
A full five minutes passed.
The sobs on the ground gradually subsided.
Joseph slowly supported the railing and climbed up from the floor.
His face, which was already full of wrinkles, now looked like a piece of dead tree bark.
He wiped the tears from his face with his sleeves.
"I understand."
Joseph turned around and looked at John. Although his voice was hoarse, he was extremely firm.
He lost his family and killed his benefactor.
His current life no longer belongs to him.
He wants to atone for his sins.
He wanted to pay off the debt he owed to Lynn and the dead Auror bit by bit.
"Long Island Estate's kindness, I, Joseph, will pay for it with my life."
Old Wizards straightened his back, glanced at the remaining Wizards downstairs, and regained the iron-blooded aura he had when he was in charge of the Magic Security Department.
"Don't worry."
He looked at John and said in a calm tone, "Give me North American Wizarding World. I will dig deep enough to find the person you are looking for."
John nodded.
He turned around and walked towards the second floor window, looking at the heavy rain that was still falling outside.