89: Time is speeding up

Kotou's death announced the formal end of the "family traitor" incident.

Under Karl's management, all Bakker Family members had long since engraved the strict clan rules into their minds.

Due to the influence of multiple factors such as "sufficient evidence, good personal credit, unquestionable Clan Leader authority, and collective recognition of clan rules," Kotou's death did not cause any unrest.

Many Buckle Family members believed Kotou deserved to die and thought he, the family traitor, should be executed by firing squad right then and there.

After comforting the clansmen, Karl made arrangements for the next course of action.

"Fang Yun, Vavinia, Valentine, and I. The four of us will go interrogate the still-alive San'er."

"I want to see what reason caused the 'Black Hand' settlement to target Kotou and member G, and ultimately scheme against the Buckle Family."

"The remaining people will be divided into nine small groups to clean up the battlefield."

"The process of interrogating San'er will be broadcast to everyone via the team communication channel."

"That's all. Begin the operation."

Numerous Buckle Family members had no objections to Karl's arrangements and spoke up one after another:

"OK. Everyone look at me, look at me. Our group will go clean up the battlefield over there."

"Understood."

"No problem, old friend."

"..."

The four of them, Fang Yun, stood in place, watching everyone automatically form groups with great understanding and get into their vehicles to leave.

Toke, as one of the family's elder brothers, naturally became the leader of one of the nine cleanup groups.

Toke patted Valentine on the shoulder.

"Then I'll go clean up the battlefield first. I'll keep an eye out for electronic chips and mechanical repair parts for you."

Valentine and Vavinia nodded.

Seeing this, Toke no longer delayed and turned to walk towards his group members.

"Don't worry, coming, coming."

Watching Toke and the others' retreating figures, Karl raised his hand and fanned in front of himself a few times.

After slightly dispersing some of the dust kicked up by the vehicles, Karl spoke:

"Then let's not just stand around. Let's hurry over and interrogate San'er."

Hearing this, Valentine quickly nodded in agreement and said in a teasing tone:

"Absolutely, absolutely. I'm really a bit afraid San'er might suddenly kick the bucket. Let's hurry over."

Vavinia heard Valentine's words and lightly rolled her eyes at him.

『Before leaving the secret room, I performed emergency treatment and bandaging on San'er.』

『Although doing so can only extend San'er's survival time by a few hours at most, he won't kick the bucket right now.』

At this moment, Fang Yun drove the "thunder" over to the three of them.

"How about everyone take my car over? If the four of us drive three cars, I feel like we're making a fuss over nothing."

Vavinia and the other two had no objections.

Opening the doors and getting into the car, they sped off all the way.

Relying on the "thunder"'s outstanding speed, the four of them, Fang Yun, quickly arrived at the spring eye secret passage in the deepest part of Aureole Valley again.

Fang Yun pushed the door open and got out of the car, waiting for the other three to get out, then locked the car and took the lead, walking ahead to guide the way.

"Let's quickly interrogate him and see what other noteworthy information we can dig up."

"After a busy afternoon of rushing around and fighting, I can't wait to get back to the camp and take a hot shower to relax."

Karl heard the expectation in Fang Yun's words, twitched the corner of his mouth, and smiled slightly.

Perhaps because he didn't usually smile much, Karl's smile was a bit stiff and made people very unaccustomed to it.

At least Valentine, who was walking beside Karl, was very unaccustomed to it and felt as if ants were crawling all over his body.

『Holy cow, Karl actually smiled, and it wasn't just a hint of a smile, it was a genuine smile.』

『It seems that destroying the "Black Hand" family indeed made Karl very happy. That's why Karl would smile when facing "great contributor" Fang Yun's words.』

『My assessment is, the smile is very good, please don't smile again in the future.』

Valentine silently complained in his heart; Karl naturally didn't know.

However, because he was unaccustomed to smiling, Karl's expression quickly returned to calm.

This also made Valentine, who felt itchy all over, breathe a sigh of relief.

In front of Karl and Valentine were Vavinia and Fang Yun.

Vavinia was a step behind, following behind Fang Yun, but strictly speaking, they were walking side by side.

Regarding Fang Yun's words, Vavinia chimed in:

"Indeed. I also feel a bit tired. When I get back to the family camp, I also want to take a hot shower."

"After the shower, how about we go have a drink together?"

Fang Yun turned his head to look at Vavinia.

Although the secret passage was dim, with the flashlight's light and the powerful performance of his prosthetic eye, Fang Yun still saw the blush on Vavinia's face.

"Alright, no problem. I'll trouble you to mix the drinks for me then."

After hearing this, Vavinia suddenly gave a playful smile.

Looking at Vavinia's beautiful smile, Fang Yun also couldn't help but reveal a smile.

Valentine, following behind the two, watched their silly smiles somewhat speechlessly.

『They say love makes people blind, but I think it's more than that; love also makes people silly.』

『Looking at Sister's appearance, it seems she has indeed fallen for Fang Yun.』

『It's not easy. After so many years, Sister has finally developed feelings for a male other than me.』

『Although Fang Yun's identity, background, character, etc., still need to be considered, up until now, there is nothing to fault in Fang Yun's actions.』

『Moreover, my feelings and Toke's intuition have never been wrong.』

『Forget it, Sister has grown up, let her be.』

『Unless Fang Yun is a really bad guy, otherwise, as long as Sister likes him, I won't interfere in their business.』

Valentine thought this in his heart, but looking at Sister's silly smile, he still felt a bit sad.

『Damn Fang Yun, how can I easily forgive the grudge of taking my Sister? You seem quite rich; just you wait and see if I'll fleece you in the future.』

Fang Yun, who was leading the way ahead and chatting happily with Vavinia, suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

Turning his head to look, Fang Yun found that Valentine was staring at him with a strange, resentful look.

Fang Yun shivered and quickly turned his head back.

「Why is Valentine looking at me like that?」

「Could it be because I have ulterior motives, and he guessed it?」

「Damn it, I just want to snatch Vavinia from your hands, and you're actually looking at me so resentfully.」

「Since things have come to this, I can only temporarily endure and plan for the long term.」

As Fang Yun thought, he lightly coughed, then quickly walked forward, not even bothering to talk to Vavinia anymore.

Vavinia saw Fang Yun's somewhat awkward and strange actions and turned her head back curiously to look behind her.

As soon as she turned her head, Vavinia discovered Valentine's resentful little eyes.

Looking at her own brother, and then at the hastily walking Fang Yun, Vavinia couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Her two curved eyebrows were like crescent moons in the sky, and the eyes beneath her eyebrows shone like stars.