Chapter 227 — A Favor

Chapter 227: Chapter 227 — A Favor

Chapter 227 — A Favor

Victor walked out of the apartment and raised his citizen ID, dialing Elder Benton.

As he waited for Benton to answer, he couldn’t help thinking about how well Lyra had taken everything.

He’d expected far worse.

A part of him had genuinely expected her to punch him in the face, storm out of the apartment, and head straight for the Graveborn estate the moment she learned where her parents were.

Victor had seen just how stubborn Lyra could be.

Instead, she’d listened.

She was angry, of course, but she understood the situation and trusted him enough to wait.

Victor smiled slightly.

He’d considered not telling her until he had a plan in place, but that would have been worse. If Lyra discovered he’d found her parents and deliberately kept it from her, the trust they’d built between them could have been damaged.

A few moments later, the call connected.

"Victor. How can I help you?"

Elder Benton’s familiar monotone voice came through the citizen ID.

There was a brief pause.

"What happened this time?"

Victor couldn’t help laughing.

"Technically, nothing happened this time."

"Technically?"

"I need to ask you for a favor. Can we meet?"

Silence followed.

Victor could almost imagine Benton wondering what kind of favor he could possibly be calling about. Victor rarely contacted him unless something unusual had happened, so the suspicion wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Finally, Benton answered.

"Meet me in my office in an hour."

"Okay. I’ll—"

"I’ll see you then. Bye."

The call ended.

Victor stared at his citizen ID.

He hadn’t even gotten the chance to finish.

Victor shook his head with a small smile.

Elder Benton was always so monotone and abrupt. Sometimes he reminded Victor of an old grandfather who had no problem chiding the younger generation whenever they wasted his time.

Still, Victor knew Benton meant well.

At least, he hoped so.

Because what Victor was about to tell him required a level of trust he hadn’t placed in many people since arriving in this world.

?

About an hour later, Victor arrived outside Elder Benton’s office and knocked on the door.

A moment passed before it opened.

Benton stood on the other side, looking more tired than usual. Faint lines had formed around his eyes, suggesting he hadn’t been sleeping much lately. Perhaps he’d spent the last few nights working on something.

Victor noticed but didn’t ask.

"Come in."

Victor followed him inside.

"Where can we sit down? This discussion might take a while."

"Here is fine."

Benton returned to his desk and sat behind it. Victor took the chair opposite him.

For a few seconds, neither spoke.

Benton studied Victor with obvious curiosity, while Victor found himself wondering one last time whether he could truly trust the man sitting across from him.

He was about to put himself in a vulnerable position.

But out of everyone Victor had met in the Tower, Benton was the only person he could think of who might actually be able to help.

Victor finally spoke.

"I just returned from the Graveborn estate."

Benton nodded.

"I heard."

Victor paused.

Of course he had.

Considering Benton’s position in the Tower, he probably had eyes and ears all over the place.

"I’ve also been asking around Basement Level Five and speaking with some of the mercenary teams. I’ve been trying to get information about the Evil God Organization."

"I heard about that too."

Benton’s expression became slightly more serious.

"I also heard you’ve been using my token and authority to ask those questions."

Victor smiled awkwardly.

"Yeah. Sorry about that."

Benton shook his head.

"It’s not a problem. So what did you learn?"

Victor began explaining.

He told Benton about the missing slaves and how their bracelets remained active despite none of them returning. He explained what he’d learned about the different mercenary teams and how the disappearances seemed to extend far beyond a single group.

Then he explained what he’d learned at the Graveborn estate.

The longer Victor spoke, the more serious Benton became.

Even he hadn’t known the full extent of what was happening.

Slaves disappeared all the time in the Tower. Between dangerous work, experiments, the caverns, and the simple reality of how slaves were treated, it had become so common that Benton rarely gave individual disappearances much thought.

It was almost routine.

But hundreds of slaves disappearing while their bracelets remained active was different.

And so many of those disappearances being connected to teams controlled by the Graveborn family made the situation even harder to ignore.

When Victor finished, Benton leaned back in his chair.

For a moment, he said nothing.

Then he looked directly at Victor.

"I’m going to look into this myself."

Victor’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"I’ll make sure I get an answer from the Graveborns. I understand why it would be difficult for you to press them any further."

Benton’s expression hardened.

"But Gravius doesn’t scare me."

Victor hadn’t expected that.

For the first time, he caught a glimpse of a fiercer side of Elder Benton that he hadn’t really seen before.

There was no boasting in Benton’s voice. No attempt to impress him.

He’d simply stated it as a fact.

Victor smiled.

"Thank you, Elder Benton."

Benton waved the gratitude aside.

"Now, I know that wasn’t the favor you called me about."

Victor remained quiet.

"That was hardly a favor at all. If anything, I owe you for bringing this to my attention."

Victor nodded.

"You’re right."

He hesitated for a moment.

"I haven’t been completely truthful with you."

Benton stared at him.

"That much I can tell."

Victor blinked.

Was that sarcasm?

Coming from Benton?

Victor almost laughed. The man was so stoic most of the time that Victor hadn’t been entirely sure he had it in him.

"Well..." Victor leaned back slightly. "You can probably already assume this. If you haven’t figured it out already."

He paused.

"I came from the Sanctuary."

Benton’s eyes rose slightly.

"I was there for the last six months."

There it was.

The truth Victor had been hiding since returning to the Tower.

Yet Benton didn’t look nearly as shocked as Victor expected.

Instead, he slowly nodded.

"I figured."

Victor stared at him.

"You figured?"

"Victor, you disappeared into Region G as a Rank Four Body Tempering cultivator and returned six months later in the Spirit Gathering Realm. Your combat ability changed completely, your alchemy improved at a ridiculous rate, and you returned with a Firebird that most people in the Tower have only ever read about."

Benton leaned back in his chair.

"You weren’t exactly subtle."

Victor frowned.

He’d thought he’d done a better job than that.

Benton continued.

"And I’m not the only one."

Victor’s expression became more serious.

"Most of the people in the upper levels of the Tower already suspect you entered the Sanctuary."

That wasn’t what Victor wanted to hear.

Benton seemed to notice.

"The Sanctuary isn’t some great secret among the upper levels. We know it exists. The Tower even sent people there in the past."

Victor immediately focused on him.

"You did?"

"Years ago."

Benton nodded.

"Many attempts were made. Most ended badly."

His voice remained calm as he continued.

"Only cultivators within the Body Tempering Realm could be sent inside. Anyone stronger couldn’t enter, which severely limited what the Tower could accomplish there. Most teams we sent never returned."

Victor remained silent.

"The few that did usually returned with very little. A few pieces of information. Occasionally something useful. Never enough to justify the losses."

Benton folded his hands on the desk.

"Eventually, the Tower stopped trying."

That explained more than Victor expected.

The Sanctuary wasn’t unknown.

It was simply considered too dangerous and too costly to bother with.

But Victor had gone inside as a Rank Four Body Tempering cultivator and returned six months later completely changed.

No wonder the upper levels were watching him.

Benton studied him.

"The fact that you survived at all is impressive. The fact that you came back in the Spirit Gathering Realm with everything else you’ve gained makes you considerably more interesting."

Victor didn’t particularly like the word interesting.

Not anymore.

Benton’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"But I still don’t understand something."

Victor waited.

"If you’ve spent all this time trying to hide the fact that you entered the Sanctuary, why tell me now?"

Victor looked at him.

That was the real question.

And answering it meant revealing why he’d come here in the first place.