Chapter 450: Private Resolution 1

Harry and Draco Malfoy's duel was the most orthodox wizard duel, even with a turn‑based style. As expected of a magical family, Malfoy used a spell that wasn't taught in Spell Class, accompanied by a vague incantation, and a black poisonous snake slithered from the tip of his wand. "It looks like a spectated king cobra, and it's pretty big. Malfoy's got a trick." Bai Lang said, leaning on his wand.

Harry Potter was clearly unsure what to do, and Gilderoy Lockhart volunteered, claiming he knew best how to dispel this kind of curse. He succeeded in provoking the snake and made it at least twice as large. What had been a roughly three‑meter‑long big poisonous snake swelled into a python. The young wizards stepped back; most of them were afraid of snakes.

Bai Lang hadn't acted yet when Harry stepped up to the snake and began "talking" in hisses. He probably didn't realize what language he was using, but many of the young wizards around Bai Lang were shocked and frightened. "That's Parseltongue, right?" Bai Lang asked Neville, and the chubby kid nodded dumbly, "How could it be? How does Harry speak Parseltongue?"

The snake coiled docilely, then vanished under Severus Snape's magic, and Snape's look at Harry was genuinely interesting: "Both malice and mockery, not bad." Bai Lang watched Harry being dragged away by Ron Weasley; this round of the duel club was likely over—Goyle let out a sigh of relief, having saved his own flesh from Bai Lang's beating.

Back in the Common Room, almost every student circled Harry, leaving him looking confused and angry, yet the boy didn't know how to explain. Unlike Bai Lang, Harry wants to be with his classmates; what Bai Lang disregards is very important to him.

Amid the shrieks of Pi Pi Gui, Harry Potter was found standing beside the petrified Justin and the nearly decapitated Nick, his face full of confusion and dullness. Well, no matter how you look at it, Harry Potter looks the most like the murderer. Professor McGonagall escorted Harry to see the Headmaster, and Bai Lang, watching the unlucky one being carried away, seemed to make up his mind. "Let me think, usually a Chamber of Secrets won't have just a single passage…"

He truly can't do Parseltongue, but he thinks he can find another way into the Chamber. He knows the entrance is in the girls' bathroom, and Bai Lang found Potter after class. "Hey Harry, could you say a few lines of Parseltongue for me? All I hear is hissing, and I think this thing has research value. Do snakes have intelligence? Their ability to speak really intrigues me."

When they first heard that, Harry and Ron Weasley were both furious, and Hermione Granger was angry too, but when Bai Lang mentioned the research potential of Parseltongue, Hermione Granger's expression softened and curiosity surfaced. Harry remained angry, but when he saw Bai Lang he could only force a smile, his eyebrows twitching… Bai Lang vaguely recalled the likely password for the Chamber, so he pretended to study and had Harry read several different phrases.

"This one feels a bit odd," Harry said, pointing to one of them. Bai Lang shrugged. "I saw that somewhere, maybe on a statue?" He pretended not to remember. Though recording devices aren't allowed in Hogwarts, Bai Lang fashioned a recording sphere to capture Harry's Parseltongue.

That night, Bai Lang packed his bag and slipped into the Forbidden Forest. "No, I can't bring Di Ao in. I thought Di Ao wouldn't fear the Basilisk's gaze, but what if he does?" Bai Lang's spur‑of‑the‑moment ideas were quickly suppressed; after playing with Di Ao for a while, he went back to sleep. He decided to postpone the plan, needing more preparation. First, if the snake is as huge as in the movies, his wand might not be powerful enough.

Compared to smashing, stabbing seems more effective, but Bai Lang's problem is he has no blade. Smashing with his staff would affect too small an area, perhaps requiring many blows. The Basilisk's scaled hide is likely very tough; cutting through it would need a sword of considerable hardness and razor‑sharp edge. As far as Bai Lang knows, the only such sword in Hogwarts is Gryffindor's Sword, the one hidden in the hat.

"In my little house, I'll have to install a full set of forging equipment, so I can forge weapons myself!" Bai Lang scribbled another note in his notebook.

Bai Lang decided to act before Christmas, when everyone's thoughts were no longer on school—especially since many students wanted to stay away from Harry Potter, the "muggle‑killer" man, and were eager to leave. At that moment Bai Lang moved. He donned his suit, took his wand, wore a half‑crying, half‑laughing Mask beneath his Hood, and slipped out of the dormitory silently while everyone slept.

He followed the corridor to the abandoned girls' bathroom, pushed the door open, and saw Tao Jin Niang. "Shh… don't say I was here." The voice from the Mask was hoarse and lower than Bai Lang's natural tone, almost a whisper. Before Tao Jin Niang could react, Bai Lang produced the recording sphere and played Harry's Parseltongue. The snake‑shaped faucet rose, unfolding into a doorway with descending steps.

Bai Lang descended the steps; the moment he entered, the place reverted to its original state. He followed the spiraling staircase, watching the glowing moss around him. "Magic?" A dim amber light seeped from below, likely a magical lantern. At the bottom, the passage resembled a sewer tunnel, littered with tiny bones. "Rats… weasels… maybe even bats." After a quick glance, Bai Lang pressed on through the tunnels.

He kept walking until he reached a natural‑cave‑like area, suddenly bright as light poured from the ceiling, illuminating the corridor, the two side pools, and the massive human‑face statue ahead. "So Slytherin looks like this," Bai Lang lifted the cover shielding his eyes on the Mask and began playing Harry's Parseltongue. He no longer remembered the spell that activated the statue, but that didn't stop him from repeatedly playing Harry's Parseltongue.

He then casually leapt onto the statue and smashed at random; the statue was protected by a spell, but the wand in Bai Lang's hand glowed with unseen light. As an Innate Expert, Bai Lang also possessed "mind‑eye" and "ear‑for‑sight" abilities, so being blind didn't hinder him—true Innate Experts are long past being hindered by deafness or blindness.

A gag‑gag‑gag sound echoed, likely from a hiss that hit the right words or simply because Bai Lang's mind‑eye kept swinging his wand, each strike hitting an invisible node on the statue's "web," continuously breaking the net that sealed the statue, and the statue released the Basilisk.