Chapter 140: Intersecting Timelines

Harry tried his best to shake Yanayev and his complicated international politics out of his mind; for now, the true culprit under the Chamber of Secrets might be more worthy of attention.

The TARDIS showed that it was December 27th; the second-year Neville was currently working hard to become the Lord of the Tarnished in the Avalon Hidden Realm, and the third-year Neville wisely chose this time to explore the Chamber of Secrets, which could ensure that he would absolutely not bump into his past self.

Harry recalled the previous analysis of the cause of the Basilisk's death from a political perspective; at this time, the case of Justin being attacked had just occurred, and Deng Buliduo needed to deal with the pressure from the Ministry of Magic and the Board of Governors at the same time. Therefore, Deng Buliduo would choose to cooperate with the Ministry of Magic, show them the Basilisk that had already been killed, and then tacitly reach the consensus of "using the spider as a scapegoat."

Perhaps Deng Buliduo originally reserved other backups for this, but when the third-year Neville stood in front of the Chamber of Secrets, he would probably choose to use their own strategy against them as always and wait and see what happens.

It's no wonder that when Harry and the others met Deng Buliduo at the end of the term, he would say "You killed the monster in the Chamber of Secrets, twice," because the Basilisk was probably indeed killed by Neville.

Neville tried several times and finally opened the passage to the Chamber of Secrets; a damp smell came from the pitch-black hole, mixed with a hint of fishy stench. Harry felt that the Basilisk was very likely alive at this time.

Neville walked down along the pipe, and Harry and the Professor followed him invisibly; the three of them walked along the winding and long path until they reached the bottom level of the Chamber of Secrets.

Unlike the huge hall seen last time, there was only a stone door at the end of the pipe at this time. Harry remembered Tang Nade's words; this door also needed Parseltongue to open.

Neville struggled to imitate the hissing sound again, and finally, the stone door slowly opened.

The empty hall came into view; the Basilisk lay in that familiar place, and on the other side of the hall, a small, dim lamp was lit.

"What's going on?" Neville walked quickly to the corpse of the Basilisk. "Is it already dead?"

"And... who is there?" When he turned around and looked at the light, he already had his sword and wand in his hands.

The dim light shone on a small folding bed; Harry couldn't help but wonder, who lived here?

A girl wearing a white gauze dress walked out slowly; it was Zhang Qiu.

"Oh, Neville." Zhang Qiu said with a smile. "You..."

"Who are you?" Neville said vigilantly. "Are you really Zhang Qiu?"

"Uh." Zhang Qiu's smile froze. "So this is the first time you've seen me, probably."

In Neville's confused eyes, Zhang Qiu said slowly: "The timelines between travelers are not parallel; it's more like a mess. When I first met you, you seemed to have already seen me several times."

"And now, you are probably meeting me for the first time, but in fact, I have also seen you several times." Zhang Qiu shrugged.

"According to this, you mean, the current you is the future you?" Neville asked tentatively.

"It's a mouthful, but that's right." Zhang Qiu said. "The future you will meet the past me, so for me, I can just happen to provide you with some suggestions. Similarly, the past me has also heard quite a few suggestions from the future you, all of which are very useful."

"If you hadn't told me the location of the Room of Requirement, although I could still hide in the Chamber of Secrets." Zhang Qiu sat on her folding bed. "But that way, I really couldn't take a bath, which would torture me to death."

"Why do you want to hide here? Did you kill the Basilisk?" Neville asked.

"In fact, you were present when these things happened, so I can say, I'll explain later." Zhang Qiu blinked playfully. "You can return to the Forbidden Forest a week before the first-year exams, or return to the Chamber of Secrets the day before the second-year starts. My suggestion is that you return to the third year as soon as possible, because after the Haipu Time-Ascension is activated, it will continue to consume your magic power and spirit; in the case of an active return, it will recover faster."

"I think I understand a bit." Neville nodded. "You went to the Forbidden Forest in the first year first, then went to the day before the second year started, and finally appeared here."

"That's right, and you came here first." Zhang Qiu nodded. "The order in which we met happened to be reversed."

"Then things are already very clear; I'll return first, then head to the Forbidden Forest in the first year, and listen to what the past you will say." Neville nodded, and then his figure began to fade.

"It's the day you saw the unicorn's corpse; you should know." Zhang Qiu added.

The unicorn's corpse? Harry tried hard to recall, but he didn't have much of an impression of this. However, Neville injured Buckbeak during his journey and was prepared to kill the Basilisk; perhaps adding a unicorn wouldn't be anything.

After Neville's figure completely disappeared, Harry wanted to take off the Invisibility Cloak and talk to Zhang Qiu, but the Professor stopped him.

"Zhang Qiu's situation is a bit wrong." He whispered. "I feel that she is in a hurry to drive Neville away; perhaps meeting her is not a good idea."

"But don't you think it's strange?" After returning to the TARDIS, Harry asked: "Zhang Qiu and Neville are both traveling through time, which is still understandable, but if Zhang Qiu doesn't prompt Neville, he won't find the time and place where the two last met, and Zhang Qiu won't meet him in that place. I mean, all of this is too coincidental, like it was arranged."

"That's right, this is fate, or the will of time." The Professor nodded gently. "Why do you think Neville wanted to tell Zhang Qiu the location of the Room of Requirement? And how did Neville find the Room of Requirement?"

"Uh." Harry was stunned for a moment; the process of Neville finding the Room of Requirement was also quite strange.

"Let's do a thought experiment; suppose I write down a string of numbers and put it in an envelope, so that before you open the envelope, you won't know what numbers are written on it." The Professor explained his understanding of time and fate in popular language while pushing and pulling the TARDIS joystick. "Now, I hope you open these numbers an hour later and return to an hour ago to tell the past you the numbers."

"Hmm, if I knew in advance that the future me would appear here, it probably wouldn't be very dangerous, because this is within the plan." Harry imagined a Harry from an hour later in front of him.

"You noticed this keyword, that is, within the plan." The Professor snapped his fingers approvingly. "Then, if you heard this string of numbers from the mouth of the you from an hour later, and remembered it, what would happen when you traveled back to the past again an hour later?"

"You mean, I actually don't need to open this letter." Harry pondered. "With the help of time travel, I can obtain information out of thin air."

"However, opening the letter and knowing the numbers in it is a matter 'within the plan', that is, fate." The Professor said. "Time travel can indeed make you obtain information out of thin air, but these pieces of information are related to fate."

"The gift of time!" Harry suddenly understood what Zhang Qiu had said. "Is it that as long as we help correct the deviated fate, we can obtain knowledge that was originally impossible to obtain through time travel?"

"Generally speaking, it is either knowledge that was destined to be obtained sooner or later, such as the numbers on the letter." The Professor smiled helplessly. "Or it is knowledge that just happens to help you when correcting fate, such as the future you telling you that it is better to open the letter and take a look before time travel, otherwise you might encounter danger."

"Danger?" Harry was a bit puzzled. If it was trying to change history or suddenly appearing in front of his past self, this could be said to be a bit dangerous, but in the paradox of the numbers on the paper, what would happen if you didn't look at that paper?

"We're here." The Professor signaled Harry to look outside; two Zhang Qius were sitting on the ground facing each other, and Neville slowly revealed his figure.

"Is this June 27, 1992, the Forbidden Forest at the end of the first-year term?" Harry arrived near them under his Invisibility Cloak. There were two Zhang Qius and one invisible Harry on the grass; it looked like three people, and in reality, it was indeed three people.

One of the Zhang Qius was wearing school robes, holding a blood-stained sword in one hand, sitting leaning against a big tree, her face looking not very good; the other Zhang Qiu was wearing Hanfu, sitting opposite her, her expression revealing a faint confidence. Harry felt that this should be the Zhang Qiu from the future.

"Oh, Neville, you're here, then you listen too." The Zhang Qiu in traditional Chinese clothing said without looking back. "I returned to this time point to tell the past me that I only have one last chance to use the Lunar Corpse-Dissection Transformation Talisman."

"And I used this last chance to return here, right?" The past Zhang Qiu said weakly.

"That's right, if it wasn't to say these words, I don't think they would give me this last chance to use it." The future Zhang Qiu smiled helplessly. "In fact, the Lunar Corpse-Dissection Transformation Talisman can not only be used to travel through time, but also to escape from the dangers of reality, isn't that so?"

"Indeed, however, who are they?" The past Zhang Qiu asked.

"Hounds of Tindalos; I originally thought they were just ominous black dogs, but in fact, that is the manifestation of the will of time." The future Zhang Qiu said softly. "Too much travel has attracted their attention; if you don't want to be erased by time, you must do exactly as I say next."

"But what you said is also just what you have already experienced; it's better to say that this is what fate hopes I will do." The past Zhang Qiu sighed.

"Yes, the most important thing among these is to ensure that the attack in the Chamber of Secrets happens as usual."

When she said this, both Zhang Qius looked at the blood-stained sword in unison. ===== CHAPTER 141 =====