Chapter 225

The second project will be held on February 24th, and the Hogwarts Express arrived at Beauxbatons early on January 15th. When Harry got off the train and breathed the fresh air, Donna, who had been waiting on the lawn early, told him a piece of news that was both happy and sad: Cedric and Fleur had returned to school.

Cedric's return means they have more time to discuss countermeasures and study spells. But Fleur's return means Alina can no longer continue to play with them, and they have to return to a tense competitive relationship.

Actually, what makes Harry feel a bit toothache is that Alina is a person brought by Tang Tang Nade, so it is normal for her to have a natural good feeling for Hogwarts; while Fleur is bought by the Ministry of Magic and is preparing to play a fake game. These two people could have formed an alliance with Hogwarts together, but under the supervision of Hermione, an outsider, they hid their positions from each other, making it seem like they were very independent.

However, after Alina left, it became more convenient for Harry to talk to Zhang Qiu about the Earth-Gang Summoning Examination Record.

"Are you really planning to use this?" Zhang Qiu's tone carried a hint of worry. "Did I tell you that its consumption is very large?"

"But can't the consumption problem be solved by extending the spell?" Harry asked.

"Indeed, extending the spell can solve the problem of magic consumption, but I am talking about sanity consumption." Zhang Qiu pondered. "This is the fourth secret spell. Under normal circumstances, it will not consume too much sanity, but under normal circumstances, its role is only to cause earthquakes to destroy buildings."

"You want to use this spell to drain a whole river, I really can't imagine how much sanity this will cost, and you don't know the general outline of the spell. Once your sanity is spent, it will be difficult to recover." Zhang Qiu said. "How about this, take advantage of the night, I'll go and try first to see if it can be done—but you have to watch me. Once I show a strenuous look, interrupt this spell immediately."

That night, under the cover of night, Harry and Zhang Qiu quietly came to the riverside of the Meiledihe River, facing the large lake formed by the bend of the river, she began to chant the spell.

"You see those with human heads and snake bodies, those without arms and fish scales, those with earth, wood, cattle, and horses, don't be surprised..."

Under the stirring of the spell, Harry could feel the land nearby trembling. The place where the river flowed in began to bulge gradually, gradually forming a soil slope much higher than the river bank. But soon, he found that Zhang Qiu's state began to get worse. Her pronunciation became intermittent, and the white mist around her body became thin.

He hurriedly stepped forward, shook Zhang Qiu's shoulders, and interrupted her spellcasting.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

"You're right, but I think spaghetti mixed with No. 42 concrete is better to eat." She said vaguely.

Harry helped her toward the train. Zhang Qiu gradually changed from the gibberish of half-English and half-Chinese at the beginning to completely Chinese. Finally, when she reached the train door, she began to chant the general outline of the spell steadily and clearly.

After another half an hour, Zhang Qiu finally returned to a normal state. She said with lingering fear: "No, this idea won't work. I only did less than a quarter, and I couldn't hold on."

"Fine, then I'll still use Tang Tang Nade's method, just like we used the Seven Deadly Sins at the beginning." Harry said a bit frustrated. "This is not shameful."

"However, the quarter you did tonight." Ron asked. "It didn't fade away, right?"

Zhang Qiu's eyes suddenly brightened. "Right, we can do it quietly, a little bit every day, just like ants moving house."

"But you rest first tonight." Harry advised. "Do it again tomorrow."

The next day, Zhang Qiu excitedly talked about how to design the entire underground river project, dig out tunnels in all directions, and leave enough water storage space on the basis of not causing the riverbed to collapse. At that time, as long as it is shaken gently, it can be drained quickly like a bathtub with the plug pulled out.

However, without considering the time required to drain a river, a new thing appeared that directly broke all plans, and that was the big ship of Durmstrang.

It is not hard to guess that when the competition officially starts, it will sail to other places. But at present, wanting to quietly cast spells to dig out underground river channels without being discovered by the people on the ship is an almost impossible thing.

In the case that the Earth-Gang Summoning Examination Record was proven to be not easy to use, Tang Tang Nade quietly sent new secret words again. This time it was a series of simple words like "flowers, trees, sky, breeze...", so Harry chose to accept his arrangement and found an excuse for himself: "After all, I have also tried my own method, it just doesn't work."

Cedric didn't have much opinion on his responsibility for solving puzzles underwater. After all, he really didn't have much confidence in dealing with Grindylows. But Harry is different. The Seven Deadly Sins have already proven that Harry always has some magical trump cards that exceed the scope of students. Cedric envied this, but also felt very at ease.

In the first week after Beauxbatons started school, Harry received a note in French class. Barty hoped that he would quietly come to the French office this Saturday to meet with him. Harry didn't find it strange. If Tang Tang Nade just wanted to take care of Harry, the Ministry of Magic must find a way to help Harry gain an advantage, which is the basis of their entire plan.

On Saturday, taking advantage of the fact that everyone had just finished lunch and was a bit sleepy, Harry put on his Invisibility Cloak and quietly came to Barty Crouch Jr.'s office.

"I need to ask you, how are you prepared for the second project?" His eyes were wide open, expecting to hear exciting news from Harry's mouth.

"I plan to start from the shore." Harry said. "I will use a long but powerful spell."

"This sounds good, but have you considered starting from underwater?" Barty asked. "Cedric may not be able to solve the merpeople's riddle. In fact, if it's just the merpeople setting the questions, of course it doesn't matter, but we, I mean, but the official competition prepared a question bank for him, and every question in it is very difficult, or rather, unless you are particularly particularly smart, otherwise within an hour, it is very difficult to think of it without the help of paper and pen."

"Is it really that difficult?" Harry blinked.

"Of course, this is a little bit of our revenge for the US and the Soviet Union inserting people here." Barty nodded slightly. "If their champions are defeated in front of these logic questions, it will not only play a role in setting you off, but also make them make a fool of themselves."

"Then you called me here to..." Harry said tentatively, because he saw Barty already collecting some test papers on the desk.

"I will give you the question bank in advance." He whispered. "But I still suggest you start from underwater."

"I have reasons why I have to do that." Harry said with a hint of bitterness.

"Oh, is it because you have some wonderful spell that you can't bear to give up?" Barty raised his chin. "Or is it that Cedric is eager to try the test of wisdom?"

"Both, I guess." Harry said vaguely. "I should go back and ponder these questions, it looks really difficult."

He didn't say anything more to Barty, and hurriedly rolled up the parchment and left the French office. A chill rose in Harry's heart. Although Barty behaved like an ordinary person on the Ministry of Magic's side, when he saw a blank envelope on the desk, a careless word flashed through his mind instantly.

"Barty has a Muggle wife, he calls that person 'Dear Bazhu'..."

A name that is weird to the extreme, who would be called Bazhu? Unless, that is two words put together, Badwolf.

After walking for a long time on the road, Harry's pounding heart gradually calmed down. Actually, just a hearsay spelling doesn't necessarily explain anything. It's possible that Sean misread Barty's cursive, or it's possible that his wife is really named Bazhu, a North African or South Asian or Latin American, those people's names are very strange.

Harry let out a long breath. He still clearly remembered his expression when he talked about the Doctor plan last time, that kind of justice, that kind of noble ideal that moved people, he found it hard to deny that this was true. Thinking about it this way, first of all, Barty is not necessarily the dangerous Soviet spy in Sirius's mouth, and secondly, even if he is, he should also intend to cooperate with the plan and will not be unfavorable to himself.

After figuring this out, Harry finally suppressed the feeling of being uneasy. After returning to the carriage, he unfolded the parchment and took a look.

"There are twelve identical small balls, one of which has a slightly different weight than the others (don't know if it's lighter or heavier), how to find this small ball using only a balance scale three times?"

Harry paused all of a sudden. He originally thought it would be a question like the Ravenclaw door knocker, some kind of brain teaser, or some slightly unpopular knowledge, or a riddle, but he didn't expect the first question to be so top-notch.

He didn't start solving the problem immediately, but continued to look down.

"A professor stuck three numbers on the heads of his three very smart students and told them that one of the numbers is the sum of the other two..."

"There is an island where many blue-eyed and brown-eyed people live. They have an unwritten rule that once someone discovers they are blue-eyed, they will commit suicide immediately..."

"The warden called a hundred prisoners, randomly put one hundred numbers from one to one hundred into one hundred drawers, and everyone entered the room in turn..."

"There are two champions challenging God. God will tell one of them all his actions in advance, while the other does not know. Then in each round, they can each show black or white chess pieces..."

After he finished browsing these questions, he truly had serious doubts about "whether Cedric can solve the riddle."