Chapter 429: Luring the Snake Out of the Hole

Perhaps because the ring had been destroyed, the members of the Order of the Phoenix easily agreed to Harry's proposal. At the same time, Sirius showed considerable hesitation.

"I think it's better not to put all the eggs in one basket." He rubbed a ring on his hand. "Let Lupin and I discuss a way to keep the locket."

"Many times, we need to put all the eggs in one basket." Aberforth suddenly interjected. "Since Evolt has the possibility of devouring Horcruxes to evolve, we must never let him break them one by one."

"I think your idea is a bit," Doge said euphemistically, "too advanced."

"With our strength, it is difficult to compete with Evolt. The only hope to defeat him is the Kamen Rider in the school." Aberforth said firmly. "So, either we put the Horcrux in the school and it is safe, or our Rider cannot even defeat Evolt in his weakest form—that would be very desperate, but I believe it won't be like that."

"Aberforth is right, I can find an opportunity to quietly give you the locket." Sirius also changed his mind. "However, we still have to collect other Horcruxes, which must be discussed with Severus."

"Severus, why didn't he come?" Aberforth asked.

"He went to the Magical Congress." Harry explained for the professor. "The cup is there."

"Ah, yes, we lent it to them," Doge followed up, "at that time it was just said to conduct some academic research and exchanges, but now the situation is urgent, it is good to take it back..."

"Horcrux!" Aberforth frowned with dissatisfaction. "What is worth studying about such evil things?"

"Severus needs some excuses, in short, try to keep Death Eaters from touching the Horcrux, the Magical Congress is just a coincidence." Sirius explained for him.

"Yes, that's how it is, then one of the conclusions of our meeting, ah," Doge summarized, "is to notify Severus to bring the cup back as soon as possible, and then keep it properly in the school."

"The second conclusion is to hand the locket to Harry at an opportune time." He continued. "Then considering that the diary and the Diadem are already in the school, that's it."

This sentence indicated that Doge did not know about the theft of the Diadem, which gave Harry some more concerns, and his speech became much shorter.

Soon, the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix ended. Harry and Sirius walked out of the venue together, and Ron and Lupin walked behind them.

"You didn't tell them about the Diadem?" Harry asked quietly.

Sirius looked around, then explained in a low voice: "This is unnecessary. The role of the Order of the Phoenix is not to help us defeat the enemy; its more important role is to help us stabilize the emotions of the masses."

"Is that what you think?" Harry was a little helpless.

"Don't you think so? Obviously, even if you tell them, it won't help. Can the Order of the Phoenix help us find the Diadem? You forgot that they didn't find the cup all year last year, and even Huo Fa couldn't find it." Sirius's tone carried a trace of disdain. "So, we just need to let them know some inspiring news and formulate some plans that look effective. This is a signal: if the public finds that the Order of the Phoenix is working hard, they will feel much more stable."

"What do you mean by 'look effective'?" Harry asked back with dissatisfaction. "Don't you think concentrating Horcruxes is the most effective?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Sirius said ambiguously. "Snivellus said he had another plan, he would do it with the Magical Congress, let's wait and see."

Three days later, in the isolation ward of the St. Mungo's Hospital inpatient department, Harry saw the result of that battle: Alina was lying quietly on the hospital bed, her eyes closed, and there was no blood on her face. Donald and several experts were discussing something around her—among them were senior healers from St. Mungo's Hospital in dark green robes, and healers from the Magical Congress in white robes.

On a chair nearby, Severus Snape sat quietly, watching all this silently, until Harry entered his sight, then Snape slowly stood up and said: "Others continue to visit, Potter, come with me."

Harry glanced at his classmates. Ron and Hermione's attention was focused on the hospital bed, only Zhang Qiu was watching Snape.

"As you can see, the Herrscher plan was successful, but it also failed." After they walked to a quiet place, Snape said coldly. "Now, I need you to recall how Miss Qiu evaluated the relationship between Evolt and Horcruxes."

"She said that Evolt has a total of four phases, and each time he devours a Horcrux, he can grow further. He should have already obtained one Horcrux, so he is in the first phase. If he enters the fourth phase, Evolt can unlock the strongest Black Hole form, and if he is allowed to eat the fifth Horcrux, he has the opportunity to grow into a complete body." Harry answered this question patiently, and then he couldn't help but ask, "What is going on?"

"Let's talk somewhere else." Snape glanced at the ward, then grabbed Harry's shoulder, and in a whirlwind, Harry found himself back in the Headmaster's office.

"Simply put, on the way back to Britain by cruise ship, we were attacked by Evolt. Miss Kaslana used a special power called 'Herrscher of the Void' to fight him, but couldn't defeat him despite her best efforts. Finally, he snatched the cup, and then Evolt became stronger, easily beating her into serious injury, and then walked away."

"This is too outrageous!" Harry couldn't help but say. "Clearly, Apparition would have been enough, why did we have to take a cruise ship?"

"Because this is a plan to lure the snake out of the hole." Snape said in a mocking tone. "Donald firmly believes that the Herrscher's power is enough to compete with Kamen Riders, so he wanted to use this method to lure Evolt out, defeat him, and then, make a name for his student."

"And now not only was the cup snatched, but Alina was seriously injured? Where did he get the confidence!" Harry felt the blood vessels in his head throbbing. "Didn't he think that if the Herrscher's power really exceeded the Rider, the Chinese people could just take out the Herrscher technology directly!"

"Oh? That is to say, you think the Chinese people also mastered the Herrscher technology?" Snape showed a curious expression.

"It is very likely. I have heard some sporadic things. It should be that Ge Ge Xuan and Donald both used divination to discover a lost civilization. Herrscher technology should be the legacy of that civilization. Then since Donald can unearth ancient technology from it, there is no reason for Ge Ge Xuan to know nothing about it."

"But in fact, their so-called Herrscher technology is not profound." Snape shook his head. "Its core is just to use the tattoos of ancient magic runes to make a solidified spell, and only limited strengthening is carried out for physical strength. If it weren't for Alina's own fairly good skills, the combat power of the Herrscher of the Void would be even lower."

"Yes, this level of technology," Harry sighed, then couldn't help but be curious again. "However, what does that solidified spell mean?"

"It enables wizards to use a spell as if they were using their arms, almost instinctively. What they engraved for Alina is Apparition, which makes her very flexible in close combat, and she is gradually adapting to and developing more uses for this spell, such as using the splitting effect to deal with enemies—but unfortunately, these were all defeated by Evolt's extremely strong defense." Snape said with a sigh. "Indeed, I have to admit that this is an excellent child, but the path she chose undoubtedly has an upper limit. Even if she recovers as before, I am afraid her strength will not keep up with the changes that follow."

"This is all because this stupid plan lost the cup." Harry frowned. He was actually still secretly blaming Snape—did you just watch them be stupid?

"But in fact, this is all another plan to lure the snake out of the hole that I made secretly." Snape showed a bitter smile. "The cup was not taken by him."

"Ah?" Harry was stunned.

"What Donald took on that cruise ship was just a replica." Snape pointed to the Headmaster's desk. "The real cup has long been brought back by me and hidden."

"That's not right, if that cup is fake, why can Evolt—" Harry suddenly felt that this move by Snape involved deeper secrets.

"Yes, this is the reason why I asked you about Zhang Qiu's statement. At present, I have two guesses." Snape sighed. "The first possibility is that Evolt doesn't really need Voldemort's remnant soul. He already possesses strong strength. Snatching Horcruxes and so on is just his own psychological suggestion. As long as he thinks he has snatched a Horcrux, he can unleash his original power."

Harry felt that this explanation seemed to make sense, because according to the Chinese people, Evolt was once a terrifying Dark Lord. It is true that he only needs to regain his power to become stronger. Moreover, the Rider system itself has a large subjective component, and it is reasonable for strength to follow cognition.

"And the second possibility, I have to suspect that this is all a trap set by the Chinese people. Evolt and Horcruxes have nothing to do with each other at all. He just forced them together for the sake of setting a trap, because there is a flaw: even if Nagini's life as a snake has passed away, her corpse still exists as a Horcrux, so the number of Horcruxes existing in the world should actually be six, which does not match Evolt's five strength levels." Snape slowly stated the biggest loophole in Zhang Qiu's words.

"However," he sighed again, "do we dare to gamble? If Evolt is allowed to grow and become stronger, who knows what he will do? We cannot bet the future on the unpredictable layout of the Chinese people—do you dare?" ===== CHAPTER 430 =====