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 our 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 just need to put all our 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 tactfully, "too advanced."

"With our strength, it is difficult to rival Evolt. The only hope to defeat it is the Kamen Rider in the school," Aberforth said firmly. "So, either we put the Horcruxes at school and it is safe, or our knight cannot even defeat the weakest form of Evolt—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 Horcruxes as much as possible. The Magical Congress just happened to be there," 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 at 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 at 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 Luo En 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: "There's no need. 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 bit 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 for a whole year last year, and even Hofa couldn't find it." Sirius's tone carried a trace of disdain. "So, we just need to let them know some exciting news and formulate some plans that look very 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 very effective'?" Harry asked back with dissatisfaction. "Don't you think concentrating the Horcruxes is the most effective?"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Sirius said ambiguously. "Snivellus said he has another plan, and he will do it with the Magical Congress. Let's just wait and see for now."

Three days later, in the isolation ward of the inpatient department of St. Mungo's Hospital, 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. Tang Tang Nade and several experts were gathered around her, discussing something in a low voice—among them were senior healers of St. Mungo's Hospital wearing dark green robes, and healers of the Magical Congress wearing white robes.

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

Harry glanced at his classmates. Hermione and Luo En's attention was focused on the hospital bed, only Zhang Qiu had been looking at Snape.

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

"She said that Evolt has a total of four stages, and he can grow further by devouring one Horcrux. He should have already obtained one Horcrux, so he is in the first stage. If he enters the fourth stage, then Evolt can unlock the strongest Black Hole form, and if he is allowed to eat the fifth Horcrux, he has a chance to grow into a complete form," 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 on a cruise ship, we were attacked by Evolt. Miss Kaslana used a special power known as the '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 beat 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 they 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. "Tang Tang Nade firmly believes that the Herrscher's power is enough to rival Kamen Riders, so he wanted to lure Evolt out in this way, 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 jumping. "Didn't he think that if the Herrscher's power really exceeded the knight, the Heavenly Dynasty people could just take out the Herrscher technology directly!"

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

"It's very likely. I've heard some sporadic things. It should be that both Ge Xuan and Tang Tang Nade used divination to discover a lost civilization. Herrscher technology should be the legacy of that civilization. Then, since Tang Tang Nade can unearth ancient technology from it, there is no reason for 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 nothing more than using tattoos of ancient magic runes to make a solidified spell, and it only has limited strengthening 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."

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

"It enables wizards to use a certain spell as easily as their own arms, almost instinctively. What they engraved for Alina was 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 all lost to 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'm 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 vaguely blaming Snape—did you just watch them be stupid?

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

"Ah?" Harry was stunned.

"What Tang Tang Nade took on that cruise ship was just a replica," Snape pointed to the Headmaster's desk. "The real cup had already been brought back and hidden by me."

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

"Yes, this is exactly 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 originally possessed strong strength. Snatching Horcruxes and so on is just a bit of 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 Heavenly Dynasty people, Evolt was also a terrifying Dark Lord. He indeed only needed to regain his strength to become stronger. Moreover, the Knight System itself also has a large idealistic component, and it is reasonable for strength to follow cognition.

"And the second possibility, I have to suspect that this is all a game set by the Heavenly Dynasty people. Evolt and the Horcruxes have nothing to do with each other at all. He just forced them together for the sake of setting the game, because there is a flaw: even if Nagini's life as a snake has passed away, its 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 revealed the biggest loophole in Zhang Qiu's words.

"But," he sighed again, "do we dare to gamble? If we let Evolt grow and become stronger, who knows what he will do? We cannot gamble our future on the layout of the Heavenly Dynasty people that cannot be figured out—do you dare?" ===== CHAPTER 430 =====