Chapter 439: Seemingly So

As he walked back to Ron's side, Harry's expression shifted repeatedly, for he noticed that Ron was holding a copy of *The History of the Elder Wand*. It was hard to say whether leaving such a book on the table was a coincidence, but since Zhang Qiu didn't say anything extra, Harry didn't bring it up for the time being.

"Let's go to the hospital wing again; they should be waking up soon," Zhang Qiu said. "I have some details I want to ask them about Evolto."

"He snatched the diary. Do you think he and Evolt are in a cooperative relationship?" Harry asked tentatively.

"It's possible. We must prepare for the worst."

"I think they must be working together," Ron voiced his own thoughts. "Otherwise, why would Evolto choose this specific time to come to the school and cause trouble?"

"And we still haven't figured out how he snuck into the school," Harry sighed.

"That should be quite obvious. In his Rider state, he's immune to these protective wards, so he just had to walk in swaggeringly while invisible," Zhang Qiu shrugged.

Chatting about this unknown enemy, the journey was inevitably somewhat gloomy. Soon, they arrived at the hospital wing and saw the four injured people on the beds sighing, which made the atmosphere even more depressed.

"I came to ask about the abilities Evolto displayed," Zhang Qiu said. "It's said he possesses the ability to transform into other Riders. Did he show that when you fought him this time?"

"No, we simply lost on stats," Cui Ge said distressfully. "My attacks couldn't break his defense, and his hits hurt like hell."

"Same here. His strength was too great; I couldn't fight him at all," Ma Erfu said weakly. "I think it's unreasonable."

"Perhaps he has already obtained the Fullbottles," Lu Na said softly. "We need to find a way to become stronger, too."

"Is that all?" Zhang Qiu looked at the diary, flipping it back and forth. "This doesn't make sense. A regular Evolto shouldn't be able to beat you all, especially in a gauntlet."

"After all, he is an adult, and his magic power is stronger than ours."

"Eh? No one said he definitely had to be an adult, right?" Ron slapped his thigh. "What if he's a student?"

"That's unlikely. Besides, I think Evolto is truly very strong—possibly even stronger than Saber," Ma Erfu said very seriously.

Thus, out of a subtle sense of pride, they unanimously agreed that Evolto must have been transformed from an adult. Although this was never confirmed, it became an ironclad fact in the mouths of the few people involved.

"Fine, let's assume everyone's guesses are correct," Zhang Qiu said somewhat helplessly. "But what I want to figure out is why he wanted to snatch the diary. What good does that do him?"

"Obviously to trade with Evolt," Ron answered without hesitation.

"But what does Evolt have?" Zhang Qiu asked in return, "What does he have that Decade needs?"

After a brief silence, Lu Na proposed a new idea: "Or we could ask it this way: why didn't Evolt come to snatch the diary himself, instead of asking Evolto to do it?"

"That's obvious. Evolt knew it would be hard for him to snatch a Horcrux from heavy defenses, so he thought of a diversion. Oh right, he's already used that trick; we've essentially fallen for it twice," Harry said with some annoyance.

"Then could there be something that Evolto finds inconvenient to obtain, or something he finds inconvenient to do, that he asked Evolt to do? I think their trade is likely like that," Lu Na said.

"Oh? Speaking of things Evolt has done, they all seem to have very clear purposes. The only thing I can't understand is why he brought Bellatrix along, and Bellatrix was using a Chronos she wasn't familiar with..." Harry pondered.

"It's also possible the trade hasn't been reached yet."

"If that's the case, I think there's an easy way to judge," Zhang Qiu revealed a smug smile. "Based on the personality Evolt has shown, he wouldn't remain dormant after gaining new power. So, if we see a fourth-stage Evolt appear soon, it means his trade with Evolto has been reached."

"And if Evolt is slow to appear, then it means his trade with Evolto hasn't been reached yet. Or, if he unlocked the fourth stage quickly after doing something in his third-stage form, then it means—"

"That thing is what Evolto wanted to do," Harry quickly picked up her thought. "And if we can know what Evolto wants to do, we can infer his identity and purpose, and we won't be so passive anymore!"

"So, what we need to do next is... nothing?" Ma Erfu said with some dissatisfaction. "I thought you'd come up with a way to gang up on him."

"That's not like you, Ma Erfu," Pan Xi looked at him with some worry.

"In fact, what we need to do is improve our own strength, or find more helpers," Harry also felt Ma Erfu was acting a bit strange. "You could try writing to that mysterious person to see if you can get more items from him."

"What about Cross-Z?" Lu Na continued to ask.

"Uh, in this situation, generally speaking," Zhang Qiu scratched her head, "it starts with finding some sense of identification from the specificity of the extract? Then feel the special emotions during transformation? Because everyone's thoughts and characteristics are different, it's hard for me to give a clear suggestion."

"You're right. I should actually explore the specificity of the Gryffindor sword, and my wand," Ron was also inspired. "I don't think the wand is that simple."

After leaving the hospital wing, Harry looked at the dim sky and felt somewhat emotional: "So many things happened today."

"Is that so? But I don't think anything has changed," Ron said. "Evolt is still at large, Evolto's identity and purpose remain unknown, that white-haired one said a few heartfelt words, but nothing has changed."

"Positively speaking, we at least caught Bellatrix. And this time there's no reason we have to let her go; we can make her rot in prison."

In fact, the achievements of this day were more than just catching Bellatrix, and Harry had clearly forgotten another gain. It wasn't until the next morning after breakfast, when he came to the Headmaster's office following the Fat Lady's summons and saw Snape, that he remembered.

"This is Lestrange's belt and the matching energy bottle. It's very strange; no one else can use it," Snape placed the items on the table. "You handle this."

"Ah, this? Logically, this requires playing video games to use," Harry guessed half-understandingly. "But how did Bellatrix use it?"

"Video games? What is that?" Snape frowned. "Perhaps that's the reason; Bellatrix has already gone almost completely insane."

"She now keeps thinking Evolt is the Dark Lord; mentioning the names Voldemort or Tang Mu makes her feel unfamiliar. And she doesn't recognize Delphi, and even mistook me for Lu Xiusi several times," Snape shook his head. "We contacted Rodolphus, but he said Bellatrix 'betrayed the Dark Lord' and seems to have already given up on this woman."

"This... no matter what, she is Rodolphus's wife. Could Rodolphus be threatened?" Harry felt things were completely beyond his expectations.

"It's possible. By the way, Rodolphus said she destroyed the Dark Mark, but we checked and Bellatrix's Dark Mark is actually intact."

"Could it be," Harry suddenly had a bold guess, "that the person in front of us isn't the real Bellatrix?"

Snape pondered for a long time, then shook his head. "Treat it as the real one for now. We'll temporarily lock her in another place. Next time we want to lure Evolt to act, we won't have to risk taking out a Horcrux."

"When is next time? I think we could try in the near future," Harry proposed. "We all know Evolt is injured, but Ron and Ailina's states are nearly perfect. If we make a big show of escorting Bellatrix to Azkaban, perhaps we could ambush and catch Evolt."

"Evolto snatched the diary. Are you sure Evolt won't enter the fourth stage?" Snape asked seriously. "We'd better not take risks."

"Then when will it be foolproof?" Harry was somewhat disappointed.

"The Ministry of Magic is preparing to launch a new round of the Queen Project trials, Donna is still improving the flintlock, and the Magical Congress is working on manufacturing a second Herrscher," Snape said slowly. "Our strength is also growing."

"But both the flintlock and the Herrscher have irreparable flaws," Harry frowned. "The success rate of the Queen Project is also not guaranteed."

"You're right, but it's better than doing nothing," Snape had an inexplicable calmness. "You can rest for a while, Potter, and handle school matters, such as the Apparition exam, and the team. McGonagall specifically asked me to remind you—of course, she was also reminding me."

Harry nodded with some guilt. Indeed, he was clearly the Gryffindor captain, but the team had basically been managed by Jin Ni all along. Although this hadn't caused any very bad effects, it definitely couldn't be called a good thing.

"Then, what if Evolt takes the initiative to attack?" Harry was still somewhat worried.

"The musketeer team still has some days before being phased out," Snape hinted cryptically.

As Harry walked out of the office, he somewhat understood Snape's meaning. Since the musketeer team had some days before being phased out, it meant a secret project against Kamen Riders had made breakthrough progress. No wonder Snape had started to become unhurried.

Only, he looked at the office with some worry: if there was already a way, why let Mia lie on the operating table? ===== CHAPTER 440 =====