Chapter 97: The Dead Basilisk

"This shouldn't be?" Tang Nade walked up to check the basilisk's corpse, "Someone killed it a step ahead?"

"Very strange, according to reason, it should be Harry who killed it." Zhang Qiu flipped through her notebook, "He pierced the basilisk's throat with a sword, that's what it says in the divination."

"I think it's fortunate to be alive." Harry looked at the snake body that was thicker than a tree trunk, "Whoever it is, I really have to thank him."

"No, Harry." Luo En said, "You forgot, you are a Parseltongue yourself."

"What did you say?"

"I think you are also a descendant of Slytherin, the basilisk will also listen to you." Luo En pointed to the ugly snake head, "You just need to ask this snake, it will tell you who the last person to order it was."

"Smart idea, Luo En." Tang Nade said while touching his chin, "The real murderer might have come to silence it a step ahead, because he knew Harry could learn his identity from the basilisk's mouth."

"However," Harry reached out and touched the basilisk's closed eyelids. He found that he could easily lift it up, and the muscles of this snake had already relaxed, "I want to know, what happens if you make eye contact with a dead basilisk?"

"Are you crazy? What if its corpse still has magic?" Luo En hurriedly grabbed his hand.

"I do remember that Slytherin's wand used the basilisk's horn." Harry said, "This shows that it is very likely that the basilisk's eyeballs still have magic after death, or at least have the magic to petrify people."

"What, what are you talking about?" Tang Nade was confused.

"Don't you know, Professor? We speculate that the attacker used a two-way mirror to commit the crime." Luo En explained, "That is to say, he used the two-way mirror, perhaps not for convenience, but because the basilisk was already dead before he planned the attack."

"It's better to find a forensic doctor to perform an autopsy, but even the best forensic doctor might not be able to perform an autopsy on a basilisk's corpse." Tang Nade climbed onto the snake head in a turn. Harry heard Hermione exclaim.

"I think the cause of death of the basilisk is very clear. Someone pierced the top of the basilisk's head with a sword and destroyed the basilisk's brain." He leaned down, touched the dried blood wound, and then jumped down.

"I want to do an experiment." Harry said, "Just use the chicken I brought to verify whether the eyes of the dead basilisk still have magic."

"Good idea." Luo En and Na Wei agreed immediately, Tang Nade was still hesitating.

"Forget it, play however you want." He said, "I have to take Hermione to the school hospital for an examination first."

Hermione's expression still looked a bit dazed. Tang Nade picked her up directly and then walked toward the exit of the Chamber of Secrets.

"Don't you think it's better to notify Deng Buliduo at this time?" Zhang Qiu said with dissatisfaction, speaking ill of Tang Nade.

"Relax, Zhang Qiu." Harry said helplessly, "Obviously Tang Nade doesn't have any conspiracy, at most he is gossiping about student couples."

"But," Na Wei tried to use tactful wording, "Zhang Qiu, I never thought I would meet you here before?"

"In such a thrilling and exciting major event, of course I have to accompany Harry." Zhang Qiu shrugged calmly, "Since the night you and Ma Erfu dueled, when have I not met you in any trouble?"

"Oh, that midnight duel last year." Na Wei was stunned for a moment, "So the divination originally said Harry dueled him?"

"Yes." Zhang Qiu blinked, "In fact, it was a coincidence that I could find this place. The divination said 'the cowardly and inferior girl shed tears repeatedly because of the Chamber of Secrets, and the Savior wants her to smile again'."

"So you thought of Myrtle?" When Myrtle was mentioned, the person who appeared in Harry's mind was Myrtle.

"That's right, you didn't come to the library today, so I came here to guard. I originally planned to follow you in the morning, but you left." Zhang Qiu explained her itinerary, "Then when I came over after lunch, I found Tang Nade went down to the Chamber of Secrets. I followed him quietly, and then I found him finding the unconscious Hermione underground."

"But Hermione was fine this morning." Na Wei pondered.

"That's right, and I've been waiting here since nine o'clock, and no one else has come." Zhang Qiu said, "In other words, it was during the time I went to eat lunch that the attacker took Hermione down."

"But what is the motive? The previous victims were attacked in other places in the school, why did the attacker take Hermione to the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry was still thinking about this question.

"Okay, let's verify this first, and then discuss the case." Harry nodded. He climbed onto the basilisk's head with difficulty and pulled open the snake's eyelids.

The rooster's eyeballs widened suddenly, and then, Luo En felt that what he was holding was not a living thing, but a stone.

"Close it quickly!" Luo En shouted.

Harry let go and lowered the eyelids. Everyone present was startled.

"I think we can confirm it. Perhaps the attacker used a two-way mirror to commit the crime." Luo En put down the petrified rooster with lingering fear, "He opened the Chamber of Secrets and found that the basilisk was already dead, so he could only use the two-way mirror and the basilisk's corpse to launch an attack."

"Rather than saying that, the attacker might not be the heir of Slytherin at all." Harry seemed to have thought of something, "Anyone, as long as they learn one or two sentences of Parseltongue, can go down to the Chamber of Secrets, kill the basilisk first, and then use the two-way mirror and the basilisk's corpse to launch an attack."

"That's why I've always said Tang Nade is more suspicious." Zhang Qiu said, "How many people in the whole school have the ability to kill a basilisk?"

"No way, he has no reason to attack students!" Luo En eagerly wanted to defend his favorite professor.

"Actually, there is a reason, but this involves a series of complex political games, which is likely related to Deng Buliduo." Harry patted his shoulder gently, "You understand this kind of thing, and it's not convenient for me to elaborate on those who don't. You just need to know that he is for the greater good."

"This feeling is not good." Luo En muttered.

"What we need to think about is, if it's not Tang Nade, if there really is a vicious murderer hiding in the school." Harry said, "That is the more terrible thing."

"That can also wait until Tang Nade leaves the school." Zhang Qiu curled her lips.

"I am indeed considering, after all, the person impersonating me hasn't been caught yet." Na Wei said, "This is also an unstable factor."

"Could it be Hermione?" Harry said this coldly, and everyone fell silent, looking at him in surprise.

"Divination mentioned that the opener of the Chamber of Secrets is a girl I never thought of suspecting." Harry said calmly, "I never suspected her before today."

"But Hermione has no motive." Na Wei's tone carried a hint of anger.

"Perhaps she was deceived, or possessed by some evil thing, which affected her thinking." Harry continued along the thought that had just popped into his mind, "Because I have been thinking about why the attacker took Hermione into the Chamber of Secrets, but if I change the angle, is it Hermione who entered the Chamber of Secrets herself?"

"Suppose some evil soul controlled Hermione's actions, such as an evil soul, she came down to the Chamber of Secrets today to plan the next attack, or to clean up the two-way mirror she used." Harry said, "Then the evil soul found Tang Nade came down, so he had to hibernate temporarily."

"Your thinking jumps a bit fast, let's sort it out..." Luo En felt that he couldn't keep up with Harry's thinking.

"Let's go back first, go to the school hospital to confirm Hermione's situation." Zhang Qiu said with some worry, "Harry, your idea can be said on the way."

The road from the Chamber of Secrets was very long. They needed to climb back to the school bit by bit from a steep slope. During this time, Harry was able to sort out his thoughts, and he finally denied the possibility of Hermione.

"Sorry, I originally thought it was possible that there was an evil soul in the diary, which attached to Hermione to attack." Harry said, "But now thinking about it, this is a bit too unbelievable."

"Yes, if I were that evil soul, I mean, assuming it really exists." Na Wei said, "I would definitely choose Jin Ni, her emotions are more unstable and easy to take advantage of."

"But if there is no evil soul, that is, a specific murderer completed these attacks." Luo En said, "But I think this series of attacks looks completely unrelated, it's hard for me to imagine how that person planned his attacks, there is no logic at all!"

After denying the newly proposed evil soul conjecture, Harry inevitably returned to Deng Buliduo's political thinking. Thinking that Luo En liked Tang Nade very much, he didn't say much.

"Wait, what if it's not one person, but different people attacking separately?" Zhang Qiu said, "If the last two victims were planted in the hands of the same murderer, then the previous cat and Colin might be done by others."

"Great, now there are at least seven or eight murderers in the school, and every bad thing is done by different people." Luo En rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I don't recommend you complicate the problem..." Harry said halfway, he suddenly froze. If he used the theory of simplicity to speculate, the planner of the attack could only be Tang Nade. He directed this series of political games as Deng Buliduo's white glove.

But emotionally, Harry really didn't want to believe this conclusion, so he had been actively exploring other possibilities.

After finding these clues in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry realized that if he continued to attribute the problem to the same person, he could only fall into the dead end of Deng Buliduo's conspiracy theory.

"I think Zhang Qiu is right, we need to consider it, first assume that all events are discrete, and then re-analyze which things are not necessarily done by the same person." ===== CHAPTER 98 =====

After finding these final clues in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry realized that continuing to attribute the problems to the same person would likely only lead into the dead end of a Dumbledore conspiracy theory.

"I think Zhang Qiu is right; we need to reconsider, first assuming that all the events are discrete, and then re-analyzing which things might not necessarily have been done by the same person."