Tom Riddle

The boy glared at Li Weide, his face livid. After wasting so many words on him, this guy was just going to reject him outright?

"So... you were just playing with me?"

Li Weide waved a hand. "No, I wasn't playing with you. I did seriously consider your proposal, and I agree completely with your theory about fear. But... forgive me for saying so, you don't yet have the ability to make me feel fear. So naturally, I have no reason to follow your wishes. After all, I don't keep pets like rabbits..."

The boy fell silent. A trace of crimson seemed to flash through his pitch-black eyes. To his ears, Li Weide's words were undoubtedly full of mockery.

"If you have nothing else to say, please leave. I still need to fix the door lock you broke." Li Weide calmly showed him out.

"You're provoking me... But you were right about one thing. Without ability, one truly can't make others feel fear. So... what makes you think I lack that kind of ability?" The boy stared at Li Weide, his tone cold and mocking. He was like a venomous snake fixated on its prey.

Just as Li Weide was about to say something, he suddenly saw that the chair fragments he had tossed onto the floor were slowly floating into the air! He was certain he hadn't done that!

"I see. So this is what you're relying on?" Li Weide looked at the floating fragments, a flicker of delight and realization passing through his eyes.

Clearly, there really were others in this world like him, people with this special ability! And one of them stood right in front of him!

When the boy saw that Li Weide had not shown the panicked expression he had expected, he could not help feeling puzzled. But that tiny bit of confusion was nowhere near enough to dispel his urge to teach Li Weide a proper lesson!

The next second, the fragments hovering in the air flew fiercely toward Li Weide.

Any other child would naturally have been frightened by such a bizarre sight, but Li Weide was no ordinary child.

In fact, after hundreds of experiments and thousands of practice sessions, Li Weide found the boy's control over this ability almost laughably crude.

Li Weide made no unnecessary movements and did not even look at the flying fragments. He simply watched the boy quietly, as though looking at an exceptional test subject.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The fragments hurtling toward him abruptly froze in midair before Li Weide, unable to advance another inch. There was no doubt that his control over this strange ability far surpassed the other boy's.

The boy stared at the scene in utter shock.

"What happened?! Could it be... you... you can do it too? No! That's impossible! How could that be possible?! How can you do it too?! This is clearly something only I can..."

"Why do you think you're the only special one?" Li Weide looked at the boy teasingly.

The gaze deeply stung the boy's pride. "So... we're the same kind of people?"

"The same kind? No, you and I are not alike. You possess such a special talent, yet I can find no sign that you've ever practiced it. Don't tell me you only use this power for something as boring as frightening ordinary people... If that's the case, then I have to say, giving such a special talent to you is a sad waste."

Li Weide waved his hand, and the chair fragments clattered down onto the floor.

The boy glared fiercely at Li Weide, his eyes seeming to spit fire. "You may indeed have special abilities like mine, but... that doesn't mean you can, in front of me..."

Bang!

The next second, the boy discovered in horror that he had somehow been forced face-first onto the floor. There was clearly nothing on his back, yet he could not move in the slightest! It was as if an invisible giant hand had slammed him hard against the ground!

Li Weide slowly walked over and looked down at him. "What were you saying just now?"

The boy stared in shock and fury at the worn cloth shoes before him, unable to lift his head at all!

"N-No... I wasn't saying anything..."

His immobile body, along with the invisible pressure on his back that seemed to be growing heavier and heavier, filled him with unease!

"I can sense fear coming from you. So... according to your theory just now, shouldn't you listen to me now?"

Li Weide's gentle voice drifted down from above, but to the boy's ears, it sounded like the whisper of a demon.

The boy nodded with difficulty, and even his eyes became much clearer.

Then he suddenly felt his body grow light, and the immense pressure from before vanished without a trace!

"Very good. I like obedient people." Li Weide pulled the boy up from the floor and thoughtfully brushed the dust from him. "By the way, I still don't know your name."

The boy gasped for breath. What had just happened still haunted him. That crushing pressure... he could clearly feel that Li Weide really could kill him with ease!

"My name is... Riddle... Tom Riddle..."

"Ding! The host has come into contact with the future Dark Lord! The Merit System has officially activated!"

"Ding! The host has thoroughly taught a bad little brat a lesson! Reward: 50 Merit Points!"

Li Weide:?

Tom Riddle? The future Dark Lord? The Merit System...

"I see... Tom... Tom Riddle."

Li Weide carefully examined the boy named Tom Riddle again.

Tom's heart tightened under Li Weide's suddenly changed gaze.

Even though he might one day become the Dark Lord who shook the world, right now he was only a little brat who had just been beaten into submission, and... he really did not want to die!

So, faced with Li Weide, who seemed capable of taking his life at any moment, Tom's fear was beyond words.

Just then, Tom felt a weight settle on his shoulder. Li Weide had placed a hand there.

Cold sweat instantly trickled down Tom's forehead.

"Don't be nervous, Tom. I just thought your name sounded a little familiar."

That name really did sound familiar. Combined with the name Tom Riddle, "Dark Lord" already explained a great deal.

Moreover, only now did Li Weide recall two crucial details he had overlooked all along.

This orphanage was called Wool's Orphanage, and its headmistress was Mrs. Cole. Without a doubt, this was the "initial spawn point" of the second Dark Lord, Voldemort.

So Li Weide finally understood: he had been transported directly into the world of Harry Potter, though it was still several decades before the novel's plot began.

In other words... the strange power within him was not some superpower, but magic!