Planting a Spy, Only One Can Be Saved

As Aaron continued to descend into the Black Lake, the light gradually dimmed.

He found himself in a hazy, gray lake. Even with his eyesight, he could only see about ten meters ahead. There was almost no sound around him; the silence was frightening.

"Lumos".

A white light emanated from the tip of the Wand, but Aaron immediately dispelled the spell and quickly left the spot.

Because he had heard countless tiny sounds of flowing water, and even underwater creatures in the dim lake could see this light, there was no clearer signal than this.

Sure enough, a short while later, a group of pale green water monsters with horns surrounded the spot where Aaron had left.

They extended and retracted their slender claws, their green teeth trembling constantly. After a brief exchange, they scattered in all directions.

"The Grindylow," Aaron muttered to himself, then looked at the ridiculously lush seaweed around him and his mouth twitched, his face turning pale.

At this point, we should thank Lupin, because he had talked about Grindylow during his time as a substitute teacher.

They usually like to hide in aquatic plants and feed on small fish, but they will not spare Muggle and Warlock either.

The aquatic plants here stretch as far as the eye can see, clearly indicating that this is the settlement of the Grindylow.

"Hit the target, or go around it?"

Aaron for a moment, then sighed helplessly, drew his Wand, and controlled the transparent barrier to move forward quickly.

If it were a normal situation, he would definitely choose to go around the gate, but now he needs to find two hostages, and going around the gate would be too much of a waste of time.

The transparent barrier had advanced less than a third of the way when a Grindylow emerged from the seaweed, opened its mouth, and bit straight at Aaron with its green fangs.

Grindylow crashed into the barrier, breaking off a small portion of its green teeth. It was in excruciating pain, letting out continuous, agonizing roars.

"What a pity, this barrier has a certain defensive effect." Aaron joked, but he soon stopped laughing because at least dozens of Grindylow emerged from the seaweed.

Aaron forced a smile and immediately sped off to break free of the seaweed patch.

Dozens of water monsters chased after him, Aaron kept casting spells backward to stop them, but even so his barrier was constantly being hit by them.

Seven or eight minutes later, Aaron staggered out of the water plants.

Grindylow dared not leave their territory to continue the pursuit, but instead kept roaring at Aaron to vent their dissatisfaction.

"How arrogant!" Aaron gave him the middle finger with disdain. "Come out if you dare, and see if I dare to kill you."

Several Grindylow couldn't stand it anymore. They were, after all, called water monsters, and they couldn't let a wizard look down on them, even if their opponent was Warlock.

This time, Aaron decisively swung his Wand, and several streams of water simultaneously struck Grindylow, knocking them back into the seaweed.

Goodbye, no, never again.

Aaron waved triumphantly, then turned and sprinted down into the center of the lake.

He deliberately avoided the water plants as he descended, and by the time his feet firmly touched the black mud at the bottom of the lake, twenty minutes had passed in the race.

"That's about it." Aaron thought to himself, and was about to take out Captain Jack's Compass when the voice of the Thought Form entered his mind.

"Don't rush, the eldest sister has transmitted the five Champion ' performance in Black Lake to the sky above the lake. Now everyone can see what you're doing."

"Wortefa! She really doesn't give me any chance at all!" Aaron cursed inwardly. "But now I have no choice but to use this magical tool."

"I didn't say you can't use it, I'm just reminding you that someone is watching."

"I know what to do," Aaron replied. "You also need to be careful not to expose yourself."

"Clear."

After the two lost contact, Aaron feigned a conflicted and pained expression, his hands even trembling slightly before he raised his Wand and pointed it at his left hand.

A small white Magic Array flashed by, and a black Compass appeared in his hand.

"We can use it for the last two times, but I didn't think to find someone else to fill in," Aaron said bitterly, his voice transmitted to every audience member through the light screen.

Many people began to whisper among themselves, discussing what kind of magical artifact the Compass in Aaron's hand was.

Ludo Bagman on the referee's stand looked completely bewildered. He had never seen or heard of this Compass before, and he didn't know how to begin his explanation.

But some people had already guessed the Compass's function. A mysterious smile appeared on Adrian's lips, a glint of light appeared in Dumbledore's eyes, and Mad-Eye Moody's Mystic Eye spun wildly...

"Miss Klein, wouldn't you say this is cheating?" Karkaroff asked with a displeased expression.

"Of course not," Adrian said matter-of-factly. "Harry Potter summoned Firebolt with his Wand in the first level, and what Gaius is doing now is essentially no different from him."

"But... this kind of magical artifact is really..."

"Professor Karkaroff, if we're talking about unfairness, Gaius probably has more authority to speak on it than anyone else!"

Don't forget, others only need to save one hostage, but he needs to save two.

Karkaroff was speechless, no longer having the confidence to nitpick.

"Ahem! Miss Klein," Percy said awkwardly yet politely, "Gaius's magical artifact is truly amazing. If possible..."

"What? Hand it over to the Ministry of Magic?" Adrian asked playfully.

"Of course not," Percy hurriedly waved his hand. "I mean, I need to register it with the Ministry of Magic."

"Go talk to him!" Adrian said nonchalantly. "Although I am his sister, I have never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do."

Also, Mr. Weasley, I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said.

Even the Minister for Magic can't act like it's his right to want something!

Percy:...

A raven in the Slytherin audience had a human-like glint in its eyes; it was Aaron's Thought Form clone, entrusted to Draco's care by Aaron.

In the first Adrian, Adrian's arrangements for Aaron were a series of traps. Just in case, he planned to leave an informant on the shore to pass on any necessary information to him.

The Animagus is the best approach; even Dumbledore wouldn't have realized it.

As expected, he was right. Those light screens perfectly showcased the five Champion ' underwater performance. Just thinking about how he might have overconfidently played a few trump cards because he thought no one could see them was chilling.

At the bottom of the Black Lake, Aaron absorbed what the Thought Form had heard and seen, and breathed a sigh of relief.

The reactions were pretty much what he expected, so he didn't need to worry too much about using Captain Jack's Compass.

He looked at the Compass in his hand, thinking of his two dance partners: Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor of Class 4, Luna Lovegood, a Ravenclaw of Class 3.

The Compass needle spun rapidly, then quickly stopped, pointing steadily straight ahead.

Aaron was slightly taken aback. The situation seemed to be somewhat different from what he had expected. It appeared that the two of them had been placed in the same place, rather than in completely opposite directions.

However, this was also good news for him, and he immediately controlled the barrier to move forward.

Not long after, he heard a familiar song.

We only have one hour to search for and retrieve the items we took...

Following the pointer and the song, Aaron found a ruin covered with moss and algae.

The lakebed is a deep pool, but the light here is much brighter than in other places.

Here stand countless massive stone pillars and archways, and below them are many rough, tiny dwellings covered in algae.

This is clearly the dwelling place of Mermaid, but their appearance is quite different from what Aaron imagined, even quite different.

Their skin was iron-gray, their hair was extremely messy, their eyes were brass-colored, and even their teeth were missing.

"It shattered all my beautiful fantasies about Mermaid." Aaron clicked his tongue inwardly, and when he thought about how his the Mother had introduced him to a Merfolk Tribe among the blind dates, he couldn't help but shudder.

But then he thought about it again and realized that the blind date his the Mother introduced seemed to be completely different from these ugly Merpeople; she was a real Mermaid.

Just as he was thinking this, the Merpeople surrounded him from all directions, holding spears and pointing at the transparent barrier that enveloped Aaron.

Aaron ignored them and followed the Compass needle to a giant Mermaid sculpture, with six people firmly bound to its tail.

Harry's best friend Ron, Cedric's dance partner Cho Chang, a Durmstrang girl in a red Warlock's robe, is undoubtedly Krum's dance partner, a girl who looks about eight or nine years old, most likely Phoebe's unfortunate sister.

Besides that, there were only his dance partners Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood.

They all seemed to be under Petrification Spell, with only a few small bubbles occasionally escaping from their mouths and noses.

"Looks like I'm the first one here." Aaron glanced at his watch. "There are still about ten minutes left, which should be enough."

No, it's definitely enough if both of us stay here.

"You can only save one," a Merpeople said hoarsely.

"One, one?"

Aaron stared in astonishment, then turned to look at his two dance partners, instantly realizing his elder sister's sinister intentions.

It now seems he was wrong from the start. The first project wasn't a race against time for him, but a difficult choice.

One is an innocent and carefree girl who was innocently implicated, and the other is a close friend with whom she has a four-year friendship. If one chooses the other, the other may have to stay at the bottom of Lake Tranquility.

Perhaps the referee was just joking with them, but he wouldn't dare gamble on something that involved lives.

Adrian, sitting on the referee's bench, watched Aaron on the screen with great interest. "What I'm most looking forward to next is this: you can only save one of the two people. What will you choose?"