The Unbreakable Bond

"What... did you do to me?!"

Severus Snape's voice seemed to have been dredged up from the depths of an ice cellar, every syllable wrapped in bone-chilling cold and rage on the verge of spiraling out of control. His fathomless black eyes, like two freezing pools that devoured people whole, locked tightly onto Lin Yanqing. Within them churned the ferocity of a territory being violated, along with a trace of alarm at an unknown power that even he himself had not noticed.

Lin Yanqing's throat tightened, and he could not force out a single word. That invisible bond was emitting a continuous, low-frequency hum that only he could sense, like a red-hot branding iron searing his soul together with that gloomy boy before him. This was not a connection. It was a shackle, a tyrannical stitching of fate.

"I..." He struggled to explain, while System Cub's shrieks in his mind nearly pierced his eardrums.

"Waaahhh!!! ∑(?Д?ノ)ノ It's over, it's over! The contract has been forcibly completed! And it's the highest-authority [Soul Guardian] mode—unbreakable! Unbreakable! There's no record of this kind of collision-triggered case in Cub's database! (′;ω;`)"

"What use is saying that now?!" Lin Yanqing roared inwardly. In reality, he could only face Snape's murderous stare with a pale expression.

Their standoff became the focus of the corridor. James Potter forgot to continue provoking him and adjusted his glasses, examining this unexpected incident with great interest. "Well, Snape, where did you meet such a... 'pretty' new friend?" He deliberately dragged out the words, his malice almost tangible.

Lily Evans's emerald eyes were full of concern. "Sev? Are you all right? Are you okay, too?"

Snape paid no attention to anything around him. His world seemed to contain only Lin Yanqing, this "foreign object" that had forcibly intruded upon it. The sensation of being bound at the soul made him sick to his stomach. He suddenly raised his hand, his pale fingertips nearly touching Lin Yanqing's neck, only to curl back at the last instant as though afraid of touching something filthy. Through gritted teeth, he forced out an even colder demand. "Speak!"

"I don't know!" Lin Yanqing forced himself to stay calm, allowing the panic and helplessness fitting for an eleven-year-old to appear on his face. "I was just passing by... you bumped into me... then it felt... strange..." He had to play the innocent party well. Any revelation about the system or the contract could bring disaster down upon him.

"Strange?" Snape sneered, his gaze sharp as a blade. He clearly did not believe that clumsy excuse. The moment the contract had formed, the dormant magic within him had resonated with it. The source had been this seemingly pure and harmless Eastern boy, as well as the strange dark-purple wand in his hand. Was it some kind of evil Dark Magic contract artifact?

"Your wand." Snape held out his hand, his tone an unquestionable command, as cold as an interrogation. "Give it to me."

Lin Yanqing's heart sank. A wand was half a wizard's body, and it was his only support at the moment. Instinctively, he shielded the Sandalwood Wand more tightly behind his back and shook his head. "No..."

That gesture of refusal was like lighting a powder keg. "So it was you!" Snape snarled, the string of reason in his mind snapping in an instant. He almost instinctively drew his own wand and pointed its tip straight at Lin Yanqing's chest, moving with astonishing speed!

"Petrificus Totalus!"

A pale, unstable beam shot toward him! Snape clearly had not mastered the spell yet, but they were too close, and his malice was too intense!

The scent of death rushed at him! Lin Yanqing's mind went blank. His instinct to survive drove him to thrust the wand held across his chest forward—there was no incantation, no technique, only the most primitive desire to block!

Hummm—!

The Sandalwood Wand let out a deep resonance. A pale-purple shield, rippling like water, instantly spread before him. Light flowed across it, and mysterious runes flickered briefly into view.

Pfft!

The Body-Bind Curse struck the shield like snow thrown into a furnace, melting away instantly without leaving even the slightest trace.

Silence.

A deathly silence spread through the corridor.

The mockery on James Potter's face froze. Sirius Black's frivolous gaze turned grave, while Remus Lupin frowned slightly. A silent defense? A Shield Charm? From a first-year?

Lily covered her mouth in shock.

Snape's pupils contracted sharply. He stared at his own wand in disbelief, then looked at the purple glow before Lin Yanqing, which was slowly fading but still left lingering traces behind. What frightened him even more was that the instant the other boy's wand had activated, the soul bond had suddenly grown scorching hot. A faint but familiar power seemed to flow through it, reinforcing that shield. It was not that this first-year was especially powerful—it was that this damned contract... was protecting its "symbiote"?

"Host! The automatic protection function triggered! Luckily, the contract shared his magical foundation with us! Otherwise, we would've been finished! (;′??Д??`)" System Cub cried out in lingering fear inside Lin Yanqing's mind.

Shared magical foundation? Lin Yanqing was shaken to the core. This contract was actually that overbearing!

"Enough!" The Hufflepuff prefect finally arrived and sternly stopped the conflict. "The train will be arriving soon. Everyone, return to your compartments and get ready! Any problems will be handled by the professors!"

The prefect's authority temporarily suppressed the powder keg.

Snape withdrew his wand and gave Lin Yanqing one last vicious glare. That look was cold enough to pierce bone, carrying a warning that this matter was far from over. Like a black bat melting into the shadows, he turned and vanished down the corridor.

James made a face at his retreating back, then shot Lin Yanqing a curious glance before his companions dragged him away. Lily seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she left as well.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Lin Yanqing slid down against the carriage wall. He felt as though every bit of strength had been drained from his body, and cold sweat had already soaked his back.

"Ho-host... are you still alive? (′;ω;`)" System Cub asked timidly.

"Not far from dead." Lin Yanqing responded weakly in his mind. "What exactly does the contract's magic-sharing mean?"

"According to the emergency-unlocked information," the system switched into "educational mode," "[Soul Guardian Contract] is one of the highest ancient covenants! It binds souls and forms an absolute protective alliance! Shared magic, blurred emotional perception, and basic positional awareness are just appetizers! Apparently, there are even more incredible hidden abilities waiting to be unlocked! (☆▽☆)"

"Get to the point!"

"The point is that you and Severus Snape are now a community of fate! Saying you'll live and die together might be a little exaggerated, but if one suffers, the other definitely suffers too! And because this was an involuntary binding, his initial favorability toward you is... -50 (murderous intent boiling)! (;′д｀)ゞ"

Lin Yanqing: "..." His future was not merely dark. It was an abyss.

"But don't give up, Host!" The system tried to encourage him. "A crisis is an opportunity! Cub will now issue the first mission to turn the tide and break this deadlock!"

[Ding! Beginner Mission Issued: Words to Break the Ice]

[Mission Description: Before arriving at Hogwarts, proactively find the bound target, Severus Snape, and have a non-hostile conversation of at least three sentences with him.]

[Mission Reward: Gold Galleons x10, [Beginner Potion Ingredient Pack] x1.]

[Failure Penalty: Experience the random negative status [Uncontrollable Hiccups] for 12 hours. (Trust me, hiccuping during the Sorting Ceremony will definitely make you legendary!) ヽ(??▽?)ノ]

A peaceful conversation? With someone who wanted nothing more than to hit him with a curse? Lin Yanqing felt utterly powerless.

Just then, a fierce palpitation struck him! Immediately afterward, a surging flood of anger, humiliation, and deep helplessness that did not belong to him crashed violently into his mind through the soul bond, like floodwaters bursting through a broken dam.

It was Snape! His emotions were so intense that they seemed ready to ignite.

At the same time, a distinct point of light representing Snape's location stubbornly flashed at the edge of his sensory map—at the rear of the train.

Shared emotions... sensing location...

Lin Yanqing rose with a bitter smile and dusted off his robes. He had no way out. To survive, to avoid being killed by this bizarre contract and system, he had to face that wounded, dangerous young beast.

He tightened his grip on the warm Sandalwood Wand in his hand. It could absorb the other's magic to form a shield—perhaps... it could also become a bridge for communication? Taking a deep breath, he took a heavy yet inevitable step toward the rear of the train, toward that flashing point of hostile light.

The Hogwarts Express thundered through the night, carrying countless dreams and destinies. From this moment on, Lin Yanqing's fate was tightly bound to the most complicated soul of them all, inseparable.