January's cold wind swept returning students onto the Hogwarts Express, and the castle seemed to be infused with life in an instant, its holiday silence replaced by clamor. Yet this bustle was like a thin veil, unable to conceal the undercurrents churning beneath.
Snape and Lin Yanqing returned to the castle amid the crowd, deliberately keeping a low profile. They had yet to find the right opportunity to release Whispers of the Soul, while Wilkes's unusual emotional fluctuations remained a mystery.
Yet the answer came crashing down in a way no one had expected, on the first morning after their return.
At breakfast, a commotion arose from the Ravenclaw table. Several seventh-years gathered around an empty seat, speaking in low voices with grim expressions. Before long, the news spread through the Great Hall like a plague: Wilkes, Ravenclaw's seventh-year prefect, had been found in a bizarre coma in his private dormitory off the common room. His face was said to be twisted as though he had endured immense terror. Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore had both rushed over, but preliminary examinations showed that it was not caused by ordinary magical injury or illness.
"Coma..." Snape did not pause in cutting his sausage, but through their contract, Lin Yanqing could feel the jolt within him, followed by an ice-pick-sharp calm analysis. "Not death. A warning, or... a failed attempt to silence him?"
Either way, it meant their opponent was ruthless and decisive. They had been one step too late—or Wilkes knew something far more deadly than they had imagined.
"Ding-dong! (°ー°〃) Key plot character [Wilkes] has been detected exiting the current conflict sequence. The difficulty of long-term mission [Break the Situation], branch [Identify the Shadow], has increased. Host, proceed with caution."
The system prompt carried a rare note of gravity.
A