A Deal with Snape

Facing the wand that could at any moment hit him with a Cruciatus Curse, an Imperius Curse, or even Avada Kedavra, Lin Yuan's face showed not the slightest fear.

He simply replied calmly, "I'm nobody. I'm just Lane Lin, a seeker who pursues the truth with the same unrelenting devotion."

Looking at Snape, he said slowly, "Professor, I have no intention of probing into your past, nor of making your secrets public. To me, the identity of the 'Half-Blood Prince' has only one value: proving to you that I'm qualified to make an equivalent exchange with you."

"An exchange?" Snape's gaze was so sinister it could have dripped poison.

"Yes, an exchange." Lin Yuan nodded. "In return for a pass into the Forbidden Section, I'll offer my ability to take your Potions mastery to the next level, along with... my silence about all your secrets. That's fair, isn't it?"

He went on, "Your modifications are ingenious, but they're still based on experience. You know what works, but not why it works. I can tell you why. I can explain how that drop of fig juice reconstructed the energy structure of Sleeping Draught beans at the level of magical law. I can even... help you perfect the things the Half-Blood Prince never managed to solve."

His words were like a precisely wielded scalpel, cutting through Snape's hardest defenses and reaching the deepest part of him: the pride and frustration of a genius.

The veins stood out on Snape's hand as he gripped his wand.

The scales in his mind were swinging with an intensity he had never experienced before.

On one side was the option of killing the boy before him, who knew far too many secrets, and eliminating the threat for good.

But the risk was that he couldn't be certain the boy had no one else behind him. If he made a move, the secrets might be exposed at once.

On the other side was accepting the deal.

He would gain an immeasurable treasure trove of knowledge that could unravel years of confusion, but the price was that this boy would have him by the throat forever.

It was a deal with the devil.

But Severus Snape had spent his whole life dealing with the devil.

For a long, long time, neither of them moved.

The oppressive magical force, powerful enough to crush the entire office, slowly receded.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Snape lowered his wand and sat back down in his chair.

He studied Lin Yuan with a sinister gaze full of scrutiny and wariness.

Then he pulled a sheet of parchment from his desk drawer, quickly signed his name with a quill, and slid it to the edge of the desk between two fingers.

"Remember, Lin," he said, his voice cold and hoarse. "This is only a deal. You'd better offer value to match your arrogance. And if you dare reveal a single word, I promise you, there'll be a very interesting specimen added to the underground classrooms at Hogwarts."

"Of course, Professor."

Lin Yuan stepped forward and calmly picked up the slip, still carrying the fresh scent of ink. A composed smile played on his face.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

With that, he turned and left the oppressive, dangerous office without a trace of hesitation, under Snape's sinister gaze.

When the heavy oak door closed behind him again, Snape slumped back against his chair as if drained. His forehead was already slick with fine beads of cold sweat.

He stared at the empty doorway, his eyes roiling with unprecedented turmoil.

This Lane Lin... what kind of monster was he?

With the pass he had obtained in exchange for the "Prince's secrets" in hand, Lin Yuan no longer needed to sneak around. He walked straight into the Forbidden Section without hindrance.

The light here was dimmer than outside, as though the whole place were shrouded in an invisible, heavy curtain.

Most of the books on the shelves were bound in black or dark brown leather. Some even had strange metal ornaments embedded in their spines.

Unlike the books outside, these were not quiet. Lin Yuan's soul could clearly sense many of them whispering silently, their words filled with malice.

A volume called the Screaming Book began shaking its pages wildly as he approached, as if it were about to unleash an ear-piercing shriek at any moment.

Another book, the Devil's Bible, was chained shut. It radiated a heat like sulfur, tempting anyone who came near to break its seal.

But to Lin Yuan, it was all nothing more than cheap tricks. His soul was as solid as a rock, enough to withstand most forms of mental corruption in this world.

Holding Snape's pass, he headed straight for the deepest part of the library: the section on alchemy and Ancient Runes.

The books here were older and more tattered than those in the Dark Magic section.

He quickly found what he was looking for.

A nameless stone tablet, with the ancient Rune for "Origin" embossed on its cover.

A massive tome bound in Dragon Hide, its pages edged in pure silver, called Theory of Equivalent Exchange.

And a thin manuscript written on a kind of special paper Lin Yuan had never seen before, shimmering like Stars: Hermes' Secret.

He carried the three books to a secluded corner and began to truly investigate the nature of things.

Time lost all meaning.

When Lin Yuan finally raised his head from the vast sea of knowledge, the sky beyond the window had shifted from gold to deep blue.

A complete and vivid blueprint of the "Magic Stone" had taken shape in his mind.

[Project Name]: Philosopher's Stone, also known as the "Fifth Element Crystal."

[Core Principle]: This object is not naturally formed. Rather, an alchemist uses their own soul as a guide and, through an exceedingly complex and time-consuming Grand Transmutation Array, forcibly extracts and condenses the fifth and most fundamental element, "Aether," from the cycle of this world's four basic elements: earth, water, fire, and air.

[Function One: Turn Stone into Gold]

[Analysis]: This function is the most basic application of Aether. In essence, it does not create gold, but uses the supreme "Order" contained in the Philosopher's Stone to "assimilate" and "reconstruct" the inner structure of lesser substances. Gold is simply the easiest target to assimilate, because its structure is stable and its properties are pure. In theory, as long as the user understands the laws governing the target substance deeply enough, they can turn stone into anything—water, air, or even... bread. The creators' greed for wealth, without exception, limited their imagination of this object's true power.

[Function Two: Elixir of Life]

[Analysis]: This is the object's true value, and the part that interests Lin Yuan most. From his analysis, Lin Yuan discovered that the so-called "eternal life" was not true immortality in the sense of "transcending the three realms and standing outside the five elements," as he understood it. In essence, this potion is an extremely concentrated "Life Essence Replenisher." It cannot raise the drinker's level of life, nor can it stop the natural decay of the soul. All it does is use the vast life energy contained in the Philosopher's Stone to forcibly "replenish" and "repair" the damage the drinker's body suffers as time passes. It is like a constantly leaking old car: the Elixir of Life is the steady supply of fresh engine oil poured into it. It can keep the car running, but it cannot stop the engine itself from wearing out and aging. Once the oil stops flowing, the car will break down in an instant, a hundred times faster than under normal circumstances.

[Creator]: Nicolas Flamel.

[Status Analysis]: A "mortal" who has lived for more than six hundred years. His soul has long since been worn down by the passage of time, left frail and flickering like a candle in the wind. His life is now completely bound to the Magic Stone. He is not immortal; he is imprisoned by "eternal life." Every day, he lives in fear that the Magic Stone will be stolen and the potion supply cut off.

This was not enlightenment, but a path gone astray.