Research Value: Extremely High

"You—!"

The soul clinging to Quirrell was thoroughly enraged. He had never encountered anyone like this: an eleven-year-old child who could see through his deepest secret at a glance and speak of his greatest torment in such a casual, matter-of-fact tone, as if a doctor were diagnosing a patient.

It was a form of contempt from a higher dimension!

And yet, just as he was about to throw caution to the wind, order Quirrell to draw his wand, and hit the brat with an Avada Kedavra—

Lin Yuan suddenly withdrew his scrutinizing gaze and shook his head. There was even a hint of regret in his voice.

"What a pity. Your soul is far too damaged. Your value as a research specimen has already taken a serious hit. Otherwise, I'd have been very interested in capturing you alive and dissecting you for research."

With that, he didn't spare another glance at "Quirrell," who had been struck dumb by his astonishing remarks. Turning away, he took his bag of materials and strode calmly off, vanishing around the street corner.

Only Quirrell remained, drenched in cold sweat and trembling violently with fear and rage.

"Kill him! Kill him! I have to kill him!"

Voldemort's furious, feeble roar echoed wildly in Quirrell's mind.

Lin Yuan had already stored the data from this "encounter" in his sea of consciousness.

[Sample Name]: Voldemort (fragmented soul)

[Core Principles]: Death, fear, soul-splitting.

[Research Value]: Extremely high.

[Preliminary Conclusion]: "Soul Artifacts," the Dark Magic that can split the soul, are the fundamental cause of his current condition.

The principles behind "Soul Artifacts" must be thoroughly analyzed.

His next research topic was clear.

Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor Common Room at Hogwarts Castle, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered around a table, conducting their own "secret investigation."

"No good. I've searched through both Hogwarts, A History and Important Magical Events of the Twentieth Century, and neither mentions any connection between Snape and Nicolas Flamel!" Hermione closed a hefty tome in frustration and rubbed her aching eyes.

"Then what do we do?" Ron asked indistinctly, chewing on a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean. "We can't exactly storm into Snape's office and ask if he's trying to steal the Magic Stone, can we? I bet he'd turn us into slugs and pickle us in a jar."

"I keep thinking," Harry said thoughtfully, watching the flames flicker in the fireplace, "that night, Snape's leg was bitten by the three-headed dog. He must have been trying to sneak in while everyone was watching Quidditch. But what was that huge dog doing there? Why did it fall asleep?"

"It was the music!" Hermione suddenly recalled. "Hagrid said he sold Fluffy to some Greek fellow. In Greek mythology, Cerberus, the three-headed hound of the underworld, was lulled to sleep by Orpheus's lyre!"

"So, as long as we have music, we can get past the first obstacle!" Ron slapped his thigh excitedly. "But where are we going to find someone who can play the lyre?"

"That's not the only problem." Harry frowned and pointed to the parchment spread across the table, covered in their guesses about the obstacles ahead. "Even if we get past the three-headed dog, there's Devil's Snare, the Flying Keys... Dumbledore can't have protected the Magic Stone with only such simple things. There must be even more powerful defenses."

"Exactly," Hermione agreed with a worried look. "We know far too little. Everything we've found about the Magic Stone itself and Nicolas Flamel has been just scraps of information. All the more important materials point to one place..."

The three of them looked at one another and said in unison:

"The Forbidden Section!"

"But we don't have a professor's note, and Madam Pince will never let us in," Ron said, slumping into his chair like a deflated balloon.

A strange gleam flickered in Harry's eyes.

He remembered the silver-gray cloak, smooth as liquid.

His father's keepsake.

A perfect Invisibility Cloak.

"Maybe..." he whispered to his two best friends. "We don't need a note."

The night was as black as ink.

The last chime faded through the empty castle. Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris, finished their final patrol. Every portrait had fallen asleep.

A shadow nearly indistinguishable from the darkness slipped quietly out through the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

Beneath it, three little heads huddled close together, tense and excited.

"Shh—keep it down, Ron! You're breathing too loudly!" Hermione whispered.

"I... I'm nervous!" Ron whispered back.

Led by Harry, they wore the Invisibility Cloak and moved like a single, breathing ghost, cautiously making their way down familiar corridors toward the library.

It was their first nighttime adventure. Their destination was the Forbidden Section, a place steeped in secrets and taboos.

They had no idea that just ahead of them, in the area guarded by brass chains and vicious curses, another figure was already seated in the deepest darkness, as if he belonged there.

In Lin Yuan's hands lay an ancient tome bound in unknown black leather. Its cover bore no words, only an Ouroboros symbol embroidered in silver thread: a serpent devouring its own tail.

The book was not listed in any catalog.

Lin Yuan had found it hidden in a compartment while sorting through a forgotten bookshelf.

When he opened to the first page, an aura deeper and more ancient than any Dark Magic he had encountered before—an aura close to the very source of the laws—washed over him.

There were no words on the pages, only intricate three-dimensional magical diagrams, branded into them with the power of souls.

Beneath the first diagram was a line of text in Ancient Elvish, the sole annotation left behind by the book's creator:

"I have witnessed the eternity of the soul and glimpsed the price of immortality. This art is a 'Soul Artifact' (Horcrux). Let those who explore it in ages to come proceed with care, and beware."

"Finally, I've found it."

Lin Yuan's eyes gleamed brighter than the Stars outside the window.

His soul, comparable to a supercomputer, began to race at a speed it had never reached before.

Here, tonight, he would completely unravel the "Soul Artifact," the greatest Dark Magic of this world, down to the level of its very laws!