The Room of Requirement

[Project Initiated: Reverse Engineering the Soul Artifact (Horcrux) Principle]

[Step One: Analysis of Core Elements]

"'Murder.' The book says that murder is an act that tears the soul apart. That isn't accurate." Countless streams of information collided at high speed in Lin Yuan's sea of consciousness.

"From an energy perspective, 'murder' itself can't tear the soul apart. What truly does the work is the extremely intense, directed negative mental energy unleashed by the caster while committing murder—hatred, anger, fear. This energy is like an invisible 'Spiritual Soul Blade.' As it cuts short the victim's life, the tremendous recoil also carves a crack into the killer's own soul."

[Step Two: Container Selection and Sealing Ritual]

"The container must be an object with a quality of 'spirituality' or 'durability.' A damaged Soul Fragment has an extremely unstable energy structure and will constantly dissipate. A good container is like an 'energy stabilizer,' providing the Soul Fragment with an 'anchor' it can rely on to survive. And the sealing spell... is essentially a 'soul grafting' ritual. It forcibly 'stitches' the bleeding 'soul tissue' torn from the whole onto the object serving as the container, creating a parasitic relationship."

[Step Three: Understanding the Principle at Its Core]

Lin Yuan's soul pierced through the complex arrays and obscure symbols, reaching the very heart of their nature.

"I understand now... This isn't 'immortality' at all."

A flicker of understanding crossed his eyes, along with a trace of pity.

"This is a kind of... 'backup.'"

"Voldemort didn't make himself 'undying.' He merely made multiple, shoddy 'cold backups' of his 'soul data.'"

"Every time he created a Soul Artifact, he destructively cut away a piece of his main soul, the 'source file.' As a result, his main soul grew smaller, more unstable, and more incomplete. That's why his power declined, his reason deserted him, and his humanity vanished."

"And those so-called Soul Artifacts are nothing but encrypted hard drives infected with a virus, each storing part of his 'personality data.' They can exist, but they can't 'grow,' 'think,' or 'cultivate.'"

"Once the 'operating system' that is his main soul completely crashes, those backup 'data drives,' even if activated, will be nothing more than chaotic 'AI programs' filled with their initial settings—hatred and a craving for power. They would be Voldemort, but no longer the complete Voldemort."

"This is... a dead end that cuts off the path to the Great Dao."

Lin Yuan slowly closed the book and let out a long breath.

He had completely understood the secret behind Voldemort's "immortality."

To him, it was a sorrowful attempt—an idea born of astonishing genius, yet driven to the most foolish conclusion by the creator's limited perspective.

"An excellent cautionary example of 'soul information theory.' It'll be of great value as a warning and reference for my future path toward an 'Eternal Spirit.'"

Just as he finished this in-depth study, worthy of a "graduation thesis," and prepared to get up and leave—

"Creeeak—"

A barely audible creak of a door hinge came from the entrance to the Forbidden Section. In the silent library, it rang out with startling clarity.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

He didn't move. His figure simply flickered, then silently melted like vapor into the deepest shadow cast by the enormous bookshelf behind him.

The next moment, three little heads cloaked beneath a silver-gray garment cautiously poked through the gap in the door.

For Harry, Ron, and Hermione, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak, this was an unprecedented adventure, a heady mix of fear and excitement.

They moved awkwardly through the silent corridor like a clumsy, three-part ghost.

Every step was accompanied by stifled breathing, the occasional clink of a bumped suit of armor, and Hermione's anxious whisper.

"Shh—keep your voices down!"

Above them, a shadow almost indistinguishable from the darkness hovered soundlessly on a beam.

Lin Yuan calmly watched the wriggling bundle that was the "Invisibility Cloak" below.

Through his all-seeing soul vision, their so-called "nighttime expedition" was an amateurish display of stealth.

"The Invisibility Cloak can block sight and low-level magical detection, but it can't keep out sound or scent, nor can it conceal the emotional energy surging from their nerves. In front of any assassin with even a little experience or any high-level wizard, they're as conspicuous as a bonfire in the night."

Lin Yuan watched as they clumsily picked the lock to the Forbidden Section—their technique was so crude it was painful to watch—then plunged headlong into that place, filled with both knowledge and danger.

He didn't follow them. He simply waited in silence for the next plot point to arrive.

Just as expected.

Less than ten minutes later—

"Meow!"

A sharp, familiar cry rang out like an alarm in a silent theater, shattering the quiet of the library.

Filch's voice followed, brimming with glee and malice.

"Caught you! Filthy little brats! Sneaking around in my territory! Even Dumbledore can't save you this time! I'll hang you upside down from the ceiling until your toes rot!"

"Crash—"

A book hit the floor.

"Run!" Harry screamed.

The bundle beneath the Invisibility Cloak burst out of the Forbidden Section like a giant, startled balloon, fleeing in blind panic.

In the confusion, Harry seemed to trip over something. A heavy old book about making Dragonhide Gloves slipped through a gap in the cloak and hit the floor with a resounding thud.

"I heard that! I know where you are!" Filch's voice drew closer.

"Forget the book! Move!" Hermione's voice was choked with tears.

Their footsteps and panting, along with the clanging of suits of armor they collided with, formed a chaotic, panicked symphony in the empty corridor.

Lin Yuan's figure followed the bundle of "Invisibility Cloak" as it careened wildly through the darkness, as weightless and silent as a falling leaf.

He didn't step in to help.

"Data on reactions under pressure is valuable material that's difficult to collect under normal circumstances."

He watched as Harry, panicking, ran headfirst into a cold stone wall. Then, just as he thought he was about to bash his head in, a black wooden door carved with intricate patterns appeared without warning in the wall before him.

The door opened by itself.

Harry tumbled inside, and the door slammed shut behind him, completely cutting off Filch's shouts and Mrs. Norris's yowling.

In the final thousandth of a second before the door closed, Lin Yuan's figure flickered and slipped through it like a wisp of smoke.

The world beyond the door was utterly silent.

Lin Yuan's brows furrowed slightly.

The instant he entered the room, his soul sensed something unusual.

He knew what this place was.

He had discovered the Room of Requirement during his Spiritual Sense scan on his first day at Hogwarts.

But it wasn't until he actually entered that Lin Yuan realized just how strange it was.

On a physical level, this room didn't exist on any of Hogwarts' architectural plans.

It was more like a bubble of space forcibly squeezed into the dimension of reality.