How to Efficiently Shut These Guys Up

His Soul Power, like invisible, softest spider silk, spread silently from within his body.

On Earth, this power could only grant him extraordinary memory and perception, unable to interfere with reality in the slightest.

But here, in this world filled with strange magical energy, it was like Archimedes finding his lever.

Though the lever was a bit large, and what it pried was a bit small, the efficiency pitifully low... still, usable was usable.

Lin Yuan's Soul Power split into three paths.

The first path, the thinnest strand, like two living spirit snakes, quietly coiled toward Crabbe and Goyle's enormous leather shoes, the kind that looked like they could kick a cow to death.

Then, it mimicked the simplest action in Lin Yuan's mind—tying shoelaces, and the most secure kind, a double knot.

The Soul Power vibrated faintly, prying at the surrounding inert magical energy, gently yet firmly tying together those two shoelaces that looked like they hadn't been washed in centuries.

The entire process flowed smoothly, silent and invisible, even more covert than Hermione's spell to repair glasses just now.

After all, Hermione still needed to chant and wave her wand, while Lin Yuan only needed a thought.

"Two down." Lin Yuan mentally checked off.

The second path of Soul Power was even more mischievous.

Like a playful breeze, it charged straight at Draco Malfoy's platinum-blond head.

Malfoy was at that moment reveling in the pleasure of verbal humiliation, watching Harry and Ron trembling with anger yet utterly helpless, feeling like his life had reached a small climax.

He was about to say a few more venomous words to completely crush this ungrateful "Savior" before him.

But then, he suddenly felt a tingling numbness on his scalp.

Immediately after, an irresistible force, like a mad barber wielding an eggbeater, began wildly stirring through his hair.

Every strand of his platinum-blond hair, fixed perfectly in place with hair gel, instantly lost control.

Some stood straight up like antennas, some curled like springs, and others simply tangled into knots, plastered messily across his forehead and around his ears.

In just one second, a refined, noble pureblood young master turned into a hapless fool who'd just been struck by lightning, sporting a bird's nest on his head.

"What... my hair!" Malfoy instinctively reached up to touch his head, and what his fingers met was a chaotic, greasy texture he'd never experienced before.

He was completely stunned.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were stunned too.

They watched, helpless, as Malfoy's hair, with no external force acting on it, automatically transformed into a ridiculous bird's nest.

Ron's mouth was already twitching uncontrollably; he used every ounce of strength not to burst out laughing on the spot.

"You... you... what did you do to me?!" Malfoy's face turned the color of pig liver. He finally snapped out of his shock, convinced that Harry and the others had used some unknown curse on him.

He angrily stepped forward, ready to draw his wand.

"I warn you, Potter! You..."

Just then, Lin Yuan's third path, the core strand of his Soul Power, precisely targeted his vocal cords.

This power wasn't aggressive; it simply and gently simulated the vibration frequency of a "failed adolescent voice change."

And so, Malfoy's threatening words, as they reached his mouth, turned into a...

"Cluck—!!!"

A sharp, short sound, exactly like a rooster whose tail had been stepped on, rang through the entire compartment.

This "rooster crow" was so crisp and loud that even the corridor could faintly hear it.

The air froze completely.

Malfoy himself was dumbfounded; he covered his throat in panic, unable to understand why he had made such a shameful sound.

He tried to continue, but all that came from his throat was a series of crowing.

"Cluck cluck cluck cluck..."

And this time, Ron couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His laughter burst forth like a broken dam, instantly shattering all the tension in the scene.

Harry couldn't help laughing either, and even the always-serious Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking.

"You... you dare laugh at me!" Malfoy was both furious and frantic, feeling he had never been so humiliated in his life.

He pointed at Ron, ordering his two lackeys to teach him a lesson.

"Crabbe! Goyle! Get him! Grab him!"

Receiving the order, Crabbe and Goyle, like two heavy machines just starting up, immediately stepped forward, ready to charge into the compartment.

And then...

"Thump!"

"Bam!"

Two heavy thuds.

Because their shoelaces had been firmly tied together, that sudden step caused them both to lose balance. One tripped the other, and they collapsed like two moving mountains, slamming face-first onto the corridor floor, even dragging Malfoy down with them.

Three people, like a string of rolling gourds, piled up in a chaotic heap.

The scene was utterly chaotic and highly entertaining.

"My nose... Goyle, you stupid pig! Get off me!" Malfoy's shrill voice came from the very bottom, but this time, his voice had returned to normal, though it was filled with pain and humiliation.

The three people in the compartment were already doubled over with laughter.

This dramatic turn of events was more devastating than any curse.

It perfectly illustrated what it meant to be low on damage but high on humiliation.

The Malfoy trio scrambled up from the floor. Crabbe and Goyle were still studying why their feet had stuck together, while Malfoy, with his hair a mess and dust on his face, shot Harry a venomous glare, as if etching his image into his memory.

But he didn't dare say another word, afraid he might let out another chicken cry.

"Let's go!" He practically ground the words out through his teeth, then led his two minions, who were still wrestling with their own shoelaces, stumbling and crawling, fleeing in utter disgrace from this place that had stripped him of all dignity.

In the compartment, the laughter gradually subsided, leaving only a sense of relief after a narrow escape and a lingering confusion.

"Merlin... what just happened?" Ron wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, utterly baffled. "His hair... and his voice... could my broken wand have accidentally misfired?"

"Impossible," Hermione immediately denied, frowning like a little detective analyzing the situation. "I didn't sense any magical fluctuation, and no one cast a spell. It's too strange, like... like they were hit by some invisible curse that specializes in bad luck."

Harry's gaze involuntarily drifted to Lin Yuan, who had remained steady as Mount Tai from start to finish, not even changing his posture.

He saw Lin Yuan slowly reopen that Muggle physics book, his face still carrying that calm, indifferent expression, as if the farce just now was nothing more than a breeze passing through the window.

Noticing Harry's gaze, Lin Yuan looked up and gave him a friendly, innocent smile.

"I don't know either."

But inside, he was rapidly conducting a review.

"Conclusion one: Against emotionally agitated, unfocused targets, the consumption of Soul Power is smaller than expected. It seems emotional fluctuations lower the target's mental defenses."

"Conclusion two: Simultaneously controlling three strands of Soul Power for fine manipulation takes a toll on the mind. A bit tired."

"Conclusion three: Excellent effect, high cost-performance ratio."

He gently turned a page, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

It seemed that if he wanted to quietly conduct his research at Hogwarts, he first had to learn how to efficiently... shut those noisy people up.

This journey of study was certainly not going to be boring.