"That's it?" Lin Ze asked.
"That's it." Mia put the booklet back into his backpack.
"Muggle There is only so much information that can be found there. Except for some folklore, there are no serious records."
It was almost four o'clock when the train arrived at Exeter.
The three of them got off the bus, bought something to eat at the canteen outside the station, and then waited at the bus stop for about twenty minutes before boarding a country bus heading north.
The bus was very old, the leather on the seats had several cracks, and the engine roared very noisily.
Sirius sat in the last row, stretched his legs into the aisle, and dozed off with his eyes squinted.
Mia opened his notebook in boredom and looked at something.
Lin Ze leaned against the window, looking at the increasingly desolate scenery outside the window, thinking about what to do after arriving.
The bus stopped at a fork in the road, and the driver turned around and shouted, "Tintagel is here."
The three of them got out of the car.
The sky has darkened, and the clouds in the west have been burned into a dark red by the setting sun. The wind is strong and carries the smell of salty sea water.
Lin Ze wrapped his coat tightly and glanced at the road sign at the intersection.
To the left is the visitor entrance to the castle ruins, and to the right is a narrow country road leading to the seaside.
"Let's go." He turned up his collar and walked towards the path on the right.
Mia and Sirius followed.
After walking along the path for about ten minutes, the trees on both sides gradually became sparse, and the sound of waves hitting the rocks could be heard.
At the end of the road is an open meadow, and at the end of the meadow is the edge of a cliff.
Below the cliff is the layered reef beach in the photo.
"Just in time for the low tide." Sirius walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
The reef beach extends from the foot of the cliff to the sea. At the deepest point, you can see a narrow gap snaking between the rocks, like a wound cut by a knife.
"Look over there." Sirius raised his finger and pointed.
Lin Ze looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, he saw the edge of a stone step between several large rocks.
The stone steps are very narrow, and most of them are covered by seaweed and barnacles. If you don't look for them specifically, you can't see them at all.
"Go down and have a look." Lin Ze said.
The wind on the edge of the cliff was very strong, Lin Ze squatted on the edge of the cliff and took a look down.
There is a lot of seaweed on the reef beach that has been pushed up by the waves, and a large black patch is stuck to the stone surface.
"Those rocks down there are very slippery." Mia said, taking out his wand and waving it in the air.
A long rope appeared in mid-air.
Lin Ze took the rope, tied one end to a raised rock pillar on the edge of the cliff, pulled it twice to make sure it was secure, and then slid down the first one.
The footholds on the stone wall were eroded by the sea water and became slippery.
When he was almost at the bottom, a wave surged up, chilling him right down to his knees.
"Farke." He couldn't help but cursed.
Mia came down second, his movements were neat and crisp.
She held the rope with one hand and supported the wall with the other, and her feet were as steady as nails on the stone edges.
Sirius comes down last.
He didn't use a rope at all, he stepped on the bulges on the cliff and jumped twice, landing on the rocks, with his knees slightly bent for cushioning, and his movements were as clean as a big cat, oh no, a big dog.
"Show off." Lin Ze commented.
"This is called talent." Sirius patted the dust on his hands.
The three of them walked along the reef beach. The tide receded by more than half, revealing a narrow passage.
The stone steps are located between several large rocks, extending diagonally downward. The edges and corners of the steps have been rounded by the sea water, and the surface is covered with a layer of slippery green algae.
Sirius walked in the front, the wand lit up fluorescently, and the light dispersed into a hazy blue in the water vapor.
The stone steps are so narrow that even two people standing side by side would feel cramped.
After walking down seven or eight levels, the rocks above blocked most of the skylight, and the air became damp and stuffy, with a salty smell like old stones soaked in sea water.
"It's almost the same as when I came here last time." Sirius touched the stone wall with his hand.
"It's just more seaweed."
After walking a dozen more steps, the steps began to narrow.
The narrowest part is only about a foot wide, and next to it is the water that falls straight down. It's so dark that you can't see the bottom.
Mia walked in the middle, stepping firmly on every step.
Lin Ze was behind. He tapped the stone walls on both sides with his wand a few times as he walked. The blue light of the detection spell penetrated into the stone and dispersed into a blurry spot of light.
"No traces of magic?" Mia looked back at him.
"Yes, it's probably a remnant from hundreds of years ago, and it's almost dispersed long ago."
The stone steps broke when we reached the 20th level.
The fracture was very smooth, as if someone had struck it from the side with a huge knife, neatly cutting off the steps below.
Below the fracture is sea water, with a few feet of gap exposed during low tide and just submerged during high tide.
Sirius squatted beside the fracture and probed down with the wand.
When the fluorescent light shines down, the sea water surges gently seven or eight meters below.
"This is where James and I stopped last time." He straightened up.
"At that time, I tried several spells to probe deeper, but nothing came out."
Lin Ze squatted down and stared at the fracture for a long time.
He stretched out his hand and touched the stone stubble on the cross section, and a very fine line was traced across his fingertips. The line was almost invisible under fluorescent light, but the touch of his fingers was very clear.
"Mia, come and take a look."
Mia squatted next to him and looked along his fingertips.
Several shallow grooves are carved on the cross-section of the stone, arranged in a radial pattern, like part of some kind of symbol.
Lin Ze stood up, took a step back, looked up and looked around.
The stone walls on both sides of the stone steps suddenly narrow here, forming a natural angle.
There are several vertical cracks on the rock wall above your head. Looking up along the cracks, you can see a ray of gray-white skylight.
"You guys step back."
Lin Ze took out the wand, thought for a moment, and then poured it into his left hand.
Pressing his right hand on the stone wall next to the fracture, the dragon scales on his fingertips revealed a very light dark gold color in the darkness.
He pushed with very little force.
The stone wall remained motionless.
Until he added another 20% of his strength.
The dragon scales on the palm made a very fine buzzing sound, and the shallow grooves on the stone wall suddenly lit up.
"Click."
A very soft sound came from the depths of the stone wall, as if some ancient mechanism had been awakened.
The seawater below the break suddenly swirled and retreated to both sides, revealing another set of stone steps below, which were exactly the same as the one above, except that they were darker in color and had more seaweed on them.
Sirius whistled.
"What was that in your hand just now?"
"I won't tell you." Lin Ze retracted his hand, and the scales on his palm faded away quietly.
He jumped down first and landed on the newly exposed stone steps. His feet slipped and he almost fell, but Mia grabbed his arm.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
The stone steps continue down, narrower and steeper than the set above.
The air is getting colder and colder, and the smell of sea water is replaced by a metallic coldness, as if we have walked into a deep place where the sun never shines all year round.
When you reach the bottom, the stone steps submerge into a shallow water.
The water is very clear, with smooth stone slabs underneath. A dozen steps further, there is a stone wall floating above the water, with a complete arch carved on the wall.
Inside the arch is an ordinary stone slab with nothing on it.
But Lin Ze stood in front of the arch, and his spine began to feel numb.
He recognized the shape.
Ministry of Magic Department of Mysteries, Death Chamber.
The arches hanging on that side Veil are exactly the same.
"Lin." Mia's voice came from behind, with a rare hint of nervousness.
"What's wrong?"
"Come here and see this."
Lin Ze turned around and walked to Mia. She squatted at the bottom of the stone steps against the wall, and used her wand to shine on a small piece of stone platform above the water.
There was a palm-sized copper piece placed on the stone platform, rusty green, with a line of words engraved on it.
Mia wiped the rust on the copper piece with his sleeve, and the words became clearer.
"This is Old Irish." Mia said.
"What did you write?"
"I can't read very well, but there's one word I recognize - Gail."
"Gayle?"
"Gail means 'foreign land' in Old Celtic, and is sometimes used to refer to 'Other Side'."