Mary opened her mouth, then suddenly turned and ran towards the bookstore.
"Boss!" She pushed open the back door, which wasn't fully open yet, her voice echoing in the empty corridor, "Boss! Come out and see!"
Alfred, wearing a coat and with his glasses askew, poked his head out of the office. "What's wrong? Is there a fire?"
"It's worse than a fire!" Mary gasped, pointing outside. "Posters! New posters! They suddenly appeared this morning!"
Alfred was stunned and asked, "What poster?"
Mary exclaimed with delight, "It's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Part 2! It's on the publisher's wall!"
Alfred quickly accepted the good news, and the corners of his mouth began to turn up uncontrollably, higher and higher, until it became a smile that almost reached his ears.
"I knew it," he whispered, his voice brimming with barely suppressed elation, "I knew the sequel was coming!"
He turned around and waved to Mary, who was standing there dumbfounded. "Don't just stand there! Go make a call! Call the publisher! Ask them how much stock they've prepared this time!"
"I'm going right now!" Mary turned and ran back into the store.
Meanwhile, on the other side of London, in front of Simon Bookstore in Manchester, the owner of Simon Books was standing on a ladder, re-secured a banner that had been blown askew by the wind the night before.
He hummed a little tune, in an exceptionally good mood. After all, the news of " Gaul concessions" last night made him feel that the whole country was moving in a positive direction.
Then his clerk rushed out of the store, clutching a newly delivered mailletter—their subscription to the publishing industry newsletter.
"Boss!" the clerk shouted, looking up at Simon on the ladder, "New poster!"
What new poster?
"The poster for the second part of ' The Chamber of Secrets ' was already up at the publisher's door this morning!"
Simon's hand trembled, and the hammer nearly smashed into his own foot.
He quickly climbed down the ladder, took the note, glanced at it, and then his eyes widened in surprise.
"November 15th..." he read aloud, then suddenly looked up, "Isn't that next Friday?!"
"Right!"
Simon shoved the note into his pocket, turned, and ran into the store. "Quick! Call Bloomsbury! I need thirty thousand copies this time! No, fifty thousand!"
"Boss, you still haven't sold all 20,000 copies from last time—"
"Last time was last time! This time it's the end! Do you understand what the end is?!"
In Edinburgh, Duncan, the owner of Duncan Bookstore, stood at the entrance of his shop, holding a cup of hot coffee, watching the pedestrians coming and going on the street with a relaxed mood.
Last night's downpour washed the steps in front of the shop clean, and although the sunshine this morning wasn't particularly bright, it was still much better than yesterday.
A middle-aged man in an old leather jacket walked from the street corner, Duncan recognized the familiar figure from afar.
Ian McEwan, I bought a copy of the first volume of " The Chamber of Secrets " from him last time.
Ian also saw him and nodded slightly. "I heard that ' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Part 2' has gone to print and will be released on November 15th?"
Duncan froze for a moment, nearly dropping his coffee cup.
Ian, seeing Duncan's bewildered expression, asked in confusion, "Haven't you received the message yet?"
He took out a photograph from his pocket; it was the message he had received.
Duncan took the photo and looked at it:
In the very center of the shop window, a brand-new poster occupied the most eye-catching position, with a coiled serpentine creature gleaming silver behind the glass.
The words " Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Part 2)" were clearly visible in the morning light.
Duncan stared at the photo for several seconds, then slowly turned his head as if to say something to Ian, but Ian had already walked away.
In a chain bookstore in Liverpool, regional manager William stands in the dispatch room of seven stores when the phone in front of him rings.
He picked up the receiver, but before he could even say "hello," the flagship store manager's excited, distorted voice came from the other end.
"Manager! New poster! Released by the publisher! Released next Friday! Part 2!"
William paused for two seconds, then slowly moved the receiver to his other ear, his voice calm as if he had expected it.
"Understood. Notify all stores to submit their pre-order figures to me by this afternoon."
"Pre-orders? But we haven't confirmed that with the publisher yet—"
"No need to confirm," William interrupted him. "They'll definitely print more. Just give me the numbers."
He hung up the phone, leaned back in his chair, and looked at the whiteboard in front of him, which was already covered with dense numbers.
He wrote a number in the blank space at the bottom and then drew a circle around it.
"I knew it," he muttered to himself, "There's no such thing as a book that's only half-published."
Meanwhile, in a luxury hotel, Allen sat on the edge of the bed with a newly delivered newspaper spread out in front of him.
He woke up earlier than usual this morning because the torrential rain last night had kept him sleeping soundly, the sound of the rain outside the window drowning out all other noises.
He stretched, picked up the newspaper, and flipped through it. He saw the front-page article about " Gaul concessions," and a slight smile crept onto his lips.
"They're pretty quick," he muttered, flipping the newspaper to the culture section.
Then his gaze stopped.
In the very center of the culture section, there is a small announcement framed by a border, containing only two lines of text:
Bloomsbury Publishing announced that * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets * (Part 2) will be officially released on November 15th. Pre-orders are now being accepted at bookstores nationwide.
Allen stared at the line of text for several seconds, then couldn't help but laugh out loud.
" International Auror just left, and his new book is already out." He turned his head and said to the empty room.
"In a sense, this is also humiliating the International Confederation of Wizards."
He imagined the expressions on the faces of the people in the International Confederation of Wizards right now.
The ministers sat in the conference room, their faces ashen as they stared at the newspaper announcement, none of them uttering a word.
They sent thirty Auror, laying a trap, but they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the author before it was all ruined by a Muggle Prime Minister and a rainstorm.
And now, the person they want to arrest has brazenly released a new book.
There was no intention to hide anything.
Allen found it increasingly amusing. "System."
He finally stopped laughing and said in a low voice, "Shouldn't you settle my reward now?"
The system's light screen lit up immediately, its blue glow standing out brightly in the dim room.
[The urgent mission " London in a Trap" has been completed.]
[Reward 1: One chance to draw from the limited prize pool "Part 2: The Chamber of Secrets ". Use now?]
Allen quickly sat up, clasped his hands together, and looked serious.
"Come."
The turntable on the light screen reappeared, the name blurring into a blur of light and shadow at the edges.
The turntable began to spin, faster and faster, and Allen's eyes followed the blurry names around several times.
A few seconds later, the turntable slowly came to a stop, the pointer resting in an area he hadn't expected.
[Extraction complete. Congratulations, host, you have obtained: Tom Riddle's Parseltongue Talent (Max Level)]
Allen paused for a moment.
Parseltongue!
Countless images flashed through his mind in an instant— the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets, Voldemort's Nagini, and those whispers that only a very few people could understand in the original books.
"System," he said, a hint of uncertainty in his voice, "This ability... will allow me to chat with the Basilisk?"
The system remained silent, refusing to speak.
Allen, accustomed to the system's silence, slowly smiled.
"Alright," he said, "At least I won't have to take a detour next time I encounter a snake."
"It's a pity this ability seems a bit useless..."
At this moment, the system light screen lit up again.
[Reward 2: Purple-Patterned Fox-Face Mask (Exclusive)]
Allen paused for a moment, looking at the preview image on the screen, which was similar to the purple-striped fox mask he had worn at Hogwarts.
But the details shown in the preview image are much more refined than the one he found.
The mask's base color is a deep purple, almost ink-like, and its surface is covered with an extremely fine and dense pattern.
The lines followed the contours of the fox's face, winding down from the forehead, around the edges of the eye sockets, and extending to both sides of the jaw.
The eye sockets on the mask are long and slightly upturned, and when covered, they reveal a wider field of vision than ordinary masks.
The bridge of the nose rises slightly forward, creating a clean arc, while the jawline is sharply defined.
The overall silhouette is neither overly flamboyant nor deliberately restrained; it's just the right amount to evoke a sense of mystery and power.
Allen leaned closer and continued reading.
[Function Description: Automatically conceals the wearer's face when worn, making it impossible to identify the wearer's facial features or deduce their identity using any magical means.]
The mask material has self-healing properties; minor damage can heal on its own in a short time. When worn, it automatically adjusts to fit the wearer's facial contours.
[Special Effect: When worn, the wearer's aura, magical fluctuations, and traces will be continuously covered by the Confundus Charm inscribed inside the mask. When any tracking magic is cast on the wearer, its target anchor point will be automatically shifted to a random location.]
[This effect can be stacked with other concealing spells such as the Disillusionment Charm and the Ignore Charm, without interfering with each other.]
Allen clicked his tongue in admiration.
"This means..." he thought to himself, "That once I put on this mask, even if someone uses a tracking charm to follow me, they'll only be able to follow me into thin air?"
He picked up the preview image and twirled it in his hand. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that its value was probably higher than all the previous rewards combined.
After all, the previous two times he was given either combat skills or an increase in magic power.
Although both are things that genuinely enhance strength, this mask is different; it addresses a more fundamental problem: the risk of being tracked and located.
He used to have to be careful when he went out, worried about being targeted by the Ministry of Magic or some other weirdos.
Now, as long as his face is covered, even tracking spells can't touch him.
"Looking at it this way, the cost of causing trouble in the future will be much lower." Allen put down the preview image, a slight smile playing on his lips.
He tapped the "Claim" button on the screen.
The next moment, the mask appeared out of thin air on his knee, carrying a faint scent of wood.
He picked it up and turned it over to look at the back. The lining was a soft, dark gray fabric that felt like some kind of specially treated leather.
He held the mask up to his face and held it up, but didn't put it on immediately.
But he could feel a very slight vibration coming from inside the mask the moment his palm touched it, as if it were responding to his touch.
"Good stuff," Allen said, placing the mask on the table with a satisfied tone.