The person is at Hogwarts, but the system is in Middle-earth!

Chapter 88: Searching for the Gate of Moria, Visiting the First Victim!

The next morning, the sun shone brightly.

For Harry and Ron, last night's experience in the Forbidden Forest felt like a nightmare they couldn't wake up from. Even now, standing in the university hospital, they could almost smell the stench of those spiders.

"We have to go check on Hermione," Harry said, sporting huge dark circles under his eyes. "Since Aragog said the monster wasn't a spider, Hermione must have discovered some other clue that led to this misfortune."

Lady Pomfrey did not allow visits, but after Rowe showed them the so-called "Gondor Field Pass" (which was actually a note from Professor Sprout asking him to help carry mandrakes), she reluctantly gave them fifteen minutes.

Hermione remained lying on the bed like a statue, her eyes wide open in terror, as if frozen in the moment she saw the monster.

"It's a curse," Rowe said, standing by the bed. "Like the paralysis after being stung by a scorpion. Her soul is trapped inside her body."

He reached out and gently waved his hand in front of Hermione's eyes.

[Status: Petrified]

[Debuff Source: Medusa's Gaze / Evil Eye Tyrant's Direct Gaze]

[Remaining Time: Waiting for the antidote (Mandragora juice)]

"Look at her hand." Ron suddenly pointed to Hermione's tightly clenched right fist. "It looks like she's holding something."

Harry leaned closer: "Is it a piece of paper? It looks like it was torn from a book."

He tried to pry Hermione's fingers open, but her hand was as hard as stone and wouldn't budge.

"Don't use brute force, Sam," Rowe stopped him. "This is the information she left behind before she turned to stone. Any improper handling could damage this precious ancient scroll."

Luo Wei took a deep breath and flexed his fingers.

He took a thin paperclip from his pocket and gently inserted it into the joint between Hermione's fingers, finding the point of force where the muscles were locked.

"Click." Hermione's fist loosened slightly. Lowe quickly and gently used tweezers to remove the crumpled piece of paper.

"This is a page of a book."

The three of them huddled together, staring at the note.

It was a page torn from an old library book, with a detailed description of a creature printed on it, along with Hermione's hastily scribbled handwriting.

"Although I can't understand these Elvish variations," Rowe said, pointing to the English title above, "the illustration is very clear."

The paper depicts a huge, green snake with yellow eyes, looking extremely ferocious.

"This is the Basilisk." Harry read the words aloud, his voice trembling slightly, but more so with a reassuring certainty. "Hermione found out too. You were right, Rowe. In this place where the monster roams, everything is scorched earth... its gaze is death... spiders flee at its sight..."

"Perfect match." Ron, though pale, didn't question it this time. "That's what Aragog was afraid of. We were right."

"But there's still one problem we haven't solved." Harry frowned, pointing to the surrounding walls. "Now that we've confirmed it's a basilisk, how could it move around the castle without anyone seeing it? It's huge; it couldn't stay invisible forever."

Lowe didn't speak. His gaze was fixed on the word Hermione had written at the bottom of the page.

Pipes.

"Hermione has solved this final puzzle for us," Rowe said, pointing to the word.

[Clues Analysis Completed]

[Monster Movement Method: Underground Tunnel Network]

[System Match: Ventilation Shaft in Moria Mine]

"I see..." Lowe suddenly looked up. "We've been focusing on the corridor and the floor, but we've overlooked the world inside the walls."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"It's not flying, nor is it invisible," Rowe tapped the word with his finger. "It's crawling through walls! Like the goblins in the Moria mines, or those ancient magical insects that can burrow into rocks!"

He stood up and looked around at the thick stone walls, as if he could see the intricate network of pipes inside through the bricks.

"Hogwarts Castle is riddled with these veins"—a network of pipes, vents, and abandoned passageways. This enormous wingless dragon used it as its highway.

"That explains why I heard a sound coming from inside the walls!" Harry exclaimed in realization. "The sound was moving... it was crawling through the pipes!"

"And that also explains why no one died directly," Lowe continued reasoning, his mind moving at an astonishing pace. "Because no one could see its eyes directly. No one could crawl into the pipe and make eye contact with it."

He pointed to Hermione lying on the bed: "She had a mirror. She used the mirror to see the corners. So she was just petrified."

"Colin used a camera..." Harry added.

"Justin saw it through Nick's body..." Ron realized as well.

"Mrs. Lorris saw the reflection in the puddles on the ground," Lowe concluded. "All the victims only saw the reflection of the 'Demon Eye.' Directly looking at it would be an instant death sentence."

This is a perfect killing machine. Hidden in the shadows, moving unseen, death is everywhere its gaze falls.

"Wait a minute," Ron suddenly turned pale, "If it's moving inside the tube... then how did it get out?"

I mean, where's the entrance?

Luo Wei's gaze suddenly turned deep, and he turned his head to look in the direction of the abandoned girls' restroom outside the window.

"I'm reminded of someone," Lowe said softly, "a victim we've overlooked for so long. She was the first person to see Smaug's eyes fifty years ago, and the only innocent soul to die there."

"Weeping Myrtle!" Harry and Ron exclaimed in unison.

"Yes. The place where she died is the entrance." Rowe gripped his wand tightly. "That's the western gate to the Underworld."

Then Harry pointed to the very bottom of the page: "Look here, there's another line: The crowing of a rooster is deadly to it."

"That explains why Hagrid's rooster was killed!" Harry exclaimed excitedly to Rowe. "Your earlier guess was right! The Heir doesn't want anything to threaten the Basilisk!"

"Just as I thought." Lowe nodded, a look of "everything is under control" on his face. "I said before that the enemy was systematically destroying our defenses."

"Back then you said the sonic arsenal was blown up..." Ron muttered. "We thought you were talking about Hagrid's snoring."

"The rooster's crowing is a specific high-frequency sonic weapon," Rowe explained earnestly, without any embarrassment at his previous ramblings. "This frequency can cause resonance in the basilisk's skull or central nervous system, resulting in physical explosive damage. Just like Bard's black arrows, if you find the weak point, you can kill it instantly."

Harry took a deep breath; he was now completely at ease with Rowe's theoretical framework. "So we need a rooster? Or something like... a sonic weapon?"

"Hagrid's chicken coop has been completely cleared out. This shows the enemy is very cautious," Rowe said coldly. "However, now that we know the principle, we might be able to find a substitute. But before that, we need to confirm the battlefield."

He carefully folded the pages of the book in Hermione's hand and put them into his inner pocket.

"The intelligence has been gathered, and the puzzle is complete."

[Epic Quest Update: The Awakening of the Dragon Slayer]

[Target locked: Ancient Basilisk]

[Weakness Analysis: Line of sight (instant death), sonic attack (lethal), venomous fangs (highly poisonous)]

[Current Stage: Searching for the Gates of Moria]

"Let's go, you who hold the precepts, and Sam too."

"Now that we know the enemy's true face, half of our fear has dissipated. Now, it's time to pay a visit to that ghostly lady. She's been guarding that door for fifty years; perhaps she's waiting for us to knock."