Chapter Fourteen Tom Riddle (1)
Yaxi quickly followed. He slowly got into the tube and then slid all the way.
The pipes were dirty, dark, and seemed endless. Yaxi could see many other pipes stretching and leading, but none of them were as huge as theirs. Twisted, rotated, and steeply down. He knew he had slipped far deeper than the school and dungeons. He could hear the sound of Harry and Ron slamming down at the corner behind him.
Soon after, the pipe stretched out horizontally, and Axi slid from the end of the pipe with a "bang" and fell on the wet floor of the stone underground passage. The underground passage was enough to make people stand and was pitch black all around. Lockhart stood up not far away. He was covered in mud and his face was pale as if he was ghostly. Harry stood aside, waiting for Ron to fly out of the pipe.
"We must be miles away from the school." Harry's voice echoed in the dark underground passage.
"Maybe at the bottom of the lake," Ron said, looking at the dark and sticky walls around him.
All of them turned to stare at the darkness ahead.
Yaxi waved his wand, and then the top of the wand began to shine, "Let's go." He said to Harry, Ron and Lockhart. They started to set out, walking in the wetlands, with footsteps particularly loud.
The underground tube was so much that they could only see a short distance ahead. In the fluorescence of the wand, their shadows were reflected on the wall, looking extremely terrifying.
"Remember," As they moved forward carefully, Yaxi whispered, "when they hear any movement, they must immediately close their eyes and run away..."
But the underground tube was as quiet as a lonely grave, and the first unexpected sound they heard was the cracking sound of Ron stepping on the skull of a mouse. Yaxi lowered his wand and looked at the floor, and saw the corpses of small animals scattered on the floor. Yaxi tried hard not to imagine what Zhang Qiu would be like. He led the way in front and walked through a bend in the underground passage.
"Harry, there's something in front..." Ron shouted hoarsely, grabbing Harry's shoulder.
They were stunned and observed. Harry could only see the huge, curved contour line of the thing, lying at the corner of the underground passage, and it did not move.
"That's just the faded snakeskin!" Ashi said helplessly, turning around and looking at the person behind him. Lockhart put his hands tightly on his eyes. Harry turned around and observed the thing again.
Yaxi walked forward, and the glittering light passed by a giant python skin, disgusting bright green, wax-curved, lying empty on the floor of the underground tunnel. The giant python that shed the skin must be at least twenty feet long.
"Oh!" Ron sighed weakly.
There was suddenly a movement behind them. Lockhart's knees were weak.
"Get up!" Ron said sharply, pointing his wand at him.
Lockhart jumped up - he rushed towards Ron and threw him to the ground. Harry rushed forward, but it was too late. Lockhart grabbed Harry, straightened his body, gasped, holding Ron's wand in his hand, with a smile on his face.
"The adventure ends here. Children!" he said, "I will pick up this skin and go back to school and tell them that it is too late to save the girl, and you, as soon as you see her unrecognizable body, go crazy, say goodbye to your memories!"
Lockhart raised Ron's wand above his head and shouted, "All forgetfulness is empty."
He must have forgotten that something went wrong with Ron's wand because the wand exploded above his head.
Yaxi took the opportunity to run forward, slid over the snakeskin, and avoided the huge rocks falling down from the ceiling of the underground tunnel. In an instant, he was already standing and staring at the solid surface of the gravel.
"Harry Ron!" said Yaxi. "Are you okay?"
"I'm here!" Ron's low voice came from behind the boulder. "I'm fine!"
"I'm fine, either!" said Harry, "but Lohart hit himself with a spell!"
At this moment, a dull and heavy thrust suddenly came and a painful cry of "Ao!" sounded like Ron hit Lockhart in the ribs.
"What should I do now?" Ron said desperately, "We can't get through. It will take a long time..."
Yaxi looked up at the ceiling, and a huge crack appeared on it. As Ron said, if it took some time, it might be possible to open the passage, but it seems that now is not a good time to try it out - it would be bad if the entire underground tunnel collapses!
There was another heavy blow and a "shot" behind the boulder.
"Uh, you guys are waiting there," Yaxi shouted to Ron, "I'll keep going and come back in a while."
"But!" Harry hesitated.
"I'll try to move some rocks away," Ron tried to calm his voice down.
"Well, a good idea! Be careful, I'll be back soon!" Yaxi said, and then he passed the giant python skin and set off alone.
Soon, the sound of Ron and Harry moving the stones vaguely disappeared. The underground road turned one after another.
In the dark and quiet, Yaxi's footsteps were particularly obvious. When things happened suddenly, Yaxi was not prepared. It would be good to bring at least two roosters. But unfortunately, he only had one eye mask.
As Ahi climbed through another bend, a solid wall stood in front of him. Two entwined snakes were carved on the wall, and the snake's eyes were inlaid with huge shiny emeralds.
Yaxi walked forward, imagining that among these stone snakes, their eyes were vivid. He guessed what he should do next, and he cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to be flashing.
"Open." Aki said in a low, faint hissing. This is what he had just learned from Harry.
After talking two or three times in a row, the wall cracked from it, and the two snakes separated. The two and half walls slid away in a balanced manner and disappeared without a trace. Aki took a deep breath and walked in.
Yaxi stood at the end of a stone chamber. The stone chamber was quite large and dimly lit. The towering stone pillars were wrapped around more stone carvings of giant pythons, rising and disappearing into the ceiling in the dark.
Yaxi stood, listening to the chilling silence, frowned and looked around, then grabbed the wand and slowly advanced between the pillars carved with pythons, each step echoing between the walls.
Yaxi narrowed his eyes and placed his eye mask on his forehead, preparing to pull it down whenever there was any movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be reconnaissing his every move. The twitching of his abdomen would make him think there was something going on.
As Ahi walked to the last pair of pillars, a sculpture of the same height as the stone chamber jumped into his sight. The sculpture stood against the back wall.
Chapter completed!