After Dudley's low voice fell, the blood from his fingertip immediately formed a new rule on the Trunsoest Brass Book.
This rule was different from the previous ones—it was no longer silver-white in color, but tinged with a faint blood red, appearing completely out of place among the silver rules.
When this rule appeared, the space and time around Dudley seemed to freeze in that instant.
The Trunsoest Brass Book no longer produced new rules. It seemed stunned, like a precisely operating machine that suddenly jammed, causing the entire system to collapse.
The situation was now obvious—the Trunsoest Brass Book had fallen into a paradox.
The previous rule clearly stated that the Trunsoest Brass Book was forbidden to be touched by any living being without permission. This rule even considered that those who might touch it weren't just humans, but also other animals and even extraordinary species, thus adopting a broader concept—"living beings."
But now, with the appearance of the rule stating that "Dudley Trunsoest, as the master of the Trunsoest Brass Book, may touch the Trunsoest Brass Book," a direct contradiction emerged.
Dudley Trunsoest clearly belonged to the category of living beings, so his touching the Trunsoest Brass Book should violate the prohibition. But as the master, Dudley could also touch the Trunsoest Brass Book due to the newly appeared rule—these two rules were in conflict.
The Trunsoest Brass Book began producing new rules again, attempting to resolve the paradox:
"Dudley Trunsoest, as the master of the Trunsoest Brass Book, does not belong to the general category of living beings."
"Dudley Trunsoest touching the Trunsoest Brass Book without permission can be considered as touching under permitted conditions."
However, Dudley didn't give the Brass Book more time. His hand fell upon the Brass Book, and he picked up this rule book.
This directly caused the state of the Trunsoest Brass Book to be changed by Dudley—violating the rule that the book's state cannot be changed.
The rule book fell into another paradox.
Rustle, rustle...
The Trunsoest Brass Book began flipping rapidly, with rule after rule appearing continuously at increasing speed—almost one new rule per second—trying to remedy the paradox problems caused by the previous rules.
Soon, the Trunsoest Brass Book reached its last page. When the newest rule appeared but still couldn't remedy the previous paradoxes or form a complete legal code, the Trunsoest Brass Book completely gave up and fell into silence.
Crisis temporarily resolved.
Dudley began flipping through the Brass Book, his eyes with their iron-gray and dark red intertwined pupils coldly observing the fundamental rules of the world recorded in the Trunsoest Brass Book.
As time passed, the light in Dudley's eyes gradually dimmed, his autonomous consciousness began returning, and information about sealing the Brass Book clearly appeared in his mind:
"If contradictions appear between rules and cannot be resolved, or if all pages are filled but fail to form a sufficiently rigorous rule system, the 'Trunsoest Brass Book' will add a clause 'The following rules are invalid' at the boundary between the front and back sections after one hour."
"As this clause forms, the rules written afterward will gradually disappear, returning the pages to blank..."
"After the back section becomes completely blank, the 'The following rules are invalid' clause will be erased, and the 'Trunsoest Brass Book' will repeat its previous behavior until a rigorous legal system covering all aspects is formed..."
Meanwhile, in the adjacent classroom, Malfoy frowned, looking at Crabbe and Goyle.
"What was that sound just now? Did you hear it?"
Just as he was practicing the Levitation Charm, a human voice suddenly came from the adjacent classroom, startling Malfoy.
"It seemed like someone roared, and there was talking," Crabbe said.
"I heard it too, but couldn't make out what was said," Goyle added.
The walls of the underground classrooms were thick—they could vaguely hear sounds from next door, but couldn't make out the specific words.
"Is there someone next door? Could it be a teacher?" Malfoy's expression changed, hope appearing on his face.
"I'm going to take a look."
He really didn't want to be trapped in this broken classroom. If a rule appeared requiring all students to return to their dormitories, they would be in serious trouble.
The best option now was to find a teacher, figure out what was happening, and at least have that teacher escort them back to their common room.
"But we can't walk outside, and your Levitation Charm..." Crabbe began but didn't finish.
Malfoy had just attempted the Levitation Charm with mediocre results—though he managed to make things fly, they quickly crashed to the ground.
"Idiot! We just need to go through the back door. It's only about a meter to the other classroom, isn't it?" Malfoy said.
The front and back doors of the two classrooms were very close together—no need to go through the front door.
Malfoy immediately headed for the classroom's back door. The door was abandoned but not locked, so Malfoy easily opened it. Less than a meter away was the front door of the adjacent classroom.
Malfoy peeked out and saw that the adjacent classroom's door was half-open.
"This distance should be fine..." Malfoy thought.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Malfoy drew his wand and cast the Levitation Charm on himself(Clothes). His body quickly floated up—though not very stable, nothing went wrong.
"Give me a push," Malfoy said to Crabbe.
He couldn't control the force properly at this point—he could only make himself levitate but couldn't control his flight.
Crabbe quickly pushed the floating Malfoy, sending him drifting toward the adjacent classroom's door.
Over the meter-plus distance, Malfoy quickly floated to the doorway.
He glanced at the situation inside the classroom.
It was pitch black—he couldn't see anything clearly, only sensing that there seemed to be a vague black shadow in the depths of the classroom, holding a book in their hands.
He directly canceled the Levitation Charm and landed at the doorway.
"Hello, is there a teacher here? I'm Malfoy, a first-year Slytherin student. I'd like to know if you could escort me back to the Slytherin common room."
As Malfoy spoke, he pushed open the classroom door, looked toward the dark depths of the classroom, and took a step forward.
The next moment, Malfoy's legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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