"Very precious emeralds. They should sell for about a thousand Galleons," Borgin had learned to answer quickly, giving his quote directly without waiting for Harry and the others to ask.
"Slytherin's Chamber really has a lot of good stuff," Harry said somewhat excitedly.
"This is just the outer area. The things inside are definitely even better!" Ron said.
Cole walked up to examine it and found no mechanisms.
"Probably still requires Parseltongue to open," Cole said.
"I'll try again," Harry volunteered.
"All right!" Dudley nodded and had Harry walk to the front of that wall.
Harry's eyes stared intently at the two snakes intertwined together, especially at their emerald eyes.
Under the illumination of light, the emerald eyes emitted an enchanting brilliance, flickering slightly. The two snakes looked as if they'd come alive.
"Open!" Harry spoke in a hoarse voice. This time what came out was no longer English, but true Parseltongue.
As Harry's voice fell, the two snakes began moving, separating to both sides. Then the stone wall split from the middle, slowly sliding to the sides and disappearing from view.
"Well done, Harry!" Dudley praised.
Harry smiled, finally feeling he'd played some role.
Behind the stone wall was a massive space. Cole first poked his head in to look, then withdrew with a frown.
"The space inside is very large, with many pillars and carvings. I didn't see anything resembling a basilisk," Cole said.
"Let's go in and look," Dudley said after a moment's thought, then walked over.
The floating orb immediately flew out, rushing ahead of Dudley and spreading bright light throughout the entire hall.
Looking at the scene before him, even Dudley couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
This was a magnificently built hall. Around it were many stone pillars carved with intertwined and coiled giant serpents.
The towering dome reflected the pillars below. Green misty vapor filled the entire hall, casting an eerie shadow.
The hall's ceiling was very high—dozens of meters—almost making you unable to feel the dome's existence.
"This is Slytherin's Chamber? Truly magnificent!" Borgin followed Dudley in. Seeing everything here, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Though his eyes were cloudy, they now gleamed with an unusual light. The pillar carvings here all seemed enchanted, looking lifelike without any trace of erosion by time.
If these pillars were brought out, they'd probably sell for quite a lot of money.
Not to mention the smaller carvings around—just tell people these were from Slytherin, and many would scramble to buy them.
"Look over there," Dudley noticed a huge statue directly facing their direction—a human head.
"Slytherin!" Everyone present was familiar with this statue.
They'd seen many portraits and sculptures of Slytherin himself. This one before them was just his head enlarged to scale.
The entire statue was lifelike, every strand of hair clearly visible. He looked like an elderly man, gazing at Dudley's group entering his domain, silently observing everything happening here.
"Where's the basilisk? Could it not be here?" Harry scanned the surroundings but found no trace of the basilisk.
"Could the basilisk have gone out hunting?" Hermione said.
The group slowly walked to the center of the hall, curiously examining everything around them.
"The basilisk should be here. Look..." Cole pointed at a spot on the ground not far away, where there were some dried traces, as if left by some animal crawling past.
Dudley didn't speak. Since arriving here, he'd felt a faint sense of crisis permeating the surroundings.
This feeling was becoming increasingly strong as he went deeper.
And Dudley had already locked onto the source of this unease through this feeling.
His gaze finally fixed on the Slytherin statue facing him.
"The basilisk is there!" Dudley activated spirit vision, and a very blurred light and shadow appeared in his field of view.
Behind Slytherin's statue, there seemed to be another massive space—that was the basilisk's lair.
Cole instinctively raised his wand. Borgin also raised his wand, while his hands produced many strange items—playing cards, a tattered book, and a bizarre sculpture...
"Mr. Dursley, how about having Harry and them leave first?" Borgin spoke up.
Bringing Harry's trio along the way hadn't been a problem, but now they were about to deal with the basilisk, and these three children would be a burden.
Especially Harry—he absolutely couldn't have an accident. Otherwise, Borgin believed Dumbledore would definitely rush to Knockturn Alley, skin him alive, and throw him into Azkaban.
"No need. They're here to help," Dudley said.
He was willing to bring the three this time to let them see his strength and the dangers of the magical world.
Moreover, he was now a Judge—he had confidence in his abilities.
"All right then," Borgin said nothing more.
"Harry, can you release the basilisk?" Dudley asked.
This place obviously required Parseltongue.
Harry looked at Slytherin's statue and, after struggling for a while, shook his head.
"No good. I can't speak to Slytherin's statue," Harry said helplessly.
"Your Parseltongue isn't very smart," Ron couldn't help complaining.
Dudley thought for a moment, then took out Voldemort's diary.
Voldemort was the professional at this—better leave it to him.
"We've reached the depths of the Chamber. There's a huge Slytherin statue here. What do we need to do?" Dudley wrote in the diary.
While waiting, Dudley channeled spiritual power into the Solar Ring, activating the Solar Aura.
Instantly, with Dudley as the center, everyone within a twenty-meter radius simultaneously felt their courage increase, as if bathing in sunlight, dispelling the cold and the evil forces around them.
Harry's trio immediately understood what was happening. Borgin looked at Dudley with some surprise, while Cole's eyes narrowed slightly—he clearly remembered that he'd fallen under this very ring.
"Harry, let me help you unlock the secrets here. You only need to place me at the base of Slytherin's statue!" Voldemort's handwriting appeared.
Dudley wrote back "okay," then slowly approached the Slytherin statue with the diary and placed it at its base.