September 1991, the Great Hall at Hogwarts, the Welcome Feast.
Kyle Shafiq sat at the Slytherin table, watching the annual Sorting Ceremony unfold once more.
As Gryffindor erupted into shouts of “We got Potter!”, the bittersweet memories of his past finally surged uncontrollably back into his mind.
In his previous life, there was a period when a doctoral thesis’s acknowledgments went viral across the internet: *”I traveled a long road and endured much hardship to present this doctoral dissertation before you.* *Twenty-two years of education, a path paved with wind, rain, and mud—none of it was easy.”* To Kyle, that wasn’t an inspirational story.
It was his autobiography.
Born in an orphanage, he had ranked first all his life, eventually earning guaranteed admission to Tsinghua University.
After completing his master’s degree, he rejected a lucrative job offer from Huawei and resolutely started his own business.
Unlike that doctoral graduate who stayed pure-hearted despite the mud, life in the orphanage had taught Kyle from a young age to fight, to read people’s expressions, and to use any means necessary to secure a better life.
Relying on his inner ruthlessness, technical talent, creative drive, and the network he had built at Tsinghua, his company’s valuation reached 1.5 billion RMB by the time he was thirty-five.
Yet just as he reached the pinnacle of his life, he suffered a total defeat at the hands of a single sheet of paper: late-stage lung cancer.
His sharp, ruthless tactics had driven away his former friends.
At his darkest moment, he had no one to confide in.
In the end, after half a life of fierce ambition, he met a hasty close.
Kyle sold his company equity and entrusted his best former friend and business partner to establish the Orphan Care Foundation.
Carrying a sense of inner serenity, he set off on a journey—across oceans, deserts, at home and abroad—until he finally stopped in London.
His body finally gave out, forcing him into a hospital bed.
In his final moments of consciousness, he hazily recognized the building outside the window: King’s Cross station.
Fate played a trick on Kyle.
When his consciousness returned, he was lying in a four-person dormitory decorated in dark green, adorned with snake carvings everywhere.
Having stayed awake all night, Kyle finally pieced together his identity: a freshman at a school of witchcraft and wizardry.
Just as Kyle prepared to follow the routine, improve himself step-by-step through his golden finger, and enjoy his new life, fate slapped him in the face once again.
The house he belonged to seemed to be one that idolized pure-bloods—Slytherin, also known as the Snake House due to its emblem.
Although the leader of the pure-bloods had died several years ago, pure-blood supremacy still permeated the entire house.
Kyle happened to be an orphan from an unknown background who merely bore the noble surname of Shafiq.
The inevitable campus violence and bullying—all the predictable dark forces—clouded over Kyle once more.
If he had been an ordinary person, he might have been tormented into dropping out.
Unfortunately for them, this was Kyle—a man who had spent his previous life fighting against the odds, defying heaven and man alike to challenge his destiny!
If someone punched him, Kyle would return a kick.
If three or five people ganged up on him and he couldn’t win at the time, he made sure to exact revenge on every single one of them later.
If he could win, he fought.
If he couldn’t, he wrote their names in his little notebook to beat them up when the opportunity arose.
While other students slept in the dungeons, Kyle practically lived in the Hospital Wing.
The faculty member he was most familiar with in the entire school was Madam Pomfrey.
Gradually, everyone learned that this kid was not to be messed with.
He was the kind of ruthless bastard who would splatter blood all over you even if he couldn’t bite off a chunk of your flesh.
As he mastered more and more spells and his soul integrated better with his body, Kyle grew increasingly powerful.
The names in his little notebook dwindled one by one.
Second year, third year, fourth year—not a single snake who had bullied Kyle back then was spared.
Every time he took revenge, he crossed off a name.
Finally, in his third year, Kyle became the uncrowned king of Slytherin.
Looking around, he no longer had any enemies.
Because all those proud, talented Slytherin snakes had been beaten into his friends.
Back to the present.
In his previous life, Kyle had never read Harry Potter; he had only heard his roommates mention that it was a fairy tale.
It sounded like a story about a hero clearing stages, eventually defeating the demon king, and living happily ever after with a princess—giving Kyle an impression similar to Super Mario.
After nearly three years of painstakingly recalling details, Kyle had roughly assembled the main outline of the story.
There were seven novels in his past life, which presumably corresponded to Harry Potter’s seven school years at Hogwarts.
Starting from his enrollment, he would ultimately defeat the Dark Lord in his seventh year.
Kyle vaguely remembered a young girl in the trio; she was probably the protagonist’s future wife.
Following Super Mario logic, this girl would eventually be captured by the BOSS, so he could pick an opportune moment to warn Potter and score a favor.
He recalled that the novels mentioned the Dark Lord had seven Horcruxes.
Each destroyed Horcrux reduced the Dark Lord’s health bar by one.
It seemed one was destroyed each year until the final showdown with the Dark Lord.
Judging by the title, the first book was *Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone*, so the first Horcrux had to be the Philosopher’s Stone.
The others he could clearly recall were the Goblet of Fire and the Deathly Hallows (the Resurrection Stone, the Elder Wand, and the Invisibility Cloak), plus the Dark Lord’s snake, which seemed to be named *The Chronicles of Narnia*.
That made six.
Supposedly, there was one more inside Potter himself, making seven in total.
That completed the set!
This was a conclusion Kyle had derived after countless rounds of logical deduction.
Flawless!
Naturally, Kyle had no intention of getting involved in Potter’s hero-stage-clearing game, though he wouldn’t mind acquiring a Horcrux to study.
This year, Kyle planned to observe the main trio’s talents on one hand, while inquiring about any special items in Potter’s possession on the other.
Kyle guessed that the Horcrux inside Potter mentioned by his roommate was likely a family heirloom, a legacy from his parents, or an accidentally acquired magical artifact.
When his roommate said it was “on Potter,” it couldn’t possibly be that scar on his forehead, right?
(Laughs).
Of course, Kyle also warned himself that now that the plot had begun, dangers accompanying the protagonist would start to emerge.
He couldn’t lay low for a month and then act recklessly like he had in previous years.
Having lived in this world for several years, Kyle knew full well how vast the difference was between a real world and a fairy tale.
All he could say was that J.
K.
Rowling was someone only fit to publish bedtime stories in children’s magazines—what did she know about the magical world!