After Professor McGonagall disappeared, Chen Yu returned to the room in the orphanage where he had been recuperating.
Chen Yu placed the oversized trunk in the corner of the room, opened it, and took out a copy of "Standard Book of spells, Grade 1" which he began to read with great interest.
For other Muggles, experiencing the instant travel of Apparition, being taken by Professor McGonagall to Diagon Alley to buy items and a wand—any of these would be incredibly magical events. But for Chen Yu, it was just following an NPC through a quest line, not even completing the first chapter of entering Hogwarts.
"Don't even get me started. Not only are the character and scene models in this game realistic, but even the books feel incredibly lifelike to the touch. More importantly, they actually contain content, not just simple quest items!"
Chen Yu flipped through the textbook "Standard Book of spells, Grade 1." It not only meticulously detailed the casting methods for the Softening Charm, Cutting Curse, Unlocking Charm, Levitation Charm, Locking spell, Reparo, Knockback Jinx, wand-Lighting Charm, and Fire-Making spell, but also included precautions for casting spells and how to use them.
"spells are a wonderful and important part of The Magical World of Hogwarts, adding magical properties to objects or creatures to alter their original form."
"Students learning spells must practice precise wand movements and correct incantation pronunciation. If concentration is lacking, unexpected effects may occur."
"Pronouncing the incantation correctly is also very important—never forget Wizard Baruffio, who pronounced 'f' as 's' and ended up lying on the floor with a buffalo standing on his chest."
"The casting of spells requires the wizard to channel emotions and magic..."
Sitting on the bed, Chen Yu read with great enjoyment.
Until—
“External contact detected. Do you wish to exit the game?”
"External contact?"
Chen Yu was startled, and various negative images related to sleep flashed through his mind. Then he remembered he was in the hospital, and it was likely doctors or nurses checking on his injuries. While he breathed a sigh of relief, he still chose to exit the game to see what was happening outside.
After exiting the game, the scene before Chen Yu immediately paused, then the screen went black, and he found himself before the Starry Sky Bridge, standing on the Starry Sky Bridge.
“Player, do you wish to log out of the game?”
"I can't just exit directly; I need to log out again. How troublesome."
Chen Yu again defaulted to yes.
This time, the screen went completely black.
Chen Yu immediately opened his eyes. Through the visor of the holographic helmet, he found that it wasn't a doctor or nurse who woke him, but Tang Yingying.
He took off the holographic helmet from his head and placed it by the bed.
Dazzling sunlight streamed through the window onto the curtains. Chen Yu squinted, sniffing the pervasive smell of disinfectant in the air, feeling a sense of being in another world.
Tang Yingying gently shook Chen Yu's shoulder. Seeing that Chen Yu was awake, she quickly said, "Brother Yu, the doctor said you can't eat fried, grilled, greasy, or irritating foods, so I brought you pigeon soup to help you recover."
Chen Yu looked at Tang Yingying seriously and said, "Thank you, Xiao Tang."
Seeing Chen Yu easily remove the holographic helmet himself, Tang Yingying was a bit surprised: "Brother Yu, it looks like you're recovering well. You actually took off the holographic helmet so easily. I thought I'd have to help you take it off."
After hearing Tang Yingying's words, Chen Yu realized that his injuries seemed... to no longer hurt... Chen Yu remained calm and silently sensed his body's condition.
He quietly clenched his hand hidden under the covers, feeling no weakness or pain.
It wasn't the feeling after an anesthetic.
His throat and lungs also felt normal.
"What's going on?" Chen Yu thought, then said to Tang Yingying, "It's fine. Maybe the anesthetic wore off, and I got some strength back."
"Then, Brother Yu... are you..." Tang Yingying hesitated, wanting to inquire about Chen Yu's current physical condition, but she felt that her relationship with Chen Yu was only as colleagues, and it wasn't appropriate to directly pry into his privacy.
Tang Yingying was very curious about Chen Yu's current physical condition.
After all, surviving nine lightning strikes and then having doctors say his injuries weren't too severe made him somewhat of a legendary figure.
Now, a lot of people online were talking about 'Immortal Venerable undergoing tribulation' and 'urban rebirth.'
They were describing it in such vivid detail that it felt like the online 'big news' was endless.
"Oh, by the way, could you help me buy a phone? One that costs one or two thousand and can access the internet is fine. I'll transfer the money to you later. You know, my phone was struck by lightning and is unusable now. I need to buy a new one to use for now, and then see if my old phone can be repaired after I'm discharged."
After all, a phone that cost seven or eight thousand yuan was too precious to just scrap. He wanted to see if it could be repaired and used again.
Ever since he spent twenty thousand yuan on the holographic helmet, he had to live frugally.
Chen Yu rummaged through the plastic bag where his phone was placed on the bedside table. His wallet was fine, but his phone was dead and wouldn't turn on.
In modern society, being without a phone is like a fish out of water; every breath becomes exhausting.
Without his phone, Chen Yu always felt something was missing, unsettling.
Moreover, everything now required a phone; paying medical bills would also require swiping a card with a phone.
Who knew if the bank cards and ID in his wallet had been demagnetized after being struck by lightning.
The thought of having to reapply for bank cards, ID cards, and social security cards after being discharged made Chen Yu's head ache again.
"Huh? Brother Yu, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten!" Tang Yingying clapped her small head, realizing, "Didn't I get a new phone two months ago because I thought my old one didn't have enough memory? This old phone is just sitting at home, so I figured you might be able to use it, and I brought it for you. See if it works?"
As Tang Yingying spoke, she handed Chen Yu a phone with a pink phone case covered in cartoon girl stickers.
Looking at the pink phone, Chen Yu's mouth twitched slightly.
A grown man using this phone... Although he didn't like the girlish pink... it wouldn't be impossible to use it in an emergency.
After thanking her, Chen Yu bravely accepted Tang Yingying's phone.
After Tang Yingying left, Chen Yu turned on the phone Tang Yingying had given him.
The system had been formatted.
Chen Yu asked a nurse for help, borrowed a SIM ejector tool, removed the SIM card from his damaged phone, and inserted it into the phone Tang Yingying had given him, only to find that the phone's signal bars were still at zero.
"Sure enough, the SIM card is also damaged."
"Although I can't make calls, there shouldn't be any problem with internet access."
He asked the nurse for the hospital's WiFi password. After connecting the phone to the WiFi signal, he found the official miHoYo community and began browsing the current comments about the holographic helmet.
After just two quick scrolls, he sensed something was off.
Regardless of whether they were criticizing or praising, players who bought the holographic gaming helmet all focused their reviews on miHoYo's own game, "Abyss," which came pre-installed in the helmet. Not a single customer on the internet mentioned playing "The Magical World of Hogwarts."
"This means the game I'm playing is very likely one of a kind."
Chen Yu thought of two possibilities.
Either miHoYo made a mistake when distributing the helmets and sent him a holographic gaming helmet from another game department within the company.
Or the lightning that struck him caused some kind of mutation in the holographic gaming helmet he bought.
Chen Yu leaned towards the second possibility.
As he silently thought "system backpack," he could indeed sense a mental space in his mind.
Chen Yu didn't believe that every holographic helmet sold by miHoYo had the ability to bestow such power upon people.
Unless the images in his mind were merely his own imagination.
Inside the mental space lay a bottle of essence of dittany and the Hogwarts Acceptance Letter.
As for magic textbooks, wands, and the like, Chen Yu had exited the game before he had a chance to put them into his backpack, so they weren't stored there.
Chen Yu glanced at the hospital's surveillance camera, put his hand under the covers, and silently willed the essence of dittany to appear.
His hand under the covers touched a smooth, cool glass bottle.
Chen Yu was overjoyed but desperately forced himself to calm down.
He didn't want his little secret to be discovered by hospital surveillance or other patients.
He silently willed it back into the backpack again, and the glass sensation in his hand immediately vanished.
Chen Yu pulled out his damaged phone from the plastic bag, again using the covers to block the surveillance camera's view.
As he silently willed it into the backpack, the sensation of holding something in his hand disappeared again, and a black phone appeared in the mental space in his mind.
Chen Yu again glanced at the surveillance camera out of the corner of his eye, then looked solemnly at the holographic helmet he had placed by his bed.
This was an item capable of changing his destiny, and even the course of the real world.
Chen Yu didn't believe that every holographic helmet sold by miHoYo had the ability to bestow such power upon people.
Clearly, this ability might have come from the lightning bolts that struck him, which modified his holographic helmet, giving it some mysterious power.
Or perhaps it was compensation from a deity who struck the wrong person.
Surviving a great disaster surely brings future blessings.
With it, power and wealth would be within reach.
From then on, he would bid farewell to the ordinary, to the monotonous, day-to-day life.
But compared to so-called power, Chen Yu wanted to explore The Magical World of Hogwarts more.
He suspected that "The Magical World of Hogwarts" was not just a simple game, but a real world.
If it wasn't a real world, why would the system warn him not to casually attempt or cause death?
How could he bring the essence of dittany from "The Magical World of Hogwarts" into the real world?
Chen Yu thought of the excitement he felt the first time he saw Harry Potter as a child.
Back then, after reading Harry Potter, he was captivated by the dazzling magic within it.
It was only later, as he grew up and realized that magic only existed in fantasy, that he gradually changed his goals, becoming vulgar and realistic.
Now, fate had given him a chance to re-enter the magical world.
How could Chen Yu not cherish it?
Unicorns symbolizing purity, Phoenixes symbolizing immortality, Thestrals visible only to those who have witnessed death, incredibly powerful Dragons that even wizards fear... a colorful magical world awaited his exploration, how could he miss it?
The mysteries of magic, the allure of eternal life—how could any of this not be more interesting than the real world?
What needed consideration was that when he put on the helmet and went to the magical world, his body in the outside world would be completely defenseless.
The hospital environment had complex personnel, and he couldn't rule out the possibility of someone taking a risk and stealing his holographic helmet while he was asleep.
People stole phones worth two or three thousand, let alone a holographic helmet worth twenty thousand.
If he wasn't afraid of causing another huge commotion and drawing more attention to himself, Chen Yu felt he could be discharged now.
The most important thing now was to return to "The Magical World of Hogwarts," learn spells. The more spells he learned, the more self-preservation ability he would have in reality.
Following the plan, Chen Yu put on the helmet: "Hogwarts, activate!"