Snape slowly lowered the paper bag in his hand, the expression on his face more displeased than usual.

"What do you want to say?"

Neil could hear the anger in his voice, but still calmly looked into his eyes, and replied word for word:

"I want to say: Why can't we stop testing each other here like two fools? Language is a great invention, Mr. Professor, if we don't make good use of it, what good is it to be human? The Tower of Babel is often referred to as the Tower of Rebellion, but in fact the correct definition of the word babel is the noise that people make when they talk - communication, sir, this is the greatest power of mankind that even the gods tremble! ”

Snape didn't reply, so Neil pointed to the oiled paper bag he had dropped.

"Salted dried Horo." "Having only four tails in the middle of each fish, never filling it with squid meat, curing all kinds of body puffiness, replenishing protein and salt, and being tasty—given its scarcity and tedious processing, the price of twenty-five Galleons is not too much for us, but in the eyes of the customer...... Well, very few people can accept this price, and cetirizine hydrochloride for Muggles is more affordable than that. ”

He coughed dryly, as if biting his tongue as he said the last name of the medicine.

"I know what it's like to be the kind of person who is so preoccupied with his studies that he doesn't care about money, Professor Snape, and I can see that you're not like them. You're a realist, and realists don't spend money like that, you just need the most potent and cost-effective potions - it's good that you're the kind of person who can live a long time. ”

Snape still didn't say anything, and continued to look down at him with a cold gaze, but had been standing there and hearing the present, neither refuting nor turning away, in a sense it was already quite obvious acquiescence.

"In class, you've been looking for Mr. Potter's fault—no, I'm not trying to speak for him, you have to learn to have some fun in life, and it's not up to me to judge whether the way to have fun is moral...... But! I was sitting less than a foot away from him, babbling on and on as I am now, and you didn't even look at me. ”

He pointed to his feet, then to the empty seat next to him, and then gestured his hands roughly in the air.

"Yes, I know that Mr. Potter is your favorite prey, that's obvious, but a good hunter never sees so narrowly. You see, poor Mr. Longbottom almost rolled his eyes and fainted at the slightest movement while cutting the buckthorn—he was two rows behind you. ”

It was a deliberate euphemism for the sake of the listener's face, as Neville actually fainted, partly because he had accidentally stabbed a knife into his finger pressing the shaft while handling a difficult stalk of grass, and on the other half of it was Snape's expression as if he was expecting him to bleed to death.

"Most importantly, you were completely careless in your words and actions in front of me, you didn't close the door, you turned your back to the outside, you used a name that we all knew was not in line with Miss Granger's status as a teacher, and you didn't even have to deal with that package by the law of induction." Neil spread his hands and came to the final conclusion, "You first incite my greed, then you lure me to attack you by allowing me to fuel my arrogance and pretend to be negligent, and finally you provoke my anger by insulting my friends, and at all costs you will peel off my face to see what lies underneath - very vicious, Mr. Professor, and very cleverly. ”

He stood up and stared straight at the other. Snape didn't avoid his gaze, but the focus of his eyes flickered slightly at the moment when they met each other.

"Let's be honest, Professor. I can see that you don't like Mr. Principal as much as everyone else - to be honest that I am relieved that a principal with a 100 percent approval rating on campus is too scary - so you are not so willing to trust his judgment and not want to see a crazy foreigner running around the school without a leash, especially hanging around the core components of your plan, right? ”

Neil reached out to figure out the shape of a collar around his neck, and as he did so, Snape noticed for the first time a fleeting glint in his eyes. He didn't go any further, and Snape didn't speak, and the two men fell into a fierce silence for a moment.

After a long time, it was Snape who breathed a sigh of relief, and the insistence on not wanting to speak up anyway and the normal human consciousness that felt that this was too childish met in his mind, and in the end it was the latter who won.

"So, what do you want?"

"Peace, Professor. Peace! Neil replied without hesitation, "The word peace is so wonderful, the English word is not usually as poetic as the Latin word, but peace is good, and the harmony of the atmosphere and the inner peace are organically combined in this word...... That's right, that's what I wanted. ”

Closing his eyes and being greatly intoxicated, he glanced at Snape secretly, only to see that the latter had a gloomy expression that he had never seen before, and had to turn to human words in a sneer.

"My contract is with Headmaster Dumbledore, and I swear by the honor of my sect and my own life that I will respect his will within the limits of my commission, and obey his orders, as Loyola said, 'obey your own Pope and superiors like a headless corpse'. I don't want you to trust me, and I don't blame you for your ill intentions so far, but at least we shouldn't waste our energy on pointless temptations as we do now, and internal friction is the second stupidest thing in the world, after throwing resumes to the FBI – why can't we live in peace without interfering with each other? ”

Neil took a step closer, picked up the slightly fishy and salty oiled paper bag from the table, smoothed the opening with his thumb, and shoved it into Snape's hand.

"You see, I've been so open and honest with all my expectations that I'm not even asking you to share the same level. If you have any other questions, you can go directly to Mr. Principal, who has the right to disclose all the information we have disclosed to him to the person he trusts, but only needs to fulfill the obligation to inform him in advance. Now I'm waiting for you to say, okay, or no, you say. ”

Snape stood there, the index finger of his right hand subconsciously rubbing the partially elastic dried fish in the wrapper, his uncertain eyes revealing his complicated thoughts. Neil didn't rush him, didn't say anything inflammatory, just sat back in his seat, closed his eyes and waited for the other to make a decision for himself.

As he himself claimed, he wasn't curious about other people's stories and thoughts, but he didn't want a suspicious ally watching him wherever he went—it didn't matter if he was suspicious or not, as long as it didn't get in his way, he could stay at home and think as long as it didn't get in his way.

However, it was this attitude of indifference that gave Snape the fatal blow.

In fact, Neil Wan was right, he didn't trust the mysterious alien who popped up at this point in time, maybe Dumbledore did have his own reasons for doing this, and it was precisely because he took into account his possible resistance that he deliberately did not reveal too much information, but in Snape's opinion, it was needless to put Lily Evans' son in danger - as if a Dark Lord was not enough to bother him.

But Neil's "just be suspicious, just stay out of the way" attitude irritates him. Snape could have abandoned his reputation and dignity for more important purposes, but that didn't mean his self-esteem had just vanished. This hairy boy, who was less than a third of his age, knew nothing of his past, of his misfortunes, of his struggles in pain, and of his pathetic determination, and yet dared to show such blatant contempt for all this!

…… If Neil himself had heard such an idea, he would have hastily denied it. But then again, if he could explain the problem in that pompous way, there would have been no misunderstanding in the first place.

He turned around resolutely and walked towards the door. He didn't plan to ask Dumbledore about this matter again, because from what had happened so far, it was clear that the other party was unwilling to reveal the details of his dealings with Neil and the Eastern Sect behind him; But at the same time, he also decided to keep his distance from Neil for the time being, and if this imp really had any different intentions, he would let him know what the price of despising himself was, but for this purpose, tentative actions were no longer absolutely necessary. Since the other party has shown enough wisdom and strength to ignore these provocations, insisting on continuing to do it will only make him appear superficial.

- If Snape had even one friend, he would have been surprised at what he was thinking at the moment, for it was an unprecedented concession for Severus Snape. It's a pity that people who don't exist have no value to discuss, and Neil, who doesn't know how much he has taken advantage of, quickly reached out and grabbed his shoulder.

"Twenty-five Galleons, Professor - it's a hassle to send a pack of this stuff from Kunlun Mountain, the Ministry of Magic can't break up every package sent to me into elementary particles and check for contraband inside, we won't accept returns."