My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 244, Section 241: Ravenclaw's Clumsy Eagle

"Note that you'd better not try to cheat by asking a question that has no answer or that you don't know the answer to. If you can't answer the question yourself, then you've lost, meaning you're not qualified to gain Ravenclaw's recognition. If I can't answer the question you ask within five minutes, then I've lost, and I, on behalf of Ravenclaw, acknowledge your wisdom."

After explaining its rules, the Eagle Gate Ring announced, "You may now ask your questions."

Lynn didn't immediately start asking questions, but stood still and calmly thought about it.

The Eagle Door Ring, created by Ravenclaw, is an enigma of riddle-making, and its ability to solve riddles is equal to its ability to create them.

However, this so-called "ultimate" only represents Ravenclaw's individual ultimate ability, meaning that the Eagle Link puzzle-solving skill is about the same as Ravenclaw's own.

Moreover, this door knocker is not stuck in its old ways, with its knowledge and theories limited to a thousand years ago. It clearly has some way of understanding the changes in the outside world, otherwise it would not have been able to not ask the same question for nearly a thousand years.

Although Lynn was a teacher in his previous life, he was just a newly hired Chinese teacher. He wasn't interested in riddles or anything like that, and he didn't know much about the difficult problems on the internet. Asking him a question that the Eagle Gate Ring couldn't answer was not an easy task for him.

The rules of the door knocker further blocked his chance to ask about some of the world's unsolved mysteries (in fact, even if he could ask, he wouldn't remember the specifics of those unsolvable questions; unless you're a professional, who would bother remembering that?).

After thinking for a long time, and with Eagle Gate Ring not urging him, Lynn finally decided to ask a question he had seen online before to test the waters.

「如果1=5，2=15，3=215，4=2145，那幺5=多少？」

Without hesitation, the doorknob eagle answered Lynn's question.

"5 = 1".

The first question was over. Doorknob Eagle hadn't fallen into Lynn's trap, but he wasn't too disappointed. After all, it was just a question used as a trial balloon, and Lynn hadn't held out much hope for it.

"You have two more chances," the Doorknob Hawk said coolly. It wasn't a heartless riddle machine; it was clear that Ravenclaw had given it emotions when it was created, allowing it to experience feelings like pride and satisfaction.

Lynn frowned as he pondered deeply.

This door knocker thinks like a person, but it is rational enough to avoid most of the fog that is attached to the surface of riddles. In other words, those riddles that are like brain teasers are not difficult for it at all.

Human thinking has its advantages, but it also has significant flaws.

Lynn pondered for a long time, and then a question suddenly came to mind. However, before asking the question, he needed to confirm something with the door knocker.

"Is your brain a gift from Ravenclaw, a human brain just like any other person's, and not a machine?"

"If you want me to answer, that will also use up one question's opportunity."

Lynn didn't bother with it. If he was certain about this matter and the problem couldn't stump the Eagle Gate Ring, then he would be completely helpless, and whether he had a chance or not would be the same to him.

"Can."

"My mind is exactly the same as a human's, except that it is the same as that of my master Rowena Ravenclaw, a wise man among humans. That is to say, it is smarter than a normal person. As for machines? How can machines have brains? They are inanimate objects."

The door knocker eagle spoke proudly, as if it were proud of possessing the same wisdom as its master.

Immediately, Lynn felt confident. Since the Door Ring Eagle's calculation method was still based on the human brain, he was sure to win this time.

A smile appeared on his face as he posed a math problem to the door knocker.

How many five-digit numbers can be formed using the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, containing three odd digits and two even digits?

This is the only high school math problem that Lynn remembers. He missed a few classes due to illness and missed a few lessons on permutation and combination solutions and formulas, which caused his score to drop from first in the class in that monthly exam. So he crammed on the knowledge points and wrote this typical example problem on the first page of his error notebook. He could see it at a glance every time he opened it, which is why he still remembers it to this day.

The Eagle Gate Ring remained silent.

Upon hearing this question, its first thought was to try each number one by one to find out how many possibilities there were. However, before it could even begin, it despairingly discovered that with so many possibilities, it would be impossible to solve the problem within five minutes!

Even if the doorknob eagle can keep up with the times, it's only within the magical world, and no one in the magical world has ever studied the mathematical problem of permutations and combinations.

Even Muggle-born wizards say that after the age of 11, they completely say goodbye to ordinary society, and they have no chance to come into contact with this part of mathematics.

It pondered silently for another three minutes, but still couldn't find any misleading information in the question. It seemed that this thing could only come up with an answer by listing out all the possibilities one by one.

"You fouled!"

Door Knocker Eagle stated definitively, "This question does have an answer, but no one can give it to me in five minutes, not even in five hours!"

Lynn looked at the door knocker eagle with a smile on his face; he knew he had won.

"I can calculate the answer for you right now; there are a total of 11040 numbers that meet the criteria."

The doorknob eagle fell silent again, unable to determine whether Lynn's answer was right or wrong.

"How did you arrive at this result? Did you count it beforehand?"

"Who would bother counting this for no reason? It's a math problem. Once you learn the formula and method, you can easily get the result by plugging in the numbers."

Lynn looked at the door knocker hawk, which seemed completely bewildered by his words, and knew that it had not received a modern education and simply could not understand what he was saying.

"What if you can't be sure if my answer is correct? Who wins then?"

The doorknob eagle hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "I have a way to tell whether you are right or wrong, but it will take time."

Lynn was stunned by its words: "You're not planning to mentally calculate and list all the numbers one by one, are you?"

"To verify whether your answer is correct, of course you have to do this."

"But how long will this take you?"

After a moment's hesitation, the door knocker eagle estimated the time and said, "It should take about five days."

"How can you be sure the numbers you list won't be repeated just by using your brain?"

"I have my own way."

Seeing that Eagle was being stubborn and wanted to personally verify whether Lynn's numbers were correct, he felt like he was shooting himself in the foot.

"Isn't there any other way?" he asked, unwilling to give up.

But this stubborn eagle was adamant: "I must verify your answer myself, otherwise I will not accept it."

"Whatever you want."

Lynn was out of options, but it was only five days. It was September 14th now, and the 19th would be five days from now.

That day was the first time he went to see Dumbledore. There were still three days before the timeline returned to normal, and he could wait those five days.

(End of this chapter)