system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Harry Potter] Did the heir of Slytherin have any way of ACTUALLY TARGETING muggleborns with the Basilisk?

I presume the answer is "yes" otherwise Lucius Malfoy just gambled pretty heavily with his son's life by allowing the chamber to be opened again...

I mean the Basilisk seems to be fairly animalistic - from what Harry seems to hear we just get hunger and bloodlust from the snake - no obvious semblance of intelligence. It seems like more or less pure luck that no purebloods were hit by paralysis-o-vision.
gpt
He was a parseltongue. The Basilisk was inclined to listen because it could determine wether or not the heir was true - Harry Potter had exactly zero control over it, whereas a word from the Heir had it leaping to obey. He could easily designate targets.

But yeah, it was likely a gamble combined with a degree of faith approaching the religious in the glorious pure blood future.