The Eldritch Files

’What’s with this Song Chushi guy? He’s so strange.’

After they parted ways at the wonton shop, Han Su took the voice recorder pen. He took a bus back to his rented room, securely locked the reinforced door, and drew the curtains tightly over the small window.

He wasn’t afraid of the bounty posted on the Black Table, but he had to be cautious about the trouble it could bring.

He didn’t want someone suddenly breaking into his room in the middle of the night, holding a knife to his throat, and leisurely telling him they were there for his ”cooperation” with some investigation. Nor did he want someone planting bugs and cameras in his room to spy on his browsing history.

Those self-proclaimed clever private investigators and those bounty hunters who would do anything for money... who knew what could pop into their little heads? A sudden flash of inspiration for them would mean endless trouble for him.

”Cape Harbor... fishermen... Spell...”

After taking every possible precaution and even setting up a few small traps, he finally opened his second-hand laptop and started searching for a few keywords.

Compared to the bounty on the Black Table, his feeling about Song Chushi was more complicated.

The man looked exhausted, world-weary, and unkempt, but when he occasionally got serious, his narrow eyes would radiate an unusually dangerous aura.

Having escaped from that monster-filled place countless times had made Han Su highly sensitive to this kind of danger. And yet, the Spell he had been left with inexplicably stirred something within him.

’Does such a principle of contact in Mysticism actually exist?’

’And did he just happen to find a Spell that could activate this residual Mysterious Power to confirm the possibility of some phenomenon?’

Lost in thought, he took the voice recorder pen from his bag and examined it carefully.

There was nothing visibly wrong with the pen itself, but the vigilance in Han Su’s heart couldn’t be so easily dismissed.

The families of the victims had reacted differently after the incident back then, but on the whole, most of them were skeptical or even hostile towards him.

’It’s almost funny to think about it now. The ones who had been the loudest back then were the quickest to move on.’

’Conversely, it was the chairman of the Magic Box Group and people like Song Chushi, who had seemed more restrained and stoic from the beginning, who hadn’t been able to let it go after all these years.’

But regardless of whether the Spell was real or fake, Han Su needed to do some prep work first.

On his second-hand computer, a series of web pages and news articles popped up as soon as he entered the keywords.

Han Su read through them slowly, quickly getting a basic understanding of the geographically remote fishing port. It was located in the southwest of the East Region and was a fishing port with a heavy atmosphere of Mysticism and religion. There had even been an incident where people were burned to death.

The local residents were very xenophobic and always seemed a bit fanatical to outsiders. A simple search brought up many bizarrely shaped statues and strange, inscrutable churches.

As he scrolled down, the biggest news story he found was about the local fishermen claiming the coast had once been attacked by a Sea Ghost from the ocean. The incident had resulted in seven deaths and twenty-three injuries, destroying a church and countless homes.

But an explanation was provided below the news article:

After an investigation by the Public Security Bureau, it was confirmed to be nothing more than a firefight between a group of arms-smuggling gangsters.

’It all seemed perfectly logical.’

He took out his headphones and put them on. Han Su imported the audio from the voice recorder to his computer, then opened the chat window with the Black Rose avatar again.

[Are you there?]

[Spit it out!]

[I have a Spell. Can you listen to it for me and see if you can find its origin?]

[...]

[It’s a Spell used by the Cape Harbor fishermen during their rituals for the Sea Ghost. Since when are you interested in this stuff?]

[...]

Han Su paused for a moment before typing: [A friend gave me this Spell. He said it can activate some kind of Mysterious Power!]

The other person seemed to be taking it more seriously now. Perhaps she was looking through her files, as it was a long time before a reply came:

[What kind of nonsense is that?]

[I saw it in my files. It seems to be a very normal Spell. A few syllables are unintelligible, but the general meaning can still be made out.]

[It means: The Gods have sent down a decree!]

[From a folklore perspective, this is just the language the fishermen of Cape Harbor use during their rituals. They believe the Gods can hear this language, and it gives them the courage to face the storms. How could it possibly activate any Mysterious Power?]

[...]

Listening to her, Han Su grew curious: [Give them courage?]

[Then, does it have the ability to activate the Mysterious Power lingering in certain spaces or objects?]

Black Rose replied: [No. Why are you asking this? Hey, your head is already a mess. You don’t actually believe in this Mysticism-related stuff, do you?]

[...]

Hearing her say that, Han Su finally realized.

’This woman was actually a psychologist by profession, assigned by the Public Security Bureau to give him regular counseling. She was just interested in Mysticism and liked to study related topics, but deep down, she didn’t believe in any of it...’

’Of course, as a psychologist, Han Su didn’t think she was very professional either.’

’But that made sense. She was appointed by the Public Security Bureau, he didn’t have to pay for it, and it was all on the public tab. How could she possibly be professional?’

[Just bored and messing around.]

Han Su replied casually, then asked tentatively: [So, in Mysticism, is there something called the principle of contact?]

[This eye of mine was blinded by a monster. Could there be some Mysterious Power left in it?]

[...]

This time, Black Rose seemed completely baffled by Han Su’s words. It took her a while to reply, and even the text itself seemed to carry a sense of exhaustion: [Buddy, you’re blind, that’s it. Don’t let yourself go crazy too.]

[Think about it, if something that magical really existed, why hasn’t anything happened until now?]

[Also, I like Mysticism, but I don’t believe in it. But let’s just say for a moment that this stuff is real—you should never, ever try it casually.]

[The key to Mysticism is in the name itself—it’s a mystery. Its logic is chaotic. If you find a fake Spell, at worst you’ll get ripped off or fall for a trick.]

[But if you find a real one, you have to be careful.]

[...]

At this point, she sent a whole row of exclamation points, her tone turning much more serious:

[Ever heard of the Monkey’s Paw phenomenon?]

[The power of Mysticism usually works through some kind of twisted logic.]

[You wish for a young, beautiful, and rich girlfriend to accompany you and to inherit her family’s fortune. The result could be that the family of a wealthy young lady who died prematurely takes a liking to you, arranges a posthumous marriage, and then sends you into her tomb to sleep with her for eternity.]

[You wish for a lifetime supply of money, and you might get hit by a car the moment you step outside, leaving the twenty bucks in your pocket unspent forever.]

[Of course, although these examples are theoretically different in nature, when an ordinary person suddenly comes into contact with mystical things, whether it’s a Spell, an object, or some kind of ritual...]

[...it’s essentially using a Mysterious Power to twist the normal forward progression of their own life.]

[This kind of distortion often leads to encountering unknown crises.]

[You might be targeted by some unknown entity, or your life might take some unexpected turns. And this often becomes an ordinary person’s nightmare...]

[I’ve studied Mysticism for so long, but I never try to determine if it’s real or fake. This is why!]

[...]

She said it so gravely that even Han Su became serious: [Will I die?]

Black Rose: [...Probably not.]

Han Su typed: [Then that’s fine.]

This time, Black Rose seemed at a loss for words. After a moment, her tone lightened up: [Of course, it’s also possible I’m overthinking it.]

[The prerequisite for this kind of Spell to work is that you have to know how to chant it.]

[Take this Spell, for example. Even though you can find it with a simple search in the database, for those fishermen to take on the responsibility of a Priest, they have to train for many years. It also has to be chanted in their local dialect to be most effective.]

[And that’s why your friend gave you this Spell as a recording.]

[...]

Han Su slowly nodded to himself. After a long pause, he replied: [Thank you!]

[You’re welcome!]

Black Rose replied calmly: [By the way, do you want to come over for a session?]

[The Public Security Bureau has been getting proactive again recently. They called yesterday to ask if you were attending your appointments on time, and they also asked if I got anything out of you during hypnosis.]

[No time.]

[Alright.]

[...]

Ending the conversation, Han Su shut down his computer. He sat alone in his cramped room and slowly closed his eyes. A strange, subtle feeling stirred in his heart.

’He didn’t need Black Rose’s reminder to understand that for an ordinary person, recklessly meddling with these mysterious and unknown things was a double-edged sword.’

’These supernatural phenomena, which defied the logic of reality, could very well destroy his stable and peaceful life in an instant.’

’There’d be no going back.’

’But I’m different...’

’What peaceful life do I have left to speak of?’

’And as for that Song Chushi... setting aside his gut feeling about whether the man was trustworthy, just thinking about it logically, what were the chances he would actually harm me?’

’Thinking about it cynically, to the victims’ families, I’m the only lead they have to find their loved ones again. So, no matter how much they resent or doubt me, how many of them would actually dare to take my life?’

After sitting quietly for a while, when Han Su opened his eyes again, a hint of madness and immense anticipation was surging within them.

He picked up the voice recorder pen, slowly flicked the switch, and brought it to his ear.

HISS...

As the static from the recorder faded, a long, deep, and heavy voice began to speak.

”Sic erat in abysso!”