The Eldritch Files

”So, you’re saying all you saw was a lunatic driving a heavy-duty truck, desperately trying to ram you?”

Two hours later, Han Su, Xu Ji, and all the wealthy young men and beautiful women who had attended Young Master Zhang’s birthday party were brought to the Public Security Bureau for questioning.

It had become a major incident. After all, not only had the Zhang Family’s son, Zhang He, and a fairly well-known model died from their injuries in the crash, but even the Xu Family’s son had nearly been killed in the bizarre attack.

Due to the severity of the situation, the officers questioning them wore unusually grim expressions, grilling them repeatedly for every detail of the incident.

When questioned by the officer, Han Su simply said calmly, ”To be precise, I only saw a vehicle. I didn’t see a driver.”

He had been asked many times, and Han Su’s answer was always the same.

But the officer with the crew cut sitting across from him was clearly growing impatient. He stared at him coldly. ”No driver? Then how did the vehicle hit you?”

Han Su met the man’s fiery gaze and didn’t answer.

He had plenty of experience with police interrogations. Each timeline added more memories of being detained and questioned—far more than an ordinary person would have in a lifetime.

So, he could tell something was off about this junior officer’s attitude.

’No matter how bizarre this incident sounds, I wasn’t the cause. In fact, I saved someone. And it involves a wealthy scion like Xu Ji. By all rights, I should be getting better treatment than this.’

’So why is he being so aggressive?’

Seeing Han Su’s lack of cooperation, the crew-cut officer’s voice turned menacing. He said coldly, ”Furthermore, we’ve already inspected every inch of that area.”

”We found no signs of any heavy-duty truck going up or down the mountain, nor any traces of a collision.”

”Based on the evidence at the scene, the deceased, Zhang He and Qiao Meng, crashed into the mountainside rocks because they failed to make a turn in time.”

”And the sports car you and Xu Ji were in looks more like the brakes failed and it plunged headfirst off the cliff. You were just lucky to have escaped with your lives.”

”There was no murderous heavy-duty truck!”

”...”

Having personally verified the existence of supernatural phenomena that most people would find incomprehensible, Han Su now felt unusually grounded. As a result, his attitude toward everyone had become much more amicable.

Faced with the aggressive officer, he just gave a resigned smile. He looked the man earnestly in the eyes and said, ”Officer, trying to intimidate me is useless. Xu Ji was with me the entire time. He saw everything I did.”

”Even if I gave in and changed my statement to something more to your liking, he wouldn’t.”

”...”

The officer was speechless for a moment, then narrowed his eyes. He turned to his colleague, who had been sitting beside him reading a file without saying a word.

The colleague slowly lowered the file. Han Su saw his own name on the cover. Then he heard the man say in a low, smiling voice, ”No one dares to detain the eldest son of the Xu Family. But you’re another story.”

Han Su froze for a second, then looked up at him.

Judging by their shoulder insignias, both were low-ranking patrolmen. The one who spoke was in his thirties and wore tea-colored sunglasses.

He was looking at Han Su with a cryptic smile, his eyes clearly holding a deeper meaning.

A flicker of understanding dawned on Han Su. He paused, then said coolly, ”I’m only a witness to this incident, not even a principal party. You have no reason to detain me.”

”Oh, but we do.”

The officer in the tea-colored sunglasses leaned back leisurely in his chair, propped his legs up on the table, and gave a slow smile.

”Because this was a bizarre incident, and someone died, I have grounds to keep you here to cooperate with the investigation. Of the two witnesses, Young Master Xu has at least some scrapes and bruises, so we have to let him go get medical attention first.”

”That being the case, keeping you here to cooperate—a urine test, recalling some details to fill out the report—becomes a perfectly reasonable course of action.”

”We can hold you for twenty-four hours, at least.”

”Of course, we’ll go out and have a word with Young Master Xu. We’ll explain that we’re just keeping you for routine cooperation, tell them to leave first, and come back to pick you up in twenty-four hours.”

”...”

Han Su took a deep breath. He realized things were taking an unexpected turn and straightened his back slightly.

His gaze swept slowly across the two men before he asked point-blank, ”Did you take the bounty from the Black Table?”

At his words, the crew-cut officer’s expression changed, and he looked ready to slam his fist on the table.

But the long-haired officer in the tea-colored glasses waved a hand to stop him, signaling that there was no need to cause a commotion. He then looked calmly into Han Su’s eyes and said:

”I know about that dark web you mentioned. It’s full of shady characters taking jobs—tailing people, secret photography, even contract killing. We’re with the Public Security Bureau. We get our paychecks from the Administrative Hall. Of course we wouldn’t take on jobs like that.”

”But...”

His voice suddenly dropped. ”Do you have any idea how high the reward on that bounty is?”

”It’s so high that a lot of people, on both sides of the law, are getting greedy.”

”It may be just one bounty, but it’s already been broken down into a number of smaller tasks. So even if we don’t take the main bounty, just getting a tiny bit of useful information out of you would be worth a lot of money.”

”...”

He had made himself perfectly clear.

’Of course the victims’ families wouldn’t let me off the hook. Or rather, they just can’t let the case go. But now that there’s a bounty, other people won’t let me off the hook either.’

’I’ve been so careful, trying to avoid trouble. I even went to see Young Master Zhang specifically to avoid this kind of mess.’

’I never thought a simple trip to the Public Security Bureau would give someone an opportunity like this.’

Seeing Han Su’s expression, the officer in the tea-colored glasses knew he understood.

He shot a look at the crew-cut officer beside him. The hot-tempered man stood up, visibly excited, grabbed a bamboo pole that was leaning in the corner, and used it to nudge the security camera so it faced a different direction.

Meanwhile, the man in the tea-colored glasses pulled a box out from a cabinet at his feet. Inside were several strange items.

There was a thick book that looked battered, with impact marks in the center of its cover.

Then a hammer, an oddly shaped nail clipper, a box of tissues, half a bottle of old milk tea, and even a lock of hair wrapped in plastic.

He poured the milk tea into a paper cup. Then, as he slowly snipped the lock of hair into the cup with a pair of scissors, he looked at Han Su with that same cryptic smile. ”Young man, you still have some time to think things over...”

’This guy is as sinister as a viper,’ Han Su thought. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough to make anyone sitting across from him squirm with discomfort.

’Judging by how practiced he sounds, this is definitely not the first time he’s done something like this.’

Han Su didn’t respond. His expression was one of annoyance, but inwardly, his heart gave a faint flutter.

’My right eye... it seemed to be able to melt that Ghost Truck. If that’s the case...’

’...what about a living person?’

’That strange, wonderful experience... the feeling of my Spiritual Power seeping into the real world through the gateway of my right eye. It felt like I could change my reality with my mind.’

’Could I use it as an ”ability”?’

’More importantly, when I return to the Ancient Castle, will I still have this ability? Could I use it against those monsters?’

Ever since he saw the Ghost Truck, this thought had been nagging at him. The irrepressible urge to test it out had become almost unbearable—so strong that even the two men in front of him started to look like tempting targets...

Seeing Han Su remain silent, the two officers exchanged a look. The crew-cut officer quickly peeked outside, quietly pulled the door shut, and dragged a chair over to wedge under the handle.

The officer in the tea-colored glasses poured some expired milk into the paper cup with the hair clippings, then slowly picked it up and swirled it around.

The crew-cut officer, meanwhile, pulled out a pair of handcuffs from behind his back and slowly approached Han Su.

But just then, a loud voice suddenly rang out from outside. ”Gentlemen, we’re taking over here for the time being. Please leave all notes, recordings, and evidence, and wait outside.”

”Immediately! Right now!”