The Eldritch Files

Miss Crow was also in a state of utter shock. She stood frozen in place, as if the sheer number of things she didn’t understand had struck her all at once, leaving her completely dazed.

But at the urging of those around her, she composed herself slightly, slowly raising her head to face Zhang Chiguo at the door. ”I wanted to stimulate his Spiritual Activity a bit,” she said, ”to help him get an early Understanding of the state required for the Mysterious Training.”

”But...”

She paused before continuing, ”I failed to control my strength and ended up directly completing the Spiritual Penetration process for him.”

”This seems to be a violation of the rules. I am willing to accept punishment.”

”...”

”Mr. Butcher, sit there. Do not move.”

”Miss Crow, please leave the training room and wait outside.”

”Mr. Fugitive, we are going to give you a few instructions. Please follow them exactly. Don’t overthink things, and don’t be nervous. And security personnel, put your weapons away.”

Miss Crow’s words made the expressions of everyone who had entered the training room change drastically. But surprisingly, after the initial shock and suspicion, they immediately relaxed their actions and attitudes at a subtle glance from Zhang Chiguo.

The security personnel holstered their guns but remained vigilant inside the training room. Their hands stayed on their weapons, ready to raise them to their chests at a moment’s notice.

Miss Crow exited the training room as Zhang Chiguo walked in. He gave Han Su a firm nod, as if telling him not to be nervous, and then spoke.

”Cui Qiao, seal off this training room and bring in the necessary equipment.”

”...”

Secretary Cui Qiao immediately left. A short time later, she returned with people carrying several items, including a large, full-length mirror and some placards with text on them.

She first placed the mirror in front of Han Su. Zhang Chiguo stood to the side, watching calmly. He maintained a relaxed and gentle tone as he said, ”Xiaohan, take a look in the mirror and describe what you see. What do you look like right now?”

This was the first chance Han Su had to speak. He looked earnestly into the mirror and said, ”One nose, two eyes. Even though I’ve been up for almost the entire night, I still look energetic. And not ugly.”

Zhang Chiguo nodded, and Secretary Cui Qiao turned the mirror away.

Zhang Chiguo spoke again. ”Alright, now I want you to imagine the appearance of those Pseudo-humans you encountered during the assessment.”

”Pseudo-human?”

The moment Zhang Chiguo mentioned the term, the image of the monster crawling out of the elevator naturally appeared in Han Su’s mind.

’That’s a hard thing to fake. When someone says the word, the image naturally surfaces in your mind. Unless you’ve had professional training, it’s almost impossible to resist.’

Zhang Chiguo watched Han Su’s face tensely. After a few seconds, he signaled to Cui Qiao, who once again flipped the mirror around to face Han Su. ”Xiaohan, describe what you look like now.”

Han Su found the whole thing a bit novel. He slowly replied, ”Energetic. Good-looking.”

Zhang Chiguo slowly let out a breath but didn’t relax completely. After a moment of thought, he suddenly said, ”Imagine the Ghost Truck you encountered earlier.”

”Then, describe yourself one more time...”

”...”

Han Su composed himself and studied his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t sure what Zhang Chiguo was trying to accomplish with all this. ’It must be some kind of procedure used by the Disaster Management Bureau,’ he thought.

’But I really haven’t changed at all...’

’Except... is that a hint of copper in my eyes?’

A jolt went through him. He stared intently, but again, he saw no real change. His skin might have been a shade paler, and his eyes looked normal at first glance. But if he looked very closely, he could just make out what seemed to be a faint, copper-like quality to them.

He fell silent for a moment, then said with a frown, ”One nose, two eyes. Uncle Zhang, I really don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

”You keep asking me. Is there supposed to be some sort of change?”

”Take it easy.”

Zhang Chiguo reassured him. ”Now I’m going to give you a passage of text. Read it all out loud. You can go slowly, no need to rush, but try to read every word.”

As he spoke, Cui Qiao had already picked up one of the placards.

Han Su was surprised to see that the placard contained text from the operations manual he had memorized. The words were still very familiar.

He read the text out, word by word. After he had read a few dozen words, the expression on Secretary Cui Qiao’s face, who was holding the placard, gradually eased from tense to relaxed.

It wasn’t just her; the security personnel and Zhang Chiguo also relaxed. Zhang Chiguo took a step forward and waved his hand. It was as if some taut string in the air had suddenly snapped loose.

Zhang Chiguo stood about two meters from Han Su and said, ”Cui Qiao, you try.”

Secretary Cui Qiao nodded, put down the placard, and walked over to Han Su. At this, a faint sense of tension seemed to return to the onlookers.

”Don’t be nervous.”

Secretary Cui Qiao knelt, looked at Han Su, and asked, ”Where is your breach?”

Han Su was taken aback by the question, not quite understanding what she meant.

But it was Miss Crow, who had been waiting at the doorway and hadn’t left, who answered. ”His right hand. I was holding his right hand when I performed the intrusion.”

Cui Qiao nodded, took Han Su’s right hand, and said softly, ”I want you to try and see if you can remember the feeling from before... the feeling of your Spiritual Power seeping out through your right hand...”

Han Su looked at her deliberately gentle expression, thought for a moment, and then raised his right hand to grasp hers. He silently recalled the feeling from before, when his Spiritual Power had sprung to life and instantly surged back into Miss Crow’s palm.

He made it look like he was concentrating intensely, to the point that his jawline was visibly taut.

’Because I’m worried something abnormal might happen, I have to use all my willpower to control the force of the Penetration. I have to use my greatest strength to produce the lightest touch.’

But to the others, it just looked like a rookie trying with all his might to achieve Penetration, which only made them more worried that he wouldn’t be able to control his strength.

Fortunately, the person holding his hand was Secretary Cui Qiao. No matter how reckless a rookie was, she would always be able to keep the situation under control.

Finally!

The feeling of his Spiritual Power springing to life surged up once more. But under Han Su’s own suppression, the immense tsunami was reduced to a mere, tiny splash of water seeping out through his right hand.

CRACKLE.

A web of cracks instantly spread across the walls of the training room.

Secretary Cui Qiao’s palm trembled slightly, as if she’d received an electric shock. A gentle wave of Spiritual Power then pushed back, forcing the splash from Han Su’s right hand back inside him.

Han Su’s body shuddered. He was in agony as he endured it.

The act of forcing that splash back triggered a frantic, instinctual urge to counter-attack.

However, having experienced this before, he naturally suppressed the instinct. The moment he felt the counter-pressure, he hastily let go of Cui Qiao’s hand.

It looked as if he couldn’t bear the strain and had hastily flung her hand away. His face was ashen, and he appeared to be under immense pressure.

”Whew...”

Secretary Cui Qiao stood up and reported to Zhang Chiguo, ”He has definitely achieved Penetration. The breach is in his right hand. The intensity of his Spiritual Penetration is already quite impressive, but his control is very poor. He’s like a reckless young man.”

Hearing this, Zhang Chiguo finally let out a long sigh of relief. The security personnel also relaxed their tight grips on their guns.

”What a mess...”

Zhang Chiguo’s voice was laced with exasperation. ”I had just decided I needed to be more flexible in my thinking, to learn a thing or two from you young people. But are all of you this reckless these days?”

”Do you have any idea? You two are making the Disaster Management Bureau’s work look like a complete joke!”

”He might not know the dangers of Spiritual Penetration, but you should! You rashly opened a breach. What would you have done if he had suffered grotesque cognitive contamination and lost his mind?”

”...”

Han Su saw Zhang Chiguo starting to vent his displeasure and knew the crisis was over. ”Uncle Zhang,” he asked, ”what does this mean?”

Zhang Chiguo glanced at Miss Crow, who was standing in the doorway. ”It means you just completed your Spiritual Penetration training in an extremely risky manner.”

”What, were you trying to save the Disaster Management Bureau some money?”

”It was my fault.”

Just then, Miss Crow walked into the training room. ”I overestimated my ability to control Spiritual Penetration,” she said. ”I’m willing to accept punishment from the Disaster Management Bureau.”

”Oh, you won’t be escaping punishment!”

Zhang Chiguo stared at her coldly. ”What’s more important is that your actions were far too dangerous. Do you understand?”

”I know that a high-ranking member stimulating a subordinate’s Spiritual Activity is considered a boon—an opportunity most would beg for. However, you are still just an Executioner. You haven’t even obtained your Investigator License.”

”You were only supposed to stimulate his perception of Spiritual Activity, yet you opened a breach directly. Just how much force did you use?”

”This time, we were extremely lucky that nothing went wrong. But I must give you this warning, and I want it to be crystal clear:”

By the end, his tone and expression had become severe. ”If something had gone wrong, his mind would have been contaminated—that goes without saying. As for you...”

”...you could have been demoted directly to the D7 Group. Do you understand?”

”...”

Miss Crow listened, her head bowed low, as if she had already accepted her fate. But Han Su stepped forward. ”Uncle Zhang, that’s not quite right,” he said. ”She didn’t actively invade my mind. It was an automatic request on my part. If anyone’s to be punished, it should be me.”

It was only natural to take responsibility for one’s own actions. Yet, Miss Crow suddenly turned to look at him, her expression one of utter astonishment.

’Was she... even a little touched?’