The Eldritch Files

Looking at these Spells, Han Su felt a twisted and mysterious sensation wash over him.

It was difficult to describe specifically. It was as if the Spells existed there merely as text, yet the moment his gaze fell upon them, he felt like he was being drawn into a distorted space.

As he stared in a daze, the voice of the Red Windbreaker beside him spoke up. ”These are the first five of the thirteen Spells of the Disaster Management Bureau’s Zero Sequence.”

”The remaining eight can only be accessed after you officially become an Investigator. It’s not that we’re being stingy, but even the Zero Sequence Spells carry unknown risks. You can only be granted access once we’re sure your sanity can handle them.”

”Of course, these are more than enough for you.”

”With Encrypted Spells, biting off more than you can chew is the biggest taboo. Many people master just a single Spell, and that’s enough to handle the various bizarre phenomena they encounter in their daily work. It also makes it easier to maintain control over their own sanity.”

”Take Weiwei, for example.”

She casually pulled Miss Crow, who was standing beside her, over as an example. ”She only knows one Spell.”

Han Su was a little curious and turned his head. ”Which one?”

”The one she was born with.”

The Red Windbreaker glanced at Han Su, then clasped her hands behind her back. ”Mortals are bound by reality, so they have an innate instinct to pursue Mysterious Power. But there are only three ways to obtain it.”

”The Disaster Management Bureau represents one of them. We unearth and organize texts and records from ruins, searching for Encrypted Spells that point to Mysterious Power. Then, after a process of risk and experience management, we grant them to ordinary people, allowing them to ultimately master this power.”

”Of course, this is the Bureau’s current training model. You don’t have clearance for what came before the Disaster Management Bureau was founded.”

She paused for a moment before continuing. ”The second way is through those Mysterious Believers. They are often contaminated through various channels, either actively or passively.”

”This contamination causes them to mutate and eventually master Mysterious Power. However, the birth of this power is accompanied by the twisting of their will and the pollution of their minds, which is why they’re usually madmen.”

”But I have to admit, these madmen master Mysterious Power faster than we do. We have to constantly avoid risks, while they are fearless.”

”The risks we avoid are opportunities for them.”

...

Hearing this, Han suddenly recalled the dead man behind the ”door.” ’Didn’t his memories from before he died show that he was one of them?’

The Lady in the Red Windbreaker sighed and looked at Miss Crow. ”The third way is people like her.”

”She was innately contaminated by Mysterious Power. She had already mastered it at birth. In a Mysterious Organization, people like her would be natural-born Saints and Saintesses.”

”However, precisely because she was born with it, her will remains intact, and she has been fighting it constantly. She just doesn’t know how long she can hold out.”

”Of course, I had her join your training this time to see if any of the Spells in the Zero Sequence might be suitable for her.”

”After all, since she’s already risking her life for the Disaster Management Bureau, it wouldn’t be right if she didn’t get any benefits, would it?”

...

Han Su listened patiently, then looked up at the Spells. ”Which one lets you turn invisible by reciting it?”

”The first one.”

The Red Windbreaker followed his gaze. ”The effect of that Spell isn’t actually Invisibility, but ’extraction’.”

”It extracts your existence from reality. The more completely you extract yourself, the weaker your presence becomes, and the harder you are to detect. Of course, to others, this has an effect nearly identical to Invisibility.”

”It’s said that if you master this Encrypted Spell to its absolute limit, you can leave this entire space-time continuum.”

...

Han Su committed this all to memory, then looked at the other Spells. ”What about those?”

”The second, [My Limbs], is a reinforcement-type Spell.”

The Red Windbreaker said, ”This Spell can alter the nature of your Spiritual Power and, by leveraging its fluidity, enhance certain parts of your body.”

”Simply put, it’s for manual labor.”

”The third, [What I Think Becomes the Boundary], is an Encrypted Spell that transforms your Spiritual Power into an invisible barrier. It’s also one of the two mandatory Encrypted Spells for all members of D5D6 once they’ve passed their probationary period and their evaluation reaches A Level.”

”It forcefully establishes a boundary that will not break unless you die or your mind collapses.”

...

As she spoke, she pointed to her own head and added, ”The fourth Spell, however, is a real test of Talent. It’s an Encrypted Spell that can forcibly pull the dead back to reality.”

”It’s usually used to ask the dead for information that would otherwise be difficult to obtain.”

”High-ranking officials from the Public Security Bureau sometimes request experts in this area, and in return, they provide us with certain conveniences in daily life. For example, getting illegal points removed from a driver’s license without even showing our Disaster Management Bureau credentials.”

...

Han Su was slightly taken aback by this, his curiosity suddenly piqued. ”Are there really ghosts in this world?”

Although he had already seen the Ghost Truck and Pseudo-humans, he felt they were somehow different from ghosts, especially the kind that just float around...

”Not that kind.”

The Lady in the Red Windbreaker said, ”But there are strange existences that blur the line between life and death.”

”And the fifth Encrypted Spell, [I Command Thee to Appear in the Light], forcefully commands any unmanifested but already penetrating mysterious anomalies in the vicinity to converge on you first, heh...”

She chuckled coldly and added, ”For D7’s exclusive use.”

Han Su nodded. ’I know about this one,’ he thought. ’My dear mentor, Mr. Strange Bird, taught me about it...’

’The Spiritual Plague-infected individuals on that street back then did indeed converge on me only after they had first contaminated that unknown colleague who recited the Spell.’

He now had a general understanding of the five Spells’ effects, but his decision hadn’t changed. For him, the most important one was still the first.

The Red Windbreaker noticed the look in Han Su’s eyes and knew he was still fixated on the ”Invisibility Spell.” She smiled. ”Prioritizing a life-saving skill. You’re a clever one.”

”You, come here. Weiwei, you too.”

...

She called both Han Su and Miss Crow over. They all sat on the floor. She kicked off her shoes, sat cross-legged, and stretched out her hands, placing one on Han Su’s shoulder and the other on Miss Crow’s forehead.

This wasn’t preferential treatment. Although pressing on the forehead was more effective for information transfer, the forehead was also an extremely dangerous spot.

Therefore, among those on the mysterious path, a superior would never touch a subordinate’s forehead unless they were exceptionally close.

In fact, if not for Zhang Chiguo’s request and Han Su’s genuinely close relationship with him, she wouldn’t have even touched Han Su’s shoulder. Normally, people on the mysterious path exchange information by shaking hands.

Her gaze swept from left to right, across Han Su’s and Miss Crow’s faces. Slowly, she spoke in a low voice, ”I shall enter the abyss.”

Her enunciation was clear and deliberate, as if she were putting great effort into every single word.

But nothing in their surroundings changed. It seemed she was simply making sure the two of them heard it clearly. After reciting it once, she paused for a moment before speaking again.

”I shall... enter... the abyss.”

This time, she seemed to focus more intensely on the phrase, causing her tone to become somewhat peculiar. As the Spell left her lips, her figure suddenly grew blurry. Han Su felt as if his eyes were playing tricks on him; he found he couldn’t see her clearly.

Then, she recited the Spell a third time. Her voice suddenly transformed into a series of muffled, blurry sounds.

It was only because of the previous variations that he could barely discern she was still reciting the same Spell.

As this recitation of the Spell concluded, her body suddenly flickered. It was as if layers of dense space were opening up, and she was slowly sinking into the fissures between them.

It also looked as though the surrounding shadows—those omnipresent shadows that shunned the light—were converging to cover her body.

For a brief moment, Han Su completely lost sight of her. Even the arm she had placed on his shoulder seemed to vanish. He felt a fleeting daze, as if he had...

...simply ”forgotten” her existence?

”A skilled master of Mysterious Power, after reciting this Spell, becomes so unnoticeable you can’t even hear their voice.”

Just as Han Su forgot her existence, a voice suddenly transmitted itself into his Spirit World: ”I’m not that skilled, but I can still make you completely unable to perceive my existence, and even briefly forget I’m here.”

”Consequently, you can no longer hear my physical voice. This is not something I can control.”

”That’s why I must maintain physical contact with you, to transmit information via Spiritual Power. This is the only way for you to understand properly.”

”Now, you may begin learning. Memorize the pronunciation of the last time I recited the Spell. But as you make those sounds, you must know what Spell you are casting.”

”True Spells are the language of the Gods, or rather, the language of a higher form of life that has since been annihilated. We aren’t actually learning their language. Instead, we are using our own language to replicate the effect of theirs.”

”Before you learn an Encrypted Spell, you absolutely must understand this concept.”

...

Han Su ”listened” carefully to her words, nodded slightly, and then slowly recited the Encrypted Spell.

He hadn’t expected it to be so smooth, as if everything just fell into place.

[I shall enter the abyss!]