The Eldritch Files

”He’s here...”

The moment Han Su heard that voice, his scalp tingled as if shocked by electricity. He spun around immediately.

His Spiritual Activity flared up in an instant, no conscious effort required.

His pupils constricted again and again, trying to gather more light from the distance to see the person’s features clearly.

It was him. The metamorphosis monster!

The monster who had been watching him ever since he joined the Disaster Management Bureau—or even before that.

A monster of unknown origin and unknown motives, whose only certainties were his terrifying power and his hatred for him.

A man even Song Chushi was extremely wary of.

The enemy Miss Ai had spoken of, the one truly lurking in the shadows.

This trip wasn’t for the file. Drunkard was just an appetizer. The one they were truly waiting for was him.

But a powerful sense of urgency rose in his heart, not just because this monster had been hiding for so long, but because Han Su had just heard his voice.

The voice was completely unfamiliar, yet his tone and inflection felt strangely familiar to Han Su.

With his Spiritual Activity pushed to its limit, Han Su took in the man’s entire silhouette in a single glance. He saw his tall frame, white suit, golden hair, the eyepatch over one eye, and the snakeskin briefcase.

Almost mechanically, Han Su scanned the man’s features, searing them into his memory.

But what followed was a wave of unfamiliarity. He had never seen this face before.

The conflicting sensations of unfamiliarity and familiarity intertwined, creating a complex and bizarre feeling that left him deeply unsettled.

”I’ve finally found you.”

As Han Su struggled to make sense of it all, the monster in the white suit was also staring daggers at him, laughing softly.

”I’ve finally waited long enough for you to crawl out of your cradle!”

”It’s time we settled our score...”

”...”

Every word he spoke to Han Su was so deliberate, so clear, as if terrified Han Su might not hear him.

Each word seemed to be steeped in venomous hatred.

This intense sense of familiarity made Han Su’s body sway slightly, his shock and suspicion reaching a peak.

It wasn’t just him. Behind him, Wei Lan also looked up slightly. ”It’s him...”

In a flash, Wei Lan was at his side, steadying him. ”Are you all right?” she asked nervously.

”He’s the monster who was spying on you when you subdued the Ghost Truck. The scars on my face are from him. I know it’s him...”

”...”

Han Su nodded slowly. Struck by endless waves of confusion, he gritted his teeth and said:

”Keep him here. If he comes any closer, we have to trap him, even if it’s just for a few seconds!”

”...”

’Who is this monster in white? Why does he hate me so much?’

Han Su stared intently at the face two hundred meters away. He couldn’t recognize it, but the intense feeling of unease continued to build.

It was almost enough to shatter his mind.

But the job had to be done. Since he had shown himself, they had to be ready to keep him here.

Miss Ai had said that the moment this monster saw him, he wouldn’t be able to resist charging at him.

As long as he got close, they had to keep him here.

Although he was now feeling a strange emotion he hadn’t anticipated, he chose to trust Miss Ai’s judgment.

”Mr. Bai, I’m almost...”

Amidst the angry shouts and curses, Drunkard’s voice also sounded exceptionally strained.

He wanted to maintain some semblance of dignity. With his backup having appeared, desperately urging them to help would make him look too pathetic.

But he had no choice. He was currently using all his strength to summon more lake water, but the Mysterious Power emanating from D7 was too bizarre. The speed at which it was devouring the lake water had far exceeded his imagination.

If he didn’t summon more, the lake would be devoured quickly. But if he continued to summon it, his Spiritual Power would be rapidly depleted.

He could only grit his teeth and shout, ”The thing you wanted, I’ve... prepared it for you!”

SPLASH! The lake water churned all around. From the murky black depths, countless corpses began to surface.

One after another, they piled up in vast sheets.

Pale faces, empty eyes.

Han Su caught a glimpse of them from the corner of his eye and saw some familiar faces, including Bai Yang Investigators and Black Star Investigators.

’These are all the people who stood in my way, the ones I killed before. Drunkard collected them all?’

The Midnight Banshee that once lived in this region was a grotesque creature that dwelled in the Black Lake. It liked to hide corpses in its lair, which was why the Black Lake had the ability to preserve bodies. But this many corpses... who knows how long Drunkard had been collecting them?

Now that all the bodies had surfaced, Drunkard’s gaze toward the man in the white suit was filled with urgency:

’I’ve agreed to your terms, and I’ve prepared what you wanted. You... ’

’...’

”Look closely! Look at me!”

But despite Drunkard’s pleas, the monster in the white suit completely ignored him, his eyes still locked on Han Su.

He watched Han Su’s gaze, watched every subtle change in his expression.

His outstretched right hand slowly rose once more.

Between his five fingers, blue arcs of electricity began to flash, suffused with a kind of mysterious aura.

And the arcs between his fingers seemed to be merely a catalyst.

As he raised his hand, dark clouds began to fill the sky, churning and roiling like a projection from another world.

Thick bolts of lightning could be seen flashing faintly within the clouds.

The next moment, he suddenly grinned and snapped his fingers softly.

”SNAP!”

With that crisp sound, the electricity between his fingers erupted in a shower of sparks. Immediately after, as the sky filled with dark clouds, countless currents of electricity descended from above, striking the surrounding corpses like massive serpents.

All the corpses that Drunkard had painstakingly collected were now twitching and trembling as if they had been awakened.

The bodies and the various discarded mechanical and steel parts nearby were rapidly drawn to each other, fusing together.

In the blink of an eye, they had transformed into indescribable mechanical monsters that staggered to their feet, their eyes opening.

The lifeless wasteland was suddenly filled with countless bizarre corpses, as if the gates of Hell had swung open.

They climbed and moved, one by one, like an unspeakably strange legion.

”The power of an Heir...”

Drunkard, hidden in the Black Lake and clearly in grave danger himself, was nonetheless captivated by this level of power.

He looked at Han Su and the others with a savage glint in his eyes.

’This is Qinggang’s most terrifying monster. I always knew I had a natural ally when it came to dealing with Han Su.’

Beside Han Su, Wei Lan’s face had turned ashen.

Looking at the endless Mechanical Ghosts, she instantly determined that this was not something she could block.

’My seal will definitely be broken.’

At that moment, Han Su also raised his head with difficulty. ’This monster in white... there are too many things about him that don’t make sense.’

’Can the measures I’ve prepared really deal with him?’

WHOOSH...

But while everyone was lost in their own thoughts, the white monster, having transformed all the corpses in the Black Lake, didn’t command them to charge. Instead, he laughed wantonly, triumphantly, and then gently snapped his fingers again.

The seemingly endless Mechanical Ghosts had just awakened when they suddenly surged forward in a churning tide.

They didn’t charge at anyone. Instead, like a school of black river carp, they swarmed together and roared out into the night.

They instantly shattered the glass-like crystals Wei Lan had set up to the southeast and scrambled off in one direction, vanishing into the darkness.

”This...”

Drunkard, who was struggling for his life, froze. ”What’s going on?”

Things were not going as he’d expected; it was completely beyond his comprehension. He was stunned for a moment.

Meeting his bewildered gaze, the white monster finally, slowly, pulled his eyes away from Han Su. His single eye was ice-cold, and his voice was filled with venom and contempt. ”Did you really think I came here to cooperate with you?”

”Did you really think I’d need a piece of trash like you to take back my rightful place as Heir?”

”I hate them, and I hate you just as much!”

”From the moment you wrote that report, you were doomed to die ten thousand times over, and it still wouldn’t be enough to atone for your sins...”

”Haha...”

As he let out a wild laugh, his mouth suddenly gaped open. A round, dazzling ball of electricity rolled out and fell into the Black Lake. It exploded instantly, sending currents of electricity spreading and coursing through the dark water.

Drunkard let out a terrified and desperate scream as the lake water evaporated inch by inch. His voice grew hoarse and frantic. ”Why are you toying with me too?”

And amidst Drunkard’s desperate, nearly insane howls, Han Su finally, at that very moment, trembled all over as recognition dawned:

”It’s you!”

The white monster’s appearance and features had changed so much. It was only the venom in his eyes, and the contempt and hatred he showed for Drunkard, that finally allowed Han Su to recognize him:

”You... How did you get out?”

”...”

Looking at his face alone, the changes were too drastic; Han Su couldn’t make the connection. But that hatred for Drunkard was identical to the hatred Han Su and the child in the Ancient Castle felt, and it pushed the sense of familiarity in Han Su’s heart to its absolute peak.

And the look of disdain and contempt in his eyes as he looked at Drunkard finally allowed Han Su to connect this white monster with a certain person from his memory.

Someone who had also been in the Ancient Castle, but whom Han Su had never thought to rescue...

In that instant, Han Su’s heart hammered in his chest, nearly stopping altogether.

Once that one thought clicked, everything else fell into place. Before, no matter how hard he tried, Han Su couldn’t connect this person with that annoying brat from his memories.

But after that thought flashed through his mind, the eerily familiar look in his eyes, the faint impression left in his features, and the same old arrogance and venom in his tone...

...all finally pieced together in that moment.

A powerful shock struck his heart, giving rise to an indescribable astonishment. ’I didn’t save him, so how did he end up here?’

The child of Secretary Number Two’s family.

Nickname: Little Side-Part.

Real name: Bai Shixing.