The Eldritch Files

Out in the wilderness, before Han Su and the others could even figure out Bai Shi’s target, they saw it—the impossibly tall and bizarre Mother Divine Tree up ahead, a tangled mass of flesh and blood. The shocking sight made all their hearts sink.

”The Mother Divine Tree... it appeared directly in the real world?”

”Damn... one of the ten legendary World-Destroying Level disasters has appeared for real. Qinggang is done for!”

On the back of the motorcycle, Wei Lan pulled her hands away from Han Su’s temples and gasped.

She had been performing a ”Spiritual Massage” for Han Su, a method to quickly help someone recover their Spiritual Power.

After all, Han Su had been through a series of intense battles, and his Spiritual Power had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion multiple times.

But now, seeing the terrifying Mother Divine Tree manifest and feeling the bizarre information being transmitted through the air, Han Su, who had been deliberately keeping his composure, instantly tensed up.

He stared at the thing that had appeared in the real world from afar, thinking in astonishment:

’Who is Bai Senmang?’

”...”

Wei Lan sighed and said, ”Secretary No. 2 of Qinggang City. You don’t know him?”

Han Su’s astonishment grew. ’Secretary No. 2... isn’t that the buzz-cut kid’s father?’

’He attacked the temporary containment center, causing the Mother Divine Tree to descend into reality, and the first thing he does is...’

’...try to kill his own family?’

For a moment, his confusion about Bai Shi deepened. ’And here I thought I was the one he hated the most.’

Moreover, his words about being ”tortured for four years” also gave Han Su a deeply unsettling feeling.

The kidnapping was ten years ago. ’In those ten years, when did the buzz-cut kid get out, and what did he go through?’

The more he thought, the more troubled he became. He shook his head, trying to cast the annoying thoughts aside.

But Wei Lan steadied him. ”Don’t move!”

Han Su gave a wry smile. Of course he couldn’t move. He still needed to recover more Spiritual Power to go find that white monster.

Or rather, the child who had been kidnapped alongside him.

But...

The thought of his venomous madness filled Han Su with a profound sense of unease.

He said in a low voice, ”That... that monster and the Drunkard both mentioned an ’Heir’...”

”Heir... have you ever heard of that?”

”Many times!”

Wei Lan nodded slightly. ”I don’t know why they mentioned it. That title is usually associated with a Mysterious Organization.”

”Take our Queen’s Organization, for example. Every city with an Empress pageant gives birth to an Empress once every three years. So, each city has a reigning Empress and many retired ones.”

”And all of them, as candidates, can choose to compete to become a Regional-level Empress of a city-alliance, or the Empress of a country or a continent.”

”Of course, the highest level is the world-level Empress, but... this world hasn’t had an Empress for a very long time.”

”...”

Han Su didn’t understand why she was bringing this up and asked subconsciously, ”Why?”

”Because the competition is too fierce.”

Wei Lan explained in a low voice, ”Every city, region, country, and continent has its own Empress, which involves too many conflicting interests and powers. On top of that, different ethnic groups have different aesthetic standards. No one will yield to anyone else, and no one can overpower the others.”

”But because a world-level Empress has never emerged, no one has ever been able to Master the true power of the Empress.”

”This is one of the reasons the Queen’s Organization is considered relatively safe in the eyes of others. We will never have a unified will.”

”The loose structure of the Queen’s Organization is determined by its very nature, but you can understand it like this:”

”The reason we don’t have a true Empress is that we don’t have a true Heir who can inherit the Empress’s will!”

”...”

Hearing this, something clicked in Han Su’s mind. ”So, you’re saying...”

”Exactly!”

Wei Lan nodded lightly. ”An ’Heir’ usually refers to someone within a Mysterious Organization who receives the entire inheritance.”

Han Su’s expression tensed. ”Inheritance?”

”All Mysterious Powers, Encrypted Spells, and ancient relics are part of the inheritance!”

At this point, Wei Lan’s expression also grew solemn. She said in a low voice, ”Countless powerful and bizarre beings once existed in this world. They have all vanished from history and our memories.”

”Take Qinggang’s Midnight Banshee, for example. She truly existed in this very region beneath our feet, possessing all sorts of Mysterious Powers and a vast following. But who in Qinggang even remembers her now?”

”But even though the Midnight Banshee vanished, her inheritance remains.”

”Everyone in a related Sequence is actually just using their own Spiritual Power to borrow from her inheritance.”

”And the next step after borrowing is Stealing her inheritance, making it their own.”

”There’s only so much inheritance to go around, so of course, people must fight over it and divide it up.”

”But this is where an Heir is different. They are the chosen ones. They are the ones with the legitimate right to receive the entire inheritance.”

”Therefore, once an Heir appears, all the Mysterious Powers will flock to them, and the followers will come too. They will escort you all the way until you reach the very top...”

”...”

”This...”

Han Su understood the concept of an Heir, but he still couldn’t quite piece together the connections.

Filled with doubt, he could only twist the throttle and speed forward.

As they got closer and closer to the temporary containment center, people could be seen kneeling all over the road.

Some were staff members who had escaped the containment center, others were Executioners. They must have all escaped the Mechanical Ghosts’ assault on the center and hadn’t immediately lost their will to the Mother Divine Tree’s corruption.

But their Spiritual Activity was limited, and after fleeing a certain distance, they were corrupted nonetheless.

As he rapidly approached the temporary containment center, the brutal scene, though expected, still shocked Han Su.

The vast containment center was now completely surrounded by swarms of Mechanical Ghosts. Piles of broken machinery, scrap metal, and vehicles formed mountains around it. Blue arcs of electricity occasionally flashed, and flames flickered between the machines, creating a wall of steel.

About a kilometer away, Han Su saw the survivors who had escaped the containment center. Only a dozen or so still had their own will intact.

Han Su spotted the Lady in the Red Windbreaker and the other two major Investigators among them, as well as the Doctor, Black Tiger, and Rong Qiyue. Surprisingly, Li Yiting was still trailing behind Rong Qiyue. All of them had their backs to the Mother Divine Tree, not daring to endure its corruption any longer.

”That white monster...”

Han Su quickly stopped the motorcycle. Before he could even speak, the people standing by the side of the road noticed him.

Instantly, everyone’s expression changed. A flash of red appeared as the Lady in the Red Windbreaker strode toward him.

Her expression held anger, suspicion, and even a hint of danger. She yelled, ”What exactly did you do? Where is the Drunkard now?”

She was one of Qinggang’s four great Investigators. She held a high rank, and her Spiritual Activity had already stepped into the Divine Forbidden Area.

Now, unleashed, her anger created an immense pressure.

But Han Su met her gaze, his expression turning cold as he looked directly into her eyes. ”Get out of my way!”

His Spiritual Activity flared up at the same moment. A powerful clash erupted between their gazes. The Lady in the Red Windbreaker hadn’t expected such strong resistance and was stunned for a moment.

But then, the anger in her heart surged even higher. ’If you hadn’t led so many people away, how could the containment center have ended up like this...?’

Not far away, Night Lamp also frowned and looked over at Han Su. Green Hat lazily raised his head as well.

Their hostile gazes intertwined, and the pressure in the area instantly multiplied.

The surrounding atmosphere suddenly turned icy, and a suffocating oppression filled the air.

Everyone felt uneasy and subconsciously took a step back.

In the crowd, only Black Tiger, seeing things were about to go south, narrowed his eyes and prepared to make a move. Beside him, the Doctor quietly drew his gun.

Meanwhile, Miss Crow, who was also in the crowd, suddenly had a slight smile on her face.

”BEEP—”

But at that exact moment, a car horn suddenly blared.

In the darkness ahead, a vehicle was rapidly approaching.

Or rather, it was an entire motorcade. More than ten armored vehicles drove up in formation and came to a gradual stop. The people who got out were all fully armed and wearing special night-vision goggles.

These goggles allowed them to see their surroundings without seeing things they weren’t supposed to see.

After getting out, they immediately fanned out, on high alert. Everyone’s attention was focused on one particular vehicle.

Zhang Chiguo stepped out of the car, carrying a case.

His face was grim and he looked extremely displeased; one might even say he was hiding an endless rage.

THUD! THUD!

He simply walked forward, but his footsteps sounded abnormally heavy.

The armed personnel and Executors, including Rong Qiyue and the others from Seawall City, didn’t notice anything unusual. However, the three Investigators—Night Lamp, Red Windbreaker, and Green Hat—all frowned in discomfort at the same time.

The Lady in the Red Windbreaker saw Zhang Chiguo and looked displeased. She was about to speak, but Zhang Chiguo kept walking and took another step.

With just that one step, the words on the tip of the Lady in the Red Windbreaker’s tongue seemed to be crushed by the sound of his footfall.

It was a short distance, and Zhang Chiguo didn’t seem to be moving slowly; he was simply walking over. But every step he took felt like a great stone being pressed down upon their hearts. By the time Zhang Chiguo stood before them, the pressure had reached its absolute peak.

PTUI! The Lady in the Red Windbreaker suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, her face turning deathly pale.

Blood also trickled from the nostrils of Night Lamp and Green Hat. Their faces were pale and they swayed on their feet, on the verge of collapsing. They tried to lift their heads to look at Zhang Chiguo’s face, but felt as if they were being crushed by an immense force, unable to do so.

The others present were not injured, but they too felt an infinite pressure and lowered their heads, not daring to look at Zhang Chiguo’s tall figure silhouetted by the headlights.

Even Han Su felt a heavy pressure. His thoughts raced as he looked up at Zhang Chiguo and said:

”Uncle Zhang!”