The Eldritch Files

Han Su took three minutes to confront his feelings of dejection and emptiness—useless emotions.

Three minutes later, he opened his eyes and contemplated what came next.

’Everything Miss Ai did was the result of rigorous calculation. If I still can’t understand, that’s my problem.’

’And now, I need to figure out everything she left behind. I have to face the reactions of the ”big shots” up top once that report is submitted. It’s like escaping the Ancient Castle—no matter how many people die, the survivors have to keep running.’

He slowly took the items from the box to examine them.

’I don’t know if the explanation I’ve pieced together can account for this bizarre phenomenon, but the items themselves are what’s most important.’

The Glasses and the Pocket Watch looked completely normal at first glance.

Skinny had once held these items with his bare hands, so Han Su saw no need for excessive caution. He picked them up gently. A brief inspection revealed they felt light and had a metallic quality.

The moment Han Su put on the Glasses, he felt a wave of dizziness, and his vision blurred. It was as if his own Spiritual Activity had been involuntarily triggered.

With the Glasses on his face, his Spiritual Power became uncontrollable, constantly maintaining a certain degree of Penetration.

The Pocket Watch, on the other hand, was quite beautiful in its design.

It just wasn’t running.

Holding it in his hand, he felt a similar, distinct stir of Spiritual Activity, confirming its extraordinary nature. Unfortunately, while he could sense that both items were unusual, figuring out their exact functions wasn’t that simple.

’It would be stranger if items from the monsters in that bizarre place *were* ordinary.’

’Including this book, they must all have some strange, or rather, miraculous quality.’

But for now, at least, he couldn’t see what it was.

He carefully examined the text inlaid with gold thread on the cover, but it remained obscure and indecipherable.

As far as he could tell, the script didn’t match any known writing system in the world. He opened the book and glanced at the illustrations, but they offered no clues. He could only commit the text on the cover to memory and try to find someone to research it later.

’Of the three items, the book should be my main focus.’

’The better my grasp of this book, the more leverage I’ll have with the man on the other end of the phone when I return to the Ancient Castle.’

After finishing these tasks, Han Su first took a look around before opening his silver briefcase.

He disassembled the case and transferred its inner lining, along with the Mechanical Fragment inside, into the black briefcase.

It was a perfect fit.

It was best to keep the case Miss Ai had left him on his person, but he was a little disappointed about the swap.

’I really liked the silver briefcase’s design, with its rechargeable, pop-out stun baton.’

As for the Mechanical Fragment…

Once the transfer was complete, Han Su began a test he had been anticipating for a long time.

He carefully observed the pointer on the Mechanical Fragment. It was pointing to the number ”nine.”

’Does this mean the next Flashing will arrive in nine days?’

’In theory, the interval between each Flashing has shrunk to eight days, maybe even less. But when I was fighting Bai Shi, I activated the Mechanical Fragment early, which meant I returned to the Ancient Castle twenty-four hours ahead of schedule.’

’That means I spent one less day in the ”present,” and that day was added to the countdown for the next Flashing.’

’Just like the consequence of returning to the Ancient Castle early right after I joined the Disaster Management Bureau.’

’It’s so damn precise.’

But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Han Su controlled his Spiritual Activity, slowly directing it toward the Mechanical Fragment.

HUMMM…

As expected, his Spiritual Activity, now as high as 71%, caused the Mechanical Fragment’s pointer to stir.

And this time, the movement was more substantial, more real than ever before.

’It’s working!’

Han Su felt an irrepressible joy welling up inside him, but he remained calm, pushing his power in little by little as he observed carefully.

He poured his Spiritual Power into the Mechanical Fragment without reservation. He watched as the pointer’s movement grew more distinct, more intense, until finally, just as his twenty years’ worth of Spiritual Range was nearly depleted, it suddenly ticked upward by one notch.

The pointer moved from ”nine” to ”ten.”

Moreover, when Han Su withdrew his Spiritual Power, the pointer stayed on ”ten,” instead of dropping back down as it had before.

Han Su was stunned for a moment. ”...It worked?”

A Spiritual Activity of 71% had actually affected the countdown, pushing it back by a full day.

This single day made a fundamental difference.

’Once a day passes and my Spiritual Power recovers, can’t I just push it back another day?’

’Day after day... doesn’t that mean I’ll have...’

...a way to evade the Flashing and remain in the real world indefinitely?

…

”I did it, I did it...”

An immense joy washed over him like a waterfall.

It felt like a floodgate had opened in Han Su’s heart. Unable to control himself, he shot to his feet, his palms trembling.

’This... this is it. The way to escape the endless cycle of the Ancient Castle abduction that I’ve been searching for...’

’Pushing it back one day at a time will be a pain...’

’...but in theory, this could really let me avoid the Flashing forever, to stay in the ”present” indefinitely?’

’Just two months ago, this was my one and only goal.’

’I just wanted to get away from the Ancient Castle abduction, to escape the Flashing, to have a normal life.’

’Mysterious Powers, kidnapped children—I didn’t care about any of it back then. My only goal in everything I did was to escape the Flashing. And now, I haven’t even saved all the children, but the goal has been achieved in this completely unexpected way?’

Han Su couldn’t describe his feelings at that moment.

He felt a genuine, powerful urge to abandon everything and run, to just flee with this Mechanical Fragment.

It was a primal instinct, the truest impulse of another part of himself.

But…

Han Su felt the urge and didn’t blame that other part of himself for thinking it.

But even as he felt the surprise and elation of this discovery, his thoughts couldn’t help but turn to the children back in the Ancient Castle.

He thought of Li Manman and Song Yushi, of the hot-tempered older boy who was always fighting with the Half-Doctor, of Bai Shi who was hellbent on killing Bai Senmang, and even of Miss Ai, who had risked everything in this affair.

Wei Lan, Pot Lid Head, Rong Qiyue, and Lu Neng, who was waiting to be awakened.

’I started this war. How can I give up halfway through?’

He let out a low sigh and slowly sat back down. ”I’ll wait. I’ll try it a few more times...”

”There will be a chance to be free of all this forever...”

”...”

DING…

A message came in on his phone. Han Su felt a subconscious flicker of hope, but one look at the screen made him sigh softly.

The message was from Wei Lan: ”Is now a good time?”

Han Su tore his gaze away from the Mechanical Fragment and replied: ”How about in two hours!”

The comrades from their first joint operation were waiting for him for a meeting, but he still had preparations to make.

Setting his phone aside, Han Su took the jar of copper-colored blood left by Bai Shi from the case.

This jar of blood contained information known to Bai Shi, another clue meticulously left for him by Miss Ai.

Activating his Spiritual Power, he slowly held his palm over the copper-colored blood and sensed the Activity inside.

With a slight twitch of his fingers, the copper-colored blood began to float gently upward.

HUMMM!

His Spiritual Power intertwined and resonated with the Activity within the copper-colored blood.

He perceived countless mental fragments. It was as if Han Su had fallen into a dream, his consciousness adrift in an endless sea of information.

Facing the information within the copper-colored blood, Han Su—a natural Master of Memory Search—was unexpectedly baffled.

’How is this a person’s memory?’

’Bai Shi’s memories are a complete, tangled mess.’

’Or rather, they’re like jagged, shattered shards of glass, full of abrupt cuts and sharp edges.’

Han Su subconsciously wondered, ’Is this a trap?’

’This kind of distorted memory structure is like a briar patch. It’s impossible to read and would only end up hurting me.’

But remembering the look in Bai Shi’s eyes at the time, he chose to trust him and carefully looked for an opening to invade.

”Wait, there are some...”

Han Su soon discovered that within the vast chaos, there were indeed a few clear, stable slivers of memory.

They were like a few rare, blooming flowers in a dead and rotting garden.

He immediately realized these memory fragments were different and extended his spiritual tendrils toward them.

The next moment, he was plunged into a vast, deep darkness, where he witnessed a series of huge and oppressive scenes.

It must have been one of Bai Shi’s most profound memories, a high point in his recollection.

He saw the entire Ancient Castle descend into chaos, surrounded by the terrified and surprised faces of children. He heard them all saying, ”That person escaped!” ”He’s incredible!” ”He actually beat the monster and saved a kid!”

Thunder and lightning split the night sky. He saw the old butler kneeling in the courtyard outside the Ancient Castle, being lashed with a thorny whip.

Inside the Ancient Castle, it was pandemonium. A monster let out a sinister ”heh heh” laugh.

’Is this what the children remembered from after I escaped the Ancient Castle?’

This was the first time Han Su had ever seen what happened inside the Ancient Castle after his escapes.

He found watching the old butler get beaten quite satisfying.

’But who was the one hitting him?’

In Bai Shi’s memory fragments, he could only see the vicious, thorny whip and the pain on the old butler’s face.

Han Su had to admit, he rather enjoyed watching this scene...