The Eldritch Files

”I see it...”

Han Su looked up and saw a blurry figure emerge from deep within the interwoven Spiritual Power.

That tall, thin woman.

This time, he wasn’t seeing her in someone else’s memories, in a photograph, or as an illusion.

By using his memories to locate her, he had forced a resonance of Spiritual Power, allowing him to see her at a point where misplaced spaces overlapped.

The two of them stared at each other as if through a hazy window. Even though the view was indistinct, this was a true reunion after a decade apart.

In his mind, the image of her sharpened rapidly: tall and thin, her expression cold and world-weary. She was almost identical to his memories of her, devoid of any warmth. Just a cold shadow met through a spatial dislocation.

As Han Su watched her, she was also looking at Han Su.

Her gaze was deep, her expression calm.

It seemed she, too, had wondered countless times what he would look like when she finally saw him.

Even though she had seen him from a distance standing beneath the Mother Divine Tree, it couldn’t compare to the significance of this true meeting.

’So, will I see a child weeping because his mother abandoned him? A child filled with rage for being sent to the Ancient Castle, like Bai Shi? Or a child, desperate for a mother’s love, trembling with anxiety at this reunion?’

Her arrogant and disdainful nature made her certain that she wouldn’t like any of those versions. In fact, she would find them repulsive.

But now, seeing him clearly, their gazes meeting, she was surprised to find that Han Su was none of the above.

He was sitting in a chair, reading a book, as if waiting for an unimportant appointment.

Even after sensing her gaze, he didn’t panic. He simply looked up calmly and met her eyes.

’I’m standing, yet he’s just sitting there, still in his reading posture, without even thinking of getting up?’

A strong sense of discomfort welled up inside the tall, thin woman, and an involuntary smile even touched her lips.

Amidst a silent roar, she suddenly smiled faintly and asked, ”What are you reading?”

Han Su concealed his scrutiny of her, showing no emotion. He even answered with a degree of politeness, ”Learning how to fight certain vast and unknown things.”

It was the truth. Li Moxi’s notes were records of his experiences fighting these unknown things. But when the tall, thin woman heard his words, she seemed rather dissatisfied.

Her cold, indifferent eyes suddenly filled with scorn. ”A piece of trash like you... what could you possibly learn?”

’Not good!’

Her voice, carried by Spiritual Power, was like a sky-filling roar that crowded into Han Su’s ears.

The Spiritual Power clearly conveyed the emotion behind her words.

Scorn, coldness, mockery!

Han Su had an immediate stress reaction. Or perhaps, some long-faded memories had triggered his instincts.

In his childhood memories, there were only two versions of her: one in pain, the other cruel. One would hold his battered body and cry, while the other would be the one to batter him.

This had forced Han Su to develop an instinct from a young age, an ability to distinguish which version of her he was facing.

Now, even though those memories were blurry, the instinct remained.

He recognized it at a glance: the one he was seeing now was the cruel, vicious one.

Picking up the black briefcase with one hand and tucking the red notebook inside his clothes with the other, Han Su slowly stood up to face her.

His Spiritual Power activated in an instant, and several plans he had made days ago flashed through his mind.

He had no expectations for this meeting with this woman.

In fact, after learning the true nature of their relationship from Bai Senmang, he had felt an instinctive resistance to this meeting.

But since this meeting was unavoidable, he could only focus on his objective.

’She’s appeared before me after ten years. I have to find a way to keep her here.’

”Do you know?”

The moment Han Su rose and took a barely perceptible step back, the tall, thin woman also took a step forward. Just by closing the dozen or so centimeters between them, her figure became much clearer. She seemed to be looking down on Han Su as she spoke in a cold voice:

”I taught you for so long, all to make you learn how to stay away from danger. So why are you now so determined to rush right into it?”

Her voice seemed full of complaint. ”Before the Tide arrived, I planned to let you have a few more peaceful days. Even while I was investigating the reason for the failed Divine Descent ten years ago, I did my best not to involve you.”

”But now, since you’re so reckless and insist on joining their madness, I’ll have to use other methods to make you a little more... obedient!”

SCHRING!

Her voice grew colder. She suddenly raised a hand, and a small, menacing iron cage appeared beside her.

It was covered in savage iron spikes, black and terrifying, like a nightmare one could never forget.

”Remember this?”

Her smile grew even colder and harsher. ”I told you. If you don’t listen, I’ll lock you in this cage!”

The next moment, she suddenly reached out. Her long, slender fingers passed through layers of space. Before, although she had been located, they were still in different dimensions, like looking at each other through a window. But now, her hand had come through that window.

Her fingertips, carrying a faint glint of crystalline refracted light, reached directly in front of Han Su, as if to pull him through the window.

”That cage...”

The instant Han Su saw the cage, his heart lurched in panic. Certain long-forgotten details suddenly surfaced from the depths of his mind.

His will remained calm, but his body was already trembling with involuntary fear.

He remembered. In his memories from before he was ten, that cage had definitely existed.

This woman had beaten him and cursed him, but her greatest punishment was to point at that small, terrifying iron cage.

She would warn him that he had to be obedient, or else she would lock him in the cage.

Her repeated threats had indeed made Han Su utterly terrified of it.

Symbolically, this cage represented the most terrifying punishment.

Now, as she produced the cage and reached for him, that terrifying symbol in Han Su’s mind seemed to activate. He felt a genuine sensation of being trapped, as if his body was being involuntarily dragged into the cage.

”This is...”

Han Su suddenly understood, just like how he had once used a Spiritual Bullet against Bai Shi.

This cage was his own Spiritual Bullet.

It had been planted in the distant past, and once activated, it would create an irresistible form of control.

Facing the woman’s outstretched hand, his Spiritual Activity was extinguished in an instant, turning him into a lamb with no power to resist.

A glance around revealed that everyone from Red Sea Studio had long since evacuated.

The surroundings were empty, without a single soul in sight, like a prison cell that had been prepared for him long ago.

...

...

At that same moment, on the outskirts of Qinggang City, Song Chushi stood beneath a solitary streetlight.

He was carrying that battered case, and before him lay a straight road leading into Qinggang.

The Qinggang before him was a sea of brilliant red light, but the road itself was completely empty of people and vehicles.

The empty highway gave the vast city an unreal, almost illusory feeling.

Even on instinct alone, one could tell that an enormous trap lay at the end of this road.

Song Chushi himself seemed to know what stepping inside meant. He sighed inwardly; that insane machine had violently pushed events forward, forcing everyone to quicken their pace.

Whether they were prepared or not, they had to face what was coming.

But then again, the time had come anyway. The Tide was about to arrive, wasn’t it?

His hesitation didn’t last long. The moment he sensed a certain Spiritual Power piercing through space from within the massive city, and even faintly beginning some sort of material exchange with the city itself, the corners of his mouth turned up.

He looked up at the city, his eyes blazing with a wild fire.

”Finally decided to show yourself, have you?”

He started walking forward, though a sliver of worry remained in his heart. ’It’s just a shame I haven’t gotten that Crystal Skull yet...’

As he took that step, the brightly lit, enormous city before him seemed to tremble.

Invisible ripples spread out, making the city seem even more illusory, like a reflection in water.

WHOOSH!

And with just that single step, Song Chushi’s figure appeared within the city.

For him, it seemed, there was no process.

There were only two states: being inside the city, and being outside the city.

Standing in the center of the bustling city, at an empty intersection, he then drew a gun, aimed it at the city’s sea of lights, and pulled the trigger!

BANG!

Following the deafening gunshot, it was as if a hole had been punched through the entire empty city. The surging night flowed like a tide through this opening.

The bullet seemed to pierce the veil between illusion and reality. At that same moment, inside the abandoned D7 research center, a power box was instantly hit, triggering a chain reaction. Throughout the entire base, the lights began Flashing and the voltage became unstable.

And Han Su, who had seemed completely powerless against the tall, thin woman’s outstretched hand, suddenly lifted his head.

He saw the woman’s figure suddenly blur. His fix on her location had been affected.

Han Su instantly guessed the reason. ’That guy came back after all?’

’Even at a time like this, he still thought to help me...’

’It wasn’t really necessary, though.’

He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket. Inside was a Pocket Watch he had brought from the Ancient Castle, its purpose now understood thanks to the Emperor’s Book.

’I was already prepared to face this woman. My preparations might not have been sufficient, but what other choice did I have?’

As his thoughts raced, he had already begun to secretly chant: [I am a God, and I issue my decree!]