The Eldritch Files

The reply stunned Song Chushi for a moment. He could tell Han Su was speaking the truth; he could even sense an indescribable loneliness in his words.

After a long moment, he took off his glasses, wiped the fog from the lenses, and said softly, ”Thank you.”

It was unclear whether he was thanking Han Su for his desire to save their loved ones or for his cooperation.

Han Su didn’t say anything. Only then did he lower his head and start eating the bowl of wontons in front of him, which had long since gone cold.

They didn’t discuss anything else specific after that. Instead, Song Chushi repeatedly questioned Han Su about the details of the monsters. He was incredibly thorough, constantly revising his notes, seemingly trying to ascertain every last detail—the patterns on the monsters, the fabric of their clothes, the color of their eyes.

And Han Su accommodated him as much as possible. Considering his identity and what he had just said about supernatural phenomena, Han Su didn’t mind giving him enough help to make his investigation go more smoothly.

Song Chushi diligently recorded everything Han Su recounted. Only when Han Su paused his story did he slowly set down his pen.

He carefully reviewed his notes, looking pensive. Suddenly, he asked, ”Mr. Han, throughout this entire incident, have you noticed something strange?”

”?”

Han Su thought, ’What part of this goddamn mess isn’t strange?’

”Identity!”

Song Chushi slowly looked up at Han Su. ”When the kidnapping first happened, everyone was stunned by the so-called monsters, the ominous Ancient Castle, and the investigation that went nowhere.”

”A kidnapping that nobody believed was real was sensationalized into a national spectacle, making it easy to overlook another problem.”

”For example, why you?”

Han Su vaguely understood what Song Chushi was getting at. He watched him quietly, signaling for him to continue.

Song Chushi turned to a new page and slowly wrote down several names: ”The daughter of the Magic Box Group’s chairman, the sole Heir of the Lin Family from the neighboring Manchester City, the grandson of a Qinggang City upper council member, a child prodigy in archaeology and crypto-literature, a young Go master, a gaming genius...”

”Among the kidnapped children, every one whose identity was exposed, including my sister, came from a wealthy and powerful family. Their backgrounds were extraordinary. That’s why the kidnapping case caused such an uproar so quickly.”

”And as for the children whose identities weren’t revealed, you can imagine that for them to be on a study tour with this group, they couldn’t have been ordinary either.”

”But...”

He raised his head slightly, looked at Han Su, and said, ”Who are you?”

”I...”

Han Su sat quietly, pondering Song Chushi’s words.

”And yet, in a group of children who were either from prominent families or possessed extraordinary Talent, there was you...”

Song Chushi said slowly, ”Forgive me for being blunt, Mr. Han, but your family’s circumstances were not good. The Public Security Bureau’s investigation shows you were raised by a single woman.”

”It’s just that, after the kidnapping happened, that woman fled the city.”

”Even the Public Security Bureau couldn’t find her, nor could they find any assets under her name. So, they had no choice but to send you to an orphanage...”

”You weren’t originally an orphan, but even so, your background and circumstances were far different from the other children. How did you of all people end up on that hijacked bus?”

”...”

The question he raised was precise, and it was something Han Su had thought about countless times but could never find an answer to.

Back then, precisely because he didn’t fit in with the others, all sorts of theories had emerged.

Some people thought I was part of the criminal organization, that I was on the bus to act as an inside man for the kidnappers, providing intelligence and location information.

Others thought I hadn’t actually been kidnapped at all.

They thought that when I was suddenly found by so many people, I made up a story about being kidnapped by monsters just to show off and grab the spotlight.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember.

My memories from before the kidnapping are just of a tall, thin woman with shoulder-length hair living with me. In my memory, her temper seemed bad; I was always getting beaten, and after she hit me, she would always hold me and cry her heart out.

Everything else is a blur.

As for how I ended up on that bus, I only vaguely remember that before it happened, this woman had arranged for me to transfer schools.

But after this incident, I was suddenly caught in a city-wide whirlwind of debate, facing the doubts and interrogations of the adults around me. And that woman... she had simply vanished.

The Public Security Bureau couldn’t find any trace of her. They just guessed that because I had caused such a disaster, she was afraid of being implicated and had fled the city.

Han Su’s expression was blank. After a long moment, he finally looked up at Song Chushi. ”So, what’s your theory?”

”There are many theories.”

Song Chushi began to speak slowly, ”She disappeared so completely after your incident. So many powerful and influential people couldn’t find a single trace of her. That, in itself, is very strange.”

The topic wasn’t discussed too bluntly, but the meaning was clear.

Han Su understood perfectly. Even though the woman had left few traces in his life, over the years he had imagined countless possibilities.

’Who was she, really? My mother?’

’Then why did she suddenly disappear after what happened to me?’

But the possibilities were endless. An ordinary woman couldn’t just vanish without a trace under the scrutiny of so many of Qinggang’s elite. This meant one of two things: either she herself was mysterious and held secrets unknown to others...

...or someone found her after my incident and disposed of her, very cleanly.

Either possibility caused Han Su’s heart, long stilled to any ripples of emotion, to suddenly feel a faint, inexplicable tremor.

He didn’t say anything, just picked up the plastic spoon and lowered his head to eat the bowl of small wontons that was already nearly cold.

”Enough of this depressing talk.”

After Song Chushi voiced his theory, the two of them sat in mutual silence for a moment. Then, it was Song Chushi who broke the silence with a smile. ”I haven’t been back to Qinggang in a long time. I only came back this time to see you and get some more details.”

”Besides, I have another idea that might sound a bit outrageous...”

He paused, then suddenly said, ”Mr. Han, do you... want to prove you’re not lying?”

Han Su frowned slightly.

Song Chushi continued, his voice laced with a hint of doubt, yet his eyes were sincere. ”I want to ask, your eye... was it also blinded by the monsters in that Ancient Castle?”

Han Su’s expression soured. He looked up at him coldly. ”What do you think? That I gouged it out for fun when I was bored?”

”Mr. Han, don’t misunderstand...”

Song Chushi quickly explained with a smile, ”I’ve just come into contact with a lot of things related to Mysticism in recent years, and it’s made me think about some interesting questions.”

”I’ve been trying to uncover the truth of this case, but I hit a wall at every turn. All the related clues seem to have been deliberately erased. I always feel like I lose the trail just when I’m about to find something.”

”And it’s been similar for you. I’ve looked into your case. I know you’re troubled by the harassment from some of the victims’ families, and you’ve faced repeated questioning from the Public Security Bureau. You’ve always tried to tell the truth, but no one has ever been willing to believe you.”

”So I started thinking, what if we’re the ones who are wrong?”

”What if trying to find answers using real-world logic was the wrong approach from the start?”

”What I mean is...”

He gently opened his hands. ”What if this kidnapping case, which clearly defies real-world logic, can only be solved by using the logic of the supernatural to find clues?”

Han Su was slightly stunned and shifted in his seat. ”Go on.”

Song Chushi looked earnestly at Han Su’s blind eye and said in a low voice, ”I just heard a theory.”

”A Mysterious Power doesn’t just disappear. It transfers through any form of logical contact. And this contact can’t be erased; in fact, it persists indefinitely.”

”For example, with a mystical object, just knowing of its existence is a form of contact.”

”Thinking about it is another form of contact.”

”Seeing it is already a fairly deep level of contact.”

”And you...”

He paused, his voice filled with a sense of mystery. ”You had an eye personally gouged out by those monsters. What level of contact would that be?”

Hearing these words, Han Su was stunned. It was the first time he had ever heard someone analyze the problem from this angle.

”Mr. Han, if everything you’ve said is true, if those monsters really exist and are not things that should exist in our reality...”

As Song Chushi said this, he leaned in slightly and whispered, ”Then, we can reasonably suspect that the monster’s strange power might still reside in your eye.”

”And if you want to prove it, it’s actually very simple!”

As he spoke, he lifted the silver briefcase he carried with him, took out a voice recorder, and said, ”Think of this as a gift of apology to you, Mr. Han.”

”After all, over the past few years, many of the victims’ families have caused you trouble due to their misunderstanding of the case and their worry for their loved ones.”

”But in reality, we, the families of the victims, should be thanking you for bringing back clues.”

Han Su didn’t take it, just looked at him.

Song Chushi met Han Su’s scrutinizing gaze with a light smile. ”In my years of investigating the truth of that kidnapping, I’ve traveled to many places and encountered many mysterious things. Sometimes I get in so deep, I can’t even tell what’s real and what’s not anymore.”

”The Spell on this, I got it from the fishermen of Cape Harbor.”

”They believe that there are unknown ghouls on the sea that can stir up storms, capsize their fishing boats, devour their catch, and even kill their friends and family...”

”So, they have a habit of chanting this ancient Spell before heading out to sea, praying for the protection of a Mysterious Power.”

”It’s said that this Spell has the ability to activate the hidden Mysterious Power deep within some people’s minds, or the power to dispel certain shadows...”

”You... maybe you could give it a try...”

”Perhaps those monsters from the Ancient Castle really did leave some kind of Mysterious Power in your eye?”