The Eldritch Files

The trainees, who had been frantically using their last moments to cram, erupted into a buzzing commotion. Countless eyes widened in shock. ”Holy shit, a prodigy with four A-Levels right off the bat?”

”That’s not right... It doesn’t seem like he’s read the rules much at all...”

”Other than the fact that he’s always caught up in something, I never noticed anything special about him...”

Amidst the crowd’s astonished gazes, the man with the gold-rimmed glasses walked back, looking completely relaxed. Han Su nudged him. ”Buddy, didn’t you only look at the rules for like, half an hour? I’ve never seen you trying to memorize them...”

”Is this part easy?”

”Not exactly.”

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses pushed them up with his middle finger. ”There’s a higher S-Class evaluation, but since I only spent half an hour on it a week ago, I could only manage A-Level.”

”Huh?”

Han Su felt that something was off.

Just then, amidst a ripple of low murmurs, the man in camouflage next to them glanced awkwardly at the handbook—he had only gotten through three pages—and shook his head, as if resigning himself to his fate.

He then stood up decisively and was the second to walk into the room.

He came out after just three minutes. Above the doorframe, his information also appeared:

[Codename: Black Tiger]

[Rules: C]

[Insight: C]

[Adaptability: A]

[Interdiction: A]

[Encryption: C]

[Execution: B]

[Additional Evaluation: None]

In the training room, another stir went through the crowd. Envy filled countless eyes. ”Two A-Levels, that’s still awesome...”

The man in camouflage, however, looked very dissatisfied with himself. He sat down in silence. After a moment, as if struck by a thought, he suddenly turned his head, nodded toward Han Su, and his eyes seemed to hold a hint of respect.

?

For some reason, Han Su felt like the man was staging a grand, internal drama of self-motivation and encouragement!

The girl in the black hood was third. She had also looked stressed while flipping through the rules, and as if having finally made some kind of decision, she resolutely put the book down, stood up, and walked toward the room.

About ten minutes later, she came out. Above her head, the information flashed:

[Codename: Crow]

[Rules: C]

[Insight: A]

[Adaptability: A]

[Interdiction: A]

[Encryption: S]

[Execution: A]

[Additional Evaluation: S]

The crowd outside erupted, barely believing their eyes. ”Four A-Levels and two S-Ranks?”

”Something’s not right...”

Someone quickly spotted the problem. ”Everyone else only has six results, and the instructor told us there were six training categories at the start. How come she has seven?”

Only the girl in the black hood herself seemed dissatisfied with this result. She stared at the C-Level evaluation for Rules, a look of deep shame on her face.

She watched as the other trainees began to enter the room opposite them, one by one, their results appearing item by item. The vast majority, in fact, didn’t have a single A-Level. It was a sea of B’s or C’s.

Even D’s were rare.

It seemed the Disaster Management Bureau had a habit of not giving out D-Level evaluations lightly.

However, a few who had performed exceptionally in the ”Whispers” training category and had left the program earlier now received rather good results. And from their confident expressions, it seemed they already knew their placements.

Seeing that it was about his turn, Han Su also got up, got in line, and then entered the room across the hall.

There was no one inside the room, only a long table. On the other side was a machine connected to countless wires. On its display, strings of text flashed continuously:

[Hello, Trainee Han Su. I am Miss Ai. I will conduct your final assessment and provide a group assignment recommendation based on your performance in the assessment mission, your Talent for Encrypted Spells, and the evaluation reports submitted by the staff. Do you have any questions?]

[...]

Han Su could only shake his head. ”No.”

[Please proceed with the final item of the assessment: demonstrate your Understanding of the Executioner Code of Conduct Handbook.]

Text flashed on the computer screen: [The entire code of conduct contains 134,567 characters. Reciting it verbatim, without a single character’s error, qualifies for S-Class.]

[Fully understanding all rules and articles and being able to accurately paraphrase their content qualifies for A-Level.]

[May I ask you... ]

[...]

Han Su answered honestly, ”I only memorized the first part, the execution regulations. I only had time to read through the last three major sections once, so I just have a general idea of what they’re about.”

A string of data flashed across the computer screen, and then, text appeared: ”B-Level.”

Immediately after, a new line of text appeared: [Please answer the following three questions in order. You have thirty seconds to think about each question:]

[The Pseudo-humans faced during the internship mission: where is their weak spot? After entering reality, what is the sequence of their transformation?]

Han Su focused slightly, recalling his recent observations, and answered, ”Their weak spot is the chest. First, changes resembling clothing appear on their bodies. Then facial features emerge. Finally, they form real eyes, nostrils, and a mouth.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, ”The more human they become, the more effective bullets are against them. The weak spot also seems to shift from the chest to the head. It’s as if... by learning to be human, they also learned human ’weaknesses’!”

The text flashed again: [Please answer: When the Pseudo-humans were about to break through the defense line, why did you lock your team captain inside the iron fence along with the Pseudo-humans?]

Han Su answered, ”Because the captain said from the start that we had to stop these things from Penetrating into reality. At that point, we clearly couldn’t hold them back anymore, so my only option was to lock him inside with those Pseudo-humans.”

The text flashed: [Since you had already made the decision, why did you not stop your teammate when he attempted to raise the iron fence again, an action contrary to your own?]

’Because I fucking hate meddling in other people’s business...’

Han Su thought to himself, but said aloud, ”Because that would have caused conflict. If we started fighting amongst ourselves over a difference in ideology, the result could have been me stopping him, or him killing me. Either way, it would have depleted our interdiction strength.”

The string of text immediately began to flicker, as if a massive amount of data was being processed.

About two seconds later, another line of text popped up: [Based on normal reasoning, determine: was the problem with the elevator, or the building?]

All the questions were extremely simple. It seemed they were assessing the details observed when facing the Pseudo-humans, and the logic deduced from those observations.

To Han Su, this was familiar territory. It was like a low-level trip to an Ancient Castle. Any of his own adventures in the Ancient Castle felt several orders of magnitude more difficult than this assessment from the Disaster Management Bureau.

After he answered them one by one, the final question began to appear on the display: [Trainee Han Su, do you have a desired codename?]

[Disaster Management Bureau operatives are accustomed to acting under codenames. This is also a measure to protect personal information. The final codename will be determined by combining the trainee’s own preferences and their behavioral performance. Once selected, it cannot be changed.]

”Codename?”

Han Su thought about it seriously for a moment, came up with a cool-sounding one, and then walked out of the room.

Outside the door, countless people were watching the electronic information bar above his head intently. They soon saw the assessment results flash inside:

[Codename: Butcher]

[Rules: B]

[Insight: A]

[Adaptability: A]

[Interdiction: A]

[Encryption: A]

[Execution: A]

[Additional Evaluation: None]

”Holy shit, a 5-A-Level contestant?”

Seeing this result so unexpectedly, the expressions of everyone present instantly became incredibly strange.

If it were the man in the gold-rimmed glasses, or the soldier fresh from the battlefield, it would be one thing. But for this guy with a troubled past to also get such a high evaluation?

Wait, his codename...

My God, has even the Disaster Management Bureau tacitly approved of the things he’s done?

Not only did the trainees fall deathly silent, but even Han Su, who had just turned around, was dumbfounded. ”What the hell? Wasn’t my desired codename ’Flashing Pretty Boy’? Who the hell gave me Butcher?”

In another office, when Zhang Chiguo saw this result, he let out a ”PFFT!” and sprayed a mouthful of tea.

He wiped himself off in embarrassment, took a moment to compose himself, and said, ”Could it be... that there was some kind of mistake?”

”Impossible.”

The bald researcher beside him, whose admiration for Zhang Chiguo was already boundless, stated adamantly, ”This report was generated from data we provided, with the final judgment made by Miss Ai. She is absolutely infallible.”

”Even our report can only offer suggestions to Miss Ai. The fact that she adopted them means she believes our judgment was correct.”

”Zhang the Head, you are truly amazing. I almost made a terrible mistake...”

”...”

Faced with the bald researcher’s praise and adoration, Zhang Chiguo was already breaking out in a cold sweat, secretly regretting his actions. ’This is bad. At first, I was just afraid his evaluation would be too low and he’d be assigned to D5D6. Now it looks like I’ve made him way too high-profile...’

’A man really shouldn’t abuse the power in his hands. I should have even suppressed his Spiritual Intuition down to a D-Level...’

’However...’

As this slight regret formed in his mind, he subconsciously leaned forward and clicked a few times on the monitor. Instantly, the footage of Han Su’s elevator assessment began to play back once more.

Zhang Chiguo had already lost count of how many times he had watched this footage, admiring Han Su’s every action and reaction when facing those things.

Aside from the Ghost Truck incident, this was his first time seeing these things, yet he acted with extraordinary rationality and precise judgment.

It was his first time using a gun, so his stance was a bit awkward, but he had already demonstrated an exceptional Talent for shooting.

Zhang Chiguo especially admired his final, unhesitating act of locking the captain inside the fence as well. A faint sense of pleasant surprise grew in his heart:

’I only thought that his situation wouldn’t be good after joining the Disaster Management Bureau. Even when I agreed to talk with him, it was mainly to placate him. After all, if I really gave him the clues I know, he might not even survive a month...’

’But looking at him now, the qualities he’s displayed would securely place him in the D2 Group...’

’Perhaps... he really is qualified to know certain things?’