The Eldritch Files

The moment the words left his lips, it was as if they no longer belonged to him.

They became a single entity, born from his mouth to influence the world.

Beneath their feet was a massive, mystical symbol, which began to resonate the instant the Spell was uttered.

This resonance made the Spell coming from Han Su’s and Xu Ji’s mouths heavier, more powerful, carrying it far into the distance.

But this ”far” wasn’t meant in a spatial sense.

It was like a sound at sea. It didn’t travel farther across the surface, but, imbued with mystical meaning by the ritual sigil beneath them, it plunged into the ocean’s depths.

And so, the waves began to surge.

It was as if some power capable of piercing through multiple layers of space had begun to stir a distant resonance.

It began to call out to, or perhaps lure, something.

But though the call went out on the first repetition, there was no echo in return. It felt like a failure.

Han Su was not discouraged. It was obvious that the Ghost Truck, which had left the Disaster Management Bureau helpless, wouldn’t be summoned so easily. He was just about to begin the second repetition of the Spell with Xu Ji when, just as he opened his mouth, his mind suddenly reeled.

A sound like grinding metal, vague, mystical, and bizarre, crashed through his thoughts.

”Bronze... world... reflection... reverberation...”

”...”

The voice came from out of nowhere, its impact causing a sharp pain to lance through Han Su’s head. He stopped chanting the Spell at once.

’It’s that voice from the Ancient Castle,’ he thought. ’It’s been following me ever since, all the way until now.’

Han Su’s voice was faintly distorted as he spoke in a strange tone:

”I command thee to appear in the Light.”

”...”

It was as if his words had been corrupted by the voice in his mind the moment they left his mouth.

This imbued the Spell with a mysterious sense of will, on top of its piercing quality.

But this kind of Spell also consumed an immense amount of Spiritual Power. Han Su found he didn’t have the strength to utter the third line of the Spell.

Across from Han Su, Xu Ji also immediately realized something was wrong. When he had chanted the first repetition of the Spell with Han Su, he hadn’t felt anything special.

But as they recited the second, he faintly heard the roar of machinery and the groans of people in his ears.

It was as if he had returned to that night when he and Han Su first encountered the Ghost Truck.

He didn’t know when, but his surroundings had grown hazy. The bright lights of Qinggang City in the background and the headlights of the cars blocking the road on the hill all seemed to recede into the distance. The area around him felt empty, creating a sense of isolation.

And that inherently terrifying roar seemed to be drawing closer, growing clearer, as if it was about to appear right in front of him.

Just then, he was about to chant the third repetition but suddenly noticed that Han Su’s voice hadn’t joined in.

In this situation, if he continued chanting the Spell, it would be like he was summoning the thing all by himself.

It was like two people standing at the edge of a forest, calling for a tiger. The moment the tiger finally appeared, if one person suddenly shut up, the one who was still talking would become the tiger’s primary target.

Xu Ji was a sharp guy; how could he not notice this change?

So, Xu Ji immediately assumed this was a ploy by Han Su. He puffed out his chest and not only chanted the third repetition of the Spell even louder but even went on to chant a fourth!

After all, Han Su had missed a repetition. As his good brother, of course he had to make it up for him!

RUMBLE!

A thunderclap seemed to travel from the sky to the ground, then roll deep into the earth, producing a profound echo.

Han Su felt the ground tremble. This patch of earth seemed to have become unstable from their chanting. He saw thick fog rolling in from all directions, drawing closer and enveloping both him and Xu Ji.

He slammed a fist against his own head, suppressing the sharp pain and the crazed voice echoing in his mind. Then, he snapped open his bloodshot eyes. ”It’s here!”

BEEEEEP—

Everything changed in that instant.

Just after chanting the fourth repetition of the Spell, even as an ordinary person, Xu Ji could tell something was wrong with his surroundings.

The thick fog that had appeared from all sides was too sudden, too strange.

The car headlights and the brilliant lights of Qinggang City in the distance were completely blocked by the dense fog. The small stretch of road they occupied felt as if it had been forgotten by the entire world.

Even Han Su, who was only four or five meters away, had become a flickering shadow, impossible to see clearly.

An intense feeling of loneliness enveloped him, as if he were the only person at the center of the universe.

Remembering the ghoulish things he’d encountered before, his nerves tensed. He widened his eyes, warily trying to pinpoint which direction the engine’s roar was coming from, as it seemed to emanate from all around him.

Suddenly, the area in front of him went dark, while his sides were abruptly illuminated by a blinding light.

Behind him!

From within the thick fog behind him, a pair of eerie lights had suddenly flared to life, piercing through the layers of mist and casting his giant shadow before him.

And the engine’s roar, laced with the sounds of gasping breaths and pounding hearts, assaulted him from behind.

”Not good...”

Xu Ji shrieked, his voice cracking, and scrambled toward the side of the road.

But he had only taken a single step when he felt clammy arms suddenly grab him.

Two figures had appeared from nowhere, pinning him from the left and right, immobilizing him.

Xu Ji instinctively turned his head and saw the face of the person on his left, which scared him so badly his soul nearly left his body and his scalp went numb.

It was Zhang He!

His old friend, who had died under the wheels of the Ghost Truck a month ago, was covered in blood, his flesh torn and mangled. He wore a strange smile as he stared intently at Xu Ji.

An arm that had been run over by a wheel, with shards of bone peeking through, gripped his own.

And on his right was the leg model who had died on the road with Zhang He.

She too wore that strange smile, clinging tightly to Xu Ji’s other arm, her blood-soaked body pressing against him.

The two of them completely robbed Xu Ji of any chance to escape, and all he could hear was the roar of the engine exploding behind him.

”Zhang He, you son of a bitch! To think I even gave your mom money...”

Under this intense shock, Xu Ji was scared half to death. He began to scream and curse wildly, his body thrashing as if he’d been electrocuted.

But before he could even finish his tirade, the fog behind him violently parted.

A behemoth emerged from the mist, bearing down on him at over three hundred kilometers per hour.

With his back to the Ghost Truck, Xu Ji couldn’t even see its full form. He only felt the furious gale at his back and knew his life was as fragile as an eggshell.

”Bro, delete my hard drive...”

Xu Ji instinctively yelled out his last words to the now-unseen Han Su, only to hear a calm reply.

”Shut up!”

The next moment, Xu Ji saw Han Su’s figure appear in the swirling fog before him. He had been right beside him all along, but Xu Ji must have been so terrified that he hadn’t even seen him.

The electric baton in Han Su’s right hand crackled and sparked. Zhang He and the leg model holding him on both sides let out sharp, mournful cries as their forms became loose and translucent.

Then, the collar of his shirt tightened, and Xu Ji felt his body go light as he was thrown through the air.

WHOOSH...

The moment he landed, the violent wind sent him rolling several times across the ground. He looked up just in time to see the behemoth crush the spot where he had just been standing.

Now that he finally had a chance to see its grotesque appearance, a nightmarish shock washed over him.

Steel and flesh were twisted together in a bizarre fashion to form the truck’s entire frame.

It had just rushed past with a frenzied air, but now its enormous body twisted in an unnatural way, quickly turning around within the fog.

The massive front of the truck emerged from the mist before Xu Ji. Its two bright headlights seemed to possess a soul-stealing power; he could even sense amusement and greed within their beams.

Around them, shadowy figures appeared one by one from the fog, blocking Xu Ji’s path in every direction.

Pale, shattered faces were positioned all around him like wooden stakes. Some hung their heads, others cackled strangely. The air was filled with bizarre sounds that poured into his ears, yet when he tried to listen closely, they seemed to vanish.

”This... This is too fucking intense...”

Xu Ji couldn’t describe how he felt. His eyes instinctively searched for Han Su, only to find that the guy had disappeared again.

His legs instantly turned to noodles, and all he could do was pound the ground and weep in despair.

But his despair also attracted the Ghost Truck.

Even the surrounding Chong Ghosts seemed to grow clearer. This was pure fear, the exact state the Ghost Truck found most delectable, most reassuring.

As the surrounding fog grew thicker and more turbulent, the engine’s roar exploded once more, its crazed power building with the sound.

The Chong Ghosts in the fog all around him weren’t moving their legs, but their forms were rapidly closing in.

Face after face pressed in close to Xu Ji, while pale, white arms reached out from all directions to grab him.

Xu Ji’s body grew heavier and heavier. Forget dodging; he didn’t even have the strength to take a single step.

The piercing glare of the headlights shone directly in his face, forcing his eyes shut. His ears were filled with nothing but a cacophony of hisses and mocking laughter.

At that very instant, the Ghost Truck started up again. With the screech of tires and flesh grinding against the pavement, it charged forward.

The sheer force of its head-on charge was enough to make anyone despair.

But just then, a figure flashed in front of Xu Ji. Han Su stood before him, his left hand behind his back, clearly holding a piece of intricate machinery.

He stretched out his right hand and chanted in a low voice:

”I speak for the Gods, and I deliver this edict!”