The Eldritch Files

Han Su didn’t understand the sentence’s meaning. In fact, what echoed in his mind wasn’t even those words.

Imprisoned in his mind was a phrase in a language he couldn’t understand at all.

It was just that in this moment—with his Spiritual Power in turmoil, his anger and will pushed to their limits and yet subtly merging—he suddenly gave voice to the phrase that had been imprisoned in his mind for ten long years.

And so, the words from the Ancient Castle, carried by Han Su’s will, entered the real world.

Once spoken, the words didn’t immediately vanish. Instead, they echoed through the thick fog.

Intense pain immediately shot through his left hand.

This pain surpassed any he had ever felt, so intense it seemed to override his reflexes.

He hurriedly looked down to see a cross-shaped scar materializing on the back of his left hand. It was as if something was writhing and crawling inside, desperate to break through into reality.

That was...

...copper?

Han Su’s forehead was already drenched in cold sweat. He watched as the scar on the back of his hand was torn open by the power within.

The torn scar should have bled, but what he saw was a bright, coppery color.

At that same moment, the Ghost Truck, having finally shaken off Han Su, was trying to escape reality. Its weak engine roared as it was about to vanish into the spreading fog, but the blockade points around it activated.

They were in three directions: the Doctor, Black Tiger, and Miss Crow. Their three positions were closer to Han Su, forming an inner blockade. The six positions further out formed the outer blockade.

If an external force arrived, the outer ring would make contact first. If an internal force was trying to leave, it would be up to the three of them.

Their faces turned grim as they hastily chanted the Spell:

[Thought becomes the boundary]

[...]

It had to be said, their chanting of the Spell was mediocre at best. After all, two of them were untrained in Mysterious Power, and one was a poor student.

But in this area interwoven with Mysterious Power, chanting it was at least somewhat useful.

This small effect was usually negligible, but to the extremely weakened Ghost Truck, it was a powerful deterrent. It was furious but couldn’t muster any aggression. Its escape slowed by half a beat, and then it heard the words Han Su had spoken.

Copper’s Will endures forever in the reflection of the world!

The sentence itself seemed to possess an invisible power. All the Chong Ghosts in the thick fog seemed to be cursed by something, falling to their knees in pain as if in ancient worship, their forms dissolving.

”WHINE...”

Overcome by an invisible terror, the Ghost Truck fought for its life. It couldn’t escape, yet it was terrified to stay.

So it simply turned. Its headlights flared with blinding light as it seemed to muster all its remaining strength. Carrying with it the endless fog, strange plays of light and shadow, and a surreal power, it charged viciously, straight for Han Su on the road.

Even though it was extremely weak, this desperate charge was still terrifyingly powerful.

”Old Han...”

Seeing this, Xu Ji, who was nearby, felt his heart leap into his throat. He subconsciously rushed forward.

As the thick fog dissipated, his shout carried surprisingly far.

”Get back!”

But the response came from Han Su, who suddenly raised his head.

Facing the crazed and misshapen Ghost Truck, he struggled to lift his left hand.

Heavy!

His left hand was abnormally heavy.

That was because as the scar ruptured, more and more blood the color of copper gushed out, coating his entire left hand. This copper was exceptionally heavy, making his left hand feel as if it weighed hundreds of pounds. He needed all his willpower just to lift it.

But facing the truck’s frenzied charge, Han Su erupted with an unprecedented madness and strength.

He clenched his left hand into a fist and smashed it toward the Ghost Truck.

He was using his fist, coated in copper-colored blood, to go head-to-head with a steel monster that weighed over twenty tons.

”PSSSH!”

An incredible scene unfolded before Xu Ji’s eyes.

He watched the truck charge Han Su as Han Su threw his punch. Xu Ji’s mind reeled with images of Han Su being sent flying, or worse, crushed beneath the wheels. Instead, Han Su’s fist smashed directly through the front of the Ghost Truck.

His entire arm plunged into the Ghost Truck’s body.

Han Su felt his hand touch something that was beating, and without hesitation, he gripped it.

The Ghost Truck let out a trembling, mournful cry. The moment its heart was seized, it lost all kinetic energy. It even began to seem less real, unable to use its remaining momentum to crush Han Su under its wheels.

Only an instinctual fear remained, causing it to struggle and tremble.

Its malformed, shriveled headlights dimmed.

And at this moment, an eerie, coppery light shone from Han Su’s eyes.

He held the heart in a death grip. Copper-colored blood seeped from the back of his left hand. In that instant, the blood seemed to come alive, beginning a bizarre Penetration, spreading, and covering. Starting from the heart, it entered every inch of the truck’s space.

The Ghost Truck’s struggles were futile against the copper-colored blood seeping from the back of Han Su’s hand.

...

...

”What’s happening?”

Meanwhile, at the various blockade points, chaos had erupted.

One blockade point had been nearly wiped out earlier, and everyone else knew that this commission was likely a lost cause.

But then, the appearance of that mirror-like, refracting object in the air filled them with a new sense of dread.

Was that a high-level being engaging in a magical battle?

The situation had developed into something incomprehensible. In their panic, it wasn’t until they heard a faint shout from below that they realized the thick fog was starting to dissipate.

Secretary Cui Qiao’s gaze swept the area. She knew some mysterious individual had intervened, stopping the invasion. In a way, this person had also indirectly saved her.

But the other party’s level was too high, their power system too mysterious; she couldn’t locate them. Confirming that something had changed below, she didn’t wait any longer. She jumped into her vehicle, slammed on the accelerator, and her heavy, armored car smashed through the guardrail and drove into the fog.

Just as she drove down a slope, a person suddenly appeared in front of her car.

Black Tiger stood there, his face cold. ”No one is allowed to pass!”

Secretary Cui Qiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another figure on a motorcycle rushing down.

...

...

’My blood seems to have a life of its own?’

’No, it’s the blood seeping from the back of my left hand that has a life of its own. It’s not blood anymore, but some kind of substance similar to copper?’

Feeling the Ghost Truck’s ”heart” in his palm, Han Su experienced a strange sensation.

He could feel his own blood still seeping from the back of his left hand. The blood that seeped out now had a kind of instinct, and it was covering every inch of the Ghost Truck.

It was both covering and repairing.

The Ghost Truck’s flesh-and-blood core, which he had just grievously wounded, was now recovering bit by bit as the copper-colored blood covered it.

The Spear of the Dead Sea had destroyed its core anchor and severely wounded it. But now, the copper formed from Han Su’s blood was building it a new anchor, making it more stable in reality.

As the core was repaired, even its misshapen and shriveled front began to inflate, bit by bit, as if being pumped with air.

All sorts of broken and old parts and Mechanical Fragments began to fall from its body, piling up on the ground. It was like an evolution, a metamorphosis, shedding its old core to welcome a new life.

Its main body was now a size larger than before. The front of the truck stood eight meters tall, its metallic luster was more dazzling, and it had a more oppressive presence. The fleshy tissues at all the joints on its body were now being reinforced by the copper-colored substance.

Through the blood flowing from the back of his left hand, Han Su could actually feel its presence and its will.

He felt its struggle, and he felt that struggle growing weaker and weaker.

Until it completely submitted.

He could even feel its current trembling, and a will that was almost trying to curry favor.

”The Ghost Truck... has been subdued?”

Han Su stared at the Ghost Truck up close in astonishment, his left hand still not releasing the truck’s heart.

Its headlights were Flashing, like an ingratiating wink.

The feeling that he could communicate with it through his mind grew stronger.

Han Su could feel its mood, and even had a kind of intuitive Understanding:

’I can command it!’

He could even order it to crash into a mountain, run people over, or sink itself in a lake and never appear again.

”Back away!”

Han Su slowly stood up and spoke in a low voice.

The hand plunged into the Ghost Truck’s core slowly relaxed and withdrew.

And the Ghost Truck actually did retreat gently, backing up two or three meters from Han Su. The large hole in its front began to fill with the strange coppery metal. Its headlights grew brighter, and even its truck bed was shaking slightly.

With a ”CLANK,” a piece of scrap metal was spat out. It was the Nail of the Dead Sea it had just eaten.

”My God...”

Xu Ji, standing nearby, was completely dumbfounded. ”Am I actually seeing a truck shake its ass at you?”

Han Su noticed it too. The Ghost Truck was, indeed, shaking its ass.

The posture wasn’t very flattering.

The key thing was, he had only ordered it to back away. It was shaking its own ass...

’Looks like its own will hasn’t been completely extinguished...’

An unexpected thought gently surfaced in his mind: ’Perhaps, between destroying and sealing this truck, I’ve found a third option?’

’It just seems like this report is going to be difficult to write...’

Just as Han Su was watching all this with surprise, even vaguely noticing that the voice that had been echoing in his head seemed to have disappeared—a rare pleasant surprise—he suddenly heard the roar of an engine.

”Hm?”

Han Su spun around abruptly and, a moment later, gave a quick wave of his hand.

The Ghost Truck immediately received his command. Its wheels spun in reverse, and the entire vehicle retreated into the surrounding fog.

It vanished along with the dissipating fog, retreating into the deepest part of reality without a trace.

The next moment, two blinding lights appeared, descending from the sky. A figure on a motorcycle shot through the fog and appeared overhead. A person wearing a cat-face mask twisted the handlebars, coming to a stop with one leg planted firmly on the ground.

Their gaze swept over the pile of wreckage left behind by the Ghost Truck’s transformation and they chuckled. ”And here I thought something had gone wrong...”

”Looks like everything went smoothly...”