The Eldritch Files

RUMBLE!

The moment he opened the car door, he saw a vortex of mist suddenly swirl up in the thick fog to the left of the vehicle.

From within the mist, a massive truck—eight meters tall and covered in strange metal—burst out like a tiger pouncing from the forest. With the momentum of a vehicle doing 300 kilometers per hour and still flooring the accelerator, it slammed solidly into their car.

In the blink of an eye, the car crumpled like a stepped-on soda can.

It all happened in half a second. If you slowed it down, you would see the car’s frame slowly compress inward, the airbags deploying and then bursting.

No matter what kind of safety training the people inside had, no matter what powerful Encrypted Spells they knew, no matter how much firepower they held in their hands, at this moment they were like tomatoes being crushed by immense force, their pulp erupting in a spray of blood.

The one with the quickest reflexes was already halfway out of the car the instant the Ghost Truck appeared.

But in the next moment, the car beneath him was crushed and sent flying. His legs, which he hadn’t fully pulled out, were instantly struck by the recoiling car door, shattering with a CRACK. Then, his body was flung away by the violently retreating vehicle.

He spun several times in the air before hitting the ground hard, sliding a great distance and grinding away a layer of his flesh and blood.

A profound sense of dizziness flooded his mind. He used all his strength to pry his eyes open a crack and saw the massive mechanical beast. After turning his vehicle into a piece of scrap metal, it quickly turned around and ran over the second car, pulling it under its chassis.

Its momentum undiminished, the turbulent gust of wind it created in the brief moment of passing was enough to flip the third car.

Screams of pain, screams of shock, panic...

Some died instantly in their cars, others were groaning, and some were shouting hysterically.

The mechanical beast actually drove back into the fog, then, with a hint of glee, charged toward the overturned vehicle.

Like a bull.

Reverse, impact!

Reverse, impact!

It turned the third car, which had still been relatively intact, into a mangled pancake of metal.

”How could this be?”

”Is this the truck from Highway 59?”

”No, the one from Highway 59... it didn’t look this new...”

”...”

The only survivor was about to lose his mind. He dragged his injured legs, seeing that one was just a stump and the other was a bloody mess from being scraped along the ground. His gun was long gone, thrown somewhere he couldn’t see.

Of course, at this point, he couldn’t be bothered to look for his gun. He just used every ounce of his strength to try and hide, crawling desperately, hoping to sneak out of this strange fog.

He even felt like he was about to succeed. He had been crawling in the fog for a long time, far from the horrifying scene.

But just then, he heard a loud horn blare from ahead. The hair all over his body stood on end and his scalp prickled. He struggled to lift his head, only to be met by two blindingly bright lights that left him dizzy and completely disoriented.

It took all his strength to see that he was surrounded by the parts of the very cars that had just been destroyed.

Somehow, he had crawled back to the middle of the very road where he’d been hit.

”You...”

He used all his strength to curse at it, but he only got one word out before the rest caught in his throat.

Faced with that eight-meter-tall, unyielding monster, what good would cursing do?

He could hear the iron monster desperately building kinetic energy. Its engine throbbed in time with a fleshy, beating heart, the roars building wave upon wave into a terrifying crescendo. Each roar felt as if the beast had already run him over once.

This robbed him of any thought of escape. He just frantically raised his palm.

Spiritual Power permeated from him along with the blood pouring from his various wounds as he loudly recited the highest-level Spell he knew.

This was the most powerful Spell, one that could instantly kill four people upon recitation.

His execution was perfect, too. He only needed one second to recite the entire Spell. But it was no use. He had only spoken a few words when the beast was already charging at him.

The roaring wind it kicked up forced its way into his mouth, making him tongue-tied. The blinding headlights bored into his very soul, making it impossible to concentrate.

But the most crucial part was the truck’s body...

...When that incomparably massive front end rushed toward him at 300 kilometers per hour, there was nothing he could do.

He let out half a whimper before being instantly sucked under the wheels like a dry weed.

It wasn’t even a dramatic scene.

Only a single, regretful thought formed in his mind: ’Was this really necessary? We were just following orders to check on a car...’

...

...

”Behind us, what’s happening back there?”

Xu Ji leaned over the back seat, staring intently.

The vast fog, the faint sounds coming from within it, and the blinding headlights that flashed by for an instant all had an eerie quality that made him incredibly curious.

The three cars that had been tailing them were simply swallowed by the thick fog, making his scalp tingle with excitement.

”I don’t know!”

Han Su slowly exhaled and lowered his hand. The Cross Copper Scar on the back of his hand was gradually fading, as if sinking back into his flesh.

He said to the driver up front, ”It’s too dangerous outside the city. We should find a way back inside quickly!”

As he spoke, the fog behind them began to dissipate. Xu Ji’s eyes widened. The road was completely empty, but at the edge of the receding fog, he could vaguely make out an incredibly tall truck, its cargo bed shaking wildly.

”Huh?”

The impact of this scene on the young master of the Xu Family was indescribable. He knew this was a secret and used all his willpower to keep from shouting out loud: ’Did I just fucking see another truck shaking its ass?’

Han Su, however, paid him no mind. He shook his head, which felt somewhat drained.

’So useful...’

He thought about everything he had just perceived—it was as if his will had been torn, a part of it appearing where the Ghost Truck was, seeing everything its headlights illuminated. The feeling of that immense, crushing power had genuinely startled even him.

He had faced the Ghost Truck twice, forcing it to retreat once and subjugating it the second time.

But honestly, he was still unwilling to face it a third time.

How insane would someone have to be to want to face a crazed truck with a front end seven or eight meters high?

The only question was: ’Why does summoning this thing consume my own Spiritual Power?’

His speculation on this also led to a vague understanding. This Ghost Truck used to instinctively subjugate Chong Ghosts, but now there were no Chong Ghosts to be found.

’Could it be that its source of power used to be Chong Ghosts, and now I’m the one supplying it all?’

However, the Ghost Truck’s instincts remained. The residual Spiritual Power of those it crushed to death seemed to have been absorbed into the fog that accompanied it, so that was one less thing to worry about...

...

Meanwhile, on the highway outside, when Wine Barrel Nose couldn’t contact the men he’d sent out, he slammed on the accelerator and sped out of the city, a bad feeling already growing in his heart.

He wasn’t worried about the man who had just joined the Disaster Management Bureau; he knew the caliber of the men he had dispatched, and they were far beyond what a mere Executioner could handle. But the people from the Queen’s Organization and the Xu Family were a different story and had to be taken seriously.

When he finally reached the highway outside the city and found the pile of scrap metal and flesh, he got out of his car. Looking at the carnage around him, his expression turned grim.

He pulled out a flat flask, took a hard swig, and then softly uttered three words: ”Wandering Spirit’s Return!”

In that instant, a strange power materialized out of thin air, as if piercing the boundary between life and death.

The mangled corpses scattered about began to twitch as if some life force was being forcibly injected into them.

But it was only a twitch.

It was as if a gust of wind had simply blown past, stirring the bodies. Once the wind passed, they were just corpses again.

His brow furrowed. Standing amid the wreckage, he suddenly waved his hand gently. The vast area around him began to writhe as if the ground itself had come alive.

All the scrap metal and corpses sank beneath the surface. Moments later, the ground returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

A cold smile touched the corner of his lips as he muttered to himself, ”Didn’t even bother to ask where they were from, just killed them all?”

”It seems I’ve underestimated how ruthless this newcomer is...”

...

...

At that moment, Han Su couldn’t be bothered to think about what happened on the road. After re-entering the city, he found an unnoticed spot, quickly got out of the car, and walked up to Wei Lan’s vehicle to retrieve the makeup case she had for him.

Although the trip had gone without any major trouble, he knew how much risk Wei Lan had taken. He felt grateful and was about to thank her when she suddenly grabbed his hand.

She had a smile on her face, but her eyes were more serious than ever before as she said, ”From now on, if you need help, find me. If you need someone to talk to, call me. Even if...”

Her voice lowered, and Spiritual Power permeated from her determined tone into Han Su’s palm. ”...Even if you’re confronting those beings beyond Understanding, even if you’re going to slay gods, you have to remember to take me with you!”

”Can you do that?”

”...”

”...”

Han Su looked into her eyes, momentarily stunned, then smiled and nodded.

He couldn’t quite describe the feeling. It wasn’t quite being moved, but it wasn’t a sense of entitlement either.

If he had to describe it, it was a tacit understanding.

A sense of intertwined destinies, of mutual support. This feeling, after all the danger and turmoil of the night, seemed to suddenly calm his heart.

It was as if, in the face of the vast unknown, he finally had the feeling of a trustworthy person by his side.

As for what happened outside the city, he didn’t care in the slightest.

’What does it have to do with me? I’ve already subjugated the Ghost Truck. If those lawbreakers went outside the city to cause trouble and ran into some bizarre phenomenon, didn’t they have it coming?’

P.S. I recommend a book, ”Secret Buyer.”

My name is Zhang Fusheng, an ordinary person in the Gao Wu Era.

But I can buy anything, and I can sell anything.

Aptitude, comprehension, cultivation, luck, lifespan, and even identity and fate.

All it takes is a single contract.