The Eldritch Files

He was only supposed to use his authority over D7 to investigate quietly, but instead, he had caused such a huge scene...

Han Su silently shook his head. ’I guess you could just chalk it up to everyone having their own style,’ he thought.

On the surface, he could only pretend he knew nothing. With a puzzled expression, he asked, ”This guy is that intense? He’s just a D7 member...”

”Heh...”

Upon hearing this, Secretary Cui Qiao let out a cold laugh and said in a low voice, ”In the Disaster Management Bureau’s internal structure, D7 is, of course, the department with the lowest function. But in terms of security clearance, D7’s own classification is nearly on par with the Bureau itself.”

”Forget you Investigators—even someone like Zhang the Head has only just recently gained the clearance to access D7’s deeper secrets.”

”Investigators have the authority to deploy D7 members for missions, even to use them as cannon fodder, but that is the extent of their power. They are not allowed to pry into D7’s deeper secrets or operational plans; they must simply cooperate as needed.”

”If I had to put it one way, you could understand it like this: many of the Encrypted Spells within the three major Sequences the Disaster Management Bureau controls are tied to D7’s research findings.”

”And because D7 is highly autonomous and its security clearance is extremely high, most outsiders have no idea what secrets it truly holds.”

”The guy who went on a rampage in D7 yesterday is one of those secrets.”

”Both Zhang the Head and I only found out a monster like him even existed after he went on that rampage.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help but ask, ”How exactly did you make an enemy of him yesterday?”

”It’s all clearly written in the report.”

Han Su sighed and said, ”Those three D7 members attacked me, and that guy was just standing there like an idiot. Of course I assumed they were together, so I stabbed him while I was at it...”

”’Stabbed him while you were at it...’”

Secretary Cui Qiao was left speechless. She wanted to say something, but suddenly felt too weary.

’Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused by ’stabbing him while you were at it’?’

Han Su smiled nonchalantly and said, ”Anyway, what was that guy trying to do, rampaging in D7 yesterday?”

”He felt like he’d been set up.”

Secretary Cui Qiao gave Han Su a meaningful look and said, ”It seems that guy was furious that he failed to kill you. When he realized he’d been manipulated, he went to torture the prisoners who might have had information.”

”Those lunatics in D7 are all crazy in their own unique ways. It’s not surprising to find one like him who refuses to be used.”

”What’s more, because of his rampage, those prisoners with information—the ones who wouldn’t crack for us—have now obediently identified the Executioner who was secretly contacting D7.”

”Heh, I bet the people pulling the strings in the shadows never expected that just involving this one lunatic would cause so much trouble, right?”

”Of course, the same goes for you.”

”Zhang the Head knows this too, but he didn’t want to scare you, so he didn’t tell you directly. He just told you to reduce your mission load...”

”But regardless, be more careful on missions from now on!”

At this point, she shook her head helplessly. ”Especially for missions involving D7. I’ll keep an eye out for you. If there’s a mission where he shows up, I’ll tell you in advance. You need to steer clear of him, even if it means I have to face disciplinary action.”

’This Disaster Management Bureau was only founded three years ago, and it’s such a makeshift operation, but the waters here run surprisingly deep...’

Han Su deliberately furrowed his brow and asked, ”He caused such a scene yesterday, and he’s not going to be destroyed for it?”

”D7 members can be destroyed at any time during a mission, depending on the situation. But once they’re back at the D7 Base, it’s their own turf, and they call the shots.”

Secretary Cui Qiao shook her head and said in a low voice, ”As for why he hasn’t been destroyed after causing so much trouble... the D7 staff don’t even have to explain it to us. A higher authority will back them up.”

’Now I kind of understand what Pot Lid Head meant by ’taking leave’...’

While thinking this, Han Su smiled and changed the subject. ”I’ll be careful. But doesn’t this make training in Mysterious Powers even more important?”

”I want to know, besides daily training and carrying out missions, are there any other ways to increase one’s Spiritual Activity?”

”...”

”No!”

Secretary Cui Qiao shook her head immediately, even giving Han Su a strange look. ”In fact, the very act of you asking that question is in itself a dangerous act.”

”Mysterious Power is inherently full of traps and crises. Following the established procedure—increasing your Spiritual Activity little by little while maintaining stability—is the safest method. Anyone who tries to take a shortcut always comes to a bad end.”

”The Disaster Management Bureau is not a Mysterious Organization. It’s not like you can just worship an object or listen to some sound to increase Spiritual Activity. For an Investigator, safety and control are paramount.”

”...”

Hearing the undeniable note of regret in her voice, Han Su frowned and said, ”But there are ways, aren’t there?”

A simple surface-level calculation made it obvious.

The Disaster Management Bureau’s greatest opponents were the various Mysterious Organizations, which found their members through corruption and Penetration.

The Disaster Management Bureau, on the other hand, did it through recruiting and training new members.

Both sides had methods to awaken the Spiritual Activity of newcomers, so in that regard, they were on equal footing.

But for Mysterious Organizations, increasing their members’ Spiritual Activity was laughably easy. They just had to intensify the corruption for an effortless increase.

If the Disaster Management Bureau didn’t have a comparable method, what fight could it possibly put up? It would have been steamrolled long ago.

”Ways to increase it at any cost? Of course, those exist.”

Secretary Cui Qiao didn’t deny his guess. Looking somewhat weary, she decided to be blunt. ”But it depends on an individual’s potential. Unlike the Mysterious Organizations, the Disaster Management Bureau mostly possesses supportive measures.”

”And when it comes to recklessly increasing Spiritual Activity to the point of touching the Divine Forbidden Area, the Disaster Management Bureau currently only has the forbidden surgeries developed by D7, or some high-efficiency agents.”

”But...”

She paused here, letting out a heavy sigh, and said in a low voice, ”Those things... forget about your Uncle Zhang, even I wouldn’t recommend you go near them.”

”They’re too dangerous.”

”The Disaster Management Bureau has many agents that can rapidly increase Spiritual Activity in a short time. Some can even instantly raise a person’s Spiritual Activity from zero to over 70%, but the price is often terrifying.”

”One person took an agent, their Spiritual Activity increased, but their self-perception became warped. They came to believe they were a tree and would spend every day standing in the sun to photosynthesize.”

”Now, he just sunbathes during the day and can only move about normally on overcast days or at night.”

”Another person took an agent and became abnormally sensitive to time. Calculating the passage of time, second by second, became his greatest pleasure. He could sit there, motionless, indefinitely, just muttering about the time.”

”Nowadays, I hear he’s been moved to a D7 lab to be used as an alarm clock...”

”Of course, there are also those who left their bodies entirely to become Spiritual Bodies, and those who became secret God’s Believers...”

”Now, every single person who takes an agent, even if they show no apparent side effects, must live under the Disaster Management Bureau’s strict surveillance indefinitely.”

”Simply put, taking an agent is equivalent to a voluntary demotion, reporting directly to D7.”

”As for the forbidden surgeries, while there are many successful procedures now, there are always some... unsettling outcomes...”

As she spoke, she recalled an example and said with a hint of mockery, ”Oh, right. Your mentor, Mr. Strange Bird, once underwent this type of surgery.”

”He cut off a piece of his own brain and is raising it in that briefcase of his. He used it to achieve a rapid increase in his Spiritual Activity and has cultivated that part of his head into a kind of weapon.”

”Do you want to end up like him?”

’Cutting off a piece of his brain to raise in a box...’

Han Su was suddenly reminded of his mentor’s crazed demeanor back then, and for some reason, he felt that many of his actions were now understandable.

’A surgery like that sounds terrifying just to hear about. Of course I’d never even consider it.’

”I understand your uncertainty now.”

Seeing the look on Han Su’s face, Secretary Cui Qiao slowly exhaled a smoke ring and sighed softly. ”And that’s just the difficulty of increasing your Spiritual Activity. But regardless, as long as you keep up your training and chant the Encrypted Spells, your Spiritual Activity will eventually rise, whether quickly or slowly.”

”The real challenge comes when you actually try to break through into the Divine Forbidden Area.”

”But on that subject, there’s not much I can tell you.”

”Currently, in the entire Disaster Management Bureau, below the rank of Independent Investigator, the only ones whose Spiritual Activity has broken through into the Divine Forbidden Area are the four Investigators of ’Red Lights and Green Wine’.”

”They might be the only ones who can answer all your questions. Unfortunately...”

”...”

”Them?”

Han Su frowned slightly. He thought of the Lady in the Red Windbreaker, whom Zhang Chiguo had initially arranged for him. Although things turned ugly later, Uncle Zhang had indeed tried to arrange everything perfectly for him from the start.

But given the current situation, the idea of asking them for Mysterious Power training was now off the table.

Speaking of which, Secretary Cui Qiao also frowned slightly, then suddenly smiled. ”However, if you really do have questions for them, they might not dare refuse to answer...”

Han Su was taken aback. ”What?”

Cui Qiao smiled and said, ”Because the fate of that Drunkard Investigator, you could say, is in your hands.”

”?”

”You don’t know yet, do you?”

Secretary Cui Qiao smiled, lowered her voice, and said, ”That Drunkard Investigator is the person in the Disaster Management Bureau most likely to be promoted to Independent Investigator right now. Or rather, he just needs to get through this period safely, and his promotion will be a sure thing.”

Han Su’s eyes lit up slightly. ”Is there a ’but’ coming after that?”

Secretary Cui Qiao nodded with a smile. ”But, right at this moment, you joined the Disaster Management Bureau...”

”As long as you resubmit the classification report on that kidnapping case, his promotion won’t go smoothly.”

”If you even submit new evidence proving there was something wrong with that kidnapping case, his record will be stained, and he’ll never be able to get promoted!”

It all clicked for Han Su. For a moment, he felt a sense of vindication.