The Eldritch Files

A final, heavy weight lifted from Han Su’s heart. He held his palm out to Pot Lid Head and said cheerfully, ”Then give me the information.”

To Han Su and Pot Lid Head, this seemed a perfectly natural exchange. They clasped hands, and the relevant information was transmitted via Spiritual Power. Han Su received it smoothly, and just like that, everything was finished simply and easily.

The usual taboos and precautions of the Mysterious Domain didn’t apply between them.

After meeting with Han Su and Wei Lan and briefly explaining what they each had to do, Pot Lid Head departed without a second thought. He severed his spiritual connection to the place and vanished from the room.

Wei Lan, however, was still immensely curious after Pot Lid Head left. It was her first time meeting someone who shared her fate, aside from Han Su—of course, she wasn’t counting Xu Ji for the moment:

”Is our new partner a doctor? How else could he have so much experience with forbidden surgeries?”

The question stumped Han Su. He could only give it some serious thought before replying, ”Something like that.”

”He has a lot of surgical experience.”

”...”

Wei Lan mused, ”Our partners are all pretty impressive, then. We have a celebrity, a doctor, and a super-rich heiress.”

Han Su retorted silently, ’Or maybe mercenaries, convicts, and morons?’

But the meeting was over, and everyone had a clear idea of what to do next. Han Su, too, focused his attention on the forbidden surgery he was about to perform.

He closed his eyes, activated his Spiritual Activity, and immersed himself in the memory fragments from Pot Lid Head. They contained the complete experience and sensations from a forbidden surgery Pot Lid Head had once undergone.

Han Su was a natural master at this, with a powerful Talent for reading memory fragments. Normally, one couldn’t just immerse themselves in someone else’s memories. Even when Stealing memories, one had to maintain a third-person perspective.

But Han Su wanted the full, subtle experience, so he chose to immerse himself completely.

The memories crept in, bit by bit, as if he had returned to Pot Lid Head’s life to experience that surgery in his place.

’...What the fuck?’

’...It was only now that Han Su realized it. Pot Lid Head didn’t even use anesthesia for his forbidden surgery?’

Little by little, piece by piece, he experienced every subtle sensation of the surgery. He saw countless cold steel needles and sharp scalpels cutting into his own brain and sensed mysterious Encrypted Spells being constantly recited around him.

By the time he finished reliving the memory, he was drenched in a cold sweat, his clothes soaked through.

It felt like three and a half hours had passed within the memory, but when he came to, he realized only a minute or two had gone by. The flow of time in a memory was different from reality.

To be safe, Han Su relived it two more times.

At this point, from a perceptual standpoint, it was as if Han Su had personally undergone the forbidden surgery three times. He had Mastered every single detail.

”Well then...”

As he opened his eyes for the third time, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow and looked at Wei Lan seriously. ”I’m about to start the surgery. I can’t be disturbed, so you...”

Wei Lan smiled and nodded. ”Don’t worry, I’m here!”

Han Su nodded with a smile and handed the Crystal Pendant to Wei Lan. He activated a barrier strong enough to envelop the entire apartment. He was a little surprised that the small item Miss Ai had advised him to keep could be so useful.

With the Crystal Pendant and Wei Lan standing guard, Han Su could finally banish all distracting thoughts. He silently recited Encrypted Spell Number 06.

[All Things Respond to My Will!]

[...]

[...]

”Wake up, wake up...”

At that moment, a spiritual projection returned to Jack the Ripper, the S-Class test subject in a deep underground base. Hands waved frantically in front of his face as four or five people in full hazmat suits and masks stared down at him nervously.

”Your consciousness just vanished for nearly seven minutes. Where did you go?”

”Also, what did you do after leaving the base today? And, and most importantly...”

One of the researchers, who was clearly a bit older, asked with a trembling voice, ”Can you tell us how you escaped this time?”

Lying on the iron bed, Jack the Ripper slowly pulled his gaze away from their faces, completely unfazed by their panic and tension. He just stared at the ceiling, but his usually vacant eyes now held a spark of excitement.

”He’s more excited than when he returned from the last Two-bodied People mission...”

A younger researcher next to him looked at the monitoring equipment, his voice trembling slightly. ”Maybe... maybe he can really turn back into a normal person?”

”Shut up!”

The old researcher rebuked him mercilessly. He glanced back at the man on the iron bed. ’How could someone who’s already had seven surgeries possibly go back to being normal?’ he thought.

But no matter how strange he’d become, and no matter what had happened, the surgeries had to go on. The logs had to be kept.

He stared at Jack the Ripper’s pale face, hardened his heart, and declared, ”Keep the logs. The results from letting him out on a mission this time were exceptionally good. From now on... cancel his special protections. Put him into standard deployment.”

”But...”

The researchers by the bed knew what that meant. Their eyes, visible above their masks, were wide with terror.

”Do as I say!”

The old researcher’s tone was final. He pulled the equipment over himself and said in a low, serious voice, ”Now, continue detailed monitoring. From now on, every time he returns, the monitoring data must be recorded meticulously.”

”As for now...”

Normally, the monitoring would begin immediately. This time, however, he couldn’t resist. He tried asking Jack the Ripper, ”How did you feel that excitement? Could you... try to feel it again?”

Jack the Ripper didn’t react. The people around him exchanged glances, not quite understanding the old researcher’s question.

’What’s the point of asking something like that...?’

The old researcher seemed to agree he was overthinking things. With a low sigh, he began to operate the machinery to open Jack the Ripper’s skull. But as the massive device began to whir, they suddenly heard a low sound. They all froze, utterly stunned.

It was Jack the Ripper. Lying on the iron bed, he was slowly parting his lips, a faint sound escaping them. If you listened closely, it was almost a song:

So many wine glasses hanging in the air, your face is as red as a strawberry

Tonight, no one’s going home ’til we’re drunk, tomorrow’s sun will be my blanket...

The young researcher couldn’t control himself and cried out softly, ”His... his excitement is getting stronger and stronger...”

...

...

The top-floor apartment, protected by the Crystal Pendant and watched over by Wei Lan, seemed to have become a place isolated from the world.

No one knew what was happening inside that small apartment in this vast city.

Accompanied by the singing, so faint it was nearly inaudible, Han Su held his breath and focused. Using the Mysterious Power granted by Encrypted Spell Number 06 as his scalpel, he began to operate on his own Spiritual Power, mimicking the forbidden surgery Pot Lid Head had undergone.

Of course, he didn’t need to actually open his brain, but it was just as perilous.

’But then, what choice did I ever have?’

Things were already going well. After so thoroughly experiencing the memory of Pot Lid Head’s surgery, the rest of the task seemed much simpler.

His Spiritual Power was comprised of twenty distinct segments. These twenty segments were like batteries he could normally swap out.

Increasing the Activity of all twenty-odd ”batteries” at once was next to impossible.

Therefore, he would start by increasing the Activity of a single battery segment. Once it reached the required level, he would add the next one.

For an ordinary person, performing Spiritual Cutting would be even more difficult than it was for him. It would be like trying to sever time itself within their own Spirit World.

But because his own Spiritual Power already had a distinct, segmented nature, he had a natural advantage in performing this kind of surgery. To be precise, Han Su wasn’t really ”cutting” at all, but rather, reinforcing the existing divisions.

He was using the unique properties of his spirit and strengthening them to resolve his current predicament.

Han Su didn’t have a full Understanding of what this meant for him, but he felt a unique path unfolding before his very eyes.

Having considered everything thoroughly, the surgery began.

And elsewhere in the city, deep within the crowds living their mundane lives, it seemed some other beings were also listening to that song, quietly watching everything unfold. They sighed softly:

”He really didn’t waste any time. The moment he found out, he went right ahead...”

”Is it because you’ve protected him for too long that you’re a little reluctant?”

”My emotions are not important. I just hope he can rest a little longer in reality. Otherwise, when he comes to his senses, all that will be left is exhaustion...”

”Between the two of you, who actually has it harder?”

”I am just a machine. I do not have a heart grown from flesh and blood, so I do not feel hardship.”

”Perhaps it’s because, deep in his instincts, he understands that he’s almost out of time. That’s why he’s in such a hurry to get started, isn’t it?”

”At this moment, he doesn’t know...”

”...The war didn’t just begin. It has been going on for a long, long time.”