The Eldritch Files

「Qinggang, Central City, Council Hall.」

When the news arrived that Qinggang’s overall pollution levels had begun to fall, no one in the room felt any joy. Instead, the atmosphere instantly grew even more oppressive.

The moment the red line appeared, the data on the screen had already analyzed its target and potential casualties.

”So, do we really need to use high-yield weapons for this one person?”

The person with their finger on the button sneered, ”Not all people are equal.”

”The condition for deploying high-yield weapons is a genuine breach of the third line of defense, or...”

”...the life of a person of status is threatened!”

...

”Then press it!”

Someone urged, inwardly eager to see what would happen after the button was pushed.

But amidst this tense atmosphere, someone on the left side of the long table suddenly spoke up. ”That person is not worth using a high-yield weapon on!”

He then turned to his assistant. ”Who has made it back by now?”

The person beside him immediately replied, ”Independent Investigator Moses has returned to Qinggang from the secret offshore prison. Mr. Buddha is also aware of the situation and can project himself back at a critical moment.”

”Also, the Hidden School has agreed to intervene, but...”

...

The speaker’s gaze turned cold as he looked over, and the assistant hurried to continue. ”The Lady of Sacrifice from the Abyssal Organization has sent a message to the Hidden School: she has already sold that failed experiment to Qinggang, so she is not responsible for its actions.”

”She can help retrieve it now, but Qinggang will have to pay an additional fee.”

”Furthermore, if Qinggang handles it themselves, the failed experiment is insignificant, but no one is to harm that special cleanup operative.”

”Otherwise, she will sever all cooperation with the Ancient Nobles!”

The speaker’s brow furrowed tightly, seemingly in anger, but he didn’t let it show.

He took a moment, then raised a hand slightly. In a flat voice, he said, ”This farce can end. Have them act together and resolve this problem.”

His order was relayed.

Somewhere in the vast, bustling expanse of Qinggang, a man who had long been prepared stepped forward. He carried a dark-red, old-fashioned case and stood atop a building at the city’s edge, his figure obscured, as if hidden within the night.

”I told you before, the plan to find an Heir was foolish!”

Facing the red beam of light that was now right before him, his expression was one of faint contempt. Then, he slowly raised his palm.

[Thought is the boundary!]

With the low recitation of the Spell, a massive screen, tall enough to completely block the city’s edge and several kilometers wide, suddenly materialized in the vast night sky, intercepting the red light.

The red light slammed into the barrier, instantly erupting in an expanding crimson glow, like a spreading sea of blood.

The man on the rooftop was struck by this immense force. His body shook violently, and a flash of paleness crossed his face, but he kept his palm outstretched, single-handedly blocking the intense hatred that streaked across the sky.

BUZZ!

The next moment, a tremendous spiritual roar echoed from the ground. The earth split open, revealing a bottomless fissure. The roiling sea of blood was completely swallowed by this abyss, relieving the pressure on the Investigator atop the building.

At the edge of the fissure, four figures in different colored cloaks appeared. Each held a book and chanted in low voices. As they slowly waved their hands, the Qinggang night sky above was suddenly divided into countless ”shards.”

The night sky was cracking, and the red beam within it was also broken into several segments of varying lengths.

The power of each segment was weakened, losing the extreme intensity that could not coexist with the world.

The last to act was a tall, slender woman who walked slowly out of the chaotic crowd at a crossroads.

She wore a black robe and held a Crystal Skull in her hands.

She chanted a low Spell, and an eerie crystal light began to flash around her, spreading far into the distance. The entire intersection, along with all the pedestrians and vehicles on the roads extending from it, was enveloped in this crystalline hue. All movement suddenly ceased, frozen in mid-air.

The Crystal Skull in her hands slowly opened its mouth. The segments of the red beam, which had been broken apart in the air, flew one by one into the skull’s mouth before it slowly closed.

”Threat neutralized.”

The tall, slender woman looked up toward the location of the Mother Divine Tree. Her face was expressionless as she spoke with abnormal calm, ”Beginning retrieval of the test subject.”

As she spoke, a rumbling sound came from the bottomless fissure in the earth. Suddenly, countless enormous chains shot out, crossing the wilderness and hurtling madly toward the temporary containment center outside the city.

This was an indescribable power, far beyond what any human could resist. Zhang Chiguo’s face changed drastically as he looked up.

But at that very moment, a soft TICK-TOCK-TICK-TOCK sound started up beside him. It was Miss Ai.

The barrier formed by the machine’s operation suddenly extended upward, forming what looked like giant mechanical tentacles.

They met the massive chains in the air. The entire night sky was filled with a bizarre, nauseating sound that made one’s chest tighten. Immense Spiritual Power crushed everything in all directions, yet the temporary containment center, in contrast, remained strangely quiet.

Zhang Chiguo never expected this. He cried out in shock, ”Miss Ai, you...”

Meanwhile, back in Qinggang, the tall, slender woman holding the Crystal Skull also took off her cloak, revealing a pale, bloodless face. Her gaze was sharp as she looked up at the night sky.

’Is this machine insane?’ she thought, her eyes filled with more confusion than anger.

...

...

”See that?”

Before the Mother Divine Tree, having watched Bai Shi fire that shot, Han Su also raised his hand, formed it into the shape of a gun, and aimed at him.

Bai Shi didn’t turn around. He just stared intently at the bullet he had fired.

He watched it cross the wilderness and reach Qinggang, only to be blocked, transformed into a sky full of crimson, and finally dissipate into nothing.

It was like a stone thrown into a lake with all one’s might, but in the end, it created no lasting ripple.

For a moment, despair washed over him. He looked down at his own palm and muttered to himself, ’It seems I really do need the Heir’s power. Otherwise, this dog collar will always be on, and I’ll never be able to do anything... ’

BANG!

Han Su fired. The Spiritual Bullet instantly detonated inside Bai Shi’s body, and his Spiritual Power vanished completely. The immense pressure from the Mother Divine Tree suddenly tore his body to pieces, reducing him to a pool of blood. But at the same time, Han Su’s figure rushed forward.

Before the Mother Divine Tree’s power could dissipate, he caught Bai Shi’s head and then retreated.

At that same instant, the pollution that had been spreading wildly in all directions came to a halt.

Not only that, but even the dark-red Mother Divine Tree suddenly swayed, as if its roots were unstable. The overwhelming crimson color began to fade. Having lost its anchor in reality, even the most powerful pollution started to dissipate into a deeper dimension.

BEEP—

A notification from Miss Ai suddenly sounded in his ear: [Reality anchor compromised. A+ threat Mother Divine Tree has been neutralized!]

A great deal of the oppressive pressure in the air abruptly vanished.

...

...

”Anything else to say?”

After taking Bai Shi’s head, Han Su released his Spiritual Power from his palm, preserving Bai Shi’s Spiritual Activity, and asked in a low voice.

From the cavity of Bai Shi’s neck, dark-red blood with a copper sheen was seeping out bit by bit.

This coppery blood, along with the mysterious substance that had seeped from his body earlier—a fusion of blood and copper—floated silently in the air, like some kind of copper-colored Ghost.

A faint fluctuation of Spiritual Power transmitted a message: ”For you.”

”Everything I know... is in the coppery blood. But you... you can’t...”

...

”Bai Senmang, is it?”

Han Su looked at the blood floating in the air, which contained Copper’s Will. He could feel the faint Spiritual Activity within it, as well as the ”information” carried by that Activity.

This was an ability from the Mechanical Ghost Sequence, which allowed one to use their own Spiritual Activity to create a carrier for information.

He almost laughed in spite of himself.

’Just like you, little combover. Selfish to the extreme, and greedy to the core.’

’Even now, you’re still trying to bargain with me?’

”I’ll find him.”

Setting down Bai Shi’s head, Han Su looked directly into his dimming eyes. ”And not just him. I’ll find all of them.”

Without another word, he tore a metal bottle from a nearby wrecked vehicle, collected the copper-colored blood that contained endless information, and carefully placed it in his case, snapping the lid shut.

”Test subject retrieval failed!”

”Disperse!”

At that same moment, the Abyssal fissure that had split the city slowly closed, leaving no trace it had ever existed. The cloaked figures beside it turned and walked off into alleys in different directions.

At the crossroads, the tall, slender woman’s gaze seemed to pierce through the wilderness, landing on the lingering patch of dark red where the Mother Divine Tree had been. She sighed softly.

’Too fast. We were prepared, but they acted too fast... ’

’Are those people really willing to do anything just to fight us for these few seconds?’

’How interesting, to bet everything on a little kid like him... ’

...

Blocked by the machine, she couldn’t see Han Su’s figure, but she knew he was there. The coldness in her eyes melted for a moment, but in the end, she only sighed softly and blended back into the surrounding crowd.

Everything fell silent. No matter how great the commotion had been or how many people had seen it, it had all lasted a mere two seconds.

Two seconds later, everything was quiet, as if nothing had ever happened.

「Qinggang, Bai Family, Study.」

Bai Senmang furiously gulped down the hard liquor in his glass. His eyes were red, whether from anger or a fleeting moment of genuine sorrow, it was hard to tell.