The Eldritch Files

The pandemonium that erupted throughout the Ancient Castle after his own escape, along with the old butler receiving his punishment, was the first complete scene in Bai Shi’s memory.

The second scene was when he was chosen by the fifth floor.

It seemed that after he had left, Bai Shi was still sent to the fifth floor.

But in this memory, he was still scorned by the monster inside the Copper Coffin. He saw the injured old butler staring at him with a sinister expression. ”Since you’ve been chosen, the only path left for you is to receive the copper’s approval. Otherwise...”

The scene flickered. He saw the boy with the crew cut, day after day, forced to face all sorts of copper creations and strange instruments.

Every day and every night, he had to fall asleep to the sound of copper. He worshiped the copper artifacts, all the while feeling his flesh being torn apart as the living copper—as if it possessed a life of its own—ripped open his skin and burrowed, bit by bit, into his body and his mind.

Han Su wanted desperately to see the details of this process, but his consciousness couldn’t delve any deeper.

He could only see repetitive, mechanical torture, as if in Bai Shi’s eyes, it had all been just as distorted and warped.

Han Su had no choice but to enter the next complete memory fragment. He saw a memory of Bai Shi appearing outside the Ancient Castle.

But the entire memory fragment was oppressive and suffocating.

Han Su applied his own understanding and realized why. During this period, Bai Shi must have been sealed inside a copper coffin.

He was unconscious for long stretches of time. When he occasionally woke up, he would hear the sounds of haggling in various languages.

Mentions of ”defective product” or ”secret weapon” and the like were made.

He entered the next memory fragment. This time, the memory was finally a little clearer.

In Bai Shi’s memory, he saw a tall, slender woman.

Han Su’s heart couldn’t help but tremble. It matched his own hazy memories. He knew her.

She was, without a doubt, the woman who had once taken care of him.

But she was completely different from the image in his memory—cold, arrogant, her expression one of condescension.

At this time, Bai Shi couldn’t speak, and even his thoughts were sluggish. He could only see her speaking to another man, one wearing an expensive white suit and a pleading expression. ”You’re quite capable, aren’t you? How much did you spend to actually find him and bring him back?”

”But can’t you tell? He’s already a dead man.”

”...”

”Save him...”

The man in the suit pleaded desperately, ”You can definitely save him, right?”

”The price of ascending the throne is enormous.”

The tall, slender woman looked at him coldly. ”If he had become the Heir of copper, he would have obtained unimaginable glory and benefits.”

”But since he failed, of course he must pay an enormous price.”

”If you must blame someone, blame him for not having what it takes!”

”The other Heirs have already been dispatched to their various fronts. Even those who weren’t chosen have found suitable positions. Only him, this piece of trash... he was lucky enough to be chosen, yet he still ended up a defective product. What a waste of an opportunity!”

”As he is now, his only use is to be made into a secret weapon. Or, we could just put him out of his misery right now.”

”...”

”No!”

The man in the suit shouted. ”Since he was chosen, how could he have failed?”

”This is... this is your fault! You clearly said...”

”We never made any promises!”

The tall, slender woman looked at him coldly. ”We only said that such a high-level power carries great risk, and that failure is normal. This, of course, doesn’t just refer to the failure of not being chosen, but also includes the risk of containment failure even after being chosen.”

”And you need to understand that even this chance to fail was something you begged for on your knees!”

”...”

”I didn’t know, I really had no idea...”

The man in the suit yelled, his voice cracking. ”I just... I just wanted to get a ticket for our family...”

”I don’t believe you didn’t know.”

The tall, slender woman faced him, her expression filled with nothing but scorn. ”You knew perfectly well. You’ve only just realized the consequences and are regretting it now.”

”However...”

She paused for a moment, then said, ”It’s not as if there’s no chance at all.”

”If you’re willing to pay a sufficient price, I can try running some experiments on him.”

”Because even I want to know just how poor one’s Talent has to be that they still become a defective product after receiving authorization.”

”What’s certain is that he has already accepted the power of high-level copper, but the Copper’s Will hasn’t been activated. Perhaps... I can try using external force to help him activate it. If it succeeds, he can still become the Heir of copper and get you that ticket...”

”Of course, you must be prepared. This process... is going to be quite agonizing, you know...”

”...”

”I agree! I agree!”

Before she could finish, the man in the suit shouted, ”I’ll pay! I’ll pay whatever it costs!”

”You must help him activate it, no matter the price...”

”...”

”...”

SWISH!

The memory fragments swirled again. Han Su saw vast, twisted memories—countless shattered and chaotic images spliced together with no logic.

There was the process of the boy with the crew cut undergoing ”treatment,” the experience of countless steel needles piercing his brain. If one had to describe it, it was like a montage of nightmares pieced together, each segment riddled with wounds and dripping with blood.

And behind these endless, twisted memories was a familiar place. It looked like Dingxiang Mansion.

In this memory, Han Su even saw the old man from Dingxiang Mansion, as well as the familiar Living Copper Puppet.

He saw these countless people surrounding Bai Shi, watching his attempts.

He watched the Living Copper Puppet, which showed no sign of reviving no matter how hard Bai Shi tried.

He saw countless sneering expressions. ”It’s useless. We’ve tried everything we were supposed to try, and even things we weren’t. The Copper’s Will hasn’t awakened in his body at all. He’s not a defective product; he’s just completely useless.”

Through Bai Shi’s memory, Han Su saw the disgusted and disappointed look in the eyes of the old man from Dingxiang Mansion, as if this was all a waste of time.

He saw Bai Senmang looking at him with an expression that was almost hateful. ”Why...”

”After investing so much money in you, how can you be... so utterly useless?”

”...”

But amidst this overwhelming disdain and the looks one would give to trash, he heard the tall, slender woman’s voice. She suddenly laughed. ”This isn’t surprising. I think I’ve finally found the reason.”

”He has indeed failed, but the power of copper is truly within him. He is already a natural vessel for copper, but the Copper’s Will has not awakened. Perhaps...”

”The Copper’s Will was never meant for him in the first place.”

”Although I can’t figure out exactly what happened, the Copper’s Will has already been inherited by someone else...”

”He isn’t a defective product. He is simply a sacrifice for the real Heir!”

”...”

Everyone stared at her, utterly horrified and incredulous.

She, however, whispered to the master of Dingxiang Mansion, ”Just wait. I believe your Heir will be back soon!”

They were all laughing, as if at some huge, farcical mistake. In a way, it even gave him a sort of vindication.

’So it wasn’t because he was too useless, after all.’

On the bright side, they seemed to let him be. He was finally out of the laboratory and sent to Qinggang. They built a large tower, and he was allowed to live on the top floor, overlooking the entire city.

Some secret agreements were signed. On the surface, he even posed as the Heir. The tall, slender woman designed a method of ”transformation” that would allow him to live on in a grotesque way.

”If you can’t be the Heir, then being the Heir’s dog is an honor in itself...”

”Looked at this way, the Bai Family’s investment wasn’t a failure after all...”

”...”

The memories that followed were a bit more complete. This was the period when Bai Shi was imprisoned in that tower in the middle of Qinggang.

He began to handle certain problems. He was omnipotent, for he possessed a power that no one else could match.

Everywhere he went, he was met with looks of reverence, and even fear.

But only he knew. He lived in constant, unending dread, knowing that everything he possessed was destined to be taken away by someone else.

In his lucid moments, he asked countless times: Who exactly was the Heir?

But they wouldn’t say, and they wouldn’t even let him ask. The Heir’s whereabouts were not to be discussed.

He also planned and plotted time and again, trying to formulate some scheme. But in order to survive, to allow his body to continue containing the power of copper without being destroyed by it, he could only accept the ”transformations” again and again...

It was only when this transformation arrived in the memories that Han Su suddenly understood why they were so chaotic.

Bai Shi wasn’t deliberately making things difficult for him or setting a trap.

It was because his memories were simply like this.

The transformation process was like erasing a cassette tape, formatting his own brain over and over.

The only reason he could remember these few vivid scenes over such a long time was because of his astonishing, venomous resentment.

It was this hatred that made him cling desperately to these few clearer images...

And this venomous resentment reached its peak when he finally saw a certain person in Qinggang.

He suddenly saw someone who had left a deep impression on him back at the Ancient Castle. That person had grown up. He was standing at the entrance of a dirty, damp wonton stall, saying goodbye to a man carrying a suitcase.

He recognized this person as the mysterious child who had once escaped from the Ancient Castle. He was overcome with a wild joy, finally understanding everything.

’Why didn’t the Copper’s Will awaken in me?’

’Of course, it was because it had been stolen long ago...’

’So who could have stolen the Copper’s Will?’

’It had to be him, this mysterious person who escaped the Ancient Castle. I can even feel the Copper’s Will dormant within him.’

’How did I never find him before?’

He was ecstatic. He roared desperately, even wanting to seize him then and there.

But the man with the suitcase merely shot him a cold glance. Immediately after, as far as the eye could see across Qinggang, countless electronic eyes, surveillance cameras, and cellphone lenses all suddenly turned toward him.

At the same time, inside the tower where he was, a phone rang. On the other end of the line, the tall, slender woman issued an order: ”It’s time for him to undergo this transformation...”