The Eldritch Files

He would answer any question asked. He would tell them everything.

When it came to information about the kidnapping case, Han Su held nothing back, aside from the details about Flashing.

The first time he had escaped, he had done so without any outside help, crawling out from a rose bush by himself to face the reality of the kidnapping. Because of this, whenever anyone asked, he could recount everything he saw, down to the smallest detail.

It wouldn’t matter if they asked him thirty times or three hundred; his answer would be the same.

Not only would he cooperate fully, but if they could truly solve the kidnapping, Han Su would even be willing to call him Uncle Moses.

But if Red Sea Studio didn’t take the investigation seriously after he had cooperated so completely, he’d have no qualms about turning hostile.

However, judging by their initial attitude, they did seem to be genuinely and meticulously sorting through all the information related to the case.

They had called Han Su in for the sole purpose of cooperating with the investigation, and they didn’t let him get involved in the actual work at all. After they had gone through the same line of questioning four or five times, they told him he could leave.

His movements weren’t restricted, but as Investigator Moses had said, he needed to be ready to return immediately to cooperate if necessary. Additionally, it was recommended that he not take on any more missions during this time.

’Li Moxi didn’t even need to tell me that. Now that I’ve reached S-Class, taking on more missions is pointless.’

’And I certainly don’t need the commission money.’

The Xu Family had given him six million as a thank you, and adding the million-plus he had earned from missions with the Disaster Management Bureau, he now had so much money he didn’t know what to do with it. He’d casually bought some shares in a conglomerate, and they had nearly doubled in value.

’I have absolutely no need to chase after money...’

’They seem serious about organizing the files right now, but whether they’re truly investigating the kidnapping will come down to one key point.’

’And that is whether they summon Secretary No. 2, Bai Senmang!’

’I already listed my suspicions about Bai Senmang in my report. Any investigation into the kidnapping would have to go through him.’

No matter how nice Li Moxi’s words sounded, Han Su would only believe his sincerity once he started putting pressure on Bai Senmang. Back in the lounge, Han Su silently mulled things over for a moment and identified this key point. He stretched leisurely, just as his phone lit up with a new message.

Ever since Miss Ai’s temporary departure, Han Su had become sensitive to notifications, and he snatched up his phone immediately.

As it turned out, it was from Rong Qiyue.

He had arranged with Rong Qiyue beforehand that if things with Dingxiang Mansion were settled, Rong Qiyue would send him a thumbs-up emoji.

What Han Su saw now was...

A string of emojis: thumbs-up, blowing a kiss, a rose, a groveling dog, starry eyes, a hula dancer...

...

’So, I guess things worked out?’

Han Su sighed. He first did a check with his right eye, then habitually poured a glass of water and set it beside him before making the call.

Rong Qiyue picked up almost instantly, his voice booming, ”Bro!”

”?”

Han Su was taken aback. ’Why is he suddenly being so polite?’

”I was so ignorant before...”

Rong Qiyue’s voice was grave. ”I’m at the lab construction site now. Bro, do you have time to come over and inspect it?”

”It’s ready that fast?”

Han Su was a little stunned.

Even if things with Dingxiang Mansion had gone smoothly, could such a large laboratory be built just like that?

How could there already be a construction site?

”It just goes to show how naive I was. Bro, I never imagined we had this much power...”

Rong Qiyue said, ”Do you have time to come take a look?”

His attitude had piqued Han Su’s curiosity. Han Su grabbed his briefcase and left the Disaster Management Bureau base.

When he arrived, he found himself at a huge, abandoned warehouse. It wasn’t within Qinggang City limits, but it wasn’t far off either. In fact, it was only a few kilometers away from Dingxiang Mansion, which was on the city’s outskirts.

Han Su was quite satisfied. ’If anything goes wrong with this warehouse, at least I can have the Living Copper Puppet run over and act as security.’

Inside the warehouse, he saw that the structure had already been reinforced with various alloys. Around them, workers were installing four precise and complex mechanical contraptions into the four corners of the space.

Rong Qiyue was personally directing the work and calculating angles. The moment he saw Han Su, he hurried over to greet him with a solemn expression.

Without any warning, he bowed a full ninety degrees, startling Han Su.

”There are other people here...”

”That’s exactly why! If there weren’t, I’d be on my knees, Bro...”

”...”

Han Su was genuinely unnerved by this shift in attitude and quickly pulled him aside. ”Did things go smoothly?”

”Smoothly.”

Rong Qiyue pointed to the four corners of the warehouse. ”Those are the reality-node-locking devices I had shipped from Seawall City. Once they’re installed, they can seal off the space and isolate it from outside detection. I can start the appraisal this afternoon at the latest.”

Han Su was shocked. ”That fast?”

”It’s because I didn’t understand my place before, Bro.”

Rong Qiyue grasped Han Su’s hand earnestly. ”I understand it now. Your business, Bro, is the most important business. Nothing else matters.”

”?”

Han Su was really starting to lose his composure. ”Just act normal. How did you get it done?”

”The process...”

As Rong Qiyue began to explain, the look of adoration in his eyes was almost on par with a member of the Mysterious Organization. ”Bro, you know my family is pretty well-off, right?”

Han Su nodded.

Rong Qiyue said, ”So, having been pampered and fawned over since I was a kid, I never knew that sucking up could feel this good...”

”??”

”After what you said last night, I took it to heart...”

Before Han Su could even ask, Rong Qiyue started talking, looking like he was about to burst. ”So, I got up first thing this morning and figured I’d call Dingxiang Mansion. In the past, they couldn’t even be bothered to pass on my messages. But this time, they just said, ’Come on over’...”

”And then?”

”So I went, right? The whole way there, I was practicing how to phrase things nicely.”

”But get this—before I could even mention giving him a gift, the old man just smiled and agreed!!”

”He even patted me on the head and said it was a good thing for a young man to be ambitious, telling me to go ahead and do it with confidence...”

”You have no idea, Bro. That old man is notoriously difficult to deal with.”

”Usually, his face is so sour you could wring water from it, but today he forced a smile, baring his teeth at me. It was honestly terrifying...”

”...”

’Looks like the message I left yesterday had a pretty good effect.’

Han Su’s eyes narrowed slightly. He nodded and asked with a smile, ”What did you two talk about?”

”We didn’t talk.”

Rong Qiyue said, ”He just gave me a letter of recommendation with his personal seal and sent me on my way. There was a long line of people waiting—some for visits, some applying for bar renovation permits, some selling insurance...”

”I even heard some people saying the old man has been in a great mood lately, agreeing to anything anyone asks of him...”

”...”

”?”

This time, Han Su really had trouble keeping a straight face. It seemed things had developed a little beyond what he’d imagined.

’I told him someone of mine would come see him. Was the old man so worried about missing them that he just said yes to everyone?’

Still, it was an acceptable outcome. He looked at Rong Qiyue in surprise. ”And you’re this excited just because of that?”

”There’s more...”

Rong Qiyue gave Han Su a deep look, as if chiding him for feigning dissatisfaction in front of a loyal and simple younger brother like himself. ”After I got the letter, I had to go get the approvals, right? That usually takes a very long time...”

”And then?”

”Then I went, the staff asked for my name and background, and then they just told me to sit and have some tea. Three minutes later, all the paperwork was finished.”

”...”

Han Su couldn’t quite process it. ’What’s going on now?’

”That’s what I was thinking! What was going on?”

Rong Qiyue continued, ”I checked the documents several times to make sure they were real, and then I went to my grandpa for money...”

”My grandpa didn’t believe me and chewed me out for two minutes.”

”I was just about to tell him I’d fax him the documents as proof when the head of the Magic Box Group called me. I thought they’d gotten into trouble and needed me to put in a good word for them.”

”But that wasn’t it at all. He said the Magic Box Group’s problems were already solved, and he wanted to discuss the excavation of that ruin. When he heard I was building a private lab, he actually offered to invest...”

”This warehouse you see? He provided it. The workers are from his company, too...”

”He even easily handled the customs clearance for that batch of equipment I applied to import...”

”...”

”Wait a minute...”

This time, Han Su was genuinely confused. ”The Magic Box Group’s problems were solved without your help? And they helped you instead?”

The Red Eye Incident had been such a huge scandal. Forget getting away clean—Li Yiting would have been lucky to just end up in prison instead of having his company carved up and devoured. That was why Han Su had asked Rong Qiyue to find a way to protect him. But now...

’Does the Magic Box Group really have that much power?’

”I didn’t expect it either...”

Rong Qiyue seemed a bit unnerved just talking about it. ”When I was talking with Chairman Li, he just said he went to see a Mr. Xu, and that solved all his problems...”

”If I’d known the Magic Box Group had so much influence, I wouldn’t have treated him like a layman and taken advantage of him on that ruin excavation project. Good thing he doesn’t seem to hold a grudge...”

’Someone named Xu?’

Hearing this, something stirred in Han Su’s mind. He subconsciously thought of Xu Ji’s father.

But this was just a baseless guess. Still, he now understood the change in Rong Qiyue’s attitude. Even he, just from listening to the story, could feel some invisible force at play, pushing everything forward at a rapid pace.

It was a city-wide power so immense it was terrifying.

And as Rong Qiyue watched Han Su’s thoughtful expression, his own eyes were practically turning into stars...

’I definitely followed the right big boss.’

’Building a private lab was my long-term goal. I figured it would be a success if I could get it done in a year or two. But I just mentioned it once in passing, and in a single afternoon, the whole thing is already taking shape. What kind of power is that...?’