The Eldritch Files

’It’s all coming together...’

Song Chushi’s answer left Han Su speechless for a long time.

’The truth behind the failed investigation the tall, thin woman mentioned, the so-called Qinggang Silence Plan, and the way the monsters’ attitudes toward the children in the Ancient Castle changed day by day.’

’So the Ancient Castle kidnapping was all meant to be completed in just seven days?’

After a moment of silence, he asked in a low voice, ”Then did you find out why they failed?”

”No!”

As Song Chushi walked, he raised a hand, laying down one Ciphertext Array after another in the nearby shadows and letting them disappear into the darkness. Then he turned, gave Han Su a deep look, and said:

”It’s not just me. They haven’t figured it out themselves, either.”

”That’s why the Seven Days of Divine Descent has turned into the Ten Years of Divine Descent. Even now, it hasn’t officially been declared a failure, but they also don’t know how to fix it.”

”When I started working at the research institute back then, I began to realize the truth of this world. I guessed that my sister’s disappearance, along with the other children’s, wasn’t as simple as it appeared.”

”I realized there were forces in Qinggang I couldn’t fight against, forces that were preventing me from learning the truth. So I left Qinggang to look for clues elsewhere.”

”I guess you could say I got lucky. I found traces of research into Divine Power and realized the monsters you described in that interview were real. I also learned about Abyssal Studio and the so-called Seven Days of Divine Descent. But the details...”

He shook his head. ”It was too difficult. I had no contacts, no way to make any headway. I could only choose one point to break through.”

Han Su glanced at him. ”Me?”

”Right.”

Song Chushi nodded. ”You’re a very strange person.”

”If you were also one of the children chosen for the Divine Descent Plan, why did you manage to escape unscathed?”

”If you were the reason the Seven Days of Divine Descent failed, why have you been living a perfectly normal life in Qinggang all this time?”

”Before I approached you, I even wondered if you might be a monster in human skin, just waiting for someone curious like me to take the bait.”

”But now...”

He laughed self-deprecatingly. ”Although there’s a lot about you I still don’t understand, I truly believe you’re different from them.”

”Besides, whatever the case may be, we can’t let them have their way.”

”Ending the Tide with the Seven Days of Divine Descent is their ultimate goal. They failed ten years ago, but now they want to complete the plan and end the Tide.”

”I don’t care if there’s any real hope of them ending the Tide. I won’t let my sister become a sacrifice humanity offers up to it.”

”This is humanity’s debt to pay. We don’t believe it should be paid by children who haven’t even had a chance to see the world!”

...

’So that’s the reason...’

Han Su let out a soft sigh. He was starting to grasp the key point.

’Abyssal Studio has undoubtedly pinned the blame for the failure of the Seven Days of Divine Descent on me.’

’And now, it seems Song Chushi thinks so too.’

’But they’re wrong!’

’Even though everything they’ve said matches what happened in the Ancient Castle, there’s a flaw in their line of reasoning.’

’It’s just like the information I saw in Bai Shi’s memories.’

’For the first few years, they thought the Copper’s Will was inside Bai Shi, just unawakened. That’s why Bai Shi suffered for so long, and why they never turned their attention to me.’

’In the following years, they began to vaguely suspect my involvement. But perhaps Miss Ai had started protecting me by then, or maybe they’d observed me through some method and found no trace of the Copper Will. So they only ever suspected; they never made a move against me.’

’It wasn’t until they saw me use the Copper Will with their own eyes that they were completely certain.’

’From her perspective, these deductions might seem sound, but to me, they’re riddled with holes.’

’Because I know for a fact that I only brought out the Copper Will in these last few lifelines.’

’In previous timelines, I never even came into contact with the Copper Will. I escaped with nothing. But their Seven Days of Divine Descent still failed. It still dragged on for ten years with no progress.’

’The only difference is that before, they had no way to pin the blame on me. Now, they finally have a reason to get it wrong.’

’If this tall, thin woman came to Qinggang to fix the mistakes of the Seven Days of Divine Descent, then I have a feeling her mission is doomed to fail.’

’But if that’s the case, how exactly did the Divine Descent fail ten years ago?’

’What’s the truth behind the Flashing?’

’And what about the Mechanical Fragment, the Emperor’s Book, the monsters in the Ancient Castle, the Black Cat Duke, the person on the other end of that mysterious phone call...’

...

Han Su slowly raised a hand to rub his temples. He asked Song Chushi, ”So, what’s your objective?”

”First, stop them from fixing the plan from ten years ago.”

Song Chushi’s expression turned serious. ”We know Abyssal Studio’s plan is called the Seven Days of Divine Descent, but we’re still not sure what that specifically entails or how it manifests.”

”But regardless of whether they actually have a chance to stop the Tide, we won’t allow them to see this plan through.”

”Second, we need to get the list of Heirs she’s holding.”

”I’ve already uncovered some clues. Abyssal Studio and its investors have repurposed major historical sites around the world, converting them into twelve altars. Some of the missing children are being held in those altars.”