Chapter 209 201: Three Shots in Return

The gray, oppressive Ancient Castle. The dazed, terrified children.

The steward with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. The sinister, bizarre monsters. The crows circling in the gloomy sky.

He was back once again.

His mind was still filled with images of the little crew-cut boy's future madness.

Right now, that same boy was hiding in the crowd, head ducked, barely daring to breathe. His expression was a mix of cowardice and bewilderment, with a hint of foolish cunning.

It was truly difficult to reconcile this boy with the tall, grotesque, and crazed figure he would one day become.

'Can he even imagine what he'll turn into?'

Han Su's gaze slowly swept over the Withered Steward, the Worm Monk, Lady Meat Horn, the Pale Giant, the Half-Doctor, the Pig-Headed Butcher, and the Ghost Princess…

'So, are the children brought here meant to inherit their powers?'

No matter how he looked at it, the idea was utterly absurd.

Han Su looked at the Pale monster again, his thoughts turning to the report codenamed "Pale Giant."

It contained murals of a giant-like figure being worshipped, photos from inside a massive tomb covered in enormous bones, and even video stills from a lab where people were injected with something unknown, turning them into crazed, miniature giants.

Their appearances were all different, yet they were all classified under the codename "Pale Giant."

'If I'm to understand it this way, then the Gods…'

'…what exactly are they?'

'If the monster on the fifth floor represents the world of "copper" that once appeared in reality, then what about the other monsters?'

'How were all these horrifying things gathered together in one Ancient Castle?'

...

...

There were too many questions. The more he thought, the more his head ached.

Every time he'd entered this place before, Han Su had to pretend to be in a dazed, controlled state.

Only this time, he wasn't pretending. Still, his gaze remained unfocused, as if he were completely under control.

He maintained this state as he re-evaluated the kidnapping case and re-examined everything in the Ancient Castle.

His thoughts didn't stop even after he was locked in the cellar again, and his gaze kept drifting toward "Little Crew Cut No. 2."

By now, the old steward had left and the monsters had gone upstairs. It grew quiet outside. The children, having overcome their initial intense fear, were slowly calming down and trying to make sense of everything.

It was at this moment that the young Bai Shi began to show his "young master" side, boasting to the other children.

He didn't start off too loudly. At first, he was just trying to intimidate the children around him with a glare, but when that didn't work, he began to say smugly that his father was Secretary No. 2, and that he doted on him.

He would definitely come and rescue him.

This child probably couldn't imagine that one day he would declare to his father that he would kill his entire family.

Han Su just watched Little Crew Cut quietly, considering whether he should just pull off his belt and strangle him right here and now.

He'd had this thought ever since he first learned Bai Shi's identity.

He didn't know why the children who left the Ancient Castle turned out the way they did, but he held their fates in his hands.

He could allocate a Mechanical Fragment at any time to trigger Flashing, allowing him to return to the Ancient Castle to kill him.

No matter how high his future standing or how great his power, it was meaningless to someone who could return to ten years in the past.

In the future timeline, he was already using the Mother Divine Tree to launch an assault on Qinggang.

'So, should I eliminate him ten years in the past?'

'Or should I change my attitude toward him now, show him tolerance and care, in exchange for his gratitude in the future?'

"Huuu..."

Letting out a soft breath, Han Su stood up.

This time, he wouldn't just wait passively for the Black Cat Duke to find him. He needed to buy more time.

"Let me tell you, everyone in my family listens to me. My servants..."

Little Crew Cut's boasting grew louder. He had already stood up and was gesticulating wildly, as if giving a speech.

Han Su strode toward him with a fiery momentum that startled Little Crew Cut, causing him to take a timid step back.

But Han Su simply walked up, slapped him twice, and then kicked him to the ground.

Little Crew Cut sat on the floor, stunned for a moment, before suddenly bursting into tears with a loud "WAAAH!" "You hit me? You actually dared to hit me? Even my dad doesn't dare hit me..."

"Listen up. I hit you because you've been a little bastard since day one, with no regard for anyone else's life!"

"You don't care about other people's lives, so when the day comes that someone else doesn't care about yours, you'd better not complain!"

"..."

Han Su finished his serious explanation, not caring if the boy was listening. As the boy clutched his face, wailing and throwing a tantrum, Han Su raised his hand.

He formed the shape of a gun with his fingers, aimed it at him, and fired three times.

A silent flow of Spiritual Power was released, which the children couldn't sense. But this Spiritual Power, guided by Han Su's will, laid a foundation at the point before destiny began.

'In the future, you'll shoot me once. So now, I'm giving you three back.'

After firing these three "shots," Han Su said nothing more, turned, and headed up the cellar's narrow staircase.

He didn't strangle him outright because Han Su understood that the fifth floor would definitely choose a child to go up.

'Actually, now that I think about it,' he mused, 'the monster on the fifth floor initially chose Wei Lan. But I rescued her, and she later became a member of the Queen's Organization. If I hadn't saved her, would the Wei Lan who reappeared in the world have become a member of the Copper Sequence instead?'

But the logical conclusion was that even if he got rid of Little Crew Cut now, the fifth floor would just find a replacement.

That replacement would suffer the same torment Little Crew Cut was meant to endure and would likely end up by his side, competing for the will of "copper."

Comparatively, it was more fitting for Little Crew Cut to bear this sin.

He didn't choose to persuade him with kind words because it was useless. How could he possibly correct a temperament cultivated by the boy's family for ten years with just a few sentences?

'I'm not an educator, after all!'

The only thing Han Su "corrected" this time was making sure the boy understood why he was being beaten!

...

Little Crew Cut's wailing attracted the sound of shuffling footsteps from outside. With a SCRAPE and a guttural wheeze, the hunchbacked guard outside pulled open the small door, holding up a lantern containing a Crystal Finger Bone to illuminate the room.

The instant the guard extended the lantern inside, Han Su dodged sideways and slipped out, his figure like a phantom in the night.

Before the hunchback could react, Han Su had already circled behind him, leaped high, and kicked him squarely in the back.

In the future, his Spiritual Activity had reached the Divine Forbidden Area, and his power had advanced considerably. Now, Flashing had brought him back ten years. His body had reverted to its state from ten years ago, but his Spiritual Activity had come back with him.

Of course, it felt faintly suppressed, but regardless, it was far better than what he'd had before.

"BANG!"

The hunchback staggered from the kick but refused to fall. Wheezing in anger, he turned to grab Han Su.

But Han Su simply ducked slightly to evade his grasp, then ran two steps up the wall, spun around, and slammed a knee strike fiercely into the hunchback's chin.

The impact was solid; his own youthful kneecap actually throbbed with pain.

Caught off guard, the hunchback's head snapped to the side from the blow, but it was otherwise unharmed. The roar from its throat just grew hoarser as it swung a huge hand toward Han Su.

'Something's not right...'

Han Su began to notice the problem. The instant he dodged the slap, he activated his Spiritual Activity and pressed his hand against the hunchback's lower back.

Spiritual Power immediately seeped into the hunchback's body.

However, he couldn't feel any Spiritual Activity or will within its body. His Spiritual Power was like a stone sinking into the ocean.

Han Su confirmed the strangeness of the monsters in this Ancient Castle.

The hunchback had always seemed clumsy and stiff. Even children with no Mysterious Power training could play hide-and-seek with it. Now, it was still clumsy and stiff, but it was also tough. Even with his Spiritual Activity, Han Su found it difficult to defeat it.

However, these few exchanges had proven that while defeating it might be hard, escaping was not a problem.

As Han Su mulled over these issues, the hunchback grew more and more enraged. Its movements became larger and wilder. It spread its large hands to grab at Han Su, but just then, a cat's meow suddenly sounded from behind it.

Immediately, a fat black cat leaped out from the shadows and scratched the back of the hunchback's neck. The hunchback's body instantly went rigid, and it toppled to the ground, stiff as a board.

'So that's its weak spot?'

Han Su thought to himself, making a mental note. Next time, he could deal with the hunchback more easily.

Having dealt with the hunchback, the black cat tilted its head slightly as it looked at Han Su, as if it didn't understand how he had gotten out early.

'It would be great if you could talk,' Han Su thought, his mind racing with all the questions he now had about the Ancient Castle.

However, this time he had to buy time, start investigating the Ancient Castle as soon as possible, and complete his preparations to escape.

Urgent matters awaited him in the future.

But in that instant, a shrill, abrupt sound suddenly rang out from the nearby wall.

"DRING-RING-RING..."

It was an old-fashioned telephone mounted on the wall.

Han Su remembered very clearly that before, there had been no such telephone on the wall of the Ancient Castle's first-floor hall.

Nor had there been the dust-covered black briefcase sitting beneath it.

He had observed the hall when he first entered the Ancient Castle, and those two items hadn't been there. It seemed they had only appeared suddenly after he got out of the cellar this time.

"So, this is my reward for saving Pot Lid Head and Rong Qiyue last time?"

He suddenly realized, and a faint thrill of excitement finally cut through his suppressed mood.