Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 34 Water Boy

The pipe stretched forward, with only the sounds of wading and breathing.

Xu Yan's thoughts, however, could not be calmed.

The brand on his palm, the abnormality in his right arm, the lost memories, the cold and ruthless style of the "center," and the scheming behind Manager Lin's gold-rimmed glasses...

All of this was like a giant net, binding him tighter and tighter.

He especially couldn't forget the words the female caregiver spoke before her voice faded away.

Lin Lan was not only an insider, she was an executor.

She used that television as a so-called "comforter," systematically draining the memories and emotions of those elderly people to feed the monsters underground.

why?
What exactly does the "center" want to do?
What do they gain from creating and controlling these terrifying beings?
And this ghostly hand on the shoulder... it seems to originate from the same source as that thing underground. What exactly is the relationship between them?
One question after another gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.

Just then, Ah Zhe, who was leading the way, suddenly exclaimed "Huh!" and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Xu Yan immediately became alert, silently gripping the camera in his hand.

“Look…this wall…” Ah Zhe held up a glow stick to the pipe wall next to him.

Beneath the thick rust and grime, something seemed to be covering it.

Ah Zhe roughly wiped his hands a few times with his sleeve, revealing a patch of eerie, dark red, faded but still recognizable runes.

The runes were ancient and twisted, exuding an eerie aura, clearly not a modern creation.

It is deeply engraved in the concrete, as if it were built along with the pipeline network, yet deliberately concealed.

"This...this is a ghost-suppressing device...Damn it, this pipe, from the moment it was built, was...it was a coffin for suppressing ghosts!"

As if to prove his words, the dark red hue on the wiped-out rune flickered for an extremely brief moment.

In an instant, Xu Yan felt all the sounds around him.

The sound of water, the sound of breathing.

They were all suddenly lowered by eight octaves, becoming blurry and indistinct.

Even more horrifyingly, the sewage that was originally flowing slowly into the depths underfoot defied common sense and flowed slightly upwards by an inch before returning to its original state.

These runes are distorting the natural order of this place!

Almost simultaneously, a fragmented image forcibly entered my mind:
...In the dim light, numb workers used brushes to pour a dark red, viscous, fishy-smelling liquid into the rune grooves...

...A thin figure dressed in an indigo blue cloth shirt, holding a compass, giving instructions in a low voice...

...His profile turned...it looked like his master!
The video abruptly stopped, accompanied by a severe headache.

Xu Yan groaned, his hands bracing against the cold tube wall, his chest heaving violently.

"What...what happened again?" A Zhe jerked violently, his whole body bounced back, and his back hit the pipe wall, splashing up a layer of sticky water.

"It's nothing." Xu Yan gritted his teeth, suppressing his churning blood, and said in a low voice, "Let's go."

The two walked forward step by step, and the pipe became increasingly narrow.

Runes covered both sides, like scars repeatedly carved by some extreme obsession, emerging in a dark red hue under the dim light.

The air grew increasingly murky, the stench of blood mixed with the lingering smell of aged incense ash creating a suffocating stench; with each breath, it felt as if one's throat was coated with wax.

Ah Zhe's flashlight beam trembled violently as it swept across the mottled water stains.

"Boom...boom..."

The sound of dripping water came from somewhere, extremely faint, yet it seemed to echo in the vast dome of the sky, making my eardrums tingle.

Even their breathing sounds were amplified infinitely at this moment.

The sound of footsteps in the water was as thick as blood plasma.

Every step felt like disturbing something that was asleep.

"hiss."

Ah Zhe gasped sharply, his flashlight frozen in front of him.

His fingers twitched as he raised them, pointing straight to the end of the pipe at the front.

Xu Yan followed the gaze.

There, a pool of stagnant water reflected a dim, yellowish hue.

The water was still, but floating on it were a few tattered plastic ducks, their colors long faded, their empty eyes flickering in the beam of light.

They sway gently with the ripples, like a silent nursery rhyme.

Further away, a small blue and white children's shoe, its laces undone, occasionally bobbing up and down with the waterlogged fabric.

It felt as if, at any moment, a cold little hand would pull up along the shoelaces. A-Zhe's face turned deathly pale, his voice choked as if someone were strangling him: "...How...how could there be...something like this in this place..."

His back was pressed tightly against the pipe wall, sweat streamed down his chin, and the beam of his flashlight trembled as it swept across the water's surface.

at this time--

"thump."

Whose breath? Or a drop of water?
No one can tell the difference.

In the middle of the pool, a brand-new, bright yellow children's raincoat, so bright it was almost blinding, floated up silently.

It formed the cruelest contrast with the pile of broken toys.

The hoods were submerged in water, empty, yet it was as if a pair of eyes were watching them.

A Zhe's pupils constricted, his teeth chattered, and his voice was almost ripped apart: "Water... Water Boy... That's the catalyst... Quick, retreat!"

As if hearing his voice, the raincoat suddenly spun slowly half a circle on the water's surface.

The hood, still damp, slowly rose to face them.

It was as if I could hear his words, and that bright yellow raincoat, gently, slowly...

It silently spun half a circle on the water's surface.

The waterlogged hood slowly rose from the water, facing them.

Deep within the hood, where a face should be, there was only a thick, light-devouring void.

A childish yet chillingly cold laugh, with a bubbly quality, resounded directly deep within their minds, without even reaching their ears:

"Hehe... Come on..."

"Get down..."

"Play with me..."

The voice sounded like it was squeezed out of a throat filled with sewage, yet it carried a childlike innocence and lightness, creating a bizarre sound that sent chills down your spine.

A Zhe suddenly clutched his head, his pupils contracted, and he staggered backward: "Damn... it's... directly invading my consciousness!"

The laughter didn't stop.

"I've been trapped here for so, so long..."

"Dad, Mom... they're not coming to find me, does that mean they don't want me anymore?"

"Do they... not love me at all...?"

The raincoat slowly billowed up, and water seemed to seep out from the hood, making it look like a pale little face.

The laughter grew clearer and clearer, penetrating directly into Xu Yan and A Zhe's nerves:
"Big brother……"

There isn't a single child here...

"Come down... and play with me..."

The pond was still, yet fine ripples spread across it. Several ragged little ducks were pushed and squeaked as they bumped into each other on the surface, as if to accompany this eerie invitation.

The voice grew increasingly urgent, tinged with suppressed sobs:
"Stay with me...stay with me!"

"I'm so cold...so cold..."

Why aren't you coming down?!

In an instant, the entire pipe seemed to be filled with cold, damp steam.

The lights flickered, the air froze, and even the sound of a child's voice was overshadowed by the heartbeat, like the last struggle of a drowning person.

An empty, bright yellow raincoat floated on the murky water, the darkness deep inside the hood thicker than the surrounding pipe network, as if connecting to some eternal moment of drowning.

"Come down...come down..."

"Play with me..."

Laughter flooded my mind again, more urgent and persistent than before, carrying a strange, mind-altering power.

Xu Yan felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and a deafening roar in his ears, as if he were standing on the edge of a pool of water, with the bricks and stones under his feet gradually disappearing and being replaced by endless black water.

He was momentarily distracted, and had the strange feeling that he was about to step into the water.

A-Zhe, standing next to him, lost focus even faster, leaned forward slightly, and had a blank smile on his lips, like an obedient puppet, about to walk step by step towards the pool.

In the critical moment, Xu Yan suddenly felt a burning sensation in his chest.

(End of this chapter)