Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 44 The Night Watchman

His father left home many years ago and has not been heard from since. He had imagined countless times that they would reunite, but never under such circumstances!

The homeless man shuddered and turned his head very slowly and stiffly.

His face was filthy, his eyes were sunken, and his gaze was cloudy and frightened, full of the trauma left by his long life as a homeless person.

But the contours of those facial features...

It was the father who was gradually fading from Xu Yan's memory!
They've just aged too much, ravaged by life to the point of being almost deformed.

"Little...Little Inkstone?"

The homeless man's eyes widened suddenly, a look of disbelief, mixed with ecstasy, guilt, and extreme shame, bursting forth from his cloudy eyes. "You... how could this be? Am I dreaming?"

His gaze swept in terror across the eerie street and blood moon behind Xu Yan. "Where is this? I... I was just asleep in the alley, it was so cold... and then... and then I saw you..."

He tried to get up and approach his son, but he hesitated because of his own filth and the long-standing estrangement, and only stretched out his dirty, slightly trembling hands.

Xu Yan felt a sharp pain in his chest, overwhelmed with mixed emotions, and subconsciously took a step forward.

Just then, Chen Zhiwei suddenly grabbed him, her face as pale as paper, her voice strained: "Senior brother! Don't go over there! Look at his feet!"

Xu Yan suddenly lowered his head.

Under the crimson light of the blood moon, his father's feet... were translucent!
Moreover, in the shadows of the corner behind his father, the completely stiff body of a homeless man, covered in a thin layer of dust, was gradually becoming clearer.

The corpse was wearing the same tattered cotton clothes, tucked in a curled-up, frozen position, with traces of pain and despair still lingering on its face.

Following their gaze, the father also saw the corpse.

The ecstasy and shame on his face froze instantly, transforming into extreme confusion, and then into incomprehensible fear.

"What...what is that? Who...who died there?" he muttered to himself, looking down at his translucent hand, then at the corpse. "How...is it with me..."

His words stopped abruptly.

A cold, cruel truth, like the sharpest icicle, instantly pierced his remaining consciousness.

he died.

Just now, on this eerie night of the blood moon, he went through countless hardships to secretly return to this strange yet familiar city, hoping to catch a glimpse of his son, who might no longer recognize him. But in the end, he silently froze to death in the streets and alleys not far from his son.

He was overwhelmed by immense terror and despair.

He looked up at Xu Yan, his eyes filled with despair: "Xiao Yan...I...how is your mother?"

This sentence struck Xu Yan's heart like a sudden hammer blow.

"mom……?"

Xu Yan felt a sharp pain in his chest, and a mix of emotions overwhelmed him.

He subconsciously tried to picture his mother in his mind to answer his father, but suddenly realized that the once crystal-clear memory had been shrouded in a thick, cold fog, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't grasp a specific outline...

This emptiness terrified him more than the scene before him.

Just then, an extremely faint yet teeth-grinding metallic scraping sound, accompanied by the cold dragging of iron chains, came from the depths of the street.

Clack… Clack…

The voice was neither hurried nor slow, yet it carried an irresistible, rule-like sense of oppression, like the footsteps of death, precisely approaching their location.

Wherever it passed, even the wandering ghosts let out silent screams of terror, instantly dissipating and disappearing.

The blood moonlight on both sides of the street seemed to be swallowed up, becoming even darker and more sinister.

The copper bell in Chen Zhiwei's hand suddenly began to vibrate wildly, emitting a sharp and urgent mournful sound!
"What's this?"

A Zhe's hair stood on end; a fear originating from his very soul made it almost impossible for him to breathe.

At the end of the street, two extremely tall, blurry figures slowly emerged.

They were dressed in ancient robes that seemed to be woven from shadows and night. One held a tattered book that emitted a ghostly blue light, while the other dragged an endless, rusty, yet rune-shimmering, cold chain. Their faces were shrouded in the deep shadows of their hoods, making their features impossible to discern. All that could be felt was an aura of absolute coldness, absolute ruthlessness, and deathly composure, as if they were carrying out an official duty.

They are... the "Night Watchers"! The maintainers of order on the River Styx, responsible for guiding the newly deceased who linger at the border to their rightful place.

The night watchman, holding a book, slowly stopped. The pages in the shadows turned on their own, making a hoarse sound like an iron pen rubbing against a stone tablet.

The chilling pronouncement then resounded, as if from the depths of the River Styx:

"This soul has no memorial tablet, no incense offerings, and no name to worship. No one in the mortal world remembers it; it shall return to the River Styx."

"Nonsense!" Xu Yan suddenly stood up, his voice hoarse and angry. "I am his son! I still remember him!"

The night watchman slowly raised his head from under his hood, his voice still cold and mechanical:
"You are no longer among the living to be able to see us. Memory is nothing but a candle that will be extinguished sooner or later. When your loved ones also forget you, you... will also go to the River Styx with them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the chain that another night watchman was dragging suddenly burst open and rushed straight towards Xu's father!

"Do not……!"

Xu Yan's heart tightened suddenly.

In that instant, countless shattered thoughts flashed through his mind:

This person abandoned me back then, and all these years of pain and loneliness stemmed from his avoidance. Now, he's being taken away... Should I really save him?

It felt like a knife had ripped into the depths of my chest; contradictions, anger, and sorrow were all mixed together.

But in that split second, almost without a moment to think, he instinctively took a step forward!
Sensing an extreme threat, the cursed ghost hand on his right arm activated on its own, emitting an ominous bluish-black light, fiercely blocking his father's soul!

The night watchman dragging the chain seemed to pause for a moment, as if surprised that a living soul dared to obstruct him.

The person holding the book showed no reaction, simply turning the pages coldly, the sound of the pages being carved like an iron pen on stone.

Xu's father stared blankly at the child he had once pushed away, who was now standing in front of him; he looked at the chilling light emanating from that inhuman arm.

Listening to the night watchman's cold pronouncement that "no one in the mortal world remembers him anymore."

His eyes trembled, first with shame, then with grief, but finally with a resolute glint.

He could no longer be a burden to his son, and he could no longer let his son be remembered by the world because of him.

"No...it has nothing to do with my son!"

He roared hoarsely, a voice he had never heard before, and shoved Xu Yan away.

The movement was driven by a frenzied force, as if it were an attempt to make up for a lifetime of escapism in this single moment.

He staggered, using all his remaining strength to rush towards the surging River of Data Styx on the other side!

His voice was hoarse but firm: "It's me! I'm here! Come and get me!"

He wanted to distract them!

"dad!"

Xu Yan's eyes were bloodshot, and a tearing pain in his heart overwhelmed him instantly.

He wanted to follow, but he also clearly understood that his father had finally chosen to face his fate at the last moment.

But the cold chains were faster than his reaction.

Like a black lightning bolt piercing the night sky, it instantly crossed space and precisely wrapped around Xu's father's ankle!
"Ugh!"

Xu's father let out a suppressed cry of pain, and the spot where the chains touched his soul instantly emitted hissing white smoke, becoming increasingly transparent.

He was dragged by a tremendous force, flying backward against the two tall shadows against his will, but his eyes remained fixed on Xu Yan, as if trying to etch the unfinished words into his son's heart.

"Xiao Yan... go back quickly... you don't belong here."

The voice shattered, like a flame extinguished in the wind. Before the last word could be uttered, the chain yanked him violently, and his soul exploded into countless cold, icy fragments, disappearing completely into the shadows.

(End of this chapter)