Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 54 Desire
Xu Yan's voice was low and urgent: "Go!"

Ah Zhe scrambled to catch up, and the two of them rushed towards the twisted darkness outside the courtyard without looking back.

The power of the Blood Moon is rapidly waning.

The entire ghost realm was like a collapsing dream; the path we had taken was already swallowed up by rolling, writhing shadows.

The walls on both sides were visibly squeezing and merging inward, producing a grinding sound that made your teeth ache.

The air was as thick as glue, and every breath carried the scent of decay and despair.

There's no road at all!
"Brother Yan! There's no road! Which way do we go?!"

A Zhe's voice trembled with extreme fear as he looked at Xu Yan in despair.

Xu Yan's face was deathly pale, and blood kept seeping from the wound under his ribs. The chilling aura made half of his body almost numb.

He gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning frantically, trying to find a crack in the completely enclosed darkness.

at this time.

"whee……"

A very soft and cold female laugh seemed to ring out right next to their ears.

The two of them froze instantly, their blood almost freezing in their veins.

They slowly turned around.

In the center of the courtyard, amidst the chaos, a thick, inky darkness was gathering.

The blood-red fragment of the wedding dress, which had absorbed the embers of the blood array, floated up without wind.

More darkness and crimson light seeped from the ground, surging towards that fragment like rivers flowing into the sea.

A vague outline, composed of pure resentment and darkness, is slowly and painstakingly re-coalescing around that corner of the wedding dress.

It's that bride!
She was actually using the remaining fragments of her wedding dress and the lingering power of the ritual to forcibly reassemble her ghostly form.

That beautiful, eyeless face appeared and disappeared in the darkness, even more distorted than before, filled with endless resentment and madness.

Her dark eyes were fixed on Xu Yan and A Zhe, no longer scrutinizing, but filled with the purest hatred that wanted to drag them into eternal torment!

"Oh no... my good deed is ruined..."

"You all...must stay...and be buried with me..."

Her voice was no longer simply cold, but rather a mixture of countless overlapping echoes.

There was the weeping of a young woman, the vicious curses, the sinister grin of an old man, and the indifferent observation of a woman…

It was as if her tragic life had coalesced into a vengeful demon at this moment.

The scene suddenly changed!

Around the re-formed ghostly body, the air seemed to become a shattered mirror, with fragmented images appearing in the cracks.

First, there was a dimly lit room filled with the smell of alcohol. A burly man was wielding a belt, whipping a thin girl between his legs until she curled up on the ground, crying out in heart-wrenching sobs.

Immediately afterwards, a woman with an indistinct face walked by indifferently. She did not stop even when she heard the cries, and even slammed the door shut, cutting off all calls for help.

The scene shifts to a girl facing a dilapidated mirror, her fingers trembling as she applies cheap lipstick.

Her makeup was poor, yet a fleeting, almost pious light flashed in her eyes—the only image of a "bride" she could imagine, the only dream in her dark life.

The last image was of her in that red wedding dress.

She draped it over herself, her eyes vacant and desperate, her figure swaying beneath the beams...

All of this was not an illusion, but rather the obsession and shame she least wanted others to know during her lifetime.

Her greatest desire was a respectable wedding and a home that could protect her.

But fate only gave her a red line leading to a dead end.

After her death, her beastly stepfather and mother arranged a ghost marriage for her, hoping to make amends in this way.

But tonight the ceremony was ruined, her wishes were trampled, and her scars were reopened.

Xu Yan and A Zhe not only ruined her wedding, but also witnessed the most unbearable memory of her life!
"Those who see this... will all die!!!" The bride suddenly roared, her voice filled with sobs, curses, savage laughter, and despair.

The fragments of the wedding dress shone brightly with red light, and the ghostly body she conjured lunged out, so fast that only a bloody afterimage remained.

Wherever it passed, even the collapsing space was stained with a layer of rust-like dark red.

"run!!!"

Xu Yan was terrified. He shoved aside the terrified A Zhe and ran for his life toward the weakest point in the shadows, in the opposite direction from where the female ghost was attacking.

Ah Zhe scrambled to catch up, tears streaming down his face, his mind blank, with only the instinct to run away remaining.

The female ghost followed them like a shadow, her mournful wails and vicious curses mingling together to form tangible sound waves that assaulted their backs.

Darkness, like her claws, relentlessly coiled around them, trying to slow them down.

The unconscious groom twitched violently and opened his eyes the moment the female ghost attacked.

The first thing he saw was the eerie red dress he was wearing, followed by the hellish, collapsing and twisting scene before him, and a red shadow as fast as lightning, radiating endless resentment.

"Ah!!! Ghost!!!"

Extreme fear gave him strength. He let out a heart-wrenching scream and frantically tore at his dress as if it were a branding iron.

He scrambled and stumbled in another direction, screaming at the top of his lungs, "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer!"

The piercing scream echoed through the collapsing ghost realm, causing the female ghost's gaze to momentarily shift.

Her venomous eyes were fixed on the struggling, running man, her hatred even stronger than when she looked at Xu Yan.

It was in that very moment.

Xu Yan's heart tightened, and he suddenly grabbed A Zhe, taking advantage of the moment when the female ghost's attention was diverted by the groom's scream, and ran desperately toward the crack.

The female ghost turned around and continued her pursuit.

A pale, twisted hand with sharp nails nearly tore through Ah Zhe's back.

Xu Yan suddenly pushed A Zhe aside, turned around, and felt his right arm burning hot.

He gritted his teeth and raised his hand; in that instant, time seemed to stand still.

The camera lens had been replaced with a dark gold wide-angle lens.

Every time this lens is used, the backlash is even more severe.

But at this moment, he had no other choice.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

His mind went blank, not from forgetting, but from pouring all his remaining strength and will into the fingertip that pressed the shutter.

"Crack——!"

The shutter clicked.

A white arc of light, resembling a chain, shot out, instantly enveloping the onrushing female ghost along with the afterimage of the red wedding dress.

The female ghost let out a shrill scream, her blood-red figure twisting wildly in the air, turning into a burning red mist, which was forcibly sucked into the camera lens.

The next instant, a piece of photographic paper, gleaming with coldness, slowly emerged and fell into Xu Yan's palm.

The photograph captured the face of the beautiful, eyeless bride, her eyes filled with resentment, surrounded by black and red ghostly patterns.

At the same time, Xu Yan's vision went black.

His body swayed suddenly, and a tearing, empty feeling welled up in his throat.

Something deep inside the brain was forcibly removed.

The moment the bride was sealed away, the entire dilapidated courtyard seemed to lose its core resentment, letting out a huge, primal wail.

The collapse of space did not stop; instead, it became even more frenzied and chaotic.

Cracks spread everywhere, as if this dilapidated courtyard was about to self-destruct.

(End of this chapter)