Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 7 The Rejection Reactions of the Soul-Sealing Camera

dark.

It is not visual darkness, but an absolute silence in which the senses are completely deprived and consciousness floats in nothingness.

Xu Yan felt like a speck of dust, caught in a vortex with no time and no direction.

The loud bang of the shutter, which wasn't pressed by him, and Chen Zhiwei's short, panicked cry still seemed to linger in his ears, but they quickly faded away, replaced by a deeper, all-consuming silence.

Then, there was coldness.

It's not the cold on the surface of the body, but an absolute zero that permeates from the core of consciousness and is enough to freeze thought.

In this extreme cold and darkness, some fragments struggled to emerge.

Whose smile is that?
It's blurry and warm, but like looking through frosted glass, you can't see the details.

A woman's voice humming an off-key lullaby, the touch of her fingers gently brushing her forehead—the feeling of a mother.

This word is like a stone thrown into a deep pool, creating faint ripples before sinking away.

That feeling of warmth vanished as quickly as the tide receded, leaving only a more empty and cold emptiness.

His master's aged hand grasped his, the wrinkles of his skin rough yet familiar.

The words of repeated admonition were on the tip of my tongue.
What is it?
"Clothing carries the soul, and so does the shadow."

What comes next?
That incantation... was the first lesson his master taught him.

He tried to recall, but it was like trying to scoop up a handful of water; there was nothing between his fingers.

At that moment, for the first time, he truly felt that he was disappearing.

The stronger the target, the heavier the price.

This cruel rule is being etched into his soul in the most straightforward way.

A name, a name he seemed to be trying his best to remember. Chen. Chen what?
The one who always wore a ponytail, whose eyes sometimes looked teasing and sometimes worried...
Junior sister?

Yes, junior sister.

This word anchors a glimpse of reality.

Chen Zhiwei!
Xu Yan's consciousness jolted violently, like a drowning person breaking through the surface of the water, his senses instantly returning.

"Cough! Cough cough cough!" He coughed violently, his lungs burning with pain, as if he had really suffocated for a long time.

The vision gradually focuses.

He found himself slumped on the cold floor of the photo studio, his back against the counter.

The air was filled with a strong, pungent odor, a mixture of ozone and burning hair.

The old camera lay beside him, its body still scorching hot, but the terrifying vibrations and buzzing from before had stopped.

It was unusually silent at this moment, the lens deep and dark, as if the spontaneous burst just now had not only exhausted its power, but also devoured enough "food", exuding a sense of slumbering satisfaction.

The flickering light of the eternal lamp cast an unsettling, dim glow over the entire hall.

"Senior brother?"

A weak, trembling voice, filled with disbelief, came from the side.

Xu Yan suddenly turned his head.

Chen Zhiwei fell a few steps away, struggling to prop herself up with her elbows.

Her face was as pale as paper, and the strands of hair on her forehead were soaked with cold sweat and stuck to her skin. She did not appear to have any obvious external injuries, but her eyes were filled with a dazed look of shock and a persistent, unfocused confusion.

She blinked hard, her fingers unconsciously rubbing her temples, as if unable to dispel the fog in her mind.

"Chen Zhiwei!" Xu Yan called out her name in a hoarse voice. A sense of relief at having found her briefly overwhelmed his physical exhaustion and mental blankness.

He can still remember her name!
He tried to stand up, but felt dizzy and his limbs were too weak to obey him.

When Chen Zhiwei heard his call, she focused her gaze on his face. The confusion she felt did not dissipate but instead deepened.

"Senior brother...you..." Her voice was still weak, tinged with hesitation, "What...did happen just now? That USB drive...I feel like it contained a very important memory, about Grandpa...about the rules here...it was dug up."

There was a brief, unnatural pause in her speech, as if she were searching for a word she couldn't recall.

Xu Yan's heart sank.

The cost. The cost of the camera.

That autonomous shutter attack was indiscriminate!

He hurriedly searched his memory.

He couldn't remember what he had just thought he was going to say.

My memory of yesterday is still a complete blank, and it even seems to have expanded in scope?
He felt as if he couldn't even remember what he had done the day before yesterday or the day before that.

Fortunately, their basic understanding of Chen Zhiwei, their master, and the photo studio seems to still remain.

The most important anchor point has not been lost.

However, Chen Zhiwei's condition made him uneasy.

She suffered not only psychological trauma, but more like a certain kind of cognition was interfered with or erased.

“The USB drive…it self-destructed.” Xu Yan spoke with difficulty, his voice dry. “The camera started up by itself; it seems our consciousness was attacked.” He omitted details about his memory loss; now was not the time.

Chen Zhiwei held onto the chair next to her and slowly stood up, her body still swaying slightly.

Her movements seemed somewhat hesitant, as if she had become somewhat rusty in controlling her body.

She looked around, her gaze sweeping over the now-calm filing cabinet, the stains left by the unconscious burly man on the floor, and the lingering stench in the air.

“Final Agreement. Eliminate potential information carriers.” She muttered to herself, recalling the last line of bloody words on the screen, her face growing even more grim. “Was that an attack on our consciousness?”

Her gaze fell on Xu Yan again, the hesitation and unfamiliarity still lingering: "Senior brother, are you... alright? I feel like there's something different about you, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

Xu Yan avoided her gaze, leaning against the counter to stand up: "Let's not talk about that now. That thing..." He looked at the burnt and deformed USB drive on the floor, "It's not trying to send data back! It's trying to..."

Snapped!
The USB drive made a crisp sound, a fine crack appeared on the metal casing, wisps of smoke rose out, and the internal structure was rapidly burning away.

Xu Yan then realized that his old camera's attack on him and Chen Zhiwei was an extreme anger and "rejection reaction" resulting from being severely provoked and contaminated.

The camera is both the "anchor" and the "cage" for all memories and souls.

And this foreign, malicious man-made entity is attempting to pollute and destroy its domain with the most filthy "pseudo-memory" and "data obsession"?

For the camera, Xu Yan, who was holding the USB drive and bringing it with him, and Chen Zhiwei, who was standing in this polluted area, were no longer "guardians" but had become part of the source of pollution.

Its shutter button, slowly and firmly, pressed down on its own.

This is not devouring, but a complete and indiscriminate "purification"!
The self-destruction of the USB drive is not the end.

It's like a pebble thrown into a stagnant pond, its ripples spreading and awakening other slumbering, terrifying entities marked and catalyzed by the "center" within the filing cabinets.

(End of this chapter)