Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 89 Abyss and Cicada

Before he could catch his breath, a deeper, more primal throbbing came from inside the camera.

It's not a sound, it's a feeling.

It was as if he wasn't holding a camera, but a heart that had just emerged from its dormancy and begun to beat slowly...

Immediately afterwards, a cold hunger crept up his arm like vines along the camera's leather strap, trying to burrow into his skin.

This is not his emotion, but an external invasion.

Almost simultaneously, in the center of the warehouse, the enormous vertical eye, composed of metal and wriggling runes, seemed to be awakened by the beating of this "heart," and its eerie green pupil suddenly contracted.

A deep, resonant hum, like the whispers of countless people at the bottom of an abyss, began to permeate the air.

resonance.

Like two magnets, they attract and awaken each other across the dirty air and cold reality.

"Do not……"

Xu Yan muttered unconsciously, goosebumps rising on his arms.

He tried to release the camera, but found that his fingers felt as if they were welded to it.

That chilling feeling of hunger suddenly intensified!

"boom--!"

It wasn't an explosion of sound, but a collapse of perception.

Centered on him, an invisible vortex was created out of thin air! This time, the target was not a single monster, but the remaining "ghosts" in the entire space!
"Puff... puff puff puff..."

The glass of the surrounding storage tanks, which were still intact, began to shatter one after another.

The pale green liquid gushed out like festering pus and blood.

The floating, translucent spirits in the liquid didn't even have time to waile before they were torn apart and stretched like jellyfish thrown into an invisible millstone, turning into pale, twisting strands of light that were forcibly pulled out of physical confinement and merged into that greedy vortex.

Xu Yan "saw" it.

In his mind, the entire warehouse had become a huge, drained swamp.

Those filaments of light, representing the soul, struggled and screamed, only to be mercilessly swallowed up by the "abyss" at the end of the vortex—the camera in his hand.

With each bite, the camera grew heavier, and the chilling will became clearer.

A strange, destructive pleasure, like a subtle electric current, began to wash over his nerves.

The feeling made him want to vomit.

He remembered Chen Zhiwei's pale face, and her words: "Xu Yan, stop filming those things..."

"Stop..."

He tried to fight back, his teeth grinding together, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

But his will was like a mantis trying to stop a wheel in the face of this torrent.

A stinging pain began to emanate from my right arm, and faint black lines were beginning to appear beneath my skin.

The vertical eye in the center of the warehouse trembled violently, its eerie green light flashing rapidly, as if it were experiencing immense pain or sacrificing itself.

The runes that constitute its body are flickering and fading, emitting mournful cries of impending collapse.

Just as Xu Yan felt he was about to be completely submerged by this icy torrent, and his consciousness was about to be assimilated, he was caught in the moment.

A warm, cool sensation spread across my chest.

It is a jade cicada.

It didn't make a sound, but instead transmitted a clear, soothing vibration.

A cool trickle of water gushed out, trying to dispel the biting cold.

More importantly, the jade cicada conveyed a clear "direction".

Like a pointer drawn by a magnet, it subtly adjusts its angle, pointing to a dark corner deep within the warehouse, untouched by the vortex.

Xu Yan used all his willpower to fight against Yuan's devouring instinct, and turned his gaze to that corner.

There, most of the remaining fragments of souls had been devoured, except for three extremely faint soul lights, like candles in the wind, stubbornly burning. A little girl in a red dress, clutching a tattered rag doll, possessed a pure soul light, yet it contained a heartbreaking sorrow.

A monk, whose body was mostly charred black, maintained a meditative posture, his soul light solidified, as if carrying an unyielding obsession.

A faceless woman with a blank face and no features, her soul empty and blank, like a piece of paper waiting to be written on.

Their soul power is not strong, but they exude a kind of "purity" that comes from being tempered.

The jade cicada showed them unusual "attention".

Xu Yanfu was inspired.

He no longer tried to confront the torrent head-on, but rather guided a tributary within the raging torrent.

He concentrated all his energy, transforming the cool sensation emanating from the jade cicada into a silent command, directing it towards the three beams of soul light.

"come over."

The clear light emanating from the jade cicada seemed to possess a tangible quality, gently yet firmly enveloping the area.

The three beams of soul light seemed to sense the call, trembling slightly, but they did not resist. Instead, they showed a kind of... submissive acceptance.

They transformed into three slender yet solid threads of light, silently merging into the jade cicada.

hum...

The jade cicada emitted an extremely faint, satisfied buzz, as if it were after a hearty meal.

Inside the jade body, there seemed to be three barely perceptible spots of light.

At that very moment, the chill in my chest intensified suddenly, creating a brief stalemate with the coldness in my right arm.

Xu Yan suddenly regained a sliver of control over his body!
He staggered backward, his back slamming against the iron gate again with a dull thud.

The swirling vortex that had been swallowing everything came to an abrupt end.

In the center of the warehouse, the enormous vertical eye flickered violently a few more times, its eerie green light extinguishing completely like a light bulb going out of power.

The surface runes quickly dimmed and peeled off, and the entire structure emitted a teeth-grinding "creak" sound, as if it would fall apart at any moment.

All the storage tanks were empty, and the spiritual liquid had spilled all over the ground, mixed with glass shards, spreading across the cold earth.

The air was filled with rust, ozone, and some indescribable, burnt smell of the soul.

silence.

Silence as death.

Xu Yan leaned against the door, panting heavily, the cold air stinging his throat.

He could feel that the camera was no longer scorching hot, but had become a heavy, living, cold sensation.

The jade cicada rested warmly against his chest, like a stone that had been warmed.

He looked down at his right hand.

The faint black lines on the skin were slowly fading, but a cold texture seemed to remain in the bones.

He felt no joy of victory, only a deep-seated exhaustion, and... a clear realization: something within him had fully awakened.

The cost, however, remains unknown to him.

He took one last look at the mess and the giant, now-dead eye in the center, then pushed open the heavy iron door and walked unsteadily into the rain.

The rain hit his face, cold and real.

He was about to leave when he suddenly noticed a shadow in the center of the control panel, covered by a thick, explosion-proof glass cover.

Beneath the shadows lay an ancient compass, lying silently.

Dark gold in color, with an antique design, the dial is engraved with intricate runes, but its outer ring is not a typical octagonal scale. Instead, it is composed of a spiral soul line, resembling a coiled snake with its head and tail touching.

The pointer at the very center didn't point north, but instead—pointed to him.

The compass needle trembled slightly, emitting an almost inaudible hum.

That wasn't mechanical vibration, but some kind of resonance.

(End of this chapter)