Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 108 Shadow
The drill bit spun wildly, rubbing against the metal box and producing blinding sparks and teeth-grinding noises.

However, the force that was strong enough to penetrate alloy armor was completely ineffective against this box, which was no bigger than the palm of your hand.

The box remained completely intact, without even a scratch.

Can’t open…

A tremendous sense of powerlessness and frustration instantly overwhelmed him.

The answer was clearly within reach, yet it was firmly blocked by an invisible wall.

All his efforts seemed utterly laughable in the face of this absolute barrier of authority.

The drill arm's metal face was expressionless, but his body, which was being manipulated to stand upright by the prosthetic body, stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Just as this atmosphere of frustration was spreading, a faint static electricity flickered.

The shadowy figure slowly materialized from the broken walls and ruins behind him, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Her translucent spirit was extremely unstable, and her voice was as hoarse as a broken cassette tape.
"...Don't waste your energy. The Omega File... requires a Gold-level Spirit Seal certified by the Center to be forcibly unlocked."

Xu Yan turned his head sharply, and the cold red light of the electronic eye locked onto Youying.

He didn't speak, but the transmission mechanism inside the heavy metal body of the drill arm emitted a faint "hum" due to the sudden tension.

The shadowy figure was in extremely poor condition, its body flickering violently between reality and illusion, like a holographic projection with a poor signal.

But her outstretched hand was unusually steady, with a solid shadow swirling around her fingertips, like a poisoned dagger, resting against the main energy transmission channel at the neck of the prosthetic arm.

That's the body's "throat"; once it's breached, it will be paralyzed instantly.

And one's own soul will also dissipate along with it.

"The judge's... final command." Her voice was hoarse, yet carried an undeniable resolve as she displayed the half-melted golden spirit fragment.

"Execution: Candle Dragon Protocol".

The electronic eye on the drill arm narrowed slightly.

“Zhulong…” he repeated in a low voice, his brain weighing the pros and cons in a hundredth of a second.

A direct confrontation?

Within this damaged body, the chances of defeating a spirit skilled in shadow assassination and clearly intent on death are slim, and it would also expose oneself.

obey?

This would mean handing over the Ω file, which could be crucial to one's survival, with unpredictable consequences.

"He believes you... can complete the 'upload'." The shadow's thoughts coiled around him like cold wire. "Now, execute the order."

Her last remaining eyes, unaffected by the dissipation of her spirit, were fixed on Xu Yan's every subtle movement. There was no threat in them, only a martyr-like, icy coldness that would stop at nothing to achieve her goal.

Xu Yan lowered his head, his gaze falling on the metal hand of the drill arm, which was slightly hot from the violent attempt.

He seemed to be struggling, to be giving in.

Then, he slowly raised his hand and pressed it against the physical interface on his chest cavity shell that represented data uploading.

Just before his "fingers" touched the interface, they shifted almost imperceptibly by millimeters, his fingertips seemingly unintentionally brushing against a tiny burn mark left by the Judge's Thunder Law beside the interface.

In that instant of contact, a faint fluctuation of psionic energy was subtly and cleverly "guided" out, like a fingerprint, and superimposed on the operational command he was about to execute. If he paused at the last moment, he could preserve the entire file!

He pressed the upload button.

A massive data stream began to be extracted from the Ω archive, flowing through the prosthetic arm of the drill and towards the unknown "Ark".

Xu Yan's "heart" is bleeding; every lost byte is as if the truth he is pursuing is fading away.

He had to gamble, gamble that the shadowy figure would make a momentary lapse in attention before the final upload was complete, giving him a chance to turn the tables on her.

The shadowy figure stared intently at the upload progress bar, its body flashing in sync with the progress.

Just as the data upload reached 87%, the shadow dagger that was hovering against his neck not only did not retract, but instead solidified a bit.

Her voice carried a chilling, all-knowing quality:

“Drill arm…” Although she was on the verge of collapse, her eyes were sharp as knives. “The commander has never fully trusted anyone, especially… you.”

With her other free hand, she painstakingly condensed an extremely small yet complex dark purple rune. The aura emanating from the rune resonated with a hidden command node deep within the prosthetic arm.

“This is the ‘Soul-Binding Nail’… left by the commander. It’s for your possible… ‘disloyalty’.” Her words were like a final judgment. “After the upload is complete, I will take it into silence. If you do anything ‘unauthorized’… it will ensure that this body, along with the ‘thing’ inside, is reduced to the most basic particles.”

Xu Yan felt that the core of the drill arm's computing power was almost frozen.

It wasn't that his true identity was recognized, but rather that Judge Jiang Yu had long ago prepared a final contingency plan for his subordinate, Zuanbi!

This suspicion and this ruthless control are the true face of the judge!
He remained silent, as if utterly stunned by this final trump card.

Data upload continues, 92%-95%
At the very bottom of the prosthetic body, unseen by the shadows, Xu Yan's consciousness was operating at an unprecedented speed, analyzing the rune structure of the "Soul-Binding Nail" and searching for even the slightest flaw.

The truth must be uploaded, but one's life cannot be handed over to others, much less be controlled by an inanimate object.

Finally, the upload progress bar reached 100%.

Youying gave him a deep look, and the "Soul-Binding Nail" rune slowly disappeared into her palm, but she did not lower her guard. Her spirit began to drift backward and merge into the shadows.

Xu Yan stood there, the Ω file metal box inside his chest becoming cold and empty.

He lost his overt bargaining chips, but he figured out the hidden dangers.

A new and even more dangerous game has just begun.

The ten-minute silence was broken by a very faint cracking sound, as if it came from the very foundation of the world's rules.

At first it was just an illusion, but then the sound, like cracks spreading rapidly on ice, became clearer and denser, eventually merging into a sharp piercing sound that penetrated the soul.

Within the iron coffin zone, the time and space that had been forcibly frozen began to disintegrate from the inside, like a shattered glass vessel.

The dust, which had been suspended for who knows how long, finally received permission to "fall" and scattered down in unison.

Countless pale cracks of light appeared out of thin air on the ceiling, as if a god had opened his indifferent eyes and cast his cold gaze upon this blasphemous ruin.

Wherever the light reached, the psychic turbulence and distorted reflections frozen in the moment of destruction, like thin frost exposed to the scorching sun, emitted a silent wail before rapidly melting and evaporating.

“Finally here…” The shadowy figure almost vanished in the pure light, its voice filled with relief.

Xu Yan sensed a deep and rhythmic vibration beneath his feet. It wasn't an explosion, but rather more like an ancient, dormant beast awakening, each pulse shaking the very foundation of the space.

(End of this chapter)