Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 112 It was A Zhe who stepped forward.

But those eyes had transformed into slowly rotating black holes that devoured all light, and the face was expressionless, displaying only an inhuman, godlike indifference.

"Brother Yan..."

Ah Zhe felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an icy hand.

The image of Chen Zhiwei holding his hand and tears streaming down her face before leaving flashed before my eyes.

"Zhe, please...you must bring him back...he's all I have left..."

Her tearful plea pierced his heart like a burning needle.

He can't take it back.

His friend, the only person the woman in his heart truly loved, was right in front of him, yet he was consumed by that other thing.

A sense of powerlessness, guilt, and a secret sense of relief that he himself was unwilling to admit instantly overwhelmed him.

Yes, he has always lived in Xu Yan's shadow, both in terms of ability and... his position in Chen Zhiwei's heart.

Xu Yan is always the one who shines brighter and is more needed.

But now, Xu Yan has become a monster.

This thought sent a shiver of self-loathing through him, but another, even stronger thought arose immediately afterward:
This is his chance! It's his moment, not Xu Yan's, to step up and save everyone!
Amidst that desperate chaos, when all the Silver-level team members were pinned to the spot by an invisible fear.

A figure pushed aside his colleagues who were trying to block him, took a step out of the relatively safe defensive formation, and stood alone in the open area that was being constantly "erased".

It's A-Zhe.

“You all laugh at me for being a tech geek, for only knowing how to tinker with compasses and talismans, and say that ability planners are a low-class support profession…”

He gritted his teeth, his voice low but clearly penetrating the low rumble of the field, as if speaking to all those who had looked down on him, and even more so to himself.

His blood-stained and sweat-covered fingers slid and calibrated the ancient, custom-made psionic compass in his pocket with an almost spasmodic, frantic speed, producing a faint, rapid "click" sound.

"Today, I'll show you guys who only know brute force what... the charm of technology really is!"

On the command platform, Lin Lan's pupils contracted slightly.

Someone stood up.

At this moment of near collapse, this is undoubtedly a shot in the arm to boost morale.

However, when she saw that it was A Zhe who stepped forward, a newly promoted Silver Level III, and an energy planner whose role on the front lines was generally considered limited, her knuckles gripping the railing turned white from excessive force.

The glimmer of hope that had just ignited in my heart was completely extinguished by the even heavier reality.

“It was him… his courage is commendable, but… it’s just a drop in the ocean.” She could almost foresee that the glimmer of light would be mercilessly extinguished by “Abyss” in the next second.

An overwhelming sense of resentment welled up inside me.

She suddenly looked up at the two figures who had been coldly observing from above—[Hai Shang Jun·Mo Lin] and [Jin Zun Zhe·Yan Huang].

"A mere Silver-level brat dares to resist the Abyss alone," Lin Lan's voice wasn't loud, but it was as cold as ice. "Are you two Transcendent Realm experts really planning to just stand by and watch?"

Her question pierced the air like a fine needle. High above, a faint ripple flickered in Mo Lin's deep blue eyes, like watching an ant throw a punch at a mountain, a detached indifference tinged with a distant memory.

"One of the Five Whites, the compass of the 'Feng Shui Bureau Li Guan' lineage?" His voice was devoid of emotion. "Unfortunately, it resembles the form but not the spirit. It has not grasped the true meaning of 'the earth's magnetic layer is under my control,' and is merely a shell."

Yan Huang, standing to the side, let out a light sneer without any attempt to hide it, as if mocking the foolishness of this person who was unaware of his own mortality, and also as a response to Lin Lan's presumptuous question.

In their eyes, this was nothing more than a junior who had not yet received the true teachings struggling in despair, and along with the faint voices of doubt coming from the command platform, it was not worth their much attention.

They simply continued to wait indifferently for the inevitable end of this farce.

At this moment, the one who was most shocked, and even felt a shiver run through his soul, was Xu Yan.

Through the electronic eye of the drill arm, he stared intently at the back of the figure walking alone into the abyss.

That's Ah Zhe, the guy who's usually a bit eccentric, always likes to delve into "crooked ways," and always instinctively shrinks back when things are really dangerous.

They did indeed share life and death experiences, but their relationship was also marked by mutual exploitation and being forced by circumstances.

Xu Yan never imagined that this "friend," whom he might not have fully considered an equal in his heart, would, at this moment, for his sake, confront that monster, which even a Gold-level expert found troublesome, with such a resolute attitude.

An emotion mixed with disbelief and overwhelming guilt erupted in his chest like magma!
"Kid! Come back here!"

Xu Yan, clutching the broken speaker module of the drill arm, forced out a hoarse, distorted roar, filled with unprecedented panic, "It's not something you can handle! Back off!"

Hearing the shout, A-Zhe ignored it, only twitching his lips into a smile tinged with blood and madness, and shouted back, his voice carrying clearly back:

"Xu Yan! I told you to live well! Otherwise, who am I supposed to hate?!"

He paused, his laughter carrying a heartbreaking sense of relief and resolve:
"Besides, what will happen to Zhiwei if you die? I won't let her be sad for the rest of her life!"

Before he finished speaking, he no longer hesitated.

"The wheel of fortune turns, the spiritual veins obey commands—designate this perilous situation as the 'Gate of Death,' and seal it off!"

Ah Zhe's roar drowned out the wailing in the space.

He wasn't reciting slogans; he was issuing the final command. He slammed his palms down on the air, and the compass, like a red-hot iron, instantly burned through the flesh of his palms.

His burning life force and spiritual energy were no longer "flowing in," but were greedily "extracted" by the compass, transforming into a solid, crystal-like pillar of azure light that soared into the sky.

However, this destructive beam of light was not aimed at the Abyss itself.

Like a living serpent, it suddenly split into seven thinner beams the moment it hit the sky, and with a speed beyond the reach of sight, it precisely "pinned" into the seven directions surrounding the battlefield.

On the east side, a gray ripple that was petrifying its comrades vanished like shattered glass the instant it was pierced by the blue beam of light.

To the west, a dark area that was devouring light was forcibly pierced by blue light, and a piercing scream of something being torn apart came from within.

Above, the pale "pseudo-sun," formed from the abyss and constantly emitting spiritual pollution, flickered and distorted violently at the moment of impact with the blue light, like an image with a poor signal.

In that instant, the spatial structure let out a mournful cry of unbearable strain. The reality that had been unidirectionally defined by "Abyss" was torn open by this reckless attack, creating a rift belonging to humanity.

Meanwhile, the Silver-tier troops on the outer defensive line were still experiencing a silent and desperate massacre.

(End of this chapter)