Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 124 The Overlooked Accessories
The moment the box lid was opened, Chen Zhiwei suddenly felt a tightness in her wrist.

Xu Yan was already standing beside her, his hand firmly covering hers, stopping her from opening the box.

“No need.” His voice was soft, but it carried an undeniable firmness.

Chen Zhiwei looked up and met his deep gaze.

Something in those eyes made her heart flutter; it wasn't rejection, but rather... reluctance.

"Senior brother, let me..."

“I said, there’s no need.” Xu Yan’s fingers tightened slightly as he closed the wooden box again. “Your name was already engraved here.”

He took her hand, gently placed the amulet made of folded hair in her palm, and then closed her fingers.

“That’s enough.” His fingertips brushed over her index finger, where a small red dot remained after being pricked. “What I want is for you to stand beside me unharmed.”

Chen Zhiwei looked at him, her eyes slightly warm.

She suddenly understood that he didn't want her to sign a blood pact, and he didn't want her to bear any consequences.

All he ever wanted was for her to be safe and happy.

She gripped the amulet tightly, looked up, and gave a tearful smile: "Then you have to promise me that no matter what, you'll remember to come back."

Xu Yan wiped away the moisture from the corner of her eyes, but instead of letting go, he gently held her wrist.

He took the soul-suppressing bell and the old compass left by his master, and placed them solemnly on the counter.

"May I borrow your silver needles?"

Before Chen Zhiwei could react, Xu Yan had already taken a thin needle from the needle pouch she carried with her.

Without hesitation, he pierced his left index finger, and bright red blood gushed out instantly.

"Senior brother!" Chen Zhiwei exclaimed.

He remained calm, precisely dripping a drop of blood onto the clapper of the Soul-Suppressing Bell, and another drop fell into the center of the Heavenly Pool on the compass.

The moment the blood droplet touched the bronze, it emitted a barely perceptible golden light, which then quickly seeped into it, as if it were being quietly absorbed by the two magical artifacts.

“That’s enough.” He gently placed the Soul-Suppressing Bell into Chen Zhiwei’s palm. “If I don’t recognize you, ring it. This bell recognizes my blood and will bring me back.”

His gaze was as deep as an ancient well, his voice low yet resolute: "My blood will be the catalyst, your vessel the contract. In this way, no matter how many memories I lose, I will never miss you."

Chen Zhiwei gripped the slightly warm bell in her hand, looking at the bloodstains on the compass that had already disappeared, and suddenly understood—this was not the sadness of parting, but a promise that transcended life and death.

The sunlight outside the window was perfect, casting their shadows on the mottled floor.

In a corner unseen by them, an old-fashioned telephone sits on the counter.

"Ring—ring ring—"

A sudden, sharp sound shattered the silence of the room.

Chen Zhiwei's body tensed instantly, and her gaze shot like lightning to the ringing telephone.

Xu Yan gently patted her shoulder, signaling her to relax, then calmly stepped forward and grasped the cold receiver.

“Forgotten Photo Studio.” His voice was perfectly calm and flat. There was a brief electronic silence on the other end of the line, followed by a meticulously modulated, emotionless synthesized voice:
"Order Number: E-0721. Target: Room 301, No. 13, Lane 7, Song'an Road, Old Town, Jiangcheng. Executor: Xu Yan. Please confirm that the cleanup procedure has been completed."

“Completed.” Xu Yan’s answer was concise and powerful.

"Please deliver all cleaned items to: Urban Service Rapid Response Center, Low-Value Materials Recycling Department, No. 88, Keji 1st Road, High-tech Zone, by 3:00 PM today. After the physical delivery is completed, the remaining balance of the order (0.5 BTC) will be automatically paid."

After a brief pause, the synthesized sound added:

"Friendly reminder: Please complete the transaction before 15:00 today. Otherwise, it will automatically be upgraded to the L-2 process: location tracking, on-site pickup, and recycling. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Delivered on time."

Xu Yan hung up the phone decisively, without the slightest hesitation.

Chen Zhiwei strode forward, her brows furrowed slightly: "Was that a call from the center? How could they have gotten there so quickly?"

“Perfect.” Xu Yan turned around, his eyes sharp. “Aren’t we just looking for an opportunity to enter the ‘fast-track evaluation channel’? This is the perfect stepping stone.”

His fingers tapped lightly on the counter, a sharp glint in his eyes:
"The low-value materials recycling department might sound like an insignificant place. But it's precisely in places like that that we're more likely to find the clues we're looking for."

Xu Yan shifted her gaze from the telephone to Chen Zhiwei's face, and suddenly asked a question that caught her off guard:

"The camera passed down from my master should also have an external flash, right? And a special frequency used to synchronize the camera and the flash."

Chen Zhiwei's pupils contracted slightly as she looked at him in disbelief: "How...how could you know? This is a secret Grandpa told me before he died! Could it be that you..."

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” Xu Yan interrupted her calmly. “But now, I need it. This flashlight will be one of my most important weapons on the road to Gold rank.”

Chen Zhiwei stared at him for a moment, and finally nodded gently.

She went to the deepest corner of the darkroom, moved a loose floorboard, and took out a box from it.

The box was opened, revealing an antique-looking metal flash unit, its surface covered with intricate runes, identical to the patterns on a camera.

Chen Zhiwei carefully held out the old flash unit, its metal casing gleaming with the patina of time. "Grandpa once said this thing could unleash the camera's hidden power—at least twice its original strength. If the timing and frequency were perfectly aligned, it could even trigger a geometric leap."

"Twice the base power, and there's even a chance to trigger a geometric leap?" Xu Yan's breath hitched slightly.

He recalled that he had never really looked at this seemingly ordinary accessory before.

On those nights when he carried out missions alone, he could always sense that the sealing power of the camera itself was slowly dissipating, forcing him to activate the dark gold wide-angle lens.

However, the price of the wide-angle lens is far too heavy; each trigger is like carving a new wound on the soul.

This external flash unit can significantly enhance the camera's capabilities without adding any extra burden.

This is the optimal solution he derived after returning to this point in time and repeatedly deducing the characteristics of each magical artifact.

The preservation of his memories allowed him to examine everything from a higher perspective.

Those once scattered fragments of experience have now finally been pieced together into a complete picture.

“I see.” He murmured to himself, his fingertips lightly tracing the cool surface of the flashlight. “No increase in cost, only increase in power—that’s the real backup plan Master left behind.”

She aligned the flash unit's bottom connector with the camera's hot shoe, gently rotated it forty-five degrees, and with a soft "click," the two parts fit together perfectly.

(End of this chapter)