Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 143 A Small Favor (Fourth Update)

"Then...do you have a way to cure it completely?" Chen Zhiwei asked, with a glimmer of hope.

“A complete cure?” A Zhe shook his head, his expression becoming pragmatic. “Don’t even think about it. The depth of this thing’s bond with you is beyond imagination; it’s practically become part of your energy system. If you try to forcibly separate it by brute force, I estimate that you’ll be the first to shatter and dissipate completely.”

He abruptly changed the subject, pulling a smooth, black metal block, slightly larger than a USB drive, from his work pants pocket. It had no visible interfaces, only a few extremely faint blue breathing lights that flickered slowly, as if it were breathing calmly.

“However, it can’t cure the root cause, but it can treat the symptoms a little. This is a ‘spectrum damper’ that I made myself,” he handed it to Xu Yan. “I can’t guarantee it will be completely effective, but theoretically it can absorb and disrupt some of the specific frequency fluctuations it emits. If it works well, at least it will give you some peace and quiet, and when it’s abnormally ‘active,’ it won’t be so easy for it to be… spotted by some sensitive ‘monitoring networks’.”

He smiled knowingly, clearly knowing that Xu Yan understood he was referring to the central or other possible monitoring systems. "Of course, it can also reduce its direct impact on your emotions and thoughts, so you can buy some peace and quiet."

"Conditions?" Xu Yan took the cold metal, feeling the intricate energy flow within it, and asked directly.

Ah Zhe seemed to have been waiting for him to say this, and quickened his pace: "Do me a favor, consider it payment for this 'damper,' and we'll be even. There's a 'small problem' that I can't handle on my own, and I need a hardcore professional like you."

"explain."

“It’s not an ordinary ghost or a geomancer,” A-Zhe’s voice was lowered, carrying a hint of excitement and frustration at encountering an unknown technical problem. “It’s… something else. More 'data-' oriented, or rather, an anomaly that parasitizes the information flow. It’s been entangled in my network for a long time, and conventional cleaning methods have been ineffective.”

"Place."

A Zhe immediately sent a coordinate to Xu Yan's terminal via an encrypted link. "It's hidden deep within the redundant architecture of a medium-sized data center that's still operating in the west of the city. The physical and logical isolation is extremely perfect, almost like it has a mind of its own. It's too risky for me to go in alone."

Xu Yan glanced at the coordinates and put away the terminal.

"See you in an hour." He said succinctly, then turned and disappeared into the crowd with Chen Zhiwei.

Ah Zhe stood there watching them disappear, then pushed up his glasses, and the data stream on the lenses silently flowed across them once more.

This exchange not only solved his immediate problem but also provided him with a seemingly extremely reliable temporary ally. More importantly, it confirmed that Xu Yan possessed a huge secret that even the center might not have noticed—this was far more interesting than any anomalous data.

An hour later, Xu Yan and Chen Zhiwei stood in the back alley of the seemingly ordinary data center.

The cold metal vents emitted a low hum, and although separated from the bustling street by only a wall, it felt like two different worlds.

The heavy metal door closed silently behind us, completely shutting out the last trace of noise from the outside world.

Ah Zhe was already waiting there, wrapped in an inappropriately oversized black coat, which made his already thin figure look even more uneasy, like a frightened crow.

He didn't say much, but gestured for them to follow with his eyes, his movements carrying a familiar vigilance.

Passing through the busy, brightly lit server room, avoiding the staff's sight, A-Zhe led them to the most secluded corner.

There was an inconspicuous, heavy metal door marked "High Voltage Danger".

He stepped forward, without using any electronic card, and instead pulled out a complex and dazzling array of physical keys. He inserted it, rotated it, and simultaneously entered a long dynamic password into a nearly invisible sensor next to the door. "Click." The heavy lock sprang open.

Behind the door was not the equipment room I had imagined, but a narrow staircase that descended sharply and was bathed in a stark white light.

The air instantly changed, filled with a faint smell of ozone, and... a deeper, coldness that belonged to the silence of ancient machinery.

“Welcome to the ruins of the Tower of Babel.” A Zhe forced an ugly smile and stepped down first, his voice echoing slightly in the narrow passage.

Xu Yan's gaze sharpened slightly. Seizing the opportunity, he asked, "A-Zhe, what exactly is this 'Tower of Babel' that you've been researching? Where did you originally intend to build a bridge to?"

Ah Zhe paused slightly, without turning around, his voice sounding somewhat hollow in the narrow stairwell: "Research? No, you're mistaken. This place... wasn't built by us."

He paused, as if organizing his thoughts or suppressing some emotion: "It was Xiaozhou and I... who discovered it by chance. An abandoned ruin, from an unknown era, perhaps even... not belonging to our 'world'."

"When we discovered it, we realized that what we thought was 'reality' might not be so solid. The Tower of Babel... it might not be a tower at all, but a metaphor, a... cruel hint about the nature of this world."

At the end of the stairs, there was another door.

The door was made of some kind of matte metal, with a smooth, mirror-like surface. It had no markings, only a complex biometric lock.

Ah Zhe pressed his entire palm down, simultaneously scanning his pupils, and whispered a string of numbers, letters, and strange syllables, which didn't sound like a command but more like some kind of... activation incantation.

"Click."

The door slid open silently to the side.

A stronger, more aged scent wafted over.

It was a mixture of years of dust, aged insulation materials, and the faint heat that remained even after the server was shut down.

At the same time, the compass needle that Chen Zhiwei had been holding tightly in his hand suddenly jumped, and then began to tremble slightly and irregularly, as if it had been strongly disturbed by some invisible force field.

The space inside the door was more spacious than expected, with rows of black server racks, but their style was obviously at least a generation older than the mainstream equipment on the upper floor, like remnants forgotten by the times.

A few eerie green emergency lights provided illumination, casting long, short, distorted shadows on the cold ground, like ghostly figures.

There was no biting wind, but countless fine, seemingly emanating numbers whispered from all directions, flooding the three people's ears like a tide.

It wasn't a complete sentence, but only fragmented bytes, desperate gasps, and distorted sobs, mixed with the humming of the server's hard drive, which had long since stopped running but seemed to still be mourning deep within its soul, forming an endless digital requiem.

(End of this chapter)