Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 144 The Fear of the Small Boat (Fifth Update)
Immediately afterwards, the video appeared.

It wasn't a complete ghostly form, but rather fragmented holographic afterimages flashing, overlapping, and then dissipating wildly in the dimly lit server rack, like an old video with a poor signal:

A young, tech-obsessed male face is contorted with extreme fear, his pupils reflecting a wildly rolling, out-of-control waterfall of code.

A pair of fingers twitched as they typed on a semi-transparent virtual keyboard, their nails already broken, the blood seeping out staining the invisible keycaps red.

A blood-red ERROR warning suddenly exploded on the main screen, symbolizing the complete and irreversible system crash, like splattered blood, shocking to the eye;
Finally, all the screens instantly turned to static, accompanied by an infinitely long, distorted, and inhumanly shrill scream, before abruptly ending!

Then, the cycle repeats itself.

Madness, fear, collapse, destruction... it never ends.

It is not a demon in the traditional sense; it is a fragment of a soul stuck at the moment of death, eternally enduring the extreme pain of that moment.

Its very existence is a continuous torture of consciousness.

“This is… ‘data residue’.” Chen Zhiwei’s voice trembled, echoing his past life.

Xu Yan raised his camera and, through the viewfinder, saw once again that massive, chaotic, and shrill storm of painful data.

The camera transmitted familiar sounds of "disgust" and "rejection".

But this time, he saw things more deeply.

His gaze pierced through the surface chaos, trying to capture the details he had overlooked in his previous life.

The repetitive, unusual sets of instructions in the code waterfall; the unusual, almost indicative texture on the ERROR alert.

"Ah Zhe!" Xu Yan roared, his voice echoing in the empty space, carrying a deliberate caution different from his previous life. "What exactly is this?! The 'Tower of Babel'... Where exactly do you want to build this 'bridge' to?"

Ah Zhe remained silent for a moment.

The hoarse, weary voice rang out again, recounting the name "Little Boat" and the audacious plan—to capture a flash of consciousness and cross the river of death.

"The bridge is broken," he said softly, his voice still carrying that barely perceptible tremor.

Xu Yan stared intently at the viewfinder.

It's now!

Almost as soon as A Zhe finished speaking, a hanging display screen in the distance lit up as expected, with static and noise creeping around, forming a distorted human face outline, before going out again.

The hum of the subtle electric current in the air intensified.

“He…knows we’re here.” Ah Zhe stood at the door, his face pale, and swallowed hard. The exact same lines as before.

The air in the lab thickened. Disordered indicator lights flashed maliciously.

“The core node… is definitely in the innermost control area.” A-Zhe’s voice came through the encrypted headset, accompanied by interference noise, “But I need you to go to backup power cabinet number three and physically connect to this probe…”

Send over the coordinates and drawings.

Xu Yan and Chen Zhiwei exchanged a glance, and this time, his eyes carried a clear warning.

They carefully moved deeper into the area.

The anti-static floor beneath my feet emitted a hollow echo.

"Gluck... cluck..."

The rapid, frantic sound of keyboard typing exploded in my ears as expected!

Chen Zhiwei suddenly stopped, and the compass needle spun out of control, heading straight for the empty wall.

Xu Yan immediately raised his camera.

In the viewfinder, a pale white "data stream" composed of broken code and extreme emotions rushes in like a vengeful ghost.

He quickly adjusted his focus, no longer simply defending, but attempting to analyze the source and structural patterns of these data streams.

"It's interference... cognitive interference," Chen Zhiwei whispered, the calming talisman flickering slightly, reducing the keyboard noise. They located power cabinet number three.

Xu Yan took out the probe.

"Sizzle!"

The overhead light tube exploded!

Glass shards fell like rain.

The temperature plummeted.

The server fans were making a frantic roar.

"It's stopping us! Quick! The third interface on the left side of the access point!" A Zhe's voice rang out urgently.

Xu Yan acted without the slightest hesitation, but just moments before, his gaze had quickly swept over the wear marks on several non-standard interfaces inside the power cabinet.

One of them had abnormal, fine scratches left from repeated plugging and unplugging.

This does not match the interface specified by A Zhe.

Last time, he overlooked this point.

He didn't immediately insert it, but instead calmly spoke into the headset, his words fast and clear: "Ah Zhe, explain why it's the third one from the left? According to the rack's internal standards, it's usually a redundant backup. The physical wear of the second interface from the right is more consistent with the characteristics of the main data channel. Are you trying to get me to connect to a non-critical node? What are you trying to bypass? The peripheral defense logic... or something else, like its core sensing area?"

Ah Zhe suddenly fell silent!

Only the buzzing noise of the electric current could be heard.

This brief silence confirmed Xu Yan's suspicion that A Zhe's instructions were not entirely for solving the problem.

"Giggle... giggle..." The keyboard sounds grew increasingly sharp and rapid, as if enraged by Xu Yan's words.

"Connect!" A-Zhe's voice suddenly rose, filled with a frustrated exasperation, "Connect now if you don't want to be torn apart!"

A cold smile curled at the corner of Xu Yan's lips.

He ignored her instructions and, to Chen Zhiwei's astonishment, abruptly turned the probe and inserted it into the second port on the right side, which showed signs of abnormal wear!
"No—!" Ah Zhe cried out in shock through his earpiece.

At the very moment the probe made contact.

"what!!!"

That drawn-out, distorted, inhuman scream exploded from every sound source and every structure.

Simultaneously, all the screens flashed the small boat's distorted face and a blood-red ERROR warning.

The terrifying holographic image lunged out again.

But this time, Xu Yan did not resort to passive defense.

The moment he raised the camera, he whispered, "Zhiwei, southwest Kan position, seal off the energy leakage! Its core of this condensation is there!"

Although Chen Zhiwei was surprised and suspicious, she did not hesitate. The Soul-Suppressing Bell rang, and a talisman was accurately shot in the direction Xu Yan pointed.

Almost simultaneously, Xu Yan pressed the shutter.

"Crack!"

A flash of light. A photograph slipped from the page.

The onrushing data ghost suddenly paused, and the image became momentarily and unstablely blurred.

Xiao Zhou's figure became clear for a moment, no longer just a torn afterimage. In his eyes, besides pain, there seemed to be a trace of... extreme terror, as if he was looking in a specific direction—the control room where A Zhe was!
"What happened?!" A-Zhe's voice was filled with disbelief. "The frequency... the core frequency has been shifted?!"

“It wasn’t me who shifted the focus,” Xu Yan stared intently at the viewfinder, at the invisible data links that were temporarily revealed due to the interference of the talismans with the energy flow, connecting various servers and ultimately converging towards the control room. “It exposed itself. Part of its core isn’t even in here, right, A-Zhe?”

(End of this chapter)