Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 145 Last Words (Sixth Update)

The residual energy impact still sent Xu Yan flying, his back slamming into the server rack, the ghost hand brand on his right shoulder erupting with bone-chilling cold and excruciating pain.

"Xu Yan!" Chen Zhiwei exclaimed in surprise. The bell rang again, forcing the image back.

"No...it..."

Xu Yan gasped for breath, feeling the pain of numbers assaulting his consciousness through the ghostly hand.

But this time, he was prepared, and his mental defenses were even stronger.

The influx of broken code and fragments of emotion were no longer just chaotic noise; he gleaned from them repetitive, manipulative instruction snippets.

"Overwrite", "Clear", "Reset"

This doesn't seem like the kind of "thoughts" a spontaneously formed vengeful spirit would have.

Just then, A-Zhe's voice, brimming with the excitement characteristic of a tech fanatic, rang out again, exactly the same as in his previous life:

"Dude! That thing on your shoulder... it's resonating! It's absorbing this dissipated data pain! Try it! Don't use the camera to absorb it, guide it! Guide it to impact the mark on your shoulder! Like quenching!"

Xu Yan sneered inwardly.

As expected, this insane plan has come to pass.

"Senior brother, don't listen to him!" Chen Zhiwei's urgent voice rang out almost simultaneously with A Zhe's. The compass needle in her hand was emitting a piercing buzz, frantically pointing at the brand on Xu Yan's shoulder. "That brand and the resentment here are from the same source, but their natures are completely different! Forcibly guiding it is not tempering, but detonating a bomb! You will tear yourself to pieces first!"

Her warning confirmed Xu Yan's underlying concerns.

“I know.” Xu Yan’s voice was steady, and he gave Chen Zhiwei an affirming look. “So, let’s try a different approach. Zhiwei, help me stabilize the outer energy field and prevent it from interfering with me!”

Without hesitation, Chen Zhiwei instantly shot out several talismans held between her fingertips, hovering around Xu Yan in several key locations to form a simple protective array.

The cool glow temporarily resisted the pervasive digital whispers and cognitive interference, creating a relatively stable operating space for Xu Yan.

"It's in pain, but it wants to talk, not just vent." Xu Yan explained quickly to Chen Zhiwei while enduring the impact of the icy data stream, and at the same time, he concentrated all his energy.

Chen Zhiwei stared intently at the compass, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he struggled to maintain the array while simultaneously sensing the subtle fluctuations within the massive data stream.

“At its core… there is a strong fluctuation of obsession, not just pure destructive desire! Xu Yan, try to accept its ‘intention’ instead of resisting its ‘power’!”

This sentence was like a lighthouse, illuminating Xu Yan's thoughts.

He no longer tries to guide or devour with brute force, as he did in his previous life.

He relaxed his suppression of Yuan, but not to let it absorb anything. Instead, he made it a "bridge," a bridge that filtered out the violent pain and only transmitted core consciousness data.

Using himself as a conductor and the camera as the final guiding beacon, he carefully and steadfastly guided the remaining data essence of the small boat, which carried the last obsession, towards the silent server racks around it, towards the core data storage area of ​​this "Tower of Babel" ruins.

"Ugh—!" The process was still painful, like dredging a flooded river, an ultimate test of mental strength.

"Stay calm! The energy flow is stabilizing!" Chen Zhiwei stared intently at the compass, his voice encouraging.

The soul-suppressing bell in her hand emitted a soft and continuous ringing sound, like a timpani, helping to stabilize the enormous energy that was being channeled.

A massive storm of data roared into the server. Indicator lights flashed wildly, and the server rack emitted a deep hum.

The next second, a sudden change occurred!

Deep inside the laboratory, the largest main display screen suddenly lit up.

The restless snowflakes subsided.

On the screen, a line of text, like a long-dormant consciousness finally breaking free from all constraints, slowly emerged clearly, carrying a sense of final declaration:
"Forgetting is the real death."

All the whispers of numbers, the clatter of keyboards, and the piercing screams abruptly ceased at that moment.

The viscous malice dissipated like the receding tide, leaving only a silent sorrow from the depths of the data and a near-relief-like tranquility.

Chen Zhiwei breathed a sigh of relief, dispelled the array, wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked at the words on the screen, and a complex sense of pity appeared in his eyes: "What he... what he always wanted to say was this sentence. This is not resentment, but... his final words of wisdom."

Exhausted, Xu Yan knelt on one knee, panting heavily. He looked at Chen Zhiwei, nodded, and silently expressed his gratitude. Her composure and crucial suggestions were indispensable to the success of this operation.

However, what came through the communicator was neither silence nor a regretful whisper.

First, there was deathly silence.

Immediately following was a strange laugh, strained and bubbly, that was tried to be suppressed but ultimately escaped uncontrollably.

"Heh...hehehe...hahahaha—!"

The laughter grew louder and more manic, piercing through the headphones and echoing in the empty laboratory, sounding particularly jarring and eerie.

"Ah Zhe?" Xu Yan frowned, forcing himself to stand up.

“Forgetting…is the true death…” A-Zhe’s voice became sharp, filled with disbelief and a near-hysterical elation. “Xiao Zhou…you saw it, didn’t you?! You saw the ‘reality’ beyond this world!”

His tone suddenly rose, with a tearing tremor:

"This is not a divine realm at all! This entire world... this starry sky, these cities, you, me, all our loves and hates... might just be... just a program of some being! Or a dream that is about to end!"

"Forgetting is death... because when we wake up, when the program is formatted... we, who have been forgotten, will die completely, as if we had never existed! This is the truth that the Tower of Babel wants to tell us! We think we are climbing, but we are just digging our own graves!"

Chen Zhiwei's face turned pale, and she couldn't help but retort, "Are you crazy! How is this possible!"

"How could it be impossible?!" A-Zhe's voice carried a strange, resigned calm. "Ask your good senior brother! Didn't he feel anything? Those familiar moments, those inexplicable coincidences, those... seemingly predetermined 'fate'!"

Xu Yan was shocked. A Zhe's words were like a needle, piercing the deepest unease he had felt since his rebirth.

“Perhaps even our current argument…” Ah Zhe’s voice lowered, carrying a chilling undertone, “is just a ripple in that dream, or… the inevitable result of a piece of code running.”

His voice suddenly dropped, turning into a chilling muttering:

"What...what are we...?"

Xu Yan and Chen Zhiwei stood frozen in place. The words on the screen seemed to carry a cold weight, while A Zhe's frantic revelation was more like a key that suddenly pried open the underlying logic of this world, revealing the unfathomable and terrifying void beneath.

(End of this chapter)