Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 146 Charcoal-grilled Bullfrog (Seventh Update)

The base was deathly silent, except for the phrase "Forgetting is the real death" that glowed faintly on the screen, like a judgment from beyond the world.

There is no need to question Xiaozhou's tragedy any further.

The answer has been written down by his own hand.

But an even bigger and darker mystery, along with A-Zhe's ravings, spread like a plague through the air.

Ah Zhe's manic laughter and roars still faintly echoed in the empty laboratory, but the communication channel was now filled only with a harsh, intermittent busy tone.

"Ah Zhe? Ah Zhe!" Xu Yan called out twice into the communicator, but there was no response.

From the direction of the control room in the distance, came a loud bang as a metal door was slammed open and slammed shut, followed by a series of hurried, chaotic footsteps that quickly faded into the distance.

He ran away.

Like a wild beast scalded by the truth, he fled in panic from the "ruins" that imprisoned his best friend and had just shattered his entire worldview.

An eerie silence fell over the laboratory, broken only by the low hum of the server cooling fans, reflecting the timeless maxim on the screen: "Forgetting is the true death." A dim light flickered, like a calm eye watching everything.

Chen Zhiwei withdrew the last wisp of spiritual light surrounding her and leaned weakly against the cold server rack.

She looked in the direction where Ah Zhe had disappeared, her delicate brows furrowed slightly, and she couldn't help but complain:

“This Zhe is really strange. We did help him solve a big problem, right? Even if he brought that problem upon himself.” She paused, her tone clearly displeased, and turned to Xu Yan, who was catching his breath. “Senior brother, I just don’t understand why you told him from the beginning that he could come to you for help if he needed anything? Look at this, after we helped him, he didn’t even say thank you, he just ran off like a madman! What’s going on?”

Xu Yan slowly straightened up, the lingering pain from the brand on his right shoulder making him take a soft breath.

He stared at the metal door through which A-Zhe had fled, his gaze deep, as if he could see through the heavy barrier and witness that thin figure running desperately down the dimly lit corridor.

Hearing Chen Zhiwei's complaint, he looked away, a complex smile on his face that mixed helplessness, understanding, and some indescribable emotion.

He shook his head, and sighed softly in a tone that was half-joking and half-serious:
"Who knows... Perhaps I owed him a huge favor in my past life, and I'm destined to come back to repay it in this life."

His tone was light and casual, yet it was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples in Chen Zhiwei's heart.

She blinked, finding the words somewhat inexplicable, yet strangely fitting the absurd situation before her. They had taken risks and gone through all that trouble, only to have the "beneficiary" go mad and run away.

"Tch, just spouting nonsense I can't understand." Chen Zhiwei curled her lip, assuming that her senior brother was just being mysterious again. She bent down to pick up the compass and talismans scattered on the ground. "Let's go, let's go. This place is gloomy, I don't want to stay here for another second."

"Okay, let's go."

Xu Yan took one last look at the silent screen, turned around, and walked out of the "Tower of Babel ruins" filled with the embers of sorrow and madness, together with Chen Zhiwei, following the path they had come from.

Stepping out of the heavy metal door marked "High Voltage Danger" and back into the brightly lit main control room filled with the low hum of the central air conditioning and the sounds of people, Xu Yan and Chen Zhiwei both felt as if they had been transported to another world.

It was as if the data and soul's lament that I had just experienced was nothing more than a bizarre nightmare. The stale smell of ozone and dust was gone from the air; in its place was the slightly cold smell of disinfectant and electronic devices.

The staff members passing by looked perfectly normal. No one knew that just a short distance away, a thrilling contest had just ended, and a worldview had collapsed.

Chen Zhiwei took a few deep breaths of "normal" air, as if trying to completely replace the chill from the "ruins" in her lungs.

She stretched, her bones cracking slightly, and her face regained the lively radiance that belonged to her age.

"Finally out! I was almost suffocating in there!" She nudged Xu Yan, who was silent beside her, with her elbow, her eyes sparkling. "Senior brother, don't look so down! No matter what, we officially advanced to the Silver rank today! This is a great occasion!"

She started counting on her fingers, her tone becoming excited: "The city government stipulates that the base salary for handling abnormal events at the silver level is at least 15% higher than that of the bronze level! And the price for taking on private jobs will also increase! Our lives will be much more comfortable from now on!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, grabbed Xu Yan's arm, and pulled her towards the central exit without saying a word:

"Let's go! We have to go out for a good meal to celebrate! I know a new charcoal-grilled bullfrog restaurant opened nearby, and it's getting rave reviews. We're going to rip you off today... no, I mean celebrate! Celebrate our Senior Brother Xu Yan's promotion to Silver!"

Xu Yan was pulled along by her, and followed her steps with some helplessness.

Seeing Chen Zhiwei instantly switch from the tense Silver-level contractor to the lively junior sister mode, the gloom that had settled in his eyes due to A Zhe's madness and Xiao Zhou's tragedy dissipated slightly.

Starting over... isn't so bad.

"Alright, alright, let's have a good meal." He smiled slightly, his tone carrying a hint of indulgence. "But are you sure your meager salary increase is enough for you to 'celebrate' like this every day?"

"Hey! Xu Yan! Don't look down on me!" Chen Zhiwei immediately snapped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "I'll be a high-income earner from now on! Besides..." She winked mischievously, "I still have you, Senior Brother! You promised Master you'd take care of me!"

The two chatted and laughed as they merged into the bustling crowd on the street.

The afterglow of the setting sun casts a warm golden hue on the city's glass curtain walls, where traffic flows, bustling and vibrant.

Compared to the cold, despairing, and digitally eerie underground space I had just left, the vibrant human warmth before me seemed so precious.

On her way to the popular bullfrog restaurant, Xu Yan's gaze inadvertently swept over the street corner, shop windows, and hurried passersby.

After advancing to Silver rank, his perception sharpness did indeed improve significantly. He could vaguely detect extremely weak abnormal energy fluctuations remaining in certain corners, and he could also sense auras different from ordinary people from some passersby.

Perhaps they are other peers hidden in the city, or perhaps they are just some unconscious wandering ghosts.

Beneath the surface of this world, there are too many unknown undercurrents.

A Zhe's delirious words: "This world is just a program or a dream."

Like a cold footnote, it quietly surfaced in his heart, only to be forcibly suppressed by him.

(End of this chapter)