Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 32 Hunger
Gulu.

That soft bubbling sound, in this space absolutely dominated by "silence," was like a boulder thrown into a stagnant pool, instantly creating a tidal wave in Xu Yan and A Zhe's hearts.

The absolute silence was broken. Something had transcended this law.

Xu Yan, who was kneeling, suddenly raised his head, a hint of fear flashing in his pained and crazed eyes.

Inside his right arm, the excruciating pain, like being pierced by glass needles, caused by the fusion of the Soul-Suppressing Iron and the Curse of the Ghost Hand, continued, maintaining this unstable balance.

Those "water-bloated corpses" that were left to remain silent are still stiff and lifeless.

But ahead, in the darkness, something... is coming.

Gurgle… Gurgle…

The sound of bubbles became more intense, no longer a physical sound, but like the last breaths of countless dying people, mixed with eerie noises of memories being torn apart, echoing directly deep in the brain.

The sewage began to rise and fall in an illogical way.

An indescribable hunger, more primal and chilling than a "tide of compassion," spread like a tangible tide from the depths of the conduit. This hunger was directed at existence itself.

"No...it shouldn't be like this..."

Ah Zhe slumped against the tube wall, his face deathly pale. He stared intently at the darkness, his eyes unfocused. Suddenly, as if he had forgotten what he was about to say, his lips moved helplessly a few times.

He suddenly clutched his head, uttering a delirious, collapsing murmur:

"Silence...it moved...how could it move?! It's a nail! A coffin nail! If nails can make noise by themselves...then...the coffin lid that's been nailed in...it wasn't even closed! It's been...it's been open all along!!"

His words were fragmented, yet they revealed a fear deeper than death!

Glug glug!
The water ahead was churning as if boiling.

A huge, indescribable outline rose from the dark bottom of the water.

It was a mass of pale silt that kept flowing, coalescing, and dispersing, with countless distorted, painful, and silent faces appearing on its surface, before collapsing into shadows that swallowed the light.

At its core is a constantly rotating, bottomless vortex that emits a suction force that freezes the soul.

Wherever it passed, the laws of the underworld seemed to forcibly cover the present world, and the old marks on the pipe walls seemed to be erased and then instantly covered with deeper decay.

The silent "water-bloated corpses" dissolved and disintegrated without a sound, turning into pale streams of resentment that were greedily sucked into the vortex.

It is not a ghost, it is the opposite of existence, the embodiment of hunger!

"run!!!"

Ah Zhe screamed at the top of his lungs and turned to run away.

But as soon as he took a step, he found that he couldn't move.

An invisible, viscous, and chilling force bound him, making his movements slow and heavy, as if he were trapped in a nightmare.

That immense hunger began to distort the boundary between Yin and Yang in this place, creating a ghostly realm that collapsed inward.

Xu Yan also felt the terrifying suction and stagnation.

Gululu.

The water churned, and a whirlpool gradually rose from the depths of darkness.

Xu Yan and A Zhe exchanged a glance, and the same thought arose in their minds at the same time: they couldn't escape.

“It…it is the Hungry Demon.” A Zhe’s lips turned pale, but he stared intently at the swirling, ever-changing mud shadow. “Legend has it that when a person dies, their resentment turns into a ghost, and when a ghost dies, it turns into a demon. The Hungry Demon is the ‘hungry one’ among demons, devouring everything, even its own kind. Look, it’s even sucking up those corpses.”

Xu Yan gritted his teeth, his voice low and deep: "My master said that the Hungry Ghost is the 'hunger of the Yin Spirit,' which is omnipresent and cannot even be called by name often. To suppress it, we must use the Soul-Locking Spell to fix its 'shadow'!"

"Bullshit!" A-Zhe roared. "A shadow is a fart! It doesn't even have a shadow! That's just wishful thinking on your traditional ghost-catching methods! This thing is a 'data-type ghost,' its essence is chaotic information entropy! To deal with it, you have to disrupt its frequency!"

His fingers flew as he tightened several electrodes, shoving the battery pack into the device in his palm, sparks flying and a deafening buzzing sound filling the air.

"I modified an arc gun that can disrupt its suction! Did you hear that? A scientific method!"

Xu Yan sneered and raised his camera: "Then you hold it back, and I'll 'lock the image'!"

boom! ! !
The "hunger demon" finally raised its churning "face," and dozens of dissolved human faces opened their silent mouths and surged towards them.

The air suddenly collapsed, and the sewage was abruptly sucked away, turning into an invisible pulling force that seemed to be tearing their souls out of their bones.

"Damn it!" Ah Zhe gritted his teeth and pulled the switch hard.

The arc gun sizzled and cut out a white arc like lightning, slamming hard into the edge of the "Hungry Demon" vortex.

boom! !

Hungry monsters churned, their faces contorted, and the suction force suddenly decreased.

"It works!" A-Zhe's eyes suddenly lit up, and he roared, "See that?! Frequency resonance! It's afraid of this!!"

But before he could finish speaking, the whirlpool suddenly trembled, and dozens of pale arms emerged from the water, gripping the pipe wall tightly.

The electric arc was forcibly "swallowed" inside.

The battery pack exploded instantly.

Ah Zhe was sent flying backward, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpoints.

"This...this is not scientific..."

"Shut up!!" Xu Yan bit his tongue hard, smeared the blood on the camera lens, and chanted a curse:

"Shadow..."

Click!

The black and white photographic paper was ejected, transforming into a burning "shadow lock".

The talisman slammed into the vortex of the human face at the core of the "Hungry Demon"!
"Soul Lock!!"

The chains snapped shut, and the mud instantly solidified!
"Okay!!" Ah Zhe scrambled to his feet, picked up the broken electrodes, frantically connected the spare battery, and roared, "I'll amplify the frequency, you take the signal!"

The two worked together, pressing down with both electric arcs and rune shadows!
But at this moment——

Xu Yan's mind went completely blank.

The last syllable of the incantation… he forgot it!
"Shadow... Shadow..."

His throat was dry, and he couldn't shout anything.

The talisman suddenly shattered!

The hungry demon roared, and dozens of faces simultaneously emerged, rushing straight at Xu Yan.

"Boss!!"

Ah Zhe screamed like a madman, but it was too late.

Just as despair was about to set in, a trembling voice rang in Xu Yan's mind:
"Senior brother, as Grandpa said, clothes carry the soul, shadows lock the spirit, shadows lock the spirit..."

Chen Zhiwei!
Xu Yan's eyes suddenly turned bloodshot, and he roared out the complete incantation with heart-wrenching force:

"...Shadows lock souls!!!"

Click.

The camera shutter clicked, the cinnabar burned, and the talisman's shadow erupted once more, binding the core of the hungry demon tightly.

Ah Zhe roared, "Come on!!"

He poured the last battery pack into the electrodes.

The electric arc and the shadowy rune strangled each other.

The hungry demon writhed violently, causing the pool to tremble!
Its vortex was compressed in an instant, emitting a silent shriek powerful enough to tear eardrums.

"Run!"

Xu Yan and A Zhe roared almost simultaneously, breaking free from the entanglement and desperately rushing deeper into the pipe with their half-crippled bodies.

Behind them, the hungry monsters rolled and chased after them, their howls following them like shadows, as if they would engulf the two at any moment.

boom! ! !
Just as it lunged forward, a pure white beam of light suddenly tore down from the top of the pipe.

The power of pure Yang slammed into the pool like a raging fire.

(End of this chapter)