Forgotten Photo Studio

Chapter 101 E-level Obsession
Instead of spitting out photos, a cloud of grayish-white "mist" spewed out from the narrow slit of the dark silver camera on Xu Yan's chest.

The fog was composed of countless extremely dense, constantly generated and annihilated static images—the current scene of the Iron Coffin District, the astonished faces of everyone, but they were all playing in reverse.

A faint hissing sound appeared in the air, the sound of billions of pixels rubbing together and annihilating.

"Everyone be careful! It's information materialization!"

The judge's voice, like an icicle, pierced the eerie atmosphere instantly.

The golden vertical lines in his eyes suddenly lit up, like molten gold coming to life.

The magnetic field of the entire iron coffin area emitted a low hum, and the lightning patterns engraved on the walls responded to his will, like a giant serpent awakening and beginning to move.

One of the nearest guards had his arm brushed by the grayish-white mist.

He watched in horror as the skin texture on his arm rapidly "faded," turning into a monotonous, dissolving grayscale image.

"Do not……!"

As soon as he raised his other hand, that hand also quickly lost its color and three-dimensionality, turning into a flat image, and then disintegrating into a new gray mist.

"Purification."

The judge didn't even look at him; he simply raised his hand and made a loose grasp on the spreading gray mist.

Om-!
The lightning patterns beneath his feet expanded instantly, and a wall of light composed entirely of blazing runes rose out of thin air, precisely cutting off the gray mist.

Wherever the light wall reached, the gray mist, like snowflakes thrown into a raging fire, hissed and shrieked, instantly evaporating and purifying, returning to disordered basic spiritual particles.

The guard lost half an arm and fell to the ground screaming, but at least he survived.

The moment the gray fog was cleared, a voice, not transmitted through the air, "sounded" directly in the depths of everyone's consciousness.

The voice was deep and hoarse, like countless broken pieces of glass rubbing against each other, yet it also possessed an ancient and languid magnetism.

"The brilliance of order... is still so dazzling."

The source of that sound was the floating camera, or rather, the "Abyss" that was beginning to take shape behind the mirror.

It's as if it's savoring something, reminiscing about something.

"Jiang Yu... you've climbed the Golden Steps simply by stealing the spiritual energy path of 'ghosts.' Ha, if your teacher were alive, would he be pleased or horrified?"

The demon-faced judge, Jiang Yu, paused slightly as the lightning patterns around his body flickered, his eyes sharp as knives as he pierced the camera lens.

"shut up."

"Shut up?" Yuan's voice carried a hint of mockery and amusement. "Are you afraid of this past? Afraid of the truth coming to light...?"

Its consciousness swept across the entire area, like a cold tentacle. "If you hadn't been his most trusted disciple back then, how could you have tampered with the sealing array's core? How could that brilliant Xu Haoyu have failed at the last minute and been invaded by me? He should have been above gold... 'platinum'."

“He chose that path himself!” Jiang Yu’s voice remained cold, but if you listened carefully, you could detect a trace of suppressed emotion. “He sealed you away, and you hate him to the bone, don’t you?”

"hatred?"

Yuan seemed to have heard an extremely funny joke, and ripples appeared on the mirror's surface.
“I admire him. He is one of the few individuals who makes me feel… ‘interested’. His obsession, his wisdom, his madness of willingly becoming a prisoner, all leave me with endless aftertaste. I want to tear him apart and savor the taste of every piece of his soul; that would be the highest ‘praise’.”

Its tone suddenly turned cold, carrying a condescending contempt, "As for you, Jiang Yu, a thief who barely manages to touch the edges of the rules through betrayal and theft... you don't even deserve my 'hatred'."

boom!
Xu Yan felt as if he had been struck by lightning inside the drill arm's shell.

At that moment, he heard his heartbeat, like the sound of an iron coffin being opened.

Father... was betrayed by Judge Jiang Yu...?! A flame mixed with overwhelming hatred, endless injustice, and rage instantly swept over his consciousness.

He almost recklessly manipulated the drill arm's body, blasting all the weapons at the hypocritical judge.

Inside the cold metal prosthetic limb, the transmission mechanism creaked under the strain of this sudden, extreme command.

No!

Now that it's exposed, everything is over!
The true cause of the father's death, and the truth about Yuan, will all be lost to the sea!
He used all his soul power, like putting the strongest reins on a wild horse on the verge of running away, to suppress the body's instinctive reactions.

The metal fingernails dug deep into the bionic skin of his palm due to extreme gripping, simulating a near-realistic stinging pain, helping him maintain his last shred of clarity.

He had to be patient, like a venomous snake, lurking and waiting for the opportune moment to deliver the fatal blow.

Jiang Yu's face was ashen. He ignored the almost imperceptible abnormality in the drill arm and stared intently at Yuan.

"You are all smooth talkers. No matter how you try to seduce, you will be imprisoned again today."

"Ban?" Yuan's voice carried a lazy, cat-and-mouse mockery. "With your incomplete 'Law Body,' and that...heart cracked with guilt? Jiang Yu, you're stalling for time, waiting for the Law Network to provide support. As for me..."

The mirror's eerie light flickered slightly, and the purified gray mist residue seemed to be drawn in by an invisible force, silently accelerating its flow into the mirror.

"...I'm just getting used to this 'new home,' and incidentally, recycling a little bit of insignificant nutrients."

Its recovery speed is faster than you can imagine!

The gray fog suddenly receded, shrinking completely back into the camera lens.

The mirror was no longer dark, but rippled violently like water with a stone thrown in.

An invisible wave of emotion, filled with malice and mockery, spread throughout the space like a plague.

—Level E·Obsession, Ability: Emotional Influence and Cognitive Distortion.

"Ugh!"

The woman in the iron mask let out a painful groan, and her steps abruptly stopped.

In her eyes, the majestic figure of the judge ahead was twisting and melting, and in its place was her partner, whom she had failed to save years ago and who had been devoured by the anomaly.

That young face, covered in blood, gave her a desperate, bitter smile.

"No...I'm sorry..."

Her will collapsed instantly, and her psionic shield fluctuated violently.

Almost at the same moment, from the depths of the rippling mirror, a dark shadow, like a greedy tentacle with a physical form, suddenly shot out, its target aimed directly at the unconscious Xu Yan on the ground.

Yuan's consciousness, filled with undisguised yearning, directly shook the space:

“What a perfect ‘empty shell’… It suits my taste even better than his father’s obsessive body!”

"Delusion!"

The judge's roar was like thunder from the heavens; he had anticipated this.

Just a fraction of a second before the shadowy tentacles touched Xu Yan's body, the Judge's figure seemed to transcend spatial limitations, abruptly appearing between the two.

(End of this chapter)