This room looks like it's used for photography. There’s nothing here—no windows on any side, just a few backdrops stacked in the corner and some plastic flowers arranged opposite a long bench. The walls are all white, and two old lighting lamps stand nearby.
"Come out."
I kept shouting, but that voice was gone, as if it didn’t want to respond to me. I walked up to the lighting lamps, thinking about smashing them, but then realized it would be pointless.
I kept releasing my Specter Web, sensing everything around me. Aside from the presence of yin energy, I couldn’t feel anything else. It was strange—the feeling in this place was odd, and now it felt even stranger.
Just moments ago, I could sense certain auras—ghostly power—but now, I couldn’t feel anything at all. When that voice sounded, I felt a surge of ghost force, but now, it was gone. I decided to head straight up to the second floor.
Before reaching the stairs, I tried opening the back door. But when I twisted the handle, I found it was locked tight and wouldn’t budge. Just as I was about to step onto the staircase, bang—I slammed into what felt like a transparent wall and landed hard on the ground.
I got up, reached out, and felt ahead. Sure enough, there was something like a wall. I traced along its invisible surface, up and down, and found it was smooth and regular. I thought about it and decided not to use my Deathbane Aura—instead, I planned to return to where I’d just been.
Just as I was about to head back to the entrance, bang—I hit another transparent wall. I kept walking around the room, and after a while, I figured out the furthest I could go was just in front of the photo counter.
I couldn’t get past the wall covered in photos to the left of the entrance—the transparent wall blocked me. I kept releasing my Specter Web to sense, but found it couldn’t penetrate the invisible barrier.
"What do you want?" I shouted again. But then I noticed something strange. I looked over—on the wall was a photograph, one of this photo studio. And there was a figure in it. I looked closer—it was me, taken just as I’d rushed into the hallway.
At first I was surprised, but then it hit me—this was the very hallway shown in the photo, the spot where my image was captured. The edges of the photo, the parts you can’t see, felt just like the transparent walls blocking my way now.
While I was still in shock, the photo studio in front of me began to fade away, bit by bit, as if being burned by flames.
Soon, all that was left was a patch of darkness ahead. I was trapped in this corridor. I rushed toward the stairs, but all I could see was blackness. I realized something—unbelievable as it seemed, I had actually been locked inside the photograph.
Just then, the entire space flipped upside down. I stumbled and fell, and the world spun around me. Dizzy, I was swept along with the rotating space.
After a while, the spinning stopped and I finally regained my footing. That’s when I saw, in the darkness to my right, a giant eye staring at me. I cried out in shock.
Gradually, the giant eye receded. I stared in disbelief as a figure appeared—two thin mustaches, an old-fashioned tailcoat, single gold-rimmed monocle, slicked-back hair with a center part, and a cruel, sinister grin. It was the Blue Wraith.
I immediately knew my suspicions were true—I really had been locked inside the photo, and the Blue Wraith loomed enormous before me.
Suddenly, the space started shaking again. My vision spun, and I caught glimpses of the photo studio and the huge photographs on the walls.
"Ethan Zhang, how do you feel? Comfortable, isn’t it?"
"Damn it," I snarled. He placed me on the counter so I could see him clearly. He sat down on the long bench beneath the photo, twirling his two mustaches.