Chapter 440 – Camera Card

Mo Lan even suspected that perhaps because Zhizhi had watched over the little skeleton’s soul fire for so long, some kind of bond had formed between the two little ones — one even more intimate than the connection either shared with her, their master.

There was no other way to explain it. Just moments ago, when she’d been trying to teach it things, it had been clumsy and bewildered. But now, sitting with Zhizhi, it had developed a conscious desire to observe and imitate.

It had even — with an almost furtive awkwardness — tugged a corner of the blanket draped over Zhizhi and laid it across its own hollow belly.

As if it had finally found comfort, it went still.

Even its soul fire radiated a sense of serenity.

Mo Lan was suddenly seized by an overwhelming urge to take a photo. It finally reminded her of something that had been on her card-crafting agenda for ages but had never been executed due to the Witch Academy’s and the Wilds’ secrecy regulations — Earth electronic device cards.

Now that she’d graduated and left the Wilds, she could document things however she pleased without worrying about exposing the secrets of witches and the Wilds.

The Camcorder Card and tablet projector she’d made before had been far too limited in function.

Of course, Mo Lan didn’t plan to immediately create smartphone cards or computer cards that combined multiple functions into one, like on Earth.

She would split the functions first: {Camera Card}, {Video Camera Card}, {Camcorder Card}, {Projector Card}, {Voice Recorder Card}, {DVD Player Card}, {Game Console Card}, {Photo Printer Card}, {Radio Card}, {E-Reader Card}, {Movie Disc Card}, {Game Cartridge Card}, {Music Cassette Card}, {Novel Storage Card}, and so on. Single-function cards would be made and sold for a while first.

Once sales of those cards plateaued, she’d release higher-performance versions.

As long as she implemented proper anti-piracy measures, this approach would be far more profitable than dumping her entire inventory on the market all at once.

Following her original plan, Mo Lan designed all the corresponding cards, divided them into versions by performance and features, and listed only the 1.0 versions on the Card Marketplace.

As for herself, she made an ultra-high-performance instant camera card that could store digital copies and print photos on the spot.

After materializing it, she aimed at the two little ones on the sofa and snapped a photo.

Once she selected the size, the photo printed out and she framed it directly, hanging it on the wall.

“Moira!” Sylph’s voice came from outside the tent.

Mo Lan lifted the tent flap and stepped out. “What is it?”

“These cards you just listed — how do you use them?” Sylph had set up non-urgent new-listing notifications for the Card Marketplace.

The rapid-fire series of dings and chimes had drawn her attention, only to find a batch of cards she’d never even heard of.

“Come! Let’s take a photo together first!”

Mo Lan pulled Sylph into her arms, had her lean her head closer, aimed at the lens, and snapped a photo.

After the photo printed, she showed it to Sylph.

“This is… a Mo-Pic that doesn’t move?” Sylph said. “It’s so realistic! It looks exactly like what you see with your eyes!”

“This is the latest Camera Card model that won’t be released for many years!”

Mo Lan said, “Want one? I can sell you one in advance!”

“Yes yes yes!” Sylph said. “I want to compile information about my mutant plants and cultivation methods into a book, and I’ve been worrying about illustrations! This makes everything so much easier!”

Mo Lan crafted a Camera Card and gave it to her.

“I want to go take a group photo with those adorable skeletons as a memento. Want to come?”

Sylph’s eyes darted mischievously. “I want to go photograph Lilith and Vasida.”

Mo Lan’s eyes lit up with inspiration. “How about we take the flying carpet, go invisible, and sneak some candid shots?”

Sylph nodded. The two hit it off immediately. Mo Lan brought out the flying carpet, and they both climbed on.

They went to the skeletons first. She gathered them all together and had Sylph hold the camera in the air to snap a photo of her and the skeletons together.

Then the two of them hurried off toward the graveyard without a moment’s rest.

As they drew closer, they kept snapping photos, capturing complete shots of Lilith and Vasida crouching among the haphazardly strewn corpses, stitching and mending.

After the photos printed, Sylph took one look. “If humans saw these photos, they’d be calling us witches evil again.”

In the desolate graveyard, gray mist hung in the air. Everywhere, graves had been dug open. Withered, shriveled remains were scattered across the ground, and fresh corpses were piled into mountains in pools of dark purple slurry.

And in the midst of this scene, two figures dressed as witches crouched there, eyes focused, slight smiles on their lips.

“It does look rather terrifying!” Mo Lan agreed.

Lilith’s ears twitched. “Vasida, did you hear something?”

Vasida also paused her work, concentrating to listen. “Did I?”

Mo Lan and Sylph clapped their hands over their mouths.

They had forgotten to activate the one-way sound-dampening magic circle.

“Moira, Sylph?” Lilith looked toward the sky. “Come out. I’ve found you.”

“???” Sylph looked at Mo Lan. “Did she actually find us or not?”

She wasn’t even looking in their direction!

“Now she’s really found us,” Mo Lan said.

Lilith’s gaze had now locked onto their exact position.

Mo Lan deactivated the flying carpet’s invisibility and landed beside Lilith and Vasida. She introduced the camera to them and presented the photos she’d just taken.

“Whoa! So cool!” Lilith clearly loved the photo.

“How does this thing work? I want to take photos with all of you!” Vasida also bought a Camera Card that Mo Lan sold her through the back door, turning it over in her hands to study it.

“It’s rare to have such a great setting. Let’s all change into our Departed Witch Ensembles from graduation and take a group photo!” Lilith suggested.

In the end, Mo Lan used the Levitation Spell to float the camera into the air, and with coffins and corpses all around them, they took a photo.

The only difference was that this time, the “evil” black-robed witches in the frame had gone from two to four.

After Vasida learned how to use the camera, she went on a photographing spree of the Zombies still lying around after their self-mutilation. “I’m going to put these photos in a golden bird parcel and send them to my mother, so she can see how desperately her dear dead servants want new bodies.”

Lilith specifically sought out stitched areas to photograph, turning the camera into a handy note-taking assistant.

Sylph ran back to camp to photograph her precious plants.

Mo Lan, having at least had exposure to cameras in her previous life, didn’t share their level of novelty-induced frenzy. After the group photos, she returned to her own tent.

Zhizhi was still sleeping soundly, and Clack was doing an impeccable job of pretending to sleep peacefully.

Mo Lan headed straight upstairs and wrote a letter to Mama Shana.

When she finished, she packaged the letter together with a final-version Camera Card and the photo she’d taken of Zhizhi and the little skeleton.

The only thing she didn’t include was the group photo of herself with Lilith and the others. Photos still carried the risk of being lost and exposed, and given the current situation, it was best to keep her own photos in her own hands.