Chapter 21: Failure, Nuclear Explosion and Ranaway
Chapter 21: Failure, Nuclear Explosion and Ranaway
"Holy. Fucking. Shit" After listening to Yang's words, Zhang Jue had only one thought in his head she can curse?
There was a built-in nuclear warhead that was inside Site-14, after all. They didn't have the choice to flee, or the world will be flattened by a nuclear warhead.
Yang Xue heard their conversation and was also a bit dizzy. Unlike Zhang Jue, she had been working at Site-14 for a long time, and if you counted the time when her father was still alive, she had lived at Site-14 for more than 20 years. She had never heard of any high-risk items being contained at the site or if there were even nuclear bombs here.
The fail-safe emergency protocol was usually only activated if the anomaly would endanger the world. It was a bit overkill. But she couldn't help but be curious about what was contained on the B6 level.
Zhang Jue shared his thoughts, and after accepting reality, he immediately asked, "Site Director Wenbai, knowing our situation, and we don't have a lot of options, can you tell me what anomalies are contained on the B6 level? Know yourself and your enemy so that you can formulate tactics."
Site Director Wenbai said, "There are several items on the B6 level, but the one that will trigger a nuclear strike is only one, and I don't know the item number."
"What the hell?" Zhang Jue almost screamed out, "As the Director of Site-14, there are things that you don't know inside your own site?"
"Notice the principle." Site Director Wenbai was sweating at this moment, "That anomaly was specially approved by the O5 Council. I went to a meeting at the headquarters last month before I was brought back to Site-14. My application is still going through the approval process. At the moment, no one knows the number and characteristics except a special researcher. We just found that researcher's corpse in his quarters, so I'm certain that the intruder is aiming for that specific anomaly."
Zhang Jue yelled, "It's that time of day. Call the O5!"
"We're working on it." Site Director Wenbai said, "But the O5 council is in the middle of an important meeting, the call may not be answered for a few more minutes, but we're running out of time. You must act quickly."
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"Shit!" said Zhang Jue, practically spitting blood.
He didn't even know the number and characteristics of the anomaly, and he had to find it himself and be cannon fodder. Maybe he'd be killed by that thing before he even saw the intruder. Is it a joke that a single object could trigger the emergency protocol? If Zhang Jue would've known that, he'd quit a long time ago.
Despite the fact that Site-14 was built on the outskirts away from the city, but once the nuclear detonates, its destructive power is still incalculable. This was unbelievable. But now there's no time to worry about that. They must hurry. The intruder was still on the loose may have reached the B6 level.
Zhang Jue sighed and accepted his fate, "Site Director Wenbai, I understand the situation, but there is a big problem - the elevators had all been blown up. The Mobile Task Force can't get down, nor do we. I can't help you even if I wanted to."
"There is a secret passage that leads directly to the B6 level." Site Director Wenbai was brief and concise, "The entrance is at the end of the last corridor in the E3 area on the B3 level."
Zhang Jue and Yang Xue walked through the secret passage that Site Director Wenbai mentioned. The so-called secret passage was just a hidden stairwell, camouflaged at the entrance, which fortunately Zhang Jue now had high enough authority to open. This stairwell had been designed during the initial construction of Site-14 and was only to be used for this moment.
The stairwell was dark and damp, the handrails were all rotten, the corners were covered with moss, and the lighting equipment was unusable because of age. If it weren't for the circular logo of the SCP Foundation on every other floor, Zhang Jue would have thought he was back in the same place. Zhang Jue thought he was back in SCP-087. Over the years, they were probably the first people to walk through here.
Time was running out, and despite the lack of light in the stairwell, the two of them were moving very quickly. But Zhang Jue could tell that Yang Xue's spirit had been in a trance since she'd just spoken to Site Director Wenbai and had been mechanically following his lead.
She seemed to be under a lot of pressure. Zhang Jue could understand that the task of shouldering the lives of hundreds of thousands of people was still too heavy for her.
"Remember when I asked you why the SCP Foundation was called SCP?" Zhang Jue said as he walked.
Yang Xue, still as before, answered without thinking, "To Secure, Contain, and Protect."
Zhang Jue said, "In my world, there is a stunt about the SCP Foundation, saying that the purpose of the Foundation is not actually to Secure, Contain and Protect."
Yang Xue was a bit surprised. It seemed that in Zhang Jue's world, the SCP Foundation was already known by the public. Subconsciously, she asked, "What is that so?"
Zhang Jue said, "Failure, Nuclear Explosion, and Runaway."
Yang Xue frowned, "That's not even funny."
"Ah, yeah, I think it's a lame quote too." Zhang Jue laughed self-deprecatingly, "But on the forums of major communities, I still go to brush it often."
"Why?"
Zhang Jue chuckled, "Because the more people will pay attention to the Foundation, and the slower they will know that the Foundation was more than just a Failure, Nuclear Explosions, and Runaway, they will know that in those past years, In those unseen places, the Foundation used to do something."
The two made their way down until they reached the exit on the B6 level, but Zhang Jue did not open the hidden door at the first opportunity. Not surprisingly, outside was the B6 floor corridor. After he opened the door, several options can be presumed.
One, the B6 level was still under the security team's control and had not been breached - this was the best possibility, but also the one with the lowest odds. Two, the enemy had broken through the layers of the Foundation, arrived here, and released all the containment. Although it was reluctant to admit it, this possibility was the highest.
If it were indeed the second scenario, then as soon as Zhang Jue opened the door to the secret passage, the two of them would be directly exposed to being under many Keter-level anomalies. Unlike the SCP-939 (the Beast With Many Voices) and SCP-1013 (Cockatrice) that they had encountered before, this anomalous object possessed a terrifying ability.
Zhang Jue now has the ability to self-heal and terror projection and may be able to fight with one, but Yang Xue is an ordinary person. A single gun is enough to kill her.
"Why don't you stay here, and I'll take it from here by myself?" Zhang Jue said.
"No, it's not your responsibility alone." Although Yang Xue was a little scared, her expression was determined, "As a staff member of the Foundation, I have the obligation and responsibility to assist you in your mission!" Yang Xue's tone was firm, and Zhang Jue knew it was useless to argue with her. Besides, there was no time to be spared here.
"Good, since you are willing to die, I will be willing to bury, I will remember to burn paper for you on this day next year-" Zhang Jue shrugged his shoulders as he took a deep breath and pressed the button to open the door leading to the B6 level.