I’m In Charge of SCP

Chapter 114: Unexpected Discovery

Zhang Jue continued to move forward. He kept his pace fast and thinking about what Klein had said to him just now regarding the whole situation. The Foundation had sent the Red Right Hand down to this cave once and had brought out a man.

Things were somewhat out of his expectation. But in this way, some questions were explained. The virus in the town should have been carried up at that time. The exploration task was given to the Birds of Prey Squad, probably also related to this matter.

Jeffrey and Klein are very capable people. They simply do not care about anything other than finishing their mission. This cave is way too bizarre. It is simply not something that can be handled by being careful and cautious.

But there are still some questions left. Since the Red Right Hand brought someone out, why did they send the Birds of Prey down? What information did that person give to the Foundation? What is it that the Foundation is looking for?

It was like a decryption game, with one clue tied to another. Zhang Jue felt he was close to the truth of the matter, just one more layer of the mystery that had not been pierced. He continued to move forward.

However, this time. He did not have the same good luck as before. The cave had played with Zhang Jue. By conservative estimation, he walked inside the cave for nearly a month but never encountered any other people or things.

Every day he woke up to the same scene, surrounded by all kinds of strange stones. He used the Reality Anchor to materialize some essential supplies like food, water, and flashlights. But the machine needs sunlight to recharge. If it continues to be used, it will soon become scrap metal.

In such a situation, people who were not strong-willed would have collapsed. But not for Zhang Jue. He still kept his mind straight and sang children's songs every day, traveling and sightseeing in the cave. He really is a freak.

"Dad, dad. Where are we going? As long there's me, the sky is not afraid of the earth."

"Baby, baby, I'm your daddy. Your daddy is the old guy next door."

Zhang Jue was singing full of joy when the flashlight shone on the road ahead. He suddenly froze. He stared at the first spot he entered the cave, but there was a fork in the road.

A fork in the road?

He rubbed his eyes to confirm that it was not his hallucination. Moebius Cave can have a fork in the road, something that's rare to see. When things go wrong, there must be a danger lurking.

Zhang Jue looked around vigilantly, preventing any possible danger. But a few minutes passed, and nothing happened. The two caves had a big path opened, quietly waiting for him to throw himself into the hole. The cave entrances were spaced by a huge stone block; he could either go left or right.

A simple choice. Zhang Jue took his shoes off again. Just as he was pinching his nose and preparing to throw them, he suddenly noticed that something seemed to be reflecting on the left side of that rock. Zhang Jue walked in to take a look, and it was a glasses lens.

Hmm...

He cupped his chin. This Mbius Cave was so bizarre that the appearance of a spectacle lens was actually nothing, but he always felt that there was a force in the underworld that wanted him to move in this direction.

Zhang Jue decisively threw away the spectacle lens and chose the other path.

Just kidding, this was obviously a trap. How could he follow the path set by others?

I predicted your prediction.

Zhang Jue hummed and moved on. Sure enough, within half an hour, he made a new discovery. As he shone the light on everyone, there was another field of bodies. There were about five or six of them, all wearing SCP Uniforms, and by the style of their equipment, they should be some kind of MTF squad.

Based on the stiffness of their bodies, the time of death was definitely not more than 24 hours. But there was one thing that was very strange that Zhang Jue always thought about it.

After checking the equipment on them, he found that there were some equipment models that the Foundation was currently still experimenting with and hadn't equipped for MTF members. There were also one or two pieces of equipment that he didn't recognize at all, nor did he know the function.

What was going on?

After thinking about it for only a fraction of a second, Zhang Jue came up with a reasonable explanation. These people are most likely... came from the future! Heh, so that was the case.

Zhang Jue came to a sudden realization.

The deaths of these MTF members were miserable, all having their throats slit with a single slash. But Zhang Jue found that all of them had tears of blood coming out of the corners of their eyes, obviously infected with SCP-016 and already starting to develop the symptoms.

Could they be the source of the virus?

Zhang Jue examined the bodies of the men. Suddenly, one of the squad member's pockets lit up a red light. In order to save electricity, Zhang Jue's flashlight brightness wasn't adjusted too high, so he knew very well that he hadn't hallucinated about it.

He turned the thing over and found that it was an all-in-one camcorder. The MTF had taken it with them when they were on some important missions, like when they first explored SCP-087 (The Stairwell).

The two squads that came down to explore, the Birds of Prey squad, were also equipped with it. But the second-team camcorder was damaged because of age. As for Klein's squad, they just came down in this cave, and not much was recorded.

This camera seemed to be working and not too different from the one currently used by the MTF. It managed to pique Zhang Jue's curiosity.

What had this MTF squad that is most likely from the future go through? Was Lei Shui their target?

With excitement in his heart, Zhang Jue pressed the camera's button. He just wanted to see what had been recorded inside when a line of red letters lit up on the screen.

"Insufficient power. Will shut down in 10 seconds, 10, 9, 8..."

"Shit!" Zhang Jue almost dropped the camera.

That's when he remembered that the camera had just lit up red, which should have been a reminder that he needed to recharge it. Zhang Jue took out his Reality Anchor and looked at the energy. It should be enough once.

This is just enough to recharge it. Should I do it? To Zhang Jue, this was not a problem at all. He decisively used up the last chance to manifest a hand-cranked generator. With the addition of over twenty years of experience in cranking with hands, in less than ten minutes, Zhang Jue managed to make that red light disappear.

The camera had reached the minimum power to turn on. Zhang Jue should have cranked it a little longer, but he just couldn't hold back his curiosity to see what these people from the future had gone through.

He turned on the camera and clicked on the list of stored videos, which contained only one videodated October 18, 2223.

It was exactly three hundred years more than this world. Zhang Jue narrowed his eyes. He had indeed guessed correctly. These people were from three years later. He took a deep breath and clicked on the video.

The video had already started playing, but the screen was pitch black, and only the gasps of a few people could be heard.

Two minutes later, a slightly raspy voice rang out.

"Walton, is the machine turned on?"

"It's on."

"Give it to me."

A black man with an inch of hair appeared in the picture. He was breathing heavily, and his speech was broken.

"This is MTF Black Pearl Squad leader Will Smith. Identification number, forget about the number. The situation is very urgent. I don't know what's going on out there. But I'm sure that the end is coming."