But they had barely left when Angela's gentle warning caught up to them.
"Also, gentlemen, regarding the existence of these two Abnormalities, please do not tell Arthur. He has other tasks, and too many Abnormalities will only make him feel tired…."
"Ah…"
The two clerks were momentarily surprised. Although what crossed their minds was When did Senior Arthur offend this new Director…?, they didn't dare show it.
They simply nodded quickly and continued on their way.
This time, no one called out to them as they left.
Watching the two clerks gradually disappear at the end of the corridor, Angela finally cast one last glance at the Anomaly behind her.
"Well then… good night…"
Her figure vanished as the containment room sealed shut.
In the darkness—
Only the cell head remained, floating gently up and down within the suspension fluid…
On the other side.
Arthur had no idea what was happening outside.
He had finally returned to his dormitory after a long absence.
After tidying his luggage slightly, he took the 'Mole' and the card reader from his backpack.
"..."
Arthur thought for a moment before placing the Anomalous tool into the innermost section of the bottom drawer of his wardrobe.
After all, he currently had no proper place to contain Abnormalities, nor could he casually walk through the Branch corridors with this gun on him. Hiding it was the only option for now.
And according to the system's description, the 'Mole' was not dangerous. As a Z-class Anomaly, its effects were largely positive. The only abnormal aspect was its occasional ability to reveal the emotions of the 'Zeta-9' squad… which might not even be a bad thing.
Leaving it there should be fine.
Then—
Only after settling the Anomalous tool did he slowly take out the storage card Z9-3 had given him, holding it in his hand as he examined it carefully.
Although he had already accepted Z9-3's entrustment in his heart, he still didn't know how to deliver this information to the Foundation.
For now… let's just take a look.
Out of curiosity, Arthur connected the card reader to the computer and opened the newly appeared file.
It contained footage recorded by the personal cameras of the Zeta-9 squad members.
The footage appeared to be taken shortly after they entered the Lobotomy Corporation world. Everyone was wading through blood within a dimly lit passage…
What is Z?!
Z9-3: It looks… like a wall made of flesh?
Z9-8: Captain, be careful. Like before, there might be a prototype near those filthy things.
Z9-3: Understood. What's the worst-case scenario?
Z9-1: …Everyone is authorized to open fire.
...
The events recorded by the cameras were largely consistent with what Arthur had later perceived through the emotions revealed by the 'Moles.'
Within the sleeping quarters, they encountered the Distortion—Elena.
Gunfire… combat… explosions…
Arthur was already tired of scenes that no longer required elaboration.
Still no changes…
Leaning back in his chair, he rubbed his brows.
Even after reviewing all the footage, Arthur still found no information explaining why Zeta-9 had appeared here.
Is there anything else… related to the Foundation?
After staring at Lobotomy Corporation's pristine white ceiling for several seconds, Arthur suddenly thought of something.
Sitting upright, he scrolled with his mouse and reopened a file he had already reviewed countless times in the past.
[To the Director of Site-CN-36...…]
Before the text fully loaded, a line of small blue characters suddenly appeared before Arthur's eyes.
[Detecting ???. Locked… Retrieving information…]
[Query: Send information back?]
The system prompt appeared without warning—yet it was exactly what Arthur had been waiting for.
[Yes / No]
The blue text was unmistakably clear.
Arthur did not hesitate. Deep down, he had already made his choice.
Having come this far, there was no reason to retreat now.
The moment he confirmed his selection, the computer on his desk began operating on its own.
Much like the previous incident, the screen went black, displaying only a progress bar.
When the bar finally filled—
Everything returned to normal.
Arthur blinked in surprise, staring at the desktop as if nothing had happened at all.
Only when he opened the Zeta-9 file again—only to find all the video data completely gone—did he confirm that the system had successfully transmitted the information back to the Foundation.
"So the days of being a one-sided pen pal really are over…"
Arthur scratched his head, then let out a quiet sigh of relief.
At the very least… he hadn't let Z9-3 down.
Time: Unknown
Location: Site-CN-36
[Project Number: SCP-CN-5981]
[Record Report: The Zeta-9 Squad entered the designated area according to plan but lost contact after entering the anomalous zone. Four hours and thirty-seven minutes later, the anomaly disappeared, and communication was restored. However, only Z9-2 re-established contact.
At 23:41—seventy-three minutes after Zeta-9 went missing—a second MTF unit, CN-Jiashen-19 "Mountain Guardian," was deployed. Under Z9-2's guidance, they failed to locate the blue spatial rift previously captured on camera.
Following emergency investigation and detection, the SCP-CN-5981 anomaly was confirmed to have completely disappeared for unknown reasons…]
Supervisor Liu Ming was in the middle of drafting his performance review when a knock at the door interrupted him.
"Supervisor Liu Ming?"
"Come in."
He set his pen aside as another man pushed the door open.
The newcomer was a foreigner—a special envoy dispatched from Foundation headquarters to the Chinese Branch.
"Still working, Supervisor Liu Ming?" the envoy asked, glancing around the office.
"Yes," Liu Ming replied with a nod. "Between the disappearance of SCP-049 and the SCP-CN-5981 anomaly, this Branch is already stretched thin…"