Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Pierce, Proofreader-adjective
Previously, Ji Dong had watched a movie called [The Invasion]
The movie depicted a strange extraterrestrial virus that ravaged the world, infecting people who underwent a personality shift during sleep; their individualities and emotions would disappear, dedicating themselves to turning the world into a breeding ground for the virus.
To avoid being controlled by the virus, the female protagonist has to use various stimulants to stay awake and disguises herself as someone who has lost their emotions, displaying an abnormal level of coldness and calmness among numerous infected individuals.
Now, Ji Dong felt that their situation was the same as the female protagonist in the movie.
Everyone was divided into two groups. Ji Dong and Ren Jianmo led the way at the front, while Mo Tiangen and the Fan siblings followed behind. They maintained a distance of about 40 to 50 meters, with fake smiles on their faces, avoiding eye contact, and advancing step by step towards their destination—the Beta containment center.
Along the way, they came across approximately 30 to 40 individuals dressed in white robes.
These “people” were newly created individuals who worked at Site 7. Ji Dong even identified one of them as the security team captain he and Fan Luming encountered during their escape from Zone C.
When these clones walked past them, it felt akin to encountering familiar neighbors on the street, smiling and nodding toward them.
Ji Dong and his companions had to maintain a façade of fake smiles throughout their journey, calmly reciprocating their greetings.
The five individuals demonstrated exceptional acting abilities and psychological strength. As they traveled, none of the clones doubted their identities; rather, they accepted them as their own, allowing Ji Dong and the rest to move through without hindrance.
Fifteen minutes later, Ji Dong’s team confidently entered the Beta containment center through the main entrance.
The once-empty hall was now a mess.
It seems that there was a massive monster that went on a rampage here, leaving debris everywhere. There was a large hole that goes straight from the first floor to the third floor, puncturing a huge gap in the ceiling.
“…Indeed, the Two-Headed Flying Dragon’s combat prowess is remarkable,” Ji Dong remarked with a touch of dissatisfaction.
“Let’s head to the east side basement,” Ren Jianmo whispered to him.
As they spotted someone entering the containment center, several new individuals near the entrance turned their heads toward them, resembling wind-up toy figurines.
Ji Dong’s group maintained their smiles as they calmly navigated past them, exchanging friendly nods with the clones they passed by.
Turning right, they headed towards the east wing of the building.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The further they went, the more evident the signs of destruction became in this area.
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It took them a while to locate the staircase leading to the basement, but they found that, aside from a small area near the entrance, most of it had collapsed. The stairs were engulfed in darkness due to the fallen debris, rendering passage impossible unless they were a group of moles.
“What should we do?” Fan Hemian frowned.
After smiling for too long, her cheeks grew stiff, and she even felt a slight soreness while speaking. “How do we go down?”
Ji Dong surveyed the area, briefly scanning a heap of shattered bricks and tiles before fixing his gaze on a specific spot at the end of the corridor. “Let’s go down from there.”
He was referring to the security control room at the end of the corridor.
“Do you all remember?”
Ji Dong gestured to the relatively intact room and whispered, “According to the blueprints, there should be a small freight elevator there.”
“Yeah!”
Fan Hemian lightly patted her thigh and said, “If all else fails, let’s just climb down.”
Without hesitation, the group quickly ran through the remaining section of the corridor while there were no new clones around, arriving at the door of the security control room.
Having been devoid of power for a long time, the containment center’s electronic door lock had also ceased to function properly.
Mo Tiangen stepped forward, grasped the handle, and forcefully turned it downward. With brute force, he broke the lock into two halves and swung open the door.
Inside the security control room, there were three clones present. They stood taller and more muscular than the typical researchers, likely indicating their previous roles as security personnel. They also appeared to be more agile.
Just as Mr. Dagen opened the door, the trio rushed towards the group, with smiles on their faces, throwing punches at the intruders.
Mo Tiangen raised his leg and delivered a kick to one of them, sending them flying. He then grabbed the fist of the other clone and pushed with force, causing both to tumble to the ground in a domino effect.
“Get inside, hurry!” he urged, occupied with twisting the necks of the three clones. “Don’t forget to shut the door!”
Ji Dong, Ren Jianmo, and the Fan siblings quickly darted into the security control room, while Mr. Dagen efficiently dealt with the three obstacles.
The group soon found the small cargo elevator.
From the outside, it resembled one of those sophisticated elevators found in upscale restaurants for serving meals. However, its function wasn’t to transport food but to deliver specialized security equipment to the lower isolation area.
Due to the high-risk nature of the SCP biological containment areas located on the bottom two floors of the Beta containment center, numerous dangerous non-human or humanoid entities were housed there. To prevent containment breaches, the security control center has been equipped with state-of-the-art technology, such as this small cargo elevator.
However, the entirety of Site 7 had been completely compromised. There was no water or electricity, and the structures were deteriorating due to the sticky substance secreted by the [Queen Bee]. Most of the high-tech equipment, like the infrared grid and automatic scanning system inside the elevator, had become nothing more than ornamental fixtures.
“Alright, watch me!”
Mo Tiangen found a pry bar from the wall-mounted fire cabinet and used it to pry open both the inner and outer doors of the elevator. Afterward, he cautiously peered into the elevator shaft.
The elevator shaft was pitch black, with no discernible ceiling when gazing upward and no visible floor when looking downward.
Mo Tiangen could only rely on his sense of touch to locate the elevator and then glanced again.
The elevator car was positioned about five meters below them.
“Alright, you’re in the way.”
Teacher Dagen sighed and reached his hand into the elevator shaft, grabbed onto the hanging cable, and began pulling it upwards.
Although the elevator car wasn’t large, it was entirely made of steel and weighed nearly a ton.
Mo Tiangen grasped the cable and gradually hoisted it upward, bit by bit.
The iron block scraped against the walls of the shaft, emitting a raspy “creaking” noise.
“Screeeeh!!!”
Mo Tiangen urged through gritted teeth.
Ji Xiao’niao quickly jumped and manually released the brakes on the four corners of the sliding track, securing the elevator car and preventing it from falling.
Only then did Mo Tiangen let go, taking two steps back and letting out a sigh of relief.
Now that they had cleared a path, they decided to go down immediately.
The elevator shaft of the small freight elevator was very narrow. While it posed no issue for the petite Fan siblings, the slender Ji Dong, and even Ren Jianmo, it proved challenging for the muscular and robust Mo Tiangen.
Teacher Dagen was the last person to squeeze into the elevator shaft, grasping onto the wall’s sliding track and attempting to climb down. He soon realized that the space was barely wide enough for him to navigate without getting stuck. Even the slightest movement of his shoulders would result in scraping his skin against the metal components in the elevator shaft.
“Damn it!”
Unable to restrain himself, Teacher Dagen grumbled, “If I had known it was this cramped, I would have searched for a cargo elevator!”
“Forget it,” Fan Hemian’s voice sounded directly below him. “Cargo elevators are far more complicated than passenger elevators. You would have to pry open at least six doors!”
Mo Tiangen was silenced by the retort and could only sullenly close his mouth.
If you were to solely observe the above-ground structure of this Beta containment center, it would appear to be a modest three-story building with an ordinary design. However, beneath the surface, it extended as far as 30 meters deep, with a total of six levels, meticulously designed to contain the most dangerous biological SCP items. Their destination was the fourth underground level, where they could find the [Goblet of Dionysus].
Ji Dong, who was leading the group, had already descended over 10 meters.
Tilting his head, he used his head-mounted light to assess his position, saying, “I’ve reached the second-floor basement.”
After taking a brief breath, he added, “Everything appears to be normal.”
“Keep going, you can do it!” Fan Luming’s encouraging voice echoed from above Ji Dong.
So Ji Xiao’niao continued his descent.
Because the elevator shaft was well-sealed, the sticky substance secreted by the [Queen Bee] didn’t spread much here. Ji Dong climbed down all the way and only encountered a few scattered pieces near the door.
However, as he climbed down another half floor’s height, Ji Dong noticed that the amount of gray-green sticky substance he encountered had increased. It felt as though he was treading on something adhesive, making him slip with each step.
Ji Dong couldn’t help but wonder.
He continued descending for another two meters, and the sticky substance became even more abundant.
Suddenly, a large mass of sticky substance protruded from the wall, forming a hexagonal honeycomb structure that stacked together, almost blocking about one-third of the elevator shaft’s space.
Ji Dong reached out and attempted to break them apart.
Once these sticky substances dried out, they would become brittle, and a slight force could easily shatter them.
So Ji Dong asked the others to wait and started clearing the obstacles in their path.
——Ka-pah, ka-chah, ka-pah pah.
After a series of sharp noises, Ji Xiao’niao managed to break apart several clusters of sticky substances, revealing a dark hole behind them.
Unexpectedly, the elevator door leading to the third-floor basement swung open, and the sticky substance secreted by the queen bee gradually seeped in, spreading into the elevator shaft.
“The door to the third-floor basement opened…” Ji Dong reported to his teammates while clearing the sticky substance.
However, he only managed to say half of his sentence before abruptly falling silent.
For he saw, hanging upside down at the opening he had cleared, the sudden appearance of a woman’s face, catching him completely off guard!
