Chapter 575

"Something's not right..."

The captain frowned looking at this beautiful scenery, opened his personal terminal, entered various data into it, and reached a surprising conclusion.

—The entire mountain was almost hollow, or this mountain was part of the building itself.

"What kind of people built this, and abandoned it... through the way of 'Reality Restructuring,' letting this place reappear in the world."

Just then, a call coming from the communicator suddenly interrupted his thinking.

"Captain, there is a strange tower in the center of the hall."

He immediately walked quickly toward the center of the void.

He saw a high tower that was a full hundred meters tall, standing not far away, just like a rocket pointing to the dome, rough and simple.

Crystals, wood, and steel were roughly pieced together in one place, and the runes on it flowed with mysterious power.

Just as the audience was confused about the ruins inside.

In the next second, they sensed a trace of abnormality.

Whether it was the Astartes or the agents of the Mobile Task Force, they all showed calm expressions, like people returning home.

According to common sense, facing such a massive and complex ancient construction, any newcomer should feel lost and in awe.

But for some reason, the captain understood how to start it.

Everyone else did too.

It was as if a part of knowledge had been encapsulated in the depths of memory without knowing it, naturally surfacing when needed.

Everyone who entered it began a ritualistic work with consistent steps.

Immediately after, the ancient ruins revived before everyone's eyes, shooting out dazzling blue brilliance, piercing and tearing through the boundless great fog.

An instant later, the passage to another dimension opened.

Space began to flicker, and then created a spherical strange zone with a diameter of nine thousand meters; its perimeter resembled a layer of soap bubbles, refracting colorful sunlight—from the inside.

There were no more clouds or fog inside, and it wasn't just clear skies; some clearer, more omnipotent elements replaced the mist.

Everyone who entered it could feel the dew rolling down from every tremor of the grass leaves, the developed milky white roots were constantly absorbing nutrients from the soil, and brown-black ants passed by in groups from its side.

They could feel the thermal differences in the atmosphere, the wind blowing the white clouds, and the swallows startled by this sudden event flapping their wings, flying toward the south.

Being one with all things.

For the Foundation employees deep within it, this might be a magical and beautiful experience.

"Omniscience" is the realm of divinity.

But for outsiders, such a scene was extremely terrifying.

In the light screen, the Hume index showed abnormal fluctuations, but this time, the reality anchors the agents brought in didn't play any role.

And in that unknown abnormal space, everyone seemed to have their time paused, standing still one after another, with intoxicated expressions, as if they had fallen into a beautiful dream.

"What is going on?"

"What exactly happened?"

"Could it be that the Foundation is really going to flip over on 'SCP-C-2001'?"

The audience discussed heatedly.

Before this, when the Foundation faced anomalies that were not divinity or supreme divinity, as long as such a number of Astartes and Mobile Task Forces were dispatched, shouldn't they have won?

"Bai!" March 7th's expression carried a trace of anxiety.

If the Foundation really couldn't crack the secret of "SCP-C-2001," and couldn't curb its expansion trend.

Could Belobog be spared?

"Don't worry," Bai Xuan answered calmly, "Everything will get better."

"But Belobog is in danger!" March 7th clearly couldn't understand why Bai Xuan could still be so calm. "What if Bronya and the others..."

"Set your heart at ease," Bai Xuan gently hugged March 7th's shoulder. "You have to believe that the Foundation is an expert in resolving abnormal events."

It seemed to be waiting for this sentence from Bai Xuan.

The color tone of the giant light screen switched instantly, and red light like blood flickered throughout the galaxy.

A red alarm sounded suddenly.

【Warning level raised to LEVEL 5, Foundation headquarters beginning to intervene in the incident.】

Starting with this.

In the star system where Jarilo-VI was located, several hyperspace channels suddenly appeared, and huge starships jumped out one after another.

Without exception, they were all dragging Scranton Reality Stability Arrays and "Ten Thousand Trees Cold Colorless" type anti-thaumaturgy generators with the volume of asteroids.

Used to stabilize the "Reality" where Jarilo-VI was located.

"With this, it should be over, right?"

Bronya breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the harm of "SCP-C-2001" had been curbed.

Only to see several red dots flashing on the planet model of Jarilo-VI.

She was stunned.

Still no use...

In the image, patches of new fog zones were generated out of thin air, expanding rapidly like cancer cells.

In less than half an hour, the planet Jarilo-VI, which was dominated by blue and green, was dyed more than half white.

Belobog was in danger!

Just at this moment, the image in the light screen had new changes.

First, a line of black text appeared—

【Interview with core members of the "Five Elements"】

Immediately after, a man appeared in the center of the image.

He was bound to an interrogation chair, with two fully armed agents standing behind him.

Clearly, he was a core member of the "Five Elements."

The entire room was pitch black; except for him and the two agents behind him, he was in the spotlight.

Other personnel participating in the interrogation were currently hidden in the darkness.

"Need a cigarette?" a male voice sounded.

"Thanks, no need," the core member shook his head.

"Then let's make a long story short," a young woman said. "Do you need us to help you recall the great fog that happened on Jarilo-VI a thousand years ago?"

Listening to the voice, it should be O5-10.

The O5 who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years and formed the Alpha-9 squad.

"No need," the core member sighed. "I am as clear as you are about the degree and severity of the fog's expansion."

"Interested in talking about your past?" O5-10 continued to ask.

"Me?" The core member was stunned for a few seconds, very surprised that an O5 Councilor would actually have humanistic feelings.

But he still gave a rough account.

"My first half of life actually has nothing to talk about; born ordinarily, grew up ordinarily, married and had children, walking on the track planned for me by my father's generation."

"But all of this came to an abrupt end in a sudden car accident during a self-driving tour—the truck driver had a mental breakdown, and the container crushed the back half of the car."

His tone was a bit heavy, but his face showed no sadness, as if he had long since accepted reality.

"I collapsed, I couldn't face the fact that my loved ones had left, I began to seek help from theology, and the 'Five Elements' found me at that time."

In all fairness, the O5s felt that this core member's experience was very reasonable.

An ordinary but peaceful early life, suddenly encountering a blow beyond one's mental capacity, and then turning to some great existence for spiritual sustenance to comfort a wounded heart.

This was also consistent with the Foundation's investigation data on this Jarilo-VI indigenous resident.

However, a thousand years ago, that great fog didn't immediately cause any serious consequences.

The Foundation didn't conduct a more in-depth investigation into this poor man.

Looking back now, it could only be said that the decision at the time was a bit merciful.

After all, events related to those great existences were never simple to handle; if one was not careful, it would be a situation of no return.

"In the site that had disappeared for a long time, we found many geometric patterns related to 'five'," an old man spoke slowly. "... What is the relationship between the 'Five Elements' and the Fifth Church?"

"'Five Elements' is nominally a branch of the Fifth Church," the core member didn't hide it. "And we believe in the same god, but the core philosophy is completely different."

No one interrupted him.

He smiled and continued to tell.

"'Five Elements' believes in the entire natural world, the cycle of all things."

"Like any civilized society, nature also has its own operating laws: gathering, growth, infiltration, destruction, fusion." **CHAPTER 577**