Chapter 626

How to choose?

Should I bet all my hope on this man?

"I see him." Ulrich made a choice.

Marion did not respond.

"I will bring him out." Ulrich promised; just thinking about this attempt made her internal organs tighten, "I will let him come to see you."

Marion did not reply.

Six short, coherent words had drained all her strength; she felt angry and frustrated at her own incompetence, as if pressed under a lead block of heavy memories, where both thinking and surviving became painful.

After the promise, Ulrich also fell into silence.

She was thinking about how to fulfill her promise.

Ulrich’s ability to interact with the physical universe was very limited.

Other ω-0 agents could create real supernatural phenomena—adjusting temperature, moving furniture, but she was not an expert in this regard.

What she could do was nothing more than making phone calls, leaving messages on walls, and other small things; these abilities were unlikely to make Adam move.

She couldn't even be sure if Adam still had self-awareness.

After some thought, Ulrich decided to go deep into Adam’s mind to perform a surgical operation.

His mind was very solid, and he was bathed in the radiation-like presence of "SCP-3125" at all times.

Ulrich could only carefully make a cut, remove a part, then wait for Adam’s mind to repair itself, wait a few more days, and perform the next cut.

The entire operation spanned several weeks in reality, and the huge patience required almost exceeded Ulrich’s limit.

During this period, Marion did not say a word.

She seemed to have only a few words left, and each one would bring her closer to a breakdown.

Marion had to use them cautiously and wait patiently.

"He will definitely come," Ulrich said, "He will come soon."

……

Ulrich gazed at Adam Marion’s curled figure from a distant, abstract height.

After writing those words, Marion Wheeler was already dead, and her conceptual form had completely dissipated.

Upon realizing this, Adam Wheeler’s mental world collapsed, scattering all over the floor.

This scene was too terrifying and incredible in Ulrich’s eyes.

Adam’s mind should not be so fragile; even if his mind had been swallowed by "SCP-3125" and saved, it had never been as fragmented as it was now.

Perhaps this 1.8 was the man’s true weakness; only this method could hurt his mind, make him completely collapse, and never be able to stitch himself together again.

——Bring his wife to him, a cripple with severe brain damage, just as she was about to die.

Ulrich quietly picked up a pen on the other side of the blackboard, avoiding the place where Marion’s portrait was, and chose another font:

[I am very sorry]

[I am very sorry]

[Adam, please answer the phone]

[I need your help]

Adam collapsed listlessly onto the cold floor, falling into a faint.

He didn't hear Ulrich calling him through the phone in another office, letting the ringing of the phone echo in vain in the empty teaching building.

"Forget it." Ulrich whispered softly.

No one was listening, and no one needed to listen.

She, like Marion, was dying.

With Marion leaving first, the last bond anchoring Ulrich’s existence was gone.

She might have a few hours left.

Ulrich looked at the memory of Marion in Adam’s mind, which was emitting a dazzling light.

Her current form gave her a unique advantage, supporting her in performing a cleaner, more permanent treatment.

Although for the person involved, this would be an unbearable spoiler.

"I cannot lose her," Adam’s voice came from his face pressed against the floor.

He begged: "Please, don't take her away."

[You must save the world]

[There is no one else]

"Let the world go to hell, let it turn to ashes."

Under Ulrich’s gaze, Adam woke from his trance.

Compared to last time, he was now refreshed, overflowing with vitality, and eager to act.

Ulrich breathed a sigh of relief, and she began to condense the key information, explaining everything concisely:

The Foundation, the Anti-Memetics Division, the current situation, and the mission objective.

To Ulrich’s surprise, Adam displayed exceptional comprehension; after she explained these contents, he raised a series of follow-up questions.

This was a good sign, after all.

"Is my memory of you insufficient to maintain the 'Memory Bond'?" Adam asked.

"Your memory might be excellent," Ulrich sighed helplessly, "but you still don't know me well enough... so, no."

"Sigh..."

Afterwards, Ulrich told Adam in detail how to find Site-41.

He had to avoid densely populated urban areas, be wary of those rampaging anomalies, and watch out for the howling minions gathered by 3125.

Furthermore, Site-41 was obscured by a heavy anti-memetic veil; Adam needed to prepare thoroughly in advance and then walk straight through it.

Next, Ulrich introduced several methods to avoid 3125’s hounds, choosing to conceal the greatest advantage Adam possessed:

Given that Adam had just escaped from the control of "Containment-3125," his scent was still "just right" to those monsters, enough to allow him to pass by them silently.

She did not want him to let his guard down due to overconfidence.

Finally, she explained some basic survival strategies in detail.

"I have experience with hiking and camping in the wild," Adam said confidently.

However, he had never experienced trekking through a strange world already occupied by "anomalies," nor had he survived for months without electricity and water supplies.

Clearly, there were still many topics for them to discuss.

The person and the spirit communicated over the phone for a long time, until Adam realized that the scenery outside the window had not changed for too long.

The red sun outside the window seemed to be frozen, neither rising nor setting.

Either the Earth had completely stopped rotating.

Or it was merely an illusion wearing the guise of a red sun.

"I don't know."

Ulrich could only give such an answer: "Once, the Foundation might have been able to answer this question."

"It seems the Foundation bears the heavy responsibility of saving the world," Adam said thoughtfully.

In the distant heaven, Ulrich’s weary smile bloomed slightly.

"The Foundation was never that simple," she whispered.

"Ms. Ulrich, I feel our time together is coming to an end," Adam’s voice was slightly heavy.

By this point in the call, Ulrich’s voice was already quite weak, reminding Adam of patients on their deathbeds in movies.

She sounded like a wisp of smoke, ready to be blown away by the wind at any moment.

One can enter "Heaven" after death, but when "Heaven" falls and the Holy Spirit dies again, where is she to go?

"Indeed," Ulrich responded softly.

"You are facing an incredibly difficult predicament," Adam said with respect.

"By comparison, the challenges I face, while still terrifying, are much better, thanks to your help."

"I will do my best, and I will remember you, though that won't change anything."

"Kill that thing, Mr. Adam," Ulrich said, "When you have the chance, do not hesitate."

"Mm."

At that very moment, a sharp, piercing sneer came from behind Ulrich, as if a blade had cut through the silence.

She turned around, only to see a young man standing behind her, whom she had not sensed at all.