Just as the fifteen-minute deadline was about to expire, Luo Shu and Cain walked out of Site-17 side by side. Behind them, the heavy radiation-proof blast doors slammed shut with a thunderous crash.
A deafening explosion followed, shaking the earth as the intense heat from the nuclear blast turned the massive doors red-hot. The building concealing the underground facility groaned ominously, its structural integrity failing. Moments later, with its foundation completely destroyed, the building finally collapsed in a cacophony of shattering concrete and twisting steel.
Outside, hundreds of Foundation personnel, abruptly awakened from their sleep, stood in dazed silence on the street, staring at the ruins of what had once been their workplace and home.
Among the crowd, humanoid anomalies—including SCP-105 "Iris" and SCP-053 "Young Girl"—huddled fearfully. Having been "protected" by the Foundation for so long, they now seemed utterly lost in the outside world.
SCP-327 "The Mermaid Without Legs" had failed to escape, and SCP-458 "The Never-Ending Pizza Box" had been forgotten in the cafeteria. These two anomalies were promptly added to the SCP Termination Log, bringing the total number of destroyed anomalies to eight.
Luo Shu didn't see any sign of "The Administrator." Clearly, the old bastard hadn't been at Site-17 today—otherwise, it would have been him, not Cain, who confronted Luo Shu in the server room.
With his task complete, Luo Shu had no intention of lingering. He turned to Cain and asked, "Coming with me?"
Cain shook his head. "Better not. I know too much about the Foundation. If I join you, 'The Administrator' might get desperate and do something even more insane. It's best if I remain neutral."
Desperate indeed.
At this very moment, "The Administrator," stationed at Site-33 in England, was on the verge of losing his mind upon hearing about Site-17's destruction.
He knew—this had to be Luo Shu's doing.
It was a blatant slap to the face!
Site-17 had been one of the Foundation's most secure facilities. Most of the humanoid anomalies contained there were docile and unlikely to cause breaches. A containment failure leading to a nuclear detonation was practically impossible.
The only reason "The Administrator" had stationed himself at Site-17 for so long was to safeguard SCP-196 "Time Paradox." But now that SCP-196 had been taken by Luo Shu, and with Site-33—the heart of memetic operations—under threat, he had been forced to relocate to protect his remaining assets.
And yet, this supposedly harmless Site-17 had just been nuked by Luo Shu!
(Author's Note: While SCP-1915's "The Stars Do Not Wait" is an excellent tale, this story will not adopt its setting. Every author's SCP universe has its own major antagonist—unless it's one of those crossover power fantasies.)
(This story's SCP world has a power ceiling. It can't even accommodate a Level 5 reality bender, let alone something like "The Stars Do Not Wait." As I've said before, this is an independent timeline with its own final boss. But does this story really have no Supreme Deities? No spoilers here.)
This was clearly Luo Shu declaring his intent to retaliate.
If before, it had been "The Administrator" unilaterally hunting Luo Shu, then from this day forward, Luo Shu would fight back in equal measure.
One of us must die.
Irreconcilable enemies.
This was Luo Shu's resolve, and he would act accordingly.
I've endured you long enough. Don't think I'll just take your attacks without fighting back.
I've only held back because I didn't want to strike first. But if I really cut loose, even I'd be terrified of myself.
Now that you've given me more than enough reason to act, don't blame me for being ruthless.
*Site-17 was just the beginning. Next, I'll make you suffer until you beg for death.*
Luo Shu wasn't particularly disappointed by Cain's refusal to join him.
He could still make use of Cain's abilities when needed. Most of Cain's memories weren't useful to him anyway—Luo Shu already possessed extensive knowledge about the Foundation and its anomalies.
As for the secrets locked behind "The Administrator's" Level-6 clearance, neither Luo Shu nor Cain knew them.
Without a second glance, Luo Shu boarded his transforming pickup truck and sped away.
From start to finish, no one at Site-17—aside from Cain—had noticed Luo Shu's presence, hidden as he was in an unobservable state.
That same day, he returned briefly to SCP-100 to settle the AI he'd retrieved from Site-17, giving his base its own intelligent caretaker.
Without delay, he set out again.
This time, his target was Site-15.
Site-15 was a Foundation facility located on the West Coast of the New World, specializing in the containment and research of electronics-based anomalies.
Though Luo Shu didn't know its exact location, he could guess which city housed it.
Given the nature of its contained anomalies, Site-15 had to be in Silicon Valley, California.
That place was practically Luo Shu's home turf in this world.
Before being imprisoned for killing three sons of Freemason members, Luo Shu had been a prodigious engineer in Silicon Valley.
Whether those memories were real or fabricated remained unclear, but they provided him with enough familiarity to navigate the area.
Silicon Valley was situated on the southern shore of the San Francisco Bay Area, its core nestled in the Santa Clara Valley. Over time, it had expanded to encompass most of Santa Clara County and parts of adjacent counties.
Luo Shu's plan was straightforward: head straight to the Santa Clara Valley and fish for Site-15's exact location.
After flying for over ten hours along the Gulf of Mexico, Luo Shu finally crossed the New World, arriving on the West Coast from SCP-100's East Coast location.
Stepping into this "familiar" place, he felt an overwhelming sense of alienation.
Though his memories contained images of this place, there was no warmth in them.
It was like being forced to memorize a textbook passage in school—you could recite it perfectly, yet feel no connection to its contents.
In contrast, the protagonists and plots from novels you loved stayed with you for years, even without conscious effort.
That was the fundamental difference between implanted memories and real ones.
But whether the memories were real or not, they were still useful to Luo Shu now.
He drove straight to one of Silicon Valley's busiest intersections and stopped.
This was the perfect spot to lure out Site-15 personnel—quickly.
This time, Luo Shu didn't use the workaholic's bagged coffee or the Heaven's Cigar as bait. Both had appeared in England before, and reusing them now would risk exposing his whereabouts and intentions.
His method was simple: create an electronics-based anomaly on the spot.
With a single Mechanical Animation spell, he targeted a traffic light at the intersection.
Immediately, the signal began flashing in a lively, rhythmic pattern.
4/2 time, 4/4 time, 3/4 time, 6/8 time…
The traffic lights pulsed with musical precision.
Unfortunately, this "musicality" was anything but pleasant for the drivers waiting at the intersection.
Even the gentlest tempo—4/2 time at 76 beats per minute—meant the lights changed nearly once per second, leaving drivers no time to react.
And when it switched to a brisk 4/4 dance rhythm at 120 BPM, the lights flickered so fast they became a dizzying blur.
Traffic ground to a halt.
After emergency repairs by the transportation department failed, Site-15's containment specialists swiftly arrived, dismantled the rogue traffic light, and hauled it away for study.