Chapter 386: Chapter 377: Red Pool (SCP-354)
The social-anxiety communication meeting happily came to an end.
At Yuuki Asuna's strong request, Bocchi and Komi-san reluctantly added each other as friends.
Though, once they got home, the two were practically so happy they were about to spiral into the sky. After Haruto returned, he was about to check on the completion progress of Mobile Task Force – Sword Art Online.
But before he even got back to the site, a message came in.
An anomaly had been discovered in the northern country's forest.
In reality, with the current scale of the SCP Foundation, very few anomaly reports are sent directly to Haruto nowadays.
Even though Haruto had been quite leisurely lately, as if anomalies had become rarer on Earth—
In truth, it was because the Foundation's system was now complete, the lineup strong, and the technology advanced.
Ordinary anomalies could be easily contained without needing to trouble Haruto at all.
In other words:
If an anomaly is being reported to Haruto personally now, it means the problem is very serious.
After reviewing the information, Haruto directly used Kamui to cross space and arrive at the northern country's site.
The Foundation was actually researching teleportation guns now.
But the technology was still in its prototype phase. Locating space coordinates was easy; the problem lay in the teleportation fluid.
After all, spatial teleportation is usually unstable.
Creating a safe teleportation fluid still required technological breakthroughs.
Once the Foundation succeeded in this area, they could equip some personnel with teleportation guns.
Just like Haruto's Kamui, they would be able to travel through the main world instantly, saving time and optimizing personnel deployment.
They might even traverse parallel realities.
Of course, that's a topic for another time.
After Haruto arrived at the northern site, investigators immediately came forward, briefing him on the situation and leading him to the site of the anomaly.
This anomaly was one of the rare cases where ordinary people discovered it first, rather than the Foundation.
One day earlier, at 3:04 PM, a northern-country flight was passing over a stretch of primeval forest when the plane's instruments suddenly malfunctioned.
The engines stopped, the instrument panels went dark, and even communications were cut off.
The captain, though momentarily shocked, quickly responded and manually controlled the aircraft.
Using purely mechanical controls, he managed to restart the engines.
However, the process took a lot of time, and despite emergency pull-up procedures, the plane ultimately made an emergency landing.
Fortunately, thanks to the captain's skillful handling, the plane slowed and performed a level crash landing into a freshwater lake.
Although the aircraft broke apart, half of the passengers and crew survived.
They escaped from the wreckage and swam ashore with the help of life jackets.
Even after surviving the crash, both the plane and passengers' electronic devices remained disabled.
No distress signals could be sent out.
And because the crash site was in a hard-to-search primeval forest, the survivors realized rescue might not arrive in time.
With limited food and water, they decided to attempt survival by navigating their way out using maps and compasses.
This decision ultimately led to their demise.
When news came of the lost flight, possibly crashed for unknown reasons, the Foundation immediately launched an investigation.
By now, airplane technology was so advanced that the chance of a crash was astronomically lower than even winning the lottery.
And planes typically send out some signal to the tower before going down.
A silent disappearance like this was extremely suspicious.
Using Foundation technology, they quickly scanned the flight's route across the jungle, found the plane wreckage, and then followed human traces along the way.
Finally—a massive Red Pool appeared before the Foundation investigators.
Red Pool (SCP-354).
This was a site located deep in the northern country's primeval forest.
Previously, even during global terrain mapping, the Foundation hadn't discovered this area.
The pool was filled with a red liquid, with a viscosity similar to human blood.
(Hence the nickname: Red Pool.)
However, biologically, this red liquid was not actually blood.
The pool lacked defined shorelines; the liquid mixed with the soil.
Until a certain point where the soil exceeded the liquid, forming solid ground.
If someone dove into the pool, the liquid would become more viscous the deeper they went.
The traces of the flight survivors led to this Red Pool.
And then disappeared.
No other evidence could be found.
Perhaps there were bloodstains, but around the Red Pool, it was impossible to distinguish fresh blood from the pool's red liquid.
Around the pool, several anomalous entities were present.
They were some kind of monsters.
Most had biological structures somewhat similar to Earth creatures. They ranged in size from 2 meters to 7 meters tall.
Some resembled massive arthropods.
Others were like giant bats or other unknown creatures.
Though these monsters shared certain structures with Earth's organisms, that was only superficial.
Genetically, they were completely foreign to anything on Earth.
When these entities spotted Foundation investigators, they displayed extreme hostility toward humans.
Their speed exceeded biological limits.
The investigators engaged them with standard weapons.
Foundation-issued firearms barely pierced their scales or exoskeletons.
But the damage was minimal.
Moreover, these entities showed abnormal regenerative capabilities.
Varying in strength, but generally above minor regeneration. The investigators requested Mobile Task Force backup. Mobile Task Force Nine-Tailed Fox arrived on scene within 3 minutes.
They used gravity-based weapons and electromagnetic firearms to eliminate most of the entities.
And successfully captured two specimens for containment.
The conclusions about biological structure and genetics came from studying these two captures.
Once the area was suppressed, it seemed the situation was under control.
However, two subsequent incidents occurred.
A team of D-Class personnel was sent to the Red Pool for investigation.
They were ordered to dive into the pool.
After 1 hour and 32 minutes of investigation, the Red Pool suddenly erupted, ejecting a brand-new monster.
The D-Class team was completely slaughtered.
Meanwhile, three investigators who had fought the initial monsters began showing signs of unconsciousness and painful groaning while being transported back to the Foundation site.
Then their bodies started swelling and distorting, transforming into new monstrous entities.
They were once again suppressed by Nine-Tailed Fox.
But a disturbing discovery was made.
The monsters ejected from the Red Pool caused genetic infections when attacking humans.
A normal person wounded by these creatures would have their genes rewritten and undergo violent mutations.
Basically, like zombies—getting wounded meant turning into another monster.
An infectious anomaly.
It was speculated that the flight survivors likely encountered and were executed by these monster entities near the Red Pool.