Return

Three days had passed, Zhang Jue didn't return directly but took a ride with the Foundation to Site-237. After so many days of cleanup, most of the Antimemetic anomalies had been recovered from the ground and re-contained. Because there was an explosion underground, the three Site-237 above-ground buildings were unstable and had tilted to different degrees. The Foundation will empty all the stuff inside after planning to do an explosion for a reason. When the time yellow sand buried, no one will ever know that there was once a Foundation site here.

Zhang Jue was a little regret, he is now Site-237 Honorary Site Director. But this site will be lost in history forever. As he looked into the distance, he found a huge stone monument standing on top of a sand dune not far from the three buildings. It was something he hadn't seen before.

Looking at that, it was still very new and it had just been transported here in the past two days. This is a desert , to transport such a large stone monument here would have to spend a very large amount of manpower and material resources for the Foundation. Not to mention that this place is already abandoned.

Seeing his confusion, the staff next to him explained, "Advisor Zhang. This is a monument set up by the headquarters for the colleagues who died in this site. Their bones have all been found and buried there."

So that was it is. Zhang Jue nodded his head. Not counting him, the last Head of Antimemetics Division was Healey. She had resolutely led most of the employees infected with SCP-3125 to kill themselves in order to keep it from spreading within the Foundation. Zhang Jue still remembered that she was lying in that crystal coffin, died peacefully.

Now that SCP-3125 had been defeated again, it was believed that she and those sacrificed employees, including Yang Wensong, could finally rest in peace. The huge stone monument is more than ten meters high.

On it, written in both Chinese and English. It reads, "With this, I would like to commemorate those heroes who fought in the darkness. Whose names no one knows and whose deeds live on with the world."

...

The latter phrase sounded familiar to Zhang Jue, probably a paraphrase of someone's famous quote. But it couldn't be more appropriate to be used for all the employees in the Antimemetics Division. There were probably many people who were never remembered until their sacrifice.

Zhang Jue sighed as he slowly walked to the stone monument. He saw that there was already a bouquet of flowers in front of the stone monument, but it had dried up. Probably the desert hadn't been windy for the past few days, so it was still lying here nicely.

Without Zhang Jue asking, the employee explained, "Dr. Yang Xue came here after the monument was built."

Zhang Jue hummed. Yang Xue had searched for her father for more than ten years, and suddenly saw him only to be separated from life and death. Which was a saddening thing for her to watch.

Later, when he went to Site-17. Yang Xue was always dazed, probably thinking about his father as well. Although to humans, Yang Wensong is one of the greatest influential person. But as a father, he lacks of that value. But Yang Xue herself was also a Foundation employee, she should be able to understand to Yang Wensong's choice.

Zhang Jue could even foresee that many years later, Yang Xue would become the same person as Yang Wensong. Thinking of Yang Wenbai, who had already retired. Zhang Jue couldn't help but sigh that the Yang family was really full of loyalty and martyrdom.

After standing in front of the monument for a while, Zhang Jue intended to leave. Just as he was about to get into his car, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned back to look at the man in charge.

"When you were clearing this site, did you find anyone else?"

"Anyone else?" The person in charge thought back carefully, "No, other than those employees who fainted. No one else appeared here. What's wrong, Advisor Zhang? is there any problem?"

"Nothing." Zhang Jue shook his head and frowned lightly.

In the past few days since returning to Site-17, he had done a review of what had happened since entering Site-237 in his mind and found some areas that he had overlooked before. In fact, they were all harmless minutiae, and it didn't matter if they couldn't figure it out.

But in this regard, there is a slight compulsion to figure out everything. For example, who killed that interrogator? Who is the person who made that fake Yang Wensong AI? Why he and Yang Xue were unconscious in that building on the right and what happened before they fell unconscious?

He always felt that there was another force present in Site-237 at that time. But after thinking about it so long, it was impossible to trace these things back now. Zhang Jue shook his head helplessly, but he was in no hurry.

According to Yang Wensong, the original body of SCP-3125 had not been wiped out. Sooner or later, it would make a comeback. If that force really had something to do with SCP-3125, they would appear again sooner or later. When the time comes, new feuds and old threat will be come together.

Thinking about it. Zhang Jue took one last look at the monument, then he closed the car door.

...

After more than ten hours of wandering around, Zhang Jue finally returned to Site-14. It was early March when he went out with Yang Xue, and it was already mid-April when he returned.

Spring was in full bloom. Site-14 was decorated with lights and all the employees lined up outside, holding a grand ceremony for Zhang Jue's return. This time, he could be described as returning home with honor and glory.

Site Director Huang Xingwen personally went out to welcome him, giving him a hospitality. Not only that, because Zhang Jue had been promoted to be Deputy Site Director of Site-14, he already had his own office.

According to the specifications, the Foundation could also assign a secretary to him if he needed one. However, after thinking about it, Zhang Jue declined for the time being.

There were two reasons for this. First, he had always been idle and only pretended to be busy. It was always bad to recruit a secretary and have the two of them stare at each other wide-eyed or play games together during office hours.

Second, and most importantly. He was afraid that it was the Foundation sent to spy on him. As the saying goes, if he is suspicious of someone, there is no need to delay any more if he is already suspicious.

The only thing is that the plaque promised to him by the Foundation is not yet in arrived, so he is quite upset. As a leader without a plaque in his office, he would be embarrassed to go out and greet others.

Zhang Jue dialed the phone number of O5-8's secretary at the first opportunity. After O5-8 received the call, he apologized very sincerely. Saying that it was too difficult to sign in person and to give him some time to convince everyone. He was so patronizing that he left Zhang Jue speechless.

Finally, amidst Zhang Jue's tirade, the two reached an agreement that O5-8 must deliver the plaque within three months or the Foundation would have to pay Zhang Jue another 10 million as moral damages.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Jue wondered if he should stop O5-8 from getting the signatures. After all, it was 10 million.

In the evening, Site-14 held a big dinner. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. Even if Zhang Jue doesn't really know the water here, he know that there is a problem here.

Although Huang Xingwen has no credit, but he has followed Yang Wenbai as his deputy for so many years, and his seniority is still there. Even if Zhang Jue has been promoted, but he will not be able to do any activities for the next years.

Zhang Jue simply took him by the shoulders, "Old Huang, there is nothing here. What do you have in mind?"

Huang Xingwen swayed the wine in his hand, giggled and laughed, "Advisor Zhang, look what you did. You gave Site-14 so much reputation, can't I toast you a few glasses of wine?"

"Oh." Zhang Jue pulled a long tone, "So that's how it is. Then I'll say this in advance. I'm going out. If you can't find me in the next two days. Don't blame to not answer your phone. "

"No no no no." Hearing Zhang Jue say this, Huang Xingwen finally couldn't sit still, and his face showed bitterness, "Advisor Zhang, I did encounter some trouble in the site. Whether I can continue to work as a Site Director here, it depends on you!"