Chapter 147: Mobile Task Force - Nine-Tailed Fox, Devouring Tomie

"Wake up! Wake up!"

A voice called out, accompanied by a shaking sensation.

From the depths of unconsciousness, you slowly regained awareness, then suddenly snapped to attention.

In your dazed state, you opened your eyes—only to be stunned by the scene before you.

"President?"

Your voice was a bit hoarse, seemingly due to not speaking for a long time.

You felt damp, as if you had just emerged from water.

However, compared to being personally awakened by the president, those were minor issues.

Seeing that you had finally woken up, the president revealed a relieved smile.

"C3-6, you're finally awake."

You felt puzzled.

Had you been injured and fallen unconscious during a mission? The president actually seemed this concerned about your safety.

While you were still confused, you heard the president continue,

"The surgery was a great success. You're a girl now!"

C3-6: !

The man abruptly leaped out of the Phoenix Project's incubation pod, carefully checking whether anything was missing or if anything extra had appeared on his body.

Only after confirming that his "partner" was still intact did C3-6 let out a heavy sigh of relief.

If this were any other place, the whole "you've turned into a girl" thing would just be taken as a joke.

But not here, not in front of this president.

The SCP Foundation had multiple ways to permanently turn someone into a girl.

The most well-known and simplest method was a bioengineering genius from the Foundation, Miss Mihari, who developed a feminization serum.

As long as one drank it, they would close their eyes, and upon opening them, they would have truly become a girl.

When C3-6 first learned about the feminization serum, he refused to drink anything handed to him for several days. If his water cup left his line of sight for more than 0.75 seconds, he deemed it undrinkable.

Cough, cough. But that's straying off-topic.

C3-6 let out a long sigh and quickly realized his current situation was quite awkward.

Thankfully, Haruto promptly handed over a white lab coat. C3-6 immediately took it, swiftly putting it on and tying the belt securely.

"President, please don't joke with me like that. It's terrifying."

C3-6 patted his chest.

For a moment, he had actually been thinking about how he would live as a girl in the future.

Haruto smiled without saying anything.

C3-6 soon noticed something was off.

Why was he here?

Could it be that he had undergone memory erasure due to a mission?

Quickly, C3-6 recalled what had happened.

While facing the terrifying anomaly known as "Tomie," his teammates had been cognitively contaminated and had attacked him.

Then, Tomie's head, covered in fresh blood, had flown toward him. That sticky blood landed on his body and instantly seeped deep into his flesh.

He could feel his muscles writhing, growing and his sense of self slipping away.

Honestly, it was a fate more terrifying than death.

Then what had he done?

Oh, right.

We Secure. We Protect. We are Humanity's Final Shield!

He had self-terminated.

His last memory was pulling down the fuel canister.

C3-6 froze.

He should have definitely died, why was he still alive?

Turning his head, he looked at the Phoenix Project's incubation pod.

After carefully searching his memory, C3-6 recalled,

One day, the Foundation had instructed all personnel ranked C and above to come to this containment room for sampling and had them wear a strange helmet.

"President, is this a resurrection device?"

C3-6 quickly pieced it together.

Haruto nodded.

Rather than being overjoyed at being resurrected, C3-6 awkwardly scratched his head.

"Heh, look at this mess. I thought I was done for good, but turns out there's a revival step in the process. President, I've caused trouble for the Foundation, getting myself killed and wasting Foundation resources."

Looking at the sincere young man before him, Haruto realized he didn't even know his real name, only his codename and that he was a combat operative.

People like him existed in the Foundation in numbers too vast to count.

Patting C3-6 on the shoulder, Haruto shook his head and said,

"I reviewed the containment records. You did well. You executed the containment mission excellently."

C3-6 froze for a moment, then let out a silly grin.

This was direct praise from the president himself, he could brag about this for a lifetime!

"Regarding your resurrection, you'll need to undergo memory erasure. That's Foundation protocol, any objections?"

Haruto interrupted C3-6's excitement.

C3-6 nodded.

"Being alive is already a blessing, why would I complain?"

Haruto paused for a moment, then suddenly asked,

"C3-6, do you think you can take on even more dangerous containment missions?"

C3-6 responded without hesitation,

"I follow the Foundation's orders, everything for humanity!"

Haruto nodded.

"The Foundation is forming a new large-scale Mobile Task Force—Ashen Wings. From now on, you'll undergo MTF training and then officially join Ashen Wings for missions."

Hearing this, C3-6 was ecstatic and nodded eagerly.

Afterward, Haruto used an A-Class memory wipe on C3-6.

Despite C3-6's exceptional performance, the Phoenix Project could not be exposed.

If the fact that the Foundation could resurrect people became widely known, it would inevitably cause chaos.

Even if Foundation members didn't intentionally abuse it, simply knowing about it might make them lose their fear of death.

This was the so-called "curse of knowledge."

Later, Haruto systematically used the Phoenix Project to revive all Foundation personnel who had perished in the Tomie outbreak.

Every single one underwent an A-Class memory wipe.

Then, Haruto handpicked those who had self-terminated and transferred them from their original units.

These individuals would become the foundation of the new Ashen Wings Mobile Task Force.

The Tomie incident made Haruto realize that the Foundation's combat capabilities were still insufficient.

If he and Wings of Freedom were ever unavailable, the Foundation would struggle to handle containment breaches of level 4 or higher anomalies.

While such situations were rare, expanding MTF forces was necessary.

And not just in one location, but worldwide.

Thus, the Ashen Wings Mobile Task Force was established.

Composed of selected Foundation operatives and field agents, it boasted a massive roster with a division stationed at every site.

Their emblem was a Flaming Nine-Tailed Fox, symbolizing resilience and rebirth, honoring those who had sacrificed themselves for the mission. The operatives of Nine-Tailed Fox were trained in the use of powered exoskeletons, with a dedicated research project launched to develop their specialized gear.

Given the Foundation's advanced biotech expertise and the precedent of the Crimson series exoskeletons, the Nine-Tailed Fox exoskeleton project was expected to be completed in record time.

Once all the tasks for Nine-Tailed Fox formation were settled, Haruto headed to the Heavy Containment Zone.

A new completely black, opaque containment chamber had been added.

Access was restricted to Level 4 personnel and above who had cognitive immunity or had taken W-Class memory aids.

Even then, full protective suits were required to enter.

The room had three heavy blast doors made of high-tensile fiber, specialized carbon fiber, and superalloy—

each door could only be opened one at a time.

The outer walls were reinforced with alloy and carbon fiber, capable of withstanding a C4 explosion without deformation.

This was the new standard for the Heavy Containment Zone.

Haruto swiped his security card through the scanner.

After identity verification, he unlocked the blast doors one by one and finally entered the room.

Inside, it resembled a normal living space—

a bed, chairs, table, ceiling lights, wall lamps, and a private bathroom.

Loli Tomie sat on a soft chair, reading a manga.

As soon as Haruto entered, she tossed the manga aside and leaped at him, trying to snuggle up to him.

But before she could, Haruto grabbed her by the back of her collar, lifting her into the air.

She could only flail her pale little arms helplessly.

Looking at Loli Tomie, Haruto felt confused.

At first, he thought this Tomie was in an unfinished growth stage, hence the loli form.

But now... it seemed otherwise.

This Loli Tomie was somehow... special.

But regardless of how special she was, Tomie was still an extremely dangerous anomaly.

Because when he had successfully contained her, the system had displayed:

[Successfully contained anomaly: Tomie.]

[Threat Level: Level 4 – Destruction.]

[Containment Status: Perfect.]

[Reward: One Level 4 lottery draw.]

This perfectly alluring young girl was a Level 4 containment threat—

a being capable of wiping out entire regions if she ever breached containment.

"I am different from those cheap sluts! I only want to love you, nothing else!"

The loli Tomie was held up by Haruto as she shouted.

Haruto raised an eyebrow but didn't take it seriously.

Women are deceptive creatures, the more beautiful they are, the better they are at lying. And in front of him was Tomie.

Grabbing Tomie, Haruto reached out and plucked a strand of her hair.

Strangely enough, Tomie was actually a fragile girl, with a physical strength almost identical to that of a normal human girl.

However, she only appeared weak when someone else acted upon her. If there were no external interference, Tomie was like an indestructible entity.

If she lived on her own, even after years, she wouldn't lose a single strand of hair.

Ahem, but that's getting off track.

After pulling out a strand of Tomie's hair, Haruto closed his palm.

The strand of hair was absorbed into his palm, devoured by the Blacklight Virus.

The next moment, chaotic fragments of memory surfaced, and along with them, Tomie's traits were acquired by Haruto.