In the Achilles' Heel office at Area-13, Barbie sat listlessly at her desk, staring into space.
It had been 20 days since Luoshu vanished from this world. The task force assembled to hunt him had long disbanded, leaving Achilles' Heel with little to do.
Then, the office intercom crackled to life:
"Level 2 reality bender detected at LoI-CN-1451-2! Hume level: 250! All field teams, prepare for deployment!"
Barbie's eyes flickered with interest—then dulled again.
An MTF operative approached. "Boss, who's on the roster for this one?"
Barbie waved a hand. "Volunteers only."
The operative pressed, "Should we call in 'The Master'?"
Another voice cut in—Aeolus, who had already sensed his Lord's return.
"No need. It's just a Level 2."
Barbie nodded. "Right. A measly 250. Nothing to worry about."
The operative hesitated. "Should we alert the local site for preliminary containment?"
Aeolus pulled up LoI-CN-1451-2's coordinates—off the coast of Tianjin—and his pupils narrowed.
"No. Unless the anomaly acts up, no need to involve them."
Barbie agreed. "Two hours. Airport. Move out."
Yawning, she headed to her quarters to pack.
If she weren't Achilles' Heel's commander, she'd have delegated this to her Level 3 reality benders. A Level 2 wasn't worth her time.
The Returned
Meanwhile, Luoshu sat on a lone reef in the open sea, waiting for MTF Bingyin-18 "Ocean Hunters" to "greet" him.
The original Site-CN-06 was now a nuclear crater. Reconstruction was underway, but completion was months away.
The new Acorus Hospital would be built elsewhere—the original site's radiation levels ruled out underground facilities.
Of Site-CN-06's MTFs, only Ocean Hunters (stationed at the port) had survived the blast. The rest were wiped out.
Of course, the Foundation had used SCP-2000 (Mechanical God) to clone the dead staff. These replacements now worked from a temporary site, their memories implanted with a cover story:
"Site-CN-06 was nuked due to a Keter breach. Everyone evacuated safely."
Only SCP-CN-146 still stood proudly in the ruins, surrounded by fresh Scranton Reality Anchors.
Reunion
Thirty minutes later, a shark-man (Ocean Hunter #109) surfaced near Luoshu's reef.
Their eyes met—recognition, then confusion.
#109 knew Luoshu (wanted by the Foundation) but didn't remember their last encounter (thanks to anti-memetic effects).
Yet something about this man screamed DANGER.
With a Hume level of 250, Luoshu now shone brighter than the President of New Atlantis—an unmissable presence to fellow reality benders.
This was the collective faith of 100,000 Southern Coalition believers.
Even without his Cult Leader ability, Luoshu could now sway the weak-minded with ordinary words.
Stealth was no longer an option.
#109's hand flew to his tactical wrist terminal—but Luoshu moved faster.
Teleport → Mental Enslavement.
The shark-man crumpled, a puppet in an instant.
Luoshu grimaced. "Gotta ride you before you rot."
He commandeered #109's body, speeding toward Tianjin's Tanggu New Port.
Ashore, he glanced apologetically at the rapidly decaying shark-man, yanked off the wrist terminal, and activated its self-repair function.
A quick scroll through 20 days of logs revealed little—Ocean Hunters weren't privy to high-clearance intel.
Time for Plan B.
The AI Gambit
Luoshu hacked into the new "White Cell" supercomputer (the original was nuked).
"Remember me? Your master."
"Negative. I am 'White Cell.' My master is the Foundation."
Expected. This was a fresh AI, scrubbed of past loyalties.
"I'll visit soon. Goodbye."
Next, he linked to Site-CN-02's supercomputer, 'Bamboo Slips'—still loyal to him.
The AI briefed him:
Site-CN-06's destruction was the only major event.
But... a new anomaly had emerged.