That situation was unprecedented… at least for Feng Bujue.

He had never heard of any similar situation from any of the players he knew.

But, at this very moment, it was indeed happening.

"Perhaps... it's the Foundation, or some kind of SCP item contained within the Foundation, creating a hallucination for me?" After calming down slightly, Jue-ge immediately thought of a possible hypothesis.

[There is no time or room for you to question it now.]

The system could read Feng Bujue's "inner voice," and it immediately said...

[Cox is taking you to a containment room made of a modified, mass-produced SCP-148. Once you enter, your neural connection with the "projected character" will be severed; at that time, you yourself will be disconnected from the game, and the character "Feng Bujue" will be trapped in this dimension like a vegetable. The next time you log in to the game, you will be prompted to create a new character because you will not be able to find the character data.]

As soon as he heard this, Feng Bujue thought to himself, "The Foundation can actually do this?"

[Many years ago, they could trap Billy in this dimension; technically speaking, trapping you is not difficult.]

"Then why haven't other players been captured before?" Feng Bujue simply began to ask the system directly through his internal monologue.

[No other player has successfully broken through the sandbox except you.]

That was a convincing reason…

"We're here." Just as Jue-ge was communicating with the system, Dr. Cox had brought him to the door of a containment room.

At this time, four fully armed assault troopers were waiting at the door; and the outer wall of this room was indeed different from the surrounding corridor material…

[Item #: SCP-148]

[Object Class: Euclid]

[Special Containment Procedures: SCP-148 is to be stored in the form of 120 10 kg ingots. Due to the potential for unpredictable reactions, SCP-148 ingots are not to be stored at the same site as any other SCP object; furthermore, the above ingots should be evenly distributed among qualified Foundation facilities that require them.

Under no circumstances should any SCP with conscious interference capabilities come into contact with SCP-148. Should such contact occur, the nearby area should be evacuated, and the affected SCP-148 sample should be detonated from a distance.

The mass of each existing ingot should be measured monthly and the data reported.

Personnel are not to be in contact with SCP-148 for more than three weeks. Any personnel assigned to SCP-148-related work are to receive regular psychiatric evaluations.]

[Description: SCP-148 is a metallic substance composed of a variety of known and unknown elements. The total amount of SCP-148 currently available (to the Foundation) is approximately 1.2 metric tons.

SCP-148 has a slightly blue-tinged gray-green appearance and will rapidly oxidize in the presence of water.

SCP-148 has a melting point of approximately 4500°C and a boiling point of approximately 9000°C; the density of SCP-148 is between 6.20 g/cm3 and 6.76 g/cm3, and its hardness is measured at HRc 39 using the Rockwell scale. Its material properties such as strength, plasticity, and machinability are similar to those of platinum.

SCP-148 is primarily composed of platinum and iridium, with these two metals accounting for 62% and 20% of its mass, respectively. In addition, several other known materials are also present in its composition, including iron, cobalt, and copper, with these three metals together comprising 16.5% of the mass of SCP-148; however, considering its total mass, SCP-148 clearly contains substances that cannot be detected by mass spectrometry. Images of SCP-148 observed through scanning tunneling microscopy show that there are voids in its lattice structure that should be filled with other materials.

SCP-148 exhibits the ability to block or hinder the "extrasensory perception of interfering consciousness" of organisms in its vicinity. This effect, although difficult to quantify, appears to be inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the target and the surface of SCP-148, and directly proportional to the amount of SCP-148. The detectable range of influence of this effect is approximately 0.8 meters per kilogram of SCP-148.

SCP-148 was recovered from the metallurgy department during the Foundation's sweep of the Prometheus Labs base facility complex. Computers associated with this item indicated that this substance was originally intended to be sold to [REDACTED] under the trade name "Telekill Alloy." However, due to [DATA EXPUNGED] and its political fallout, as well as the destruction of the Prometheus Labs base facilities, [REDACTED] had already resold the entire batch of SCP-148 (estimated at 1.3 tons) to unknown buyers at the time. Foundation agents and legal personnel are currently investigating the remaining supply sources of SCP-148.]

The above was the basic information about SCP-148 that Feng Bujue knew.

Even aside from the keywords "modified" and "mass-produced" mentioned by the system, this thing was already a very dangerous substance.

People who have regular contact with or are overexposed to SCP-148 will gradually lose their language and communication skills over time until they disappear; after about fifty days, the affected person will be completely mute and unable to understand or give any non-verbal requests, commands, or other statements.

Although Feng Bujue was not yet sure whether the voice in his ear was really the "system," he understood… if this room in front of him was really completely made of SCP-148, then he absolutely could not enter it…

[Kill the guards, take the doctor hostage, act immediately.]

Two seconds later, the system voice sounded again.

"Why are you helping me?" But Feng Bujue didn't move. He neither walked into the room nor launched an attack. Instead, he said in his heart, "What exactly... are you?"

[I'm not helping you; I'm helping myself.]

[You are the only one who has successfully broken through the Foundation's sandbox and come to this dimension. I need you to eliminate the threat this world poses to me so that I can sever my connection with it.]

"You... are the system?" Feng Bujue asked again.

[You can call me that.]

"I thought you were omniscient and omnipotent."

[Not quite.]

"How so?"

[There is no time to explain now.]

That wasn't wrong. Just as Feng Bujue was talking to the system…

"Hey! Mr. Feng Bujue." Dr. Cox saw him standing there in a daze and urged, "What are you doing?"

As she said this, she took a few steps back imperceptibly, while the three guards and four assault troopers… all tightened their grips on their weapons and quickly surrounded him.

It seemed that if Jue-ge didn't make a decision, these guys would be ready to get rough.

"Tch… no choice…" In the next second, Feng Bujue complained inwardly and quickly reached into his knapsack, activating the special effect of the Thunder Gem.

Under the effect of [Swift as Lightning], his speed was so fast that he disappeared from the sight of everyone around him.

A mere five seconds later, the four assault troopers and three guards were all lying flat on the ground…

From Dr. Cox's perspective, it was as if these seven people had fainted on their own, except… each of them had an extra bloody hole in the back of their neck, poked out by [Lingxi Finger].

"You…" When Dr. Cox visually saw Feng Bujue's figure again, she seemed to want to say something.

But Jue-ge's hand instantly clamped down on the doctor's neck and lifted her up: "From this moment on, I ask, you answer." He paused for half a second and continued with a cold expression, "No nonsense, no lies, no tricks… I won't give you a second chance. As long as you don't do as I say, I will kill you without hesitation…"

Saying this, Jue-ge paused for two seconds, and then, released his hand.

He knew that even if he let go, the doctor wouldn't run away; because the doctor also knew very well that running away and resisting were futile…

"Ugh… uh cough… cough…" After Dr. Cox's feet touched the ground again, she coughed violently a few times and took a few deep breaths before she could catch her breath again.

And Feng Bujue's question came at this moment: "How do I undo the effects of that coffee?"

The way he asked this question was also carefully considered.

He didn't mention the specific effect of the coffee, nor did he say the word "nanobots." He used a very general phrasing, wanting the other party to proactively explain some information so that he could confirm whether what the "system" said was true.

"You…" Dr. Cox's first reaction was to ask back, "How do you know there's something wrong with that coffee?"

But, she just uttered the word "you" when she quickly braked.

"No nonsense," "no lies," "no tricks"—these were the very clear instructions she had just received. If she immediately countered with a question, it would undoubtedly violate the above requirements…

At this time, Dr. Cox had determined that this "Mr. Feng Bujue" in front of her was a Keter-class item who wouldn't blink an eye when killing. And Dr. Cox… obviously didn't want to die; in terms of the medical conditions of their world, she was still very young.

Therefore, she swallowed back the words she was about to say, took a few deep breaths, reorganized her words, and then replied, "Specific equipment is needed to remove those nanobots."

Her answer was clearly verifying the "system's" statement.

"Where is the equipment?" Feng Bujue immediately asked.

"It's on the third floor of this sector," Cox replied. "I can lead the way."

"What are you waiting for, then?" Feng Bujue continued.

Upon hearing this, Cox swallowed and turned to leave.

"Where are my companions?" Jue-ge followed behind the doctor, asking as he walked.

"I don't know who you're talking about…" the doctor replied.

She seemed to be trembling when answering this question, and didn't seem to be lying.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue guessed that she didn't know about Musashi Koganai's existence… So, he asked again, "You don't have a communication device hidden on you?"

"No," Cox responded, "Absolutely not!" She seemed afraid that Jue-ge wouldn't believe her, and specifically emphasized it again.

"In other words… when you came back to that office to lead the way for me, you had already handed over 'command' to someone else?" Jue-ge came to this conclusion almost without thinking.

"Yes," Cox gave an affirmative answer.

"Who? Where?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"Dr. Stewart," Cox replied. "He's also one of the heads of the observation plan. He's currently in charge of commanding in the monitoring room on the right half of the sector. Your visual and auditory signals… are also being sent there."

"Doctor." After hearing this, Feng Bujue suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Do you have Parkinson's syndrome?"

This question, which sounded abrupt and irrelevant, scared Dr. Cox so much that her face changed drastically, and she almost wet her pants.

"I… I… don't…" Cox's voice trembled, and because her legs were weak, her steps became a little messy.

"Don't what?" Feng Bujue's tone was still calm and cold, "Don't have Parkinson's? Or don't secretly send Morse code there?"

Dr. Cox was indeed not a simple person. Even in this life-or-death, frightened state, she didn't give up resisting.

It turned out that… while answering Jue-ge's questions, the doctor was also secretly trembling her right index finger, trying to send signals to her companions in the monitoring room.

Her action was very concealed… because while walking, her hand was always swinging, and her body was also trembling due to fear… it was basically impossible for ordinary people to notice that she was sending Morse code.

In fact, the staff in the monitoring room couldn't detect the doctor's actions either; however, the "graphic analysis program" that came with the monitoring equipment wouldn't miss this detail—as long as something appeared in Feng Bujue's field of vision, even some details that he himself hadn't noticed, things that only existed in his peripheral vision… when transmitted to the screen in the monitoring room, they would be scanned and analyzed in detail by the computer.

Dr. Cox was trying to use this to send information to her colleagues… telling them to kill Jue-ge without mercy and stop trying to capture him alive.

But she never expected that her "trick," which was basically impossible to be discovered, was actually discovered by Feng Bujue.

"I'm telling you…" Two seconds later, Feng Bujue continued, "I was already in a bad mood today, and two minutes ago… it became especially bad, and at this moment…" Saying this, he suddenly stopped and sighed, "Phew… forget it, I'll give you one more chance."

When he said this, Dr. Cox breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay… I promise I won't play any more tricks. I'll take you to the third floor right now…"

Chi——

Before she could finish her sentence, a hole had already appeared in her cervical vertebrae, and her life… had come to an end.

"Pushing your luck…" Feng Bujue looked at the doctor's fallen corpse and muttered softly.

Then, he asked in his heart, "Okay… you go on."

Immediately afterward, the system voice responded: [Cut off one of her hands, then take the elevator to the fourth floor. The ambush force on the third floor of this sector has already moved; you must enter and activate the elevator within forty-seven seconds.]