"Good day, President."
Passing staff members greeted Haruto.
Haruto nodded in response.
Meanwhile, Haibara Ai, who followed beside him, was already numb from shock.
As she walked through this metallic honeycomb structure for just a short while, she had already seen several familiar faces. As a scientist of the "Distillery," she had fairly high clearance in the organization's database before defecting.
That was how she had been able to access information regarding the SCP Foundation.
She had also read through personnel files.
And now, many of the people she had only seen in those documents were right in front of her.
For instance, over there, a man in a white lab coat was sipping tea—that was a titan in the field of modern biological sciences. That was someone whose name had been printed in the textbooks during her studies abroad!
And that fully armed young man passing by? He was the "Northern Kingdom's War King" recorded in the Distillery's files. A former member of the Northern Kingdom's Navy SEALs, he had achieved battlefield feats beyond common imagination.
(T/N: Northern Kingdom = Israel I think.)
These individuals were considered top-tier talents in the Distillery's records. People whom the Distillery was willing to go to any lengths to recruit. Yet, in the SCP Foundation, they seemed completely ordinary, just like regular employees going about their work.
Haibara Ai had even seen that biological science titan consulting a young girl about research data.
Her entire worldview was being shattered.
"The SCP Foundation… just what—"
Suppressing her shock, Haibara Ai was about to ask Haruto about the organization. Just then, the girl the scientist had been consulting came running over.
"President Haruto!"
Haruto smiled slightly in response.
"Mihari, long time no see. How's your work at the Foundation?"
Mihari grinned and nodded.
"The pay is great, the work hours are flexible, and my research projects can actually help people—I love it!"
Mihari was a kind-hearted girl with extraordinary talent in bioengineering.
At the Foundation, not only could she put her abilities to full use, but she was also genuinely working to save lives.
To her, this job was ideal.
"That's good. If you need anything, let Nao know. The Foundation will accommodate you within reason."
Haruto said.
Nao, as the logistics director, oversaw the entire containment facility and was on good terms with Minori.
"I'll ask if I need anything. More importantly, President, the new bio-armor is complete!"
Mihari announced as she took out a pitch-black wristwatch. Beside them, Haibara Ai, whose mind had already gone numb, once again felt ripples of shock.
Bio-armor?
She might not have majored in bioengineering, but she understood the concept of bio-armor.
Wasn't that something purely theoretical, something that only existed in science fiction!?
"So soon?" Haruto took the wristwatch and, after a quick observation, understood. "The research on the Ark Reactor has progressed, huh?"
Mihari nodded.
"I'm not in charge of the energy sector, but apparently, we can now create limited reproductions of cold nuclear reactors. Though this energy source has radiation hazards for biological organisms, I used 'New Cells' to absorb it."
"The so-called 'New Cells' are a modified version of RC cells for research purposes. The original RC cells are being phased out."
"The new bio-armor is temporarily named the Black-1 Armor. Its strengths are portability, concealment, and powerful energy reserves."
As she spoke, Mihari pressed a button on the wristwatch.
The black substance on its surface quickly spread over Haruto's entire body.
The process took about 1.3 seconds.
Once it fully enveloped him, the black material rapidly solidified into a semi-rigid fiber-like structure.
(A/N: A bit like Venom?)
The spot where the wristwatch had been began to glow with a cold, blue light. That was the sign of the cold nuclear reactor activating.
Even while covered in the Black-1 armor, Haruto could still see everything clearly. Moreover, with just a thought, his vision could lock onto and zoom in on a target.
Clearly, the Black-1 Armor followed the same design philosophy as the Crimson Series Armor—
Integrating with the user's body and being controlled via neural response.
A failsafe was in place to prevent it from being consumed by the Blacklight Virus.
Haruto quickly reviewed the armor's strength, speed, and other fundamental data. In terms of enhancement, Black-1 seemed to be about two-thirds as effective as the Crimson-1.
While its raw stats weren't as high as the Crimson Series, the Black Series excelled in stealth.
Deploying a second Mobile Task Force equipped with Black-Series armor would allow them to blend seamlessly into city environments. Additionally, the Black-Series was powered by an Ark Reactor, making its energy efficiency and endurance terrifyingly high.
Just as Haruto was analyzing the data—
"Miss Mihari! The Black-1 is still in its experimental phase! Even if it's not harmful to biological organisms, you can't just use it recklessly!"
A Foundation researcher called out with a wry smile.
This genius was great at everything, except following protocol when testing new prototypes.
As Haruto willed it, the Black-1 Armor quickly retracted and returned to the form of a wristwatch.
"It's fine. If the subject is me, nothing can go wrong."
Seeing that the experimenter was the President himself, and given Haruto's assurance, the researcher decided not to press further.
"Mihari, thank you for your contributions to humanity. Want a raise?"
Haruto asked with a smile.
Mihari scratched her head.
"Hehe, no need for a raise. I already have more money than I can spend. Having President Haruto's praise is more than enough for me."
Hearing this, Haruto reached out and ruffled Mihari's hair—a classic head-pat technique combined with praise.
Haibara Ai, on the other hand, was utterly dumbfounded.
What kind of sci-fi organization was this Foundation!?
Ultra-miniature cold nuclear reactors, adaptive bio-armor, and, from the looks of it, perfectly safe neural integration technology…
Even without knowing the specific test data, this technology was already at least a century ahead of the rest of the world.
The research progress of the SCP Foundation compared to other organizations was like the Industrial Revolution versus cavemen.
It was like bringing guns to a rock-throwing fight.
At that moment, Haibara Ai had just one thought:
If she were the leader of the Distillery,
The first thing she would do—
Would be to burn every single file they had on the SCP Foundation.
Then, she would light three incense sticks and pray to the gods, hoping they would never cross paths with this sci-fi nightmare in the future.
At this moment, the big eyes of the two Eyebeans turned into swirling, rotating images.
Just like in anime when a character gets knocked out and sees spinning visuals.
The two Eyebeans were normally quite fast, capable of moving at high speeds and even climbing vertically without regard to terrain.
Being suddenly grabbed, the inertia sent them into dizziness.
"What… are these things?"
Haibara Ai poked her head out, staring at the two Eyebeans with shock in her eyes.
"Eyebeans, a harmless anomaly."
Haruto briefly introduced the two small creatures and then placed them back on the ground, letting them continue running around.
…
"An anomaly?"
Haibara Ai caught onto the key term.
"Yes, anomalies; supernatural existences, just like those two Eyebeans. But the proportion of harmless anomalies is pitifully small."
Haibara Ai was highly intelligent, and upon hearing this information, she quickly understood the implications.
"So, the SCP Foundation is an organization that fights against anomalies?"
Since harmless anomalies were the minority, it meant there were still a large number of anomalies with dangerous potential.
Yet the world remained peaceful.
With that in mind, it was easy to deduce that this futuristic organization was responsible for maintaining that peace.
Haruto gave Haibara Ai an intrigued look.
Understanding so quickly saved him a lot of explanations.
"The SCP Foundation's mission is to Secure, Contain, and Protect."
As they arrived at a containment chamber, Haruto took out his identification card.
Meanwhile, Haibara Ai lowered her head in thought. Just as the containment chamber door opened, she lifted her head and asked,
"President Haruto, do you want me to join the Foundation?"
Right now, the most valuable thing about Haibara Ai was her intellect and credentials as a scientist from the Black Organization.
She had defected from the Black Organization because it was a terrorist group, and every piece of research she conducted there was meant to harm others.
But the Foundation was different. It was an organization dedicated to protecting humanity.
Haruto glanced at her and said,
"If you want to join, the Foundation would certainly welcome you. But the purpose of this trip is to restore your current condition. An adult turning into a child, this qualifies as an anomaly, so it should be dealt with.
This containment chamber holds a project known as the Panacea (SCP-500), capable of curing all diseases. The APTX-4869 you developed should still be within the Panacea's healing range."
Haibara Ai: !
The girl's cheeks turned slightly red.
So she had misunderstood!
It made sense. How could such a high-tech, sci-fi-like organization be interested in her?
However, Haruto was lying.
He was indeed interested in Haibara Ai and wanted to recruit her into the Foundation. Talents like hers were always valuable to the Foundation.
As for the Panacea, he already had two spare pills in his Divine Might Space, there was no need to make a trip to a site.