SCP Corporation: Contain Bonfire
Chapter 744 - 744 533

Chapter 744: 533 Chapter 744: 533 “””

As the conversation went on, time ticked away…

After two uneventful stops, the train arrived at the third station.

Through the gradually dissipating gray fog outside the window, a broken city in ruins unfolded before everyone’s eyes.

Beneath the somewhat dazzling full moon, the city lay destroyed for unknown reasons, with collapsed skyscrapers, fissured earth, and the ferocious cross-sections of exposed rebar and concrete jutting into the air, leaving an impactful shake on one’s emotions.

However, within the cracks of the crumbling walls, brambles and vines were slowly enveloping and devouring this once fierce facade of the past.

If nothing unexpected occurred, perhaps in several thousand or ten thousand years, only a primitive forest would remain here.

“Is this the place?” Colin asked the two people beside him as he looked towards the luminous body in the sky.

It felt almost like a full moon…

But whether it truly was one was hard to say.

“Yes, it is.”

Orange Cat glanced at the celestial body that resembled the moon, as if struck by a thought:

“The light source here is quite magical. After setting in the east, it would rise again from the east; it falls in the west then ascends from the same spot, hopping back and forth like…”

“Indeed, when it reaches its highest point in the center, it’s about as bright as an overcast day,” Ashen Holy Body said, nodding.

“Is that so.” Colin nodded, realizing there was a high probability this was a world under the company’s jurisdiction.

The thing in the sky must be artificial.

And this place probably wasn’t particularly far from Earth…

‘It seems that the farther places, not easily reached, would activate the “Descent Protocol,” while the closer ones could be directly accessed by train. Well, this isn’t entirely absolute…’

As thoughts flickered, Colin felt the train come to a stop, so he stood up and walked towards the door.

Just as he reached it, the door opened with a “click.”

A breath of fresh air, tinged with the faint smell of biological waste, hit him full in the face…

After making sure there were no issues, Colin stepped out, followed closely by the two people, leaving the train together.

As they departed, the train door closed with a “snap,” and the train quickly moved away to the sounds of its “clang, clang, clang” whistle.

“There doesn’t seem to be any danger nearby; it’s very quiet and clean…”

Colin conjured a fire to hover above their heads, shielding them from the direct rays of this land’s celestial body.

Sensing his surroundings through the fire’s illumination, he unexpectedly felt an indescribable tranquility.

As if not a hint of pollution existed at all.

However, considering the “nonexistent hospital” and the nature of the “Train in the Fog,” Colin questioned his own thoughts.

But their mission was not to explore this world, but to find the “nonexistent hospital.”

Colin didn’t waste too much time on this aspect. After a quick glance around and discussing with the others, they followed the mission’s guidance and flew across the sky above the ruins.

Numerous startled animals, feeling the deafening vibration in mid-air, frantically burrowed into their nests, quivering in fear…

“The animal life here looks like rabbits, roaches, and the like, nothing particularly strange,” Colin observed, without slowing his pace.

But about half an hour later, the great fireball carrying the three of them through the air came to a halt.

“Why does it feel like we’re not getting any closer to the hospital?” Colin asked, frowning as he looked around, sensing something was amiss.

The mission pointed forward, but no matter which direction they walked, the distance seemed unchanged, neither closer nor farther.

“Actually…”

Ashen Holy Body suddenly spoke behind him, drawing Colin’s glance before continuing, “I remember the hospital is right here…”

“Right here?”

Colin surveyed the surroundings, but aside from the ordinary residential ruins, there was no sign of any hospital.

However, Orange Cat, who had also entered it before, said, “I remember it’s around here too…”

With both people confirming this, Colin couldn’t help but think carefully about the reasons.

“Maybe the hospital is built underground?”

He tried to let the fire seep into the ground of the area. There were many underground structures, such as garages, sewers, and lower-level shopping malls, but still no sign of any hospital.

“Are you sure it’s really here?” Colin withdrew the fire and asked again.

The other two did not answer immediately but frowned and looked around thoughtfully. If their memory served correctly, the hospital should be nearby.

Not hard to find, just a bit peculiar…

“Does this hospital possess some kind of high-level stealth? Is its sense of presence so diminished, or is it some other situation?”

Colin leaped atop a taller concrete and rebar structure, gazing at the surroundings, pondering thoughtfully.

He immediately thought of an encounter with a rogue “Humility Knight” from earlier days, who had used lowering their sense of presence to several times behead him within the pages of the “Book of Fate: Fragment.”

With this in mind, Colin tried to let the flame spread out further.

With his current strength, if he encountered such a tactic again, he could easily break the illusion with “Bonfire.”

However, as minutes passed…

Colin reluctantly gathered the flame back, having gained nothing.

Ashen Holy Body, seeing the fire withdrawn, knew that Brother Shunzi had not been successful in finding it and couldn’t help but say, “Strange, I clearly feel it’s right here, but it’s as if some force is preventing us from discovering it…”

“To be honest, I feel it too, almost as if I can touch it…” Orange Cat even extended a hand to grope in the air.

‘I’ve checked the whole place, how could there be…’

Equally perplexed and feeling a vague chill, Colin remained unsettled.