Chapter 78 Unraveling Group 935—A World Destroyed by SCP-008!

Three vanguard elements spearheaded the formation: 2B on her own, Elivise paired with Gwen, and Natasha partnered with Skye.

Like three razor-sharp blades, they pierced straight through the seemingly endless zombie horde.

With these three superhuman teams clearing the way, the MTF operators and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents following behind could fully exploit their overwhelming firepower, methodically eliminating anything that survived the initial assault.

The horde was enormous, but under such a powerful offensive, the entire force continued advancing at a steady, unhurried pace.

They were like a road roller, inexorably crushing everything in their path.

As the commander, Ethan rarely attacked personally.

Instead, he cast Psionic Inspiration and Psionic Shields on the five women at the forefront. At the same time, he used his mental perception to guide them through the correct passages.

As they advanced, Ethan carefully examined the zombies they killed.

The more he studied them, the more he sensed that something was wrong.

This lunar base was deeply abnormal.

A base on the Moon should never have contained so many zombies.

Judging by the underground excavation site, the scattered documents they had recovered, and the surviving logs, this lunar base could accommodate no more than a thousand people.

Yet the team had already eliminated several thousand zombies, and more continued to appear without end.

The zombies themselves were equally strange.

Some wore Blackwatch uniforms, while others were dressed like Wehrmacht soldiers from World War II.

There were even zombies wearing American and Soviet military uniforms from the 1960s.

Most disturbing of all, however, was the massive number of civilian zombies dressed in styles from the 1950s and 1960s.

The clothing worn by these zombies spanned several decades.

Everything pointed to this lunar laboratory being far from ordinary.

Sure enough, as Ethan recognized these abnormalities, the system issued a notification.

[New Mission: Investigate the Abnormal Lunar Base.]

[An abnormal number of zombies from unidentified sources have appeared inside this facility. Investigate what happened to Group 935’s lunar base.]

Even the system had determined that something was wrong here and issued a new side mission.

“Maintain formation and continue suppressing them!”

Ethan calmly directed the battle.

“Do not use heavy weapons. Avoid damaging the base. Remember—we’re on the Moon.”

As the team approached the surface facilities, Ethan strictly prohibited the use of heavy firepower.

If they damaged the base’s aging infrastructure and exposed themselves to the vacuum and intense radiation outside, the consequences would be fatal.

A breach in an airtight compartment or a major oxygen leak could kill everyone here.

Without heavy weapons, the team’s clearing speed slowed somewhat.

Nevertheless, under Ethan’s command, the formation continued its steady, orderly advance.

Assault rifles, submachine guns, and light machine guns unleashed continuous streams of fire, mowing down the zombies charging toward them.

The MTF operators functioned like a perfectly calibrated killing machine.

Their cooperation was flawless, their training superb, and their marksmanship deadly accurate. Step by step, they steadily forced back the horde.

The only problem was their tremendous ammunition consumption.

Fortunately, Ethan’s Foundation service pistol contained a five-cubic-meter storage space packed with ammunition, allowing the team to sustain its current rate of fire.

However, if the horde continued appearing endlessly, even that enormous stockpile would eventually run dry.

Fortunately, the team discovered numerous supplies abandoned by Blackwatch as they advanced, along with the bodies of Blackwatch soldiers who had committed suicide.

By scavenging the corpses and using Blackwatch’s weapons and ammunition, they temporarily alleviated their supply problem.

Eventually, the team reached a vast intersection where tunnels branched out in every direction.

The number of zombies abruptly increased.

Ethan quickly identified the correct passage and ordered the formation to move through it.

“2B, Elivise, Gwen, Agent Natasha, Agent Skye—I need you to hold the rear and defend this position while we open the route ahead!”

“No problem. Leave it to me, Commander,” 2B replied.

“You open the passage,” Natasha said. “We’ll make sure these zombies don’t break through.”

After receiving their confirmation, Ethan turned toward the sergeant major beside him.

“Sergeant Major, assemble an assault team and follow me.”

“Yes, sir!”

Ethan led the MTF operators through the metal passage.

Before long, an old-fashioned isolation door weighing dozens of tons appeared before them.

The combat sergeant major waved his hand, and the assault team’s electronic-warfare specialist immediately stepped forward.

It did not take him long to breach the door’s control system.

With its security protocols overridden, the enormous dust-covered metal door slowly opened.

The view beyond suddenly widened.

A vast hall constructed entirely of metal appeared before them, its design unmistakably dating back to the 1950s or 1960s.

A handful of zombies in white laboratory coats stood scattered throughout the hall.

The researcher zombies slowly turned toward the intruders and released a chorus of guttural snarls.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots shattered the silence.

A storm of gunfire followed.

Ethan activated his radio.

“2B, Agent Natasha, you can follow us now. We’ve reached the lunar base’s surface complex.”

He turned toward his operators.

“Assault team, clear the buildings and establish a secure zone!”

“Yes, Commander!”

“Check your ammunition. Form six assault teams and sweep the facility with me.”

Six CQB teams were swiftly assembled, each consisting of twelve operators armed with assault rifles and submachine guns.

They began systematically clearing the lunar base’s surface facilities.

Before long, Ethan saw 2B, Natasha, Skye, Gwen, and Elivise emerge from the passage alongside a mixed rear-guard unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and MTF operators.

The rear guard hurried through the massive door.

An indicator light flashed, followed by several gunshots as the control panel was destroyed. The isolation door slowly closed, completely cutting off the sounds of the horde outside.

Once they entered the surface complex, the number of zombies decreased dramatically.

The remaining infected consisted almost entirely of researchers wearing 1960s-era laboratory coats and zombie soldiers dressed in antiquated military uniforms.

Approximately an hour later, every zombie inside the lunar base’s surface facilities had been eliminated.

“Commander, I’ve finished organizing all the available data.”

Inside the base’s archives, 2B had rapidly hacked into the old mainframes, decrypted their security systems, and compiled every surviving document.

Ethan nodded.

He pulled out a chair, sat behind an old-fashioned desk, and opened the military laptop placed on its surface.

He began carefully reviewing the files.

Unsurprisingly, this base was the work of Group 935.

Their emblem could be seen throughout the facility—a hand clutching an atomic nucleus, with the number “935” inscribed at its center.

Thanks to the files compiled by 2B, Ethan finally gained a general understanding of Group 935’s history.

Group 935 had been founded before the outbreak of World War II. It was originally an international organization composed of scientists from numerous countries, but after the war began, it entered the service of the Prussian Third Reich.

When the Third Reich was defeated, Group 935 fractured.

Its surviving members defected to either the Soviet Union or the United States.

Group 935’s primary research subject was a unique substance discovered within the Third Reich’s territory.

It was named Element 115.

According to Group 935’s leader, Dr. Ludvig Maxis, Element 115 possessed extraordinary properties. It could reanimate dead cells, alter space-time, and serve as the power source for devastating wonder weapons.

Its research value was incalculable.

Element 115 had never naturally existed on Earth. It had arrived aboard meteorites from outer space.

Even Group 935 had managed to extract only a hundred grams of it.

Using Element 115, Group 935 created space-time teleportation technology and constructed this lunar base to conduct further research.

During the final years of World War II, Group 935 entered the Third Reich’s service and began cooperating with HYDRA’s leader, the Red Skull.

Together, they attempted to develop lethal weapons capable of reversing Germany’s defeats on the battlefield.

Then, during one of Group 935’s teleportation experiments, they discovered another world.

While exploring it, Group 935 found a parallel Earth that had already been completely destroyed by an infectious agent.

Every human being in that world had become a mindless zombie.

During the expedition, Group 935’s advance team encountered a group of armed personnel who identified themselves as members of a Foundation Mobile Task Force.

Those operatives had clearly come from another world. Their technological capabilities were far beyond anything Group 935 possessed, but for unknown reasons, they had become trapped in that ruined dimension.

Group 935 offered to help the Foundation team escape.

After the two sides formed a temporary alliance, Group 935 learned the truth behind that world’s destruction.

An entity known as SCP-008 had completely eradicated its civilization.

Element 115’s teleportation phenomenon had brought SCP-008 into that world, ultimately causing its annihilation.

After witnessing the terrifying power of an anomaly, Group 935, several HYDRA members, and a number of renegade MTF Alpha-1 “Red Right Hand” operators came together to establish the Chaos Insurgency.

They intended to continue researching the powers and secrets they had encountered.

Due to differences in research priorities, however, the Chaos Insurgency eventually divided into separate factions.

One branch specialized in studying Element 115, while another focused on mutated strains of SCP-008.

This lunar base had naturally been constructed by the former faction.

Its purpose was to research Element 115 and study the possibility of creating an army of the living dead from that ruined biochemical world.

After examining the facility’s structure, Ethan finally understood why its underground sections contained so many zombies.

A massive experimental teleporter had been constructed beneath the base.

That machine had gone out of control.

It remained connected to the ruined world, continuously dragging its living dead through the portal and transporting them here.

Outside the archives, Natasha and Skye had also finished reading the files.

The two women exchanged stunned looks.

This lunar base had actually been built to study Element 115 and anomalous entities.

Even more astonishingly, the so-called army of the living dead was created by using Element 115 to establish a connection with an apocalyptic world.

That entire world had been destroyed by a containment breach involving SCP-008.

The realization filled both agents with newfound dread and reverence toward anomalies.

A single anomaly had destroyed an entire world.

If the living-dead army were brought to their Earth…

Both women’s expressions abruptly changed.

They immediately understood how terrifying this weapon was.

Teleportation using Element 115 followed no predictable pattern. It operated by connecting spatial anchors across different worlds.

If a malicious individual or organization gained control of this device and activated it, entire cities on Earth could suddenly be overwhelmed by countless zombies.

Without any warning, hordes of zombies and infected creatures could materialize in the heart of a city.

No city could possibly withstand such a catastrophic surprise attack.

A weapon like this could annihilate an entire nation in an instant.

They had to prevent that from happening.