SCP Corporation: Contain Bonfire

The walls around the outskirts of the town had long since collapsed, and beyond the collapsed walls was a group of pitch-black, lifeless buildings...

Colin stood about two to three hundred meters away from the town...

He was sure of one thing, that the creatures inside the town were just as extinct as those outside.

The intangible sense of terror emanating from within was far stronger than outside.

If he had a choice, Colin would definitely opt to avoid entering a place that clearly spelled trouble at first glance.

But...

The location of his former colleague's signal was confirmed to be within this town.

"Sigh, I've already come this far..."

Colin shook his shaggy fur, having traveled for eight or nine hours to get here, and it was already too late to turn back now.

He could clearly feel his head a bit groggy...

Not as clear-headed as he was last night.

Time was running out.

If he continued to hesitate, what awaited him would indeed be a future foreshadowed by "red fur all over, ominous in later years."

Colin blinked his bloodshot eyes, grabbed the torch made from a stone pillar and stepped forward.

Climbing over the ruins of the wall with difficulty, he entered the town.

As he cautiously advanced, he surveyed his surroundings—the houses in the town were mostly constructed from an assortment of stones mixed with gray clay, with similar architectural styles, and he could see some faded signs.

However, to Colin's surprise, he had expected to find a large number of corpses inside the town, but once he entered, he didn't see a single one.

All the houses were left ajar, empty inside.

"It seems like everyone had already fled before the disaster struck?"

Colin's gaze swept thoughtfully across those houses.

Unfortunately, he didn't know what had specifically happened to cause this area to become so desolately strange and eerie.

Before long, after passing through several silent and deserted alleys, Colin stopped again, and not far from his line of sight, there stood a building that exuded the essence of a church.

This church building was also quite noticeable in the town; it was completely white and styled in an ancient way, with a solid circle engraved on the main door, surrounded by lines of varying lengths—a sun.

At the same time, Colin was certain that the signal was coming from inside the church.

After a brief hesitation, Colin approached the three-meter-tall main door of the church and stretched out his large hand, capable of crushing a person, to knock on the door...

"Colleague, are you in there?"

Colin leaned close to the door and called out in a hushed voice, "I'm from Bonfire Company, sent to back you up...

"I've just arrived, the outside is safe, you can come out now..."

Having said that, Colin waited for a response, but after patiently waiting several minutes, there was still no reply from inside the church.

Could it be... he was afraid of him?

Colin looked down at himself, seemingly a red werewolf-like monster that spoke human language, which indeed didn't look very safe.

However, he felt that with effective communication, the matter should be resolvable.

He decided to try other languages before that...

What if his colleague was a foreigner?

"are you OK?"

"こんにちは?"

"bonjour?"

"Здравствыйте?"

He called out greeting after greeting, yet no response came...

"With the size of this building and the noise I'm making, anyone who's not deaf should be able to hear it... could it be that he's already gone?"

Colin frowned, sensing the strong possibility in such a dangerously high-risk place.

One careless move could very likely lead to a sudden, inexplicable death.

Still holding on to a last hope, Colin smacked the door forcefully twice with his hand, but to his surprise, this slap actually caused the door to crack open a slit.

Unlocked?

Colin peered carefully through the crack that had been pushed open...

The narrow slit seemed insufficient to let in the already dim light, offering a very limited view of what was inside...

After thinking it over, without hesitating too much, he pressed his hand against the door, ready to push it open with force.

Suddenly, the hairs on his back stood on end, like a fluffed-up wild wolf—

Did something just move?

Why is there no scent?

Wait a second...

Was the signal type sent by a former colleague a cry for help?

Isn't this area supposed to be very safe?

Damn it!

As thoughts flashed through his mind, Colin suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of danger, as if...

there was something behind him!

Colin had just thought about turning around when his body suddenly froze.

The next second, a crimson line of blood appeared on his neck, rapidly tearing open, followed by his head, resembling that of a wild beast, thudding onto the ground as copious amounts of blood sprayed from the severed neck like a fountain.

The head on the ground blinked, looking behind with confusion...

No one there?

Where was the enemy?

However, before he could come up with anything, a pair of vertical pupils rapidly dilated and dispersed, his vision plunging into darkness.

Before his consciousness sank into total darkness, three final thoughts flashed through Colin's brain:

"Motherfucker, no sense of honor in combat..."

"That blood sprayed really high..."

"Crap, before coming here, I didn't delete those study materials on my computer and phone..."

...

Whoosh!

Colin's consciousness rewound, and he abruptly opened his eyes, seeing himself standing in front of the church's grand entrance.

What he had just experienced seemed like an illusion...

No right!

It wasn't an illusion!

This was the ability accompanied by the progression of Beast Transformation Syndrome to a certain extent; Colin had experienced it once before in the dungeon. It only occurred right before sustaining grave injuries...

Only this time, it was much clearer!

So clear that he felt as if he actually lived through a death!

Which meant...

This time the enemy was far stronger than the Warden!

Do not even think of retaliating!

Colin's heart pounded, not taking the time to think about what was happening, and with all his might, he slammed into the crack of the door, bursting it open and squeezing into the church along with it.

Immediately after, he quickly spun around and closed the main door.

Whoosh!

A hidden, sharp sound whizzed by.

It seemed like someone had swung a long sword...

At the height and position, right where his neck had just been.

But...

Colin couldn't detect the slightest hint of the enemy's presence, not even before closing the door, as he hadn't seen any enemy outside.

"What the hell, the enemy can turn invisible? Hide their scent too?"

Colin's heart throbbed with fear, causing his body to tremble slightly.

He was certain...

There was a "person" standing outside the door.

Yet, he couldn't perceive even the faintest trace of presence.

Unable to see, smell, or hear...

What sort of monster was this?

It was just like a ghost!

For quite a while...

Colin didn't dare to move, standing anxiously in place, nervously staring at the main door.

However, nearly ten minutes passed without a further attack.

Could it not enter the church?

A thought crossed Colin's mind as he was about to turn and look at the church, but then he suddenly considered another possibility for not being attacked.

"Could it be that its attacks follow some pattern, like it won't strike if I stand still? That's not impossible. No, I can't be sure of anything right now, so I dare not move... Wait, how could I forget? I still have a 'Book of Fate' I haven't used yet."

Upon remembering this, Colin did not hesitate to use it straight away.