SCP-CN-610

SCP-CN-610-1 is an organism with a human head and bovine body, measuring 0.5 m in height and 1.5 m in length, excluding a 0.3 m tail, for a total weight of 86 kg. The body of the object resembles a young ox, while its head appears to be that of a human male 3 to 4 years of age. Its behavior resembles that of a typical ox, requiring fresh grass for sustenance despite not chewing the cud. SCP-CN-610-1 typically appears close to death due to some sort of illness. The object is capable of conversation in Standard Mandarin Chinese; however, due to the subject’s anomalous properties, personnel are only to converse with SCP-CN-610-1 as part of experimentation.

Experiment are only permitted with the approval of the Containment Lead. The selected test subject1 will enter SCP-CN-610-1’s containment chamber accompanied by two security guards and attempt to interact with SCP-CN-610-1. The veterinarian is to be on standby throughout the interaction process. When SCP-CN-610-1 expresses any intent to interact with the test subject, the subject is to be designated an instance of SCP-CN-610-1-A and the veterinarian is to enter the containment chamber with emergency medical equipment. SCP-CN-610-1 will then predict the future of the SCP-CN-610-1-A instance, after which its illness will worsen rapidly. At this point, the veterinarian is to perform the standard emergency medical procedures until its symptoms have subsided, and the SCP-CN-610-1-A is to be removed from the containment chamber and placed under strict surveillance until the predicted event occurs.

Of note is that most of SCP-CN-610-1’s predictions concern some sort of misfortune that will befall the SCP-CN-610-1-A instance, and that all of its predictions have been accurate to date

SCP-CN-610-2 is an organism with a bovine head and human body. Its body resembles that of an adult male, while its head is that of an adult bull; it measures 1.85 m tall and weighs 78 kg. SCP-CN-610-2’s behavior resembles that of an ordinary human; it does not chew the cud. The object very rarely expresses the desire to interact with personnel (either spontaneously or in response to another’s attempt at interaction). When the object does express such a desire, the Containment Lead is to be notified immediately and will then designate one person to interact with the object2. The designated subject must be accompanied by at least two security guards when entering SCP-CN-610-2’s containment chamber. All interactions with SCP-CN-610-2 are to be recorded, and may be made public with the approval of the Containment Lead.

All interactions with SCP-CN-610-2 have taken place in two stages. During the first stage, SCP-CN-610-2 will make small talk with the subject until it is satisfied, at which point the second stage will begin. In this stage, SCP-CN-610-2 will discuss SCP-CN-610-1, referring to it as a jiàn (件); however, its descriptions differ significantly from the traditional legend regarding this mythical creature.

SCP-CN-610-1 and SCP-CN-610-2 were discovered by Agent Huang on 1█/6/2█ near the border of ███████ Province. Local folklore mentioned the jiàn3,4. Following directions given by the local villagers, Agent Huang discovered SCP-CN-610-1 and SCP-CN-610-2 in an agricultural residence and brought them into containment.

SCP-CN-610-1 Testing Log

Date: 1█/6/██
Subject: D-CN-1298
Object Response: “Your head looks so pitiful.”
Result: D-CN-1298 attempted to escape while being brought out of the containment chamber and was shot in the head by security personnel, dying with a fractured skull.

Date: 1█/8/██
Subject: D-CN-1334
Object Response: “Not even a person.”
Result: While D-CN-1334 was being brought out of the chamber, Site-CN-21 experienced a minor containment breach. SCP-CN-███ reduced D-CN-1334 to powder before being recontained.

Date: 1█/12/██
Subject: D-CN-1492
Object Response: “What short legs you have.”
Result: D-CN-1492’s legs were torn off at the knee in a subsequent experiment.

Date: 1█/1/██
Subject: D-CN-1687
Object Response: I've seen hungry ghosts, but never anything like you.
Result: D-CN-1687 suffered cardiac arrest while eating and died.

SCP-CN-610-2 Interaction Log

Date: 1█/7/██
Record:

SCP-CN-610-2: [hitting the door of the containment chamber] Nice weather today.
Security Guard ██████: ……?
SCP-CN-610-2: I said, nice weather today.
Security Guard ██████: Wait, you can speak?
SCP-CN-610-2: [silence]
Security Guard ██████: [retrieving radio transceiver] Dr. Yin, you have to see this!
Dr. Yin: What happened?
Security Guard ██████: The anomaly just spoke! In perfect Chinese!
Dr. Yin: You're not allowed to drink on the job, you know.
Security Guard ██████: No… how do I… ugh, fuck.
Dr. Yin: Alright, alright, I'll go check the security logs.

Date: 1█/8/██
Record:

SCP-CN-610-2: [hitting the door of the containment chamber] Have you found someone who can talk normally?
Security Guard ██████: [retrieving radio transceiver] Dr. Yin, the object wants to talk.
SCP-CN-610-2: So you have.
(1 minute 13 seconds later)
Dr. Yin: [opening the door] Hello, I’m here to talk.
SCP-CN-610-2: You could be a little more polite, couldn't you?
Dr. Yin: My apologies — what do you want to talk about?
SCP-CN-610-2: Oh, I didn’t want to talk to you specifically. I just wanted someone to talk to.
(16 minutes 29 seconds of irrelevant discussion later)
SCP-CN-610-2: So, that's why you ought to eat more if you want to stay healthy.
Dr. Yin: Agreed. [nods]
SCP-CN-610-2: Mm, I feel so much better talking to you… It's much more pleasant than talking to that guy outside who keeps shouting, and definitely better than talking to that jiàn who can't respond at all.
Dr. Yin: Jiàn?
SCP-CN-610-2: I wasn't the only one you captured, right? There was that one I always talked to.
Dr.Yin: But can't it only predict disasters?
SCP-CN-610-2: That's what they said in the legends, and it turned out to be true. But I couldn't find anyone to talk to, so it had to do.
Dr.Yin: Do you not have any other family members?
SCP-CN-610-2: [pauses] I had my parents, and my little brother. We were just farmers who raised cattle. In the end, one of our cows gave birth to something very strange, with the head of a human and the body of an ox. Hence, "human"亻 and "ox"牛 together, jiàn件.
Dr. Yin: … So that's why it's called that?
SCP-CN-610-2: No, the people in the village told me that. Based on the legends, it was a sort of divine beast, recorded in some scripture or another.
(Silence, SCP-CN-610-2 pauses to drink water.)
SCP-CN-610-2: If only it were just a divine beast… When all of us came to look at it, it started to angrily ramble at us, saying that the world is in chaos, and that Zhu Yuan-something-or-other would become emperor. Then it suddenly looked like it was about to die — we were so surprised we almost just killed it, but someone stopped us and fed it a bit of grass. From then on it lived with our cattle in the enclosure. But a few years later, its prediction actually came true!
Dr. Yin: … You mean Zhu Yuanzhang5?
SCP-CN-610-2: [claps] That's it! That was the name. When we heard about it, everyone in the house went to see the jiàn, but all it said was “how pitiful, it's all burnt to ashes now”. I was in the house getting ready to leave, but then they told me about it. I told them to be careful around the candles, but when I got back everyone in the village told me our house had burned down and my whole family was dead.
Dr. Yin: My sympathies…
SCP-CN-610-2: Then after I went home and buried my family, I went to find the jiàn again. It was once again close to death, and even though they said it was a prediction, however you look at it, this thing cursed my family to die. I was able to kill the damn thing, but someone in the village said that it is a divine beast — only one can exist in the world at the time, and if it dies, another jiàn will appear somewhere else and keep on predicting others’ misfortune. So I went to see the great master. He gave me this bull’s head and said that as long as I have it, the jiàn wouldn't curse me to die, and as long as I'm there, it won't curse anyone to die. [silence] Speaking of that, while it's been out of my sight, it hasn't gone and done anything bad, right?
Dr. Yin: … We haven't let it go near anyone.
SCP-CN-610-2: That's good… very good… Remember, it doesn't have a brain, so it can't understand what we say. It's definitely not a divine beast. Over the years I've learned a bit about it. It has no thoughts or intelligence — it can only make one prediction, and then it will only curse everyone to die.
Dr. Yin: One last question for you. How old are you this year?
SCP-CN-610-2: [silence]
Dr. Yin: … Sir?
SCP-CN-610-2: [silence]