SCP Foundation

I think I like Zhi Xin.

I don't really like this three-parter. Nothing of what happens is very interesting, except for the thing with the book, which is left completely unexplained and feels like a wasted opportunity. Also I think that answering the question of why the Insurgency rebelled with "wizard skip did it" is a cheap shot.

Some questionable internal logic here as well. Arjun says that he was ordered to create the Insurgency, which means that at the time of these tales Arjun (and presumable others) have been in the Insurgency for 24 years. My point is, how old are the characters supposed to be? I would imagine that Arjun would have to have been an established and trustworthy agent at the time he was tasked with creating the Insurgency. So, let's say, 30 years old. Which makes him 54 at the time of these tales. And he still goes on field missions for some reason. Not exactly a plot hole, but stretches my suspension of disbelief somewhat hard.

Agreeing with anqxyr. Now that we actually know what the engine does in this story, it feels like a distraction from the overall plot. The book also helped drive the second story forward in such a compelling and mysterious way, but leaving it as a loose end and having it seem like it changed nothing (when it clearly changed something) makes that element feel weak.

And though this interpretation of the Insurgency is one I can get behind, the very little time given here to explain anything about it and shipping it off to a few paragraphs of weak exposition makes this not believable, while the first two parts at least alluded to it while still being coherent with it and making it easy to swallow. The first two parts were incredibly strong and something I could get behind concerning the CI. This feels very weak in comparison. I hope you polish this up one day Chubert, as this three-parter was really strong otherwise.