The final bullet that ended a life extinguished the Mothman's crimson eyes, and this steel warehouse, already pushed to its limits, finally let out its last mournful cry.
The last supporting steel beam snapped.
The entire do, bearing the weight of thousands of tons, collapsed inward toward the warehouse interior!
"Damn it! Move!"
Hawk, this battle-hardened North Arican ace, was long accustod to this "ho-demolishing" style of combat.
He didn't spare another glance at the priceless UMA corpse, simply grabbing the nearest, still-stunned Upton as easily as one would pick up a chick.
Then, he was the first to sprint madly toward the hole in the iron door he himself had kicked open.
Lin Jie and Ethan reacted as well, following close behind in a final, desperate race for survival.
Less than ten seconds after the three of them tumbled out of that hole in a disheveled heap, an ear-splitting roar erupted from behind them.
The entire steel warehouse, covering thousands of square ters, transford into a massive ruin of twisted steel and shattered masonry.
A sky full of dust rose like a thick leaden cloud, blotting out the crescent moon in the night sky.
The powerful shockwave even shattered the glass of several nearby abandoned factory buildings.
Lin Jie knelt on one knee, coughing violently. He looked at the terrifying ruin before him, which looked as if it had been struck head-on by a teor, and a wry, helpless expression crossed his face.
He had to admit, this old-tir's fighting style truly embodied a certain aesthetic of power and destruction.
But it was also far too costly on the battlefield.
"...Huff... huff..."
Hawk casually tossed the completely terrified and unconscious Upton onto the ground.
His rugged face, bearing distinct Native Arican features, flushed with the redness of intense exertion.
Hawk turned, his gaze curious as he looked toward the Eastern youth who had just provided god-tier support in the battle.
"Interesting."
He let out a hearty laugh. "Very interesting."
"It's my first ti seeing soone who can keep up with my speed."
He extended his broad right hand toward Lin Jie.
"Hawk Hawkeye."
He introduced himself in a straightforward, direct manner. "I.A.R.C. North Arican branch, Captain of the 'Battle Axe' squad. Pleased to et you, 'Wizard' from the Old World."
"Wizard?"
Lin Jie, sowhat amused and exasperated, shook the other man's powerful hand.
"That's right."
Hawk grinned, revealing a set of stark white teeth. "Over here, we call all you folks who don't like using muscle and prefer fighting with all sorts of strange abilities 'Wizards'."
This statent glorifying muscle and power made Ethan, who had just assisted in resolving the battle using attraction and repulsion, visibly uncomfortable.
Hawk finally noticed this British noble he had been ignoring.
His gaze lingered for a mont on Ethan's expensive suit, which, though dust-stained, remained impeccably neat.
"Oh, right, and you lot who like wearing tight formalwear, spraying on perfu, and fighting with flashy but impractical little pistols."
This sweeping, pinpoint strike caused a prominent vein to throb on Ethan's temple.
But he ultimately forced down the aristocratic fury threatening to erupt.
Because this rude Native Arican man before them had indeed just helped them eliminate a major threat.
"I was sent by the North Arican branch to protect this key individual."
Hawk seed to realize his earlier words were sowhat impolite and awkwardly changed the subject, pointing at the limp Upton on the ground.
"Or rather, to monitor him."
He stated frankly, without any concealnt.
"Mr. Morgan started feeling sothing was off about this guy about a month ago. But we could never catch the tail of the big fish behind him."
"So he had follow him in the shadows."
"My original mission was just to ensure he wouldn't be cleaned up by the Brotherhood of Light."
"Never expected..."
His gaze fell on Lin Jie, his eyes showing the appreciation of eting a worthy opponent.
"You guys would flush out that big fish hiding underwater even faster than we did."
"So,"
He shrugged, speaking in an unofficial tone, "Welco to New York, colleague."
While these three n from different backgrounds and factions, yet sharing the sa hunter identity, were conducting their first probing "friendly exchange" amidst the ruins.
A stifled, pained groan rose from the "limp ss" at their feet.
Francis Upton, this genius engineer who had just survived the dual fright of a "plane crash" and a "live burial," finally stirred and regained consciousness.
He opened his eyes.
When he saw that the terrifying Mothman which had haunted him like a nightmare was now a mangled, cold corpse buried beneath the rubble.
He let out a huge sigh of relief.
Then, when his gaze fell upon the Native Arican man holding the massive thunderous battle axe, Upton shuddered in fright again.
But finally, when his eyes t Lin Jie's calm black ones, the last thread of sanity in this ntally shattered genius, stretched to its absolute limit, snapped completely.
"...Dead... it's... finally dead..."
He muttered to himself, laughing and crying as if mad.
Then he suddenly scrambled up from the ground, grabbing Lin Jie's collar, and hissed in a frenzied, hysterical tone:
"Do you know? What... what have you all done?"
"What you killed wasn't... a monster! It was a key! A key that could open the gates of hell!"
Lin Jie was slightly taken aback by this inexplicably crazy action.
But Lin Jie didn't push him away.
Looking at this engineer in a state of frenzy, he said slowly, "Mr. Upton, I think we need to talk."
After confirming there were no more eyes of the Brotherhood of Light in the vicinity.
Lin Jie, Ethan, and Hawk took this key witness, whose ntal state was extrely unstable, back to the second safe house located under the Brooklyn Bridge.
They changed him into clean clothes and brought him a cup of hot milk laced with a heavy dose of sedative.
Under the "gentle gaze" of Hawk's imposing [Thunderbird's Wrath].
Upton, this forr genius, slowly cald down.
After a while, he spilled everything, pouring out the great secret hidden in his heart for over a year in a tone of despair and bitter resentnt.
"...The Mothman... the reason the Mothman targeted ..."
His voice trembled.
"It wasn't because of that car accident."
"It's because I've always been carrying sothing it couldn't resist... bait!"
As he spoke, he laboriously pulled out a small, tightly oilcloth-wrapped tal box from the inner pocket of his grimy shirt.
He opened the box with trembling hands.
Inside lay a peculiar device of groundbreaking aesthetic.
The device was roughly the size of an adult's fist, its main body constructed of brass and semi-transparent crystal.
Inside, countless copper wires finer than hairs were wound around a miniature rotor spinning at high speed.
And as the rotor spun, a very faint yet vibrant blue electric arc continuously jumped between the copper wires, emitting a very soft "buzzing" sound.
"An alternating current micro-generator..."
The mont he saw this device, Lin Jie imdiately recognized it!
This thing was essentially identical in principle to the energy core of the [ntal Staircase] Arthur had built based on Tesla's theory!
Only, the one before him was more primitive and crude.
"This was the final gift Mr. Tesla personally gave before he left Edison's laboratory."
Upton recalled that painful yet nostalgic mory.
"...He said, this is the key to the future."
"And it was precisely this key that ultimately attracted the devil to ."
"...When this prototype operates, it generates a very unique high-frequency electromagnetic signal. And this signal seems to be remarkably similar to the detection frequency of the Mothman's red eyes!"
"So, it... mistook for one of its own."
"It wasn't hunting , it was following ! Like a ghost I could never shake off!"
These words confird Lin Jie's earlier speculation.
And they revealed the true reason why this genius engineer had fallen into "persecution delusion"!
"As for Edison..."
When ntioning this na he once idolized, a deep-seated hatred ignited in Upton's eyes!
"That thief! That tyrant! That devil who treats science as a tool to enslave the world!"
He recounted with bitter fury.
"...He stole Mr. Tesla's grand vision of 'global wireless power transmission'! But he completely distorted and perverted it!"
"Mr. Tesla's dream was to use the 'Aether' to bring free, inexhaustible light to everyone in this world!"
"But him, Edison, the ultimate purpose of building that Aether Tower is not to give!"
"It's to monopolize!"
Upton's voice grew shrill.
"What he wants to create is an absolute monopoly over 'spiritual frequency'!"
"Once that tower is completed and activated, the domineering frequency it releases will envelop the entire world like an invisible net!"
"At that ti, he and the Brotherhood of Light behind him will have the power, like gods, to arbitrarily block all spiritual fluctuations that don't et their standards!"
"He wants to beco the one and only true god of this new electrical age!"
"And I,"
Upton gave a bitter smile, "was ostracized, frad, and even hunted precisely because I opposed this insane plan that could drag the entire world into darkness!"
"What he wants isn't light."
"What he wants is a Dark Age, personally forged by him, one that absolutely obeys him!"
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