"F.U."
"It's impossible... this is absolutely impossible!" Phineas cried out involuntarily. "He was clearly Edison's victim—we saw with our own eyes how he was tortured beyond recognition!"
"Conditions can be faked, Phineas," Ethan countered. "But this blueprint doesn't lie. A design of this level absolutely cannot be completed without years of dedicated effort and the most core-level access."
Lin Jie was also sowhat surprised internally, but he was the fastest among everyone to regain his composure.
He carefully examined that signature abbreviation, his mind rapidly replaying every detail since his contact with Francis Upton.
From the sobbing behind his apartnt door to the accusations in the warehouse, to the expression on his face when he handed over the prototype—everything seed flawless.
If all of this was an act, then this man's scheming and acting skills were terrifyingly profound.
"Where is he?" Lin Jie raised his head, his gaze sweeping over everyone.
"He's right here," Phineas answered reflexively. "To ensure his safety, Mr. Morgan arranged for him to be in the innermost isolation room of this safe house, guarded around the clock by two agents from the branch."
"Take us to see him," Lin Jie's voice held not a trace of emotion.
No one raised an objection.
The truth had to be uncovered.
Led by Phineas, the team passed through a narrow corridor and arrived at the door of the isolation room.
Two North Arican branch agents in black suits, their expressions alert, stood guard at the door like two Door Gods.
Seeing Hawk's murderous face and Ethan's gloomy expression, they instinctively reached for the gun handles at their waists.
"By Mr. Morgan's orders, no one is to disturb Mr. Upton's rest," one of the agents said coldly.
Hawk couldn't be bothered with nonsense. He simply took a step forward. The oppressive aura emanating from his mountain-like figure made cold sweat bead on the foreheads of the two agents.
"We have new evidence that requires Mr. Upton's identification," Ethan's voice rang out.
He planted the huge blueprint scroll on the ground like a scepter. "I guarantee all consequences in the na of the Redgrave family heir. Now, step aside."
The two agents exchanged a glance and ultimately didn't dare to obstruct.
They understood very well that neither the Native Arican god of death before them nor this noble from Europe with unfathomable background were people they could afford to offend.
The heavy soundproof door was opened.
The scene inside the room wasn't much different from the dark, damp apartnt in their mories.
The windows were covered with thick black cloth, and the air was filled with the sour, rotten sll of cheap whiskey mixed with unwashed bedsheets.
Upton was curled up on a camp bed in the corner of the room, wrapped in a blanket. He looked even more haggard and neurotic than a few days ago.
His hair was greasy and disheveled, his eye sockets sunken and bloodshot.
Hearing the door open, he jerked his head up like a frightened mouse, his eyes full of fear and wariness.
"You... what are you doing here?" His voice was hoarse and trembling. "I've already said everything I had to say! Edison is a devil! He stole Tesla's concept! He wants to destroy everything with that tower!"
His performance was still flawless.
If they hadn't seen that blueprint with their own eyes, probably no one would doubt the fear he was showing now.
Lin Jie walked to the center of the room and, with a loud rustle, fully unfurled the huge parchnt blueprint—the evidence-bearing blueprint—on the floor before Upton.
When Upton's gaze fell upon that drawing, familiar to him beyond asure, the expression on his face froze.
The feigned fear, despair, and neurosis fell away like shards of a shattered glass mask.
"Where did you get this thing?" His voice lost that deliberately crafted tremor.
"Right under the Aether Tower. Miss Evelyn found it with her own hands," Ethan replied.
He slowly stepped forward, looking down at the man from a height. "Mr. Upton, shouldn't you give us an explanation? About this... beautiful signature."
He extended his expensive leather shoe and lightly tapped the small "F.U." abbreviation in the lower right corner of the blueprint.
Upton slumped dejectedly onto the bed.
He stared at the blueprint, his gaze complex.
His disguise had beco utterly aningless in the face of this ironclad evidence.
A suffocating silence fell over the safe house.
However, this silence didn't last long.
A strange, self-mocking arc suddenly curled at the corner of Upton's mouth.
He raised his hand and reached into the dirty inner pocket of his shirt. After fumbling for a mont, he pulled out a small tin pillbox.
He opened the box, poured out a black pill the size of a grain of rice, and, without even looking, threw it into his mouth and swallowed it dry.
He perford the entire process smoothly, so skillfully it seed he had repeated it countless tis.
After doing all this, Upton sat there quietly, closing his eyes as if waiting for sothing.
About ten seconds passed.
When Upton opened his eyes again, his entire deanor had undergone a complete transformation.
If the previous him was a puddle of mud—turbid, cowardly, and exuding the sour stench of a loser.
Then the him now was a diamond of ice and steel dug out from the mud, with all filth washed away.
Upton unhurriedly raised his hand and, with an elegant gesture, combed all the greasy, disheveled strands of hair from his forehead back, revealing a smooth, full forehead.
This simple action instantly made his originally haggard, weary face beco sharply defined, revealing intellect and keenness.
Then, he took a cigarette from the crumpled pack on the bedside table.
He wasn't in a hurry to light it. Instead, holding the cigarette between two slender fingers with practiced ease, he lightly tapped it against the edge of the bed to knock off the excess tobacco.
Finally, he struck a match, igniting a small cluster of orange-yellow fla in the dim room.
He brought the cigarette to the fla and took a deep drag.
Pale blue smoke curled upward, shrouding Upton's unfamiliar face in a hazy blur, leaving only a pair of hawk-like sharp eyes gleaming through the smoke.
His spine, which had always seed hunched and cowardly, was now completely straightened.
He was no longer that pitiful worm needing salvation.
He had returned to... himself.
"You win."
Upton spoke, his voice steady and magnetic.
"That's right, this difference engine was designed by ."
He admitted it so bluntly, so frankly.
"Why?" Phineas's face showed incomprehension. "You clearly knew Edison's ambitions! Why would you still help him build such a... such an evil weapon?!"
"Because it was my 'letter of guarantee,'" Upton's answer stunned everyone.
He stood up from the bed and took another drag of his cigarette.
"Who do you think I am? A frustrated man sidelined by technical route disputes? A pitiful worm being hunted by the Brotherhood of Light?"
"No, I'm not. Or rather, that's only half of my identity."
He looked at Lin Jie.
"My other identity is that of a double agent, successfully turned and planted inside the Brotherhood of Light by the I.A.R.C. North Arican branch after three years of effort and the sacrifice of seven excellent agents."
The anger on Ethan's face froze, turning into extre shock.
Even the ever-calm Lin Jie's pupils contracted slightly at this unexpected twist.
"This... is this true?" Phineas stamred.
"You can ask Mr. Morgan," Upton's tone was frighteningly calm. "He is the only one in the entire North Arican branch who knows my true identity. This is the highest-level secret between us."
"All my previous frustration, alcoholism, and degradation—everything was a show put on for Edison." He pointed to his own temple. "I even voluntarily underwent deep hypnosis by a branch psychology expert to embed this 'loser' personality deep into my subconscious, all to deceive everyone, including myself, at the most critical mont."
"Then... what about the Mothman?" Lin Jie keenly seized the key point. "The Mothman incident wasn't an accident either?"
"Of course not." A smile belonging to a top gambler appeared on Upton's face. "That was my final gamble... staking everything."
"About three months ago, I sensed Edison was beginning to suspect . He stopped letting access core experintal data and had people monitor twenty-four hours a day."
"I knew my identity was about to be exposed. And once exposed, not only would I die, but more importantly, the plan for the Aether Tower—this device capable of destroying everything—and its prototype, would never be transmitted out."
"I couldn't use conventional contact thods; all communications might be monitored. I had to find an absolutely safe and reasonable channel to present the crisis of the Aether Tower to the Association's higher-ups in the most shocking and clearest way possible."
He looked at Lin Jie.
"So, I thought of you. I thought of your European team that had just arrived in North Arica—mysterious in background, unbound by branch rules, and possessing strong execution capabilities."
"I deliberately activated that Tesla prototype. I knew its electromagnetic frequency would definitely attract certain UMAs extrely sensitive to 'energy.'"
"I gambled it would co. I gambled it would pose enough threat to . I even gambled you would co to rescue to investigate the Aether Tower clues."
"I disguised myself as a helpless victim targeted by a UMA and used that as an opportunity to legitimately send an 'urgent rescue' signal to the North Arican branch. Only this way could I escape surveillance without arousing Edison's suspicion and safely deliver this 'key' into your hands."
He gave a bitter smile.
"The facts proved I gambled correctly. Although the process was much more dangerous than I imagined, I ultimately survived and escaped surveillance, and you successfully obtained the blueprint."
Upton's confession plunged the entire room into dead silence once more.
No one could imagine that this man before them, who seed so fragile, had for years alone carried such a heavy secret, walking on the edge of a blade.
He was a gambler acting with his life, a spy dancing in the enemy's heart, a... true hero.
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Ethan's gaze was complex.
"Because I couldn't trust anyone," Upton's reply was calm yet cruel. "Before the truth ca out, everyone who approached could have been a probe sent by Edison. I had to keep up the act until the very end. And..."
Upton glanced at Lin Jie and Ethan.
"...if you hadn't truly had the ability to retrieve this blueprint from that fortress, proving to you weren't just bragging fools, you would never have heard this confession."
This was the cold survival law of a top-tier spy.
Lin Jie slowly walked forward and rolled up the huge blueprint again.
Then, Lin Jie walked up to Upton and solemnly handed the rolled-up blueprint back to him.
"Welco back to the team, Mr. Upton."
Lin Jie's voice was calm, but his eyes held sincere respect for the man before him.
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