"Welco back to the fold, Mr. Upton."
Upton looked at the blueprint Lin Jie handed over. In his eyes, which had now regained their clarity, a flicker of extrely complex emotion passed.
He reached out and took the scroll of drawings that carried years of his hard work and sin, his fingertips trembling slightly.
"Thank you," he said in a low voice.
The door to the isolation room was pushed open.
Two agents guarding the doorway stood respectfully on either side.
A tall, impeccably dressed figure walked in from outside.
The newcor was none other than the highest-ranking official of the I.A.R.C. North Arican branch, Mr. John Pierpont Morgan.
His face still wore that gentle yet aloof smile belonging to a top-tier banker.
"A brilliant confession, wasn't it?"
Morgan's gaze swept over everyone in the room, finally settling on Upton, his tone carrying approval. "Truly worthy of being the sharpest blade in my hand, Upton. Even at the final mont, your performance remained flawless."
"Mr. Morgan," Upton gave a slight nod, his tone respectful.
This scene before them completely confird the authenticity of Upton's earth-shattering confession monts ago.
"So, all of this was orchestrated by you?" Ethan turned to Morgan and asked.
Looking at this refined and cultured man before him, Ethan felt a sense of danger more intense than when facing Hawk's battle-axe for the first ti.
"You could say that," Morgan admitted frankly. "From the mont you set foot on the North Arican continent, your every move has actually been on my chessboard."
Morgan slowly paced to the center of the room, his composed deanor making it seem as if this wasn't a cramped isolation room, but his luxurious office on Fifth Avenue overlooking all of New York.
"My 'cautious disapproval' of your actions during our first eting wasn't because I was truly stuck in my ways."
The corner of his mouth lifted in a aningful arc. "That too... was a performance. A show put on for the eyes the Brotherhood of Light may have planted within our ranks."
"I had to make them believe your operation was a reckless act led by 'hotheads' from Europe and not under the control of the North Arican branch."
"Only then, when you truly caused substantial damage at Wardenclyffe, would Edison not directly target our North Arican branch, thus avoiding an all-out war that none of us could afford."
Lin Jie listened quietly, his mind crystal clear.
"Not only that," Morgan continued, beginning to reveal the hidden undercurrents beneath the chessboard, "did you really think you could so easily 'kidnap' Francis Upton from under the New York police's noses just because of Mr. Ethan's money and connections?"
Ethan's expression changed slightly.
"One of the two officers patrolling that district that night was a peripheral informant we had planted."
"And the Mothman incident," Morgan's gaze turned to Lin Jie. "The abandoned warehouse you chose was indeed an excellent battlefield. But have you ever wondered why, during nearly half an hour of intense combat, it didn't attract the attention of any official or unofficial forces?"
"That area may be abandoned, but the straight-line distance to the nearest residential area is less than three miles."
"And even... Hawk," Morgan's tone carried a hint of resignation. "Did you really think he was just a battle-thirsty brute who happened to be passing by? I personally authorized him to serve as the final 'insurance' for this operation."
"My instruction to him was not to intervene unless you faced a truly lethal threat. Hawk wasn't so much assisting you as... assessing you."
Each of Morgan's words peeled back another layer of concealed truth, exposing the deeper ga and calculations behind this operation.
"Your codena is 'Raven,' isn't it?" Lin Jie suddenly spoke up.
Surprise flashed in Morgan's eyes, then he smiled and nodded. "It seems Mr. Lin did his howork before coming. Yes, within the Association, so do indeed like to call that."
Raven.
In Western occult culture, this is a bird closely associated with wisdom, secrets, and death ons.
It is both a ssenger and an observer, a herald capable of transmitting hidden information between different worlds.
This codena perfectly captured this man's operational style—using the entire North Arican inner world as his chessboard, using human hearts and intelligence as his pieces, laying deep, flawless, and ruthless plans.
"The North Arican branch's situation is far more difficult than you imagine," Morgan's tone beca serious as he began explaining the reasoning behind his gambit.
"We cannot allow a weapon like the Aether Tower that can overturn the rules to be completed—on this point, I completely agree with your assessnt. But at the sa ti, due to the Brotherhood of Light's deeply entrenched and massive influence in the Surface World, we cannot directly attack them like you did in Europe."
"Edison is no ordinary enemy. He is a 'god' worshipped by this nation and this era. Declaring war on him is equivalent to declaring war on the entire national interest of the United States."
Morgan's voice carried a deep sense of powerlessness. "Our hands are tied. We could only watch helplessly as that giant tower rose day by day, powerless to stop it."
"In this dilemma, I needed a breakthrough point," his gaze finally settled on Lin Jie.
"I needed a third-party force, unbound by the North Arican branch's existing rules and interests, possessing strong execution capability and clean identities, a surprise force that could bypass all political and diplomatic constraints."
"And you, Mr. Lin, and the team you lead, were exactly the perfect candidates I had been waiting for."
"You possess combat prowess that even Hawk admires, and wisdom that even Upton cannot predict."
Morgan's gambit was finally fully revealed before everyone.
Upton's entire plan, from exposing himself to attract the Mothman to being rescued by Lin Jie's team—all of it was an elaborately staged play designed by Morgan to reasonably and unsuspiciously deliver Lin Jie, this scalpel, into Wardenclyffe.
Lin Jie, Ethan, and even Evelyn—each of them had been carefully calculated pieces on this Raven's chessboard from the very beginning.
"A very clever gambit," Lin Jie's face showed neither joy nor anger. "But aren't you afraid of... playing with fire? If we had been completely wiped out inside, wouldn't all your plans have turned to dust?"
"I never gamble without certainty, Mr. Lin," Morgan smiled confidently. "I believed in Upton's wisdom. His choosing you was no accident. I also believed in Skullcrusher's judgnt. His willingness to fight alongside you itself speaks to your value. More importantly..."
Morgan looked deeply at Lin Jie.
"I believe in my own judgnt. From the mont I saw the almost prophetic tactical analysis in your Mothman incident report, I knew you were the one who could break the deadlock."
Everything was within his calculations.
This feeling of being controlled made Ethan extrely uncomfortable.
But he also had to admit that, judging by the results, Morgan's plan had succeeded.
The North Arican branch had indeed achieved the greatest strategic objective at the smallest cost.
"So what now?" Lin Jie asked. "We've temporarily disabled the biological battery and obtained the blueprint. What's the follow-up plan?"
"Follow-up?" Morgan shook his head, a trace of helplessness appearing on his face. "There is no follow-up. At least, not in the short term."
"Your operation this ti has thoroughly alerted the enemy. It can be foreseen that in the coming months, Wardenclyffe's defense level will be raised to an extrely high degree. Edison will spare no expense to repair that 'biological battery' and patch all possible vulnerabilities in this blueprint."
"Although we've temporarily stopped him, this is not a long-term solution," Morgan's tone beca serious. "Mr. Lin, when the Brotherhood of Light returns, I hope you... can co back to assist us in winning this final war."
This was both a request and a new transaction.
Lin Jie remained silent for a mont, then finally nodded.
"Excellent," Morgan showed a satisfied smile.
Morgan knew that with Lin Jie's promise, he had secured the most powerful trump card for the North Arican branch.
"As a reward for this operation, and... as my personal way of expressing apology," Morgan turned to Lin Jie, his tone becoming gentle. "Headquarters has approved comndations for you all. Besides the conventional monetary and points rewards, you personally, Mr. Lin, have been granted a special privilege."
"You may select any one item from all the Town-class UMA materials collected by the North Arican branch as your personal trophy."
This reward was undeniably generous.
A high-quality Town-class UMA core material was worth far more than any amount of money or points.
Lin Jie's heart indeed stirred with interest.
He imdiately thought of the undeveloped module slots on the [Cursebreaker Vambrace].
"Thank you for your generosity," Lin Jie did not refuse. "I do need so new 'inspiration.'"
Under Morgan's personal guidance, Lin Jie arrived at a material storage room located beneath the safe house, resembling a small museum.
Here, special spiritually inert glass cabinets sealed various peculiar UMA materials collected by the North Arican branch over the years.
Lin Jie's gaze swept over the dangerous-looking claws, hard carapaces, and crystals emitting eerie glows.
Finally, his eyes were drawn to a nearly completely transparent, sac-like object suspended in a transparent nutrient solution.
"This is..."
"T-091, we call it the 'Ghost Jellyfish,'" Morgan introduced. "A special creature living near deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Its body is almost completely transparent, capable of mimicking the surrounding light and water currents, making it extrely difficult to detect."
"Its weapons are these tentacles," Morgan pointed to the spider-silk-thin tentacles beneath the sac. "They are covered with microscopic cnidocysts, but what they store isn't lethal venom."
He paused, uttering a word that even Lin Jie found peculiar.
"It's an... extrely potent neural transmission blocker."
"Creatures stung by it do not die, and their bodily functions suffer no damage. However..." Morgan's face showed an intrigued expression.
"...all sensory signals from the injured area, including pain, touch, and temperature sensation pathways to the brain, are completely severed at their root."
"In other words, the victim falls into a bizarre state of 'localized sensory loss.' They would watch their own arm being severed yet feel not a shred of pain, as if that arm never belonged to them in the first place."
Lin Jie's eyes instantly lit up.
Pain is the most basic and important defense chanism for living creatures.
It is both a danger signal and a shackle restraining action.
And this ability to "sever" pain, if used properly...
A sowhat wicked tactical concept ford in Lin Jie's mind.
In assassination, making an enemy die silently without even knowing when they received the fatal wound.
In interrogation, stripping away all of the subject's senses, leaving only pure, inescapable fear.
In combat, temporarily shutting off one's own pain perception to exchange for a short period of extre, uninhibited explosive power unaffected by injuries...
This was practically... tailor-made for him.
It perfectly complented Lin Jie's combat style that pursued precision, efficiency, and killing without a trace.
"I'll take it."
Lin Jie pointed at the transparent sac, his tone firm.
Morgan smiled and nodded.
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