Eddie Lost Contact

"The Life Foundation is more cunning than we thought."

Eddie told Anton the specifics, sounding helpless. "Whether externally or internally, they've taken sufficient protective measures. We can't find any flaws."

"After more than a month, you haven't gained anything at all?"

Anton was surprised.

When he watched the movie in his previous life, he hadn't thought the Life Foundation would be this difficult to deal with.

Sure enough, he couldn't judge the current reality solely by the movie's plot.

"Not exactly."

Eddie said, "We obtained definite information from some researchers. Recently, the Life Foundation seems to be preparing for some kind of mysterious experiment. The experiment has an enormous demand for human subjects, and they plan to increase their investment in it. But we can't get into the Homeless Home, so we can't find concrete evidence that the Life Foundation has crossed the moral bottom line of humanity. There's nothing we can do to them unless..."

Anton narrowed his eyes and cut in. "Unless someone pretends to be homeless, infiltrates the Homeless Home, and finds a new breakthrough."

"Yes."

Eddie, on the other end of the phone, looked hesitant.

Pretending to be homeless was extremely risky.

Especially when he was sending his men into danger while he himself remained in New York, doing nothing...

Given the Life Foundation's status and power in San Francisco, once they exposed a reporter's identity, it would basically mean saying goodbye to this world.

The most likely outcome was becoming a human test subject for the Life Foundation and dying an unnatural death.

Not only would it be no help to them, but it would also contribute to the enemy's cause.

That left Eddie deeply anxious, unable to make a decision lightly.

Gradually, a thought sprang to mind.

"A mysterious experiment?"

Anton could conclude that the Life Foundation had begun researching symbiotes.

Given Carlton Drake's obsession with symbiotes, once he achieved any preliminary results, there was a high chance he would rapidly fall into becoming a supervillain.

Still, this did not involve Anton all that deeply.

Drake was in San Francisco. Anton was currently filming in Los Angeles, while his social circle was based around New York.

In this unique world, the separation between cities was like the opposition between nations. Each had its own gangs and territory.

The Life Foundation lacked the ability to cross territory and attack someone.

Of course, that would be another matter once both sides completely tore off all pretenses.

After thinking for a moment, Anton asked, "Did bribing Life Foundation employees not work?"

"The employees don't know anything. As for the higher-ups, Drake has leverage over all of them. That scumbag even threatens those senior researchers with their families." Eddie was frank. "We can't make a single move."

After a pause, he spoke seriously. "Anton, I have to go to San Francisco. I'm unwilling to let a scumbag like Drake remain free."

"In that case, I wish you luck."

Anton did not refuse Eddie's request.

The investigation had reached a deadlock. Eddie was willing to risk returning to San Francisco, and Anton chose to respect his decision.

Eddie's unwillingness to give up was entirely within his expectations.

As for abandoning the matter, Anton also felt that would be inappropriate.

He had already promised Jameson that he would push this forward. If he gave up at the first sign of difficulty, he would not only betray Eddie's trust, but also Jameson's expectations of him.

Come to think of it, Eddie was the protagonist of this part of the story.

In other words, he was the chosen one.

He probably wouldn't die so easily.

Pushing that thought aside, Anton could not help but remind him, "Before you go to San Francisco, remember to arrange your work properly, especially my novel."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

Eddie looked grateful, but he still gave an affirmative answer.

When he had been at his lowest and most helpless, the Daily Bugle had given him a job.

At the same time, faced with a "boss" who trusted him so much, Eddie resolved to handle this work in the most perfect way possible.

Anton, however, did not think that much about it.

The nonstop film shoot had drained a great deal of his energy. After putting down the phone, he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed.

The filming progressed unexpectedly quickly. Under Anton's supervision, post-production work on the special effects also began advancing rapidly, and everything had completely gotten on track.

The crew members gradually changed their opinion of Anton.

They watched roughly the first half hour of footage Anton had edited.

It was astonishing.

The story flowed unexpectedly well.

To finish the movie as soon as possible, Anton canceled some location-shooting plans and chose to portray them through shortcuts or special effects instead.

Meanwhile, almost all the location shooting was handed over to the assistant director, which accelerated the progress once again.

In less than fifty days, they had completed two-thirds of the shooting plan.

This made Jim, who came by the set from time to time, even more frustrated, further convincing him that one careless move had landed him in a huge pit.

Anton still could not be bothered with him.

After filming ended that day, he returned to his room, feeling quite worried.

Eddie had gone missing!

Ever since Eddie arrived in San Francisco more than half a month ago, he had called Anton every two days, both to report that he was safe and to update him on the situation.

But a week earlier, after Eddie infiltrated the Homeless Home, there had been no further news from him.

Had something happened?

Anton was restless.

Although Eddie's life or death did not seem to affect him, Eddie's return to San Francisco was, after all, inseparably connected to him.

First, he had agreed to Eddie's request to take the risk.

Second, he admired Eddie.

It was hard not to favor someone who upheld justice and stuck to his principles.

After pondering for a moment, he took out his phone and dialed an unfamiliar number.

During their last contact before Eddie entered the Homeless Home, Eddie had left him a string of numbers.

He said it belonged to a young reporter he had previously sent to San Francisco.

Phil Urich.

The kid was also an employee of the Daily Bugle.

"Hello?"

A young voice came from the other end of the line.

"Phil Urich?"

Anton said, "I'm Anton, from the Daily Bugle."

"Ah."

Phil sounded extremely nervous. Of course, he had heard of Anton.

Though he was only the deputy editor-in-chief, his actual status was practically that of the newspaper's owner. He was a "big shot" who could fire Phil with a word and make it impossible for him to survive in New York.

Phil quickly said, "Boss, hello, Boss. This is Phil Urich."

"How have things been lately?"

Anton got straight to the point. "Eddie hasn't contacted me in a long time. Did something happen to him?"

"I-I don't know."

Phil hesitated. "There seems to be an information jammer inside the Homeless Home. We've completely lost contact with Editor-in-Chief Eddie and don't know how he's doing in there. But we bribed a guard from the Homeless Association, and he told us that no one from the Life Foundation has visited the Homeless Home recently... We guess that Editor-in-Chief Eddie should still be safe for now."

By the end, his voice had lowered, lacking confidence.

"So you're saying that once the Life Foundation's people come to the Homeless Home, he may not be safe anymore?"

Anton's expression darkened as he questioned him word by word.

"Uh..."

Phil stammered and did not dare answer.