Chapter 299: The Face Behind the Mask

What Sierra feared most was that Azure might be involved. She prayed with everything she had that it wasn’t true—but reality always had a way of cutting deepest. When Jonathan hung up the phone, he turned to look at her. That one glance was all it took for Sierra to understand. She let out a bitter laugh.

“It really was… Azure?”

“Yeah, he’s the one who altered the data.” They were in the same lab every day. If Azure wanted to mess with something, it would have been easy.

“Why?”

Sierra struggled to accept it. “Was it for money?”

Out of all her seniors, aside from Autumn, Azure had been her favorite. She never imagined he’d do something like this.

“It wasn’t just about money.” There was something deeper—jealousy. Azure wasn’t the most naturally gifted. Even those who joined after him, like Autumn and Erwin, had more raw talent. Still, their abilities only went so far. Professor Martin would scold all of them from time to time. But everything changed when Sierra showed up. Professor Martin appreciated her; most of what he said to her was praise. To motivate the others, he often used Sierra as an example.

The pressure on Azure had already been mounting. He was hoping to stay on and apply for a lecturer position, and Sierra’s presence brought a new kind of stress and threat he hadn’t anticipated. At first, he never expected things to spiral this far. He only wanted Professor Martin to scold her—to damage her standing in the professor’s eyes. Of course, he didn’t come up with that plan on his own. He was a regular at a quiet little bar where no one knew who he was. He could speak freely there—and that’s where someone took advantage of him. They still didn’t know who had approached him, but the person responsible had finally been found.

“We’ll take it from here,” Stone and Maddox said. With this new evidence, they could get Draven released and clear Sierra’s name.

After they left, Sierra still couldn’t process it. “I never thought it would be Azure.” If it had been Erwin, she might have understood. He’d always been hostile, even though things had improved somewhat. Still, he was always set on outshining her. When the data issue first came up, she’d reviewed her own work. After confirming it, she’d started thinking about who might have tampered with it. She had briefly suspected Erwin.

“He’s not worth it.” Not worth wasting sadness on. But he also knew how much Sierra cared for her senior classmates.

“I just… I’m worried about the professor.”

Thanks to the lead Jonathan uncovered, the follow-up investigation moved fast. Azure was placed under heavy questioning, and just like Jonathan said, he confessed. He had been manipulated, convinced it wouldn’t amount to anything. He figured the professor would catch the mistake. But when it was submitted, the professor missed it—and so did Draven. That’s when Azure started to panic. He knew the data had been tampered with, and the errors weren’t subtle. He couldn’t believe no one caught on. When nothing happened, he actually felt relieved. Maybe, he thought, it had slipped through. He never expected it would trigger a leak investigation. When Sierra was taken, he was terrified. And then the others were dragged in—along with the professor. That’s when he knew this was serious. So he clammed up and insisted he knew nothing. He told the lie so many times, he started to believe it himself—until the truth came out.

The entire ordeal lasted almost a month. During that time, all of Sierra’s projects were frozen. She and the others were fully involved in the investigation. The institute itself had to conduct a full internal review. Through it all, Professor Martin seemed to age ten years. By the time the Bureau finally told them they didn’t have to return, all anyone felt was numb.

Far from the Bureau building, Autumn finally spoke.

“Hey… what’s going to happen to Azure?”

Professor Martin sighed.

“He made the mistake. He has to face the consequences.” Even if he hadn’t meant to cause a security breach, he’d still chosen to act—and had to accept what came next. Thinking of that, Professor Martin looked over at Sierra.

“This wasn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself.” Because of all this, their early research was wasted, and as the project lead, he would be held responsible. But he never once blamed Sierra.

“If there’s anyone at fault, it’s me.” If he’d realized sooner that something was off with his student, none of this might have happened. He turned to look at the remaining four students, a flicker of sorrow in his eyes.