Thaddeus Ross sat in the back of the transport plane, his hand never leaving the grip of his gun. The plane was still flying, and the clouds outside the window were as thick as frozen iron. His eyes were closed, his breathing was steady, but his fingers kept moving, tapping the buckle of his tactical belt.
The adjutant stood at the entrance of the passage, holding a tablet, intending to report the latest data, but seeing the general's state, he swallowed his words.
Nobody knows about that phone call.
Only Thaddeus Ross himself knew that he was no longer following the military's procedures. The conventional route was blocked, the EMP couldn't be repaired, Congress was watching, S.H.I.E.L.D. monitoring communications, and even Ye Mo had bypassed the drone swarm once with his Wall Phasing Technique. If he followed the rules again, he wouldn't be able to catch anything.
He opened his eyes and pulled a black satellite phone from his tactical backpack. This thing had no registration number, and its frequency band wasn't registered in the military system. He'd gotten it five years ago from a vanished intelligence dealer and had only used it twice. The first time was to have someone erase his records, and the second time was to buy illegal drugs.
This is the third time.
He entered a string of code, the screen lit up, and a crow icon popped up. There was no name, no avatar, only a countdown: 36 hours.
" The Wall Breaker are requesting backup," Thaddeus Ross whispered. "The target has been upgraded to a multi-target coordinated threat."
A voice came from the other end, but it wasn't a human voice; it was a distorted electronic voice. "The cost will double, and you'll need to provide a sample of the experimental subject."
Thaddeus Ross didn't hesitate. " Bruce Banner is yours to deal with, as long as it's the result."
"Deal made." The electronic voice paused for a moment. " The Scavenger Unit will intervene within thirty-six hours. Remember, we are not responsible for collecting the bodies, nor will we explain the process."
The screen went black.
Thaddeus Ross shoved the phone back into his backpack and zipped it up. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes again. This time, a slight tremor ran at the corner of his mouth, as if he had finally found a way out.
He knew this deal had crossed a line. Banner was a protected object, not a tradable asset. But that didn't matter anymore. What mattered was Ye Mo —the kid who could Wall Phasing, control electricity, and fight alongside Iron Man —had become the real variable.
He can no longer wait for the system to react.
Someone has to make the first move.
The plane continued its flight. The cabin was quiet, with only the vibration of the engine reaching the soles of the feet. Thaddeus Ross's fingers stopped tapping the buckle and slowly slid to his inner breast pocket, touching the yellowed file.
It's located near the heart.
Ye Mo crouched behind a bunker on the west side of the ruins, clutching a piece of Vibranium in his hand. The battery level was 3%. He had just pried it out of the electrical box; its surface still bore scorch marks.
Emma Frost was still unconscious, and Tony's armor signal was still twenty kilometers away. The area was safe for the time being, but he still felt something was off.
It wasn't an energy fluctuation, nor was it an abnormal heat source. It felt more like... the air had changed.
He looked up at the sky. The dark clouds hung low, and the wind direction was erratic. The air currents that should have been moving eastward were now swirling and veering northward.
He pocketed the fragments, stood up, and leaned against the broken wall to scan the surrounding electromagnetic environment. This was a habit he had recently developed, something he did after every battle. The system didn't prompt him; he checked it himself.
He traced a line in the air with his finger, and an invisible stream of data unfolded from his consciousness. The twelfth level of the Gene Spiral Tower was not yet unlocked, but the underlying perception module remained active. It was like an antivirus program running in the background of a phone; it was silent most of the time, but would alert the system once a virus was detected.
This time, it rang.
[Sensing an atmosphere of conspiracy, the Gene Spiral Tower's early warning function is activated]
Ye Mo was taken aback.
This wasn't the first time the system had spoken, but the phrase "aura of conspiracy" was a first. Previously, it had been dry, unhelpful notifications like " Gamma Radiation detected," " Mind Stone fluctuations detected," or "Ability cooling down."
He looked down at his hands. His palms were slightly hot, as if they had been holding a hot object. Looking around, he noticed that the cracks in the ground seemed to have more diagonal lines than they had half an hour ago, as if they had been subtly pulled apart by some force.
He didn't move.
Instead, I slowed my breathing and pressed my ear against the wall for a while. There was a slight vibration inside the wall, at a very low frequency, unlike natural vibrations or mechanical vibrations.
It's more like... some kind of signal penetrating the earth's strata.
He pulled out his hacking device, connected it to the remaining wires, and traced the source in reverse. The data jumped for a few seconds, then suddenly an unfamiliar frequency code appeared: KX-9701.
I've never seen it before.
He tried to decode it using the method Tony taught him, but after only half of the input, the cracker screen flickered and automatically shut down.
Ye Mo frowned.
This has only happened once, when dealing with Hydra jammers. The other side used an anti-intrusion protocol, which directly burned out the device's motherboard.
But there are currently no enemy devices in this area. The only explanation is that the signal itself has a built-in defense mechanism.
He shoved the hacking device back into his pocket and turned to walk deeper into the bunker. There was a half-collapsed control console there, still powered. He needed to rewire it and find a stable node to perform jump analysis.
Just as I reached the door, a system notification sounded in my ear again.
[WARNING: External signals may cause cognitive misinterpretation; it is recommended to terminate active detection.]
Ye Mo stopped in his tracks.
He knew what this meant. It wasn't just simple interference; it meant the other party had the ability to influence his judgment. They might have already seen fake data, heard false voices, and even thought they were doing the right thing, when in fact they had already been led astray.
He leaned against the doorframe and took a deep breath.
We cannot act rashly any longer.
We have to wait for Tony and Emma Frost to arrive. One is tech-savvy, and the other is skilled in mental protection; only the three of them together can disarm the trap.
He took out his personal recorder, recorded the abnormal frequency band, encrypted it, and prepared to send it out using low-power pulses. This transmission method is slow, but it is not easy to be intercepted.
He suddenly stopped before pressing the send button.
The recorder's progress bar is stuck at 1%.
Normally, even with a weak signal, there would be some fluctuation. But now the progress bar isn't moving, as if it's being held down by something.
He looked up at the sky.
The wind picked up.
A blurry beam of light flashed across the distant mountain ridge. It wasn't lightning, nor a searchlight. Its color was dark red, and as it swept across the ground, it briefly caused a metallic sheen on the stone surfaces.
He squinted.
There were no stones in that place originally.
He remembered clearly that when he scouted the area yesterday, it was a loose, earthen slope with a few clumps of withered grass. Now, not only were there more stones, but they were also arranged in a ring shape, as if they had been placed there by humans.
He reached into his pocket and gripped the Vibranium fragment tightly.
The surface of the fragments, which was originally cold, is now slightly warm.
He looked down.
The battery level remained unchanged at 3%, but the area in contact with my skin became slightly red.
It was as if it had been activated by something.
He abruptly pulled out the shards and threw them on the ground.
The moment the fragment hit the ground, it emitted a short buzzing sound, as if in some kind of response.
He didn't pick it up.
Instead, he took two steps back, leaned against the wall, and stared at the fragment.
The buzzing stopped after three seconds.
The ground returned to quiet.
But he knew that things had changed.
He raised his right hand and made a pause gesture in the air.
This was their secret code. It meant: Don't come near, there's trouble here.
After completing the action, he didn't look at the fragments again, nor did he touch any equipment. He simply stood there, staring at the receding red light until it completely disappeared behind the mountain.
Then he slowly squatted down and took out a pen and a crumpled piece of paper from the side pocket of his work pants.
A simple map of the previous battlefield was drawn on the paper. He circled the northwest corner with a pen and wrote three words: Don't come any closer.
After he finished writing, he folded the paper and stuffed it into a crack in the wall.
That's the spot Tony will definitely pass through on his next landing.
After doing all that, he stood up, took off his hoodie and covered Emma Frost with it, then pushed up his silver half-rimmed glasses.
The wind is still blowing.
He stood motionless at the edge of the ruins, gazing at the northern mountains.
His left hand was in his pocket, clutching another unactivated Vibranium fragment tightly.
This piece is new; it was just peeled off from the Abomination yesterday.
He didn't tell anyone about its existence.