The lights in the room flickered again.
This time, Ye Mo didn't wait for the data to come back; he directly accessed the background logs. More than ten hours had passed since the voltage fluctuation at 3:17 a. m., but an abnormal signal was still present in the system. It wasn't coming from the monitoring system, nor was it going through the network channel; it seemed more like it had emerged from underground.
He zoomed in on the waveform and discovered that the frequency was extremely low, blending into the background noise of the weather radar, making it impossible for an ordinary person to detect the problem. But just two minutes before Thor entered the bakery, the signal strength suddenly jumped by 0.7 units.
"Something's not right." He tapped the keyboard. "Who would use weather data to transmit intelligence?"
Emma Frost stood behind him, her eyes closed. Her Mental Network was still open, and the flash of light had allowed her to catch a glimpse of a lingering emotional fragment—no fear, no excitement, not even a rhythmic, mechanical breathing.
"They're not bystanders," she said. "They're professionals."
Ye Mo immediately activated the Telepathy Fragment, scanning in reverse the memory remnants of all humans who had appeared around the valley in the last twenty-four hours. The images flashed by frame by frame, mostly showing expressions of curiosity, shock, or numbness, until a man in a gray coat appeared at the edge of the crowd.
The guy was standing in a strange position, neither too far forward nor too far back, but right at the boundary of the blind spots of the two cameras. Even more absurdly, his pupils had a bluish tint in the sunlight, as if they were coated with some kind of reflective material.
"This person," Ye Mo paused the frame, "Didn't change expression at all from beginning to end."
Emma Frost opened her eyes. "I didn't detect any emotional fluctuations either. It doesn't seem like he's faking it; he simply doesn't want to be read."
They reviewed the city's surveillance footage and discovered that the man did not leave after the crowd dispersed. He crouched down and buried a piece of metal the size of a fingernail in the soil, his movements so fast they were almost invisible. Then he stood up, clapped his hands, and walked away as if nothing had happened.
"No cell phone, no signal, not even a gait change." Ye Mo stared at the trajectory line, "This guy walks like a drone with a pre-programmed path."
He switched to the Vibranium Resonance module and entered the three-dimensional parameters of the metal sheet coordinates. A few seconds later, the system displayed a warning: Non-terrestrial metal residues were detected in the soil of this area, with a composition highly similar to that of Asgard rune carriers.
" Loki's man," Emma Frost said, "Is using magical means to send a message."
Ye Mo immediately recalled the blurry blue reflection from before. It wasn't glasses or contact lenses, but some kind of protective eye device that could shield against mental detection. This technology was only used by the high-ranking officials of the Asgard; ordinary spies couldn't obtain it at all.
He gave this man a code name: The Stone Man. Because he was like a stone that didn't breathe, quiet, stable, and without any flaws.
"What did he convey?" Emma Frost asked.
"I don't know." Ye Mo brought up the simulation interface, "But we can guess the result—someone received the message and is preparing to take action."
He opened the 15th level of the Gene Spiral Tower and activated the " Vibranium Resonance Fragment." This was an ability he gained during the Black Panther incident, allowing him to sense faint traces of interdimensional energy transitions. As long as the Destroyer Armor activated its teleportation, even over the Arctic Circle, it would trigger a brief energy decay wave.
The curve on the screen scrolled silently for a full three minutes. Just when he thought there was no further response, the alarm went off.
A 0.3-second pulse signal, with a frequency exceeding the range of Earth's material spectrum, originated from a direction approximately 82 degrees North latitude. The signal characteristics perfectly matched the power core of the Destroyer Armor.
"It moved." Ye Mo's fingers paused on the keyboard. " Loki sent him down."
Emma Frost immediately Thor's current mental state. The image she saw was Thor sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching a convenience store receipt, repeatedly looking at the words written on it, "Tomorrow at three o'clock, see you at the library." His heartbeat was steady, his adrenaline levels were normal, and his mind was focused on the upcoming date, completely unprepared for anything.
"What would he do if we told him it was dangerous now?" she asked.
"He'll rush out to find the hammer," Ye Mo said, "And then die on the way."
Thor is still in a mortal body, without divine power, weapons, or even basic survival skills. His only advantage is his indomitable spirit, but that is precisely his most dangerous aspect.
"We can't alert him," Emma Frost said. "If he notices something's wrong, it will disrupt our current rhythm and make us more vulnerable."
Ye Mo nodded. They created a new early warning module in the system, named " Destroyer Approach Monitoring". There are two trigger conditions: one is the reappearance of the Vibranium Resonance signal, and the other is a sudden change in the atmospheric ionization index. As long as either one is met, the alert level will be automatically raised to Level 1.
"We still need to check for omissions," he said. "This metal piece is just what's visible; Loki can't rely on just this one route to send messages."
He commanded the system to track all animals and airflow paths that had come into contact with that soil. A few minutes later, a migrating eagle was identified. It carried trace amounts of runic dust and had been blown by the wind to a forest fifty kilometers away.
"Secondary beacon," Ye Mo sneered, "They really did have a backup plan."
He initiated a remote electromagnetic interference program, severing the eagle's potential connection with any receiver. Simultaneously, he mapped the contamination area to confirm that no other organisms had entered the contaminated zone.
Emma Frost then began setting up a mental shielding field. Centered on Thor's residence, she released a ring of low-frequency mental waves to simulate a "false calm" environment. This operation is similar to dream soothing, allowing the target to maintain their normal behavioral patterns without their knowledge, preventing them from making abnormal moves due to intuitive warnings.
"He's already sensitive enough," she said. "He becomes suspicious of everything around him at the slightest provocation."
Ye Mo updated the encrypted log:
[Codename X-161: Intelligence leak confirmed, source is Loki's informant, Helvard; Destroyer deployment probability 98.7%; Countermeasure: Delay exposure, lure the enemy in, and counterattack when the opportunity arises]
He had just pressed the save button when a new notification popped up. The disturbed eagle had changed its flight path and was accelerating in another direction.
"It's still moving." Emma Frost opened her eyes. "The interference hasn't been completely cut off."
Ye Mo reanalyzed the chemical structure of the rune dust and discovered that it contained trace amounts of shape memory metal. This material can restore its original form at a specific temperature, meaning that the dust inside the eagle's body may be reorganizing to form a new signal emission source.
"It's not passive transmission." He quickly pulled up the heat map. "It's a living relay station."
He immediately escalated the interference and added a frequency oscillation module, forcing the dust structure to become unstable. At the same time, he notified local wildlife conservation organizations to set up temporary isolation nets at the eagle's expected landing point.
"This time it's really down." Ten minutes later, the system showed the signal had dropped to zero.
Emma Frost continued to maintain the mental shield, ensuring that Thor's daily routine was not disrupted. She saw him get up in the morning, wash up, change clothes, go out to buy breakfast, everything as usual. He even hummed a couple of off-key songs on the way.
"Does he still remember that he is God of Thunder?" she asked.
"I remember," Ye Mo, looking at the monitor screen, "But right now I'm more concerned about whether I can keep the appointment on time."
They all knew this calm wouldn't last long. Once the Destroyer crossed the spatial rift, the energy field of the entire region would be distorted. At that point, forget about concealing their presence; even standing still would be a problem.
But they can't move now. If they do, they'll alert the enemy. If they don't, they'll have to gamble on whether Thor can hold out until disaster strikes.
"Why do you think Loki chose this time?" Emma Frost asked in a low voice.
"Because he knows what Thor is most vulnerable about," Ye Mo, staring at the screen. "Not when he's defeated, but when he starts to believe in the warmth of humanity."
Just then, a new data stream popped up in the lower right corner of the control panel. It came from the town's only public WiFi hotspot, uploading a 15-second video file titled "Mysterious Man Buries Something at Night, Suspected Extraterrestrial Ritual".
The poster was an account called " Fried-Chicken-Loving Xiao Li," and the IP address was located in an internet cafe in the town center.
"Holy crap!" Ye Mo almost slammed his fist on the table. "Someone's actually doing a live stream!"
He quickly located the upload source and found that the other party had logged out of the account and shut down the computer. But he found undeleted drafts in the cache area—not just this one, but also five secretly filmed videos, all pointed at places Thor frequented.
"It's not a coincidence," he said. "They've got their eyes on us."
He immediately blocked all public network access points in the town and sent a forced internet shutdown order to the local operator. At the same time, he dispatched drone patrol teams to check for all suspicious devices.
"Luckily, we found it early." Emma Frost breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good morning?" Ye Mo shook his head. "We've already been infiltrated. The fact that this person could bypass my firewall and upload videos means they have a certain level of understanding of the system. They're not an ordinary internet user."
He pulled up the user registration information and found that " Fried-Chicken-Loving Xiao Li " was a new account that was suddenly registered last night, the linked mobile phone number was not valid, and the ID photo had been photoshopped.
"Professional level," he said. "A little less skilled Helvard, but still trained."
Emma Frost immediately expanded her Mental Scan to search for any unfamiliar consciousnesses that had recently entered the town. But as soon as she began her probe, she sensed a slight backlash—someone was using a low-powered jammer to interfere with her mental waves.
"The second informant," she said, withdrawing her senses. "is in town."
Ye Mo didn't speak. He compared the two faces side by side: one was Helvard, with empty, stone-like eyes; the other was this internet celebrity blogger, with an exaggerated, clown-like smile.
Two styles, two methods, but the same goal.
He reopened the encrypted log and added a line under the existing entry:
[New Threat: Local collaborator, identity unknown, capabilities include information gathering and public opinion manipulation, ' Net-Clearing Operation ' has been initiated, priority S]
He stared at the screen, his fingers lightly tapping the table.
Once, twice.
Then stop.
In the surveillance footage, Thor is walking towards the library. Sunlight shines on his shoulders, and the wind ruffles the hem of his clothes.
He was unaware that he was being watched.
Unbeknownst to him, someone was shielding him from one undercurrent after another.
Ye Mo pressed the Enter key, and the system began to automatically execute a new round of counter-reconnaissance protocols.
At this moment, the sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the streetlights lit up one by one.
At the corner convenience store, a man wearing a hat took a coffee, lowered his head, and took a sip.