Destruction Descends, the Challenge Is Issued

The moment the man in the hat on the street corner took a sip of his coffee, Ye Mo's surveillance system went haywire.

It wasn't an alarm; instead, the entire main control screen cracked open from the middle, as if it had been ripped apart by some immense force. The next second, the air began to distort, the ground trembled deeply, and all the streetlights in the town flickered briefly before going out.

"Here it comes." Ye Mo suddenly stood up, overturning his chair to the ground.

He swiped his fingers across the keyboard, and all defense protocols instantly switched to combat mode. Just as he finished, the sky outside the window changed drastically. Dark clouds gathered at a visible speed, lightning crackled at their center, and a massive spatial rift was forming.

The Destroyer stepped out from the crack.

It stood nearly three meters tall, its jet-black armor gleaming with a cold metallic sheen. With each step it took, the asphalt beneath its feet shattered like glass. Its helmet had no facial features, only two burning blue lights, fixedly locked onto Thor as he walked toward the library in the distance.

Ye Mo grabbed his coat and rushed outside.

"Emma Frost!" he roared in his mind, "Crowd! Lock onto the enemy! Don't let it attack!"

Almost simultaneously, Emma Frost's Mental Network had already been deployed. Standing atop the ruins of a building high above, her eyes closed, her consciousness rapidly scanned every ordinary person on the street. Panic spread like a virus, but she forcefully suppressed this emotional surge, using Telepathy to push the nearest people into the entrance of the underground passage.

"The crowd is dispersing." Her voice entered Ye Mo's mind directly, "But it's not alive, it has no thought processes, it's purely mechanically driven."

"As expected." Ye Mo gritted his teeth, "Loki's puppet."

The Destroyer raised its arm, and a blinding ball of energy condensed in its palm. The air distorted due to the intense heat, and the surrounding vehicles began to spontaneously combust.

Thor noticed the commotion and turned around abruptly. His first reaction upon seeing the behemoth was not to run away, but to take a step forward.

"I am the son of Asgard!" he roared, "Even without divine power today, I will not retreat a single step!"

Before he could finish speaking, the Destroyer unleashed a punch.

The shockwave spread in a fan shape, shattering streetlights along the way and instantly turning the glass wall of the convenience store into fragments. The flying debris cut Thor's arm, but he instinctively rolled away to avoid being hit head-on, only being knocked to the ground by the aftershock.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Mo rushed into the center of the field, crossing his arms to block in front of him. When the second shockwave hit him, his body was thrown backward, carving three deep gashes into the ground. His knees were numb and his ears were ringing, but he still managed to hold on.

"You actually dare to take this on head-on?" the system's voice echoed in his mind, sounding like a netizen making a sarcastic comment.

"Stop talking nonsense and give us some support!" Ye Mo retorted.

"You haven't unlocked any new abilities, what can I give you? Encouraging glances?"

The Destroyer slowly approached, its heavy footsteps causing the earth to tremble with each step. It raised its hand, its cannon aimed at Thor, and energy began to build up once more.

"Thor! Get down!" Ye Mo shouted.

At the same time, Emma Frost forcibly accessed the Destroyer's targeting system. She couldn't find the source of consciousness, but she could sense the flow of the control signals. She focused her mind and implanted an incorrect coordinate into the opponent's targeting logic.

The muzzle is offset by ten degrees.

The beam of light grazed Thor's head, pierced the clouds, and tore a crimson rift in the sky, followed by a deafening roar of thunder.

Thor didn't move. He picked up a broken steel bar from the ground, held it across his chest, and assumed a fighting stance.

"Just because you missed once doesn't mean you'll never be able to hit me." He stared at the Destroyer, his voice hoarse but firm. "But if I touch you even once, you'll know what a warrior's dignity is."

Watching his retreating figure, Ye Mo couldn't help but mutter, "That guy... he's a madman."

But he smiled.

"Emma Frost, how many more times can we interfere?"

"A maximum of two times. It's adapting to my rhythm; after that, it'll be up to you."

"That's enough." Ye Mo cracked his knuckles. "Once is enough."

The Destroyer seemed to realize that its target had support and no longer delayed. Blue light shone through the gaps in its armor, and its core in its chest began to vibrate at a high frequency, releasing an overwhelming sense of oppression.

This wasn't a simple attack; it was a clearing operation.

Ye Mo immediately assessed the danger level: if this attack were left unchecked, half a block would be leveled, and even the people inside the underground passage would be doomed.

He had to interrupt.

How can he interrupt it? His current abilities aren't strong enough to directly confront this level. He's tried Regenerative Phasing, but the cooldown is too long; Quantum Sensing can only provide warnings; Telepathy is ineffective against puppets.

unless...

He suddenly looked at Thor.

That big, dumb guy who's still yelling while holding up the steel bar.

"System," he asked in his mind, "If I combine [Wade's Self-Healing] and [Shadowcat's Wall Phasing], and mix in a bit of [Danger Sense], can I charge in while taking damage?"

"Theoretically, it's possible," the system replied, "But you haven't tried it. It might get stuck or break down halfway. In that case, it wouldn't just be an injury; it could be paralyzed on the spot."

Are there any successful cases?

"You're the first person to think of doing this."

"Then consider me a genius." Ye Mo took a deep breath. "Activate the ' Regenerative Phasing ' preload mode. It will automatically activate when I rush in."

"Marked. The countdown begins with your first step."

Ye Mo looked down at his hands. A faint glow flowed beneath his skin; that was the Gene Spiral Tower responding.

He took the first step.

The Destroyer's cannon was fully charged, its eerie blue light illuminating the entire street.

His second step was to accelerate.

Third, he sprinted with all his might.

Emma Frost opened her eyes in mid-air and saw Ye Mo's figure like a black line piercing straight into the center of the battlefield. She immediately increased the intensity of her mental interference, hoping that even if it could only slow down the Destroyer by half a second, it would buy her some time.

Artillery fire erupted.

Ye Mo leaped at the last moment, his body just touching the edge of the beam of light, and the Regenerative Phasing was activated instantly. He felt as if he had been thrown into a meat grinder, every inch of his skin was being torn apart, but it would grow back in the next second.

He went through it.

He landed on one knee, his left hand was ruined, bones dislocated, blood dripping from between his fingers onto the ground. But his right hand remained steady, and he slammed it down on the Destroyer's shin joint.

"Stop!" he roared.

He released a high-frequency vibration from his palm. This was Shockwave that he had temporarily modified by combining the technical principles he had obtained from the Vibranium researcher with his own abilities.

The Destroyer paused in his steps.

Although it was only for a moment, it was enough.

Thor seized the opportunity and swung the steel bar hard at the joint of its back armor. The metal collided, sparks flew, and although it did not break through the armor, it shifted the center of gravity.

The Destroyer finally spoke, its voice like two iron plates rubbing together. "Son of Odin... you shall fall."

It turned around, spread its arms, and gathered all its energy in its chest, preparing to unleash an even stronger attack.

Ye Mo struggled to his feet, his left arm hanging limply, unable to move. He gasped for breath and looked at Emma Frost: "How much longer can I hold on?"

"One minute. Any longer and I'll have a brain hemorrhage."

"It won't take that long," he said. "I just want to know—was there any signal fluctuation when it said that?"

Emma Frost scans with her eyes closed.

have.

The moment the word "fallen" was uttered, there was a 0.2-second delay in the control signal, as if someone on the remote end was confirming the command.

"There's a flaw," she said.

Ye Mo grinned. "Then you're not invincible."

He looked up at the black giant and whispered, "Loki, you've been hiding your true strength well, but you've forgotten—no matter how powerful a machine is, it's still controlled by a human."

The light on the Destroyer's chest grew brighter and brighter.

Thor stood beside Ye Mo, his back straight despite being covered in wounds.

"If you want war, then I will fight," he said.

Emma Frost floated in mid-air, her Mental Network covering the entire area. The three formed a triangular formation, keeping a close eye on the enemy.

The Destroyer's cannon is fully charged; the beam is about to erupt.

Ye Mo raised his still-mobile right hand and said to Thor, "The second it fires, roll to the left."

"And you?"

"Me?" He smiled. "I'm going to jump forward."