Ye Mo stared at the screen; the signal point 300 meters to the north had disappeared. It wasn't blocked; the transmission was complete. He didn't move, his palms pressed against the table; the scorch marks had cooled, but his fingertips were still slightly numb.
Emma Frost stood on the other side of the control panel, her eyes closed, her Mental Network maintained at the lowest power scan state. She suddenly opened her eyes. "The high-altitude energy fluctuation has reappeared, this time even shorter, less than 0.1 seconds."
"Confirmation feedback," Ye Mo said. "They know we stopped, and they assume we believed them."
"So what do we do now? Keep playing dead?"
"Playing dead for too long will make you rot." Ye Mo stood up, walked to the safe in the corner, entered the password, and took out a small black device. This was a quantum encryption communicator he had bought from the Stark Industries black market, with a one-time key that would be destroyed after use.
"You want to contact Tony?"
"It's not just a need, it's a must." He placed the equipment into the electromagnetic shielding box and turned on the power. "If we wait any longer, the opponent will have set up the chessboard. We need to seize a move, even if it's just Feint."
Emma Frost frowned. "Aren't you afraid this is another trap?"
"I'm afraid," Ye Mo, plugging in his earphones, "But I'm even more afraid of doing nothing."
He pressed the dial button and waited for the call to connect. Three seconds later, he heard a soft ringing sound from the receiver.
"The usual spot has a power outage," Ye Mo said. "The circuit diagram needs to be redrawn."
"The transformer is ready," the other end responded immediately. "Which wire do you want to connect?"
"Don't answer yet." Ye Mo glanced at Emma Frost. "I have two people on my end, so the signal needs to go through dual-channel encryption. Can you switch to a separate satellite link on your end?"
"Cut it off." Tony's voice turned serious. "We just shut down the main AI control unit; we're using the backup server now. What's the situation on your end?"
" Loki's matter isn't over," Ye Mo said. " Thor came and said some things that sounded true, but we discovered that the information had been tampered with. Not memory alteration, but induced release."
"Oh?" Tony paused for a moment. "You mean, someone planted a playlist in his head?"
"Pretty much," Emma Frost chimed in. "Every detail he mentioned matches the data from Loki's psychological experiments three years ago. This isn't a coincidence; it's a pre-planned script."
"So you suspect the whole 'Truth Reveal' was part of a plan?" Tony's voice lowered. "This is starting to sound like one of S.H.I.E.L.D..'s old tricks."
"It's even more ruthless than that," Ye Mo said. "At least S.H.I.E.L.D.. would make up a fake story. This is using the truth as a knife, forcing you to put it to your own throat."
A brief silence.
Then Tony spoke up, "What are you guys planning?"
"A two-pronged approach," Ye Mo said. "On the surface, you release a smokescreen, find a pretext to release some false intelligence, like ' Loki's hideout has been discovered.' On the covert side, we'll remain still and wait for their second move."
You want to go fishing?
"Not only that." Ye Mo tapped the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance map around the base. "Since they can use memory as a trigger, they might use other channels next time. What we need to do is make them think that everything is proceeding normally, when in reality we have changed the rules."
Tony chuckled. "You've finally learned to fight with your brain."
"I used to be afraid of dying quickly," Ye Mo leaned back in his chair, "Now I'm afraid of dying stupidly."
"Okay," Tony said. "I'll arrange it right away. But there's one condition—the key must be changed every seventy-two hours, calls must not exceed two minutes, and names, locations, and times are not allowed to be mentioned."
"Agreed." Ye Mo looked at Emma Frost. "She's responsible for monitoring for anomalies in the mental layer; once an encrypted pulse is detected, she'll cut off communication."
"You even brought an anti-hacking device?" Tony asked, sounding a little surprised.
"She's more effective than a firewall," Ye Mo said. "At least she won't be emotionally manipulated by a virus."
The three briefly joined the conference mode, sharing known information. Ye Mo didn't Thor Thor's original words, only discussing the technical aspects: abnormal memory waveforms, signal feedback structure, and geomagnetic reading deviations. Emma Frost added the pulse characteristics of the telepathic signal, noting its extremely low frequency but with nested encryption. Tony retrieved high-altitude energy records from the Stark satellite network, corroborating the existence of the brief telepathic signal.
"There is indeed someone remotely controlling it," Tony said. "And their methods are very sophisticated, like those of a specially trained psychological warfare expert."
" Asgard has people like that," Ye Mo said, "But this time the method is more modern, more like a mix of magic and technology."
"That's troublesome," Tony said. "I don't understand magic, but I do know one thing—the truth is easier to fool than lies."
"So we can't trust any intelligence that's 'sent to our doorstep,'" Emma Frost said, "No matter how plausible it may seem."
"Yes." Ye Mo nodded. "From now on, all external information must be tagged three times: who said it, how they said it, and why they said it at this particular time."
Tony scoffed, "This sounds like paranoid, but I know that sometimes the madman is the last one to wake up."
"We're not crazy," Ye Mo said. "We just don't want to be puppets."
The plan was set.
Tony is in charge of creating chaos. He will release an "urgent scientific breakthrough" news item in the name of Stark Industries, implying that he has key clues to Loki's next move. Once the news is released, it will inevitably attract attention from all sides, including the mastermind behind the scenes. The real information flow will be tracked in reverse by Ye Mo and Emma Frost through the Vibration Pile Network.
"If they're activating the program through 'cognitive synchronization,'" Emma Frost said, "Then our reaction is the key. We have to act like we 'believe,' but actually do the exact opposite."
"Acting?" Tony asked.
"It's not acting," Ye Mo corrected, "It's a setup. We're making them think we're following a script, but we've already torn it up."
"That was a pretty underhanded move," Tony said. "I liked it."
"You're not bad either," Ye Mo said. "I still remember the time you pretended to be controlled by Obadiah and then blew him up like fireworks."
"I spent a lot of money repairing the armor that time," Tony said. "If you make me lose money this time, I'll put it on my tab."
"If you win, it's yours," Ye Mo said. "If you lose, it's on me."
"Make a deal."
The call was coming to an end.
Tony asked, "Do you need support? People, equipment, or just send a drone?"
"Not for now," Ye Mo said, "But this path must remain open. Next time we contact each other, don't use the current key."
"Understood," Tony said. "I will send the new protocol coordinates 24 hours in advance. Once you receive them, please send back a confirmation code."
" Emma Frost can handle mental interference," Ye Mo said. "You also need to be careful on your end, make sure the AI doesn't automatically synchronize data streams, to prevent the implantation of subconscious commands."
"Okay." Tony's voice turned serious. "This isn't as simple as fighting aliens before. This time, someone's playing mind games."
"So we need to be even more careful," Emma Frost said. "A single word, a single image, could be the fuse for a bomb."
"I know," Tony said. "I'll keep an eye on it."
The call has ended.
Ye Mo unplugged the device, smashed the chip, and threw it into the waste bin. Emma Frost closed her eyes, re-established her Mental Network, this time narrowing its range and focusing on near-field fluctuations.
"Do you think Tony can handle it?" she asked.
"He has a sharp tongue, but he never breaks his promises." Ye Mo sat back down at the control panel. "And he knows that this time it's not about saving the world, but about preventing someone from secretly rewriting its history."
He opened the encrypted notebook and created a new log entry:
[Dual-track response activated. Overt disinformation has been deployed, while covert monitoring is on standby. All external input is considered a potential threat and is subject to a three-tiered filtering standard.]
A system notification sounded: [A high-risk information gaming environment has been detected. It is recommended to disable unnecessary direct neural connections.]
"You're quite concerned about things," Ye Mo said in a low voice.
"What did you say?" Emma Frost opened her eyes.
"I'm arguing with the system." He took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "It's always trying to control how I use my abilities."
"So, will you listen to it?"
"Occasionally," he said, putting on his glasses, "But mainly because I'm too lazy to explain."
The base returned to silence.
The equipment operates with a low, continuous noise.
Ye Mo tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his rhythm steady. His gaze fell on the screen, where the log records that had just been cleared were being overwritten by new data. A faint signal from the earth's veins quietly flowed into the vibration pile network, originating from 180 meters to the southeast.
He did not check immediately.
Instead, I waited five seconds before slowly moving the mouse to zoom in on the waveform.
The frequency is very low and the structure is simple, unlike an attack signal.
More like... a test.
Emma Frost suddenly looked up. " The Mental Network detected a brief fluctuation, like someone gently knocking on the door."
"It wasn't knocking," Ye Mo, staring at the screen, "It was feeling for the keyhole."