The countdown on the phone screen ticked down to 11 hours and 58 minutes.
Ye Mo slipped the phone into his pocket and lightly tapped the detonator inside his glove twice. The button Tony had pressed earlier had taken effect. The jamming devices outside the estate began operating, cutting off all surveillance signals completely. Now no one could see them or hear them.
He stood up, his black protective suit hugging his body, his sweatshirt's hood hanging down his back. The outfit was no different from what he usually wore, but today it felt especially heavy. He knew that before long, these clothes would be burned to ashes, and he himself would go on living in a different way.
"One final calibration," he said.
Tony looked up from the console. "You really want to do this now?"
"The longer we wait, the more likely something will go wrong." Ye Mo closed his eyes and concentrated. A system notification sounded in his mind: [Biological frequency synchronization initiated].
Using Telepathy, he gradually adjusted his heartbeat and breathing to match the synthetic body's. Tiny beads of sweat seeped from his temples, and his body temperature began to fluctuate-a sign that gene fusion was starting ahead of schedule. His seventh-level ability was awakening, but he could not let his body lose control at this crucial moment.
Stay steady, he told himself.
Three minutes later, the data matching was complete. The screen displayed: [Synchronization rate: 99.7%].
"Done." Ye Mo opened his eyes. "Get me to the roof."
Tony did not move. "Are you sure you don't want to look back? Once you leave, you won't be Ye Mo anymore."
"I already stopped being him," he said. "The moment I decided to fake my death."
Tony sighed, then turned and opened a communications channel. "Helicopter in position. Destination: the top floor of Building A7 in the abandoned industrial zone."
A few minutes later, the unmanned helicopter took off. Ye Mo sat in the cabin as the city lights outside the window sped backward. The wind made the aircraft sway slightly. He stared at the timer on his wrist. Eight hours remained until his ability fully awakened.
Down below, Coulson was leading a S.H.I.E.L.D. team toward the scene. They had received an anonymous report that a suspicious individual carrying high-risk mutant energy had entered an abandoned building. Tony had planted the message through a spoofed channel, making it sound like intelligence leaked by an inside informant.
The helicopter landed on the roof. Ye Mo stepped out of the cabin into stronger wind. He walked toward the detonation point prepared in advance, neatly laid lines of incendiary material beneath his feet. Steel cables stretched between several buildings in the distance. Those had been his originally planned escape route, but he no longer needed them.
He took out a miniature remote and pressed the first button. All the explosives inside the building entered standby mode.
The second button ignited the preheating fuse.
The third button activated the electromagnetic pulse device, instantly blacking out every camera within three hundred meters.
With that done, he retreated to a safe corner and put on his goggles. Rain began to fall, wetting his hair. He did not take cover.
"Tony, I'm ready." He pressed the comm button.
"JARVIS is registering your vital signs as normal," Tony's voice came through. "I'll remotely cut the signal 0.3 seconds before the explosion. Then the whole world will think you're dead."
"Then don't let me die for nothing," Ye Mo said. "Get the news out there."
"Already arranged." Tony paused. "Take care, brother."
The connection cut off.
Ye Mo took a deep breath and pressed the final detonation button.
Boom!
The middle of the entire building suddenly blew apart, flames soaring skyward. The tanks of high-temperature gel fuel ignited instantly, sending the temperature above 1,600°C. Flames spread upward along the steel beams, shooting into the night sky. The synthetic body was hurled into the air and engulfed in flames before it could fall. Fragments of the protective suit scattered in every direction. A bloodstained wrist guard fell into a drain, where a passing homeless man happened to pick it up.
Smoke billowed, and the fire raged. Hidden behind a ventilation duct, Ye Mo quietly watched his own "corpse" burn beyond recognition. The head and fingers were completely carbonized, making it impossible to extract intact DNA. This was exactly what Tony had designed-a clean death, leaving nothing to investigate.
Twenty minutes later, sirens drew closer from the distance.
Coulson led his team into the scene, a portable DNA scanner in hand. Only wreckage remained on the scorched ground. He crouched and collected a sample of charred skin tissue.
The scanner lit up green: [Genetic sequence comparison complete. Match: 99.8%].
"It's him," Coulson said quietly.
An agent beside him asked, "Should we report this?"
"Of course." Coulson closed the device. "Codename 'Ghost Entity 07,' confirmed dead. Notify all departments to terminate the tracking operation."
At the same time, a live news broadcast cut to the scene.
"Breaking news! Ye Mo, the mysterious figure recently active in the Stark Industries incident, is suspected to have died in an experimental accident. According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the building suddenly exploded, and someone fell from an upper floor, triggering an intense blaze..."
The camera turned to a man in a shabby coat. He pointed at the sky. "I saw it with my own eyes! That guy was glowing blue, and then he just went boom! He must've been working on some secret weapon that went wrong!"
The reporter pressed him. "Did you know him?"
"No, but I know he wasn't an ordinary person!" the man said excitedly. "Just a few days ago, he asked me if I'd seen any men in black following him! I said I hadn't noticed, and he gave me ten dollars and told me to be careful!"
The news coverage continued, and the whole city buzzed with discussion.
Meanwhile, deep inside a subway tunnel, a man wearing silver half-rim glasses slowly raised his head. He wore an ordinary black hoodie, his cargo pants were stained with muddy water, and his sneakers rested on the edge of the tracks.
He raised his hand. The piece of metal in his palm was no longer burning hot.
Silence surrounded him, broken only by the occasional sound of dripping water. He swept the area with Telepathy. There were no tracking signals, no listening devices, and no one paying attention to him.
He pulled up his hood, turned, and walked deeper into the darkness.
Behind him, the city lights remained bright. The television kept replaying the news of his "death."
He stopped and glanced back at the ground. A drop of rainwater fell from the pipe overhead into a puddle beside his feet. Ripples spread, blurring the reflected city lights.
He lowered his head and said softly:
"From today on, there is no Ye Mo."