Ye Mo stared at the countdown on the screen; 31 minutes became 30. He didn't move, his hands still in his pockets, clutching the cold Vibranium fragment. The system notification sounded in his mind, "' Preventive Measure Alpha ' Modules are running normally, no abnormal access."
That's a nice way to put it. But he knew that smooth data flow didn't necessarily mean smooth-sailing hearts.
Tony's words, "Firewalls and Telepathy have a slight frequency conflict," kept replaying in his ears. Technical problems can be isolated, but what about human issues? One relies on code, the other on intuition, and the other on divine power—if a real fight breaks out, who will listen to whom?
He pulled up the meeting log and flipped to the feedback record after the exercise. Tony suggested raising the AI warning threshold and reducing human intervention; Thor advocated for forward deployment of the Valkyrie troops to clear the area immediately upon detecting anomalies; Emma Frost emphasized that the authority to capture ambiguous signals should be retained, even if the false alarm rate is high.
Three people, three different approaches.
Ye Mo opened the shared screen and pasted the three solutions side by side. He didn't write any comments, only added a title, "Reference for Response Modes under Different Threats". Then he initiated a four-person communication request.
Emma Frost answered first; in the video, she was sitting in the center of a quiet room, her eyes just opened. Tony followed closely behind; in the background, a robotic arm in a laboratory was adjusting armor parts. Thor was the last to log on; a flash of lightning appeared, and he stood on the palace steps, his cloak still billowing.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked. "Wasn't the agreement going perfectly well?"
"That's good," Ye Mo said, "But I need to confirm whether we're one team or just four independent systems temporarily put together."
Emma Frost raised an eyebrow. "You suspect there's a problem with the team's coordination?"
"I don't doubt the results." Ye Mo pointed to the sand table replay, "Three simulated intrusions, the process was completed, and no one made any mistakes. But the optimization directions you proposed were completely different. I want to know why each of you thought that way."
Tony immediately spoke up, "My logic is simple. Uncertainty is the biggest flaw. You let AI automatically identify abnormal flows; it won't get tired, it won't get distracted, and it certainly won't sound an alarm just because it 'feels wrong.' No matter how strong Emma Frost's brain is, it has its ups and downs. What if she happens to be emotionally unstable that day and makes a misjudgment?"
Emma Frost sneered, "So your solution is to turn me off like a sensor?"
That's not what I meant.
But this is how you do it.
Thor interjected, "Your mortal machines can't even accurately predict the wrath of God of Thunder. When the storm comes, warriors should go to meet it, not wait for the data to be calculated before deciding to draw their swords."
"So, are you planning to lead your troops straight into Earth's atmosphere next time?" Tony rolled his eyes. "Don't forget who cleaned up your mess last time."
"That's enough," Ye Mo interrupted. "We're not here to argue."
The three of them fell silent. The atmosphere froze.
Ye Mo got up and walked to the console, tapped a few times, and displayed the cooldown progress of " Invisible Infiltration Protocol " on the main screen: 8 minutes remaining.
"This is a combination technique I just came up with," he said. " Neural Silence + Wall Phasing Technique + Spatial Perception. Theoretically, it can achieve complete invisibility and infiltration. But it has a problem—it can't be maintained for long. Once the time limit is exceeded, the cells will disintegrate. I tried it once and almost ruined myself."
He paused for a moment. "So I need you guys. Tony's technology can help me monitor the situation, Emma Frost's senses can remind me when to retreat, Thor's powers can open a passage to rescue me at crucial moments. But we must trust each other's operational rhythm. If Tony thinks Emma Frost's warnings are false alarms and chooses to ignore them; or if Thor thinks the time is right and acts prematurely—then this tactic will collapse immediately."
No one spoke.
"I'm not trying to unify your thinking," Ye Mo said, looking at them. "I want to know, in an emergency, what do you prioritize believing? System prompts, intuitive reactions, or battlefield instincts?"
Tony was the first to answer, "I believe in the data."
Emma Frost: "I trust my own judgment."
Thor: "I believe in that moment in the battle."
Ye Mo nodded. "Okay. Then I'll remember what you said."
He turned off screen sharing, archived the meeting conclusions as "Reference Strategy Library," and labeled the type as "Dynamically Enabled, Called by Threat Level."
Before the communication ended, he said, "Next time a real war breaks out, I will choose the mode based on the actual situation. You can raise your disagreements, but you must keep up with the action."
Tony gave him one last look. "Fine. But I'll still harden the system my way."
Emma Frost whispered, "You let them speak, but you've already decided whose side to listen to."
Thor patted the screen, like on the shoulder. "Brother, war isn't a drill. Don't let code hold you back."
The images disappeared one by one.
Ye Mo sat back in his chair and shut down all external interfaces. He opened his private document and typed a sentence: "The strongest shield often cracks due to internal stress, not external attacks."
He stared at the sentence for two seconds, deleted the punctuation, and changed it into a declarative sentence.
He then accessed the nineteenth level of the Gene Spiral Tower and checked the status of the " Invisible Infiltration Protocol." The cooldown was 6 minutes remaining. He didn't use it immediately, but instead set it to "Final Means Trigger Condition"—only to be activated when the team's decision-making reached an impasse.
This is his trump card, and his last line of defense for the team.
He didn't know which future action would be stalled due to ideological differences, but he had to be prepared.
My phone vibrated. It was a message from Emma Frost: "Do you remember what you said when we first met?"
He thought back. He had waited outside the Hellfire Club for three days, finally waiting for her to appear alone. He stepped out of the shadows and his first words were, "I know what you're afraid of."
Now he replies to her, "I remember."
"But now you're starting to scare me about something else."
Which one?
You're becoming more and more like a humanoid system.
Ye Mo stared at the message for a long time without making a move.
He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. When he put them back on, his fingers lingered on the frames for an extra second.
He then opened the base's surveillance system and switched between different areas. Emma Frost had already left the meditation room and headed towards the training area. Tony was still adjusting the equipment, the robotic arm repeating the same motion. Thor's figure disappeared from the Bifrost, and the scene cut back to the empty palace steps.
Everything is normal.
He then accessed the defense protocol backend to check the triggering logic. Once the temperature of the Vibranium fragment changes by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius, the system will respond within 0.3 seconds. Too fast and it will be detected; too slow and it will be too late. He set this value himself.
He confirmed it was correct and prepared to continue monitoring the countdown.
Just then, the fragment in my pocket suddenly felt cold again.
It took longer than before.
He didn't pull his hand away, nor did he look up; he simply squeezed it gently.
The number on the screen jumped to 28 minutes.
He pressed the communication button and reconnected the three-person channel.
"That meeting isn't over," he said. "We need to talk again."
Tony's voice came through. "Now?"
"The sooner the better."
Emma Frost asked, "What are we going to talk about this time?"
Ye Mo looked at the piece of metal and said softly, "Let's talk about what we should do if we become a threat to each other."
Thor paused for a few seconds. "You've already started thinking about this kind of thing?"
I've been thinking about it.
He released his hand, leaving a shallow mark on his palm.
The countdown continues.
27 minutes.