The emergency escape light was still flashing, casting flickering light on the three people's faces. Ye Mo stepped onto the ground, his back slamming against the metal wall, panting as if he had just finished a marathon. Tony carried Pepper forward a couple of steps, his steps unsteady, and the thrusters on the armored shoulders emitted a puff of white smoke before shutting down.
"Damn... this armor-piercing device failed me at the crucial moment." Tony cursed under his breath, gently placing Pepper on the medical stretcher. Her face was pale, her lips were cracked, but her chest was still rising and falling, so faintly that it was almost invisible.
Ye Mo tried to stand up, leaning against the wall, but his legs gave way and he almost knelt down. His head was buzzing; the lightning strike felt like it had turned his brain into soy milk. He raised his hand to wipe his face; his palm was covered in sweat and felt sticky.
"Is she still alive?" Tony suddenly asked, his voice low, as if afraid of waking something.
Ye Mo didn't answer, closing his eyes and activating the system's perception. A few seconds later, a "ding" sounded in his mind, and a mechanical voice announced, "Weak brainwave activity detected. Vital signs have not ceased. Immediate intervention is recommended."
"Still alive." Ye Mo opened his eyes. "His heart is pounding like crazy, his breathing is almost stopped, but he hasn't stopped breathing."
Tony stared at Pepper's face, his fingers lightly tracing her forehead—a touch far too gentle for a hot-tempered tycoon who reportedly detonates missiles every day. "Can she be saved? Tell me the truth."
"Ask that now, it's pointless." Ye Mo leaned against the wall and slowly moved over. "If you really care about her, stop asking nonsense and go turn on the monitoring device over there."
Tony paused, glanced at him, didn't refute, and turned to leave. The portable terminal in the corner of the medical pod lit up with a blue light, and the data stream began to scroll. The heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature curves were all jumping wildly, especially the body temperature—51.3 degrees Celsius, which was still climbing.
"Is this a human or a pressure cooker?" Tony gritted his teeth.
Ye Mo walked to the stretcher and reached out to feel Pepper's neck; it was alarmingly hot. He frowned, and the system in his mind beeped again. "Host detected in a near-death state. Activation of the Regeneration module recommended to temporarily maintain vital functions."
" Regeneration?" Ye Mo was taken aback. "I've never tried that thing before."
"The system provides options, not explanations." The mechanical voice was completely flat.
He looked down at his palm. He hadn't used the " Tissue Regeneration " fragment he'd absorbed before. He'd supposedly gotten it from the scene of an accident involving a Self-Healing Mutants. The mutant had been blown halfway off, yet he was still able to get up and walk a few steps—it was quite a sight. Now that he thought about it, maybe that's how he survived.
"Let's give it a shot." Ye Mo took a deep breath and placed his hands on Pepper's chest.
The moment her palm touched him, a surge of heat flowed from within her, and a pale golden halo seeped into her fingertips. Pepper's body trembled violently, and the breathing curve on the monitor suddenly straightened, then with a "beep," returned to its slight fluctuation.
"There's a response!" Tony immediately turned around.
Ye Mo didn't speak, but sweat was already beading on his forehead. This move was even more exhausting than lightning; it felt like someone was drawing blood from his veins with a tube. But he dared not let go, slowly pumping Regeneration energy in, like inflating a leaky tire.
A minute later, Pepper's breathing finally stabilized. Although she was still burning up, she no longer seemed on the verge of suffocating. The red glow under her skin was also less active, as if it had been suppressed by something.
Ye Mo gritted his teeth and persevered, but his vision began to darken. The Regeneration energy was like a bottomless pit, dwindling with each infusion, and his body grew weaker and weaker. He could sense that this ability wouldn't last much longer.
"Alright... stop for now," Tony suddenly said. "If you keep going, you'll die before she does."
Ye Mo ignored him, held on for another ten seconds, and then slowly withdrew his hand. He fell backward and slumped to the ground, leaning against the wall and panting heavily, his throat tasting of rust.
"She's out of danger," he said in a hoarse voice, "But that thing inside her is still burning."
Tony crouched down to check Pepper's vital signs, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. "Her temperature is still extremely high, her muscles are twitching, this virus hasn't stopped."
"Of course it hasn't stopped." Ye Mo raised his hand to wipe away sweat. "I can keep going for a while, but not for long. This virus isn't an ordinary disease; it's rewriting cell structure. Its Regeneration ability can only be suppressed, not eradicated."
Tony paused for a few seconds, then stood up, walked to the terminal, and pulled up the data he had just collected. "Then let's find out exactly what it is."
Ye Mo looked up at him. "Have you calmed down?"
"What can I do if I don't stay calm?" Tony said without turning his head. "Cry? Shout? Or hold her and wait to die? She's alive now because someone risked their life for her; I don't want her life to be in vain."
Ye Mo twitched the corner of his mouth but didn't say anything.
Neither of them moved; the only sound in the silence was the ticking of the medical equipment. After a while, Tony turned and handed them a bottle of water. "Have some."
Ye Mo took the bottle, unscrewed it, and gulped down half of it. The coolness slid down his throat, and his mind cleared up a little.
"You just saved her twice," Tony said, leaning against the table, his voice lowered.
"The first time was when you brought her out, and the second time is now?" Ye Mo smiled. "But I feel... this is just the beginning."
"I know," Tony said, looking at Pepper on the stretcher. " Killian won't stop here; he definitely has a backup plan."
"So we have to race against time." Ye Mo crushed the empty bottle and threw it into the recycling bin. "Since Regeneration can't eliminate the virus, we have to find another way. I sensed it just now; that thing was moving around in her cells in a regular pattern, like a program command."
"You mean... this virus is coded?" Tony's eyes lit up.
"Almost." Ye Mo slowly stood up, leaning against the wall. "We need to analyze the data to see if we can find any loopholes or trigger points. Once we understand the logic, we'll have a chance to counterattack."
Tony nodded, turned around, and brought up the data panel: "I've synchronized her biological signals; heart rate, nerve conduction, and metabolic rate are all being recorded."
Ye Mo walked over and stared at the waveform on the screen. The undulating lines contained information, like the 0s and 1s in code. He squinted for a moment, then suddenly tapped on a certain abnormal frequency. "Here, a pulse every 17 seconds, like a timed wake-up mechanism."
"Yes, I noticed that too." Tony zoomed in on the data, "But it's not random; it's linked to her adrenaline levels."
"Triggered by emotional fluctuations?" Ye Mo frowned. "Wouldn't that mean the more tense you are, the more dangerous it becomes?"
"That's right." Tony turned off the screen. "So we can't let her get agitated, at least not now."
Ye Mo stood there, glancing at Pepper, who was still unconscious, and then at the terminal. He knew that what followed was not something that could be solved by ability alone. Regeneration could only buy time; the real solution would require intellect.
"The system not beeping doesn't mean I'm out of options," he said softly. "Since we can sense virus activity, let's use our eyes and our hands to investigate."
Tony glanced at him. "How are you planning to try? Poke her with a syringe?"
"I know what I'm doing." Ye Mo walked to the control panel, opened the encrypted folder, and said, "First, export all the physiological data and create a simulation model. If we're lucky, we can reproduce the virus's behavior in a virtual environment."
"Then what?"
"Then let's see what it's afraid of." Ye Mo pressed Enter, and a progress bar appeared on the screen. "High temperature? Low temperature? Electromagnetic waves of a specific frequency? Or some kind of chemical substance? There's bound to be a weakness."
Tony didn't ask any more questions. He silently walked to Pepper's side and took her hand. Her fingers were burning hot, but they were still moving, as if she were dreaming.
Ye Mo continued operating the terminal, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard. The Regeneration ability was still cooling down, and the system was unresponsive, but he no longer cared. At this moment, he was no longer the transmigrator who only wanted to live a peaceful life, nor was he the excuse king hiding behind the system.
He is Mr. X.
He's the guy who rescues people from the ruins, covers the rear on the battlefield, and snatches lives from the brink of death.
Now, he's determined to save people to the very end.
The lights in the medical pod stabilized and stopped flickering. The sounds from the instruments became regular, like some kind of metronome. Ye Mo stopped what he was doing, took a deep breath, and looked at the screen.
Data loading complete.
Virus model, starting to run.