Ye Mo's hand was still clutching the Vibranium fragment, the vibration in his palm continuing, like a tiny hummingbird fluttering within his bones. He didn't let go, nor did he look up; he simply rubbed his chin against his hoodie collar and said in a low voice, "He knows."
Tony was adjusting parameters in front of the holographic projection, his fingers flying across the screen. Hearing this, he paused for a moment but didn't turn around. "Who knows? Stop playing guessing games. I don't have time to play your suspenseful short drama right now."
" Killian." Ye Mo finally looked up, his eyelids heavy, as if he had just emerged from a high-intensity mental battle. "That afterimage wasn't an illusion; it was a signal he deliberately sent. He's testing the stability of the mental link—in other words, he's realized we're watching him, and he doesn't intend to hide."
Tony then turned around, his gaze shifting from the screen to Ye Mo's face, then glancing at the scorching fragment in his hand. He frowned. "So this is a two-way live stream? You're here watching him burn someone, and he's over there watching you frown?"
"More or less." Ye Mo flipped the fragment over, placing it face down on the edge of the control panel. "And the fact that he's not afraid of being exposed means the plan has progressed to an irreversible stage. I just reviewed the virus activity waveform, and there were three slight resonances with the suppression frequency of the Anti-Extremis Armor, with an error of less than 0.7 seconds. This thing is already synchronizing and calibrating the attack rhythm."
Emma Frost's voice came from the corner, as calm as a chilled glass. "In other words, he's not preparing an attack, he's already carrying it out."
They both looked at her at the same time.
Emma Frost sat on the sofa, legs together, hands folded on her knees, eyes closed, a thin layer of sweat on her forehead. Without opening her eyes, she continued, "I just tested the limits of Telepathy. The signal can penetrate three concrete walls, but it breaks down under high-frequency interference. If Killian truly uses the virus spread as the core of his tactics, he can't stop it with individual efforts alone. He doesn't need to win; he just needs to blast a hole, let the carriers infiltrate the population, and he can cover half the city within three hours."
Tony clicked his tongue, walked to the control panel, and slammed his fingers down on the keyboard twice. The heat map immediately zoomed in, locking onto the abandoned industrial area in the southeast. Six heat sources were concentrated in the central building, and the temperature curve rose in a stepped manner.
"Current monitoring shows that there are at least six individuals inside with high fevers, all with body temperatures exceeding 39.5 degrees Celsius." He spoke faster, "One more degree and they're at the critical point; these people could spontaneously combust at any moment. The problem is, if they really rush into the city, should I use armored vehicles as a shield or intercept them directly from the air? I can't just call them all out and ask, 'Did you take your medication today?'"
"You don't have to act the whole thing by yourself." Ye Mo rubbed his temples, his head still buzzing, as if he'd just been tossed around in a washing machine. "We have intelligence, equipment, and experience now. What we lack isn't combat power, but a response mechanism. It's too stupid for the three of us to just camp out and wait for this level of biohazard threat."
"So your suggestion is?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Recruit people," Ye Mo said decisively. "Not call for help, but activate a collaborative network. Connect all trusted combat nodes and establish a shared early warning system. We'll handle front-end tracking, while the others will defend the perimeter. Once anyone breaches the defenses, we'll immediately launch a multi-pronged interception."
Tony was about to retort when Emma Frost opened her eyes first.
"I support it," she said.
Tony was stunned. "When did you two plan this together?"
"There was no collusion." Emma Frost stood up and walked towards the control panel, her steps steady beyond what one would expect from someone who had just used high-intensity Telepathy. "I'm just making this judgment based on past experience. The Hellfire Club used a distributed detonation strategy against the Mutants resistance—activating twelve targets simultaneously in a city, forcing them to divert resources for rescue. We won then, not because of superior firepower, but because our information network was a fraction of a second faster."
She tapped the red zone on the screen with her fingertip. " Killian's current approach is essentially the same. He's not afraid of us finding him because his real weapons aren't here, but somewhere we can't see them. If we don't expand the response level, we're essentially letting him set the rules and play his own game."
Tony stared at her for two seconds, then turned to look at Ye Mo, and finally sighed, "So now we're going to create an ' Avengers WeChat group'? And name it 'Who's on Duty Tonight'?"
"The name can be a bit plain," Ye Mo grinned, "But the functionality has to be solid. Encrypted channels, real-time location tracking, automatic threat level push notifications—whoever is online takes the order. We don't give orders, we just synchronize information. Whoever wants to move, goes."
"Sounds like an outsourcing project," Tony said, stroking his chin. "But... it's not impossible."
He turned around and brought up the system interface again. With a swipe of his finger, more than a dozen encrypted communication ports popped up. "I have backup frequency bands here, and I can even add dynamic frequency hopping protection. S.H.I.E.L.D..'s old channels are unusable; that old man Fury is investigating internal moles more thoroughly than he's investigating takeout receipts lately. But we can set up our own private network without any problem."
"Don't make it too complicated," Ye Mo reminded him. "The key is speed. Killian won't give us time for long meetings. We're defining the framework now, and we'll refine the details as we go."
"Let's keep it simple then," Emma Frost continued. "The name will be ' City Guardian Response Plan,' codename CSR. Level 1 alerts will automatically trigger a notification to all personnel; levels 2 and below will be responded to autonomously by the regional supervisor. The three of us are the initial nodes; subsequent members will need to undergo dual verification."
Tony scoffed, "You really think you're a project manager?"
"Someone has to write the PowerPoint presentation," Emma Frost replied dismissively. "Otherwise, how are you going to explain to others why we suddenly need to team up for a dungeon run?"
Ye Mo couldn't help but laugh out loud, "She's right. We're not selecting heroes right now, we're building a platform. Anyone can come, and everyone who comes will have work to do. We're not afraid of having too many people, we're just afraid of losing contact."
Tony stared at the screen in silence for a few seconds, then suddenly raised his hand and pressed the confirmation button heavily on the control panel. A string of green codes scrolled rapidly, and more than a dozen offline signal points lit up one by one.
"Okay," he said. "The private network is set up, and the encrypted channel is enabled. I've already pushed the CSR Protocol to all trusted terminals. Now it's just a matter of who goes online first to claim the task."
Emma Frost nodded, closed her eyes again, and began trying to connect to the new channel. Her breathing gradually became steady, and the veins on her forehead throbbed slightly, clearly indicating that she was expanding the coverage of her Telepathy.
Ye Mo leaned against the control panel, remaining silent. He looked down at the Vibranium fragment; the temperature had stabilized, but the internal vibrations continued, the frequency perfectly matching the previously detected signals. He knew that Killian was also waiting—waiting for an opportunity, a breakthrough, for them to reveal a weakness.
But things are different now.
They are no longer passive hunters, but those who begin to weave their webs.
Tony walked over, handed him a bottle of water, and adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses. "You've been pushing yourself too hard. Don't push yourself too hard. If a fight breaks out, I'll be counting on you as my human radar."
"Then you'll have to get me a power bank." Ye Mo took the water, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig. "Otherwise, if I lie down during halftime, don't blame me for not warning you."
"Don't worry," Tony patted him on the shoulder, "You won't die, at most you'll have to make a couple more trips to the bathroom."
The two exchanged a glance, neither of them smiling, but the atmosphere eased for a moment.
Just then, Emma Frost suddenly opened her eyes.
"The first response has arrived," she said, her voice soft but clear enough, "Authentication successful, access successful."
Tony immediately looked at the screen, where a codename popped up in the lower right corner: [ God of Thunder-Thor ].
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow. "This fellow is quite quick."
"He's been online the whole time," Emma Frost said. "His signal hasn't dropped since the day Loki was captured. It's just that no one initiated a call to arms before."
Ye Mo looked at the flashing name, said nothing, and simply put the Vibranium fragment back into his pocket and gripped it tightly.
He knew this was not the end.
This is just the beginning.
More signals lit up one after another, slowly but steadily. Some hadn't responded yet, some were verifying, but the network was already taking shape.
Tony returned to the projector and continued adjusting the defense parameters. With a flick of his finger, the activation sequences of several backup armor sets were quietly activated.
Emma Frost sat back on the sofa, closed her eyes to maintain the communication test, and gently pressed her fingertips against her temples, as if listening to some whisper that only she could hear.
Ye Mo stood still, his gaze fixed on the constantly updating data stream on the main screen. The enemy's location was clear, their motives were gradually becoming clear, and the path to counterattack had been laid out.
He didn't feel relieved.
It actually got tighter.
Because he knew that any semblance of peace could be shattered in the next second.
But they must establish a firm foothold before that.
The laboratory lights were dim, the machines hummed softly, and the red dot on the screen flickered on and off, like a heart that refused to stop beating.
Ye Mo raised his hand, flexed his knuckles, and made a soft click.
He didn't speak, but just stared at the red area until a faint blue light flashed at the edge of his vision—a notification of a new signal.
He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.
Just then, the Vibranium fragment in my pocket suddenly felt hot.