Ye Mo's finger was still suspended in mid-air, the gesture of pushing forward seemed to be etched into the night wind. He didn't put it down, but instead gripped the Vibranium fragment in his pocket even tighter—it was now as hot as a piece of charcoal just pulled from the furnace.
"Green light," he said again, his voice lower but more steady than before.
Tony's armored engine hummed, as if in response, or perhaps talking to itself. The next second, the steel figure suddenly rose high, tracing a low arc, heading straight for the eastern outer wall of the base. Ye Mo didn't look at him again, turning and rushing towards the maintenance ladder at the edge of the rooftop. His footsteps thudded against the metal, but he couldn't afford to take cover—time was tight; if Tony moved, the enemy would move, and he had to get inside before the alarm sounded.
The ventilation opening was located on the third-floor exterior wall, sealed by a layer of gray-green alloy mesh. The mesh was as fine as a burglarproof window, with evenly distributed weld points, clearly a design resistant to physical damage. Ye Mo took a breath and pressed the Vibranium fragment to his temple. In that instant, his vision suddenly cleared, and the thermal imaging image reappeared: there was a slight temperature difference at the joints of the protective mesh, and the intersection of the two horizontal bars in the lower right corner was 0.3°C lower than other areas, obviously the location that cooled the fastest during welding and was the most brittle.
"Okay, here it is." He said softly, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The headache returned, this time like needles pricking his brain. He ignored it, took a deep breath, and activated his " Steel Bone Body."
The sound of bones hardening was like screws being tightened inside his body. His right arm rapidly grew thicker, the contours beneath the skin bulged, his knuckles swelled, and his shoulder blade felt as if it were being forced open from the inside. Before it was fully formed, he took a running start and slammed his shoulder into the lower right corner of the protective netting.
"Bang!"
The metal mesh tore apart with a sharp, screeching sound. Ye Mo was thrown into the pipe by the inertia, his back slamming against the inner wall, the impact sending shivers down his spine. He immediately curled up, held his breath, and pressed his ear against the metal pipe wall to listen for any sounds.
No one shouted.
There was no alarm.
But he knew this was just the beginning.
The inside of the pipe was dark and narrow, allowing only one person to crawl through. The thermal imaging was still working, but the image had begun to shake, with snow-like afterimages appearing at the edges. He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again, his vision barely returning. There was a fork in the road five meters ahead; the left passage was colder, while the right had a faint airflow. He chose the left—the lower temperature meant less foot traffic, and also meant it might lead to a non-core area, where defenses were lax.
He started climbing.
The movements were slow, each step beginning with Steel Bone Transformation fingertips to test the resonance. Areas that were too loud were avoided, hollow sections were slid along the edge, and where unavoidable sections were, the body was lowered, and elbows and knees were used to inch through. As they climbed to the third corner, a sudden explosion was heard in the distance, followed by continuous artillery fire.
Tony made his move.
Ye Mo immediately stopped, shrinking into the shadows around the corner, and looked up at the gap in the pipes above. Through the gap, he could see the night sky illuminated by firelight, and several red and blue streaks exploding in the air—the automatic turrets on the outer perimeter of the base were firing. Tony's armor tumbled in the air, his palm cannons firing in rapid succession, each shot hitting the joints of the turrets precisely, making those metal lumps crackle and smoke.
"You're really making a scene," Ye Mo muttered under his breath, but he didn't let his guard down. He knew that a firefight of this scale couldn't possibly go unnoticed by the internal guards. Sure enough, a burst of static came through his earpiece, followed by the sound of patrol boots on the concrete floor, approaching from afar.
Two teams patrolled alternately.
He estimated the time; a three-second gap—that was enough.
As the footsteps drew closer, he slid to the end of the pipe, kicked open the vent baffle, and flipped himself down. His knees buckled when he landed, and he almost collapsed. He gritted his teeth and held on, rolling behind a pile of abandoned cooling units. He leaned against the metal casing, barely daring to breathe.
Two guards carrying lanterns walked by. One of them looked up at the ventilation duct and muttered something, while the other waved his hand and continued walking. Ye Mo didn't move until their shadows completely disappeared at the end of the corridor before slowly raising his hand and pressing the Vibranium fragment against the vein on the inside of his wrist.
The body surface temperature dropped.
Thermal imaging showed that the outline of the heat source on his body had faded. Infrared scanning couldn't detect it, and dust monitoring couldn't detect his footprints—he was now like an appliance that had just been turned off, only residual warmth remained.
"System, if you can hear me, I owe you a barbecue." He took a breath, wiped his face, and began to observe his surroundings.
This is the maintenance area. Destroyed robotic arms and broken cables are piled against the walls, oil stains are on the floor, and the air smells of rusty metal. Fifty meters ahead is a corridor with a sign that reads "B-3 Experiment Preparation Area." Beyond that should be the core area. Thermal imaging shows two mobile heat sources in the corridor, presumably fixed sentry posts.
He cannot force his way in.
We can't wait.
He stared at the corridor, trying to recall the route he had memorized while crawling. The maintenance floor had three main passageways, two visible and one hidden—the hidden one was for the maintenance robots, no more than eighty centimeters wide, but it could get around to the back of the experimental area. The problem was that the section of pipe was black in the thermal imaging earlier, probably because it was shielded.
"I'll give it my all," he said in a low voice, crawling out from under the cooling unit and moving forward along the wall.
Take three steps, then stop and glide along the wall.
He tapped the ground with the tip of his Steel Bone finger to test the Echo before each step. If the sound was too loud, he would tiptoe, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet. When he reached the second cover, the thermal imaging suddenly went black, plunging him into complete darkness. He immediately closed his eyes, waited five seconds, and then opened them again. The image returned, but it was already blurry.
"I'm almost at my limit..." He gritted his teeth and sped up.
Ahead was the access door to the secret passage, the cover ajar, with a rusty wrench beside it. Just as he was about to reach for it, he suddenly heard footsteps overhead—not on the ground, but in the mezzanine above the ceiling.
Someone is patrolling.
He withdrew his hand, crouched in the shadows, and stared up at the ventilation grille in the mezzanine. The footsteps grew closer, followed by a beam of light sweeping across the ground. He held his breath, suppressing his heartbeat to its lowest point— his Steel Bone State could lower his heart rate and control his body temperature; as long as he didn't move, he could dodge it.
The beam of light moved away.
The footsteps faded into the distance.
He had barely breathed a sigh of relief when Tony's voice suddenly came through the earpiece, hushed. "I've cleared the eastern flank. How's it going on your end?"
Ye Mo didn't speak, but simply tapped the microphone twice with his finger, producing two short "beep" sounds.
"Understood." Tony paused. "I've drawn a lot of fire; the control room probably already knows someone's in. You need to hurry."
Communication lost.
Ye Mo didn't reply, his gaze falling on a sealed passageway marked "B-7" ahead. The access control was flashing a red light; it was an electronic lock that required an access card or password to crack. The back door of the core laboratory should be at the end of the passageway.
He slowly approached, pulled a multi-tool from his back, and prepared to remove the panel. Just as he squatted down, the thermal imaging flashed again, this time the blackout lasted even longer. He closed his eyes and waited for it to recover, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
When he opened his eyes, his vision was skewed to one side, like an old television with a bad signal. He shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate. The access control panel appeared as two images in his eyes. He reached out to touch it, but instead touched cold metal—not the panel, but a gun barrel.
He jerked his head to the side and caught a glimpse of a guard who had somehow moved to his side, his gun pointed directly at his head.
The two stared at each other for a second.
Ye Mo didn't move, nor did he draw his sword.
He simply raised his left hand slowly, making a "pause" gesture, then pointed to his temple and then to his headphones.
The guard paused, then subconsciously glanced at his communicator.
It's this very second.
Ye Mo's right hand flashed out like lightning, the utility knife plunging into the back of the opponent's knee. At the same time, his left shoulder slammed into the man, the Steel Bone Transformation impact sending him sprawling to the ground. He didn't follow up with a strike, but instead pounced on the access control panel, prying open the casing in three quick movements and pulling out two wires to short-circuit it.
"Drop--"
The red light turned green.
The door opened.
He slipped inside, slammed the door shut behind him, and leaned against it, panting heavily. The headache was no longer like being pricked with needles; it felt like an electric drill was drilling a hole in his brain. The thermal imaging was completely black; closing his eyes didn't help.
But he knew he was already inside.
The B-7 corridor was pitch black, with only the faint green glow of the emergency lights. He felt his way forward, each step feeling like walking on cotton. After walking a dozen meters, a heavy alloy door appeared ahead, marked "Core Laboratory - Authorized Personnel Only".
He stopped and took out a fragment of Vibranium from his pocket.
It's still hot.
But he can no longer use Thermal Vision.
He stuffed the shards back into his pocket, raised his hand and knocked on the door, listening for the Echo. It was empty; no one was guarding it. But he dared not go in rashly.
The static noise started playing in my headphones again.
Then came Tony's voice, panting. "I crashed through a load-bearing wall and am now in the armory on the second basement level. Half the power is out, and the surveillance cameras should have been down for thirty seconds. Where are you?"
Ye Mo remained silent.
He tapped the microphone twice more.
This time, the voice was softer than before.
He turned around, leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. His headache made him nauseous, the Steel Bone State were starting to wear off, and his arms felt sore and swollen. He knew he couldn't wait any longer.
He pulled a miniature jammer from his tactical belt and attached it to the signal receiver next to the access control. Three seconds later, the door lock clicked open.
He stood up and grasped the doorknob.
No push.
He's waiting.
Let's wait until Tony makes a bigger fuss.
Once the guards were all drawn to that direction.
Waiting for the perfect moment.
Another explosion was heard in the distance, and the ground trembled slightly.
He took a breath, pulled his goggles down a bit, and rested his fingers on the doorknob.
He didn't know what was behind the door.
But he knew he had to go in.
He turned the handle.