The moment Ye Mo's back slammed against the wall, it felt like three of his bones had been broken by a hammer. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and blood gushed out. He slid down against the wall, half-kneeling on the ground. His vision was blurry; the laboratory lights appeared as white dots in his eyes. He could still hear a buzzing in his ears—was it the armor overload alarm, or had his eardrums ruptured? He couldn't tell.
Tony hovered in the air, his armored shield flashing red, clearly nearing its limit. Killian stood still, his body spewing crimson flames, his skin cracking, the fissures gleaming with a lava-like light, like a madman crawling out of a boiler. He slowly turned his head to look at Ye Mo, a grin spreading across his face, revealing charred teeth.
"It's over," Killian said, his voice sounding like it was being squeezed from a red-hot iron pipe. "You can't last a second time."
After he finished speaking, he slammed his right foot off the ground and charged forward like a cannonball, his fist, coated in intense heat, aimed straight for Ye Mo's face.
But in that instant, Ye Mo's mind went "ding".
It wasn't the usual mechanical female voice used for system notifications; this time it was a deep male voice, languid, like a security guard on night duty. "Severe trauma detected. Emergency repair protocol activated."
Before Ye Mo could react, he felt the tearing sensation in his chest suddenly stop. He looked down and saw that the flesh torn open by the shockwave on his shoulder blade was turning outwards. The blood was still wet, but the edges had already begun to glow with a golden-red light, as if countless tiny threads were automatically stitching it back together. The muscle fibers were reconnecting one by one, and the broken ribs made a slight "click" sound as they returned to their original positions.
"Damn it..." he muttered, trying to stand up by pushing himself up with his hands. His handprints were still bloody, but when he lifted his hand, the wound on his palm had mostly closed up.
Killian's fist was only half a meter from his face, the heat making his eyelashes curl. Ye Mo didn't dodge, but instead looked up and smiled, blood still smeared on his teeth. "Hitting me is like charging me up?"
A fist struck his left shoulder.
The skin and flesh were charred and cracked, and smoke was billowing out. But just as the cracks widened to their maximum size, the golden-red light threads reappeared, shrinking back towards the center as if they were alive. In less than a few seconds, new skin grew out, leaving not even a scar.
Killian was stunned.
Not only him, but even Tony in mid-air froze for a moment, his armor's scanner spinning wildly. " JARVIS, record this bio-reaction data... This is completely unscientific."
"You only realize it's unscientific now?" Ye Mo stood up, shook his arms, and cracked his neck. "You should have known sooner. I'm not alive today because of luck."
As soon as he finished speaking, he slammed his right leg against the ground, shooting forward like a bullet. The electric arc re-condensed between his palms, the blue-white current crackling and dancing brighter than before.
Killian reacted quickly, raising his hand to unleash a heat shockwave. Ye Mo neither dodged nor evaded, but instead raised his left hand, sending out an arc of electricity that forcefully cleaved the heat wave in two. The shockwave sent his hair flying wildly, but he didn't stop, rushing to Killian's side in the blink of an eye, and punching him in the abdomen with his right hand.
"Bang!"
Killian was knocked back two steps by the blow, but his skin was thick and tough, and that force couldn't break through his defenses at all. He sneered and slapped Ye Mo in the chest with his backhand. The high temperature was instantly conducted, and the clothes were burned through.
Ye Mo was sent flying backward, rolling twice upon landing. When he stood up, his chest was charred black. But in less than three seconds, new skin began to sprout, and flesh surged, as if a miniature 3D printer was working underneath him.
"No matter how fast you Regeneration, your energy will eventually run out," Killian gritted his teeth. "I don't believe you can hold on indefinitely."
"I don't believe it either." Ye Mo wiped his face and grinned. "But I do believe it—we can afford to wait, but you can't."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly sidestepped Killian's elbow strike, grabbed the man's wrist, and slammed it to the ground. At the same time, he thrust his right knee into Killian's ribs with force.
"Click!"
The sound of bone cracking was clearly audible.
Killian groaned, his expression finally changing. He looked down and saw that his third rib on the left was visibly dented, the skin and flesh torn open, and what was seeping out was not blood, but a greenish tissue fluid. He tried to use his thermal energy to repair it, but the wound seemed to be cursed, healing extremely slowly, and even widening.
"Your body is rejecting the virus." Ye Mo released his grip, took a half-step back, and arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips. "But I—the more I fight, the more energetic I become."
Tony adjusted his angle in mid-air, switching his armor to high-energy pulse mode. " Ye Mo, stop showing off and charge in!"
"Here we come!" Ye Mo responded, and with a burst of speed, he charged forward again.
This time, he didn't take the blow head-on, but instead targeted Killian's old injuries. He punched Killian's left elbow joint, and an electric arc exploded along the muscle, instantly filling the air with a burnt smell. Killian roared and swung his hand to retaliate, but Ye Mo used the momentum to roll around to his side, and suddenly pushed out compressed electric arcs with both hands, slamming them into Killian's lower back.
"Boom!"
Amid the explosion, Killian fell to one knee, large sections of muscle peeling away from his right leg to expose charred tendons underneath. He tried to push himself up, but his left arm was twisted and deformed, making it completely useless.
"Didn't you evolve?" Ye Mo stood in front of him, looking down at him. "Weren't you supposed to be the starting point of a new species? How come you can't even stand up straight?"
Killian was panting heavily, the red light in his eyes flickering. He suddenly looked up, roared, and the remaining viral energy in his body surged wildly, causing the flames around him to flare up again.
"I can still burn—" he said in a hoarse voice, as if he were squeezing it out from his throat.
"Sure, go ahead." Ye Mo shrugged, arcs of electricity dancing in his palm. "Anyway, every time you burn, I live a little longer."
Tony locked onto his target in mid-air, his Palm Cannon fully charged. " Ye Mo, get out of the way."
Ye Mo dodged away.
"Boom--!"
The high-intensity energy cannon struck Killian directly in the back of the neck, the explosion throwing him to his knees, his head nearly hitting the ground. A shallow crater was blasted into the metal floor, and all the surrounding instruments shattered, sparks flying everywhere.
Killian struggled to lift his head, but his right leg was completely useless; the muscles hung on the bone like mud, and he couldn't move it at all. He braced himself with his left hand, his fingers digging into the metal plate, his nails cracking and bleeding profusely.
"You... can't win..." His voice was weak, but he was still trying to hold on, "I'm not the only one in this Extremis..."
"I know." Ye Mo squatted down, staring at him, "But today, it's you who fell."
He raised his hand, and an arc of electricity condensed into a ball, hovering above Killian's head.
" Tony," he said without turning his head, "Don't you think my abilities are heaven-defying or not?"
Tony's armor slowly descended, landing behind the two. His shield value was low, but his weapon systems were functioning normally. He glanced at the arc of electricity in Ye Mo's palm, then at Killian, who was nearly falling apart on the ground, and whispered, "Your ability is too overpowered."
"This is our advantage." Ye Mo smiled, and the electric arc slowly descended.
Killian's pupils contracted; he wanted to dodge, but his body wouldn't obey him. He could only watch helplessly as the blue-white bolt of lightning approached, a wave of heat washing over him, his skin burning and blistering.
Ye Mo didn't kill him. The electric arc ball hit his shoulder, and the explosion only made him roll to the side, adding another scorch mark to his back. He lay on the ground, breathing heavily, his arm twitching, but he could no longer stand up.
"You lost." Ye Mo stood up, brushing the dust off his pants. "And you lost pretty badly."
Tony walked over, his armored arm transforming, his palm cannon aimed at Killian: "What do we do now? Detain him? Interrogate him? Or send him straight to S.H.I.E.L.D.."
"Let him cool off first." Ye Mo flexed his wrist, an electric arc flickering at his fingertips. "We'll talk again once he's recovered."
He turned to Tony, smiled, and said, "Next time, don't wait until I'm coughing up blood before you make your move. Cooperate a little."
"That was a tactical delay," Tony said matter-of-factly, "Giving you room to prove yourself."
"Fine, you take your tactics." Ye Mo rolled his eyes. "Then you stay suspended, I'm going to take a break."
After he finished speaking, he leaned against an undamaged control panel next to him, crossed his legs, and slowly channeled electric arcs into his palms. The alarm was still ringing in the laboratory, the temperature was high, and the air was filled with the smell of burning and the stench of green blood.
Killian lay motionless on the ground, only his chest rising and falling slightly, a testament to his continued life.
Tony glanced up at the hole in the ceiling; the drone's red dot was still hovering outside. He whispered, " S.H.I.E.L.D.. signal is in place. Someone will come to clean up in half an hour."
"Then let's wait." Ye Mo squinted, looking up at the gray sky outside the breach. "Anyway, I'm not in pain anymore, I can still do ten more rounds."
He had barely finished speaking when his right hand suddenly twitched. The electric arc flickered and almost went out.
He looked down and saw that the skin on his palms was slightly warm, as if his Regeneration abilities were entering a brief cooling-off period. He frowned, said nothing, and simply put his hands in his pockets.
Tony glanced at him. "What's wrong, almost out of power?"
"No problem," Ye Mo grinned. "Just five bars will do."
He leaned against the control panel, motionless, the electric arcs dancing slowly between his palms, as steady as breathing. In the center of the laboratory, Killian lay sprawled on the ground, his limbs contorted, his heat output unstable, his breathing heavy. Tony hovered in mid-air, his armored shield flashing, locked onto his target. Ye Mo stood still, his position unchanged, electric arcs flowing, his vigilance unwavering.
The battle is not over, but the initiative has already shifted.