Analyzing Their Moves, Warning of New Danger

The emergency red light was still scanning, like a neon light left on during the New Year, flickering on and off across the mess. Ye Mo sat on an overturned workbench, dried blood still clinging to the tips of his left fingers, while his right hand was stuffing half a compressed biscuit into his mouth. He chewed loudly, but his eyes remained fixed on the scanner in Tony's hand.

Tony crouched amidst a pile of wrecked enemy equipment, his armored left arm dangling, white smoke hissing from the vents, looking like an old man who'd just finished repairing an electric scooter. As he rummaged through the wreckage of the recorder, he muttered, "This batch is definitely not something Killian can afford to maintain—the electromagnetic gun is custom-made, the tactical gear is from a batch of materials that Hydra discarded but didn't destroy, and even the pulse jammer has an encrypted frequency band."

Emma Frost stood between them, her Diamond Form deactivated, but her posture remained ramrod straight, like an unyielding steel bar. After listening to Tony's words, she gave a soft "hmm," her tone as calm as if she were giving a weather forecast. "And their mental resilience training is very professional. The mental shockwave I just released would have collapsed an ordinary person long ago, but they held on for at least seven seconds before starting to kill each other."

"Seven seconds is enough to launch three salvos." Ye Mo swallowed the last bite of his biscuit and clapped his hands. "So the question is—who equipped them? Who taught them the tactics? Who dares to launch a raid of this scale right under Stark Industries' nose?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a soft "ding" sounded in his mind.

[System notification: An unusual conclusion has been detected. Additional information: Although Killian was defeated, he may have been supported by a larger force.]

Ye Mo raised an eyebrow and casually said, "Alright, the system also said this isn't over."

Tony glanced up at him. "You heard 'the system' again? Last time you said it warned you not to eat leftover pizza, and you did, and you had diarrhea all day."

"That's because I didn't listen to it," Ye Mo said matter-of-factly. "This time I listened, and it said there's someone behind it all."

Emma Frost didn't reply. Instead, she walked to the nearest unconscious enemy, crouched down, and gently touched the man's temple with her fingertips. After a few seconds, she withdrew her hand, her brow furrowing slightly. "His memory has been erased, not completely, but all the key information has been wiped clean. Only a code name remains—'X-7'."

"X?" Ye Mo stroked his chin. "What a coincidence. My cheat system is called the X-Gene Resonance System, and their codename also includes 'X.' Could it be my fan club?"

"If you're a fan with that kind of fighting ability, I suggest you call the police first." Tony stood up and threw the pile of scrap metal into the trash can. "But 'X-7' doesn't sound like a military designation; it sounds more like a project codename. Considering the equipment level of this group... I don't believe Killian alone could leverage such a large amount of resources."

"So he's just a front-stage actor." Emma Frost stood up, dusting off her pants. "The real money, the technology, and the training program are provided by someone else."

The air fell silent for a moment. The red light swept across the three faces. The rhythm remained the same, but the atmosphere was different. Just moments ago, there was a sense of relief, as if they had finished their work, but now it was all tense and tense.

Ye Mo looked down at his ribs, which were still throbbing slightly. The impact of the explosion had indeed been quite severe, but he didn't utter a sound. He knew that whoever cried out in pain first would lose in terms of momentum.

"So what do we do now?" he asked. "Wait until they bring Rocket to our door for tea?"

Tony didn't answer immediately, but instead looked at Emma Frost: "Can you check that over there? Like tracing mental links or something?"

"No," Emma Frost shook her head. "These people's memories have been cleanly processed. Forcing them to delve deeper might trigger a pre-set mental trap, which would backfire on me. But I can target individuals with similar thought patterns—if this team has backup forces, they will exhibit similar psychological fluctuations when they act."

"Sounds like an antivirus software updating its virus definitions," Ye Mo interjected.

"Pretty much." Emma Frost glanced at him, "Except I use my brain to run algorithms."

Tony nodded. "Okay, then you'll be in charge of monitoring any unusual mental signals within the city. My armor is down, but the lab's main control system is still usable; I can use satellite data to help you with cross-location. Also, I've already had JARVIS activate the underground protocol to block all data exits related to this incident."

"What about me?" Ye Mo asked, "I can't exactly go out on the street handing out flyers to warn people, can I?"

"You could," Tony said seriously, "Print a batch of 'Watch out, there's a big shot behind you' T-shirts, they'd definitely sell well."

"I'm serious." Ye Mo glared at him.

"I'm serious too." Tony glared back. "You're best at getting to the scene and picking up fragments of abilities. This time, the enemy used new tactical coordination and high-end equipment, which means there's an organization behind it, a plan, and a long-term strategy. If you can encounter these kinds of people again, you might be able to 'suck' something new from them."

Ye Mo touched the Vibranium fragment in his pocket; it was still cold and unresponsive. "The problem is, if they don't come looking for me, where am I supposed to find it? Am I supposed to squat outside the prison gates and hug each escaped prisoner?"

"Don't act like you're so wronged," Emma Frost sneered. "You clearly love to go looking for trouble."

"It was to save lives!" Ye Mo immediately raised his hand. "The system can vouch for that!"

"The system will only help you cover up your lies." Tony rolled his eyes.

The three of them argued back and forth, but they all knew in their hearts that they had won this battle, but the real opponent had yet to show his face.

Ye Mo suddenly raised his hand and made a pause gesture.

"Wait a minute," he said, "Have you noticed a problem?"

"Are you shameless?" Tony guessed.

"No," Ye Mo seriously, "Why did they choose today to make their move?"

"Because my armor is half-crippled today?" Tony retorted.

"Not only that," Ye Mo shook his head, "They knew Pepper had remnants of the Extremis Virus in her body, they knew the lab was conducting reverse stripping, and they even knew the specific points where our defenses were vulnerable. This wasn't a coincidence; it was precise timing."

Emma Frost's eyes narrowed. "You mean... there's a mole?"

"It doesn't necessarily have to be an inside job," Tony frowned. "It could also be that external surveillance is too tight. Our communications, power, and network activities could all be being monitored."

"That's even more troublesome," Ye Mo said in a low voice. "If it's passive eavesdropping, it means the other party's technical capabilities are no less than Stark Industries '; if it's an internal leak, then every word we say and every word we write now may already be known to others."

After these words, all three fell silent.

The red light continued to sweep, and dust particles floated within the beam, like a turbulent galaxy.

After a few seconds, Emma Frost spoke up, "Then let's try a different way of communicating. No internet, no electronic records, all decisions will be made by hand, and information will be transmitted face-to-face. In addition, I can use Telepathy to establish a temporary encrypted channel to transmit key information only over extremely short distances."

"Sounds like a spy movie," Ye Mo grinned. "But I like it."

"What you really like is not having to write reports," Tony retorted.

"Who invented the report? I hate him." Ye Mo said with a tragic expression.

"Don't change the subject," Emma Frost interrupted. "The key point is that we must assume the other side is still observing us. Our next move can't be predictable."

Tony nodded. "Agreed. So I suggest we immediately activate the ' Silent Response Mechanism' —no public alerts, no mobilization of publicly available resources, and no use of official channels. The three of us will form an independent response team, with all actions managed in a closed loop."

"So, you mean pretend nothing happened?" Ye Mo asked.

"Right." Tony squinted. "Let them think we're still celebrating our victory, but actually... we're waiting for them to make another move."

"Then grab the thread and follow the trail," Emma Frost continued.

Ye Mo looked at the two of them and suddenly laughed, "You two are behaving like a couple right now, should I excuse myself?"

"If you want to leave, jump from the third floor." Tony said expressionlessly.

"My ribs are still hurting, I can't jump." Ye Mo shrugged.

Emma Frost ignored their bickering and walked straight to the central control console. She picked up a pen and wrote down a few keywords on a piece of charred paper: Defense Upgrade, Background Investigation, Information Blockade, Reverse Tracking.

She drew a circle around the four words and wrote a big "X" in the middle.

"We'll tackle this from these four angles," she said. "Now is not the time to celebrate, nor is it the time to rest. The real crisis has only just begun."

Ye Mo stood up, stretched his shoulders, and the metallic texture shimmered slightly beneath his skin, his Regeneration abilities still slowly recovering. He walked over, looked at the paper, and suddenly reached out to add a line of small print below the "X":

"--While I'm at it, find out who gave my system that name."

Tony glanced at it and scoffed, "Are you sure it's not you?"

"If I knew how to access the system backend, would I still be starving here?" Ye Mo shrugged. "Maybe one day a notification will pop up: 'Dear user, your system version has been updated. Please pay 998 to unlock the new features.'"

"Scan the QR code to pay, Huabei is accepted." Tony picked up on the joke.

Emma Frost watched the two lunatics bickering even in the face of life and death, her lips twitched almost imperceptibly, and she finally couldn't help but let out a soft hum.

The laughter was soft, like the wind blowing through a crack in the window.

But she smiled.

The three stood around the tattered piece of paper, with broken walls, severed pipes, and the unburied corpses of enemies behind them. The traces of victory remained, but everyone knew that this peace wouldn't last long.

Ye Mo raised his left hand, palm facing up, and a flash of golden light disappeared.

Tony looked at him. "Still keeping some cheat codes?"

"Just a little bit." Ye Mo withdrew his hand. "The fiercer the enemy, the more time I can buy."

"Hopefully next time I won't use that energy to fight for the last piece of steak."

That's not necessarily true.

Emma Frost picked up a pen, crossed out "information blockade" on the paper, and replaced it with "information bait."

She looked up, her gaze cool and resolute. "Next time they come, don't let them know we're waiting."

Ye Mo grinned, his eyes still bearing traces of blood, yet they shone with an astonishing brightness.

"Then prepare the bait," he said. "Let's see who catches whom."