The emergency red light finally went out, leaving only a few terminal screens emitting a cold white light in the laboratory. Ye Mo leaned against the wall, took off his tactical gloves and threw them on the table, his knuckles stiff. He had just returned from setting up the resonator, still carrying the dampness of the night wind, and the tear at the knee of his work pants was a little stiff from being soaked in sweat.
Tony didn't look up, his fingers still swiping on the tablet, muttering, "You were gone for seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds, two minutes longer than expected. Either the drill got stuck, or you stopped by the convenience store and bought an energy drink."
"I'll buy a ghost." Ye Mo walked to the bucket, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp. "The drill vibrated when it entered the gap, and I paused for ten seconds to avoid triggering the structural alarm. And—" He paused, wiped his mouth, "I didn't come back the way I came."
"Oh?" Tony looked up. "Why?"
"That trash can on the corner of the back alley has been disturbed." Ye Mo put the bottle back on the shelf. "The lid was open, and there was an empty can inside, but it wasn't the Starbucks type. The fake signal generator I left behind is gone."
Tony's brow furrowed, and he immediately pulled up the surveillance footage. The footage cut to the alley behind Starbucks, and the timestamp showed that ten minutes earlier, a figure in a hoodie quickly approached the trash can, reached in and rummaged through it, and left in less than five seconds.
"That's not the scouting style," Tony whispered. "This is confirmation-based recovery."
"That means they've found the source of the interference." Ye Mo walked to the control panel, staring at the emotional graph Emma Frost had just drawn. "But they didn't explode it, nor did they call the police. Instead, they quietly took the items. Were they testing whether we had any countermeasures, or... did they already know it was fake?"
The two exchanged a glance but neither spoke.
The air was silent for a few seconds until Ye Mo suddenly raised his hand and pressed his temple.
It wasn't pain, nor was it fatigue, but rather an indescribable sense of oppression, as if someone had placed a block of ice on his forehead, cold and heavy, seeping into his skull.
[WARNING: High-level energy fluctuations detected, source unknown, identified as a new attack mode, danger level increased.]
The system notification sound exploded in my head, short and sharp, like the piercing sound of an alarm clock ringing with its last bar of battery.
Ye Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his whole body stiffening.
"What's wrong?" Tony sensed something was amiss.
"Something's wrong." Ye Mo lowered his voice, rushed to the control panel, and slammed his hand on the emergency broadcast button. " Tony! There's movement high up in the sky, not an electromagnetic signal—it's psychic interference! Look at the sky!"
Tony paused for half a second, then immediately switched to satellite imagery. The sky above the city was originally pitch black with low-hanging clouds, but right above Fifth Avenue, a blurry mass of shadows was slipping out from the gaps in the clouds. There were many of them, arranged in an orderly fashion, like some kind of bee swarm.
"A drone?" Tony zoomed in on the screen. "Miniature, I've never seen this model before, no identification code, and we can't detect the power source."
"These aren't ordinary drones." Ye Mo stared at the screen, his temples still throbbing. "They're releasing energy waves, pale purple, invisible to the naked eye, but my system can pick up the frequency. This isn't a physical attack; it's aimed at the brain."
The moment the words were spoken, the first pulse swept across the city.
The city lights flickered collectively, as if there was a voltage fluctuation, but the power wasn't cut off. Pedestrians on the street suddenly slowed their pace; some stopped to look at the sky, while others stood for a few seconds holding onto a streetlamp before continuing. A taxi turning a corner nearly crashed into the guardrail, and the driver swerved to keep it in place.
"Something's not right." Tony pulled up the traffic footage. "This isn't a coincidence; it's a mass reaction delay. An abnormally high neural synchronization rate."
Ye Mo didn't say a word; he was gripping the edge of the table tightly.
In that instant, a jumble of images flashed before his eyes: chalk dust from the elementary school classroom floating in the sunlight, lightning striking down from the dormitory rooftop that day, and Emma Frost lying on the ground with a metal tube inserted into her chest, blood dripping from her fingertips...
He knew none of this was true.
His heart was racing uncontrollably, his breathing became shallow, and he was ringing in his ears as if someone was scraping his head with an iron spoon.
[Neural resonance frequency matching rate 97%, confirmed as a targeted psychological attack. It is recommended to avoid direct contact and prioritize protecting central consciousness.]
The system beeped again.
Ye Mo gritted his teeth, shook his head forcefully, and shook off the illusions. He looked down at the back of his hand; the veins were slightly bulging, and his fingertips were trembling a little.
"It's not random firing." He caught his breath. "It's targeting a specific frequency, targeting people like us with superhuman sensory abilities. Ordinary people only experience a brief moment of disorientation, but we... we'll be drawn in."
"You mean, it specifically targets vulnerable minds?" Tony quickly activated the protection protocol. "JARVIS has already blocked external frequency bands; the armor system won't be interfered with. But what about you? Can you withstand it?"
"I can still do it now." Ye Mo grabbed the water bottle and took another gulp. The cold water slid down his throat, slightly calming the restlessness. "But if it happened again, I can't guarantee I'd still be able to tell which side is reality."
Tony stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly reached out and pulled open a panel on the wall, entering a password. A portable brainwave monitor, equipped with headphones and sensors, slowly descended from the ceiling.
"Put it on," he said. "I don't want you to suddenly pass out and then have to get someone to do CPR."
Ye Mo didn't refuse, took the device and put it on. A series of fluctuating curves immediately appeared on the screen, with a clear distortion in the middle, as if someone had drawn a line hard with a pen.
"Your alpha and theta waves are severely imbalanced," Tony frowned. "This thing isn't just creating hallucinations; it's inducing you into a hypnotic state. Go a little deeper, and you'll actually believe those images are real."
"So they want us to panic?" Ye Mo ripped off his headphones. "First, they let you see your teammates betray you, then they make you think the mission has failed, and finally you give up? Pretty cunning."
"Not only that," Tony said, pointing to the satellite image. "Look at the positions of those drones. They're moving, but not flying in a straight line. They're forming a circular array, with our building right at the center."
Ye Mo squinted and saw that, sure enough, more than a dozen microcomputers were distributed at different heights, slowly rotating around the building like satellites, releasing a pulse every thirty seconds, gradually expanding the coverage area.
"This isn't a test," he whispered, "It's an encirclement. They're waiting for the perfect frequency match, then they'll unleash full power all at once."
"Then let's not wait." Tony turned and walked towards the equipment area. "I'll activate the Mark 42 and take down these flies first."
"No!" Ye Mo stopped him abruptly. "Didn't you understand? This isn't a missile, nor is it an EMP; it's targeting consciousness. Even with armor, your head will still be exposed. And—" He pointed to the ceiling, "These drones are too small and too scattered; the palm-sized cannons can't possibly take them all out. By the time you clear half of them, the rest will have already synchronized."
Tony stopped in his tracks, his gaze darkening.
"So what are you planning to do? Sit here and wait for it to brainwash you?"
"I'm not waiting." Ye Mo looked back at the main screen, staring at the pale purple pulse ripples. "I'm observing. Since it can affect me, I can definitely 'absorb' fragments from it. As long as I get hit one more time, I can obtain its gene fragments."
"Are you crazy?" Tony glared at him. "You want to let someone brainwash you just to upgrade your abilities?"
"It's not like this is the first time I've done something like this." Ye Mo grinned, though his smile wasn't quite natural. "Last time I absorbed Wade's Self-Healing, I even deliberately got stabbed. This little pain is nothing."
"You were given anesthesia beforehand that time," Tony sneered. "This time, it's a direct attack on your nervous system. You might end up in a vegetative state."
"The system will remind me of the limits." Ye Mo patted his head. "Although it doesn't speak, it never hesitates at crucial moments. Besides—" He paused, looking at the increasingly tight array of drones on the screen, "Since they dared to use this tactic, it means the person behind Killian has other cards up their sleeve. If we can't even withstand this round, we'll have no chance to turn the tide later."
Tony stared at him, offering no further rebuttal.
He knew Ye Mo was right.
I know I can't stop them.
He could only turn around and bring up the armor activation program, muttering under his breath as he typed in the commands, "If you really go crazy, I'll throw you into Las Vegas as a street performer, with tickets that say 'Real-life Mad Scientist'."
"Okay." Ye Mo leaned against the control panel, closed his eyes, and said, "Remember to give me a flashing headgear; that'll definitely attract more fans."
As soon as he finished speaking, the second pulse arrived.
Even stronger than before.
Ye Mo suddenly arched his back, his hands gripping the edge of the table so tightly his knuckles turned white. The scene flashed before his eyes again: this time he was running down a corridor, explosions erupting behind him, Emma Frost calling his name, but he couldn't hear her. Then the scene shifted, and he was standing on a high platform, holding the Infinity Gauntlet, facing Tony, whose face was filled with disbelief. "Why did you do this?"
"It wasn't me..." he managed to squeeze out a few words, "It's fake... Don't believe it..."
[WARNING: Neural load has reached a critical level. Immediate exit from the attack range is recommended.]
The system beeped for the third time.
Ye Mo didn't move.
He persevered, dissecting the images one by one: the background color was too saturated, the lighting and shadows were illogical, and the characters' movements were delayed. They were all flawed.
He knew this was an attack.
He knew that this was the "fragment of power" he needed.
Just hold on for three more seconds.
Three seconds is enough.
The pulse has ended.
He slid to the ground, his forehead covered in cold sweat, blood from his nose trickling down from the corner of his mouth, staining his black hoodie with a small dark red smudge.
"Got it?" Tony strode over and knelt down to examine his pupils.
Ye Mo raised his hand, wiped his face, and nodded, panting, "Hmm... I inhaled it. A new mental interference module, it hasn't been named yet, but it can create false memory implants at the consciousness level. It's impressive, but it consumes too much energy, I guess it won't last long."
"How are you now?"
"My head hurts, I feel nauseous, and just looking at your face makes me want to punch you." He slowly stood up, leaning on the table. "But my mind is still clear. I haven't been washed."
Tony breathed a sigh of relief and was about to speak when the main screen suddenly flashed.
The drone array stopped moving.
All machines turned towards the laboratory at the same time.
The pale purple light waves began to converge, no longer scattering, but condensing into a cone-shaped beam pointing straight to the top of the building.
"They've locked onto us." Ye Mo looked up at the ceiling, his voice hoarse. "The third wave is coming. This time it's a full-force attack."
Tony grabbed the communicator. "JARVIS, activate the Electromagnetic Deflection shield! Power off all non-essential systems and concentrate power on the protective layer!"
"It's useless." Ye Mo shook his head. "Shields can't stop this. This is a mental impact that directly penetrates matter; physical barriers can't block it."
"Then what's your plan?"
Ye Mo did not answer.
He simply stood there, his hand resting on the corner of the table, his eyes fixed on the cone of light on the screen, unblinking.
He knew he couldn't avoid it.
He knew he had to catch it.
He raised his hand and gently pressed it against his temple.
It's like they're preparing for battle.
It's like waiting for fate to strike.