The moment the purple light cone broke, the entire sky seemed to have its power cut off, and the buzzing sound abruptly disappeared.
The Steel Bone Shield behind Ye Mo was still holding on, cracks creeping from his shoulder blades all the way to his waist, like glass struck by a heavy hammer, ready to shatter into pieces at any moment. He braced himself with his left hand on the ground, his right hand pressed against the broken part, his palm burning hot—that was the residual energy in his body pouring into the damaged structure, barely keeping it from collapsing.
"System," he gritted his teeth and muttered to himself, "Mark the source of that energy fluctuation, reverse engineer it, and dismantle it."
[High-frequency resonance signal detected concentrated at the tail nozzle assembly, main energy node probability 93.7%]
As soon as the notification sound in his brain finished, Ye Mo's pupils contracted.
"The tail... is a weak point."
He looked up at the sky. The drone swarm was regrouping, its formation more compact than before, the edges of the light cones tinged with black—clearly, the next wave of attack was imminent. Time was running out.
" Tony!" He jerked his head up, ripped off his blood-stained half-rimmed glasses and tossed them aside, yelling into his earpiece, "Don't shoot the head! Don't sweep the body either! Shoot the tail! Their energy core is in the exhaust nozzle!"
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding against sheet metal, but clear enough.
Three seconds later, Tony's armor hovered 300 meters in the air, and a tracking marker instantly appeared on the HUD.
"Roger!" Tony swiped his finger across the control panel. "Switch to Negasonic Teenage Warhead, lock onto the tail heat source!" He turned and yelled towards the control panel below, " Emma Frost! Cover me for three seconds! I'm going to clear the area!"
At the control panel, Emma Frost sat cross-legged on the floor, her forehead covered in cold sweat and her fingertips trembling slightly. She had just disrupted the enemy's signals with an absurd memory of "a cat eating pizza," and her mind was now like a squeezed-dry lemon, sour, swollen, and empty.
But she heard it.
She closed her eyes, ceasing her all-out attack. Instead, she suppressed her mental energy to its lowest level, like a mouse sneaking into an electric fence, inch her way in along the edge of the signal stream. She released a very weak mental disturbance, mimicking the frequency of one of the drones to blend into the queue, and then abruptly distorted the signal—creating a 0.2-second delay.
Just a fleeting moment.
Tony caught him.
Once the palm cannon was fully charged, a high-energy pulse shot out, heading straight for the tail of the navigator. With a loud bang, the tail nozzle exploded, and the entire drone immediately went out of control, spinning wildly and crashing into two other drones before falling to the ground with several crackling sounds.
"Excellent!" Tony smirked, and the shoulder-mounted missile launchers automatically calibrated. "Target confirmed, weak point effective! Lock on all, armor-piercing mode, prepare for volley fire!"
The aerial formation began to fall into disarray.
The remaining drones instinctively adjusted their formation, attempting to evade the attack, but this only exposed more of their tail angles. Tony's armor activated automatic tracking, and micro-missiles were launched one after another, all aimed at the tail nozzle.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions rang out one after another, and debris fell like raindrops, some hitting the roof with a muffled thud, others crashing into the outer walls and sparking.
Emma Frost is still holding on.
The veins on her forehead were throbbing, her nostrils were flaring, and her mouth tasted bitter. But she didn't back down; instead, she intensified the interference, causing the signals of three drones to become disordered and collide with each other.
"Alright, girl, take a break." Tony looked at the HUD feedback. "Your move was even more ruthless than my coding skills."
"Stop talking nonsense." Emma Frost opened her eyes, panting, "Hurry up and finish cleaning, I'm practically a vegetable."
"Immediately." Tony stared at the last four remaining units, his palm cannon charging again. "Final round, sending you on your way."
The four drones seemed to sense the danger and suddenly accelerated upwards, attempting to escape the firing range.
Ye Mo saw it clearly.
"Don't let them fly high!" he growled, forcing himself to his feet. His Steel Bone Shield was on the verge of collapse, but he still mustered the last bit of energy to lift it upwards, crossing his arms in front of his chest in a defensive stance. " Tony! Keep your attack low! They're vulnerable to dive attacks!"
Tony's eyes sharpened, and he immediately understood. "Got it! JARVIS, activate dive lock mode! Target's tail, full weapon coverage!"
The armored vehicle suddenly swooped down, accelerating to full speed, like a silver-gray lightning bolt slicing into the clouds. The palm cannon, shoulder missile, and wrist Shockwave all struck the tail nozzle with pinpoint accuracy.
Boom!
The last drone exploded into a fireball, tumbling and crashing towards the edge of the city.
The sky fell silent.
There was no buzzing, no purple light, and even the wind seemed to have slowed down.
Ye Mo finally relaxed.
With a "crack," the Steel Bone in his back began to retract, the metal peeling away layer by layer and sinking into his body along his spine. He staggered back two steps, slid down against the broken wall, his chest heaving violently, and another stream of blood flowed from his nose, dripping onto his hoodie collar.
"Finally... some peace and quiet." He wiped his face, his voice hoarse.
Tony landed slowly, his armor bearing numerous scorch marks. His helmet opened, revealing a face covered in oil stains. He glanced at Ye Mo, walked over, squatted down, and patted him on the shoulder. "You're quite the professional meat shield. Could you reserve a substitute next time? I'm afraid if you really get killed, I'll have to collect your corpse."
"Don't worry." Ye Mo grinned, though the grin was a little crooked. "I'm tough. The system won't let me die, and even the King of Hell couldn't take me away in his queue."
"Then why don't you ask the system to give you a damage reduction buff? Stop making us worry about you." Tony stood up and turned to the control panel. " Emma Frost? Is she still alive?"
Emma Frost leaned against the control panel, her hands on her forehead, her face pale, but she opened her eyes. "I'm alive, but my brain is like a broken router right now, it can't connect even if you plug in a cable."
"That's enough." Tony pulled up the satellite imagery. "The enemy signal source has been cut off; it must have been the remote control unit that actively severed the connection. However—" he narrowed his eyes, "They left a clean trail, without leaving a single trace."
"That means they're not a temporary group." Ye Mo caught his breath and looked up at the sky. "They're professionals, they have a plan. If they can't win, they cut in; they never linger in battle."
"So here's the question," Tony said, turning his gaze away, "What are they after? A wave of psychological interference, blowing up a few drones, and they think they can cripple us? That's child's play."
"It's not necessarily about paralysis." Emma Frost recovered and slowly stood up. "It's more like a test—testing our reaction speed, tactical coordination, and even... testing who the main damage dealers are."
The three of them were silent for a moment.
Ye Mo looked down at his still-bleeding fingers and suddenly chuckled, "So they figured it out this time, right? I'm the main attacker, the professional punching bag, and the sideline scapegoat."
"Be modest," Tony patted his head. "Your ability to 'find weaknesses' is the key. If you hadn't figured out that the exhaust nozzle was an energy node, I'd still be blindly scanning with EMP."
"That's all the brain I have left that I can use," Ye Mo said, wiping the blood from his nose. "My body's practically turned into a scrap metal recycling center."
"But you're still standing." Emma Frost walked to his side, her tone calm yet carrying a hint of barely perceptible concern. "And you remembered to remind Tony to lower his attack angle. That means you weren't knocked out, and you weren't scared."
"Of course." Ye Mo looked up at her and smiled. "If I had chickened out, you two would have been roasted like kebabs by now."
"Alright, alright," Tony interrupted. "Save the emotional scenes for the wrap party. Let's deal with the situation on set first."
He opened the communication channel. "JARVIS, scan the distribution of the crash debris, focusing on extracting samples from the tail section. Also, retrieve city surveillance footage and investigate the movement trajectories of all suspicious vehicles and personnel, especially those near the crash site."
[Command executed; preliminary analysis expected to complete within eight minutes]
"Eight minutes?" Ye Mo tried to stand up, leaning against the wall, his legs still a little weak. "By eight minutes, the daylily will be cold."
"So what are you planning to do?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
"What else can I do?" Ye Mo steadied himself, dusting off his pants. "Should I just stand here and grow mushrooms after you've finished investigating? Let's go, before they shut down the server, let's follow the trail."
"You can still run in your current state?" Emma Frost frowned. "Mental exhaustion, your Steel Bone are cooling down, and your Regeneration abilities are almost depleted."
"So I'm not alone." Ye Mo glanced at her, then looked at Tony, "You two, one can fly and the other can read minds, and I'll just keep quiet and drag you down. Perfectly matched."
Tony laughed, "So you're using us as crutches?"
"Otherwise what?" Ye Mo flexed his wrist, the metallic sheen flashing across his skin for a moment. "I'm not Superman, of course I have to rely on my teammates."
Emma Frost took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, her eyes were clearer. "I can access the signal stream again, although the strength is limited, but if they are still using similar equipment, I can detect faint mental remnants."
"That's enough." Tony nodded. "Once JARVIS pinpoints the initial impact point, you'll be in charge of tracking the signal aftershocks, and I'll go to the site to collect the parts. Ye Mo— "
"I know." Ye Mo raised his hand. "I'll be in charge of the dirty talk, and by the way, don't forget to bring me along."
"Let me correct you," Tony grinned, "You're responsible for making sure you don't cough up blood and break down halfway through."
"Try." He shrugged.
In the distance, the wreckage of the last drone, billowing black smoke, landed on the roof of an abandoned substation. The wind swirled the Ashes, like a silent funeral.
Tony looked up at the sky.
The clouds gradually dispersed, revealing a corner of azure blue.
"Let's go," he said.
Ye Mo responded and took a step forward. His steps were a little unsteady, but he didn't stop.
Emma Frost followed, her fingertips lightly pressing against her temples, already searching for invisible traces of signals.
Tony took one last look back at the battlefield—broken walls, scorched ground, and wreckage everywhere.
Then it turned around, the armor automatically deployed, and the thrusters ignited.
The three stood side by side at the edge of the ruins.
The city was not yet fully awake, but they knew the enemy wouldn't wait long.
The next second, Tony soared into the air, Emma Frost closed her eyes and sank into a stream of consciousness, Ye Mo raised his head, looked at the sky that had just returned to calm, and whispered:
"Come on, let's see who's smarter."