Tony's finger was still hovering over the launch button, and Ye Mo's breath caught in his throat. The technicians below the steel frame were tightening screws around the mothership's energy core, and no one looked up. Sunlight slanted down from the broken roof, casting intermittent streaks of light on the metal floor, like old film strips slashed by a knife.
Just then, a man wearing goggles suddenly looked up at the sky.
Ye Mo's pupils contracted—that guy wasn't looking at the equipment, he was looking at the edge of the shadows where they were hiding.
"Oh no," he whispered.
Before he could finish speaking, the red alarm lights at the four corners of the factory suddenly went off with a "whoosh," and a sharp buzzing sound instantly filled the entire space. Tony cursed, and the armor system automatically switched to combat mode, a flash of blue light from the charging palm cannons appearing on his chest.
"The plan has changed!" Ye Mo pressed his hand against the Steel Bone tissue still flowing back down his side, wincing in pain. "Now we have to force it!"
He closed his eyes and plunged into the depths of his consciousness, causing the 19th floor of the Gene Spiral Tower to tremble violently. The notification sound of [ Lightning Control - Initial Fragment] had barely rang out when he forcibly pulled out the power chain. His fingertips were numb, and his palms felt like they were stuffed with two leaky AA batteries, crackling loudly.
"Don't tell me you're only now learning this move!" Tony growled as he locked the miniature armor-piercing rounds onto the fuel tank at the bottom of the mothership.
"My first real battle!" Ye Mo gritted his teeth and pushed forward with both hands.
High-voltage current surged out in a fan shape, like a blue spider web covering the enemy on the ground. The three guards closest to the energy station didn't even have time to scream before they convulsed and collapsed, their pulse rifles emitting black smoke. The current traveled along the metal supports, burning through the circuit boards of two defensive turrets, and explosions rang out one after another, with flames shooting up to the ceiling with a "boom".
"Good heavens, are you risking your life to test your skills?" Under the cover of the explosion, Tony ignited his thrusters and dove, launching a salvo of shoulder-mounted missiles that accurately hit the stern interface of the mothership. The violent shock shook the entire factory, and several rusted load-bearing columns groaned under the strain.
Ye Mo didn't reply; his ears were ringing from the electrical overload. His Regeneration abilities hadn't recovered yet; that attack had almost drained his last bit of energy reserves. He leaned against the edge of the steel frame, panting, blood dripping from his nose onto his work pants, staining them a dark red.
"Are you alright?" Tony landed and rolled, dodging a burst of bullets, and then used a backhand palm strike to wipe out the three people in front of him.
"I won't die." Ye Mo wiped his face. "But next time, could you please trigger the alarm when I've eaten and slept enough?"
"You think I want this?" Tony sneered. "It's your lousy frame that's letting in the draft; your shadow's practically plastered on my face."
The two men leaned against a broken crane boom, temporarily avoiding the barrage of fire. Inside the factory, chaos reigned. The remaining enemies reacted swiftly, donning insulated combat suits to launch a counterattack. Some even activated their built-in EMP shields, enduring the electric current as they pushed forward.
"They're going to restart the control system!" Ye Mo caught a glimpse of a technician inserting a data card into the mothership's main control panel, and a countdown appeared on the screen: 04:58.
"Then don't let them touch that thing." Tony pulled up the JARVIS tactical analysis diagram. "The fuel tank is down to its outer shell; two more rounds and it'll detonate."
"The question is, can you even hit them?" Ye Mo stared at the enemy's formation. "The middle three layers are all riot shields; your penetration isn't enough."
Tony squinted. "So you need to clear the area for me."
Ye Mo grinned. "You really dare to say that."
He once again sank into his consciousness, forcibly activating the conduction mode of Lightning Control. This time, instead of spreading in a fan shape, he concentrated the current into the metal support beneath his feet. The ground instantly became electrified, and more than a dozen enemy personnel who were advancing were all electrocuted, their movements stiffened, and some even knelt on the ground convulsing.
"Now!" Ye Mo shouted.
Without hesitation, Tony fired three miniature armor-piercing rounds from his shoulder, all hitting the weakest point in the fuel tank. With a deafening roar, a fireball shot into the air, and the heat wave sent six or seven people flying. The mothership tilted and collapsed, smashing through half a wall and billowing thick smoke.
"Done?" Ye Mo rubbed his forehead, his vision blurring.
"It's not that simple." Tony stared at the monitor. "The self-destruct program didn't stop, it was just delayed. And..."
Before he could finish speaking, a muffled thud came from the underground passage.
A dark figure leaped out of the breach, moving with inhuman speed. The figure landed silently, enveloped in dark purple mist that even absorbed the firelight from the ground into its shadow. He raised his hand and caught a stray bolt of electricity from Ye Mo with his bare hands, then flicked it back, sending a wave of dark energy crashing down like a tidal wave.
Tony deployed his shoulder shield and was forced back three steps, a crack appearing in his left arm armor. Ye Mo fared even worse; blood trickled from the corner of his mouth and began to seep from his ears when he crashed into the wall behind him.
"What the hell is this..." He tried to stand up, but found that his ability to Lightning Control was being interfered with by something. The arcs of electricity in his palms flickered and he couldn't gather them together at all.
[Unknown energy frequency detected, Lightning Control enters a brief period of disorder] -- The system notification sound was as faint as an alarm clock running out of power.
The man approached slowly, his footsteps making no sound on the scorched earth. His eyes were lifeless, as if veiled in a layer of gray film, and when he spoke, his voice seemed to rise from the bottom of a well. "You think... destroying a machine is enough?"
Ye Mo squinted at him, scanning his fluctuations with his Basic Perception. This was not a simple superpowered individual, but more like some kind of mental devourer, yet also mixed with physical energy corrosion, eroding everything it came into contact with like a virus.
"Are you one of Killian's?" Tony stepped in front of him, his armor recharging, and his palm cannons blazing with a blinding light.
"Legacy," the man said softly, "He is the starting point, I am the end point."
As soon as he finished speaking, he waved his hand again, and dark energy condensed into chains that rushed towards him. Tony activated his full-power shield and simultaneously called JARVIS to scan for weaknesses, but the signal was cut off as soon as it was sent.
"Communications are jammed," Tony gritted his teeth. "Now we have to rely on ourselves."
"I'm used to it." Ye Mo finally steadied himself, wiped the blood from his nose, and leaned against the broken wall, panting. "Anyway, I never expected high technology to save my life."
The man approached step by step, and the lights in the factory began to flicker, as if even electricity refused to illuminate their duel. Tony and Ye Mo stood with their backs against the broken wall, forming a pincer movement, neither of them moving.
The air was still.
Suddenly, the man raised his hand, and a swirling ball of dark purple energy condensed in his palm. The temperature plummeted, freezing even the flames into black crystals.
Ye Mo's heart tightened. His Lightning Control was still unstable, but he could sense that if he tried one more time, he might be able to find a breakthrough.
Tony quietly moved his hand toward the hidden weapon slot, preparing for a desperate last stand.
At that very moment, Ye Mo suddenly noticed that when the other party released energy, a faint electrical current pattern flashed across the side of their neck—like some kind of implanted device was operating.
" Tony!" he hissed, "He's not a pure Mutants, he's a cyborg! His weakness is on the right side of his neck!"
Tony's eyes sharpened, and he instantly adjusted the angle of his palm cannon.
The man seemed to sense something was wrong and suddenly turned around.
But it was too late.
Tony's beam grazed his shoulder, missing a vital spot but causing the energy sphere to vibrate violently. Ye Mo seized the opportunity, forcefully squeezing out the remaining electrical energy within his body, and unleashed a short, high-voltage arc with his palm.
"Sizzle--"
Lightning collided with darkness, bursting forth with blinding white light.
The man staggered backward, a look of pain appearing on his face for the first time.
"So you feel pain too." Ye Mo panted, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I thought you were an invincible zombie boss."
The man didn't speak, but slowly raised his hand, and mist enveloped his entire body once more.
Tony asked in a low voice, "Can we still fight?"
"What do you think?" Ye Mo flexed his wrist, the metallic sheen beneath his skin faintly visible. "I'm basically a walking power bank now—not much power, but quite temperamental."
In the center of the factory, the fire gradually subsided, leaving only the beeping of an electronic countdown timer.
The man stood amidst the smoke and dust, like a demon god about to awaken.
Ye Mo and Tony stood side by side, neither of them taking a step back.
The next second, darkness surged in again.