The vibranium fragment burned in Ye Mo's palm like a piece of red-hot iron, its heat constant, without pulses or pauses. He stared at the red line splitting ever deeper, closed his fingers, and quickly slipped the fragment into the electromagnetic shielding box he carried, snapping it shut with a click.
It was as though some of the air had been drawn out of the training chamber. The silence was so complete they could hear the rhythm of each other's breathing.
One last round, he recited inwardly, sending the thought directly into Emma Frost's mind. Failure is not an option.
Emma stood where she was without speaking, only nodding slightly. She understood what this meant-all their previous tests had left them a way out. The system would provide prompts, and the data streams could be disguised. But now, the enemy was already closing in on their doorstep, and its surveillance methods had been upgraded enough to penetrate false signals. The only way to respond was to sever the connection completely.
Ye Mo walked to the main console, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and brought up a hidden module. A red warning appeared on the screen: [Ultimate coordination simulation: silent mode]
[Description: disables all external sensory assistance, including Thermal Vision, Telepathy feedback, and environmental scanning. Retains only basic biological sensing. Mission objective: infiltrate and destroy the core node. AI pursuers ×6, upgraded equipment, dynamically learning behavior patterns.]
He pressed confirm.
The lights went out, and space warped. A second later, they stood in the middle of a ruined street beneath torrential rain. Acid rain stung their faces slightly, explosions rang out in the distance one after another, and the trembling ground made it difficult to keep their footing.
[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
Emma closed her eyes for a second and extended her psychic power-only to find nothing. The system had severed her sensory feedback channel, reducing all perception to zero.
She opened her eyes and looked toward Ye Mo. He was looking at her too, his gaze calm.
[3, 2, 1-begin!]
The first wave of attacks erupted overhead. Three drones detonated electromagnetic pulse bombs high above them. The instant the harsh light flashed, Emma instinctively turned translucent from head to toe, entering Diamond Form and taking the shock wave head-on.
Two AI pursuers flanked them from either side, carrying concussion guns designed specifically to target mutant energy fluctuations. She was about to send a message when she realized the system had forcibly blocked their mental connection-at this moment, neither could hear the other's voice.
But she remembered the rules.
Heartbeat. Posture. Signals.
She drew a deep breath, lowered her center of gravity, and let her fingertips glow faintly, signaling an advance to scout ahead.
Ye Mo remained still, his ears catching changes in the wind, his gaze fixed on a crack in the collapsed building ahead. He sensed a heartbeat quicken twice before returning to a steady rhythm-their agreed signal for "found an opening."
He knew she was waiting.
The next second, he took three steady steps forward without looking back. This was an order to move: I'll take point. Cover me.
Emma immediately followed, a crystalline layer slowly emerging across her back to form a defensive barrier. Sure enough, an ambush waited on the rooftop to their right. A high-energy beam skimmed past her shoulder, leaving a charred hole in the wall.
Ye Mo kept moving without stopping. He watched the frequency of Emma's movements out of the corner of his eye to gauge her stamina. When her steps grew slightly heavy, he deliberately slowed by half a beat, buying her time to adjust.
They passed through an underground passage. The moment they stepped out of the exit, an alarm blared. Five AI pursuers converged from different directions, two carrying sonic jammers specifically designed to suppress sensory functions.
Emma suddenly stopped, her heartbeat accelerating sharply-a warning signal.
Ye Mo immediately crouched and took cover against the wall. He looked up at her and saw the crystals on her back flash rapidly three times-a request for cover.
The situation was urgent. His Regenerative Phasing was still on cooldown, leaving him unable to pass through the wall to save her. But just as the encirclement was about to close, he spun around and kicked the gas pipe valve of the abandoned restaurant next door.
Bang!
Flames shot skyward, and the blast knocked three AIs back several meters. Emma seized the opportunity to charge, driving her fist straight into the nearest target. Her diamond arm instantly tore through its armor.
Ye Mo took the opening to circle behind them, pull a miniature EMP device from his backpack, and throw it toward the core tower. The countdown began. It would detonate automatically in ten seconds.
But they were not safe yet.
The remaining two AIs activated tracking mode, locked onto Emma's energy signature, and pressed closer with every step. She was forced back to the edge of an unstable building, with a bottomless underground pit beneath her feet.
Ye Mo stood on the opposite rooftop, too far away to reach her. He gazed into her eyes, raised his right hand, and lightly touched the left side of his chest-their newly added signal: Trust me. Jump.
Emma froze for a moment, then understood.
She drew a deep breath and leaped the instant the AIs pulled their triggers.
Almost simultaneously, Ye Mo activated his zip line and dove from the rooftop, catching her precisely in midair. They hit the ground and rolled, successfully escaping the pursuers' targeting field of view.
Ten seconds later, the EMP detonated, disabling the core tower.
[Mission complete. Rating: S-. Coordination efficiency has exceeded the threshold.]
The training chamber's lights came back on. The simulation ended.
Emma lay on the floor panting, sweat beading on her forehead as her Diamond Form gradually faded. She turned to look at Ye Mo. He was still standing against the wall, his glasses slightly crooked, wet hair plastered to his forehead.
"We... did it?"
"Not 'we.'" He took off his glasses and wiped them. "You did it. That last jump-no one forced you. You made that decision yourself."
She sat up, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. "What about you? When you kicked that valve, how did you know it would explode?"
"I didn't." He put his glasses back on. "But I trusted you to move."
They exchanged a look, and silence spread between them.
Ye Mo returned to the main console and opened the record panel. A line appeared on the screen: [S-rank rating achieved in silent mode for the first time. Conditions met to unlock the third level of the Gene Spiral Tower.]
He glanced at the vibranium fragment inside the shielding box. Its temperature had already dropped.
"That'll do," he said.
Emma leaned back in the neural interface chair, her hands folded on her knees, her breathing gradually steadying. For the first time, she felt she was no longer a burden who needed protection, nor a lingering shadow of the Hellfire Club. She was a partner, a comrade-in-arms, someone who could walk into the storm alongside him.
"What next?" she asked.
"We wait for word." He shut off the system's power. "If someone wants to find us, they'll come."
Just as he finished speaking, a green light suddenly lit up in the corner of the console.
It was the passive receiving port they had set up, one that normally never activated. Only an encrypted signal on a specific frequency could trigger it.
Ye Mo walked over and took a look.
The signal's source was unknown and its contents unread, but its transmission time was precise to the second-the exact moment they had completed the test.
He reached out to check it, but Emma suddenly spoke. "Don't rush to look."
He stopped.
"Let's eat first," she said. "I'm hungry."