At 3:22 a. m., the glow of the streetlights was half a degree dimmer than before.
The arc of electricity on Ye Mo's fingertip was still dancing, but its color had changed. The deep purple faded, and a layer of almost black eerie light appeared at the edge, like the last embers of a burning coal, which was almost extinguished but was even hotter to the touch. He didn't move, but his breathing dropped a beat.
"It's not an illusion," he said.
Tony was looking down at his watch when he heard this and looked up. He was about to speak, habitually preparing to retort, "Your system is acting up again," but the words caught in his throat— Ye Mo never spoke nonsense, especially not at a time like this.
Emma Frost opened her eyes.
She didn't sweep the streets or probe the crowds; instead, she focused her mental energy on the ground. Cables, water pipes, and fiber optic cables crisscrossed like a net, and the data flow at the city's core created faint ripples in her consciousness. Three seconds later, her brow twitched.
"There's a gap," she said. "0.3 seconds of complete silence across all frequencies. It's not a malfunction; it's been erased."
Tony immediately raised his hand to activate the projector, JARVIS's voice rang out. "No anomalies detected across the entire monitoring area, satellite scans did not detect any energy fluctuations, and the electromagnetic environment is at the standard baseline."
"That's right," Ye Mo said softly. "It's not in your system, nor is it in the sky. It stays close to the ground, specifically targeting blind spots in its detection."
The air suddenly tensed.
Just moments ago they looked like three unlucky guys waiting for the bus late at night, but now an invisible weight was pressing down on each of their shoulders. Tony's fingers swiped rapidly across the projector screen, bringing up the city's heat map, base station load, and underground pipeline distribution. His eyes scanned the data back and forth, but he asked, "Are you sure this thing is coming for us?"
"I'm not sure," Ye Mo said, staring northeast. "But I'm sure it doesn't want to be discovered. And—" He paused, a sudden surge of electricity crackling in his palm, a faint crackling sound emanating from the black light, "It knows we're watching."
The moment the words left her lips, Emma Frost felt a sharp pain in her temple, as if someone had rubbed a needle against a nerve. She groaned softly, her fingers clenching beneath her gloves.
"Counter-detection?" Tony immediately became alert.
"Not entirely." Emma Frost took a breath, "More like... a natural shield. My mental link hits it like hitting a rubber wall, bouncing back, and even causing some rebound damage."
Tony clicked his tongue. "So it's a blind box game now? Nobody knows who's playing, what's going on, or even how to win?"
"More or less." Ye Mo took off his glasses and wiped the lenses with the cuff of his hoodie, moving slowly as if giving himself time to think. When he put them back on, his gaze was fixed on a certain direction.
He closed his eyes, and the " Gene Spiral Tower " interface in his mind silently unfolded. Dozens of ability fragments slowly rotated in the tower layers, and several modules marked "perception type" began to automatically approach each other: microcurrent sensing, spatial fold warning, biomagnetic field capture... He didn't expect the system to give him any hints, but just tried to piece them together based on his experience.
If the indicator light doesn't turn red when the device is cooled down, it means it's usable.
He took a deep breath, forcibly superimposing the three sensory modes, his consciousness piercing the depths of the city like a probe. Seven seconds, eight seconds, nine seconds—
"It's moving!" He opened his eyes abruptly, pointing to the northeast corner. "It's moving through underground pipelines! It's not fast, but it loses signal, disappearing for seven or eight seconds each time before reappearing. It's not Teleportation, it's squeezing through gaps."
Tony immediately connected through his headset. " JARVIS, initiate Mark 85 standby procedures, take off in five seconds, lock onto the outer perimeter of the abandoned industrial zone in Northeast Region 3. Weapon systems silent, passive tracking only."
"Received," JARVIS replied.
Emma Frost simultaneously preloaded her mental shield, and an invisible barrier quietly formed around the three of them. She didn't move her feet, but her center of gravity had already leaned forward, ready to keep up with the rhythm at any moment.
"How can you be so sure it's going that way?" Tony asked as he quickly caught up.
"Low temperature." Ye Mo had already begun to walk. "It prefers low-temperature, enclosed spaces. The intermittent signal just now reappeared in places like decommissioned power plants and abandoned water treatment plants. The abnormal heat attenuation indicates that it has poor heat dissipation and needs the environment to cool it down."
"So it's a big guy that's afraid of the heat?" Tony smirked.
"Or it could be a sophisticated device," Emma Frost added. "It could also be a form of live genetic modification, with unstable metabolism."
Ye Mo didn't reply, but quickened his pace. His black hooded sweatshirt billowed in the morning breeze, like outstretched wings. The arc of electricity coursed along his palm, its color returning to a deep purple, as stable as if it had been fully charged.
Early morning buses began to drive by on the street, their headlights sweeping across the pavement and casting the shadows of the three of them. A sanitation worker pushed his cart around the corner, and a fried dough stick vendor lifted the lid of his pan, steam billowing out with a "whoosh." The city awoke, but they did not.
They are the ones who go against the tide.
After crossing two streets, the crowds grew denser. A student in school uniform sped past on a bicycle, nearly crashing into a telephone pole; at the convenience store entrance, the clerk yawned as he changed the sign. These everyday scenes were like a thin veil covering their eyes, but they all knew that something was hidden behind it.
Ye Mo suddenly stopped.
He stood in the middle of the intersection, the traffic hadn't picked up yet, the red light was on, and no one was honking. He looked up at the distant horizon.
That fleeting dark red halo was invisible to others.
But he saw it.
Just in the direction of the old industrial area, atop an abandoned power plant, a barely perceptible red light flashed by, so fast it was almost blinding. But he knew it wasn't.
"Found it." He lowered his voice, as if afraid of alerting something. "The power plant is shut down; it's on the third row of rooftops in the northeast corner. It's hidden inside, waiting for the next pulse."
Emma Frost immediately closed her eyes to scan, but frowned as soon as she extended her mental energy. "The interference has increased, it's like there's a counter-field. I can only scan the outer perimeter, I can't get in."
"Normal." Tony sneered. "You really think we're the only ones who know how to build fortifications?"
"Then let's not wait for it to make the first move." Ye Mo turned around, his gaze sweeping over the two of them. "We'll seize the window of opportunity when it next 'appears.' It sends a signal every seven or eight seconds, which means it needs periodic synchronization. We'll break in the moment it connects."
"You mean, kick the door down while it's on?" Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Pretty much." Ye Mo's lips curled into a smirk, a hint of roguishness in his expression. "Anyway, I'm thick-skinned; if I break it, it's the system's fault."
Emma Frost gently shook her head. "You always blame things that don't exist."
"It exists," Ye Mo said confidently. "It's in my head, how could it lie to me?"
The three said no more and sped off in the northeast direction. Tony checked the status of his armor as he ran, Emma Frost kept her mental shield active, and Ye Mo kept his eyes closed for a few seconds at a time, adjusting his route based on the intermittent feedback from the system.
As they passed an overpass, Ye Mo suddenly raised his hand to signal them to stop.
He crouched down and placed his fingers on the ground.
The concrete floor was cold, but there was vibration underneath. It was extremely subtle, like some kind of low-frequency resonance, something an ordinary person wouldn't be able to feel. His fragmented senses automatically activated, detecting a slight signal of abnormal thermal attenuation.
"It's down there," he whispered. "Not the top floor of the power plant, but the underground maintenance level. The red light is just a decoy, or perhaps an exhaust vent."
Tony squinted. "So it was a deliberate attempt to show off?"
"Let's test the waters," Emma Frost interjected, "To see if anyone's following us."
"Then let it think no one's coming." Ye Mo stood up, pulled his hat up to cover most of his face, and said, "We'll go around to the back and go in through the western drainpipe. There are no security cameras there, and nobody's repairing them."
Tony glanced at him. "You even remember the drainpipe?"
"I climbed through there last month when we were chasing the remnants of AIM," Ye Mo grinned. "Back then, you complained that I was too dirty crawling through the sewers."
"I just hate the smell in the whole lab after you came in," Tony rolled his eyes.
Emma Frost didn't laugh, but her eyes twitched slightly, which was a tacit acceptance of this brief respite. The three quickly changed their route, turned into a narrow alley, and headed straight for the west side of the industrial area.
The closer you get to the target area, the colder the air becomes. It's a late summer morning, but it feels like a freezer. A thin layer of frost covers the grass by the roadside, and a stray dog is curled up in a cardboard box, its teeth chattering.
Ye Mo didn't stop walking, but the electric arc in his palm changed color again, and the black light flashed and disappeared.
He knew the other party had noticed.
It wasn't because of any movement, nor because of any breath, but because of himself—his senses were being scanned in reverse. It was like two radars scanning each other; whoever locked on first would have the advantage.
He cannot lose.
"Three hundred meters to go," he said in a low voice. "The drainpipe inlet is behind the abandoned substation; the iron fence is rusted shut, but I know how to dismantle it."
"You open the door," Tony said. "I'll provide air cover, Emma Frost will cover the rear."
"Don't interrupt the Empress Dowager." Ye Mo glanced back at her. "This time is different; it can reflect spiritual energy."
Emma Frost nodded. "I know."
The three arrived at the outer wall of the substation. The iron fence was indeed rusted shut. Ye Mo squatted down, took out a multi-tool from his work pants pocket, and skillfully pried open the hinges. With a click, the fence loosened.
He gently pushed it open, revealing a dark drainpipe about one meter in diameter with a slippery inner wall and the faint sound of flowing water.
"Let's go." Ye Mo was the first to bend down and crawl inside.
Tony followed closely behind, Emma Frost entered last. Her glove brushed against the tube wall, leaving a shallow mark.
The pipe was pitch black, illuminated only by the electric arc in Ye Mo's palm. The sound of flowing water echoed in their ears, and the air was damp and cold. They crawled forward, using both their hands and feet.
One hundred meters later, a fork in the road appeared ahead.
Ye Mo stopped and closed his eyes to sense.
Seven seconds passed, and there was still no signal.
In the eighth second, a very faint fluctuation of thermal decay flashed by.
He opened his eyes and pointed to the left passage. "This way. It just connected once; the next one should be in ninety seconds. We still have time."
The three continued on their way.
The drainpipe gradually rose, its slope becoming steeper. Ye Mo pressed his knees against the slippery inner wall, inching his way up. His hoodie was covered in mud, and his silver glasses were fogged up, but he didn't take them off.
He knew that he might suddenly see something clearly in a moment.
Tony muttered under his breath, "This place stinks even worse than Hell's Kitchen."
Emma Frost didn't speak, but her mental shield expanded slightly, as if resisting some kind of invisible pressure.
Ye Mo suddenly raised his hand, signaling to stop.
Ahead, at the end of the drainpipe, an iron grille blocked the way. Through the gaps, one could see an underground machine room inside, its walls covered with old pipes, and a circular device in the center, its surface gleaming with a dark red light.
The light was exactly the same as the one on the horizon just now.
Ye Mo held his breath and slowly approached the grille.
The device was running, emitting a very low-frequency hum. Its heat dissipation vent was connected to a cooling pipe, which was expelling cold air—no wonder there was frost on the outside.
The arc of electricity clung to his palm, its color deepening.
He knew that this was the source.
But he also knew that once the door opened, the other party would know they had arrived.
"Are you ready?" he asked in a low voice.
Tony nodded, his fingers already activating the armor summoning.
Emma Frost closed her eyes, compressing her mental energy to its limit, ready to explode at any moment.
Ye Mo took a deep breath and reached for the grille screws.
Just then, the red light from the device suddenly flashed.
The frequency has changed.
It's no longer once every seven or eight seconds, but instead—every three seconds.
It has sped up.
Ye Mo's pupils contracted.
"It knew we were coming," he whispered. "It's waiting for us to open the door."