Emma Frost still had her hand pressed to her temple when she swayed. Ye Mo immediately steadied her by the shoulder and asked quietly, "What's wrong?"
"It's not a person," she said, panting. "A machine is scanning my memories."
Ye Mo's gaze turned cold. He stayed where he was, merely taking off his glasses and activating Thermal Vision. A faint heat source kept moving inside the ventilation duct, like a heartbeat. It was an automated scanning device designed specifically to deal with high-level telepaths.
He understood. This place had been a trap from the start.
But he couldn't back down. If he did, Mr. X would be finished.
He lightly kicked a metal floor panel, producing a short clang. The sound disrupted the detector just enough. Then he pressed the controller at his cuff, sending out a false signal. Anyone outside watching a screen would think the target had already left.
Once he was done, he raised his head, his voice icy. "Want to eavesdrop? Then don't blame me for playing rough."
With that, he raised his hand and made a gesture. In truth, he did nothing, but Emma understood. She closed her eyes and released a false memory-a blurry figure in the scene said, "Protocol Three activated. Awaiting instructions."
There was no Protocol Three.
But the people outside didn't know that.
A few seconds later, the sensation of being scanned disappeared. The system thought the danger had passed and shut itself off.
Silence settled over the gathering for a few seconds. No one spoke, but the atmosphere had changed. Some people had been laughing moments earlier. Now they were all silent.
Ye Mo let go of Emma and glanced at her. She nodded to show she was fine.
He knew it was his turn to act.
He walked to the center and stopped, raised his left hand, and slowly removed his glove. An old scar marked his wrist, blackened, as though a burn had taken a long time to heal. He held the hand out for them to see.
"I got this when I first met Tony Stark," he said. "He was building a reactor in a cave, and I was helping him. Back then, no one knew he was Iron Man, and no one thought I'd survive."
He paused. "But I'm still alive. You don't have to believe me, but remember one thing-the truly frightening thing isn't who hits hardest. It's who sees clearly."
With that, he put his glove back on and turned to look at the private booths around him.
Thermal Vision was still active. He examined them one by one, watching their heartbeats, body temperatures, and changes in their eyes. Most were keeping themselves in check, but there were always tells.
The first was the cloaked man in the corner to his left. Codenamed "Gray Crow," he was an information broker. His heartbeat had quickened when the vibranium deal came up earlier.
The second was "Prism" on the raised platform in the middle. His skin looked like crystal, and he headed a mutant organization. His pupils had contracted at the words "government investigation."
The third was "Circuit," seated in the back row. One of his eyes was mechanical and glowed. When Hydra communications came up, he had tapped the table three times.
Something was off about those three.
More importantly, they all had weaknesses.
Ye Mo walked over, stopping before Gray Crow first.
"Your intelligence network is about to collapse," he said. "You've lost seven informants in three months. Keep this up, and by tomorrow, you won't get any news at all."
Gray Crow neither moved nor spoke.
"I know new channels," Ye Mo said. "I can give you a way out tonight. Whether you want it is up to you."
With that, he turned and walked toward Prism.
"Your people are being arrested," he said. "The police have been mixing a new drug into the water. If you go back now, you can still save some of them."
Prism stared at him. "How do you know?"
"You don't need to know," Ye Mo said. "You only need to know that I can help you relocate them."
Finally, he walked up to Circuit.
"You want to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s backup system?" he said. "I know where the entry point is. It's faster than any you've tried, and it leaves no trace."
Circuit's mechanical eye flashed. "Why should I trust you?"
"I don't need you to trust me," Ye Mo said. "I only need you to dare to use it."
None of the three spoke. But their gazes had changed. Wariness became hesitation; suspicion became uncertainty.
This was the real contest. Not fighting, but seizing on what the other side feared most.
Ye Mo returned to his spot, took three small transmitters from his pocket, adjusted their frequencies, and tossed them onto the floor.
"These are three encrypted channels," he said. "Different levels, different risks. Use one incorrectly even once, and the channel is destroyed. I won't contact you, and you can't contact me indiscriminately either. Decide for yourselves which to use and when."
With that, he looked at Emma. She was standing straight now, her expression composed.
"They're all waiting for someone who can break the deadlock," she said.
"I've already stepped forward," Ye Mo said. "I'm not here to be a leader. But I promise that when the storm comes, I'll be where I need to be."
He had barely finished speaking when the first chip flew out of the shadows and landed on the floor. Gray Crow had thrown it. A set of coordinates was engraved on it.
Next, a crystal slid to Ye Mo's feet. Prism had left it. Energy fluctuated inside it; it was probably meant for locating something.
Finally came the sound of data syncing. Circuit remotely sent over a piece of code that could directly penetrate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s level-two defenses.
Three responses, three different methods. No promises, no handshakes, but their cooperation had already begun.
Ye Mo bent down, picked up the chip, and held it in his hand. It was still slightly warm.
He knew these people wouldn't trust him easily, but now they were willing to take a gamble.
The atmosphere in the room had changed completely. Before, there had been probing and hostility. Now there was watchful appraisal as well. Some people began speaking quietly; others prepared to approach.
Just then, Emma frowned.
"Something's wrong," she said softly. "That memory scan... ended too quickly."
Ye Mo immediately went on alert. He felt something was wrong too. That kind of device wouldn't stop over a single false memory. Unless-
It had never intended to continue in the first place.
He abruptly looked up at the ventilation duct. Thermal Vision revealed something unusual: the heat source was gone. It hadn't been switched off; someone had taken it away. That meant someone on-site had been controlling it and had withdrawn immediately after discovering the failure.
This wasn't a trap. It was a test.
They were verifying whether Mr. X really existed and whether he had any ability.
Now, the test was over.
Without betraying anything, Ye Mo slipped the chip into his pocket. He knew whoever was behind this had to still be watching. Perhaps from one of the private booths, or perhaps they weren't here at all.
But he didn't care.
He had already gotten what he wanted.
Connections weren't built through talk. They came when you dared to take a step forward while others didn't dare move.
He was that step.
The hall was dimly lit, and the cameras were turning. Bodyguards from the various factions stood around the room, their hands resting on their weapons.
But no one stopped him.
He stood in the middle, one corner of his black hoodie damp and clinging to his arm. Emma stood beside him, her gaze sharp.
He knew many people would come looking for him next. Some would want to cooperate, some would want to probe him, and some would want to kill him.
But he was in no hurry.
He quietly watched the private booths in the darkness, waiting for the next person to speak.
The curtain of the third booth ahead on the right stirred.