The text on the console was still flashing.
[Lazarus Protocol - Final Phase Initiated]
Ye Mo's hand stopped above the switch, his fingertip just one millimeter from the button. He didn't press it, because pressing it now would be useless. The interference program had been inserted, but the other side had moved much faster than expected. The swirling mass of light and shadow spun faster and faster, as though something had pushed it from within.
"We bought ourselves a little time." He withdrew his hand, his voice level. "But this isn't a window of safety. It's a countdown."
Emma Frost slowly stood up against the wall. Her face was still pale, but her gaze had steadied. "They've already begun loading the final phase," she said. "Forty-eight hours at most."
Ye Mo nodded and detached the projector from his wrist. It was a tactical terminal Tony had shoved into his hands years ago, capable of connecting to the base's local network. He slapped it onto the console, brought up a map of the four nodes and a signal cycle chart, and marked each synchronization's vulnerable window with a red circle.
Siberia, the North Sea, Congo, Antarctica.
Lines connected the four points, like an invisible net covering the entire Earth.
"We can't wait any longer." As he spoke, he activated the encrypted channel. "Everyone, return to base immediately. Avoid the main passage. Use the B7 side route. Begin preparations for a counterattack now."
The other end of the line went silent for a second, followed by the echo of retreating footsteps.
Twenty minutes later, the new ally arrived.
He wore a tactical exoskeleton, his mask pulled down to his chin, revealing a pair of eyes. He had once been a peripheral S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, codenamed "Precog," with the ability to foresee three seconds into the future. Back when he had been hunted for leaking classified information, Ye Mo had pulled him out. Ever since, he had tagged along behind the team doing odd jobs. Only on this mission had he finally taken a seat in the command room.
"The situation has changed," Ye Mo said without preamble. "We tried interference just now, but they've already activated the final protocol. From here on, we don't hide. We fight."
Emma Frost stood beside him and added, "We have to sabotage the four nodes' data verification logic during the next full cycle. Otherwise, once the channel stabilizes, all registered Mutants will be formatted."
Precog frowned. "How are three people supposed to cover four nodes across the globe?"
"We're not going to the sites." Ye Mo gave a cold laugh. "We're going to make their system crash on its own."
He laid out the plan: use Regenerative Phasing to implant Phase Shift chips into the circuitry, creating a misalignment the instant data was transmitted back; Emma Frost would remotely inject forged authentication packets to disrupt the permission hierarchy; Precog would monitor the timing of the enemy's responses and give warnings at critical moments.
"This isn't a hacking attack," Ye Mo said. "It's cognitive warfare. We need them to believe there's something wrong with the system-not that someone tampered with it."
Precog said nothing after hearing him out. He tapped the control panel a few times and brought up the simulator interface. "Are you sure this frequency won't trigger a trace?"
"No," Ye Mo answered honestly. "But we don't have a choice now. We either take a gamble or wait for them to turn everyone into server nodes."
Silence settled for a moment.
"I'm in." Precog closed the panel. "But on one condition-I get temporary veto power during the operation. If I think we're going to die the next second, I can call a halt."
"Deal." Ye Mo held out his hand.
They slapped palms, wasting no words.
Emma Frost walked over to the simulation system and put on the neural interface ring. Ye Mo connected to the circuitry as well, setting Regenerative Phasing to its lowest level to avoid exposing their location through excessive energy fluctuations. Precog sat at the monitoring station with his headset on, his finger hovering over the pause button.
"Begin the first simulation."
On the virtual interface, a tetrahedral structure slowly rotated, its signal streams circulating in cycles.
Just as the Siberia node was about to finish uploading, Ye Mo activated his ability. The chip switched on, creating a 0.3-second misalignment in the data stream.
The system alarm sounded immediately.
"Too fast!" Precog shouted. "They detected the anomaly!"
Emma Frost immediately severed the connection, ending the simulation.
"What went wrong?" She removed the interface ring, a little sweat on her forehead.
"The misalignment lasted too long." Ye Mo stared at the log. "Anything over 0.2 seconds gets flagged as an intrusion."
"Then compress it to under 0.15 seconds." Precog brought up the timeline. "And we can't interrupt the same node every time. They'll remember and learn."
The second simulation began.
This time, Ye Mo adjusted the timing of his release, acting only on the third cycle and keeping the misalignment to 0.14 seconds. Emma Frost simultaneously injected forged packets, disguising it as an internal verification error.
It worked.
The tetrahedral structure trembled slightly, but no alarm sounded.
"That works." Precog nodded. "Again. Stress test this time."
The third simulation loaded a model of the real data stream.
They had only just entered the second stage when the signal pulses suddenly sped up.
"Wait!" Precog abruptly raised his hand. "The second wave is 0.7 seconds ahead of the model!"
Ye Mo immediately called a halt and recalibrated the timing for triggering Regenerative Phasing. Emma Frost switched shielding modes to prevent the mental connection from being scanned in reverse.
The fourth simulation.
Everything was normal.
After the misaligned signal was injected, the tetrahedral structure disintegrated on the virtual interface. The system determined that synchronization had failed and automatically restarted the process.
They had done it.
The three exchanged a glance. No one spoke, but they all understood-this approach would work.
Ye Mo shut off the projection and stood up. "Everyone, enter level-one standby. Check all supplies, equipment, and escape routes twice."
Emma Frost leaned against the wall and closed her eyes to rest, her psychic power continuously scanning for activity around the perimeter.
Precog adjusted his headset's frequency, his fingers sliding rapidly over the control panel.
The base fell quiet, with only the hum of running equipment remaining.
Outside, dawn had yet to break.
Ye Mo walked over to the power distribution box and confirmed that the interference chip was still on standby. He reached out and touched the circuit connector. Its metal casing was a little hot, indicating that current was already flowing through it to warm it up.
He knew the enemy had to be frantically pushing ahead with calibration.
He also knew this battle wouldn't secure a victory for very many people, but at least it could let some children who hadn't yet been registered escape.
He turned to look at the monitoring screen.
The signal lights for the four nodes were still flashing steadily.
The next cycle would begin in three hours and seventeen minutes.
He picked up the communicator and said quietly, "All teams, maintain silence. Do not launch an attack on your own. Wait for my orders."
Precog looked up and asked, "When do we move?"
Ye Mo watched the countdown on the screen and answered:
"When they think they're about to succeed."