The distribution box's metal casing was still hot. The moment Ye Mo's fingers left the interference chip's port, a faint tremor ran through his fingertips. It wasn't his imagination. The fluctuations in the current had changed rhythm.
He narrowed his eyes, watching the numbers jump on the circuit display. The previously steady standby current suddenly showed three irregular pulses, as though someone were gently tapping the wires from far away.
"Something's wrong," he said quietly.
The next second, Thermal Vision activated automatically. In his field of vision, three blurry human silhouettes were climbing up from an underground ventilation shaft, less than fifty meters from the base's core area. They wore thermal insulation coatings, but traces of body heat still leaked through.
Ye Mo immediately pressed his earpiece, simultaneously sending instructions through Telepathy. "Emma, three o'clock, ventilation shaft. Enemy attack. New ally, prepare to intercept. Don't let them near the console."
Before he finished speaking, some of the surveillance feeds began flickering with static. Electromagnetic interference had arrived. The enemy had made their move.
Emma Frost instantly opened her eyes and extended a psychic barrier, her body already moving toward the side passage. She asked no further questions. The training over this period had taught her to keep quiet and execute.
The new ally also reacted extremely quickly. His exoskeleton activated, its joints giving off faint hydraulic sounds. He stood at the entrance to the command area, gripping an EMP grenade, his eyes fixed on the ventilation shaft exit.
"How did they find this place?" he asked over the comms.
"The traces we left." Ye Mo walked forward as he spoke. "The chip's warm-up caused an electromagnetic shift. They followed the trail."
With that, he rushed out.
The enemy moved fast, setting up their weapon as soon as they climbed out of the ventilation shaft. One end of the short black barrel pointed down the corridor, while the other connected to a grounding wire. It was clearly an anti-Mutant pulse emitter.
The first Shockwave swept through. Emma Frost grunted, feeling as though a hammer had struck inside her head. She forced her consciousness to steady, but the psychic link broke for an instant.
This is bad! The thought had barely flashed through her mind before their second attack arrived.
The three-person squad had clearly defined roles: one controlled the battlefield while two flanked. The pulse emitter suppressed Emma Frost's abilities as the other two advanced along the walls, without even switching on their tactical flashlights. They were seasoned combat veterans.
Ye Mo stopped at the corner, his back against the wall. He could hear footsteps approaching and feel the smell of static in the air growing stronger.
Regenerative Phasing, he silently recited.
His body instantly passed through the alloy door, appearing behind the enemy. But the moment he landed, a system notification sounded-[Ability on cooldown. 8.3 seconds remaining].
Damn.
He had intended to attack immediately after phasing through the wall, but now he could only weather it head-on. Fortunately, he had prepared. He flung out a smoke grenade and shouted, "Emma, three steps left!"
Emma Frost immediately understood what he meant. The instant the smoke rose, she switched to Diamond Form, her entire body becoming translucent crystal as she charged straight into the pulse wave.
With a boom, the shock wave struck her, sending sparks flying. She didn't fall. Instead, she used the force to propel herself forward and punched the armed man in the chest.
The man hadn't expected her to withstand a pulse and still counterattack. Before he could pull back his weapon, she sent him flying into the wall. He slid down, unconscious on the spot.
The remaining two enemies reacted quickly as well. One turned and ran, while the other raised his weapon at Emma Frost's back.
At the critical moment, the new ally leaped down from above, throwing his EMP grenade precisely into the port on the enemy's equipment.
With a crackle, the pulse emitter smoked and shut down.
Seeing this, the last man took to his heels, but Ye Mo was already waiting at the ventilation shaft exit. He kicked the back of the man's knee, and the instant the man dropped to his knees, Ye Mo hooked an arm around his throat and pinned him to the ground.
"Behave." Ye Mo pressed his head down and knocked it against the floor. "Otherwise, next time I won't kick your leg. I'll twist your neck."
The fight ended quickly. Less than three minutes passed between detecting the intrusion and subduing the enemy.
Quiet returned to the base, broken only by the hum of equipment and their breathing.
Emma Frost released her Diamond Form, looking a little pale. She leaned against the wall for a while before slowly straightening up.
"That hit almost knocked my brain out of commission," she said. "Their equipment was designed specifically to target Mutants."
The new ally walked over, removing his mask to wipe away sweat. "I thought the simulations were hard enough. Reality's harsher. I couldn't predict the sequence of their attacks. There were blind spots in between."
Ye Mo said nothing. Instead, he opened the tactical recorder and pulled up a replay of the fight.
The footage played across three screens: thermal view, regular surveillance, and residual Telepathy trails.
"Look here." He pointed to the first segment. "Emma, you reacted too quickly after the Shockwave hit and switched forms immediately. You could actually have waited half a second, let them think they'd succeeded, then launched a surprise attack. It would have worked better."
Emma Frost frowned. "But I was afraid I'd lose control."
"Being afraid was right." Ye Mo nodded. "But we're fighting as a team now, not dueling one-on-one. The moment you move, I know what you're going to do. That's coordination."
He switched to the second segment. "New ally, your EMP throw was timed precisely, but don't wait for them to reload. Troops like these use cyclic power supplies for their ammunition. They don't need to reload at all. You should watch how their fingers tighten and relax, how much their muscles contract. Those are the real signs before they move."
The new ally listened intently, nodding repeatedly.
Finally, Ye Mo enlarged the segment of himself phasing through the wall.
"My biggest problem was here," he said. "Regenerative Phasing goes on cooldown as soon as I use it. An eight-second gap is too dangerous. Next time, I can't use it carelessly. I need to time it precisely, like using skills in a game-playing around the cooldown."
The three gathered in front of the screen, reviewing the fight point by point.
No one complained or made excuses. They had won that fight, but only barely. If the enemy had brought two more people or heavy firepower, the outcome might have been completely different.
"So..." the new ally suddenly spoke. "We still need to train?"
"Not 'still need to.'" Ye Mo smiled. "We have to. That group was just scouting. The real trouble hasn't arrived yet."
Emma Frost flexed her wrists. "I've already adjusted my psychic shielding frequency. Next time, I won't be disrupted so easily."
"Good." Ye Mo walked to the console and checked the interference chip's status again. The current was steady, the signal normal.
He looked up at the surveillance screen. The signal lights for the four nodes were still blinking regularly.
There were two hours and fifty minutes until the next cycle.
They had enough time, but they couldn't afford another mistake.
"Next, we do three things," Ye Mo said. "First, reinforce the ventilation shaft entrance and install vibration sensors. Second, modify the EMP grenades into timed mines. Third, everyone undergoes live combat coordination testing. This time, no preset scenarios. Random triggers."
The new ally grinned. "Finally, no more sitting around running simulations."
"You think those three minutes just now didn't count as real combat?" Ye Mo countered.
"They counted." The other man scratched his head. "They were just too short. I didn't get my fill."
Emma Frost gave a soft snort. "You wanted it to last longer? Aren't you afraid of getting your brains knocked out?"
"I am," the new ally admitted frankly. "But I have to fight even if I'm afraid. Only after winning just now did I believe it-we really can pull this off."
Ye Mo listened without smiling or replying. He lowered his head and marked three red points in the tactical log: ability activation timing, coordinated response delays, and lack of cooldown management.
These were all areas they needed to improve.
He closed the terminal, walked to the distribution box, and reached out to touch the chip's port. Its temperature had dropped somewhat, but residual heat remained.
"If they found us once," he muttered to himself, "they'll find us a second time."
Emma Frost walked over and stood beside him. "Then let them come. This time, we'll set the ambush."
Ye Mo glanced at her and nodded.
Just then, the communicator suddenly beeped twice.
It was data fed back by the tracker on the prisoner. The encrypted fragments were being decoded, and the progress bar had reached 87%.
A line appeared in the lower-right corner of the screen: [Signal source affiliation-unknown, but matches Hellfire's old frequency band].
The new ally leaned over. "Those lunatics again?"
Ye Mo didn't answer. He stared at the line, his fingers unconsciously tapping the desk.
He tapped seven times, in exactly the same rhythm as the current pulses earlier.
He suddenly turned, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.
"Where are you going?" Emma Frost asked.
"The ventilation shaft," he said. "They left two people behind. It was too easy."