Ye Mo's hand still hung in midair, the metallic patterns beneath his skin slowly receding like an electric current. He neither moved nor spoke, just stood there, gradually steadying his breathing. That last punch had delivered 8.7 tons of force, but what really concerned him was not its power. It was the metallic patch that had appeared on its own along the outside of his right pinky.
That thing would not obey him.
He closed his eyes and sank his awareness inward again. He was not practicing moves or testing his strength, but adjusting his rhythm. Just as fixing a car required listening to the engine first, he now needed to listen to what was happening inside his body-the frequency of cell division, the speed of metal permeation, the paths his nerve signals traveled.
He went over them again and again.
Regenerative Phasing worked fast, pulsing once every 0.03 seconds, like a heartbeat. Steel Bone's energy had to hit that precise beat, permeating in wave after wave, neither early nor late. Too fast, and it would jam; too slow, and it could not keep up. He replayed his earlier Wall Phasing in his mind: the sensation as his fingers entered the wall, the changes in its internal structure, the extent of his muscle contractions...
Suddenly, his fingertip twitched again.
He opened his eyes and looked down at his hand. The metallic patch had surfaced again, larger than before.
"Still not working," he murmured.
He had reached the limit of solo practice. If he kept going like this, he would either cripple himself training or suddenly lose control in a fight one day and get punched into a wall with no way out.
He turned toward the training area's entrance, opened the communications panel, and pressed a shortcut key.
"Emma, come over."
Five minutes later, footsteps came from the corridor. Emma Frost pushed the door open and entered in casual clothes, her hair tied in a low ponytail and her expression somewhat cold.
"What new trick have you come up with this time?" she asked.
"Not a trick. A problem." Ye Mo held out his hand. "The ability I just fused is being a little uncooperative."
Emma Frost approached and reached out to touch his pinky. The moment her fingertip made contact, she frowned.
"There are interference signals in your nervous system, as though two kinds of energy are fighting for control."
"Exactly." Ye Mo withdrew his hand. "I can't tune it on my own. I need an external stress test. Fight a simulated battle with me."
Emma Frost looked at him for two seconds. "You want to use this ability in combat?"
"How will I know whether it works if I don't?"
"What if you break down halfway through?"
"Then just beat me back to my senses." Ye Mo smiled. "Besides, isn't reading minds your specialty? If my head gets scrambled, you'll notice immediately."
Emma Frost did not argue. She walked to the other end of the field and took her position.
"Rules?"
"No rules." Ye Mo loosened his shoulders and neck. "Go all out. I won't dodge or evade. Let's see whether this new thing can take a beating."
As soon as he finished speaking, Emma Frost blurred into motion and charged straight at him.
She used neither Telepathy to suppress him nor illusions, just a pure physical rush. She was fast, her fist whipping through the air toward his ribs. If that blow landed squarely on an ordinary person, it would break two ribs.
Ye Mo did not retreat.
His right arm instantly turned metallic, and he raised it across his body to block.
Bang!
The impact sounded like a hammer striking a steel plate, making even the air shudder. Ye Mo was knocked back half a step, his arm numb but uninjured. Emma Frost pulled back her fist and attacked again, throwing a left hook at his temple. Ye Mo tilted his head aside and activated Regenerative Phasing with his left hand, passing through the floor and appearing behind her.
But just as he raised his hand to counterattack, his movement stalled.
0.2 seconds.
In that brief span, his body had not finished reassembling, leaving his follow-up half a beat slow. Emma Frost reacted instantly, driving an elbow backward toward his chest and forcing him to step back to create distance.
"There's a problem." Emma Frost turned around. "You can't follow up with a combo after Wall Phasing."
"I know." Ye Mo took a breath. "I used to need a moment after phasing. Now I don't, but too many changes in direction still make me stall."
"You're still thinking about dodging with Wall Phasing?" Emma Frost sneered. "You can take attacks head-on now. Why are you still hiding like a turtle?"
Ye Mo froze.
She's right.
He had relied on Regenerative Phasing to stay alive before, his whole approach being, "You can't hit me." But things were different now. The metal layer combined with his regeneration maxed out his defense. Rather than dodge, he might as well meet attacks head-on.
He nodded. "Again."
This time, he did not wait for Emma Frost to move. He attacked first.
He partially metalized his right arm and charged straight ahead. Emma Frost threw a punch. He neither blocked nor dodged, taking a shoulder strike head-on and using the force to press forward. His left hand touched the ground and activated Regenerative Phasing. His body instantly slipped into the floor, circling to her rear flank, and his right hand swung a punch toward her waist.
Emma Frost sidestepped it and reached back to seize his wrist. Ye Mo twisted with the motion, and they grappled at close range for several exchanges, trading punches and kicks, every collision producing a dull thud. He no longer focused solely on evasion, instead actively taking blows with his metalized parts before looking for opportunities to counterattack.
After one block, he seized an opening, metalized his entire body simultaneously, and lunged forward like a small armored vehicle. Emma Frost was knocked back three steps. Once she steadied herself, the look in her eyes changed.
"This isn't an upgrade at all. You've changed species."
"Not quite there yet." Ye Mo shook out his hands. "On that last hit, the metal layer on my shoulder lagged a little. It nearly fell out of sync."
"Because you're still thinking," Emma Frost said. "Your movements are too deliberate. You need to make it instinctive."
Ye Mo nodded.
He tried several more times, adjusting his rhythm with each attempt. When to tank a hit, when to phase, when to rush in-it all depended on his body's feedback. Gradually, the sluggishness began to fade, and his movements grew smoother.
"One more round," he said.
Emma Frost did not answer. Instead, she walked to the console and pressed a few buttons.
The training ground's lights dimmed, and projections activated all around them, simulating a ruined city. Aerial drones, mechanical hounds on the ground, elevated sniper positions-she activated them all.
"Don't bother with the fake stuff," Ye Mo said.
"This isn't fake." Emma Frost walked back. "I want to see whether you can stay synchronized in a complex environment."
An alarm sounded, and the first wave of mechanical hounds charged.
Ye Mo met them head-on, smashing the lead hound's head with one punch before sidestepping the second one's snapping jaws. His right hand turned metallic and swept across, sending three flying. A drone dived overhead and fired an electric projectile. He ducked past it, phased his left hand into the ground, and instantly shifted to the drone's side, blasting its engine apart with one punch.
During the continuous fighting, he discovered a pattern: as long as he did not force control and let his body find its own rhythm, metal permeation and cellular movement could synchronize naturally. It was like riding a bicycle. At first, he kept thinking about how to pedal, but later, he did not need to think at all. His feet moved on their own.
The longer he fought, the smoother he became.
While evading a sniper shot, he deliberately chose not to use Wall Phasing. Instead, he partially metalized his back to tank a bullet, turned to pinpoint the muzzle's location, then burrowed through the ground in a surprise attack and destroyed the sniper platform outright.
Watching from above, Emma Frost suddenly spoke. "You've changed."
"How?"
"You used to fight smart. But now... you're more ruthless."
Ye Mo grinned. "Being smart doesn't kill people. Being ruthless keeps you alive."
The third wave attacked, its numbers doubled.
Ye Mo was about to charge out when Emma Frost suddenly jumped down and landed beside him.
"I'll join you."
They charged into battle side by side.
Emma Frost switched to Diamond Form and fought head-on, while Ye Mo used Alloy Phasing to pass through walls and reposition repeatedly, flanking from blind spots. During one coordinated attack, Emma Frost feinted to draw fire. Ye Mo immediately sensed her intention and phased into a wall half a step ahead, emerging behind the enemy the instant it turned and knocking it down with one punch.
"You didn't say anything just now." Emma Frost looked back at him.
"I don't need to." Ye Mo wiped away some sweat. "The moment you move, I know what you're going to do."
"Because I'm reading you?"
"No." Ye Mo shook his head. "Because you're letting me read you."
Emma Frost paused.
A second later, she voluntarily opened a psychic link.
It was not complete access, just shared surface thoughts. Ye Mo could sense what she would do next in advance. In return, his predictions of his own actions were transmitted to her.
The fourth wave began.
The two had almost become a single unit. When Emma Frost rushed forward, Ye Mo immediately phased through a wall to cover her position; when Ye Mo came under attack, Emma Frost blocked it a step ahead. During one encirclement, three mechanical hounds forced Ye Mo into a corner. Emma Frost flashed in front of him instantly, deflecting the attacks with her diamond arms. Ye Mo seized the chance to phase out through the ground, circle behind them, and clear the field.
The battle ended.
The alarm ceased, and the lights returned to normal.
Ye Mo stood where he was, sweat running down his tank top, his breathing steady. The metallic patterns beneath his skin slowly faded, and his eyes were brighter than before.
Emma Frost stood three steps in front of him, her fingertips lightly touching her temple as she continued to process the depth of their psychic resonance.
"How was it?" Ye Mo asked.
"Faster than expected," she said. "We just achieved coordination without verbal commands."
"We'll rely on this in real battles from now on."
Emma Frost looked at him. "Are you sure this ability is stable?"
"Eighty percent." Ye Mo smiled. "For the remaining twenty, I'll need you to punch me a few more times to verify it."
Emma Frost did not smile, but her gaze softened a little.
She turned toward the console, preparing to reset the system.
Ye Mo rotated his wrist and was about to speak when he suddenly felt heat in his left palm.
He looked down.
Beneath his skin, a new metallic pattern was slowly emerging, shaped like a chain, extending on its own.