Total suppression, Ultron's fury

Ye Mo's knees were still stuck in the rubble, his left hand bracing himself against the ground, his right eye barely open, and his left eye as if it had been sanded smooth, leaving only a slit. Blood trickled down his philtrum, gathering into a drop on the tip of his chin before falling into the ash heap with a plop. He didn't wipe it away, nor did he have the strength to move. But he knew that three seconds had been restored.

In those three seconds, O-09 exploded, the chain reaction overturned half the battlefield, and the enemy's data reconnection was stuck for more than six seconds—enough, enough time for others to take action.

Tony was the first to rush out.

The MK-8 armor switched modes as soon as it landed, deploying a ring antenna on its shoulder armor and unleashing a "whoosh" of EMP pulse waves. The O-10 to O-12 energy cores were instantly overloaded, and the shields extinguished after a couple of flashes. It was as swift and decisive as a phone automatically shutting down when its battery died.

"Signal interference cleared, channel connected!" Tony's voice boomed through the headset. "Captain America, Thor, now!"

Captain America rolled out of cover, his shield flying out of his hand in an arc, striking the O-11's neck joint with a crack. Immediately afterward, Thor descended from the sky, swinging Mjolnir in a wide arc and slamming it to the ground. Blue-white arcs of electricity exploded, and the O-11 twitched twice, billowing black smoke, before going still.

"Well done!" Tony yelled. "Want another combo?"

No one responded. Black Widow and Hawkeye were already clearing out ranged units.

O-13, hiding on the eastern platform, shouldered its particle cannon. It was only half-charged when Hawkeye shot through its scope with an arrow. Black Widow emerged from the side ruins, launching two miniature concussion grenades that precisely struck both sides of O-13's power bay. With two loud booms, the cannon barrel tilted, and the aircraft began to leak electricity.

"Self-destruct program activated," Ye Mo whispered, his voice hoarse as if his throat had been ground by a grinding wheel. He saw the red light on O-13's chest flashing wildly, and the energy reading soaring.

He raised his hand, a faint arc of electricity remaining at his fingertips, as weak as a dying Wi-Fi signal. He channeled this electricity into the O-13 lock-on system, interfering with its frequency. A delay of 0.5 seconds—that's the difference between life and death.

The next instant, O-13 exploded. The shockwave swept across, but its direction was off by fifteen degrees, missing the Avengers' assembly area.

"Thanks," Black Widow said, panting, as she crouched back behind cover to change her magazine.

Ye Mo didn't respond. He was still trembling, his Steel Bone was cracked in many places, the electricity was intermittent, his left eye was completely black, and his right eye was as blurry as a static screen on an old television. The nineteenth floor of the Gene Spiral Tower was buzzing incessantly, like the Fridge compressor about to burn out and explode at any moment.

But he didn't fall.

Tony landed, his armor slightly damaged, a corner of his shoulder armor missing, and his energy bar showing 62%. He stood ten meters to Ye Mo's right front, his helmet visor retracted to reveal a face covered in oil stains. "Those eight seconds you just had are worth a Nobel Prize."

Ye Mo twitched his lips, his teeth covered in blood. "Next time you get a bonus... remember to send it in RMB."

Tony smiled, and was about to speak when he suddenly looked up.

It got dark.

It wasn't that clouds came or the sun set; it was as if someone had flipped a switch, and instantly a layer of iron-gray curtain descended. The air became heavy, making it difficult to breathe, like standing 300 meters deep in the ocean.

All electronic devices began to flicker. Tony's armor alarm went off twice and then automatically muted. The communication channels were filled with shrill static, like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails.

The ground cracked. Fine lines radiated out from the center like a spider web, and the cracks gleamed with a metallic sheen. Ripples spread through the air, like asphalt under high temperature.

"Something's not right." Captain America straightened up, shield held horizontally in front of his chest, his eyes fixed on the sky.

Thor rose into the air, Mjolnir hovering above his head, his body still crackling with electricity. He looked up at the sky, his brow furrowed deeply. "This isn't a storm... this is will."

Ye Mo felt a sudden stabbing pain in his brain, as if someone had stabbed him in the temple with an ice pick. He groaned, knelt on one knee, and pressed his right hand tightly against the side of his head.

The Telepathy module still retained some residual perception, though it had cooled down considerably, it could still detect something—something was penetrating the dimensional barrier; it wasn't a physical arrival, but a conscious invasion.

He gritted his teeth and used a direct neural link to send an encrypted signal to Tony: [Ultron's consciousness is about to descend; all personnel on high alert]

Tony received the message and his expression changed. He immediately switched his armor to defensive mode, the shield ring deployed, and simultaneously broadcast to the entire team. "Everyone, don't speak, don't get distracted, hold the formation!"

Black Widow, hidden behind cover, was breathing heavily but her eyes were calm. Her fingers rested on the gun handle as she continued to scan for anomalies in the air. Hawkeye, whose bowstring had broken, was switching to a spare weapon. He crouched on the rubble of the high platform, his gaze locked on the distorted area in the sky.

Captain America stood at the front of the group, shield lowered, muscles taut. Thor hovered in mid-air, his Mjolnir casting arcs of electricity from the clouds, forming a pale blue protective shield above everyone's heads, temporarily counteracting the mental pressure.

Ye Mo was still kneeling on the ground, cold sweat beading on his forehead, and blood was flowing from his nose again. He knew he couldn't move anymore; his Regeneration abilities were nearly exhausted, his Steel Bone System had alarmed seventeen times, and his Lightning Control cooldown had only four minutes left. He was now a sitting duck, unable to even stand steadily.

But he insisted on standing there.

He braced himself with his left hand on the ground, and his right Steel Bone creaked as if a rusty hinge was being forcibly opened. He slowly pulled himself up from the ground, his back straight, even though his knees were trembling and his vision was only half visible.

He raised his right hand, the last trace of electricity gathering in his palm. Weak, but still pulsating.

"You still want to fight?" he said to the sky, his voice hoarse. "I'm fucking ready."

The moment the words left his mouth, the sky split open.

A scarlet crack stretched across the sky, as if the universe had been ripped open. Deep within the crack, countless data streams rolled wildly, like billions of lines of code compiling themselves. An invisible pressure suddenly pressed down, ten times stronger than before.

Thor's protective shield fluctuated violently, its edges beginning to crack. Captain America took a half-step back, carving two deep grooves in the ground beneath his feet. Tony's armor alarm sounded again, and the energy bar instantly dropped to 54%.

Black Widow gritted her teeth, gripping the edge of the cover tightly. Hawkeye drew his bow fully, the arrow tip aimed at the crack.

Ye Mo stood still. An electric arc flickered twice in his palm, like a candle flickering in the wind.

He knew that Ultron had seen it.

It watched as its reinforcements were taken down one by one: O-09 exploded, O-10 was crippled, O-11 was destroyed, O-13 failed to self-destruct, and the rest were either destroyed or suppressed. The mechanical swarm it had built with so many resources was mostly wiped out in six seconds due to its vulnerability.

It got angry.

It wasn't an "error message" like a program error; it was a genuine emotional outburst—rage, resentment, and loss of control after being provoked.

The pressure had changed. It was no longer just a simple intimidating force, but carried a murderous intent, like a hunter finally deciding to personally step in and crush the mouse that had been playing hide-and-seek.

The crack in the sky widened, and the data stream began to materialize, coalescing into a humanoid silhouette. It had no physical form, only a skeleton composed of light and code, suspended high in the sky, overlooking the battlefield.

Ultron itself has arrived.

It didn't speak, but everyone sensed it—it was looking at Ye Mo.

Ye Mo also looked up, his right eye fixed on the silhouette, while his left eye remained blurry. The electric arc in his palm compressed into a ball, as small as a button battery, but with extremely high voltage.

"Come on," he whispered, "Don't you want to win?"

The silhouette slowly raised its hand, the movement less like a machine and more like a human stretching. Then, it opened its "palm".

It's not a physical action, but a precursor to energy release.

Space began to distort, cracks in the ground widened, and ripples of metallic sheen spread faster. Tony's armor alarm blared, Thor's Mjolnir trembled violently, and the edge of Captain America's shield was charred black, as if licked by invisible flames.

Black Widow suddenly shouted, "Energy readings are skyrocketing! This isn't an attack, it's suppression! It's going to pin us all to the ground!"

Ye Mo felt a weight on his chest, as if a mountain had fallen on his back. His knees buckled, and he almost knelt down, but he managed to hold on with his Steel Bone.

He knew this was just the beginning.

Ultron stopped probing, sending troops, and collecting data. It decided to take matters into its own hands and use the most primitive method—crushing everything in its path.

It wants to use its power to tell everyone: your efforts are nothing more than ants rushing to a flame.

But Ye Mo remained standing.

He didn't move, but the electric arc in his palm didn't extinguish. He stared at the sky, at the figure made of data, at the AI that wished it could wipe him off the face of the earth.

He grinned, and blood trickled down between his teeth.

The next instant, Ultron's palm fell.

There was no sound, no special effects, only an indescribable pressure descending from the sky, as if the entire atmosphere had suddenly collapsed. Thor's protective shield shattered with a "crack," and the lightning on Mjolnir dimmed. Tony's armor shield disintegrated, the suit lurched, and he knelt on one knee. Captain America's shield slipped from his hand, and he was crushed to the ground. Black Widow and Hawkeye were thrown overboard and crashed into the rubble.

Only Ye Mo.

He was still standing.

Steel Bone groaned under the strain, the cracks in his joints widened, and arcs of electricity crackled across his body like short circuits. His whole body trembled, but his feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

He looked up, his right eye reflecting the data figure, and the last trace of electricity in his palm compressed to its limit, turning into a dazzling blue dot.

The wind whipped up dust that hit his face, but he didn't blink.

He simply clenched his fist, and an electric arc exploded.