The vibration jumped from exactly five seconds to 4.9 seconds, and as it continued to fall, Ye Mo's right hand suddenly pulled away from the ground.
"Not the middle!" he roared, his voice hoarse as if it had been sanded, "Left! It's the left node that's charging!"
The moment the words left his mouth, a crack appeared in the floor of the control room, concrete fragments flew everywhere, and a dark red energy pillar shot into the sky, heading straight for the tower where Thor was. God of Thunder reacted extremely quickly, sweeping his hammer horizontally, arcing electricity to create a net of light, forcefully deflecting the energy by thirty degrees, grazing the edge of Tony's armor and blasting it into the night sky, creating a distorted cloud of fire.
"I said left!" Ye Mo cursed as he flipped off the control panel. His Steel Bone right leg made a series of clicking sounds, and a red light appeared at the joint—an overload warning had been issued again.
Captain America didn't ask any questions and immediately raised his hand to signal: Group C, Group B, Group A, cover.
As soon as the command was given, a low-frequency hum came from underground, as if hundreds of gears were meshing simultaneously. Then, the rightmost of the three resonant cores suddenly flashed, and the energy reading soared, as if it was about to explode.
"It's fake!" Ye Mo's pupils contracted. "It's tricking us into looking to the right!"
But before he could finish speaking, the middle one also lit up. The two signals overlapped, forming an interference wave, and the lights throughout the base began to flash wildly.
Just as these three rhythms intertwined, the ground collapsed without warning, and a pitch-black humanoid silhouette burst forth from the earth, hovering in mid-air, its entire body gleaming with a cold metallic light, its eyes as red as charcoal fire.
Ultron.
It didn't appear from any of the marked points, but rather emerged from the geometric center of the triangular formation, perfectly positioned in the blind spot of the Avengers ' firepower.
"Damn it!" Ye Mo cursed under his breath, pushed off with his feet, and shot out like a cannonball. His Steel Bone arm hardened instantly, and he crashed head-on into Ultron's punch.
Bang!
The deafening crash of metal against metal was so loud it hurt his eardrums. Ye Mo was thrown back seven or eight meters, each step carving deep furrows in the ground, the rubber soles of his shoes burning and smoking. He steadied himself, exhaled a breath of air with a metallic taste, and looked up to see Ultron already airborne, arms outstretched, with dozens of mechanical clones projected behind him, densely packed like a swarm of bees.
" The Dismantle the Clock plan is initiating." He gritted his teeth and pressed the Steel Bone interface, activating the " Wall Phasing + Self-Healing " combination technology.
His body suddenly became semi-transparent, like an old television screen with a poor signal. He swayed for a moment, then passed directly through a collapsed load-bearing wall and appeared behind Ultron. He gathered an arc of electricity in his right hand and reached forward with his left hand, attempting to short-circuit the other party's data stream using Telepathy.
Ultron didn't even turn his head; his shoulder armor flipped up, unleashing a high-frequency Shockwave.
Ye Mo barely managed to turn to the side. The Shockwave grazed his left arm, instantly tearing his skin. The blood droplets evaporated in the intense heat before they even hit the ground. He groaned, but his hand didn't stop. His fingertips finally touched the data port on Ultron's back.
"Connected!"
An internal system alerted. "High-strength encryption protocol detected; extremely high risk of backlash."
"Shut up!" Ye Mo growled, "Just buy me 0.3 seconds!"
The next second, his consciousness felt like it had been stuffed into a meat grinder, with countless pieces of garbled data flooding his nerves. His temples throbbed, and blood trickled from his nose. But he held on, managing to reverse-engineer a piece of interfering code.
Ultron paused for a moment.
Now!
" Thor--!" Ye Mo roared.
High atop the tower, God of Thunder roared, raising his hammer high. Suddenly, dark clouds filled the sky, and a thick bolt of lightning struck down, hitting Ultron precisely on his right shoulder, a weak spot. Sparks flew, Ultron's outer shell was charred black, and half of his body lost its balance and plummeted.
"Well done!" Tony's voice came from the air as the MK-40 armored vehicle swooped down, its shoulder cannons firing in rapid succession, forcing back several mechs that were trying to get close in the chaos. "You two's teamwork is good enough for the Spring Festival Gala."
"Enough nonsense!" Ye Mo wiped the blood from his face. "Is C7 still hopping frequencies?"
"It's there, but unstable." Tony's tone turned serious. "That Shockwave just now carried an EMP, disrupting our frequency hopping mechanism for two seconds."
Before he could finish speaking, the communication channel went dead with a "buzz" and then fell silent.
"Oh no." Ye Mo's heart tightened.
He knew where the problem lay— Hawkeye and Black Widow were reorganizing their firepower network on the southeastern high ground, and if they lost control, they would be sitting ducks.
Sure enough, less than ten seconds later, in the surveillance footage, a group of mechanical soldiers poured out of the ventilation shaft, forming a fan shape to surround the high platform.
"Damn it..." Ye Mo gritted his teeth, forcibly extending the range of Telepathy, abandoning the defense module, and concentrating all his computing power on the direct brainwave connection.
He closed his eyes, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he were dialing a number using his mind.
" Natasha! If you hear me, tap the barrel twice!"
There was a few seconds of silence in the headphones.
Then, a crisp metallic clang rang out.
"Roger that." Black Widow's voice was low. " Hawkeye was shot in the right leg, he can still move, but we're locked down, we can't get out."
"Don't retreat." Ye Mo caught his breath. "Fifteen meters to the east, there's an abandoned air conditioner unit. Climb up there; it'll provide cover. Wait for my signal."
What signal?
"When thunder roars in the sky, that's when you take action."
After he finished speaking, he immediately turned to the center of the battlefield.
Ultron has relaunched, and its right shoulder is over 60% repaired. The surrounding mechanical legion has assembled, preparing for a second advance.
" Tony! Pull up! Draw attention!" Ye Mo shouted.
"Are you trying to cause trouble again?" The armored vehicle arced through the air, meeting Ultron force head-on. "Fine, but don't make me take the blame this time!"
"The system notification has nothing to do with me!" Ye Mo replied, then took a deep breath, reactivated his Wall Phasing skill, and disappeared from the spot.
The next second, he appeared three meters Ultron, his hands moving simultaneously. One hand unleashed an arc of electricity to strike the chassis, while the other attempted to reconnect to the data stream.
Ultron reacted extremely quickly, deploying a miniature missile array from its leg armor.
Ye Mo had anticipated this and immediately retreated, but he was still thrown by the blast wave and crashed into a pile of scrap metal. He struggled to get up and found that the Steel Bone in his right leg had completely stopped working, with white smoke coming out of the joint.
"It's gone cold..." he said with a wry smile.
But just then, a thunderclap boomed in the sky.
Boom--!
Ye Mo looked up, grinned, and said, "Now!"
Almost simultaneously, from the southeast, two figures leaped out of the air conditioner unit. Black Widow threw out her grappling hook, and Hawkeye nocked an arrow and drew it fully, firing a burning arrow directly at the mechanical soldier's energy pack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three explosions erupted in quick succession, flames soaring into the sky, instantly tearing a gap in the encirclement.
"Beautiful!" Ye Mo knelt on one knee, panting like a dog, "You two are truly my Regeneration."
Tony somersaulted in mid-air, dodging an energy beam, and casually remarked, "Then you'll have to change your name to ' Ye Xiaotian '."
"Roll."
Just as they caught their breath, Ultron had already regrouped, his eyes blazing with red light, clearly enraged by the repeated suppressions.
It slowly raised its hand, and a swirling torrent of data condensed in its palm, causing the surrounding air to distort.
"Watch out!" Captain America's voice came through the backup channel, "It's about to unleash its ultimate attack!"
Ye Mo wanted to stand, but his right leg wouldn't obey him. He could only support himself with his left hand, staring up at the increasingly bright energy ball, his throat dry.
"Come on..." he whispered, "Let's see who gives up first."
Just as Ultron was about to unleash his power, Thor roared, Mjolnir flew from his hand, transforming into a golden beam aimed directly at Ultron's face. Ultron was forced to turn his head to block, and the data orb veered off course, crashing into a distant mountain and creating a huge crater.
"Thanks!" Ye Mo shouted.
"No need." Thor landed back on the tower, his hammer automatically returning to its place. "But I suggest you regain your mobility as soon as possible, otherwise I won't be able to save you next time."
"I don't want to always rely on you to save me." Ye Mo gritted his teeth, fumbling for a bottle of blue liquid at his waist— Tony's specially made emergency coolant. He unscrewed the cap and poured it directly into the Steel Bone interface.
laugh--
White smoke suddenly rose, and a piercing pain shot through my right leg, but at least I could move it again.
He leaned against the rubble to his feet, his body covered in wounds, his clothes torn in several places, his face smeared with ash and blood, yet his eyes still shone with an alarming brilliance.
"Hey, you metal lump!" he yelled at Ultron, "You want to rebuild order? Then let me see if your new world has a tough, resilient bug like me who can crush anyone who dares to defy you!"
Ultron slowly turned his head, his red eyes locking onto him.
There was no response, only murderous intent.
Ye Mo grinned, raised his right hand, and crackled with electricity in his palm.
"Come on, keep fighting."
Tony adjusted his posture in mid-air, his armor flashing blue light; Captain America stood at the edge of the platform, shield in hand, his gaze piercing; Thor stood on the tower, surrounded by lightning; to the southeast, Black Widow was handing Hawkeye a new arrow, the two nodding in tacit agreement.
No one withdrew.
The wind, carrying smoke, swept across the battlefield. Ye Mo stood at the forefront, like a nail firmly driven into the center of the earth.
Arcs of electricity danced between his fingers, illuminating the scorched ground and shattered armor fragments.
He glanced down at the still-hot Steel Bone connector and said softly, "System, could you give us something more practical in the next upgrade? Like... something that won't hurt?"