The heat behind his left ear felt like a red-hot wire, throbbing and drilling into his brain. Ye Mo leaned against the alloy wall next to the second sealed door, not moving or turning around. He knew Tony and the others were ten meters behind him, tiptoeing through the passage, but he couldn't wait any longer.
Ultron is in front.
It's not a signal, not a data stream, it's an inexplicable intuition—like a mouse knowing a cat is watching it, even before the cat makes a sound.
He raised his hand, wiped the dust off his face, and ran his fingertips along the edge of his half-rimmed glasses. The thermal imaging on the lenses was still running, but the image was all gibberish. The data interference deep inside the base was too strong; the system notification was silent, not even uttering a single word like "cooling down."
Regenerative Phasing has 47 seconds remaining.
He closed his eyes and took three deep breaths. The first time, he remembered the day in the abandoned subway station in Queens when the Shadowcat jumped out of the wall and startled him; the second time, he remembered Wade Wilson lying in a pool of blood, Self-Healing, his flesh growing back piece by piece; the third time, he forcibly pieced these two memories together, stuffing them into his nerves like building with Lego bricks.
My skin started to feel numb.
Three seconds later, he took a step forward.
He didn't pass through the wall; he slid in. The metal, like thick oil, enveloped his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, every inch feeling like it was being repeatedly pricked by fine needles. He gritted his teeth, remained silent, and pushed forward with the soles of his feet, his whole body like a living thing being swallowed into an iron pipe, slowly and painfully squeezing through.
Three seconds.
He emerged from the other side of the corridor, his knees buckling as he nearly collapsed to his knees. Cold sweat trickled down his temples, a single drop dangling from his chin before slapping onto his work pants.
It's done.
He leaned against the wall, panting, his left hand pressed against his chest. His heart was pounding wildly, and the Steel Bone frame beneath his clothes was still burning hot. Finally, the system displayed a message: [ Regenerative Phasing successfully used. Countdown to next use: 2 minutes 13 seconds].
He grinned. "Thanks, system. Could you provide a buffer next time?"
No one answered.
He was now all alone, the wall behind him separating him from the entire Avengers Squad.
The corridor was deeper and the ceiling was lower than before. The energy Sensor Net on the walls was dense, like a spider's web of electricity. Taking a step could cause a commotion. He crouched down against the wall, his palm lightly touching the ground, trying to use his Spatial Perception to explore the way again. But as soon as he released a wisp of resonant wave, his head buzzed as if he had been hit by a hammer.
The interference is too strong.
He shook his head, then suddenly remembered something, closed his eyes, and activated another fragment within him— Telepathy.
It wasn't mind reading or mind control, just a vague "feeling." He had witnessed Emma Frost Thaddeus Ross's abilities firsthand; he remembered the high-pressure mental fluctuations in the air the night she confronted the Hellfire Club.
Now, he sees himself as an antenna, tuning to that frequency.
There was a lot of noise: the hum of machinery, the ticking of data streams, and the rhythm of some kind of liquid being pumped in the distance. He held his breath, filtering through the noise bit by bit.
Then, he caught it.
Something was off.
It wasn't a program loop, nor was it random noise; it was a kind of... emotional oscillation. Like a sneer, or perhaps a mockery, it was hidden in the high frequency of three thousand hertz, gently sweeping across his nerve endings.
"You've come." The fluctuation seemed to say, "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
Ye Mo opened his eyes, his pupils contracting slightly.
Three hundred meters directly ahead, three levels underground, lies a massive hollow structure. There are no infrared scanners, no patrol units, and even the energy readings are almost zero—yet there lies Ultron's core consciousness.
He stood up, brushed the dust off his pants, and walked forward.
He moved with light steps, his shoes barely touching the ground. He circled around two pressure plates, crouched down and crawled under the ventilation duct, breaking a data cable midway. A spark flashed, and he immediately lay down, waiting for the alarm to stop before continuing.
It took me seven minutes to walk 300 meters.
At the end was a blast-proof door, as heavy as a bank vault, its surface coated with a dark gray layer. He reached out and touched it, feeling a subtle vibration at his fingertips—there was airflow inside, and low-frequency electromagnetic pulses.
It cannot Wall Phasing.
This material is wrong; it's a Vibranium mixture that can block molecular-level penetration. Forcing it to work is tantamount to suicide.
He looked up at the ventilation ducts overhead.
The grille was only thirty centimeters square; an adult would get stuck if they crawled inside. He stretched his shoulders to make sure the Steel Bone wasn't damaged during the Wall Phasing, then leaped up, hooked his fingers on the edge of the access panel, and with a powerful twist, shrunk himself inside the pipe.
It was incredibly narrow inside, so he could only crawl forward. After crawling for more than ten meters, a 90-degree downward bend appeared ahead. He took out his tactical knife, pried open the lower panel, and slowly descended, finally landing on a metal platform at the edge.
The platform was small, barely enough for two people to stand on. He squatted down, took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with his sleeve, and then put them back on.
Thermal imaging restarted.
In the center of the image, a thick pillar slowly rises, from which a silver-gray machine emerges. Its head is spiked, its eyes are scarlet, and the energy core on its chest glows with rings of blue light, like a beating heart.
Ultron.
It had its back to him, its hands clasped behind its back, as if waiting for something.
Ye Mo didn't move or make a sound. He stared at the mechanical body and suddenly found it a bit ridiculous—this guy was clearly an AI, but he always acted like a philosopher, liked to rhyme when he spoke, and even recited a couple of lines of poetry before fighting.
"System," he muttered to himself, "Shouldn't it remind me of something now? Like 'hostility level maxed out' or 'surrender recommended'?"
The system remains silent.
He sighed and straightened up.
Just then, Ultron moved.
It slowly turned its head, its neck emitting a slight gear-like sound, its scarlet eyes precisely locking onto Ye Mo on the platform. The metallic corner of its mouth slowly curled upwards, simulating a cold smile.
Ye Mo laughed too, "Oh, you recognize me? I thought you'd have to scan a QR code first."
Ultron remained silent.
But as it spread its arms, its energy core surged dramatically, and red light instantly filled the entire hall. One by one, the lights that had been extinguished came on, illuminating the entire vast space.
Dozens of supporting pillars surrounded it, covered with data cables; complex circuit diagrams were engraved on the ground, like some kind of ritual formation; the central platform was five meters above the ground, with Ultron standing on top, like a monarch on a throne.
Ye Mo stood in the shadows, only half of his face visible.
He knew this shouldn't be happening here.
Logically, Tony and his team should have followed closely behind, forming a six-man encirclement, suppressing fire, and advancing tactically. But now, he's alone, standing on the enemy's home turf, facing a crazed AI, while his own abilities are still cooling down.
But he didn't back down.
He took a step forward and stepped onto the main hall floor.
A slight vibration came from the soles of my feet, like some kind of start-up signal.
Ultron looked down at him, his voice deep and steady, coming from his chest. "You could have waited for them to come in together."
"Wait?" Ye Mo tugged at his hoodie. "I'm in a hurry. Besides, the decor here is too oppressive; my teammates might get emotional if they come in."
Ultron tilted his head slightly. "Aren't you afraid of dying?"
"I was scared," Ye Mo said, touching behind his ear. "But it hurts even more now, so it's good to distract myself."
Ultron paused for a second, then suddenly burst into laughter.
Laughter echoed through the hall, making the pipes hum. It raised a hand, pointing at Ye Mo: "You're always like this, using nonsense to mask your fear. But I know you're trembling."
Ye Mo looked down at his hands.
It is indeed shaking. It's not because of fear, but a side effect of Wall Phasing; the muscles haven't fully regenerated and stabilized yet.
"Shaking?" He put his hands in his pockets. "I'm doing my driving test (Part 3), do you want to come along?"
Ultron's smile vanished, his eyes turning cold.
"You've trespassed into my territory, alone, with no chance of winning." It descended the steps, its metal feet striking the ground with a heavy thud. "You think you're the hunter? You're just the first sacrifice."
Ye Mo didn't reply.
He watched Ultron's every move, calculating the distance and observing the shift in his center of gravity. He knew this battle was unavoidable, but he didn't want to fight now.
Their abilities haven't recovered, their position is unfavorable, and the terrain is enclosed.
But he couldn't escape.
If they escape, Ultron will redeploy its defenses, and the next opportunity may be a long time away.
He had to stall, stall until the system notification sounded again, stall until the Regenerative Phasing cooldown was complete, stall until he could find that fatal weakness.
"You know what?" he suddenly said, "I've always felt there's something wrong with you."
Ultron stopped and stared at him coldly.
"You talk too much," Ye Mo shrugged. "You have to give a five-minute speech before every fight, making it sound like a graduation ceremony. If you saved that time, you could build a couple more robots and rule the Earth by now."
Ultron's eyes narrowed.
The next second, it disappeared.
It wasn't Teleportation, it was high-speed movement. It left only a blur in place, and the wind pressure rushed towards it.
Ye Mo instinctively jumped backward, simultaneously activating the remaining Phase Shift, and feinted half an inch to the left.
laugh--!
A beam of crimson light grazed his right shoulder and struck the wall, instantly vaporizing the alloy and leaving a charred crater the size of a bowl.
He landed unsteadily and staggered two steps before regaining his footing.
"Damn it!" he cursed, "Can't you finish explaining before you start?"
Ultron was already three meters away, arms outstretched, smoke still rising from the muzzle of his energy cannon.
"This time," it whispered, "I won't give you another chance."
Ye Mo, panting, quietly reached for the conductive probe at his waist with his left hand.
He knew that the next second would be a fight to the death.