The wind has stopped.
The clouds were stuck in mid-air, as if someone had pressed the pause button. The six people were still standing in the same place, their postures unchanged, but their breathing had slowed down. The words "It's awake" from just now still hung in the air, but no one answered or moved. After waiting for a long time, the sky didn't crack, the ground didn't sink, and not even a gust of wind blew again.
The blue markings on Ye Mo's right arm finished their final movement and fell silent.
He blinked and stared at his wrist for two seconds. The resonance he had felt earlier had come and gone just as clearly, like a signal tower suddenly losing power, leaving only a trace of warmth clinging to his skin. He didn't move his fingers or make a sound; he simply pulled his sleeve down half an inch to cover the bluish-gray mark.
Tony's armor was still humming, his mask half-open, revealing half his face. He glanced down at the readings on his wrist, then looked up at the sky, frowning. "So... it woke up and then went back to sleep?"
No one answered.
Captain America's hand was still on his shield, his knuckles slightly white. He glanced around, his gaze lingering on Ye Mo for a moment. He noticed that Ye Mo's posture hadn't changed, but his breathing was deeper than before, as if he had just pulled himself out of some kind of internal struggle.
Thor, hammer in hand, whispered, "There's a kind of omen in Asgard called 'calm before the thunder.' It doesn't mean there won't be thunder, it means the thunder is gathering strength."
Hawkeye's ears twitched slightly as he squinted at a point in the sky. "I didn't hear any engine noise, nor did I see any heat source. If something had come in, it would at least have disturbed the atmosphere, right?"
Black Widow stood at the back, her hands hanging at her waist, but her eyes kept scanning her teammates. She noticed that Ye Mo hadn't looked at the sky since earlier, but instead looked down at his arms several times, his movements very subtle, as if afraid of being discovered.
" Ye Mo," she suddenly spoke.
"Hmm?" He looked up.
What were you thinking about just now?
"I wasn't thinking about anything," he said, a slight smile playing on his lips. "I just feel like my legs are a little numb from standing for so long."
Tony scoffed, "Your lie is even less fluent than my AI butler's. At least it can fake a cough to cover for you."
Ye Mo didn't refute, he just smiled and stretched his shoulders. He knew he couldn't hide it from these people—especially Black Widow, that woman could even detect if someone blinked at an off rate. But he couldn't say anything either, because even he himself hadn't figured it out yet.
In that brief moment, he sensed more than just the fluctuations in the red dot.
He detected an unusual signal in the underlying frequency of the X-Gene Resonance System. It wasn't a remnant of Ultron, nor was it a typical waveform of alien energy invasion; rather, it was a kind of... dislocation. It was like two audio tracks that were originally playing in sync, but suddenly one track was 0.3 seconds slower. It wasn't noticeable, but once your ears caught it, you couldn't shake it off.
He closed his eyes briefly, his consciousness sinking into the seventh level of the Gene Spiral Tower. There, the afterimage of the [ Life Resonance Wave ] still lingered, its pale golden energy trajectory flashing like the scan lines of an old-fashioned television. He deduced from the frequency transmitted by the blue pattern, bringing up the simulation interface of the Deep Space Atlas in his mind—the data channel provided to him by the remnants of Tony's armor signal.
Coordinates locked: Orion direction, offset angle 0.7 degrees, approximately 1.2 light-years from Earth.
Under normal circumstances, energy disturbances at this distance would not affect the actual structure. However, the problem is that during the attenuation of this signal, there were three slight rebounds, each at an interval of exactly 72 hours minus 0.3 seconds. This is not a natural phenomenon, nor can it be explained by mechanical failure.
More importantly, when he projected this frequency onto the Earth's near-orbit database, the system automatically matched an old signal source with a low-threat tag—number NY-4479. Its last active time was three years ago, located outside the New York State Penitentiary, lasting for thirty-seven minutes, and its energy characteristics were short-range quantum oscillations.
He had seen this signal before.
I glanced at it once while helping Tony organize declassified S.H.I.E.L.D.. files, and the note at the time read, "Field fluctuations caused by the escape of a suspected prisoner experimental subject." There were no follow-up records, and it was archived as a false alarm.
That timeframe coincided with the time Scott Lang was released from prison.
Ye Mo's eyelids twitched.
He had no reason to directly link the two things. One was an unknown entity approaching from the depths of the universe, and the other was a faint oscillation near the prison three years ago, separated by countless dimensions. Yet his system happened to capture similar frequency afterimages at this moment, like two pieces of code that should not have met, inexplicably colliding.
"What are you looking into?" Tony's voice suddenly approached.
Ye Mo opened his eyes and saw Tony had already walked over. The shoulder components of the armor were still undergoing slight calibration, making clicking sounds. He lowered his hand from the back of his neck, pretending to have just finished stretching. "Nothing, just checking if any data fragments were missed."
"Your expression doesn't sound like 'nothing'," Tony stared at him. "You just used my signal source for reverse projection; I got a notification on my end."
"Oh? Then call the police." Ye Mo shrugged. "I thought you had it in silent mode."
"I did set it up, but the method you used was too aggressive." Tony clicked his tongue. "You directly used Mutants perception as a decoder, forcing it into the signal's underlying layers. My crappy system almost crashed."
This means you should upgrade.
"That means you need to take a break," Captain America interjected, walking over. "You don't look well."
Ye Mo touched his face; it was indeed a little stiff. That internal inspection earlier had taken a toll; his mind felt like a wrung-out towel. He waved his hand. "I'm really fine, just a little tired. The kind of tired you feel after finishing a job."
Thor, standing nearby, suddenly spoke up, "There's something making a sound inside you."
Everyone was stunned for a moment.
Ye Mo looked at him.
"It's not a heartbeat," Thor said, pointing to his chest. "It's a different frequency. I've heard something similar in Asgard —it's the sound of chains vibrating before a door opens."
Ye Mo paused for a second, then laughed, "That's quite a vivid analogy."
"I'm not using a metaphor," Thor said seriously. "I mean, your body is like a container right now, and it's almost full."
Tony frowned. "Wait, you mean he's been parasitized by something?"
"It's not parasitism." Ye Mo shook his head. "It's my system responding to some kind of external signal. It's probably because the resonance before the big battle was too strong, leaving some aftereffects."
"The aftereffects can automatically link to prison signals from three years ago?" Black Widow said coldly. "Do you think you're the National Archives?"
"I didn't want to either," Ye Mo shrugged, "But it just popped up. What could I do?"
Hawkeye finally spoke, "So you now suspect that what's coming is related to someone who's been released from prison?"
"I didn't say I doubted it," Ye Mo corrected. "I said signal matching. As for whether it's really related, I don't know. It could just be a coincidence, or the system malfunctioning."
"Your system has never malfunctioned," Tony said, staring at him. "The last time you said it was malfunctioning, it turned out you secretly used your Self-Healing factor to suppress Banner's gamma fluctuations."
That was an accident.
You can even arrange unexpected events perfectly.
A group of people stared at him in silence; the atmosphere was a little tense.
Ye Mo sighed, "Alright, I admit it—I feel this isn't simple. But I have no evidence right now, and I can't prove it will cause trouble. I just... noted down this signal."
"And then?" Black Widow asked.
"Then I'll just watch," he said calmly. "Nothing to say, no action, just observation. If it's just a coincidence, we don't need to overreact."
Captain America looked at him for a long time before finally nodding. "Okay. But you need to share data in real time, and report any changes immediately."
"No problem."
Tony sneered, "You really think you're using yourself as an early warning satellite."
"If I don't do it, who will?" Ye Mo retorted. "Does anyone have one of these?" He pointed to his head. "It's free, and it doesn't even need electricity."
"What you're doing for free now, you'll have to start charging later." Tony patted him on the shoulder. "I suggest charging in US dollars, not points."
The group relaxed a little, and the atmosphere eased somewhat. Thor slammed his hammer on the ground, sparks flying. "Since it's not coming, I'm going to get something to eat. You won't have the energy to fight if you're not well-fed."
"Didn't you just eat three energy bars?" Hawkeye asked.
That doesn't count as a meal.
"Your Asgardians standards are too high." Tony shook his head. "We Earthlings are fine as long as we don't starve."
The group began to move. Captain America slung his shield back over his shoulder, Black Widow checked her holster, and Hawkeye reattached his bow case to his shoulder. Tony began manually deactivating some of the armor modules, producing a series of hydraulic depressurization sounds.
Ye Mo didn't move.
He stood there, looking at his right hand. The blue stripes under his cuff had completely subsided, but the feeling of being "connected" remained, like a phone call that had been made but the other person hadn't spoken.
He knew this wasn't over.
That signal doesn't appear out of nowhere. The 0.3-second offset isn't an error, but a test—like someone gently knocking on the door to see if you react.
He slowly clenched his fist, his palm burning hot.
This time, he decided not to tell anyone. It wasn't that he didn't believe it, but he didn't want the entire team to go into a state of combat readiness based on his own perception. After all, it was still uncertain whether the enemy even really existed.
He did only one thing: he quietly started a monitoring program in the background of his phone, setting the abnormal frequency he had just experienced as a trigger condition. Once the same fluctuation occurred again, it would automatically record and mark the time and location.
After doing all that, he turned around and followed the team back to the base.
Tony lagged a step behind, standing shoulder to shoulder with him. "Are you really planning to keep an eye on him alone?"
"Otherwise what?" Ye Mo laughed, "You want me to hold a meeting with the topic 'A thief was released from prison three years ago, possibly related to a cosmic crisis'?"
"Your logic is a bit off," Tony admitted. "But remember—you're not alone. If anything happens, call for help."
"I know." Ye Mo nodded. "If I really yelled, it would really explode."
"Then you'd better not shout." Tony slapped him on the back. "My armor was just repaired; I don't want to take it off again."
The two entered the base, and the lights came on. The corridor returned to its usual stark white, and the ventilation system restarted, emitting a low hum. Everything seemed to be back on track.
Ye Mo paused for a moment as he passed the monitoring sub-area.
The main control panel screen was black, but the backup power indicator light was flashing. He didn't go inside; he just glanced at it through the glass.
In that instant, a faint blue light seemed to flicker beneath the skin of his right arm.
Like a heartbeat.