Shocking Abilities, Questions About the Truth

At the end of the drainpipe, the wind blew in from the wasteland, carrying a mixed smell of rust and damp earth. Ye Mo walked ahead, his pace slow but steady. Scott followed behind, his shoes still wet with groundwater, slipping every few steps, but he paid no attention to it.

My mind is filled with that scene from just now— Wall Phasing.

It wasn't special effects, it wasn't an illusion, it was real. The two people emerged from the thirty-meter-thick concrete wall like water seeping into a crack in a rock. Moreover, when Ye Mo's hand transformed into Steel Bone, he didn't even flinch; the electric shock bomb exploding in his palm was like a small firecracker going off.

"Wait a minute," Scott suddenly called out, stopping in his tracks.

Ye Mo stopped too, without turning around, and simply put his hands in his hoodie pockets, his shoulders twitching slightly as if he were smiling.

"Speak," he said.

"How... how did you do that?" Scott gasped, his voice a little dry. "Wall Phasing is one thing, but turning your body into metal? Is that Mutants ability? Or is it a new exoskeleton Stark secretly developed? Or... Dr. Pym actually already had a modular human body modification system?"

Ye Mo then turned around, his silver half-rimmed glasses reflecting in the moonlight, his eyes calm as if he had just done something earth-shattering.

"The system prompted me to do this," he said.

"Huh?" Scott was stunned. "A system? What system? A mobile app? Or a brain-computer interface training program? Don't try to fool me with that. I'm an electrical engineering graduate, and this doesn't even fit the theoretical model! Human tissue can't freely recombine at the molecular level, let alone penetrate solid matter without causing structural collapse—you'd at least be crushed into a sheet of paper!"

"Then what you see of me now is that I'm perfectly fine?" Ye Mo shrugged. "Theory can't keep up with practice. The problem isn't in reality, it's in your mind."

Scott choked, his fingers unconsciously fidgeting with his backpack strap. "So you're saying... you can turn bones into steel and make people crawl into walls with just a 'system notification'? Who would believe that? The first person to be arrested and dissected by S.H.I.E.L.D.. agents would be the one to do that."

"Then they'll have to catch me first." Ye Mo smiled, took two steps forward, approached an abandoned lamppost, and reached out to touch the rusty metal post. "Look at this pole. Ten years ago it might have been brand new and shiny, but now? Exposed to wind and sun, neglected, it's rotten. But it was built to standard, theoretically it should last thirty years. In reality, there aren't so many 'theoretical' things."

Scott frowned. "That's a fallacy of equivocation."

"No, I call this experience-based advice." Ye Mo patted the pole, making a dull thud. "The question you should be asking right now isn't how I did it, but when you'll be able to do it yourself. That thing in your hand, the controller, isn't just for show."

He pointed to Scott's backpack.

Scott glanced down, his Adam's apple bobbing. "But I can't even do stable scaling right now. I almost got stuck under the convenience store floor just now. You want me to think about how to Wall Phasing? I don't even know where my own body is!"

"So you need to practice." Ye Mo's tone suddenly turned serious. "Not tomorrow, not when you feel ready, but right now. Not a second can be wasted."

"But I want to know the truth!" Scott raised his voice slightly. "What gives you the right to save me? What gives you the right to guide me? Who are you? Mr. X? That name sounds like a code name from a comic book! Were you watching me all along? Surveillance, planning, testing... you even knew I would be in trouble!"

Ye Mo looked at him quietly without saying a word.

The silence that lasted a few seconds was even more suffocating than the moment they Wall Phasing.

Then he spoke, his tone as light as if he were talking about the weather. "Do you think I, if I really had that kind of ability, would be standing in this wasteland, letting the wind blow on me?"

Scott opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"You said you wanted to know the truth." Ye Mo took a step closer. "Fine, I'll tell you part of it—in this world, some people are born to fly, some can grow an extra arm after being punched, and some can control other people's minds with just a little thought. I don't belong to any of those categories. I'm standing here because after every failure, I forced myself to try one more time. And another. Until the system told me: 'It's okay.'"

"The system again?" Scott chuckled wryly. "Can't you be more specific? Like, which lab did you escape from? Were you struck by lightning? Bitten by a spider? Or are you just an alien?"

"Why don't you go and get bitten by a Ye Mo and see if you can become a hero? Maybe you'll believe me when you come back."

Scott rolled his eyes. "You're really... stubborn."

"I'm not a teacher, nor a science blogger." Ye Mo turned and continued walking forward. "I'm the one giving you a chance. You either seize it or you let it go. Once you've made your choice, don't come back asking me why."

The wind picked up, making their clothes rustle. The city lights in the distance flickered like shards of glass scattered on the ground. They walked to the edge of the wasteland, where the terrain was slightly higher, and they could see a vast, abandoned parking lot. Next to it was a dilapidated shipping container with its door half open, revealing a tarpaulin and a simple toolbox inside.

This is our temporary camp.

Ye Mo walked in and took out a palm-sized black box from the corner. It looked a bit like the Ant-Man controller, but it was rougher and had more buttons.

"Here you go." He tossed it to Scott.

Scott caught it and examined it from all angles. "What is this? A simulator?"

"I suppose so." Ye Mo sat down cross-legged, leaning against the container wall. "Tonight you lost control not because your technique was lacking, but because you were panicking. You thought you were acting in an action movie, but you were actually risking your life. Once you realize that, your hands won't shake anymore."

Scott clutched the box, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "And what about you? Aren't you afraid? There were so many police officers and drones just now, weren't you afraid of being exposed?"

"I'm afraid," Ye Mo nodded, "But I'm even more afraid that someone will lose their life because of my hesitation. Including you."

Scott was stunned.

"You think I saved you because I admire you?" Ye Mo looked at him. "No, it's because you said, 'I'm not a monster, I just want to do something right.' Is that sentence worth the risk? I don't know. But I know that if I don't try, I'll never be able to convince myself to help someone like that again."

Scott lowered his head, his fingers tracing the edges of the simulator.

"So... you don't help everyone?"

"Of course not," Ye Mo sneered. "Most people, I wouldn't even give them a second glance. You're standing here because you earned it yourself."

"But I still don't understand... what exactly is that system?" Scott looked up, his eyes stubborn. "You say it's your support, but who does it listen to? Do you control it, or does it control you? What if one day it suddenly makes you kill someone? Rob someone? Do things you never want to do?"

Ye Mo was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed, "You ask quite a lot of questions."

"Because I'm not stupid enough to blindly trust." Scott straightened his back. "You saved me, and I'm grateful. But if you want me to train with you, and even potentially fight alongside you, then I need to know—whether you're reliable or not."

"Alright." Ye Mo nodded. "I'll give you an answer, just this once."

Scott held his breath.

"The system doesn't command me to do anything," Ye Mo said. "It only tells me what I can do. The rest of the choices are up to me. I saved you today because I wanted to. If I stand idly by tomorrow, it's because I chose to ignore it. Ability isn't an excuse; responsibility is."

Scott slowly exhaled, as if he had finally grasped something real.

So... it really is just a prompting tool?

"You can understand it this way," Ye Mo leaned against the wall, closing his eyes, "But it won't explain the principles, it won't teach you how to combine abilities, and it won't tell you how long the cooldown will be next time. You have to figure everything out yourself. How many times have I fallen? I can't remember. Once I got stuck halfway through Wall Phasing and almost got sandwiched. Another time, my Steel Bone hadn't completely worn off, and my walk was making a cracking sound. When I went to the convenience store to buy water, they thought I was a robot and alarmed me."

Scott couldn't help but chuckle, "Then wouldn't you be living a very tiring life?"

"Tired?" Ye Mo opened his eyes. "Compared to doing nothing and watching someone important get hurt, what's a little tiredness?"

Silence fell between them.

A dog barked in the distance, followed by the low hum of a passing car. The city continued to turn, while they were like two shadows isolated from the outside world.

Scott looked down at the simulator in his hands and suddenly said, "You're saying I'm not fit to be a hero?"

"I didn't say you weren't good enough," Ye Mo corrected. "I said you haven't been pushed to that point yet."

"So, should I start pushing myself now?" Scott looked up, his gaze resolute. "I'm not asking about the system anymore, and I'm not bothered by who you are. I just want to know—how can I become as strong as you?"

Ye Mo looked at him for a long time, then a slight smile appeared on her lips, "Wouldn't it have been better to say that earlier?"

He stood up, walked over to Scott, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, the training ahead won't be easy. You'll feel pain, you'll be tired, you'll doubt yourself. But as long as you remember why you're standing here tonight, that's enough."

Scott took a deep breath, gripping the simulator tightly with both hands until his knuckles turned white.

"I'm ready," he said.

Ye Mo nodded, turned and walked towards the container door, gazing at the dark night sky.

The wind is still blowing.

His voice was soft, yet it reached Scott's ears clearly. "Then let's start with the first lesson—stop asking 'why,' learn 'how' first."

Scott sat on the ground, staring at the equipment in his hands, motionless.

He knew that some questions could not be answered for the time being.

But he also knew that the real training had only just begun.