Yellowjacket Transforms, Overwhelming Power

Just as Ye Mo's finger touched the fingerprint recognition area next to the B-8 alloy door, before the metal panel could even light up, the ground suddenly shook. It wasn't the kind of vibration that triggers an alarm; it was more like something deep underground was forcibly awakened. The entire passageway felt like it had been kicked from below, and a crack appeared in the tile grout, sending dust flying down.

He instinctively took a half step back, his Steel Bone Transformation arms held across his chest to protect his head and neck. But before he could regain his footing, the walls on both sides suddenly exploded, concrete blocks and steel bars shooting out in all directions like artillery shell fragments. In the dust, a tall figure stepped out from behind the wall, and the entire corridor trembled as he landed.

Yellowjacket.

Darren Cross, dressed in his golden battle suit, had a power core on his chest gleaming with a blinding orange light, like a light bulb filament burning to its limit. He didn't speak, but raised his hand and threw a punch, tearing the air with a muffled "whoosh."

Ye Mo tried to dodge by sidestepping, but the opponent's speed far exceeded his expectations. The wind from the punch grazed his shoulder armor, and a corner of the Vibranium armor broke off. He was thrown away and his back slammed into the opposite wall. The bricks collapsed, and he sank half a foot deep into the wall.

"Cough--" He couldn't hold back the blood, which slid down his chin. He wiped his face, looked up and saw Darren slowly turn his head, his gaze locked on him, a wide grin on his face like a thug who had just robbed a convenience store.

"You've gone too far." He finished speaking and suddenly spread his arms wide, palms facing the ceiling.

A high-frequency Shockwave was suddenly released.

The reinforced concrete layer overhead was torn apart as if it were made of paper, and large chunks of rubble fell down, instantly engulfing the entire passage in dust. Ye Mo struggled to pull himself out of the wall and was about to call for help when the communication signal in his earpiece suddenly cut off, leaving only static.

Above the ventilation duct, Scott was crouching down, observing the situation. He had originally planned to wait for Ye Mo to open the door and then sneak into the core area to deploy jammers by following the airflow. However, as soon as he poked his head out of the ventilation duct, he saw Darren punch Ye Mo into the wall.

"Damn it!" He instinctively shrank back, his heart pounding like he'd been electrocuted. This guy wasn't a guard at all; he was just waiting for them to walk right into his line of fire.

He gritted his teeth, quickly pressed the controller, and his body began to shrink. Pym Particles circulated throughout his body, compressing him to a miniature size, until he was only the size of an ant, crawling rapidly along the inner wall of the ventilation duct. If he could squeeze into the joint gaps of Darren's suit and find the energy interface, he might be able to cut off the power supply in reverse.

Just as he was about to reach the opponent's ankle, the Yellowjacket suddenly lowered his head, and a blue light flashed around the sole of his right boot.

A nanoscale electromagnetic repulsion field unfolds instantaneously.

Scott was thrown back as if hit head-on by a high-pressure water cannon, crashing into a distant wall and sticking there with a "thud," remaining motionless for a long time. A few seconds later, he rolled to the ground, returning to normal size, curled up on the floor panting, his head buzzing, his ears filled with the sound of electricity.

On the other side, Emma Frost knelt in the corner, her hands on the ground, cold sweat pouring down her forehead. She had just tried to use Telepathy to Darren's mind, even if it was just to grasp a single keyword, but as soon as she established a connection, a neural impulse was released from inside his suit, like a red-hot needle piercing directly into her brain.

She groaned, nearly losing consciousness on the spot. She was still seeing stars, her temples were throbbing, and she was having trouble concentrating.

"Don't try to force it!" Ye Mo yelled at her, barely managing to stand up straight. The Steel Bone program was still running, but the left shoulder armor had cracked, revealing the charred circuitry beneath the alloy layer, clearly caused by the system overload from the previous attack.

He stared at Darren, his mind racing through possible solutions. Wall Phasing? No way. That punch had a concussive quality; the wall's structure was already damaged. Going through it again might just cause a collapse and bury him. Regenerative Phasing? He'd never tried that combination before; the cost of trial and error was too high. The system notification was unusually quiet, probably because the signal had been disrupted by the energy shock.

Darren didn't rush to give chase. Instead, he took two slow steps forward, his boots crunching on the gravel. He raised his right hand, and a high-energy particle beam gathered in his palm. The orange-yellow light grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the entire corridor with shifting light and shadow.

"Three little bugs, burrowed pretty deep." His voice came through the voice changer on his combat suit, deep and hoarse. "Too bad, no matter how deep the hole, someone has to dig it out with a shovel."

Ye Mo didn't reply, but instead quietly reached for his waist, his fingers hooking the pull ring of an electromagnetic pulse grenade. But he dared not make any rash moves— Darren was standing in the middle of the passage, with the B-8's alloy door behind him. If he accidentally triggered the bomb's fuse, the entire base would be blown to bits.

He could only gamble that the other party wanted to ask something else.

"Do you know who sent us?" Ye Mo asked tentatively, slowly moving towards Scott, trying to drag him to a safe position.

Darren sneered, "I don't care who sent you. All I know is that you touched something you shouldn't have."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly raised his foot and stomped heavily on the ground.

The structural resonance erupted instantly.

The entire corridor resembled glass struck by a giant hammer, with cracks spreading like a spiderweb from the floor. Large chunks of the ceiling had crumbled, supporting beams were twisted and deformed, and the only exit to the outside was completely blocked by collapsing concrete blocks. Smoke and dust filled the air, reducing visibility to less than two meters, and the air was thick with the smell of lime powder and burnt metal.

Ye Mo was so shocked that he knelt on one knee, his ears ringing. He looked up and saw Darren standing in the middle of the smoke and dust, the energy patterns on his battle suit glowing brightly, like a mechanical beast that had just awakened.

"Now," Darren slowly raised his arms, the particle beams in his palms already charged to their limit, the light so bright it was blinding, "No one can save you."

Ye Mo gritted his teeth, ripped off his broken half-rimmed glasses, and threw them on the ground. The lens shattered in two, and the data stream completely disappeared. He took a deep breath and forcibly activated the emergency mode of the Steel Bone program, and the alloy layer covered his entire body again, despite the throbbing pain in his left shoulder that felt like a short circuit.

"Scott!" he growled, "Can he still move?"

Below the vent, Scott slowly sat up, leaning against the wall. Blood was still flowing from his ear, but his eyes were still relatively clear. "I... I can move, but my brain feels like it's been churned up in a blender."

"Then don't just stand there." Ye Mo stepped forward, blocking their path. "Crawl over to Emma Frost and take her back. Don't worry about me."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Scott glared.

"Enough with the nonsense!" Ye Mo turned around and glared at him. "This is an order!"

Scott gritted his teeth and crawled toward Emma Frost on all fours. She was still panting and pale, but she managed to lift her head and nod at him when she heard the noise.

Ye Mo didn't turn back, staring intently at Darren ahead. He knew that no tactics would work now; the opponent was completely overwhelming him with the performance of his combat suit. A direct confrontation would be certain death; delaying was the only way to survive.

How can we delay it?

He glanced at the ground out of the corner of his eye and noticed a fallen metal plate with sharp edges, which must have broken off from some equipment. He quietly took half a step and gently nudged it into a blind spot behind him with his toe.

Darren didn't notice these subtle movements; he only thought that the guy in the black hoodie was pretty tough, daring to stand up even after being beaten like that.

"Ten seconds left," he said coldly, "Surrender or be reduced to ashes."

Ye Mo did not respond, but slowly raised his arms and assumed a defensive stance. His Steel Bone Transformation fists clenched tightly, and his knuckles made a "crackling" sound.

"Have you ever heard this saying?" he suddenly spoke, his voice a little hoarse, "Don't push a corporate slave to their limits, because they'll really keep you up at night scheming."

Darren was taken aback.

The next second, Ye Mo suddenly turned to the side, kicked the metal plate, and at the same time lunged towards the pile of rubble on the left.

The metal plate tumbled in the air, reflecting a corner of the particle beam's light.

Darren instinctively tilted his head to dodge, thinking it was some kind of ranged attack, but the piece of metal slammed against the wall with a "bang" and nothing happened.

"You're messing with me?" He was furious, and the energy beams in his hands immediately changed direction, locking onto Ye Mo's hiding place.

But just as he fired, a section of the ventilation duct above their heads collapsed with a "crash," and Scott tumbled down with Emma Frost in his arms. The two of them fell into a heap, but at least they were no longer in their original positions.

Darren roared and unleashed an energy beam that exploded into a fireball as tall as a person, the heatwave knocking all three of them off their feet.

Ye Mo's back slammed against the rubble, a sweet taste rising in his throat, followed by another mouthful of blood. He raised his hand to wipe it away, only to find that his fingertips were not only covered in blood, but also a pale red liquid seeping from his nasal cavity—a mild concussion, compounded by internal organ damage.

It's over.

His heart skipped a beat.

This thing won't kill you, but it can wear you down.

Darren slowly approached, his boots shattering the glass shards on the ground, each step feeling like a blow to the nerves. He charged his hands again, this time with a clear target: the location of the three.

"The game is over," he said.

Ye Mo leaned against the broken wall to stand up, his legs trembling and his vision blurry. He glanced at Scott and Emma Frost, who were huddled in the corner, to make sure they were both alive, then took a deep breath and stood at the front.

"You're right," he said in a hoarse voice, "We've gone too far."

He paused, then grinned, revealing a mouthful of bloody teeth.

"But you've forgotten one thing—people like us are never afraid to go further."