Klaue's fingers were still sliding on the remote control, his thumb knuckle white from excessive force.
The cold smile on his lips hadn't fully spread, but his eyes were full of mockery, as if to say, "Let's see how long you can keep up this act." In his eyes, Ye Mo's observation actions just now were nothing more than a desperate struggle before death. An ordinary young man without armor or superpowers standing in front of a full-power sonic cannon? That was more absurd than asking an ant to carry an elephant.
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish."
Klaue's voice came through the loudspeaker, crackling with static and sounding particularly harsh. He gave Ye Mo no further chance to think or escape, not even bothering to adjust the frequency to test him. He directly pressed the lock button for maximum output power.
Buzz--!
This time the voice was different.
It was no longer the low-frequency hum that made people dizzy and disoriented, but a piercing shriek. It was like a thousand fingernails scraping across a blackboard at the same time, or like the popping sound of a high-voltage power line breaking. The sound pierced through the air, went straight into the eardrum, and burned all the way to the cerebral cortex along the auditory nerve.
The dust in the square was forcibly suppressed by the sound, and the ground began to tremble violently.
Ye Mo stood rooted to the spot, his feet firmly planted on the broken stone pavement.
He could feel that invisible force approaching. It wasn't wind, nor airflow, but a real energy wave. The molecules in the air became viscous due to the high-frequency vibration, and each breath felt like swallowing shards of glass.
The X-Gene Resonance System was frantically alarming in my mind.
[WARNING: High-intensity sonic shockwave detected. Immediate evasive action or activation of the highest level of defense recommended.]
Ye Mo ignored the system notification. His gaze pierced through the swirling dust, fixed on the red remote control in front of him. He knew that this attack was not only aimed at him, but also at completely destroying T'Challa's potential counterattack from behind. If he dodged now, the sound waves would hit the already heavily injured T'Challa without any obstruction.
T'Challa was still lying in the rubble. Although his Vibranium Suit was tough, the shock to his internal organs would take time to recover. This was his most vulnerable moment.
Emma Frost, close your eyes!
Ye Mo roared inwardly.
Emma Frost, hiding behind cover, immediately cut off all perception of her surroundings the moment she heard those words, curling herself into a ball. She didn't need to see or hear; she only needed to believe that Ye Mo could withstand the attack.
Ye Mo took a deep breath, filling his lungs with cold air.
He activated the Gene Spiral Tower in his consciousness. Layer 12: High-density Skeletal Enhancement fragments; Layer 13: Epidermal keratin metallization fragments. He had kept these two fragments, originally intending to use them to withstand physical attacks in the future, but he didn't expect to use them here first.
Integration.
activation.
A burning sensation rose from the base of his spine and quickly spread throughout his body. His muscles tensed instantly, and a very faint gray sheen appeared on his skin. It wasn't a reflection, but rather the stratum corneum undergoing microscopic restructuring, becoming as dense as steel. His bones emitted a faint cracking sound, their density increasing more than threefold.
This is " Steel Bone ".
It's not about actually turning into steel, but about pushing human potential to its limits to achieve a near-inhuman level of hardness.
Klaue was taken aback when he saw the change in Ye Mo.
What the hell?
He hadn't expected this seemingly mild-mannered young man to possess such skills. But he quickly regained his confidence, and even became more excited.
"That's interesting, but it's not enough!"
Klaue increased the volume, and the roar of the sonic cannon reached its peak.
The first wave of impact has arrived.
Ye Mo felt as if he had been hit from behind by a speeding train.
"Bang!"
A muffled thud.
His feet carved two deep furrows in the ground, sending pebbles flying. He slid forward half a meter, his shoes smudging and emitting wisps of smoke as they scraped against the ground.
But he did not fall.
Instead, he stood firm, his body as immovable as a towering mountain.
The sound waves struck his back, but were absorbed by the layers of his metallic skin. Most of the energy was dispersed to his limbs and feet, while a small portion seeped into his body, causing violent tremors in his internal organs.
Ye Mo groaned, and a trickle of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth.
The blood had barely flowed out when half of it evaporated due to the high temperature, and the remaining half dripped down his chin, hitting the scorching stone slab with a sizzling sound.
"Ha! Looks like you're just a mortal after all!"
Seeing this, Klaue not only did not back down, but became even more smug. He believed that Ye Mo was just putting on a brave face, and as long as he continued to output damage, he would eventually shatter Ye Mo's bones.
He began frequently adjusting the frequency, trying to find the best band that could penetrate Ye Mo's defenses.
High frequency, low frequency, pulse, continuous...
Various complex combinations of sound waves poured down on Ye Mo like a torrential rain.
Ye Mo's feeling worse and worse.
Each impact of the sound waves felt like a dull knife cutting into his flesh. Cracks began to appear on his skin, and tissue fluid seeped from those tiny fissures, mixing with sweat and trickling down his black hoodie. His clothes were already soaked through, clinging tightly to his body and outlining his taut, rock-hard muscles.
But his eyes remained sharp.
He dared not move, nor dared he retreat.
He knew that if he moved, T'Challa behind him would be exposed.
" T'Challa, don't move."
Ye Mo gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words. His voice wasn't loud, but it was clearly audible in the noisy battlefield.
T'Challa lay prone in the rubble, his ears ringing from the sound waves, barely able to hear anything around him. But he heard Ye Mo's words.
He looked up and, through the swirling dust, saw that figure from behind.
The young man in the black hoodie was enduring all the firepower alone. His body was trembling slightly, not from fear, but from pain. Every muscle was spasming, and every bone was groaning.
But that figure remained standing.
Like a stabilizing force, it was firmly planted in the center of the battlefield.
T'Challa's heart skipped a beat.
He had seen many heroes, some clad in armor, some wielding divine weapons, and some possessing world-destroying power. But he had never seen anyone like Ye Mo, who used his flesh and blood to withstand technological weapons.
This is not about showing off.
This is protection.
The confusion and helplessness in T'Challa's eyes vanished at that moment. In their place came a burning anger and a rekindled fighting spirit.
He is Black Panther, the King of Wakanda.
How could he hide behind someone else?
"Damn it..."
T'Challa muttered a curse under his breath and clenched his fist.
The muscles beneath his Vibranium Suit began to recharge, and his previously sluggish movements became fluid. He no longer tried to force his way out of the rubble, but instead used the surrounding debris as fulcrums to adjust his posture little by little.
His gaze was fixed on Klaue.
That bastard is still laughing hysterically.
As Klaue looked at Ye Mo, who was as slippery as an eel and impossible to knock down no matter what he did, the smile on his face gradually froze.
"What's going on? Why hasn't it collapsed yet?"
He checked the remote control's data again. The output power was already at its limit, and the frequency was constantly switching. Logically speaking, any living being should have collapsed under such intense sound waves.
But this Ye Mo is like a black hole, devouring all the sound wave energy.
"Could it be...?"
A sense of unease rose in Klaue's heart.
Just then, Ye Mo suddenly spoke.
"Hey, you over there with the remote control."
Ye Mo's voice was somewhat hoarse, with a hint of blood, but it was unusually calm.
Klaue was taken aback. "What did you say?"
"I said," Ye Mo slowly turned his head, his face covered in blood and grime, a deep, bone-revealing wound on his left cheek oozing blood, but his eyes were frighteningly bright, "Can you come up with something different? I'm getting annoyed by all this noise."
Klaue was so angry he laughed.
"Court death!"
He roared and frantically operated the remote control with both hands, preparing to launch the final assault.
In that instant, Ye Mo moved.
He didn't retreat or dodge; instead, he stepped forward to meet the sound waves.
This step shattered the stone slab beneath his feet.
He leaned forward slightly, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and charged straight at Klaue like a cannonball.
T'Challa saw this and felt a surge of passion welling up inside him.
Without further hesitation, his Vibranium Suit erupted with a black light, propelling him out of the rubble like a black lightning bolt, heading straight for Klaue's rear to flank him.
The situation on the battlefield underwent a subtle change at this moment.
It was no longer a one-sided suppression, but a confrontation between two Beast.
Klaue looked at Ye Mo charging towards him, then glanced at T'Challa who had emerged from the flank, and his face instantly turned extremely grim.
"You..."
Before he could speak, Ye Mo had already rushed in front of him.
The distance was too close, close enough for him to see the crazed killing intent in Ye Mo's eyes.
Ye Mo didn't use any fancy abilities; he simply bumped his shoulder into the edge of the platform where Klaue was.
"Get out of here!"
With a roar, Ye Mo's shoulder slammed heavily against the platform's support pillar.
Click.
The support column broke.
The entire platform began to tilt.
Klaue lost his balance, and the remote control flew out of his hand.
At the same time, T'Challa appeared above the platform, his Vibranium claws gleaming coldly, aimed directly at Klaue's throat.
The storm has only just begun.
However, the anticipated end did not come.
Although Klaue landed awkwardly on the sloping platform ruins, his reaction was extremely quick. The instant the remote control slipped from his hand, his other hand had already reached for the spare controller at his waist. More importantly, even without the direct control of the remote control, the sonic cannon behind him remained in automatic loop mode, and the high-frequency buzzing sound did not diminish at all; on the contrary, it became even more unstable due to the shaking of the base.
Worse still, Klaue's mercenaries did not crumble because of their boss's fall. On the contrary, their long military training had instilled in them a conditioned reflex of tactical discipline. When their commander briefly lost his composure, they instinctively intensified their firepower, attempting to block Ye Mo and T'Challa's path with a dense barrage of fire.
Bullets rained down, striking Ye Mo's metallic skin and sending sparks flying. Although they couldn't penetrate the " Steel Bone " defense, the kinetic energy from the dense fire forced Ye Mo to take a few steps back, temporarily halting his charge towards Klaue.
"Damn it, these lunatics!"
Ye Mo spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his eyes turning cold. He realized that the current situation was not a simple one-on-one duel, but an asymmetrical war of attrition. Although Klaue had lost the initiative, he still had cards to play, and the training and professionalism of those mercenaries far surpassed that of the previous rabble.
Just then, Emma Frost Thaddeus Ross, who had been hiding behind cover, opened her eyes.
Her face was as pale as paper, and her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. Just now, in order to cooperate with Ye Mo in resisting the sound waves, she had to cut off the protection of her mental power, allowing the violent mental turbulence to assault her central nervous system. At this moment, her temples were throbbing, as if countless needles were pricking them.
But she can't stop.
She glanced at Klaue, who was frantically adjusting his pace in the distance, trying to regain control of the situation, and then at Ye Mo and T'Challa, who were dealing with the mercenaries.
"Now."
Emma Frost silently recited it in her heart.
She didn't choose to directly read Klaue's thoughts, as that would be too slow and prone to backlash. She opted for a more brutal and efficient method—mental interference.
She concentrated all her mental energy into an invisible high-frequency pulse, precisely targeting the cerebral cortex of Klaue and his core subordinates. This pulse was not destructive, but it carried a strong psychological suggestion: confusion, hesitation, and self-doubt.
It was like throwing a huge rock into a calm lake; the ripples spread rapidly.
Just as Klaue was about to press the backup controller to activate the sonic cannon's self-destruct sequence and perish together with it, a sharp pain shot through his mind.
"Buzz--!"
It felt as if a thousand bees were buzzing inside my head at the same time.
His "concentrate fire" order was distorted during transmission. Some of his men received the wrong signal to "cover the retreat," while others were momentarily stunned and panicked. The originally uniform fire network faltered and became misaligned for a few seconds.
Several bullets went astray, grazing Ye Mo's shoulder before striking the stone pillar behind him, sending shards of rock flying.
Ye Mo keenly seized this fleeting opening.
A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"Good timing."
Instead of rashly pursuing Klaue, he used the few seconds of chaos to quickly observe the surrounding terrain and the structure of the sonic cannon. His gaze locked onto a connection point on the sonic cannon's base, which seemed to have become loose due to the previous violent vibrations.
That's the Achilles' heel of the entire machine.
At the same time, T'Challa also noticed the chaos on the enemy's side.
Without the slightest hesitation, the king of Wakanda unleashed his full power beneath his Vibranium Suit. No longer relying on the armor's mechanical assistance, he moved with the instincts of Black Panther, gliding out of cover like a black phantom.
His movements were swift and deadly, dodging several stray bullets as he charged straight at the nearest armed mercenary.
T'Challa's claws sliced through the air with a sharp, whistling sound.
Before the first mercenary could even raise his weapon, T'Challa struck him precisely in the wrist, sending the gun crashing to the ground. Immediately afterward, T'Challa spun around and used the momentum to kick over another enemy who was trying to aim at Ye Mo.
His movements were fluid and graceful, each move aimed directly at the vital points, without any superfluous actions.
Ye Mo did not participate in close combat; his mission was more crucial.
Taking advantage of Klaue's attention being drawn to T'Challa's attack, he quietly circled around to the back of the sonic cannon. His footsteps were so light they were almost inaudible, and his black hooded sweatshirt allowed him to blend perfectly into the shadows.
He crouched down and gently touched the metal casing of the sonic cannon's base with his fingers.
Cold and rough.
Sensing the subtle vibrations of the internal energy flow, he discovered a clear structural defect: a tiny crack at the interface of the cooling pipe, caused by fatigue damage from high-frequency vibration.
If enough impact force is used to damage this interface and trigger an energy backflow, the machine can be completely disabled.
Ye Mo pulled out a high-density alloy fragment from his waist, a piece of junk he had picked up during the battle. He embedded the fragment into a crack in the sonic cannon's cooling pipe, using it as a simple lever to amplify the subsequent impact.
After doing all this, he stood up and dusted off his hands.
T'Challa finished off the last nearby enemy, stood up, and the black patterns on his Vibranium Suit gleamed coldly in the sunlight. He looked in Ye Mo's direction, his eyes now filled with trust.
Ye Mo turned around, and the two of them nodded to each other without saying a word, thus completing their silent cooperation.
Emma Frost maintained the continuous output of mental interference, which greatly consumed her mental energy. However, she gritted her teeth, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she kept her eyes fixed on Klaue's direction to prevent him from issuing any more effective commands.
Klaue was trapped in place, watching everything unfold before him, a flicker of despair and madness in his eyes.
He realized he had underestimated the three people's teamwork.
Ye Mo slowly clenched his fist, his right hand hovering above the base of the sonic cannon, ready to unleash his power.