Ye Mo gripped the hard drive tightly, his fingertips growing cold. The words on the backup terminal still flashed before his eyes—[Welcome back, Test Subject 07 ]. He didn't move or speak, but simply stuffed the chip and hard drive into the inner bag, his movements very gentle, as if afraid of waking something.
Tony, panting, sat down at the control panel after removing his armor module. He looked up at Ye Mo and said, "What can you possibly see in that crappy screen?"
Ye Mo ignored him, squatted down, and placed his palms on the ground. Cold air seeped out through the cracks in the floor, like water seeping into sand. He closed his eyes, spread his mental energy, and scanned every twisted piece of metal and every broken cable. Three heartbeats. In the interlayer of the east cooling room, there was another person climbing out from the south drainpipe.
Found it.
He stood up and walked eastward. His steps were steady, each step leaving a mark on the dust. As his right foot landed, the cold air seeped into the ground through the sole of his shoe, spreading silently. When he reached the mezzanine door, he raised his hand and waved.
The entire wall froze instantly, a half-foot-thick arc-shaped ice shield lying across the doorway, its surface covered with dense frost patterns, like a welded steel plate. Then, he flicked two fingers, and two thin ice spikes pierced through the ice layer, embedding themselves perfectly into the sides of the door frame.
The person inside rammed the door twice, but couldn't move it, so they started calling for help, their voice trembling.
Ye Mo turned and left, heading straight for the south drainpipe outlet. He had already laid a thin layer of ice there; the surface was smooth and undetectable. He crouched in the shadows around the corner and waited.
A moment later, a hand grabbed the edge of the exit. Then a head, then a shoulder. Just as the person leaned out, their foot slipped, and they fell to the ground.
Ye Mo immediately stepped forward and pressed his right hand to the ground. A burst of cold air erupted, and ice pillars shot up from below, freezing his legs in place. He could still move his upper body, but he couldn't move his body.
The prisoner struggled a few times, but found that the more he struggled, the tighter the ice wrapped around him became, so he simply stopped moving. Ye Mo squatted down and stared at him. "Who sent you? Hellfire or Hydra?"
The other party gritted their teeth and remained silent.
Ye Mo sneered, raised his hand and conjured a small ice cone, hovering it above his head and slowly moving it downwards. The tip of the ice was only two centimeters away from his scalp, and the cold air had already frosted his hair.
"Whether you talk or not, let's see if it touches your head first, or if you speak first."
The man swallowed hard, making a gurgling sound.
Just then, Tony walked over, wearing only his combat uniform, with his armor piled up to one side. He looked at the guy frozen to the ground, then at the ice wall at the mezzanine entrance, and laughed, "Are you going to hold an ice sculpture exhibition? Even an art exhibition needs a sign."
Ye Mo withdrew his hand, and the ice spike above his head shattered into several pieces upon hitting the ground. "No," he said, "It's the Frozen Battlefield."
Before he could finish speaking, the prisoner said, "Frequency... 317.8 MHz, encrypted frequency hopping, changing every thirty seconds."
Ye Mo didn't rush to memorize it, but instead scanned it with his Telepathy. The emotional fluctuations were genuine, without any trace of pretense. Only then did he take out his personal recorder, input the code, and save the message.
Tony picked up a piece of ice, rubbed it between his fingers, and said, "You really treated people like popsicles, sticking them into the ground. Can you be a little gentler next time? If S.H.I.E.L.D.. investigates, they'll think we're using cryogenic torture."
"They attacked first." Ye Mo stood up, brushing the dust off his pants. "And I didn't break a single bone in his body."
"Oh right, you're ' Mr. X,' not an interrogation expert." Tony rolled his eyes. "But let me warn you, don't turn the lab into an ice rink. The MK-IV's thrusters aren't properly adjusted yet; if it slips and explodes, I won't be liable."
Ye Mo didn't reply, and walked towards the hidden door. He waved his hand, and the ice shield slowly retreated, revealing a crack in the door. Inside, two men in black huddled in a corner, covered in a thin layer of frost, their teeth chattering.
"Stay put," he said coldly. "Don't move if you don't want to be frozen solid."
The two nodded vigorously.
He turned to Tony and said, "Two on the east and one on the south, all under control. None escaped."
Tony whistled, "Not bad, you're pretty good at Ice Manipulation now. You even calculated the angle of that ice spike perfectly; a millimeter off and it would have pierced someone's shoulder."
"It's something you learn through practice." Ye Mo cracked his knuckles. "At first, I could only form a single layer of frost, but now I can control its thickness, hardness, and temperature. The key is knowing when to strike."
"So, are you almost done with this skill?" Tony asked with a smile. "Is your next step to build an ice palace and call yourself the Ice Emperor?"
If you say another word, I'll freeze your boots to the floor.
Tony made a zipping motion to seal his mouth. "Okay, okay, I won't say anything more. But seriously, these people are clearly after you. They started plotting this back at the bar, and now even ' Test Subject 07 ' knows. What are you going to do?"
Ye Mo looked down at the recorder in his hand; the screen was still lit, the frequency data flashing.
"First, check the signal source," he said. "317.8 MHz, with a regular frequency hopping pattern, there must be a relay station behind it. Once we find the relay node, we can pinpoint the command center."
"And then what? Charge in?"
"No." Ye Mo shook his head, "Wait until they move again."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "Fishing?"
"Yes." Ye Mo's lips curled slightly. "They want to confirm whether ' Mr. X ' can really Ice Manipulation. Now that we have the answer, they'll definitely need to test more abilities next. I'll have them test him, each time more ruthless than the last, until they feel they've completely mastered my methods—"
"You just raided their headquarters," Tony laughed. "That's pretty cunning of you."
"The system didn't teach me to be upright and honest." Ye Mo put away the recorder. "It only told me that the survivor is the winner."
Tony patted him on the shoulder. "So, you're officially on the job now, aren't you?"
"You could say that." Ye Mo looked around. "It used to be used for self-defense, but now it can be used as a weapon and also for setting traps. Only when you switch from defense to offense can you say you've truly mastered it."
"So what was that combo you just did called? Ice Wall and Ice Spikes, sounds like a skill combination."
Ye Mo thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it ' Blockade Array '."
"So corny." Tony shook his head. "I'll design a cooler name for you another day, like 'Polar Lockdown - Frost Hell Descends'."
"Shut up."
As the two were talking, the lights in the main hall suddenly flickered. The monitor screen was still flashing, and the power system hadn't been restored. A backup terminal in the corner automatically lit up; there was no password interface or startup screen, and it simply displayed a line of text:
[Signal received; sample behavior matches prediction model]
Ye Mo's eyes darkened, and he strode over.
Tony caught up. "Again? These guys are really not afraid of us unplugging the power."
"It's not remote control." Ye Mo stared at the screen. "This signal is coming from inside. Someone has planted a hidden device here and has been listening."
Who did it?
"I don't know." Ye Mo reached for the port on the back of the terminal. "But the ability to bypass the firewall and automatically upload data indicates a very high level of privilege. Either it's an insider, or someone has already planted a backdoor in it."
Tony frowned. "You mean, our base has already been infiltrated?"
Ye Mo didn't answer. He disassembled the terminal casing, his fingers tracing the circuit board. Suddenly, he stopped.
A black module, about the size of a fingernail, is embedded deep within the motherboard, its surface engraved with extremely fine serpentine patterns.
He pried it out and handed it to Tony.
Tony's face changed upon seeing it. "This is Hellfire encrypted beacon? When did their people install it?"
"I don't know." Ye Mo put the beacon into the evidence bag. "But the fact that it could be placed here means they weren't just watching from the outside; there were people inside cooperating as well."
"So what do we do now? Check all the equipment?"
"Don't move for now." Ye Mo stuffed the evidence bag into his pocket. "Let them think everything is normal. Once they send back the complete intelligence again, I'll follow the signal chain all the way to the source."
Tony stared at him for two seconds. "Are you trying to set a trap?"
"Yes." Ye Mo looked to the other end of the main hall, "And this time, I don't just want to capture a few low-level soldiers."
He walked up to the frozen prisoners, squatted down, and asked, "Is there someone monitoring your every operation in real time?"
The man nodded. "The commander wears a communicator and can see our first-person perspective."
"To whom should the signal be sent?"
"All I know is its codename ' White Raven,' I've never seen it in person."
Ye Mo stood up, turned to Tony, and said, "They're watching the live stream."
Tony clicked his tongue. "So someone was watching the whole fight just now?"
"Yes." Ye Mo's eyes turned cold. "They not only know I can Ice Manipulation, but they also know how I coordinate with you. The next attack will definitely target our rhythm."
"Then let them see." Tony grinned. "Next time, we'll put on a show to teach anyone who dares to challenge us a lesson."
Ye Mo laughed, "Alright, then you're in charge of drawing their fire."
"You're in charge of setting the traps?"
"No." Ye Mo raised his hand, a hexagonal ice crystal condensing in his palm, slowly rotating. "I'll make them think I've lost control."