Ice and fire collided in mid-air, exploding into a cloud of white mist.
Ye Mo was thrown back two steps by the shockwave, nearly slipping and falling. He raised his hand to wipe his face, the cold air rising from his fingertips, but his mind was perfectly clear. Before the smoke had even cleared, he heard Tony yell, "Target locked! Tracking missiles ready—"
Before he could finish speaking, the armored system sounded an alarm.
"Target movement speed is abnormal, lock failed."
Ye Mo squinted and looked ahead, but couldn't see anything in the cloud of smoke. He immediately activated his Telepathy, but as soon as he reached out, he was bounced back by a Shockwave, as if he had hit an invisible wall.
"Signal jamming?" He frowned. "This thing wasn't put together hastily."
Tony staggered as he landed, black smoke billowing from his armored shoulder and the thrusters whirring abnormally. He tapped his helmet visor. "Hey, can you hear me? I used 80% of my power in that shot; a normal person would be down by now."
"He wasn't normal to begin with." Ye Mo stared at a crack at the edge of the smoke. "Look at that corner over there, there are scratches in the brickwork. He climbed up there, his movements were clean and efficient, without a single unnecessary movement."
Tony looked in that direction and sure enough, he saw a string of fresh footprints on the second-floor exterior wall. Looking further up, the eaves were empty, without a single shadow.
"Ran away?" Tony's voice suddenly rose. "Just like that? Without even leaving a harsh word?"
"He wasn't chased away." Ye Mo slowly withdrew his hand, a small ice crystal forming in his palm before quickly melting away. "He had enough and left on his own."
"Huh?" Tony turned to look at him. "You seem to know him quite well?"
"I don't understand him," Ye Mo shook his head, "But I understand data collection."
Tony paused for a moment.
Ye Mo continued, "He copied my Ice Manipulation Technique, replicated your evasion route, and even copied our makeshift cryogenic compression jet. This kind of person won't linger in a fight; the longer the fight goes on, the more he gets. Now that he's got what he wanted, why doesn't he leave?"
"So that counterattack he just made..." Tony gritted his teeth, "Wasn't about trying to beat us at all, but testing the effectiveness of his new move in actual combat?"
"Pretty much." Ye Mo looked up at the sky. "And he threw away a device before he left."
Tony looked down and saw a metal piece the size of a fingernail lying on the ground, emitting weak electromagnetic waves. He crouched down and touched it with his armored finger. The system immediately popped up a warning: [Surrounding surveillance equipment is disabled; signal blockade area is expanding.]
"Damn it!" Tony jumped to his feet. "Is this blatantly telling us, 'I was here, take it or leave it'?"
"We can't catch him." Ye Mo shrugged. "He had already planned the escape route. Look at this area, he avoided all the passages that could be frozen and blocked. Even the angle of the ground drains was perfectly precise; he clearly did a terrain scan."
Enraged, Tony punched the crumbling wall beside him, sending chunks of cement crashing down.
"Damn, this guy's more troublesome than AI! Not only are the videotapes sentient, but they can even autonomously optimize their tactics? Will I have to send him a learning feedback report next time we meet?"
"Maybe it really will." Ye Mo's lips twitched, "But there's one thing he can't change."
"What?"
"He can only imitate," Ye Mo, watching the smoke gradually dissipate in the distance. "He can't create."
Tony gasped for breath; the armor's cooling system beeped. Fuel was at 37%, his right arm joint movement was restricted, and the efficiency of his left leg's thrusters had decreased by 21%. The battle hadn't been a complete disaster, but it was frustrating.
"You think he'll come back?" Tony asked.
"Definitely." Ye Mo nodded. "He hasn't finished copying our moves yet."
How can you be so sure?
"Because no one can fully grasp all the variables in a single exchange." Ye Mo closed his eyes for a second. "Today he learned the Ice and Fire Combo, and next time he'll try to break down the rhythm, predict the timing, and even set traps in reverse. But he'll always be one step short—that one step of originality."
Tony was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly sneered, "Fine, you wait. Next time I'll design a special set of Feint to trick him into learning them first, then I'll fall for his tricks."
"Okay." Ye Mo opened his eyes. "But before that, we need to do something else."
"What?"
"Let's analyze how he did it." Ye Mo bent down to pick up the metal piece and put it in his bag. "This guy doesn't have the X-Gene, and he's not Mutants. But the fact that he could instantly grasp our combat patterns means his nervous system processes information at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary people. Add to that the interference pulse from earlier, it's either high-tech equipment, or..."
"Or what?"
"Or he's a living recorder himself." Ye Mo straightened up. "His memories, actions, and reactions can all be stored and replayed in real time."
Tony felt a chill run down his spine. "You mean, he has a hard drive installed in his brain?"
"It might be even more advanced than a hard drive." Ye Mo patted his backpack. "Anyway, this trip wasn't in vain. At least we know who our opponent is."
"Know what?!" Tony roared. "I didn't even see his face! Gray hat, tactical uniform, didn't say a word, and then he was gone. If he hadn't used my moves, I would have thought he was a robot!"
"But he made a mistake." Ye Mo suddenly laughed.
"What's wrong?"
"He's too perfect," Ye Mo said. "Humans always have habitual little movements when fighting, like blinking before throwing a punch or subtly adjusting their center of gravity before jumping. But he doesn't. Every movement is like it's been precisely calculated, without the slightest error. This 'perfection' itself is the flaw."
Tony paused, then said, "You mean... we can fool him with 'non-standard' movements?"
"That's right." Ye Mo nodded. "Next time, I won't play by the rules. Don't use the classic starting move either; just swing around randomly a couple of times and see if he can learn it."
Tony grinned. "Okay, I'll start with a square dance, let's see if he tries to copy it."
As the two spoke, the armor system indicated that the return-to-base procedure was ready. Tony took one last look at the ruined streets and snorted coldly, "He got away this time. Next time we meet, I'll weld a tracker into his head."
"Don't weld so hard." Ye Mo activated the communication channel. "Leave some room so he can come a few more times."
As they took off, the wind just happened to disperse the last wisp of smoke.
The city returned to calm, as if the fierce battle had never happened.
But on the top floor of an abandoned building, a figure stood quietly by the window. He removed his damaged exoskeleton, revealing a black combat suit underneath. A projector on his wrist was playing back combat footage, the image constantly pausing, zooming in, and annotating.
He raised his hand, his fingertips lightly tracing the data stream that appeared in the air.
"Cryogenic compression + overload injection... Optimization scheme being generated."
"Simulation complete for the Ice and Fire Combined Attack Countermeasure Path."
"Target behavior model update progress: 78%"
He turned off the projector, looked towards the Stark Tower in the distance, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
At the same moment, Ye Mo suddenly stopped.
He stood at the edge of the flight platform, and a voice that only he could hear rang in his ears:
[Enemy escape detected, Gene Spiral Tower unlocks tenth floor]
Deep within his consciousness, a new layer of light slowly illuminated the spiral-shaped tower. A brand-new ability analysis slot emerged, automatically scanning the remaining combat data.
Tony noticed him pause. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing." Ye Mo opened his eyes and chuckled, "It's just that I feel... our class representative should increase the difficulty of the assignments."