Ye Mo pulled Emma Frost into a narrow alley without stopping. The police sirens behind them grew fainter, but neither dared relax in the slightest. He glanced down at his pocket-the metal fragment was still hot, even hotter than before.
"We can't go any farther," Emma Frost suddenly said. "The main road is ahead, and it's covered in surveillance cameras. They'll activate the city's security system soon."
Ye Mo nodded, his gaze sweeping over the aging mixed-use buildings on either side. Crooked air-conditioning units hung from mottled exterior walls, and wires crisscrossed like spiderwebs. He kicked open a rust-covered iron door, revealing a stairwell leading down to an electrical room.
"Down."
They quickly slipped underground. The cramped space was piled with discarded cables and broken toolboxes. The air was hot and stuffy. The fluorescent light overhead flickered several times but ultimately failed to come on. Ye Mo sat against the wall and took out the metal fragment.
"It only reacts to you now," he said. "That means your energy frequencies match."
Emma Frost stood where she was, watching him quietly. A few seconds later, she closed her eyes, her brow stirring slightly.
At that instant, a ding sounded in Ye Mo's head.
[Active contact from a high-tier mutant's psychic field detected. Telepathy gene fragment captured and sealed on level 2 of the Gene Spiral Tower.]
His eyes flew open, and he blurted out, "You were just trying to check whether I was lying."
Emma Frost opened her eyes, her pupils contracting slightly. "How did you know?"
"It's not that I knew." Ye Mo grinned. "It's that I can now do what you just did."
Emma Frost frowned. "Impossible. Telepathy is an innate ability. Not just anyone can copy it."
"I didn't copy it." Ye Mo slipped the metal fragment back into his pocket. "I 'acquired' a fragment of your ability. More precisely, you delivered it to me yourself."
"I did not."
"You already gave it to me when you read my thoughts." Ye Mo flexed his wrist. "It's like connecting to a Wi-Fi signal and automatically downloading a program. I don't really know how to use it yet, but the app's already installed."
Emma Frost sneered. "You think this is a phone's app store?"
"More or less." Ye Mo stood up. "You touched my consciousness, which was like granting access. Even the system notification sounded. How could I be lying to you?"
Emma Frost fell silent. She had indeed noticed something unusual-when her consciousness touched Ye Mo, there had been a faint pull in the opposite direction, as though something had gently drawn away a portion of her energy. The sensation was extremely faint, but she could not have mistaken it.
"You can sense me reading your mind?" she asked.
"More than that." Ye Mo rubbed his temples. "I can also feel that you're a little nervous. You're afraid I'll reveal that you're the White Queen, and you're afraid the people from Hellfire really will come looking."
Emma Frost's gaze turned cold. "I'm not nervous."
"Then why did your heartbeat speed up?" Ye Mo pointed at his ear. "I can't hear it, but I 'felt' it. It's like there's a radar in my head now, and it picked up a little fluctuation."
Emma Frost stared at him for three seconds, then suddenly raised her hand, silver light shimmering over her palm. Her skin rapidly hardened, gradually turning into translucent diamond.
"What are you doing?" Ye Mo took half a step back.
"Testing you," she said. "If you were an ordinary person, that little bit of psychic contact should have left you with a splitting headache. But you're fine, and you can even pick up my emotions in return. That's not normal."
"Of course I'm not normal." Ye Mo shrugged. "I told you, I have a system."
Emma Frost did not respond and slowly withdrew her ability. The silver light faded, and her skin returned to normal.
"You said you wanted to figure out who you are." Her tone softened slightly. "Have you figured it out now?"
"I have." Ye Mo nodded. "I'm not a mutant or someone with superpowers. I'm an 'ability recycler.' Every time you use an ability, I collect a fragment. Once I've saved up enough, I can piece together a new skill."
"And then?"
"Then whoever messes with me, I hit back with their own ability." He smiled. "For example, if you attacked me, I'd use your Telepathy the very next second to turn the control back on you and make you shout that you surrender."
Emma Frost narrowed her eyes. "Are you threatening me?"
"It's not a threat." Ye Mo dropped his smile. "It's an offer to cooperate. You have nowhere to go right now, and they're still chasing you. I have a safe house where we can hide for a while. You teach me how to use this ability, and I'll help you cut off the tracking signal. How about it?"
"Where's the safe house?"
"Tony Stark's place."
Emma Frost froze. "Iron Man's mansion? What's your relationship with him?"
"I saved his life," Ye Mo said casually. "He owes me a favor, so he won't kick me out for now. Besides, his security system is strong enough. JARVIS can block most hacking attempts. If you're worried about being located, I can help mask your biological signals."
"How would you do that?"
"We'll talk about that once I've learned Telepathy." Ye Mo tapped his head. "For now, I'll have to rely on you to teach me."
Emma Frost looked at him without speaking for a long time. The police sirens outside had faded completely, and the entire building fell silent, save for the faint electrical hum from the wires overhead.
"What do you want to learn?" she finally asked.
"The basics." Ye Mo sat back down on the floor. "How to sense other people's thoughts, and how to stop others from prying into mine."
"Lesson one." Emma Frost leaned against the wall. "Telepathy isn't about 'hearing.' It's about 'sensing.' First, you have to quiet your mind and focus your attention on the other person. Like tuning a radio, you slowly approach the frequency of their thoughts."
"And then?"
"You'll see images, emotions, fragments of words and sentences," she said. "But don't force your way deeper, or you could easily suffer a backlash. At the beginner stage, you can only receive surface information, like browsing someone's public posts on Moments."
"Then how did you know what I was thinking?"
"Because you had no defenses," Emma Frost said evenly. "The information in ordinary people's minds is all out in the open, like Wi-Fi without a password. I only touched yours lightly, and you were exposed."
Ye Mo looked thoughtful. "So I need to learn 'encryption'?"
"Yes." She nodded. "Close your mental barriers to keep outsiders from entering. It's a survival skill. Once your memories are read, you're finished."
"Can I try now?"
"You can try." Emma Frost watched him. "But I'm warning you, it's easy to lose control the first time. You might get dizzy, have a nosebleed, or even suffer temporary memory loss. Are you sure you want to start now?"
"The sooner, the better." Ye Mo closed his eyes. "Go ahead. I'm ready."
Emma Frost was silent for two seconds, then closed her eyes again. This time, her psychic field slowly spread out like an invisible net, gently covering the space around Ye Mo.
Ye Mo felt his head grow heavy, as though it had been soaked in warm water. A faint humming sounded in his ears, and blurred images flashed before his eyes-a cave, firelight, metal parts, Tony's face...
Suddenly, he realized something.
He was "seeing" Emma Frost's thoughts.
He was not receiving them passively, but actively capturing them.
He abruptly focused his attention and followed the humming deeper.
In an instant, he "heard" a word.
Freedom.
It was neither a sound nor written text, but an intense longing, like flames burning beneath a layer of ice.
He opened his eyes, his breathing slightly uneven.
"Were you just... thinking about 'freedom'?" he asked.
Emma Frost's eyes snapped open, her expression shifting slightly.
"You entered my thoughts?" she asked in a low voice. "Impossible! You've only just started!"
"I don't know how I got in." Ye Mo rubbed his temples. "But I really did 'feel' it. It wasn't an image. It was an emotion. Extremely strong, like someone shouting inside their heart."
Emma Frost stared at him, her gaze changing. It was no longer doubt, but shock.
"You're not an ordinary ability acquirer," she said. "You're a resonant entity. You can not only seize abilities, but also establish a psychic connection with their users."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you didn't 'steal' my ability just now," she said slowly. "You and I entered psychic resonance. This has never happened before."
Ye Mo smiled. "Then should I be glad I'm special?"
"You should be afraid." Emma Frost's tone was serious. "This ability is too dangerous. Once the organization learns about it, they'll stop at nothing to capture you. Not just for that metal fragment, but for you yourself."
"I'm not afraid." Ye Mo stood up. "I've already offended Hellfire anyway. One more charge or one less won't make any difference. What about you? Are you coming with me? If we stay here until they restart their signal scans, neither of us will get away."
Emma Frost looked at him and nodded after a few seconds.
"All right. But I have one condition."
"Go ahead."
"Until you learn to shield your thoughts, you're not allowed near anyone," she said seriously. "Especially Tony Stark. He's a public figure, and his head is full of secrets. If you accidentally trigger your Telepathy, it could set off a chain reaction."
"Fine." Ye Mo agreed readily. "I won't use it recklessly."
They left the electrical room and quietly followed a small path. City lights twinkled in the distance, and the night wind carried the scent of dust. Ye Mo took off his glasses, wiped them, and put them back on.
"What next?" Emma Frost asked.
"First, we'll check the situation around the estate's perimeter." Ye Mo looked ahead. "JARVIS's patrol drones should be here soon. I need to check for an ambush."
"You're planning to use the ability you just learned to 'sense' it?"
"I'll give it a try." Ye Mo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There's no other way, anyway."
He concentrated, slowly releasing his consciousness as though tuning a frequency.
At first, there was nothing.
Then a faint fluctuation emerged.
It was like an electric current, yet also like a heartbeat.
He extended his awareness along that sensation.
In the distance, a dark shape was moving close along the perimeter wall.
It was not a person.
It was a drone.
He "saw" its flight path and the angle at which its camera turned, and even "sensed" the data stream within its internal system.
"It's here." He opened his eyes. "Three o'clock, eighty meters away."
Emma Frost looked up and indeed saw a small drone sweep past at low altitude, its red light blinking.
"You really sensed it?" she asked.
"I didn't just see it," Ye Mo said quietly. "I also 'heard' its instructions-scanning for heat signatures within a fifty-meter target radius."
He paused and looked deeper into the estate.
"There may already be an ambush inside."