The wisp of white mist at the bottom of the ventilation shaft was still drifting out, like the cold air escaping from the Fridge door that had been open for a long time. Ye Mo stared at the thin line, his fingers resting on the edge of the control panel. The high-frequency Shockwave from earlier was still swirling in his mind, like someone gently scraping glass with their fingernail.
"The signal hasn't dissipated," he said. "It's still transmitting."
Tony, who had already put on half of his armored glove, looked up sharply upon hearing this. "Still able to chase?"
"It's not about equipment," Ye Mo said, closing his eyes. "It's about feeling. That frequency... it's similar to the fluctuations Emma Frost Telepathy, but it's dirtier, like someone has wrapped wire around it several times and then electrified it."
Tony remained silent and immediately brought up JARVIS's historical data stream interface. The waveforms on the screen were a jumbled mess. He quickly filtered through the timestamps and locked onto the moment the listening began. Among the external communication records was a data packet disguised as a maintenance request. The source IP went through three layers of redirection, finally stopping at an abandoned underground laboratory in the east of the city.
" Obadiah's territory," Tony sneered. "He really can't bear to give up that little nest of his.
"It's not just him." Ye Mo suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils contracting slightly. "The image has appeared."
Tony was taken aback. "What scene?"
"What I saw," Ye Mo said in a low voice, "Was in a dimly lit room. The projection on the wall showed the Hydra logo superimposed on Stark Industries ' blueprints. A person stood in front, wearing a metal mask, with two documents beside him—one titled 'MK Armor Core Code Extraction Process,' and the other..." He paused, "' X-Gene Extraction Protocol.'"
Tony slammed his fist on the table. "They want to extract your bone marrow?"
"Not only that." Ye Mo took a breath, "They want to seize it twice. Your armor technology, and my capability samples. The plan is codenamed ' Dual-Core Harvest '."
The air suddenly felt heavy.
Tony stared at the screen, his expression changing. It wasn't anger, but the calm that comes from having one's bottom line crossed. "So that wiretapping wasn't a test, it was to confirm if we'd discovered their hidden cables."
"Yes." Ye Mo nodded. "They thought we were still investigating the abnormal temperature in the ventilation shaft, but actually, half of their plan has already been overheard."
"Then let them continue to believe it." Tony turned and walked towards the main control terminal, his fingers flying across the keyboard as he typed commands. "I'll modify the firewall and add a decoy program. Make the system display ' Ye Mo's gene extraction module complete,' and upload the encrypted logs to the backup server."
"Would they believe that?" Ye Mo asked.
"As long as that server IP comes in through Obadiah's old channel, he'll definitely believe it." Tony's lips curled into a smile. "That guy is vengeful and greedy. He failed last time because he was too eager to steal the stuff. This time, he definitely won't be able to resist coming to close the net himself."
Ye Mo was silent for two seconds, then suddenly raised his hand and pressed his temple. A sharp pain shot up from the back of his head, like a needle sawing back and forth in his skull. He leaned against the control panel to catch his breath, his right hand numb.
"How are you?" Tony turned to look at him.
"It's nothing," Ye Mo said, shaking his hand. "It's just a bit tiring after using it for a while. This kind of neural pulse-level encryption is much harder to crack than ordinary hackers."
"Don't push yourself." Tony walked over and handed him a cup of hot coffee. "You're my only living early warning radar right now. If you burn out, where am I going to find a partner who can read the enemy's brainwaves?"
Ye Mo took the cup, the steam rising onto his face. He didn't smile, but the corners of his eyes relaxed slightly. "You make it sound like I'm some kind of rare person."
"You're not rare?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Who can build an ice wall while simultaneously dismantling a virus program, and still predict their opponent's next move? Even JARVIS can't outsmart you."
"That's because your AI is too verbose."
"Hey, that's high technology, okay?!"
The two fell silent for a moment. On the monitor screen, the location of the abandoned laboratory marked as high-risk was circled in red, with real-time traffic data scrolling beside it. Everything seemed calm, but they both knew a storm was brewing.
"What do we do next?" Ye Mo put down his cup.
"Secure the minimum first," Tony pressed Enter. "The bait program is deployed; let's wait for them to bite. But we can't rely solely on fishing."
You're talking about physical isolation.
"Smart." Tony pointed to the main server cluster. "Seale the core data so that even if they hack in, they won't get any real information."
Ye Mo walked to the server rack and placed his palm on the metal casing. A chill spread from his fingertips, and a layer of transparent ice crystals quickly enveloped the entire server array. The ice layer was of uniform thickness, leaving ventilation channels, and its surface was as smooth as a mirror, making it impossible for wireless signals to penetrate.
"The freezing protocol is activated," he said. "Unless you use a blowtorch, no one can access it remotely."
"Perfect." Tony gave a thumbs up. "Outer layer for intrusion prevention, inner layer for bait. If they dare to come, they'll either crash into the ice wall and die, or they'll burst their stomachs from eating my false information."
"I'm worried they'll bring a lot of people," Ye Mo, looking at the screen. " Hydra won't just send a small team."
"Then let them bring more," Tony grinned. "The more people, the easier it is to give ourselves away. Besides..." He patted his armored shoulder armor, "Don't I just need a few pieces of scrap metal to practice on?"
Ye Mo glanced at him. "With this temper of yours, are you planning to beat up everyone you see?"
"That's because you're here," Tony laughed. "You're in charge of figuring out what they're up to, and I'll be in charge of shutting them up."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Mo's body trembled slightly. A notification sound rang directly in his mind:
"New conspiracy detected. Gene Spiral Tower unlocks sixteenth floor."
He looked down at his palm; a faint blue halo flashed beneath his skin, disappearing in an instant.
"Another promotion?" Tony noticed his expression.
"The sixteenth floor," Ye Mo said softly, "My perception range has increased. I can now sense abnormal energy fluctuations within a three-kilometer radius, even those that have been shielded."
"Then wouldn't you become a human radar station?"
"More or less." Ye Mo flexed his wrists. "And a new path has opened. Although the specific abilities haven't been activated yet, there are more ways to combine them. For example... Self-Healing + Wall Phasing might evolve into Regenerative Phasing."
"Sounds like a bugged ability from a sci-fi movie," Tony whistled. "So, will you be able to walk through Wall Phasing while getting hit and not lose health?"
"Theoretically, it's possible," Ye Mo said, narrowing his eyes. "Provided I can find the corresponding Mutants fragment."
"Alright, next time I encounter something that Self-Healing, I'll prioritize keeping it alive."
"Thanks." Ye Mo leaned against the control panel, his gaze fixed on the map marked with a red circle. "Since they want to steal our gains, they should be prepared to be counterattacked."
Tony stood up, and the armor components automatically docked with a crisp click. He stood beside the control chair, his fingers swiping across the holographic interface, recalibrating all the defense nodes.
"What they want to take," he said in a low voice, "Is never something they can touch."
"So?" Ye Mo looked at him.
"So—" Tony suddenly looked up, his eyes sharp, "If they dare to come, I'll show them what it means to try and steal a chicken only to lose the bait."
Just then, Ye Mo suddenly raised his hand.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked.
"The signal has changed." Ye Mo closed his eyes. "That listening source... has started moving. It's not a remote transmission; it's a physical device being withdrawn. It's moving very fast; it should be vehicle-mounted."
"Scared?" Tony sneered. "You think you can run away now that we've traced your tracks back to them?"
"No." Ye Mo opened his eyes. "They're transmitting information. The new instructions have just been issued, and the target has changed."
"Change it to what?"
"It's no longer just simple theft." Ye Mo stared at the screen. "It's a full-scale attack. The time is set for 4:00 AM tomorrow, the main target—the ventilation shaft of the storage room in Area B."
Tony grabbed his helmet and buckled it on. "Then let's not make them wait until tomorrow."
"Make your move now?" Ye Mo frowned.
"What else?" Tony activated the armor's power system, blue light seeping from the joint gaps. "Let them sleep soundly, dreaming of getting rich before they go to their coffins?"