At four in the morning, the surveillance footage was still black. The heat source had not reappeared, and the ventilation shaft was as quiet as a dry well.
Ye Mo stood before the control panel, his fingers moving away from the metal surface. The final ice barrier he had just erected had taken shape, and the chill retreated from his fingertips, like a sword being sheathed. He stared at the screen, his voice low. "They didn't come."
Tony leaned against the armored support, twirling his helmet halfway around, and sneered, "Since when did Hydra learn to be afraid of the dead?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
It wasn't the mechanical rhythm of a patrol robot, nor the heavy feel of combat boots on the ground. It was high heels, slow and steady, tapping on the metal floor, one tap at a time, like walking back to a familiar place.
Ye Mo didn't turn around, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
The woman entered the control room, dressed in a form-fitting white dress with perfectly straight shoulders. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes were piercingly bright. She stopped and looked at Ye Mo's retreating figure. "Did I keep you waiting?"
"I told you you'd be back." Ye Mo turned around, his tone casual, as if he were merely checking the weather. "You're three hours and seven minutes late."
"I burned two trackers on the way." Emma Frost raised her hand, a glint of diamond light flashing at her fingertips before quickly disappearing. "There's also a listening team; they should be on their way to the hospital now."
Tony, holding his helmet, looked her over. "Welcome back to the real world, Miss Frost. Did you bring a souvenir this time?"
"Their guns are still smoking," Emma Frost said calmly. "I can save one for you if you want."
Tony raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Fine, next time we meet, just blow up the door without telling me."
The air between the three of them loosened a little.
Ye Mo walked to the main control screen and brought up the floor plan of Zone B: "Now that everyone's here, we can't just wait around. JARVIS, clear out the spare lab in Zone B; it's mine now."
"Received. Environment isolation procedure initiated." The system notification sounded.
He pushed open the control room door and walked into the corridor, placing his palms on the wall. Instantly, a chill spread, frost formed on the ground, and dripping water from the ceiling condensed into icicles. Within thirty seconds, the entire corridor was frozen into a crystal-clear tunnel. Then, he pushed off with both hands, and the ice arched upwards, forming a dome. Obstacle modules automatically pulled out from the surrounding walls, varying in height to simulate urban street fighting terrain.
Five minutes later, a fully enclosed training ground with adjustable temperature, humidity, and signal interference levels appeared deep within the base.
Emma Frost followed her in, her fingertips lightly touching the ice wall, her eyes closed as she sensed the structural tension. "This ice rink is much more stable than last time," she said, opening her eyes. "Before, we had to worry about it collapsing; now we can use it as a target."
"Don't praise me too soon." Ye Mo cracked his knuckles. "When the fight starts, I won't hold back."
"I didn't intend for you to let me go either." Emma Frost stood on the central platform, closed her eyes, and slowed her breathing. The next second, an invisible wave spread out— Telepathy was fully activated, connecting Ye Mo and Tony's neural signals.
"I can see what you're planning to do next," she said, "And I can also tell you in advance how I'll react. Want to give it a try?"
"Okay." Tony's voice came from behind. He was wearing MK armor, the thrusters humming slightly. "But this thing doesn't obey brain commands, it obeys orders."
"Then use your brain a little faster," Emma Frost opened her eyes, "Don't always think about being number one."
The first round of drills begins.
Virtual enemy units approached from three directions, an aerial drone swarm released EMP pulses, and a ground squad equipped with ice-breaking gear advanced. Emma Frost immediately relayed a warning. "High-speed target approaching on the left flank, at three o'clock, entering firing range in two seconds."
Ye Mo raised his hand, and the water vapor in the air instantly condensed into an arc-shaped ice wall. Almost simultaneously, Tony's Palm Cannon finished charging, and a beam of light pierced through the smoke, blasting the drone swarm into pieces.
"Beautiful!" Ye Mo shouted, "Again!"
However, problems arose during the second wave of attacks.
Tony advanced too quickly, plunging headlong into the pre-set ambush zone and triggering a chain reaction of traps. Emma Frost wanted to remind him to slow down, but he was closed off and his tactical channel was silent, causing a one-second delay in the warning. As a result, Ye Mo's ice spikes were half a beat too late, and Tony was hit in the leg by simulated fire, causing him to fall to the ground with a serious injury as determined by the system.
"Stop!" Ye Mo waved his hand to shut down the simulation program.
Tony took off his helmet, panting, "One of you relies on mind reading, the other on freezing, and I rely on thrusters to fly. How are we supposed to synchronize?"
"Then you need to learn to wait for others." Ye Mo leaned against the ice wall. "You can't always be the center of attention."
"It's not that I don't want to wait," Tony shrugged. "The problem is, if we wait too long, the enemy will escape."
Emma Frost interjected, "I can send you advance predictions of your actions, but only if you don't block your thoughts. Especially you, Tony, your armor has a built-in firewall, keeping half of me out."
"That's to protect against hackers." Tony frowned.
"Now I'm your teammate." Emma Frost looked at him. "If you don't trust me, don't expect us to cooperate."
A brief silence.
Tony glanced at Ye Mo, then at Emma Frost, and finally nodded. "Okay, I'll grant 30% access to the neural interface. Is that enough?"
"Let's try it first." Emma Frost closed her eyes and reconnected.
The second round begins.
This time the pace has changed.
Emma Frost issued a warning two seconds in advance. "A stealth fighter is approaching from high altitude, speed Mach 1.2, carrying concussion grenades."
Ye Mo immediately created three layers of floating ice plates in the air, arranged in a stepped pattern. Tony used the momentum to leap up, stepping onto the first layer of ice, igniting his thrusters a second time, and heading straight for the high-altitude target. At the same time, Ye Mo set up an array of ice cones on the ground to block the enemy infantry's route.
"Lock acquired." Emma Frost's voice was steady. "Sniper behind cover to the right front. Fire in three seconds."
Ye Mo flicked his wrist, unleashing a barrage of ice blades that precisely severed the sniper rifle barrel. Tony seized the opportunity to launch a miniature missile, striking the tail fin of the stealth fighter and forcing it to crash at the edge of the simulation zone.
"Killed them!" Ye Mo shouted.
"There's another team on the left," Emma Frost continued, "They're preparing to flank, targeting the master node."
"Leave it to me." Tony changed direction, unleashing a barrage of palm-fire attacks to suppress the enemy, and activating Force Field to disrupt communications. Ye Mo, meanwhile, laid out a sensory ice silk net behind them, marking the location of anyone who approached in real time.
Five minutes of intense competition ended, and the system determined that the defending side had won decisively.
Tony landed, took off his helmet to wipe the sweat, and said, "Better than I expected. You two are a match made in heaven."
"We're partners," Ye Mo corrected, "Not lovers."
"Same meaning." Tony waved his hand, "Our chemistry is off the charts."
Emma Frost walked over to Ye Mo and gently tapped his shoulder. "This time, we won together."
"I always believed you could come back." Ye Mo looked at her.
"Not 'coming back'," Emma Frost said with a slight smile, "But 'returning to one's rightful place'."
Just then, a notification sounded in my mind:
"Compatibility improved; Gene Spiral Tower unlocks its eighteenth level."
Ye Mo's body trembled, a warm current surged from his spine to the top of his head, and his limbs felt as if they were being pierced by an electric current. He knew that a new ability path had opened up—it could be a combination of Mental Resonance and Ice Manipulation burst, or it could be the prototype of a group freezing technique.
"It went up again?" Tony noticed.
"The eighteenth floor." Ye Mo clenched his fist. "I feel it much clearer now. I can now sense your emotional fluctuations, even if you don't say anything."
"So, does that mean I won't be able to hide my secret stash of money anymore?" Tony asked.
"You can't hide it even if you try," Emma Frost continued. "I can now connect the thought processes of two people simultaneously, and even fine-tune the timing of your reactions."
"So from now on, when we fight, you guys will be in charge of fortune telling, and I'll be in charge of the fighting?" Tony laughed.
"Almost." Ye Mo patted his shoulder. "Just keep going, we'll cover you from behind."
The three left the training field and returned to the control room. The lights were still dim, and the alarm system was still on high alert, but the atmosphere was completely different.
Ye Mo sat back down at the control panel, tapping his fingers lightly on the surface. Tony began adjusting the armor's data logs, while Emma Frost stood beside him, her fingertips unconsciously gleaming with a diamond-like luster that reflected on the screen.
The base was quiet; no one spoke.
But everyone knows they are no longer on the defensive.
Instead, they are ready to strike at any time.
Ye Mo suddenly looked up. "During that drill just now... did you detect any abnormal residual signals?"
Emma Frost closed her eyes and sensed for a moment. "There's an encrypted frequency band scanning repeatedly at a very low frequency, like remote eavesdropping."
"Where is the location?"
"The signal source is moving, heading northwest, at a speed of approximately 60 kilometers per hour."
Tony immediately pulled up the map. "At this time, there shouldn't be any civilian vehicles operating in this area."
Ye Mo stared at the red dot on the screen and slowly said, "They're watching us practice."