Integrating abilities

Ye Mo stood in front of the control panel. The moment his finger left the gray interface, the screen turned green. The self-destruct program stopped, but his body didn't move. The feeling of being watched was still there, as if someone was staring at the back of his head from the shadows. He didn't turn around, but instead sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Another door has appeared in the Spiral Tower of his mind, and the warning on the twenty-fourth floor is still flashing: [Similar signal source detected]. He's not in a hurry to find the source; instead, he focuses all his attention on this layer of space. The Ice Mind Trap he just encountered was only a work in progress; it was too sensitive to trigger and reacted too violently. It needs to be modified.

He pressed his hand to the ground, and the ice surface immediately spread out for three meters, like a transparent floor. Then he raised his right hand, palm up, and a thin layer of ice began to grow from his fingertips, slowly piling up into a human shape. Five minutes later, a half-person-high ice sculpture stood in the center of the laboratory, its face blurred, its body like snow piled up by the wind.

This isn't for aesthetic purposes.

He took a deep breath and slowly sent his Telepathy into the device. First, he set the range—five meters. Then, he defined the conditions—a heat source plus mental fluctuations. Finally, he set the effect—a low-temperature shockwave plus a 0.8-second mental pause. The whole process was like building with blocks, one after another, without any misalignment.

Just as the last instruction was inserted, the door clicked open.

"Hey, are you planning an ice sculpture exhibition here?" Tony walked in carrying two cups of coffee, raising an eyebrow. "Or is it now fashionable to use Iceman as substitutes? Should I apply for an arts grant for you?"

Ye Mo didn't open his eyes. With a wave of his left hand, a layer of frost immediately formed on the surface of the ice sculpture, sealing off all energy fluctuations. Only then did he look up. "I almost froze you into an ice cream cone."

Tony handed him a cup of coffee. "You actually dared to try it? That thing just grazed me, and my ear went 'buzz,' like a phone ringing against my ear."

"That's a residual signal." Ye Mo took a sip of coffee, his breath steaming from the heat. "It wasn't activated yet, and you came in."

"So what are you doing now?" Tony walked around the ice sculpture, reaching out to touch it. "Is it to prevent theft? To prevent thieves? Or to prevent me from peeking at your diary in the middle of the night?"

"To prevent mental detection." Ye Mo stood up and walked behind the ice sculpture. "There are some people who like to steal with their brains, without using their hands, just thinking. What I'm making now is specifically designed to counter those kinds of people."

"Oh." Tony nodded. "So you turned your trap into a work of art? That's quite creative. Could S. H. I. E. L. D. consider adding a ' Mind Stone Sculptor' position next time S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Ye Mo ignored him and turned to take a mechanical spider from the workbench. This thing was for patrolling; it would automatically scan the area and had infrared and vibration sensors. He pressed the start button, and the spider, with its six legs supporting it, slowly crawled towards the ice sculpture.

At a distance of five meters, a glimmer of blue light flashed from where the ice sculpture's eyes were.

At a height of three meters, the ground began to emit a chilling aura.

At two meters, the spider's joints suddenly snapped shut, its three legs froze, the circuit board emitted a short buzzing sound, and it collapsed.

"It's done." Ye Mo walked over and kicked the spider. "Reaction time: 0.3 seconds, freeze strength: moderate, no crash."

Tony leaned closer for a look. "This isn't a trap, this is an invitation to the enemy—welcome to my cryogenic service area."

"Real combat doesn't need fancy tricks." Ye Mo picked up the spider. "As long as it gets close, it'll be controlled for a second. A second is enough for me to throw three punches, enough for you to fire two cannon shots, and enough for Emma Frost to read minds once."

"Alright," Tony shrugged. "So, how much are the tickets for your ice sculpture exhibition? Are there any discounts for annual memberships?"

Ye Mo rolled his eyes. "If you're free, help me adjust some parameters."

"Do we still need to adjust it?"

"The first phase was too aggressive and prone to collateral damage. I want to change it to a warning mode—first, let's put out a bit of a scare, and if they really dare to move forward, then we'll take action."

Tony clicked his tongue, pulled out his tablet, and connected to the system: "This is practically a smart home now, with intrusion detection, tiered response, remote control... Is the next step to get JARVIS's voice prompts? 'Dear user, there is suspicious activity in your backyard. Please handle it promptly.'"

Ye Mo chuckled, "You know what, I actually do want to add a voice message."

The two men focused on debugging. Ye Mo was responsible for modifying the sensing threshold, while Tony helped write the logic judgment code. Half an hour later, the new version was launched.

This time they used a larger spider robot, the kind with armor. The robot started from the entrance and slowly approached. When it came within five meters, the air temperature around the ice sculpture plummeted, and a ring of white mist slowly spread out, like a warning line.

The robot didn't stop; it continued moving forward.

At three meters, the ice sculpture's eyes lit up with red light, and a rotating ice ring appeared above its head.

The robot finally slowed down, but didn't reverse.

"It's going to force its way in," Tony said.

As soon as he finished speaking, the robot suddenly accelerated and sprinted forward.

The instant it stepped across the two-meter line, a cone-shaped blast of cold air shot out from the front, hitting it directly in the head. The outer shell instantly froze, the internal chip overloaded and started smoking, and it collapsed to the ground motionless.

"Perfect." Ye Mo clapped his hands. "Delay canceled, precise response, damage under control."

Tony looked at the smoking robot and shook his head. "This isn't defense anymore, it's a murder machine."

"Who told it to ignore warnings?"

What if I rushed in too?

"Then you deserve it."

The moment I finished speaking, a "ding" sounded in my mind.

[Successfully integrated abilities; Gene Spiral Tower unlocked for the 25th floor]

A warm current surged from his spine to his brain, as if someone had stuffed a hot towel into his head. Deep within his consciousness, another door opened, revealing several new options:

- Multimodal trigger binding

- Remote mental anchoring

- Group mental interference inhibition

Ye Mo closed his eyes and sensed for a few seconds. When he opened them, his eyes were clear. "It's improved."

"You unlocked it again?" Tony looked up. "You've almost built thirty floors in your tower, haven't you? Are you going to ascend to godhood when you reach the maximum level?"

"You'll be the first one they pull up."

"No, I'm afraid of heights." Tony finished the last sip of his coffee, crumpled the paper cup into a ball, and threw it towards the trash can, but it veered off course. "Seriously, your abilities are becoming less and less like Mutants's, more like some kind of... advanced AI security system."

"It's all about anticipation and reaction." Ye Mo walked to the ice sculpture and wiped away a layer of frost. "I can set up formations in advance because of combinations. Individual abilities are useless, but when combined, they can produce unexpected results."

"For example, ice + Mind Stone = anti-detection weapon?" Tony asked.

"For example," Ye Mo nodded, "Anyone who wants to sneak around and try to find me will have to ask my ice sculpture for permission first."

Tony laughed, "No, it's a new weapon."

After he finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the door, saying as he went, "Remember to install a warning light next time, so I don't feel like I'm being chilled by your Mind Stone freezer the moment I walk in."

Ye Mo didn't reply, looking down at the ice sculpture. Its surface had become smooth again, like a mirror. He reached out and drew a line on the mirror-like surface.

The next second, the entire ice sculpture trembled slightly, and a light blue grid appeared inside, like some kind of scanning system in standby mode.

He withdrew his hand, sat back down at the console, opened the encrypted log, and began recording the upgrade data. The progress bar on the screen slowly advanced, and line after line of code was automatically archived.

Tony's footsteps had faded into the distance.

The only sound in the laboratory was the low hum of the machines running.

He stared at the last line of confirmation information and pressed Enter.

Upload complete.

Just then, the ice sculpture's eyes suddenly blinked.