Chapter 1984: Lighting the Wondrous Dream in the Heart (Part 14)

The group stayed at the Florida Grand Hotel, about ten minutes away from the Magic Kingdom. The hotel's reception standards were very high, though it didn't have such distinct thematic styles as other Disney park hotels.

If one had to describe it, the Florida Grand Hotel's style was closer to Victorian—complex and magnificent. The food provided was also more refined compared to other themed hotels. However, because the group had already eaten their fill inside the park, they all returned to their rooms upon arriving at the hotel and didn't linger in other areas.

Actually, the night parade's lighting effects would be better, but the group decided to wait until tomorrow night to enter the Magic Kingdom again for a dedicated night tour, so everyone returned to the hotel around 7:00 PM.

Although Schiller and Stark were tired, they were still not as exhausted as Nick and Strange, who had been busy arresting rowdy children all over the park the entire afternoon.

It turned out that children who had gone wild didn't care about anything. Nick caught two agents who had climbed up using symbiote tentacles at the very top of the castle spire, and Strange fished out three little mages from the lake who were trying to explore the secret treasures at the bottom.

By the time they had rounded up all the little rascals, the two were so tired they couldn't stand straight. Without much conversation with the others, they returned to their rooms.

By 9:00 PM, Diana and Clark suddenly knocked on the door of Schiller's room. They sighed and looked at Schiller, saying, "Professor, Bruce hasn't returned yet. The amusement park is about to close, and I think we should go look for him."

Schiller was stunned, then asked, "He hasn't returned? Weren't you with him?"

"He wanted to go cause trouble for that reporter named Eddie. I really don't know what kind of grudge they have; they spent the whole afternoon playing hide-and-seek."

Schiller immediately thought that Bruce might be looking for trouble with Venom, or perhaps Venom was holding a grudge and looking for trouble with him. Regardless of whether it was Batman or Venom, they were more accustomed to operating at night; their contest might have just begun.

Schiller leaned against the door and said to Diana and Clark, "Don't worry. I'm going into the amusement park again around midnight tonight. If I see them, I'll remember to remind them to come back early."

Diana and Clark gave an OK gesture and left. Schiller guessed that although Bruce and Venom might have initially disliked each other, the fact that they had been delayed in the amusement park for so long probably meant they had discovered something during their chase.

Any version of Batman was the type who wouldn't stop until the truth was investigated. If they had been investigating for several hours and hadn't returned, perhaps there really was a big secret to be dug up in the amusement park.

Around 10:00 PM, Nick came to invite Schiller to the bar to discuss the details of the cooperation project with Disney. Loki was also with him.

The absence of Strange made Schiller feel a bit strange, but he thought perhaps those little mages were too difficult to deal with and Strange had gone to rest. He then went to the hotel bar with Nick and Loki.

It was relatively quiet here, with dim lighting and soothing music—a good place to talk business. The group ordered a few drinks and sat down. Nick spoke first: "Tomorrow's visit will be the main event. We will head to the Hollywood area. If our cooperation with Disney is reached, then the superheroes' IP will also appear in this area. We must go and see their level of creating character-type IPs."

"I heard they plan to build an Avatar area, right?" Loki asked, then said, "I watched that movie. Honestly, I'm quite interested in this kind of subject matter. There are indeed quite a few blue-skinned aliens in this universe."

"Like you." Schiller joked, referring to Loki's original race; the Frost Giants had blue skin.

Loki smiled and nodded, took a sip of his drink, and then said, "Our size isn't that small. I'm considered underdeveloped; a real Frost Giant is at least as tall as a building."

"If Avatar were that tall, it would become a monster movie." Nick also laughed and said, "They wouldn't be able to ride dragons then. My favorite parts were the few segments where they flew on dragons."

Schiller took a sip of his cold martini, sighed softly, and then said, "I think superheroes deserve a separate theme park. What do you think?"

"I also think it's not very appropriate to put it in the Hollywood area. Although we already have a hit documentary, we don't have a real movie yet. Even if we film one later, it's still too early to talk about Hollywood now."

"Then try to negotiate with them. We need a separate theme park. The content capacity is definitely enough to support it, and it's also convenient for superheroes to perform."

"Wait, you want them to perform in person?" Nick frowned slightly and said, "This isn't a good thing. Not to mention whether it will affect normal work, it might make people associate real superheroes with showy actors."

"Of course they have to perform, but not every day, and not interacting with the audience at close range. Superheroes should naturally maintain their mystery, or rather, this opportunity to get close to the real face of superheroes will make many people flock to it."

Nick and Loki both looked at Schiller. Schiller spoke with certainty, appearing very experienced. Schiller put down his wine glass, smiled, and said, "I think Bruce should be asked to organize training for all superheroes on how to be a good attraction while maintaining their mystery."

"That's a matter for later. I think we should actively strive for the power to cast roles and select directors, but this is highly likely to make them propose more stringent cooperation requirements."

"We should indeed have the right to review scripts, but there's no need to be specific to any one actor. Perhaps giving the director room to play would be a good choice."

"And this isn't a political propaganda mission, just a commercial cooperation. If they are willing to be responsible for their own profits and losses, we don't have to care whether the films they make are good or bad."

"After all, superheroes have prototypes in reality, so people's impression of them won't just be what's in the movies. It's better to exchange this for more favorable conditions."

Nick nodded, feeling that Schiller's words made sense. They chatted for a while longer about the next season of the documentary and the superhero theme park.

By around 11:00 PM, Schiller stood up first and said, "It seems we are all a bit tired today. I'm going back to rest. If there's anything, we can talk after visiting the Hollywood area tomorrow."

Nick didn't intend to leave, so he raised his glass to Schiller. Loki and Schiller stood up together, and the two returned to their rooms in each other's company.

When parting at the door, Loki looked at Schiller and said, "You don't look like the type who would get tired. Even if you had worked hard for ten nights, if there was a good opportunity to make money in front of you, you would definitely bite that piece of meat first."

"You hit the nail on the head." Schiller smiled and said, "I still have things to do tonight. If Nick looks for me, just say I'm asleep."

After speaking, Schiller entered the room. He changed into a set of lighter, more exercise-friendly clothes. Just as he put on his jacket, the fire of an engine appeared outside the curtains.

As soon as he opened it, Stark was wearing that light silver and blue armor. Schiller sighed and said, "I think you should learn from Batman. It's not that the flashier the color, the stronger the combat power. Concealment-type clothing will be more useful at certain times."

"Are you expecting me to paint myself into a pitch-black tin can, or are you expecting me to add two pointed ears to the helmet? Stop joking, that image is lame."

Stark opened his faceplate, turned his head to look at the Disney park hidden in the darkness, and said, "I always feel that tonight won't be that simple. You'd better prepare for battle early."

"You can't fight them." Schiller zipped up his jacket and said, "Before finding enough clues, run if you can. Otherwise, they will definitely make you look good."

Schiller turned into mist and flew to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom with Stark. The reason they didn't fly directly to the destination was the fear that the target in the sky would be too conspicuous. Once attacked, the fall damage was nothing to joke about.

Stark felt that Schiller was a bit overly anxious. Could there really be complete radar and anti-missile systems in the amusement park?

But Schiller knew very well that in front of funny cartoon characters, nothing was impossible. It would be normal for the other side to swat them down with a flyswatter, not to mention invincible slingshot cannons and more advanced tennis racket interception systems.

The two sneaked in from the front gate again. Because there was no yacht, they planned to take the train route from the daytime.

Just halfway there, close to the entrance of Main Street, the two discovered that the interior of the amusement park, which should have been closed, was brightly lit, while the tourists in the nearby hotels seemed to have discovered nothing and had long since turned off their lights to sleep.

Schiller squinted and said, "Sure enough, there's a problem."

Stark suddenly made a "shh" gesture, pulled Schiller into the nearby bushes, and then they saw a figure with large webbed feet and a long, square mouth waddling down the road.

That wasn't an actor in a doll suit. Stark didn't see any human body structure in the life-scanning device; that was a duck walking on its own feet.

"What's the situation?" Stark stared at the image in surprise and said, "The doll suit came to life and grew its own skeletal structure and internal organs?"

Schiller glanced at the projection Stark had created and said, "Great scientist, shouldn't you be more amazed that such a biological structure cannot stand upright at all?"

Stark shivered and said, "You're right, Schiller. This amusement park is not that simple at all. Could they be ghosts or demon projections that snuck in?"

"Look on the bright side, they might indeed just be a group of happy cartoon characters, but even so, if we break into their home without saying hello, we will definitely be warmly welcomed. Are you confident you can beat a duck that grew up like this?"

Stark glanced at the image on the life-scanning device again and had to admit that it was really too weird. If he weren't full of confidence in his technical level, Stark would definitely suspect that the life-scanning device was broken.

Indeed, there were too many strange-looking creatures in the universe, but the vast majority of carbon-based life forms didn't look too outrageous. Those strange ones were mostly energy-based life forms.

The existence of carbon-based life forms destined them to evolve with the planet's environment, using what is useful and discarding what is not, unlike energy-based life forms that would retain many useless structures during the evolutionary process.

But a duck growing up like this made Stark feel the power of the uncanny valley effect. When something looks like a person but isn't a person, familiar yet strange, it is the most terrifying.

So Stark shrank his neck and said, "Let's sneak in. Only Connors would be interested in fighting this thing."

Schiller turned into a thin mist, and Stark turned on the physical stealth device on his armor, while also layering an invisibility spell with magic energy. The two tiptoed toward the depths of the park. ===== CHAPTER 1985 =====