Chapter 396: The Avengers

"After I opened that door, I found my body had changed—I became very small, and everything around me seemed huge. My hands turned into C-shapes, my head became a cylinder, like those common building blocks..."

Steve took a deep breath, memories slowly returning to the moment he pushed open the door.

When Steve first stepped inside, he felt a moment of dizziness, then realized his field of vision had lowered—he looked down and saw his body had turned into a block.

At that moment, he remembered the shape of the doorknob he had twisted. He shrugged and said, "Alright, Block Man—I've played with those too."

When the hazy light before him cleared, he found himself in a bright store. Steve wandered through it curiously, observing shelves made of tiny blocks and the goods placed upon them.

It was a profoundly novel experience—he had never seen the world as a block person—but the joy was short-lived. Steve suddenly heard a shrill scream.

He instinctively rolled in place, dodging behind a large shelf, then heard a loud *bang*—a voice with exaggerated theatrics shouted, "Hand over your money, right now! You don't want a bullet!"

Steve peeked out and saw a robber pointing a gun at the convenience store clerk. He started to rush out to stop him, then looked down at his own C-shaped hand with no fingers. He glanced around and spotted a mop in the corner of the store.

At the store counter, the robber pointed the gun at the clerk and said, "I'm from Texas. Don't mess with me—I own an 800-acre farm there, and two rams that can get 74 ewes pregnant!"

"You know what? If I pull this trigger, under Texas law, I have to file an agricultural self-defense form. You know how many clauses it has? A full 172! But I'm not following a single one—hahaha!"

"Alright, I'm shooting now. What? You've already handed over the money? No use! Do you even know where you are?!"

*Bang! A mop slammed directly into him, knocking him against the wall. The mop slowly lowered, revealing Steve's face.

At that moment, a *crash* came from the glass window above Steve's head. A black-clad block person landed in the room and declared, "Stop! You evil robber! I am Batman—I will make every criminal pay!"

"... ait, why is he on the ground? Is this some new kind of robbery?" The black block person looked down at the fallen robber. Steve swung the mop and sighed, "Thanks to him liking to monologue before attacking—otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to take him down."

"Oh, who are you? Wait... wait... I smell a familiar scent—that annoying preachy odor. Are you a Kent?"

"... o, I'm Rogers. Who are you? You call yourself Batman? That's a strange name."

"Correct. I am Batman." The black block person stepped forward, narrowed his eyes, and gave a skeptical look. "From the speed and force with which you swung that mop, you're no ordinary person. Who are you? What's your purpose here?"

"Uh, I'm not ordinary, but I'm here looking for something. Have you seen a key?"

"A key? What kind of key? A physical key? A conceptual key? Or a philosophical key?"

Steve found the scene absurd—he was trying to explain his purpose to a block person, yet the atmosphere forced him to treat this block person with deadly seriousness, because the entire world was made of blocks, and he himself had become one.

Steve and Batman walked out together. As they went, Steve said, "This is a madman's mind palace, and now we're trapped here—we must find the key to get out. I just opened a door at random and ended up here..."

"Mind palace, key, door?" Batman seized the key points. "I don't know what you mean by these concepts, but I'll investigate. As you can see, this is Gotham..."

At that moment, a sudden beam of light blinded Steve. He shielded his eyes with his arm, and when he lowered it, he saw a bat-shaped light pattern appear in the pitch-black sky.

He heard the block person beside him say, "Oh damn, looks like the Joker Gang is causing trouble in town again! I've got to stop them!"

"Joker Gang? Who's that?" Steve asked, confused.

"They're a bunch of lunatics who specialize in bombings and kidnappings—all to force me to show up."

"Can I come with you? I can help you fight them."

"No... no..." Batman shook his head. Steve even detected a deep, mysterious expression on the block person's cylindrical head.

"I am destiny's opponent to the Joker. Wherever he appears, I must be there. And wherever I am, he will appear. This battle belongs only to us two!"

Steve looked at the serious expression on that cylindrical head and nodded. "Alright, then... do you mind if I'm an audience member?"

Two minutes later, Steve reached the rooftop of a building. He saw across the way, on another rooftop, a tiny figure with green hair and a purple suit standing before a group of tightly bound block people.

Because of the distance, Steve couldn't clearly hear what Batman and the Joker block person were saying—but they stood on the rooftop talking for nearly an hour.

Steve thought to himself, Thank goodness the hostages are all block people—no blood vessels. Otherwise, after this long, their limbs might've already needed amputation from lack of circulation...

As he thought this, a *boom* erupted—the entire building across from him collapsed. Steve watched helplessly as countless parts flew out with the explosion.

The blast wave also hit him—more precisely, a small block fragment struck his arm.

Even more absurdly, the relatively small explosion produced a shockwave like a nuclear blast, hurling Steve over a thousand meters away—as if from an exaggerated cartoon scene.

Steve felt another wave of dizziness. When he woke again, he blinked hard, stood up, and suddenly realized his center of gravity felt off. He looked down—his entire left arm was gone.

He thought to himself, Thank goodness I'm a block person too—otherwise I'd already be in shock from blood loss.

He was about to search for his arm when a block person in strange samurai armor, holding a glow stick, approached him. Seeing Steve's condition, he said, "You were caught in the blast, right?"

"Where is this?" Steve asked, eyeing the glow stick in his hand. "What's that you're holding?"

"It's a lightsaber. Don't you recognize it? Where are you from?"

"I just came from a weird city. I came here looking for a key. Have you seen anything like a key?"

"No, but I'm heading to Master Yoda's residence. He's a man of great knowledge—if you're searching for something, he might know."

No, but I'm on my way to Master Yoda's residence—he's a well-traveled man, and if you're looking for something, he might know.

"Hmm, sure, but you've lost your arm..." The strange samurai turned and looked around. "Oh, here it is."

He walked to a pile of rubble, rummaged through scattered block fragments, found an arm, then returned to Steve's side, pressed the part onto his body, and pushed hard—*click*. Steve immediately felt sensation return to his arm.

"But having just an arm isn't enough—you're missing a hand too. Come on, let's search around. Maybe we'll find a useful part."

Steve stared blankly at the arm he'd just attached. He was certain it wasn't his original one—but then again, all block people's arms looked identical—rectangular prisms. It would do.

So he followed the samurai into the rubble. To his surprise, they not only found a hand part but also a discarded lightsaber.

Steve held the unlit lightsaber, turning it over. "Is this a weapon? How do you turn it on?"

"Calm your mind. Feel the Force within you..."

"The Force? What's that?"

"Ah, if you don't have the Force, just press the button on the handle—it'll light up anyway..."

Steve pressed the button. *Hum! A brilliant beam shot from the end of the bare handle. Steve held the blade before him and smiled. "This is too convenient! In battle, you just carry the hilt, press a button, and it becomes a melee weapon. How powerful is it?"

"You're interested in lightsabers? Then we can go find Master Yoda together—he'll explain everything..."

Steve turned off the lightsaber. "Let's go. I'm actually curious."

As they walked, Steve explained, "I used to fight with a shield—a very effective weapon. Good for defense, and I could throw it for offense."

"But I've also considered sharper close-combat weapons. Yet weapons with long reach and high damage are usually bulky and hard to carry. If I want something light, the reach shrinks—so I might as well stick with the shield."

He looked at the lightsaber in his hand, now just a hilt. "I've tried extendable weapons before, but they're limited by materials and rarely work well. But this one seems interesting."

He moved his newly attached hand toward the glowing blade. "Not quite like a laser—no risk of self-injury from energy weapons. Interesting..."

As they passed through a bombed-out ruin, suddenly a group of white-armored block people appeared before them. The samurai immediately drew his lightsaber into a combat stance. "Watch out! Enemies! They kidnapped Princess Leia!"

Steve pulled out his lightsaber and mimicked the samurai's defensive posture. He turned and asked, "I'm Steve. What's your name?"

Steve drew his lightsaber and mimicked the warrior ahead in a defensive stance; he turned and asked, "I'm Steve, what's your name?"

The two swung their lightsabers against the white-armored block people.

As Steve swung the lightsaber, he felt something strange—even though he was cutting plastic block people, the weapon's feedback was excellent. The beam seemed weightless, yet when swung, it delivered clear impact.

As he fought harder, more block people surrounded them. Steve and Luke had to back-to-back, lightsabers raised, facing overwhelming numbers.

Suddenly, the ground trembled. A deep *rumble* came from afar, rapidly approaching.

Amid flying parts, Steve saw a massive block dinosaur charging in, crushing the white-armored block people beneath its feet.

Steve thought it was reinforcement—until he saw the block person riding the dinosaur. It looked exactly like Shiler. A bad feeling came over him.

Steve had thought they were reinforcements, but when he saw the blocky figure riding the dinosaur, resembling Shiler, he felt a bad premonition.

And unfortunately, his feeling proved true.

"So you got crushed by a dinosaur?" Stark said, barely holding back laughter.

Steve covered his forehead. "How was I supposed to know a place that looks like a sci-fi movie would suddenly have a dinosaur pop out?!"

"And Shiler was riding it! I got distracted for a second and couldn't dodge..."

"By the way, Professor, what did your room look like?" Steve asked Charles.

Charles shook his head. "I can't even describe it—I don't understand this stuff. It looked like a room filled with all kinds of games."

"I met a boy. He gave me a ball and told me to catch some kind of spirit. I understood his words, but not his meaning. I wandered around, realized I couldn't figure it out, and left."

Stark sighed. "I think Shiler did this on purpose. 'Random room selection'? He definitely picked rooms we're bad at, to trap us here."

"We need a plan. We can't stay here forever," Steve said, covering his forehead. Then, as if struck by an idea, he turned to Charles. "Professor, can you bring others into here?"

"Theoretically, entering and exiting are the same process—I'd have to break a hole in the wall. Hmm... but if Shiler agrees, he might let them enter through a side door."

Stark looked at Steve. "What are you planning? You want to drag more people in and trap them here too?"

"Don't you see? Problems we can't solve, our friends might solve. Strange controls magic, Peter excels at games, and as for dinosaurs—I think Connors the biologist might have a solution."

"Professor Charles, ask if we can bring more people in. We need to cooperate to solve these puzzles."

"Alright, wait a moment." Charles closed his eyes, as if communicating with Shiler. After a moment, he opened them and said, "Fine, he agrees. But think carefully—if they come in, they'll be trapped here too."

"I believe if we work together, we can solve this," Steve said firmly.

Though he had no shield, he raised his arm and declared, "Avengers, assemble!"

"I believe that if we work together, we can definitely solve the problem," Steve said firmly.

Although he had no shield in hand, he still raised his arm and said, "Avengers, assemble!"