Chapter 396

"After I opened that door, I found my body had changed. I became very short, and everything seemed to become very large. My hands turned into C-shapes, and my head became a cylinder, just like those common building blocks..."

Steve took a deep breath as the memories returned to the moment he pushed open the door.

When Steve first walked in, he felt a momentary lapse in consciousness. Immediately after, he realized his field of vision had lowered. He looked down and saw his body had turned into a block.

Only then did he recall the shape of the doorknob he had turned. He shrugged and said, "Fine, block-man. I've played with those before."

Once the hazy light in front of him dissipated, he found himself in a bright shop. Steve looked around with interest, observing the shelves made of small blocks and the merchandise displayed on them.

It was a very novel experience; he had never seen the world as a block figure before. However, the pleasant time passed quickly, and Steve suddenly heard a high-pitched scream.

Reflexively, he rolled on the spot and hid behind a large shelf. Immediately after, he heard a "Bang!" of a gunshot, and a voice with an exaggerated tone rang out: "Empty your pockets! Right now! You don't want to take a bullet!"

Steve peeked out and saw a robber pointing a gun at the shop owner. He was about to run out to stop him, but then he looked down at his C-shaped hands, which had no fingers at all. He scanned his surroundings and saw a mop leaning in the corner of the convenience store.

In front of the counter, the robber pointed his gun at the shop owner and said, "I'm from Texas! You'd better not mess with me. I have an 800-acre farm there, and two rams that can get 74 ewes pregnant!"

"You know what? If I pull the trigger and fire this shot, according to Texas law, I have to fill out a Farm Owner's Active Defense Protocol declaration form. Do you know how many clauses are on that? Exactly 172! But I don't intend to follow a single one of them, hahahahaha!"

"Alright, now I'm going to fire. What? You've already taken the money out? No! It's useless! Do you know where this is?!"

"Bang!" A mop slammed him against the wall. The mop lowered slowly, revealing Steve's face.

Just then, the glass window above Steve's head shattered with a "crash." A black-clad block figure landed in the room and said, "Stop! You evil robber! I am Batman, and I will make all criminals pay the price!"

"... Wait, why is he lying on the ground? Is this some new type of robbery?" The black block figure looked down at the robber on the floor. Steve swung the mop and sighed, "Thank him for being like you—liking to recite long lines before taking action. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the chance to knock him down."

"Oh, who are you? Wait... wait... I smell a familiar scent, that annoying smell of moralizing. Is your last name Kent?"

"... No, my last name is Rogers. Who are you? You call yourself Batman? That's a strange name."

"That's right, I am Batman." The black block figure stepped forward, narrowed his eyes, gave a suspicious look, and said, "Judging by the speed and force with which you swung that mop just now, you aren't an ordinary person. Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

"Uh, I'm indeed not an ordinary person, but I'm here to find something. Have you seen anything like a key?"

"A key? What kind of key do you mean? A real key, a conceptual key, or a philosophical key?"

Steve felt the current scene was ridiculous because he was trying to explain his purpose to a block figure. However, the atmosphere forced him to treat this block figure with a serious and earnest attitude, because this entire world was made of blocks, and he himself had become a block.

Steve walked outside with Batman. As they walked, he said, "This is the mind palace of a madman, and now we are trapped here. We must find the key to get out. I just opened a door at random and ended up here..."

"Mind palace, keys, and doors?" Batman grasped the key points very keenly. "I don't know what these concepts you're talking about are, but I will investigate him. As you can see, this is Gotham..."

Just then, a sudden beam of light blinded Steve. He shielded his eyes with his arm. When he lowered it, he saw a bat-shaped light signal appear in the pitch-black sky.

He heard the block figure beside him say, "Damn it, it looks like the Joker gang is causing trouble in the city again! I have to stop them!"

"Joker gang? Who is that?" Steve asked, somewhat confused.

"They are a bunch of lunatics. They specialize in explosions and kidnappings, all for the purpose of forcing me to appear."

"Can I go with you? I can help you deal with them."

"No... no..." Batman shook his head. Steve actually saw a hint of depth and mystery on his cylindrical head.

"The Joker and I are fated rivals. Wherever he appears, I must exist, and wherever I am, he will surely appear. This is a battle that belongs only to the two of us!"

Steve looked at the rather serious expression on that cylindrical head and could only nod, saying, "Alright, do you mind having an audience?"

Two minutes later, Steve arrived on the roof of a building. He saw on the building opposite him, a green-haired block figure in a purple suit standing in front of a group of tightly bound figures.

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

Steve thought to himself, *Well, at least the bound ones are block people without blood vessels. Otherwise, after such a long time, their limbs might have required amputation due to ischemia... *

Just as he was thinking this, he heard a "Boom!" of an explosion. The entire building opposite them collapsed. Steve watched helplessly as countless parts flew out amidst the sound of the explosion.

The shockwave of the explosion also impacted his location. To be precise, Steve was hit in the arm by a small flying block.

Even more absurdly, the explosion, which didn't seem large in scale, produced a shockwave like a nuclear blast, sending Steve flying over a thousand meters away, just like an exaggerated animation shot.

Steve felt another lapse in consciousness. When he woke up again, he blinked hard. When he stood up, he suddenly found his center of gravity was off. He looked down and saw his entire left arm was gone.

He thought to himself again, *Well, at least I'm a block figure. Otherwise, I would have gone into shock from blood loss by now. *

He was just about to look for his arm when he saw a block figure wearing a strange samurai outfit and holding a glow stick walking toward him. He looked at Steve's state and said to him, "You were caught in the blast just now, weren't you?"

"Where is this?" Steve asked, looking suspiciously at the glow stick in his hand. "And what is that you're holding?"

"This is a lightsaber. Don't you recognize it? Where are you from?"

"I just came from a rather strange city. I came here to look for a key. Have you seen anything like a key?"

"No, but I'm on my way to Master Yoda's dwelling. He is a very knowledgeable person. If you're looking for something, maybe he'll know."

"Alright, can I go with you?"

"Hmm, that's fine, but your arm is gone..." The strange samurai turned to look around and said, "Oh, here it is."

Saying this, he walked over to a pile of ruins and rummaged through a heap of small block debris, finding an arm. He then walked to Steve's side and pressed the part against the side of his body. With a "click," Steve realized his arm had regained sensation.

"But having an arm isn't enough; you're missing a hand too. Come on, let's rummage around here; maybe we can find useful parts."

Steve looked speechlessly at his arm. He was certain it wasn't the one he had lost, but then again, all block figures' arms looked the same—they were all rectangular blocks anyway—so it didn't matter if he made do with it.

Thus, he followed the samurai to rummage through the ruins. Surprisingly, not only did he find a hand part, but he also found a lightsaber discarded there.

Steve held the unlit lightsaber and looked at it, saying, "Is this a weapon? How do I activate it?"

"Calm your mind and feel the Force within you..."

"The Force? What is that?"

"Ah, if you don't have the Force, just press the button on the hilt. As long as it lights up, it's fine..."

Steve squeezed the hilt, and with a "vroom," a bright beam of light appeared at the tip of the bare handle. Steve held the sword in front of him and looked at it, smiling, "This is too convenient, isn't it? You only need to carry a hilt for combat, then press a button, and it becomes a melee weapon. How much damage does this thing do?"

"Are you interested in the Force sword too? Then we can go find Master Yoda together; he will explain all this to you..."

Steve extinguished the lightsaber and said, "Let's go. I'm actually quite interested."

As they walked, Steve explained, "I usually fight with a shield. It's a very useful weapon; it can be used for defense and can also be thrown for offense."

"But I have considered some sharper melee weapons. However, weapons with sufficient reach and lethality are usually quite bulky and inconvenient to carry. If I want something lightweight, the reach is shortened, so I might as well use the shield."

Saying this, he looked at the lightsaber hilt he was holding and said, "Although I haven't tried telescopic weapons, they aren't very useful due to material limitations. But this sword looks quite interesting."

Saying this, he moved his newly attached hand close to the beam of light and said, "It's not quite like a laser; you don't have to worry about hurting yourself with an energy weapon. Interesting..."

Just as they were crossing a ruin that looked like it had been bombed, a group of block figures in white armor suddenly appeared before them. The samurai immediately drew his lightsaber and took a fighting stance, saying, "Careful! It's the enemy! They're the ones who kidnapped Princess Leia!"

Steve drew his lightsaber and mimicked the defensive stance of the samurai in front of him. He turned and asked, "My name is Steve. What's yours?"

"My name is Luke."

Saying this, the two swung their lightsabers at the block figures in white armor.

When swinging the lightsaber, Steve felt a very wonderful sensation. Although he was hacking at plastic block figures, the feel of the lightsaber was indeed quite good. It seemed the beam should have no weight, but in reality, when swinging it, he could feel a very distinct impact.

Just as he was hacking away with gusto, more and more figures surrounded them. Steve and Luke had to stand back-to-back, lightsabers in hand, facing the siege of a massive number of enemies.

Just then, they suddenly felt the earth tremble, and a "rumbling" sound came from afar, approaching them in an instant.

Amidst countless flying parts, Steve saw a giant block dinosaur running over, trampling all the white-armored figures under its feet into parts.

Steve initially thought it was reinforcements, but when he saw the block figure that looked like Schiller riding on the dinosaur's back, he had a bad premonition.

And unfortunately, this premonition came true.

"So, you were trampled to death by a dinosaur?" Stark said, barely holding back his laughter.

Steve clutched his forehead and said, "How was I supposed to know that a place that looked like a sci-fi movie would suddenly have a dinosaur pop out??"

"And Schiller was riding on the dinosaur's back. I got distracted for a second, so I didn't dodge in time..."

"By the way, Professor, what was the room you went into like?" Steve asked, looking at Charles.

Charles shook his head and said, "I can't even describe it to you because I don't know much about that area. It looked like a room with all sorts of games."

"I met a little boy who gave me a ball and asked me to go catch some spirits. I could understand what he was saying, but I didn't quite grasp his meaning. I wandered around there and found I really couldn't make sense of it, so I came out."

Stark sighed and said, "I think Schiller is doing this on purpose. Picking rooms at random? He definitely chose rooms we aren't good at just to trap us here."

"We have to think of a way. We can't just stay here forever." Steve clutched his forehead. Suddenly, as if thinking of something, he turned to look at Charles and said, "Professor, can you call others into here?"

"Theoretically, the process of entering and exiting is the same. I have to punch a hole in the wall. Hmm... but if Schiller agrees, he might be able to let them in through a side door."

Stark looked at Steve and asked, "What are you trying to do? Don't tell me you want to drag more people in here to be trapped?"

"Don't you see? The problems we can't solve, our friends might have the ability to solve. For example, Strange is skilled in magic, Peter is good at games, and as for the dinosaur, I think Connors, the biologist, should have a way, right?"

"Professor Charles, can you ask for us if more people can be let in here? We have to cooperate to solve these puzzles."

"Alright, wait a moment." Saying this, Charles closed his eyes, seemingly communicating with Schiller. After a while, he opened his eyes and said:

"No problem, he agreed. But you'd better think clearly: if they come in, they'll be trapped here just the same."

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

Although he didn't have his shield in hand, he still raised his arm and said, "Avengers, assemble!"

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

Although he didn't have a shield in his hand, he still raised his arm and said: "Avengers, assemble!"