Chapter 4693

The surgery lasted over seven hours. When the patient was wheeled out of the operating room, Doctor Strange followed, taking off his mask as he said, "The surgery was a success. The patient's vital signs haven't fully stabilized yet; they need to be monitored for at least twelve hours..."

He stopped mid-sentence. The mutants outside were all looking at him. Doctor Strange had no choice but to finish the medical instructions. Magneto looked at him and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Doctor Strange said with a touch of emotion, "I just had a dizzying feeling of returning to the past."

The two of them walked to the corner of the corridor outside the operating room. Magneto nodded and said, "I often have that feeling too. It's as if today is just a repetition of the past."

"Mutants really are always repeating the past." Doctor Strange didn't lose his sharp-tongued nature, "It's normal for you to have such reflections."

However, the Magneto of this universe had a very good temper. He didn't get angry or refute, simply saying, "Sometimes being able to repeat the past is a kind of luck, especially for you, isn't it?"

Doctor Strange was silent for a moment, then said, "Perhaps you're right. I was just thinking..."

"What?"

"Nothing." He crumpled the mask in his hand into a ball, waved his hand, changed back into his Doctor Strange attire, and walked toward the door.

When he returned to the Avengers base, everyone looked at him, but Doctor Strange said nothing and returned to his room. The main universe Iron Man stood at the door of his room, watching him.

"What did I tell you? The surgery failed, he must be very sad." The main universe Iron Man lowered his voice, "We shouldn't have forced him to go."

"You were the one who forced him to go." Banner pointed out, hitting the nail on the head, "If you hadn't spoken up, our opinions wouldn't have swayed him. If anything happens to him, it's all your fault."

The main universe Iron Man was about to retort when Captain America said coldly, "Everyone back to your rooms. Don't come out unless there's an emergency!"

He slammed his shield against the floor, startling everyone around. Everyone scurried back to their rooms, including the main universe Iron Man.

Movie stereotypes make many people think Captain America has a good temper, or rather, that he is a "Superman-style" sunny, cheerful, kind, and tolerant positive character. But in reality, that is not the case. Captain America has a strong military temperament, and his temper is not exactly good. He is fine under normal circumstances, but once he gets angry, he demands that everyone follow orders, and the Avengers don't dare to provoke him.

Captain America walked to Doctor Strange's door, reaching out to knock, but stopped after a moment of thought. Finally, he just stood in front of the door and said, "Call me if you need anything, Shi Difen."

After saying this, he also turned and returned to his room. Doctor Strange heard what he said but did not respond. He sat silently by the window until he saw a figure sneakily hanging down.

"Hey, Doctor." Spider-Man was hanging upside down outside the window, "The surgery was a success, right?"

Doctor Strange was stunned, and Spider-Man said, "I knew you could do it. You are the best surgeon, after all."

Doctor Strange snorted coldly. Spider-Man continued, "Mr. Stark didn't mean to say it like that. He's just a bit mentally unstable. That Iron Man from the central universe scared him. He talks nonsense whenever he gets anxious."

Doctor Strange did not answer this; he just suddenly asked, "Are there moments when you don't want to be Spider-Man?"

Spider-Man thought for a moment and said, "Of course. There are many such moments. When Uncle Ben died, when Gwen died, when Mary Jane wanted to break up with me..."

Doctor Strange reached out to stop him, then said, "It's not appropriate for us to discuss such questions. You always give me the illusion that my life isn't miserable enough and I'm just being pretentious."

Spider-Man shrugged and laughed. Doctor Strange lowered his eyes and said, "Perhaps I should go back to being a surgeon."

"You can." Spider-Man said, "You can also be a surgeon while being a sorcerer. Doctor Strange from the central universe does exactly that."

"I can't handle it." Doctor Strange said, "If I go back to being a surgeon, there will be endless surgeries, and medical records to write."

"Come on. Doctor Strange from that universe doesn't write his own medical records." Spider-Man lowered his voice, "They are all written for him by his good friend, Dr. Schiller."

"How do you know?" Doctor Strange asked, somewhat surprised.

"I often go to the central universe and have seen him writing medical records in the office. That is clearly not the format of a psychiatrist. When I told Mr. Stark about it before, he even said there must be some unspeakable deal between the two of them."

As soon as Spider-Man mentioned the main universe Iron Man, Doctor Strange's expression turned sour. He stood up, conjured a portal, and said, "Since he has no expectations of me, it's normal that I can't complete the plan. Let him find whoever he's counting on."

After saying this, he left through the portal. Spider-Man sighed, climbed up the wall, and went to find the Iron Man of the central universe.

Spider-Man finished a long string of words, gulped down a large glass of water, wiped his mouth, and said, "That's how it is, it looks like the two of them have had a falling out."

"I want to believe that the Iron Man from your universe didn't do it on purpose." Stark said, "However, if he never pays the price for his thoughtless words, he will never grow."

"Were you like this before?" Spider-Man asked, somewhat curiously.

"Maybe." Stark said, "If I could realize I was hurting others, I wouldn't have done it. If I didn't realize it, it wouldn't have left a deep impression. But I think I'm at least better than him; at least my anxiety was brought under control very early on."

"He really should see a psychiatrist." Spider-Man said from the bottom of his heart, "One of these days, I'll find a way to trick him into seeing Dr. Schiller."

"Arizona." Black Widow walked in from outside and said, "That injured mutant has woken up. Her mutant ability is to sense electrical signals. She said she discovered signal anomalies in southern Arizona. That seems to be the location of the Red Orchid factory's research laboratory on Earth."

"She's awake?!" The main universe Iron Man said, somewhat incredulously, "Shi Difen's surgery was a success?! Why didn't he tell us?! Shi Difen? Shi Difen?"

The main universe Iron Man shouted his name toward Doctor Strange's room, but there was no response. Spider-Man said, "I saw the light of a portal earlier; he should have already left."

"Left? Where did he go?"

"Didn't you ask him to go to the Shi'ar Empire to find clues? Perhaps he went to complete the plan." Spider-Man said.

The main universe Iron Man sat back down, looking a bit sheepish. Captain America spoke up, "Are there specific coordinates?"

"The mutants are still investigating, but it should be soon." Black Widow said.

Captain America clapped his hands and said, "Prepare for battle. As soon as the mutants find the specific location, we will immediately launch a surprise attack!"

In the anti-gravity laboratory, Magneto, Professor X, Schiller, and Moira watched the holographic globe together. Schiller said, "That mutant must have been sent by some force on Earth, possibly the US military or the government."

Magneto turned to look at him, and Schiller said, "The ones who least want the Mother Mold to wake up right now are probably them."

Moira didn't understand and asked, "Why?"

"They believe the Stark Group has already gained a huge advantage, and that even the entire Red Orchid factory has been controlled by him. Once the Mother Mold wakes up, Iron Man will rule over the United States..."

"Simply absurd." Moira said, "What necessity is there for him to rule the United States? Is that place even a good place?"

Schiller couldn't help but glance at her. This was truly worthy of nine lifetimes of wisdom, hitting the nail on the head immediately. The United States in Marvel really does feel like everyone wants to rule it, but in reality, it has no awareness that it is a broken country that attracts disaster.

"They won't stop doubting." Schiller said, "Especially since the Stark Group's technological level is significantly higher than theirs, they can only assume the worst-case scenario. Now they are dying for someone to rush into the laboratory, kill all the researchers, and blow up the Red Orchid factory. If they can't have it, they don't want anyone else to have it either."

"So they let that mutant bring us the message?" Professor X frowned and said, "Are they hoping the mutants will destroy the laboratory?"

"Exactly. They want us to clash with the Stark Group, the Avengers, or S. H. I. E. L. D. Of course, they would prefer us to clash with all of them, so they can sit back and watch the tigers fight."

"It seems everyone has this idea." Magneto said with an unhappy expression, "Everyone wants the mutants and other forces to fight until both sides are injured."

"Because you really did do this often in the past." Schiller pointed out sharply, "As long as someone provokes you, you rush in. As long as there is a glimmer of opportunity, you immediately throw your lives into it. As long as a little benefit is promised, you immediately follow up. You are too easy to be deceived, so you can't always blame others for wanting to plot against you, right?"

Magneto touched his cheek, Professor X lowered his head to look at the floor, and Moira cleared her throat. Schiller continued, "Find some mutants who are good at escaping to go there and probe; we should be able to get the accurate coordinates very soon. Then let the two Avengers teams fight it out."

Schiller's plan went very smoothly. This was indeed a trap set by those who didn't want the Stark Group to get the Mother Mold. The mutants got the laboratory coordinates without any obstruction.

However, the mutants did not end up in the fight as expected. Appearing outside the laboratory door was another Avengers team. And unsurprisingly, the local Avengers team also appeared in full force. Neither side felt surprised when they saw each other.

The local Iron Man had long since learned through so-called drone wreckage that other Iron Men might be coming. And the main universe Iron Man had long guessed that the local Iron Man also wanted to take the Red Orchid factory. Now it was naturally time to compete to see whose fist was bigger.

However, the trouble was that the Avengers team from the main universe was missing Doctor Strange, who was the most important combat power in a chaotic battle. The local Avengers team, on the other hand, was present in full force, and because they were fighting on home turf, they fought more bravely as the battle went on. The main universe Avengers team was actually losing.

Magneto watched the battle through monitoring equipment. If there was indeed some schadenfreude, he hid it well and didn't show it. After a while, he cleared his throat and said, "Is it the mutants' turn to be the saviors now? When are we going over?"

Schiller glanced at him helplessly again and said, "I already said, only if the mutants are weak enough will they have infighting over the ownership of the superweapon. If you go there now like gods descending, wouldn't you be back to square one?"

"Ahem..." Magneto was a bit embarrassed and said, "Then we just watch them fight? The main universe team is about to lose."

Schiller shook his head, picked up his phone, and said, "Tony, it's your turn to appear."