Chapter 4740: X-Empire: Rebirth (Part 21)

The place where they landed was indeed large and empty, and their voices had a heavy echo. There were no plants at the bottom, just some moss in the corners. Shiler could see it without Stark; the underground hot springs were indeed nearby, as they felt the heat and humidity not long after coming down.

There were two cave entrances at the bottom, one of which was significantly hotter than the other. The three of them walked in this direction. This cave entrance was also quite spacious inside, so they chatted while walking.

"Mutants are mostly impatient," Stark sighed. "Saying they want to build hot springs, they start immediately, not even willing to wait an extra day. Charles doesn't know how to hold them back a bit either."

"Perhaps Charles is also happy to see it happen," Shiler said. "If it weren't for his agreement and support, the mutants wouldn't be in such a rush to run over here."

"I think he has the heart to develop tourism," Steve offered his view. "To be precise, it's developing tourism from the Central Universe to here. This place is simply a heaven-sent nursery; it's time to bring those little demons over."

Indeed, Stark thought so too. But to bring them over, there must be something attractive. The primeval forest alone wasn't enough, which is why he was so anxious to build these things. He was just worried that the mutants didn't have experience in this area and were too anxious to build it, ending up doing more harm than good.

"You all think so?"

"Isn't it?"

Shiler shook his head and said: "The mutants of the Central Universe have finally raised their heads, walking as bosses everywhere in the universe, and even on Earth, they have considerable weight, with everyone having to greet them with a smile. The new generation of mutants hasn't suffered a bit of grievance. How could Charles be willing to let the children face this kind of predicament again?"

"That's also true," Stark nodded and said. "If it were me, I certainly wouldn't be willing. Discrimination isn't a knife, but a bottle of poison that will only slowly corrode you, making you feel rejected and isolated by this world. This kind of long-term harm is sometimes more painful than intense conflict. I don't want children to suffer these, any child."

"Then what is he in such a rush for?" Steve was a bit confused. "I thought they were driven crazy by taking care of the children."

"Standing from your perspective, it is indeed like that," Stark said. "After all, non-mutant parents always have some trouble with mutant children. What's more, little Thomas is still a very powerful mutant. However, to say that the Scarlet Witch can't deal with her children would be an exaggeration, otherwise why would she choose to have a little daughter after giving birth to twin brothers?"

"That makes sense too," Steve said. "However, little Thomas is actually very sensible; he has never used his mutant abilities in front of me and his mother. The first time he broke out doesn't count."

They walked and talked, the heat getting thicker and the humidity getting heavier, until in the end, they couldn't even open their eyes. Shiler had to turn into a cloud of mist. Stark looked at Steve and asked: "Can you still hold on?"

"Then you underestimate me too much," Steve said. "You have to know, a navigator is to guide the route for the spaceship. In other words, if the existing route can't be opened, you have to find a way to go down and clear it. What kind of harsh space environment haven't I seen? This is just a small matter."

They walked further forward, and there was a white mist in front of them. The true face of the underground hot springs was finally revealed. Rather than a hot spring, it was more like a piece of extremely high-temperature water vapor. At least from here, one could only see water vapor; the main body of the hot spring might still be below.

The temperature in this place was no longer suitable for ordinary people to stay. The entire cave was like a giant steamer; ordinary people without protection might be steamed cooked if they stayed a while longer. The water vapor was even heavier, giving one a feeling of drowning.

Stark poked his head over and took a look; his armor had no problem working even near the sun, so this was a small matter. Then he said: "This is a flue; the hot spring is much deeper than we imagined. This proves that the scale of the volcano is also larger than we imagined."

"I can see that," Shiler maintained the state of mist and said. "To be able to possess such a complex underground cave system, the volcanic activity here must be very frequent. Shall we go down and take a look?"

"Since we're here," Shiler said. "Steve, you stand in my mist, and I'll take you down."

Steve stood over, and Shiler wrapped him in gray mist. Stark went down first, and soon his voice came over: "It's very deep here, it must be over a hundred meters. There's no place to stand below either; I've set up a platform here, you guys fly towards where there is red light."

Below was even thicker steam. Now they were like deep into a gas giant, surrounded by high-temperature gas, fortunately without deadly storms and pressure. Flying down all the way, another seventy-plus meters, they finally saw traces of red light.

Shiler took Steve and stood on the platform, but the steam was too thick, and nothing could be seen at all. Stark had no choice but to project the three-dimensional terrain map, then pointed below and said: "Below is the real hot spring, about 150 meters away from the ground, the temperature is very high, it's definitely impossible to soak directly."

"For mutants, diverting water is not a difficult task, it just needs some design," Shiler thought for a moment and said. "What about the others? Have they come in?"

"I already said, their path is the long way, I estimate they still have to go around several times before they can come over," Stark pointed in a direction, then said, "There is a cave entrance over there, they might come from there. Can you go over and pick them up?"

Shiler looked down; the cave entrance Stark pointed to was very close to the hot spring. He shook his head and said: "Better not go, the gray mist doesn't like this kind of very hot place."

"Oh, the symbiote's problem," Stark said. "Then how does he operate near the sun?"

"He avoids operating near the sun as much as possible. How should I put it, him approaching the sun is like a human approaching a ghost."

This metaphor made the other two laugh. However, in the end, Stark still flew over to pick people up. But the others looked at him as if they had seen a ghost too. In a thick steam, suddenly a blue figure flew towards you, and the main universe Captain America almost threw his shield out.

"It's me, it's me!" Stark shouted.

"My god," the main universe Captain America said helplessly. "What are you doing here? Aren't you sick?"

"Steam therapy helps recovery," Stark blurted out nonsense. "You took the long way; actually, there is a direct cave entrance just a few dozen meters away on the ground."

"Is that so?" Spider-Man asked. "I was still thinking that such a tortuous route would be a bit troublesome to divert water, if only there were a direct one."

Just after this Spider-Man finished speaking, another Spider-Man came: "That's right, I was just pondering the plan. If we go from here, it's indeed a bit difficult, I was still thinking if there was another path."

Regarding his concern for the mutant hot spring bathhouse, Stark had doubts, but didn't say much. He guessed it might be some plan of the local universe, but it wasn't a bad thing, so he didn't ask much.

Immediately following were various mutants; basically, those who could withstand high temperatures all came, and some who couldn't were protected by Polaris and came. Everyone sighed at the magnificent scene here, and then began to study how to build it.

Some said to just build it here; as long as a direct passage is hit, the heat can dissipate a lot, and then add some water inside, or let Iceman adjust the temperature, it can also make do for soaking.

But most people supported diverting water upwards. Not to mention the environment here, it's really too far from the ground, even building a direct elevator would take half a day. Many mutants' mutant abilities are also restricted, unable to come down directly, which is a bit too troublesome.

However, where to divert the water is also a problem. Others walked all the way here and didn't see a suitable place; most were narrow and small caves that needed large-scale renovation. But Stark soon proposed that the sinkhole he passed on the way was not bad.

Don't look at the fact that it's also dozens of meters deep, but this is precisely the advantage, because you can dig holes in the walls of the sinkhole as rooms. Running back to the Throne after soaking in the hot spring is a bit too far, of course, there needs to be a place to stay. One will also be hungry when soaking in the hot spring, and there needs to be a restaurant. One might want a drink after soaking comfortably, and a bar needs to be built. The place closest to the hot spring is the cliff of the sinkhole.

His proposal was agreed upon by most people, and many people imagined the beautiful scene of the hot spring bathhouse. But these are all things for later; first, they have to find a way to divert the water up.

Using mutant abilities to divert it bit by bit is definitely not going to work; it's best to establish a water diversion system to ensure it can work steadily. The local universe's Spider-Man volunteered, saying he could go back and let Iron Man design it, which would definitely be very efficient and run steadily.

The mutants were noncommittal about this, but they had to admit that Iron Man's level was indeed high. If he could design it, that would be even better.

They conducted a very detailed measurement here and soon got the data. The local Spider-Man rushed back overnight, and the local Iron Man also drew the drawings overnight, and it was almost done in one night.

After all, this wasn't anything very complex, and it wasn't difficult for Iron Man at all. The only thing that was relatively difficult was that it needed to run steadily and couldn't be affected by mutant abilities. But mutants themselves were restricted on the island. In the end, Iron Man guaranteed that the system he came up with, even if Magneto got drunk and acted crazy, would not cause an accident.

The mutants got the drawings, saw that it was indeed good and saved effort, and happily started building. Under the influence of Magneto's standardized process, although the number of participants became smaller, the efficiency was not low at all. Some missing materials could be entrusted to the Hellfire Club for small-scale procurement, or simply send mutants to buy them. The local Iron Man very thoughtfully took care of the fact that the island's resources were not rich, using very few materials, and they were all standard parts that could be bought anywhere. Thus, in just two or three days, the hot spring bathhouse was built.

Although the rooms on the cliff were not completely finished, they were enough for now. The bath pool at the bottom of the sinkhole was built very exquisitely, maintaining Krakoa's consistent natural style. Compared to a bath pool, it was more like a large greenhouse. In addition to the indoor bath pool with a crystal dome, there were also outdoor bath pools.

On the day of completion, the mutants held a small-scale celebration, but they immediately started to organize a hot spring banquet. In addition to inviting all mutant forces, they also invited the Avengers of the Central Universe and the Main Universe. Most importantly, they invited the Avengers of the local universe, which was a friendly signal.

In addition, they also invited their friends in the ordinary human society, such as Black Panther of Wakanda, and the Weather Witch of the S. H. I. E. L. D., and even human scientists who couldn't leave the island. In short, everyone the mutants knew came, and this was destined to be a grand event on Krakoa Island. ===== CHAPTER 4741 =====