Chapter 4759

"Did you see it?" Matt walked in from the doorway, setting down the coat in his hand, and looked at Shiler, who was sitting at the dining table eating, saying, "Construction has already started on the volcano side. Erik made a move. The scene was quite spectacular."

"I only care about the quality of the hot springs." Shiler cut a piece of steak. "I heard the underground hot springs there have a very high temperature. It sounds like a pretty good place, but it definitely can't compare to the World Tree."

"That's not necessarily true." Matt shook his head. "Supposedly there are sulfur caves near the volcano. Natural sulfur hot springs have very high health benefits. As long as the water temperature can be adjusted to a suitable level, it would absolutely be an excellent recuperation spot."

Shiler raised an eyebrow at him. Matt sat down opposite him, placed his hands on the tabletop, leaned forward, and then said, "I think you've noticed it too. This island is uniquely blessed. You don't have any ideas about it?"

"You know, because of Tony's illness, I have no ideas whatsoever. But even at the start, I didn't plan to do anything with this island."

"What are you thinking?" Matt said. "What I mean is, why not open a sanatorium on this island?"

"You're serious?" Shiler said with some surprise. "This island repels ordinary people. Even Tony got sick. Who would dare come here to recuperate?"

"But isn't it said the Clarkia Flower can cure it? If after taking the Clarkia Flower one can ignore the negative effects and come and go freely, that would simply be a superb tourist and recuperation destination."

"You just want to come play here often yourself, right?" Shiler smiled.

"I won't hide it from you. Erika and I haven't had a world of our own for a long time. If someone is willing to help watch the kids, we also want to find a quiet place to play for a few days. Clarkia is not bad, much better than those popular tourist spots on Earth."

"Moreover," Matt lightly tapped the tabletop, "there are certainly many people in the multiverse who think this way. When they desperately want to escape, Mars isn't far enough. Only by hiding far away in another universe can they relax body and mind. Clarkia is a good place to escape the world."

"If you open a sanatorium here, you become the middleman, able to partially control who can come to this paradise. That counts as a kind of network resource, beneficial for both the universe and the sanatorium's operation."

"What you say makes sense too." Shiler said. "The New York sanatorium has already turned into a real mental hospital because of community obligations. Recuperating clients and sick patients cannot coexist. It's time to find a good place and open a real sanatorium again."

"You never thought of this before?"

"I originally wanted to look in our universe." Shiler said. "I feel our universe also has a Clarkia, just not discovered yet. If I can find it first, the whole island is mine. Why would I need to look at someone else's face?"

"So that's how it is." Matt said. "You put it that way, and I also feel our universe's is better. Then pretend I didn't say anything."

"No." Shiler shook his head. "Your proposal also has merit. Because if we use our universe's island, there would be even more people from other universes coming over, possibly even from neighboring worlds. Nick would have a huge headache, and the workload of others stationed on Earth would skyrocket. It's really too troublesome."

"That's really strange. You actually complain about trouble? You wish everyone would run right in front of you and give you some trouble, don't you?" Matt clicked his tongue in wonder.

"You've been too busy lately. We haven't had a drink together in a long time." Shiler smiled. "I've long since turned over a new leaf."

"Come off it." Matt curled his lip. "I think Tony's illness just scared you. In a couple days you'll be lively as a dragon and vigorous as a tiger again."

"Put that way, it's not wrong either." Shiler said. "Actually, I knew before that this island might have an effect on ordinary people. But Tony can't completely count as an ordinary person either. He still has that huge arc reactor in his chest. So by my estimation, nothing would happen to him, which is why I came with him."

"Then how did he get sick?" Matt asked with some curiosity.

"The main reason is still that he was too tired the previous period." Shiler took a sip of juice and analyzed, "Being with little Morgan, he's always been under a lot of pressure. After shedding that pressure, it's inevitable that the sudden relaxation of his tightly wound nerves would produce some symptoms of lowered immunity. Coupled with the sharp temperature drop on the stormy night, he caught a cold."

"Pressure from being with Morgan?" Matt keenly caught this point. He said, "How could there be pressure?"

"Didn't you have pressure when finding a school for little Jack?"

"Those are all realistic pressures." Matt said. "To put it bluntly, if I were a tycoon, I wouldn't have to be this picky, struggling back and forth like this."

"Tony naturally has his own pressures too." Shiler said. "He wants too badly to be a good father, afraid there's some aspect he doesn't do well enough, some word he doesn't say right. The pressure naturally becomes huge."

"Sounds..." Matt paused to think for a moment, then said, "a bit unnatural."

"Love is natural, but communication skills need learning." Shiler sighed lightly. "Can only say Helen has already changed him a lot, gave him a bit of experience. Otherwise facing little Morgan would only be more troublesome."

"How so?"

"Helen is naturally carefree, and she doesn't have just Stark as a dad. Her relationships with Loki and Thor are also good, same as with me. And she's ultimately somewhat different from humans, able to take good care of herself. Except for the very beginning, Tony didn't need to invest himself wholeheartedly. On the contrary, participating in Helen's growth let him learn a lot."

"Little Morgan is different. Human cubs are truly too fragile. Little Morgan is also the harder-to-raise type. Tony's realistic pressure was already huge. This kid is also extremely smart. Not only high IQ, but she inherited her dad's sensitivity to emotions. If you don't pay attention to methods, she might overthink. Being able to raise her to how she is now is already a miracle. Hard to imagine how much Pepper and Tony have paid."

Matt also nodded in empathy, saying, "Little Jack is already considered quite easy to raise, a very well-behaved kid. But that period when he was little still wore Erika and me out quite a bit. There was a time I wanted to go see you for treatment."

"Then why didn't you come?"

"Of course because your consultation fee is too expensive. I can't add another layer of pressure to my reality." Matt said annoyedly. "Good thing I didn't go find you, otherwise little Jack probably couldn't afford school now."

"You earn universal credits now." Shiler wasn't willing to be outdone either. "Who doesn't know Lawyer Murdock displaying divine might in the interstellar courts, leaving a dozen or so lawyers from the Three Great Empires speechless. Stop crying poor here."

"Sigh, looks like you still don't understand the lawyer profession well." Matt shook his head. "You don't know how troublesome those Three Great Empires lawyers are. If I didn't have humanity backing me, I'd have been assassinated long ago. However much money I get is what I deserve."

The two chatted for a while. Soon, Shanshuo came over to notify them that the mutants' arena was about to start, asking if the two of them would go.

"Are you going?" Matt asked. "I'm not going. I can't see at all. Although I can sense some things, it's not interesting. I asked Erik for some case files, preparing to study whether we can break through the sanctions via legal means."

"I'm not going either." Shiler said. "A bunch of Omega kids wandering around on Earth every day. Haven't seen enough mutant fights? I have to take care of Tony. In case he has another nightmare, I still have to go into his childhood TV shows to clear stages."

"Then let's just stay here for a bit." Matt said. "Wait for the results over there. When it's time to eat, we'll go over. And the hot springs definitely can't be missed."

The two reached a consensus and both didn't go watch the arena matches. Actually there wasn't much to see. Just mutants using mutant abilities to fight each other. And because mutant abilities have obvious counter relationships, it looked a bit like Pokemon battles. Who goes on stage and how they fight is all predetermined.

The only thing slightly worth watching was Apocalypse coming out last as the arena master, letting other mutants challenge him. But the vast majority of mutants couldn't possibly beat Apocalypse. Just a few among them also received the mutant progenitor's recognition.

In the end, the arena's top four and those mutants who received Apocalypse's recognition could skip the hot spring construction work. After eating they could go back to rest. The others had to help build the hot spring baths before they could soak.

When the arena ended, Matt and Shiler took Stark to eat. Although Stark was still somewhat weak, he really didn't want to stay in the room, and even less wanted to drag others into missing the group activity, so he still forced himself to go.

Good news was the food was very delicious. With the fresh ingredients SHIELD transported over, the chefs showed off their skills. French, Italian, Mexican cuisine rotated, truly deserving to be called perfect in color, aroma, and taste.

Bad news was Stark couldn't eat any of it. He only drank a bit of soup, ate a piece of bread, went back and fell asleep. In the middle of the night he had a fever again, but it subsided quickly. When he woke the next day he still had no strength.

And what forced him to go out the next day was another even better piece of news: the main universe Iron Man was also gone. To confirm this guy had truly left completely, Stark even forced himself to eat quite a lot, then went out for a walk.

"Hahaha... he definitely got sick too... cough cough cough... his body can't be better than mine." Stark lay on the sofa, voice hoarse. "But he doesn't have my toughness. He definitely rolled back home already. Hahaha..."

Steve sighed helplessly. Stark's habit of laughing at his counterparts' misfortune just couldn't be changed. But since other Starks do it too, it couldn't be forced on him.

"Alright, patient." Steve said. "Hurry up and drink the medicine."

"Medicine?" Stark said with some puzzlement. "I don't have a fever anymore. No need for antipyretics."

"This is Chinese medicine." Steve handed him the cup, then said, "It's from the supplies SHIELD sent over. Seems it can be used to treat colds. I asked. They said it's pure herbal ingredients, no antibiotics. Drink with peace of mind."

Stark looked at the cup with some puzzlement. Inside was a light brown liquid. The smell wasn't problematic, but in Stark's view it looked suspicious.

"You shouldn't be so inhuman as to prank a patient, right?" Although he asked this, Stark clearly didn't believe it much.

Steve was amused into laughter by him. He said, "Drink if you want, don't if you don't. I heard this can prevent colds. If you don't drink, I will."

Stark is just like this. Once someone competes with him for it, he skillfully drinks it. He took the cup, not caring if it was hot or not, and sent it to his mouth. Fortunately it wasn't very hot. He gulped it down, wiped his mouth, and said, "Tastes like that kind of hot Americano with lots of sugar added. Hope it really works."

At this time Shiler walked in. He was also holding a cup of liquid in his hand, placed it in front of Stark, and then said, "When Shi Difen sent the SHIELD people back to China, he conveniently prescribed you a Chinese medicine formula. Drink it while it's hot."

"But I just... well, drinking a bit more of this kind of small beverage doesn't matter."

Stark picked up the cup and poured it into his mouth. The next second, only a "pu" sound was heard. A mouthful of dark brown medicine juice was sprayed out.

"How the hell is this so bitter?!"

?? Banlangen granules vs real Chinese medicine