Chapter 4765

In fact, it really worked. Because Natasha had already slept enough, upon entering the hotel room she immediately set about soaking in the hot spring. Clearly Charles had already adjusted the water diversion system for her; the moment the water ran, the room was thick with the smell of sulfur.

Natasha soaked for about ten minutes, then switched to the balcony. The open-air temperature was lower, and she soaked another twenty-plus minutes until she couldn't stand the heat any longer, only then reluctantly climbing out of the pool.

Then, like a cannonball, she rushed into the hotel's second-floor lounge to announce the good news: "This really works!!! I don't feel bad at all now!!!"

"Congratulations, congratulations." Steve said sincerely. "It's wonderful that this method could solve it."

"Ma'am, you really should consider what you usually do that makes hot spring therapy this effective." Strange still couldn't help but say, "If you were just willing to wear one more layer in winter, things might not have developed to this point."

"Exactly." Stark rarely agreed completely with Strange. "You're a modified human to begin with; your constitution should be better than others'. How did it get this severe? It's because you don't normally pay attention to maintenance."

Natasha was about to say something when Bucky spoke up: "Nick doesn't send you to the Antarctic and the Arctic every day; using work as an excuse won't fly."

Natasha finally had no reply. She tightened her bathrobe belt and collapsed onto the sofa: "You have to understand, my motherland treats conquering cold and snowstorms as an honor, believing cold resistance must be trained from childhood. If you show fear of the cold, it's easy to be seen as a wimp."

"Then why do you like drinking alcohol to warm up, and developed hot dishes and soups?" Matt was clearly skilled at persuading with logic. "This proves you aren't unafraid of the cold; you just insist on pretending. Food culture is far more honest."

Natasha was speechless again. She fanned herself with her hand, then said: "Actually, the hot spring feels pretty good; I really do feel much more comfortable."

"But you smell like a big block of sulfur soap right now." Stark said.

"In a bit you'll all turn into sulfur soap too." Natasha said irritably. "Cut it out with the teasing."

They chatted here for a while and ate some fruit. Before long, many more people filled the lounge; the local universe's Avengers had arrived as well.

In fact, the Avengers of these three universes didn't have a very good relationship. They also lacked someone to step out and mediate, someone who could paper over the cracks, so everyone meeting was a bit awkward.

But this situation was quickly alleviated, because counterparts weren't that awkward with each other. They eventually decided to split into different counterpart groups for small talk, which made things much better.

However, this only applied to heroes like Captain America. As for Iron Man, they basically just tagged along beside others; everyone knew putting them together would spell trouble.

"Feeling better?" The main-universe Black Widow looked at Natasha and said, "Our universe's Cap was a bit worried about you."

"Not bad." Natasha nodded. "Hot spring therapy is very effective. And they successfully convinced me I should drink less ice water."

"A wellness expert, huh." The local Black Widow said. "Looks like being too idle sometimes isn't a good thing. If you'd just finished off that purple-headed guy eyeing Earth last week, then turned around to find ordinary human governments wanting mutual destruction with mutants, you probably wouldn't have these worries either."

"You just finished off Thanos?" Natasha said with some surprise.

"Yeah, otherwise how would we have missed the Red Door Orchid Factory business? Work is just too much; there always has to be some prioritization, right?"

"That's indeed a bit scary." Natasha exclaimed. "We've already gone several years without a cosmic-level crisis; Earth is a safe old home... oh, can't say that either; just recently we left the beautiful solar system and took a lap around."

That side's Steve was also telling the other two Captain Americas about his Navigator experiences.

"At the time we accidentally flew into the Broken Void. The situation then was as hair-raising as it gets. We'd just set the gravity anchor when the first mate suddenly rushed in saying: 'Port hull gravity imbalance!' Everyone broke out in a cold sweat. Right at that moment, the Star Spirit race living in the Broken Void discovered our ship and began sending signals on our frequency. We couldn't understand the language; those signals looked like gibberish, and we thought we'd fallen into a trap; even the comm channel was jammed. Fortunately, it turned out to be a misunderstanding; they even helped tow our ship out..."

"What about the other one?" Strange looked at the local Doctor Strange and asked.

"They took him back." The local Doctor Strange said. "Heard that 'perfect' support plan was something the two of them came up with. They left, and the Avengers can finally do some real work."

"Don't talk about them either; if you'd just fixed your magical defense network properly, things wouldn't have deteriorated to this point." Strange shook his head. "If your Sorcerer Supreme is unprofessional, they can come to my universe; they just happen to want to expand operations more broadly."

"Can you even borrow power across universes?" Doctor Strange narrowed his eyes.

"Why not?" Strange pulled a business card from somewhere, handed it to Doctor Strange, and said, "When you have time, swing by the Sanctum Sanctorum. You should also go to a big city and see just how generous the true Lord of Hell, Source of Darkness, is. Don't keep acting like a country bumpkin."

"No idea when you became a devil's spokesman."

"We're all devils' spokesmen." Strange took a sip of wine. "Always have been, never changed. Just some people haven't seen the world and want to sell themselves and Earth cheap. With me around, they can forget it."

Matt and Shiler had no counterparts present, so they just stayed sitting in the corner, eating fruit on their own. But Charles indeed wouldn't let any guest down; soon mutants brought over sashimi, clearly knowing their tastes well.

"This wouldn't be mutants going into the sea to catch it fresh, would it?" Matt sniffed in some shock; his senses were far keener than a normal person's, and he could smell a distinct oceanic fishiness — not the stale, slightly off smell of something stored a long time, but the freshest scent, like seawater itself.

Shiler could see very clearly. He used his fork to lift a piece of tuna otoro; fresh otoro was completely different from frozen. He carefully distinguished it, then said: "I suspect Namor went down and caught it fresh. How did Charles convince him?"

"Anyway he always has a way." Matt didn't care about that; he just wanted to eat. But when eating sashimi you shouldn't eat otoro first; the fat flavor is too heavy and will make the subsequent fish tasteless. You should start with lighter white-fleshed or silver-skinned fish, and only at the end eat tuna and salmon belly.

With good food, the two cared about nothing else, feasting away on their own, completely missing a whole series of diplomatic events — mutants and local Avengers exchanging pleasantries, S. H. I. E. L. D. and mutants exchanging pleasantries, local Avengers and S. H. I. E. L. D. exchanging pleasantries, and so on. Until the sky darkened and the entire hot spring baths lit up.

Looking out from the cliffside hotel lounge windows, it was a blaze of lights. Because a large amount of crystal material was used, the indoor lights shone through, like one bright planet after another, forming a dazzling universe amid the blue hour.

Everyone gathered on the balcony to admire the sight. After the baths began filling, thin white mist rose, adding to the mysterious beauty, like being in a fairy's divine realm.

Accompanied by the heat the water brought, the banquet officially began. Everyone put on bathrobes and headed for the pools that interested them. Various hot spring pools — besides differing temperatures, each had its own character. Some were sulfur pools, thick with sulfur smell, able to sterilize and disinfect. Some were herbal pools, with some Clarkia-local herbs added, including the Clarkia Flower, effective for improving constitution.

But the most popular were still the flowing-water pools around the indoor soaking pools. That was a hot spring stream made of living water; when soaking in it, the current would gently caress the body, like a massage. Most people didn't want to leave after experiencing it.

Additionally, mutants with telekinesis kept providing chilled drinks and fruit to others. It was practically a floating Qu Shui Liu Shang; this one asked for wine, that one for snacks, and platters of food were sent floating over, making the scene extremely lively.

Natasha had already soaked during the day, so she gathered with others who didn't much like hot springs at the nearby bar to drink. For health, she even skipped ice this time. A sip of whiskey went down, so bad it made her frown.

"If you don't want it to get worse, drink less, Ma'am." Shiler came over to remind her. "Alcohol invigorates blood — meaning it speeds up circulation — which might make you hurt more."

Natasha immediately spat out the half-mouthful of wine she hadn't swallowed yet. It tasted awful anyway; might as well just have a beverage.

Matt hadn't soaked long either before the heat drove him out. He let out a long breath, tying his bathrobe belt as he said: "I shouldn't have jumped straight into the hottest pool; should've gone gradually. Just now the steam hit me and I actually got a bit dizzy."

"That's normal." Shiler said. "A soak shouldn't exceed ten minutes. Want a drink?"

"No thanks. Since little Jack was born I've quit drinking." Matt said. "I have to set a good example for the kid."

Natasha was about to tease him a couple lines when she saw Matt's expression change. Shiler also asked with concern: "What's wrong? You don't feel well either?"

"Maybe." Matt said. "Although I cultivate internal qi from martial arts, I'm not necessarily immune to Clarkia Island's influence. For some reason I feel a bit nauseous, and a bit..."

Just as he finished, Matt swayed in place, grabbed the bar counter, and said: "Maybe the hot spring temperature's too high; I'm a bit dizzy, like motion sickness."

Shiler hurriedly steadied Matt, then said: "You probably just got heat-dizzy from soaking too long. I'll take you back to the room to rest a bit."

Just two steps out, Matt suddenly reached out. He shook off Shiler, stumbled in place, then said: "No, that's not it. Something's shaking... the ground is shaking!"

He struggled to steady himself, roaring: "Earthquake! Earthquake!! Everyone run!!!"