Chapter 5755: Chapter 4778: X Royal Family: Rebirth (18)

"Did you see it?" Matt walked in from the doorway, put down the coat in his hand, and looked at Shiller, who was eating at the dining table, saying, "The volcanic area has already begun construction. Erik is taking action, and it’s quite a spectacle."

"I’m only concerned about the quality of the spa." Shiller cut a piece of steak. "I’ve heard the underground hot springs there have high temperatures. Sounds like a good spot, but it can’t compare to the World Tree."

"That’s not necessarily true," Matt shook his head and said. "It’s said that there are sulfur caves near the volcano. Natural sulfur hot springs have high healing value. As long as the water temperature can be adjusted to the right level, it would definitely be an ideal place for a care center."

Shiller raised an eyebrow, looked at him, as Matt sat down opposite him, placing his hands on the table, leaning forward, and said, "I think you’ve noticed too that this island is unique. Don’t you have any thoughts about it?"

"You know, because of Tony’s illness, I haven’t had any thoughts. But even initially, I didn’t plan on doing anything with this island."

"What are you thinking?" Matt said, "I mean, why not open a care center on this island?"

"Are you serious?" Shiller said somewhat surprised. "This island excludes common people, even Tony fell ill; who would dare come here for healing."

"But isn’t it said that Clarkia Flower can cure it? If someone has taken Clarkia Flower, they can ignore the negative effects, and frequent visits would make it an excellent tourism and healing destination."

"You just want to come here and play often, don’t you?" Shiller smiled and said.

"I’m not going to hide it from you; Erica and I haven’t had alone time for a long while. If someone is willing to help watch the kids, we would also like to find a quiet place to spend a few days. Clarkia is just right, much better than those popular Earth spots."

"Moreover," Matt lightly knocked on the table and said, "there must be many in the Multiverse who think so. When wanting to escape desperately, even Mars isn’t far enough, only hiding in another universe can one truly relax. Clarkia is a great place to get away."

"If you open a care center here, then you’d become the middleman, partially controlling who can come to this paradise, which is also a kind of network resource, beneficial to both the cosmos and the operation of the care center."

"What you say does make sense," Shiller said. "The care center in New York has already turned into a real psychiatric hospital due to community obligations, and the clients for healing and patients for treatment can’t coexist. It’s time to find a good place and open a real care center." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"You hadn’t thought about this before?"

"I originally wanted to look in our universe." Shiller said, "I believe our universe also has a Clarkia; it’s just not been found yet. If I can find it first, the whole island would be mine, no need to cater to others."

"So that’s how it is," Matt said. "The way you put it, I also think our universe is better. Then just pretend I didn’t say anything."

"No." Shiller shook his head. "Your suggestion makes sense too because if we use an island from our universe, then more people from other universes would come, possibly even from neighboring worlds. Nick would have a headache, and other people stationed on Earth would see their workloads spike, which is just too troublesome."

"It’s strange that you’d find something troublesome? You seem like you’d love for everyone to run up and give you something to do," Matt clicked his tongue in wonder.

"You’ve been too busy lately; we haven’t had a drink together for a long time." Shiller smiled and said, "I’ve reformed long ago."

"Oh, please." Matt pouted, "I think it’s Tony’s illness that scared you. In a few days, you’ll be back to your old lively self."

"You could say that’s true," Shiller said. "Actually, I knew before that this island might affect ordinary people, but Tony doesn’t entirely count as ordinary; he still has that big Reactor in his chest. So under my estimation, nothing should happen to him, which is why I came here with him."

"Then why is he ill?" Matt asked, somewhat curious.

"The main reason is that he’s been too tired lately," Shiller analyzed over a glass of juice. "Being with Little Morgan, he has been under a lot of pressure. After relieving the pressure, it’s easy for some symptoms of reduced immunity to occur due to sudden mental relaxation, coupled with the temperature drop on a stormy night, he caught a cold."

"Pressure being around Morgan?" Matt keenly captured that point and said, "How could there be pressure?"

"Didn’t you feel pressure when looking for schools for Little Jack?"

"That’s all real-world pressure," Matt said. "Frankly, if I were a big tycoon, I wouldn’t have to be so picky and deliberate."

"Tony naturally has his pressures," Shiller said. "He wants so much to be a good father, worrying about what he might miss or say wrong, the pressure is of course substantial."

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

"Love is natural, but communication skills need to be learned," Shiller sighed lightly, "All I can say is, Helen has already changed him a lot, giving him some experience, otherwise facing Little Morgan would be even more troublesome."

"How so?"

"Helen is naturally carefree, and she doesn’t just have Stark as a dad; she gets along well with Loki and Thor, and with me too. Also, she’s somewhat different from the human race; she can take care of herself well. Except for the very beginning, Tony didn’t need to devote himself entirely. On the contrary, being involved in Helen’s growth allowed him to learn a lot."

"Little Morgan is different. Human children are so fragile, and Little Morgan is particularly challenging to raise. Tony is already under a lot of real-world pressure, and this child is incredibly smart—not only is her IQ high, but she also inherited her dad’s sensitivity to emotions. If you’re not careful with your methods, she might overthink things. To have raised her to this point is a miracle, and it’s hard to imagine how much Pepper and Tony have endured."

Matt nodded empathetically, saying, "Little Jack is quite easy to raise, a very obedient child, but during his early years, he really wore Erica and me out. There was even a time when I considered seeing you for a consultation."

"Why didn’t you come?"

"Because your consultation fees are too expensive. I can’t add another layer of pressure to my reality," Matt said grumpily. "Lucky I didn’t come to you—otherwise, Little Jack might not be able to afford school now."

"You’re earning interstellar universal coins now," Shiller retorted, "Everybody knows Murdoch, the lawyer, amazes in the Interstellar Court, making lawyers from the Three Great Empires speechless. Stop acting poor here."

"Ah, you still don’t quite understand a lawyer’s job," Matt shook his head and said, "You don’t know how troublesome those lawyers from the Three Great Empires can be. If it weren’t for humans backing me, I’d have been assassinated long ago. Whatever I earn, I deserve."

The two chatted for a while. Soon, Blink came over to inform them that the Mutant competition was starting and asked if they were going.

"Are you going?" Matt asked, "I’m not going. I can’t see anything; although I can sense some things, it’s not that interesting. I asked Erik for some documents to see if I can legally break through the sanctions."

"I’m not going either," Shiller said, "A bunch of Omega kids roam around Earth every day; haven’t I seen enough Mutant fights? I need to take care of Tony. If he has another nightmare, I have to venture into his childhood episodes."

"Then let’s just hang out here for a while," Matt said, "When things conclude over there, when it’s time to eat, we’ll head over. We can’t miss out on the hot springs either."

The two agreed not to attend the competition. In reality, there wasn’t much to see—it was just Mutants battling with their Mutant Abilities. Due to the evident restraint relationships among their abilities, it looked a bit like Pokémon battles, where whoever was sent out to play had a predetermined outcome.

The only part worth watching was when Apocalypse appeared as the final boss, challenging other Mutants. However, most Mutants stood no chance against Apocalypse, though a few did receive recognition from the Mutant Progenitor.

In the end, the top four of the competition along with those recognized by Apocalypse could skip the hot spring construction work and go rest after the meal. The others had to help build the hot spring bath before they could soak.

After the event, Matt and Shiller took Stark to eat. Stark, still somewhat weak, was unwilling to stay indoors and didn’t want to miss out on group activities, so he pushed himself to go.

The good news was that the food was delicious, with fresh ingredients delivered by SWORD—French cuisine, Italian dishes, and Mexican food in turns, truly a feast for the senses.

The bad news was that Stark couldn’t eat most of it, just drank some soup and ate a piece of bread. He fell asleep shortly after returning home and had a fever in the middle of the night, but it went down quickly, yet he woke feeling weak the next day.

What pushed him to go out the next day was another better news—the Main Universe Iron Man was gone. To confirm this guy was completely out of the picture, Stark even made an effort to eat quite a bit and went for a walk.

"Hahahaha... He’s definitely sick too... cough cough cough... His body can’t be better than mine," Stark said, lying on the sofa with a hoarse voice, "But he isn’t as tough as I am; he must’ve rolled back home already. Hahahaha..."

Steven sighed helplessly. Stark couldn’t kick the habit of making fun of his counterparts, but since other Stark also did the same, he wasn’t compelled to change.

"Alright, patient," Steven said, "Take your medicine."

"Medicine?" Stark asked in confusion, "I’m not feverish anymore; I don’t need fever reducers."

"It’s herbal medicine," Steven handed him the cup and said, "It’s part of the supplies sent by SWORD, supposedly to treat colds. I inquired, and they said it’s purely herbal, no antibiotics, so drink it without worry."

Stark looked at the cup with suspicion, containing a light brown liquid. While the flavor wasn’t the problem, it seemed suspicious to Stark.

"You wouldn’t be inhumane enough to tease a patient, right?" Though he asked, Stark clearly didn’t believe it.

Steven chuckled, saying, "Drink it or don’t; I heard it prevents colds. If you don’t drink it, I will."

As soon as someone contested him, Stark swiftly drank it. He hastily took the cup, not caring if it was hot, and sent it to his mouth. Luckily, it wasn’t too hot, and he gulped it all down, wiping his mouth, saying, "Tastes like one of those heavily sugared hot American coffees; I hope it works."

At this moment, Shiller walked in, holding a cup and placed it in front of Stark, saying, "When Steven sent SWORD people back to China, he brought you some herbal medicine; you should drink it while it’s hot."

"But I just... fine, a small drink like this can’t hurt to drink more."

Stark picked up the cup and started chugging. The next second, there was a "puh" sound as a mouthful of brown-black herbal juice was spat out.

"Why the hell is it so bitter?!!"