The afternoon sun grew even more scorching, causing everyone to focus on indoor activities. They headed to various theatres to watch performances and take pictures with the princesses at the Princess Fairy Tale Hall.
Everyone was in a flurry of activity. Strange and Nick were busy catching the frolicking Little Wizard and Agent all over the place, then apologizing to the affected performers.
Bruce was chasing Eddie, who was carrying Venom, all over the park. Venom had inherited some of Batman's abilities, leading to a grand game of detectives and anti-detectives.
Lucifer and Natasha had tea together. They got on very well, flirting shamelessly with each other and somehow ending up at the entrance of the hotel.
Clark and Diana had no interest in the grand game of detectives and didn't want to return to the hotel so early either. They decided to travel to the two most western regions to play in all the other amusement park activities.
Loki and Thanos were discussing new tourist spot construction at the Castle Hotel while also exchanging the latest details about interstellar security.
As for Shiller, his mind was full of his extraordinary visions. Together with Stark, they were investigating what form this so-called Disney's Magic Array actually took.
Shiller was only left with rides in Future World, so he and Stark headed to the Buzz Lightyear Shooting Range first.
This activity involved riding on a slowly rotating vehicle and shooting at targets with the gun in your hand. Stark had played a round before, so he warned, "I suggest you lower your expectations. The gun's accuracy here is as crappy as dog poop. Even the laser points are skewed."
"So you lost to Steve, right?"
"That doesn't prove anything. Besides, he's an experienced soldier and I'm a scientist. Why doesn't he challenge me to mental arithmetic then?"
Stark was filled with complaints. Obviously, Steve's performance had touched a nerve. Shiller guessed that Steve likely hit every target he aimed at, even with a crappy gun, proving himself as formidable as Captain America.
Shiller then suggested, "My gun skills should be about the same as yours, seeing as I'm just an ordinary doctor. What about another round?"
Stark rolled up his sleeves, saying, "I won't be easy on you this time, you wait and see."
Shiller and Stark got on the vehicle. Shiller saw that the gun hanging on the back of the seat was indeed a toy gun, with a slightly skewed laser point and sight.
Stark was staring blankly at the gun. Shiller then lowered his voice and called out to him. Stark shook his head and said, "Howard and I used to play this game, I always won. He said he would show me what a real gun master was like someday."
"The so-called gun master in his mouth is none other than Captain America. He said he never misses a chance, that he's the best warrior in this world."
"But Howard's gun skills weren't bad, right?" Shiller, who had anticipated this conversation, said: "People who lived through the war era typically had some gun training."
Stark scoffed, "I hate his condescension. He's always treating me like a kid."
"Is being treated like a kid a bad thing?" Shiller also looked at the toy gun in his hand and said, "At least all the tourists here seem to be very happy playing the game."
"Enough talk, I must show you what a real, invincible sharpshooter is like."
The track vehicle started moving at a slow speed. The kids in the car were busy shooting at targets with their toy guns, all the while making "biubiubiu" sounds. They would burst into laughter every time they hit a target.
Stark was truly serious, calculating the skewed angle of the laser points, not lingering on any shot that missed, and immediately moving on to the next.
Shiller also held the gun with both hands, looking equally serious. He didn't pull any punches - his experience with cold weapons was plentiful due to his personality, but he had barely ever used a gun.
The country where he was born strictly prohibited guns. After moving to the United States, he was generally more involved in kidnappings and assassinations. The noise from a gun was too loud, so whether in Gotham or New York, Shiller rarely touched guns.
However, this proved to have an advantage. He didn't have the same tactile expectations that professional gun users had.
Stark felt awkward handling a toy gun precisely because he frequently went to shooting ranges. He had an understanding of the handling of real guns. Upon realising there was no recoil, he naturally felt uncomfortable.
But as Shiller had barely handled real guns, he found the toy gun - which was capable of launching lasers, simulating explosion sounds, and even vibrating - quite fun.
So, just more than halfway through the ride, Shiller had thoroughly outperformed Stark. Seeing Stark's face darken, Shiller didn't intentionally hold back and instead finished the game in earnest.
As their vehicle approached the endpoint, Shiller nudged Stark with his elbow and said, "Best two out of three."
Stark snorted coldly but walked toward the starting line nonetheless. And thus, they played almost seven or eight rounds of the shooting game, spending a full two hours on this one activity.
In the end, Shiller won. As he left the game zone, he said to Stark, "Haven't you noticed? What's affecting you isn't the feel of the gun, but the sound effect every time you hit a target. That's not a reward system for you, but a punishment scheme."
Stark frantically wrinkled his brow, "It's too noisy. How can a handgun make as much noise as a shotgun? My head feels like it's about to burst."
"During the recovery period of anxiety disorder, you should avoid being disturbed by noise. They'll bombard your nerves and cause your condition to deteriorate rapidly. By the end, did you even want to hit the target anymore?"
Stark remained silent, implicitly admitting what Shiller guessed. Each shot was followed by immense noise, which was tormenting. For Stark, it was rare that his desire to win couldn't overcome his other emotions.
Shiller nudged him with his elbow and said, "This shows that you are getting better. The paranoia brought on by anxiety is fading away. You are starting to learn not to sacrifice your mental and emotional health to satisfy the needs of your paranoia, but to put your comfort first as a normal person would."
"What about you then?" Stark countered.
"I'm very comfortable with my paranoia."
Stark rolled his eyes, spreading his hands in an expression of 'you're really hopeless'.
Then, he quickly raised a finger to indicate for Shiller to shut up, saying, "If you're about to segue into how effective your treatment is and ask me to double your fee next quarter, I'll leave right now."
Shiller clapped a hand over his mouth, then among the floor tiles at the doorstep after clearing his throat.
Then they went to ride go-karts. In truth, this was another disaster as the go-karts were a bit small and both of them were quite tall, so it was uncomfortable being hunched inside.
The track was not a professional one either, and the protective mechanism was a pile of tires. The length of the straight track and the position of the turns were both slightly inhuman. More importantly, it was very noisy too.
But for the competition, they still played three rounds until the staff at the door recognized them both. As they were leaving, the staff gave them some badges that were printed with the iconic buildings of Future World.
Then they went on the Space Mountain roller coaster. This roller coaster was quite thrilling. On one hand, it was indoors with almost the entire environment in complete darkness. There were only various dazzling bands of lights, giving people a feeling of traveling through time and space.
On the other hand, its ups and downs were quite extreme as well. After going from Buzz Lightyear to go-karts then to roller coasters, they both kind of couldn't bear it anymore. After only one ride, Stark was leaning on the railing outside the gate dry-heaving, then said, "I shouldn't have had ice cream before the steak, my stomach feels like it wants to jump out of my body."
"I think we should get something hot to drink." Shiller was also starting to feel a bit worn out. He glanced at the time and was surprised to see that it was already after five in the afternoon.
But Shiller felt that the afternoon trip was more enjoyable, even though they kept rotating between two activities. They played each activity with focus, thanks to their desire for victory.
Stark was a pretty good gaming partner. Although he was thick-skinned, he had clearly played each game seriously. No matter win or lose, he wouldn't stay in it for too long, and would immediately throw himself into the next round. Even his occasional complaints didn't affect the mood.
When they were both serious about the competition, the positive motivation brought about by the victory was quite strong. They didn't realize that it was already dinner time.
They found a nearby restaurant for dinner. It was a full-service restaurant, not a fast food outlet, so the dining experience was much better this time.
The restaurant was relatively quiet, the taste of the food was above average and the dishes were served quickly. Shiller cut his black pepper salmon with a fork while saying, "I plan to go back to the Ghost Mansion again before the park closes. I feel the legend there isn't a coincidence."
"Didn't you say before that the statue mentioned in the legend suddenly appears at three in the morning?"
"I'm planning to see if I can find some clues when there are more people around. If there are, I will come back in the middle of the night."
So after dinner, they stealthily returned to the Ghost Mansion like thieves. But this time they didn't immediately queue up, they began wandering around the yard outside the queuing area, pretending to be taking photos.
The several statues inside the Ghost Mansion are behind a small wall. The statues are half-body figures in a cartoon style and not entirely large. There is protective tape at the front to prevent people from stepping on the lawn.
Looking at the statues, Shiller noticed something wasn't right. He pointed to the statue on the far right and said, "Have you noticed they're slightly off?"
Stark squinted at the statues and took a couple of steps back, noticing that the five statues as a whole were a bit to the left. The one in the very center was not aligned with the central axis, but had swerved a bit to the left.
"Maybe there is another spot there." Shiller tried to remember and said, "Just now I checked online, the Ghost Mansion was the last project Walt Disney participated in designing before he died. Combining that with the legend, it can't be a coincidence."
"Maybe there is another spot there." Shiller glanced at the bustling crowd and said, "It seems like we're really in for a night-time exploration of Disney."