Peter gaped and pointed at the fog, saying, "That can't be Gray Mist, can it? Are you cheating with a Symbiont?"
Shiller waved his golf club and said, "That's not quite right. With so many Symbionts on Earth, we don't see a surge in golf champions, do we?"
Gwen opened her mouth and added, "Yeah, because other people's Symbionts are liquid, only yours is gaseous."
"What do you mean 'gaseous'? It's the 0.01% unknown component in the air! The frontier of human scientific exploration!"
Peter rolled his eyes and asked, "How much did you bet with Tony?"
"Ten thousand," Shiller laughed and said, "Even Nick placed two hundred."
"That's not right," Gwen said. "Doesn't Tony have an Invisibility Mecha? Didn't he cheat?"
"The Invisibility Mecha is just visually invisible, as if it could beat the Gray Mist." Shiller petted the returning Gray Mist on the head then grabbed it and sniffed carefully, suddenly sneezing.
"Achoo! Cough cough... Gray Mist, you've eaten too much chili! You're practically turning into chili powder!"
Peter also leaned in to sniff and then sneezed violently, rubbing his nose and saying, "So, Gray Mist can change flavors?"
"Of course, why else wouldn't I let it drink too much alcohol? Otherwise, wherever it floats to, everyone would get drunk."
Helen had also changed into her clothes and picked up a golf club. Her golf skills were the best among them all. After all, those elite classes weren't for nothing. Even her warm-ups were pretty impressive.
Pikachu and Rocket Raccoon took a set of children's clubs, but they were still a bit too long for them, so they had to stack up to barely swing the clubs.
Surprisingly, Rocket Raccoon was also quite good at golf, having played a similar game in the Half-World Insane Asylum.
Mention of the Half-World Insane Asylum brought Rocket Raccoon's mood down a notch. Pikachu didn't fight with him anymore over who stood on top, and Helen set down her club as they sat together and talked about the otter.
"She was a complete cheat, only wanting to use me, but I know she had her own difficulties, and besides, when we first escaped the insane asylum... never mind, let's not talk about it. Aren't you going to play a few more holes?"
"A good brother is wounded in love, how can I still have the heart to play?" Pikachu stretched out his little arms and hugged Rocket Raccoon, "But you have to understand, your bros are just afraid you'll be deceived again."
"I just don't want to drag them down," Rocket Raccoon sighed and said, "I know the Half-World Insane Asylum might be one of the Three Great Empires' experimental sites, but some of the technology there doesn't seem like something they could come up with. Maybe there's still someone manipulating things behind the scenes. They don't need to take revenge for me, I have to do it myself."
"Who do you suspect?"
"At first, I suspected the Shi'ar Empire, but Doctor Schiller said they might have been framed. Later, I also felt that the Behind-the-scenes Manipulator might be someone else..."
Just as he said this, someone called out from the direction of the cars. Rocket Raccoon stood up and said, "No matter who it is, I will find him and take revenge for those who took care of me."
Helen held his paw and said, "You're never fighting alone; I will help you."
Pikachu stretched his tail and added, "Well, I also..."
"You better not come along," Rocket Raccoon picked up his gear and walked on, looking back at Pikachu, "I don't want to owe anything to a rat like you."
The group got back into the car, this time heading to a campsite and park by the lake. The natural scenery was beautiful, but there wasn't much to do, followed by the biggest highlight of the trip and Shiller's proudest modification, the cliffside infinity pool.
On a small hill near the beach, at the highest point was a cliff, below which was the ocean. Shiller had created an infinity pool on the cliff that looked terrifying, as if one might fall off.
But it wasn't until you actually jumped in that you realized it was safe because the side of the pool facing the sea was made of glass, making it appear edgeless from one side.
From there, one could overlook the entire farm, whether it was the lush Forest, the flat and expansive golf course, or the stone cottages, it was all in clear view.
And the truly unsafe slide.
Shiller had built several slides that went straight from the cliff into the sea below. Although they were common features in water parks, their position in a natural drop of nearly 200 meters made them particularly frightening.
The group went to the changing room and changed into their swimsuits. Gwen stood hesitantly at the top of the slide and said, "Are we really going to slide down this? Isn't it a bit too high?"
"Don't worry, dear, it's only about forty floors high."
"Thanks, now I'm really worried."
Peter paused, then wrapped his arm around Gwen, "I used to swing around New York all the time, it was always this high, wasn't it?"
Gwen was stunned too. Peter had not been Spiderman for so long she had almost forgotten. Besides, when Gwen Spiderman had asked her to cover for him, she had swung at such heights herself.
Moreover, the slide spiraled down in loops, so the feeling of weightlessness wouldn't be so intense. Peter dragged the figure-eight inner tube used for sliding over and said, "I just hope there are no sharks down there."
Gwen, who was ready to slide down, suddenly changed her mind.
Eddie stood at the front of the slide.
"No, don't even think about making me play with this thing; it's basically suicide," Eddie said, staring at the completely transparent body slide. "If I die, you'll have to find someone else to be your host."
"How could you possibly die!!" Venom roared in his mind. "You wouldn't die even if you fell straight from here! Slide down now!"
"No, that's impossible," Eddie said, shaking his head while stepping backward, but he didn't notice that a thin black thread was protruding behind him, slowly forming the shape of a golf club.
Thwack!
"Off you go!"
Eddie tumbled onto the cushion of the body slide. Just as he tried to struggle, he realized that he was already sliding down. He could only clutch desperately at the front of the cushion, screaming in terror.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
When Eddie came back up, he had turned into a wandering soul.
But Venom still wanted to tackle the straight vertical pipes—the kind where you enter and stand there, and then the floor underneath gives way, leaving you in free fall for several meters before the pipe starts curving to catch you.
Eddie mustered all his willpower to resist, but he simply couldn't overcome Venom, the stubborn brute.
The problem was the free fall distance of the slide built by Shiller was several tens of meters.
In theory, no curve could catch such a fall, but then again, no ordinary people came to play here; it was impossible for them to fall to their deaths. Shiller had thoughtfully put up a sign prohibiting entry to non-superpower users.
Venom didn't consider himself an ordinary person, and Pikachu and Rocket Raccoon had completely forgotten their bodies were different from humans. This several tens of meters was quite high for them.
Rocket Raccoon stripped off his gear, set it aside, warmed up, shook his tail, and got ready to enter. The moment the floor inside the cabin retracted, everyone heard for the first time how ominously a raccoon could shriek.
For creatures living on a gravity planet, the sensation of weightlessness is the great equalizer.
When the drenched raccoon climbed up from the sea, he flipped the bird at Shiller above the cliff, who scoffed and said, "That's too much for you?"
The raccoon motioned him to come down.
Shiller didn't hesitate. He walked straight into the cabin, and when the floor slid away, everyone was all set to watch the show. But Shiller descended at a speed of half a meter per second. On closer inspection, fog filled the pipe.
Helen, who was waiting up top to have her third go, rested her chin on her hands, rolled her eyes, and let out a sigh.
Several minutes had passed after Shiller slid down, and he floated into the sea from the slide's exit, spreading his arms towards everyone.
"Excessive weightlessness is not good for human psychological health. I'm thinking about my health."
"So it's good for the raccoon's health?!"
"You finally admit you're a raccoon."
Rocket Raccoon covered his eyes and collapsed on the sofa.
They set up a table in the shade on the side of the cliff, preparing to have dinner there. Peter and Gwen planned to build a sandcastle on the beach, and Helen and the two mice were not to be outdone.
Eddie, nearly killed by the free fall, was still feeling a bit dizzy. He sprawled on the table with a coconut in his arms. Shiller inspected the food materials sent by the manager, which were just some simple grilled meats, but the meat quality was indeed good, with nice marbling.
"I can already sense how that will turn out," Shiller said, glancing at Peter and Gwen, busy building their sandcastle.
Eddie also looked over, and what he saw was concerning.
Peter and Gwen were moving slowly, having only built a base. But looking at the base, it didn't look much like a castle—what kind of castle foundation has tracks?
Helen's side was even more extravagant. She, with her inexhaustible energy, was close to completing a missile rack—wait, a missile rack? Eddie felt that this thing bore a striking resemblance to the gear Rocket carried.
After the preparations for grilling were completed, and these two groups nearly finished their spectacular creations, it came as no surprise that Peter's team built a Gundam, and Helen's team built a cannon.
Helen insisted on Shiller evaluating who built the best. Shiller looked carefully at their constructions and decided to declare Peter the champion. It wasn't that he was biased, mainly because Helen's piece contained too many hairs, which was considered an unpermitted addition to the competition and she was immediately disqualified.
Shiller laid the meat out and began to add more to the stove. At this moment, Stark called him. He picked up, "What's up? Tony? Tell Pepper I've already picked up Helen..."
"You're coming tomorrow? What time? Okay, I got it. I'll send you the specific hangar info, you can land directly at the farm..."
"No, there's nothing special needed. Well, fine, if you insist on bringing something, order two pizzas for me from an Italian restaurant in the Bronx. Pizza on the West Coast is not great."
"Alright, is Carter coming with you? Should I go buy some maternity items in advance... I see, alright, I'll have the managers check for anything that might be dangerous for pregnant women."
"Good, see you tomorrow."
Shiller hung up the phone, and the aroma of grilled meat began to waft through the air.
The cliffs bore evidence of a million years of wilderness desolation. The white sandy beach was turned orange-red by the setting sun. Palm trees swayed in the breeze. The azure sea left behind white waves that gradually retreated, leaving only colorful shells glittering with subtle and secret lights in the sunset.