The pregnant woman's clotting function seemed to have some issues; even though her wound was stitched up, the blood kept flowing. The newborn's condition wasn't good either; it had stayed in the womb too long, leading to oxygen deprivation, and now it was experiencing breathing difficulties.
This meant they must have someone go out to search for medicine. Steve felt it was his responsibility, but he was worried that Carter wouldn't be able to take care of so many people on her own.
Steve seemed to have forgotten that he had superpowers but still retained his original combat habits. He made a shield out of an old manhole cover and held an AK47 in his hands, along with two handguns, but the ammunition for all was running low.
He checked his equipment and prepared to leave, but another shell exploded, filling the basement entrance with dust and smoke; he faintly heard groaning and quickly helped another injured person down.
Now, it wasn't just the medicine—the shelter was running low on food and water as well. Steve had to risk danger and brave a hail of bullets to enter the city and scavenge for potentially needed supplies.
All three couples were going through their own crises in a dream.
Stark and Pepper were trapped in a cabin in the snow, facing not just wolves but also the almost non-stop need to gather materials for heating.
Steve and Carter were trying to survive on a battlefield, searching for medicine and supplies for the injured, always dodging dangerous artillery fire.
Peter and Gwen were stranded on a deserted island, dealing with the threat of sickness and searching for fresh water and food while fending off the storms that came every night.
They barely remembered their past identities, had lost their superpowers, and were often acting purely on instinct.
But they still relied on and supported each other, intuitively like battle companions who had fought side by side for years, not as if they had fallen into peril but as if they had cast off the various limitations of reality to embark on a singular life adventure with only each other.
In the endless parallel universes, perhaps there was one where they were experiencing all of this; the primitive natural environment was like a mirror that always reflected the most unadorned aspect of the human soul. After shedding their burdens, the time that was entirely their own was so precious that even sharing dangers became a rare and beautiful dream.
When he woke up, Stark felt refreshed and clear-headed.
In the few seconds after getting up, he could vividly remember the pain of being bitten by a wolf, Pepper's worried face, and sharing wolf meat by the fireplace with his fiancée's warm smile.
But as time passed, the memory of the dream dissipated quickly, and soon he couldn't remember what he had dreamed about.
The others were in a similar state; they only remembered experiencing a vivid dream at night, but couldn't recall the details—they all attributed this to not drinking alcohol and going to bed early, and because the children hadn't fussed.
Eddie woke up too, but he didn't lose those dream memories; on the contrary, every scene was clear. Eddie even made an effort to categorize and store these images in his mind, thinking about how he would edit them later.
That night's experience was indeed very thrilling, and more importantly, without the interference of many real-life factors and with everyone's memory severely impaired, everyone's actions showed a focus and purity, making their dependence on each other in the midst of danger shine even brighter.
Eddie couldn't wait to talk to Shiller.
He got out of bed quickly, washed up, and rushed downstairs; Shiller was indeed already preparing breakfast.
After walking over, Eddie glanced upstairs, knowing that many were awake but still lying in bed, so he lowered his voice and said, "Are you sure they won't remember?"
"Of course, because this wasn't some superpower invasion, just a dream," Shiller said as he placed the fresh lettuce on the cutting board and then added, "You must have had that experience too, where you remember what you dreamed about when you wake up, but soon after, you've completely forgotten."
"Yes," Eddie replied. "It's happened many times. Sometimes I can remember roughly what I dreamed about, but not the details, or I can only remember one part and forget the other."
"That's the brain's protection mechanism," Shiller explained. "It helps you differentiate between dreams and reality."
"Do we need to differentiate?" Eddie said with some surprise.
"Of course."
"But dreams and reality are very different, dreams are very vague."
"The memory of reality will also become vague one day," Shiller turned to look at Eddie and said, "Do you still remember your sixth Christmas?"
Eddie paused for a moment but then said, "Not very clearly. I just remember my mom buying me a toy, and we sat around the table to eat, and I found candy in my Christmas stocking…"
Then he understood what Shiller meant: although dreams are fuzzier compared to the current reality, if you compare past realities with dreams, the level of blurriness is quite similar.
If humans couldn't rapidly forget their dreams, then once memories of reality also began to blur, it would become hard to distinguish between dreams and reality.
Even though the human brain indeed has this function, sometimes it still happens, especially to children. At that moment, they can't always tell reality from imagination, and as they grow, they might even mistake imagination for fact.
"This is where Dream Power Doctor Strange excels," Shiller said, "He doesn't actively delete memories because that approach has too many loopholes. As long as he utilizes the mechanisms that already exist in the brain, it's almost perfect."
"It's hard to imagine how terrifying it would be if he used this ability for evil," Eddie shook his head as he spoke.
He took the milk that Shiller handed over, inserted the straw, and then as if he remembered something, asked, "What about Matt and Erica, and Jarvis and Wanda?"
"The two couples are a bit more troublesome," Shiller sighed, "Matt's hearing is too keen; they definitely already know our plan, and there's no hiding it from Wanda either. It all depends on whether they're willing to cooperate or not."
Only then did Eddie learn that the reason they hadn't completed the dream experiences for all five couples in one fell swoop last night was that keeping the last two couples in the dark was a bit tricky.
They indeed also forget their dreams, but as long as they knew about it beforehand, it wouldn't be a secret anymore.
However, fortunately, neither Matt nor Wanda was particularly obsessed with romance. If it was about the wedding process, they were willing to cooperate; whether they were surprised or not would be another matter.
Sure enough, Matt got up early and was even interested in discussing with Shiller what kind of dream would be interesting.
The script Shiller had prepared for them was a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but Matt didn't seem interested in that kind of desolate place, being blind in real life, he particularly enjoyed a colorful world.
So Shiller gave Matt the jungle survival scenario originally intended for Steve, while Jarvis and Wanda got a mechanically disastrous setting tinged with dark humor. Still, Wanda found it not thrilling enough; she thought it should be ramped up with an interstellar war, a sun explosion, cosmos destruction...
Shiller could only say that encountering a client like you is Dream Power Doctor Strange's good fortune.
As the couples came downstairs, they seemed to be discussing a dream Stark kept talking about, which was very exciting, but he just couldn't remember what it was exactly. The others felt the same way.
Of course, they thought someone might be playing tricks behind their backs, but they instinctively felt it was a beautiful dream. Maybe they could dream it again tonight; they had to remember all the details and were determined not to forget again.
Shiller just whipped up a simple salad, and the rest of the breakfast was made by others who seemed to prefer sweets in the morning, be it pancakes or cream. Shiller only had two fried eggs and some salad.
He tasted a well-fried pancake; actually, it was quite good with the aroma of eggs and butter, and a hint of scorched fragrance. But others would drench theirs with thick jam or spread butter on it; he really couldn't eat something so rich in the morning.
Today they had real work to do. The airport on the small island had just been completed, and now they needed to take a look at the island's natural environment, confirm the wedding venue, and conduct a final security check.
Shiller's farm's airport was small, only capable of accommodating private jets, helicopters, and shuttles. They took the shuttle to Los Angeles and then boarded Stark's private plane to the wedding island.
Actually, visiting the small island wouldn't take long, but since they were in Los Angeles, they planned to stay there for a morning. Despite being on vacation, there was still business to attend to.
First, there was an ongoing S.H.I.E.L.D. Aeronautics Expo there, a promotional tactic adopted when air transportation expanded to the West Coast, now mainly used for youth education and popular science.
The superheroes needed to show their faces there to better promote S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work. Of course, they also had to play games and take photos with the kids for social charity promotion.
Last time, the extraordinary dragon caused quite a stir on the West Coast, and there were still some issues to resolve with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so Nick had to make a trip to the FBI base in Los Angeles.
Shiller didn't have any real business, but he had come across several Los Angeles food spots on a short video app. Even though every trendy restaurant he tried last time was disappointing, he still couldn't help wanting to try.
Wanda, being a mutant, didn't want to get involved in Avenger affairs, so she decided to explore eateries with Shiller. Stark didn't want Helen to appear in public too soon, so he had Shiller take her along.
Rocket Raccoon, of course, wanted to follow Helen, but his image with Pikachu was too popular among children. The Avengers immediately roped them in, requesting them to be the mascots at the expo, welcoming guests at the entrance.
Rocket Raccoon initially didn't like the idea, but Steve promised him a new arm for Bucky, and he couldn't resist the temptation. As for Pikachu, a super-sized cake was enough to daze him.
Returning to Los Angeles, Shiller once again experienced the rich West Coast city vibes. When they landed at 9 a.m., he headed straight for a famous coffee shop.