177 Bleecker Street, New York.
This is a gray-black Gothic building with intricate carvings on the outside. They are like vines in a dark forest, extending from the outside fence to the second floor. In the middle of the second-floor window sill, there is a hollow metal sphere inlaid on it.
The round ball stares at passers-by like an ancient eyeball.
Lynn and his group appeared outside the door of this quaint and mysterious building, feeling nervous.
"I didn't expect that you would come to me on your own initiative."
Stephen Strange had anticipated all this. He slowly opened the door and welcomed Lynn, Spider-Man and Ant-Man in.
"Hey, Stephen, isn't today your workday?" Spider-Man looked around curiously and spoke first.
Today, Strange was not wearing the blue-gray wizard robe. Instead, he was wearing a neat suit, a carefully groomed hairdo, and a bow tie at his collar.
It looked like he was going on a date.
"You teenagers with too much energy to vent can have a vacation, why can't I?"
Strange waved his hand gently, summoned four teacups, and brewed a cup of hot tea for everyone.
"The prices have gone up a lot recently, so there's no milk in it."
Strange saw the three people take the cups and coughed.
Lynn then remembered that since Strange had the car accident, he had undergone more than a dozen extremely expensive operations in succession, which basically emptied his family's assets.
Later, he became Doctor Strange and was tasked with guarding the New York Sanctuary, which basically cut off his source of income.
Once, he and Wang couldn't even take out 2.5 cents and went hungry for several days.
The Supreme Mage, who is usually glamorous and popular, actually lives such a difficult and miserable life behind the scenes.
Lynn began to look around the sanctuary's furnishings.
There is an antique atmosphere here. The pure wooden stairs and furnishings reveal a classical flavor, and the air is filled with the aroma of herbs, which reminds Lynn of the divination classroom in Hogwarts.
Especially the hollow sphere in the middle of the stairs on the second floor, which looks fantastic and mysterious under the light, as if leading to an unknown space.
As if noticing Lynn's gaze, Strange moved slightly and covered the area behind him with a plastic bag.
That was the bag he used to pack the groceries at the supermarket sale yesterday.
"Hey, thank you, Stephen." As the atmosphere livener, Spider-Man naturally started talking.
"You don't look like the kind of people who like to come to my place for tea." Strange sat on the chair and looked at the three people in front of him.
"Hey, Stephen, didn't you see what happened out there?" said Spider-Man.
"I see that the citizens are changing. This seems to be the result of some kind of mobile phone application. They seem to enjoy it."
Strange glanced out the window, unperturbed.
"Hey, Strange, don't you think this is all abnormal?" Spider-Man struck while the iron was hot.
"It's indeed abnormal, but so far, they haven't threatened anyone else, nor have they threatened the safety of the world." Strange took a sip of tea and said calmly.
"Wait a minute, doctor, what you mean is that this situation is very normal and we can just pretend we didn't see it?" Ant-Man couldn't help but interrupt.
"This may be the result of new technological development, just like when video games and mobile phones first emerged more than 20 years ago. They also brought changes that people at the time could not understand. Now it seems that what Stark is doing is no different." Doctor Strange said slowly.
"Hey Stephen, so you knew!" Spider-Man was surprised, "But Mr. Stark has become a stranger now. He is not the same as the Mr. Stark before!"
"Oh, really?" Strange turned his long face to Lynn, "So, what caused this sudden change?"
Strange just looked at Lynn, as if waiting for him to give an answer.
From this moment on, Lynn felt that the bad-tempered guy was back again.
"OK, it was an accident." Lynn took a step back.
"Hopefully this is just an accident and not a byproduct of some dangerous move."
Strange's eyes roamed over Lynn, as if trying to see through his disguise.
As the Sorcerer Supreme, his daily duties do not include the daily safety of New York citizens. He looks to higher places and faces more dangerous situations.
Generally speaking, as long as an accident like the one Stark caused today does not pose too much of a threat to the future and the Earth, he will not interfere.
However, when tracing the causes and consequences of the accident, he found something that interested him.
The root cause of this incident lies with the magical boy, and the outcome of the story also depends on him.
But he had no idea of the specific reason, he could only guess that the magic boy was doing something behind his back.
"The entire universe is under your care. What danger can escape your eyes, Doctor?" Lynn looked back at Strange's scrutinizing gaze.
"That would be great." Strange tilted his head.
"Hey, guys, let me interrupt you guys. Do you say these weird things every time you meet?" Ant-Man raised his hand and asked, "Isn't our target Tony Stark? Oh, sorry, I mean, my daughter is about to get out of school, and I might be in a hurry."
"Yes, Stephen, can you help us find Mr. Stark? As long as we find him, Lynn can turn everything around!" Spider-Man quickly chimed in.
"Oh, sorry. Regarding this matter, I can only tell you with regret that he is not within my job scope. The things I need to focus on every day are far more important than this."
Strange stood up, as if to see the guest off.
"And in the correct timeline, I shouldn't have anything to do with this matter. For the Supreme Sorcerer, casually participating in some practices will bring unpredictable consequences."
"If you insist on correcting this matter, then, feel free to use your creativity. I will not stop you. I hope this will help you see through the fog."
“Squeak—”
The three were slowly pushed out of the sanctuary and the door closed tightly.
"Hey, this is unbelievable, is this still the Doctor Strange who is in charge of everything?" Ant-Man raised his hand and shrugged.
"Oh, I didn't expect Stephen to stand on Mr. Stark's side..." Spider-Man rubbed his head, very confused.
"Hey Lynn, what do we do now Lynn?"
Spider-Man was about to ask Lynn, but found that the latter was frowning, as if thinking about something.
"Oh, nothing. Let's think of other ways." Lynn came back to his senses from his thoughts and answered Spider-Man.
But then he began to mutter:
"What clue did Strange want to give me when he left the house just now?"