The lights in Strange's "operating room" were not turned on, and the candles placed in a circle on the ground illuminated the entire room. He asked Stark to move the warden to the center of the magic circle.
Stark: "Are you going to recall his soul?"
Strange took another look at the mentally retarded eyes.
Stark: "?"
Strange was expressionless: "I plan to enter his spiritual world. His consciousness may have fallen into a self-enclosed state due to some external stimulation, but I think I should be able to find him."
Stark frowned and thought for a while: "...that's right." He sighed slightly, with a hint of worry in his brows.
Strange took another look: "Stay out of the circle, don't make a sound, don't eat on the sidelines."
Stark: "?"
Batman dragged him out and stopped his attempt to summon the suit.
Strange held the warden's head in both hands, and his black hair was scattered on his fingertips. The flickering candlelight reflected on the faces of the two of them, and the atmosphere was very dignified.
Stark held his breath, the two people outside the circle of candles were watching them intently, the room was silent.
Time seemed to slow down, and Strange kept his movements unchanged. Stark didn't dare to ask, and could only guess whether he would suddenly create a monster in the room when the magic was activated. A vortex leading to some unknown world or something.
They waited for over an hour, and Strange suddenly opened his eyes.
Stark was nervous and lost: "Failed?"
Strange replied, "It's over."
Stark looked at the warden who still had his eyes closed: "Where is Mr. Warden?"
Strange went on: "—failed too."
Stark: "..."
He took a deep breath, but before he could speak, Strange said, "There is nothingness in his spiritual world. I found nothing, and I was almost lost in it."
Stark pondered for a moment: "In other words, his consciousness may have been greatly damaged, so it is almost undetectable?"
Strange gave him a strange look: "No, it's not right at all. I mean, he doesn't have a conscious body in his mind at all."
Stark: "..."
"It's impossible." A hoarse voice sounded from the side.
"Indeed." Strange let go of his hands, "It's impossible."
Stark rolled his eyes: "So what are you trying to express? His soul was taken away by something evil?"
Strange glanced at him again, and stood up: "I want to express that maybe he is indeed brain-dead, maybe you should monitor Mr. Warden's brain from this aspect."
The smile disappeared from Stark's face.
Strange glanced at his watch: "It's time for me to get off work, take my leave."
Stark remained stunned until the flames of the portal disappeared into the room. He glanced down at the flickering candles on the ground, still feeling puzzled: "I always feel that Stephen has something to say."
A cold snort came from the side: "...the magician."
Stark glanced at Batman who was still standing by the wall with his arms crossed: "I'm sorry, I forgot you were still here—when are you going to say goodbye?"
Batman rebuffed coldly: "You're dreaming."
"You know it's not more than ten minutes' walk from your vacation villa area," Stark said, "then I won't send it off, shall I?"
"Until Mr. Warden regains consciousness, I won't let him out of sight." Batman replied in a low voice, "Banner won't last long."
Stark sighed involuntarily.
He sighs more today than in a year. Not long ago, Banner reported a fact to everyone—he does not have full authority to control the prison. To be precise, he does not have the right to amend any regulations, and he cannot even sign off on subsidies from Stark artificial intelligence that have just been screened out. several subsidies.
He is now almost like a tool man sitting in the warden's office. The biggest change he can make to the prison is to let the guards send Seikestone's body to the hearse.
Mister Warden would be furious if he came back - but having a dead body in the Warden's room is not quite right, especially when the Bureau of Prisons is paying another visit because of the Joker's escape.
Banner worried about the ticket on his desk.
Stark knelt on one knee in front of the unconscious warden, took out a flashlight and shone through his eyelids for a long time.
After a while, Batman said: "Find the problem?"
"...No." Stark sat on the ground, propping his knees to think, "This is not possible, even Stephen said there is no way, how to regain Mr. Warden's consciousness in this situation?"
"He meant that the detection ceremony just now failed," Batman whispered, "but he didn't say that there was no way."
Stark looked up sharply, looking at him in shock.
"...the wizard." Batman replied coldly.
Stark: "..."
There are no windows in this cubicle, and the room is brightly lit by a circle of candles surrounding the floor. The warden was only wearing a thin surgical gown, so he had to move him back to the bedroom outside.
The sky outside the window was already dark.
This is bound to be a sleepless night.
While Strange was busy doing other things, Stark had asked the doctor to thoroughly examine the warden, and the examination report given by the doctor also showed that all physiological indicators were normal, including the MRI of the brain. Imaging, also more like sleep than coma.
When the doctor explained this, there was a sense of despair, as if he felt that his career was about to expire. He believed that from the medical report, the patient should have fallen asleep.
But Stark didn't fire him.
The doctor seemed to get a job back when he was released from the room by Stark.
When Strange returns to the room, Stark and Batman are sitting around Mister Warden's bed... eating burgers.
"Actually, I think, since there is no problem from the inspection results, maybe Mr. Warden is pretending that he can't wake up?" Stark approached the young man's sleeping face, raised his right hand to compare with his face, and finally changed Served with burgers.
As soon as Strange walked out of the portal, what he saw was Stark stuffing the cheeseburger under the nose of the sleeping warden, and he showed his mentally retarded eyes again.
Stark saw the halo reflected in the window, and immediately withdrew his hands and stood up.
"What are you doing?" Strange asked, frowning.
"Only him," Batman said, eating his burger slowly.
Stark looked serious: "Theoretically speaking, Mr. Warden is healthy, at least that's what the medical report says—so I reasonably suspect that maybe Mr. Warden is just pretending to be unconscious?"
Strange: "By the way pretend consciousness doesn't exist?"
Stark: "..."
Strange stepped aside a little bit, and followed a person out of the portal, which made both Stark and Batman tense up instantly.
"Stephen?" Stark dropped the hamburger, and the battle armor suddenly flew over to wrap his right hand, and the energy cannon was ready to go.
"Calm down, he's just a guard." Strange said, "You wouldn't kill his guards in front of the warden, would you?"
"I didn't mean to kill anyone—wait, I mean," Stark asked, "we can't let people find out what Mr. Warden is like, Stephen!"
Strange's expression was as usual: "Don't worry, he won't say anything. Let me introduce, this is a guard in that prison, named MacPherson Hall."
The guard turned to him: "Doctor Strange, this place has left the prison, and I cannot continue to provide assistance."
Just as he turned and walked back, the halo in front of him suddenly disappeared.
The Hall guard stopped, but didn't turn back, and stood there in a daze.
Strange raised his hand to cover the back of his head, and the guard suddenly fell down without a sound, being held by Strange.
Stark was surprised by this direction: "Stephen, what are you going to do with this guard—isn't that inappropriate?"
"He won't report it to anyone when he wakes up, trust me," said Strange, "that's what they are—I need a little test, my 'operating table' is still Are you there?"
Stark pointed to the compartment angrily: "Well, I have no idea what you want to do, and I don't have to explain it to any of us."
Strange didn't seem to understand the sarcasm in the words, and replied with an unchanged expression: "As you wish."
After speaking, he dragged Hall guard into the cubicle.
Immediately afterwards, Batman and Stark followed suit. Strange didn't ask him why he came in, but put the guard with his eyes closed into the center of the magic circle without saying a word.
"What did you notice?" Batman asked suddenly.
"I found some people in the prison ... unusual," Strange said, "but when I tried to enter the warden's mental space and found nothing, I suddenly realized why these people seemed unusual." .”
For a while, no one in the room spoke, and everyone was lost in thought.
Strange continued: "—Maybe, they don't have heads." He then glanced at Stark. "It's a metaphor. I mean they may not have the existence of consciousness itself."
Stark couldn't bear it anymore: "I'm also a genius."
Strange shrugged nonchalantly.
The room returned to silence, and both Stark and Batman watched in silence as Strange repeated what he had done to the warden before, that is, put his arms around the guard's head, closed his eyes and knelt on his knees in front of you.
Time passed very slowly, and when Strange opened his eyes again, his face looked very solemn.
"Failed again?" Stark asked vindictively.
"If it's about searching for his consciousness, yes." Strange replied ponderingly, "If it's about verifying my speculation just now—then, it's a success."
The pale golden candlelight shone on his face, and Stark frowned slightly.
"That is," Batman said slowly, "none of them have self-awareness."
"Yes." Strange replied, "In a way, the nickname given to them by the normal staff in the prison is also correct. They call these guards 'the warden's puppets'-they are indeed like puppets. , without thinking of his own, and works completely according to the established program."
"Or robots." Stark interfaced, "but some artificial intelligences can already satirize others."
"Thank you, sir." His smart butler popped up just in time to reply.
Strange glanced at Stark: "... indeed."
Stark: "..."
"Then," he looked at the person lying on the ground in the uniform of the guard again, and made up his mind to speak, "that is to say, our Mr. Warden is just a... robot?"
Strange was also thinking, and slowly replied: "Maybe it's different—from what we've seen, he's different from the other guards. He looks much more real."
"Except for a few moments," Batman began, "the last time he got this injection and suddenly he was like the guards. And that injection—"
The three people present looked at each other, and they obviously understood each other.
"There isn't any special ingredient in that injection, and at most it's just glucose for energy," Batman said. "It's not the injection that's special, but the prison itself. It doesn't work outside the prison."
"But it is a special medium, or interface." Stark added, "Only by the act of 'injecting it' can the injured person be restored to normal."
Strange: "Or a spell."
Stark: "Or the communication protocol."
Batman: "…"
Fortunately, the two quickly stopped their tit-for-tat bickering.
Strange continued: "According to my investigation in the prison, the previous warden had secretly executed many prisoners, and this incident was not known to the public—and the bodies of those prisoners were also missing. .”
Stark thought: "If you want to know the truth of all this, you have to find the former warden." He suddenly raised his head and looked at the bat.
"So, you already know where the mysterious warden is now, right?" Strange asked.
"His name and current address can be found in the documents filed by the government," Batman said, "but no contact has been made yet."
"Avoid arousing his suspicion." Stark added, "His file is perfect, without a trace of stain, he is a fair and rigorous warden, and he is living a stable retirement life in his later years."
He met Strange's gaze: "—but it's impossible, that's right. The strangest thing is that in the small town where he lives now, almost every household has a criminal serving his sentence here."
He raised his head slightly to look out the window, then remembered that there was no window here, and looked at his watch instead.
Then he looked up and asked Strange: "It's already seven o'clock in the morning? Why did it take you all night to bring a headless guard?"
Strange: "Don't worry about it."
In the tense atmosphere, Batman strode out of the cubicle, his black cape raised with his steps.
Stark: "?"
A circle of light suddenly appeared in the cubicle, and Strange suddenly stood up supporting the guard.
"I'll join you later."
Stark swears an obscenity. When he walked out of the cubicle, there was no one there, and neither was there.
The young warden lay quietly on the bed in the bedroom, as if just sleeping. There was a faint light outside the window, Stark walked over and opened the curtains to let the morning sun shine in.
He made a gesture command to the air, and the lights that lasted all night were extinguished, and the light morning light fell through the window on the warden's eyelids, trying to wake the young man up.
But Mr. Warden didn't respond.
Stark shook his head. Maybe it was because of a sleepless night, he even had a little hallucination just now, as if the warden would suddenly open his eyes, just like an ordinary morning.
"Give me the coordinates." He stopped walking lightly, and suddenly raised his arms, and the armor in the corner of the room flew over to cover his body.
The golden visor closed, and the Man of Steel pushed open the balcony and rushed towards the blue sky.
After Zhang Dianyu chatted with the expressionless clerk in the shop in Zhenkou, he bought a map by the way.
Although Mr. Bald Warden's house should also have it, he didn't bother to go back and look for it.
He's still wearing that ugly-patterned brown nightgown, though, so at least he'll have to go back and find something suitable for a visit.
He went back to the small yard again.
He stepped on the stone path leading to the door, walked up two steps, pushed open the door with the upper part of glass, and then stopped.
He felt that he should turn around and leave now, but he probably couldn't.
Standing side by side in the room were three oddly dressed figures he knew all of them—Iron Man, Batman, and Doctor Strange. And behind him came the roar of the engine, and a dark gray jet gradually appeared in the air, revealing its full view, with the logo of SHIELD on it.
Zhang Dianyu thought for a moment, then pointed to the sofa in the living room: "Sit?"
"No need for now, Mr. Warden, you may need to come to our place to have a chat now." Iron Man's electronic voice came from his mask.
Zhang Dianyu was overjoyed.
Had he known earlier, he would not have needed to buy a map.
But after thinking about it carefully, things might not be so good. These people came to him suddenly, could it be that the warden's body is really dead now
Zhang Dianyu felt a little desperate.
Could it be that he chose to end the last "main interface" character in a daze? So the warden died, and they found the retired Harrison Fergus, and let him go back to be the warden
Then wouldn't he continue to be bald? Zhang Dianyu was terrified.
He couldn't wait and decided to try it out now.
"The former warden." He smiled slightly, "Excuse me, I may need to go up and change."
The people on the opposite side were silent for a while, and Zhang Dianyu was also very nervous.
Finally Stark stepped aside: "Of course, Mr. Fergus. But I hope you've noticed that someone above us can see everything below—your wardrobe should be upstairs instead of the basement?"
Zhang Dianyu blinked, and dragged his fat body up the stairs.
Judging from the meaning of Stark's words, it is implying that he should not try to escape—not to mention that there is no tunnel underground, even if there is, it is estimated that he is under control at this time.
Then the question arises, what happened "after his death" that made these Chaoying go to great lengths to find the former warden
But on the bright side, at least they didn't deny their emphasis on the "former warden".
Perhaps this meant that the warden's body was not dead, but something unexpected might have happened. In any case, he can stop going bald.
Zhang Dianyu was a little out of breath, and the simple act of climbing stairs was not so easy for the bald warden. He took the hat off his head and couldn't wait to get back in prison and get his body back.
He's so bald enough.
He opened the wardrobe in the room, and suddenly his eyes changed.
For some reason, this scene actually made him somewhat familiar. The wardrobe of the bald warden is also very simple, very similar to the one in his office. It is covered with exactly the same brown-gray windbreaker, with a neatly folded dark red tie in the middle.
Zhang Dianyu frowned slightly, feeling that something was wrong.
But I can't get a clue.
He took off his nightgown, took out a windbreaker from the closet and put it on, expertly tied the tie, and reappeared in the living room downstairs within a few minutes.
"Gentlemen," the former warden smiled at the people in the waiting room, "we can go."