Chapter 3164: "Romantic" Wedding Season (48)

Shiller knew more about Nick than anyone else, understanding that Nick had gone to great lengths to deceive Congress, the military, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other powers just to maintain control over Pluto's Star Port.

He knew that Nick must have invested a substantial part of the reimbursed funds there, yet even so, the efficiency was surprisingly high. Shiller calculated that it had been three years of knocking on a starship hull, and even with significant technological progress, building a starship hull in three years was a bit too advanced for the human race.

It couldn't have been done with just American technology alone. Eastern countries must have also contributed, Shiller had long known that Neptune was also secretly building something, but considering SWORD's vigilance, he had not gone to stir up trouble.

Setting aside various intentions, Nick simply smiled mysteriously and said, "Quick battle, quick decision."

In theory, this starship lacked core components, i.e., it did not have a Jump Device. Even with advancing human technology, it was impossible to develop Jump Technology within 10 years. Such equipment, aside from requiring technology, also needed materials. Even if the Three Great Empires handed over the blueprints directly, a massive amount of experimentation would still be needed to match with their own civilization's gear.

But playing the card game didn't have these specifications, and the starship Nick pulled out was capable of jumping, meaning it could enter any battlefield at any time and interfere, unlike other building cards, such as Stark Industries' headquarters, which remained fixed in one place and only provided certain benefits.

The starship entered the field, acting as a building during the Hydra invasion event. Steve, leading the remnants of The Avengers, directly jumped into the starship, where no one would be harmed until after the starship was damaged.

The starship's health was around 400, which might not seem much, but Nick could later spend points to repair it or buy various powerful parts to enhance its functionality, making the battleship stronger.

No wonder he had waited so long. During this last round, his agents had nearly all perished, but Nick could exchange the dead agents for money.

Moreover, his agents each had a dying message, causing a chain reaction that caught Hydra off guard. Now, apart from a Red Skull that was still desperately struggling, those minions were all wiped out.

Seeing that the situation was favorable, Stark shifted his attention back to the battlefield at hand.

But before he could focus, a scream was heard.

Nick was drawing action cards for the starship, which, due to its multiple functionalities, depended on the draw from a deck containing abilities like cannon salvo, shield deployment, or gravity traps.

Unfortunately, Nick drew a "Starship Damage" card.

Steve slapped his forehead. He really didn't want to use the racially charged term to describe Nick, but the man truly embodied the literal sense of a "Black Devil."

Once the starship was damaged, not only was the health deducted, but its action stopped too, needing a round to conduct repairs—which also cost money.

And, true to life, repairs weren't guaranteed; it required rolling dice, and only a successful roll meant the starship could restart. Any failure meant further repairs, each costing money.

Having no choice despite the cost, Nick muttered irritably, "Repair it, just freaking repair it!"

Dream Power Doctor Strange rolled the dice.

Failed.

Nick's eyes widened in disbelief at the ridiculously low number on the dice and stomped his foot, saying, "I want to make a suit judgment!"

"Allowed."

Dream Power Doctor Strange rolled again.

Still failed.

Nick was completely stunned, looking at the remaining few points in his hand, begrudgingly said, "Forget it, let's use numeric judgment and continue repairing!"

Dream Power Doctor Strange rolled the dice again.

Still failed.

Nick slumped into his chair.

Shiller was the only person unsurprised, quietly asking, "Is the market only open after passing the first base event?"

"Yes, Doctor," Wanda replied. "Each event passed opens the market. Are you anxious to buy a card?"

"Yes, I need to collect all the Shillers."

"But that looks tough," Wanda said. "Should I liberate power? I'm just one card away from a full sacrifice."

After considering, Shiller asked, "Can you eliminate Helada in one hit?"

Calculating the potential damage in her mind, Wanda replied, "It's possible if he doesn't activate instant health lock. But what if, like this time, he changes phases immediately and forces health lock?"

Shiller pondered too; forced health lock meant a maximum of 30% health reduction per phase, even if a hit took out 50%, it would instantly shift forms, and that extra 20% wouldn't count.

If that guy had three forms, then Wanda's hit would be wasted—better to have her tackle Red Skull instead.

"Go for the sacrifice," Shiller said.

Wanda nodded, trusting Shiller's judgment. She pulled out a Scarlet Power Card to sacrifice, then told Dream Power Doctor Strange, "I want to liberate power."

"Allowed."

In an instant, the Scarlet Witch descended.

After her first liberation of power, the damage significantly increased. During the liberation round, she was immune to all negative states and all damage, could ignore any obstacles, and attack any card on the field, whether it had health, didn't have health, was a deducted card or a non-deducted card—she could strike anyone except the host.

Moreover, the damage was multiplied by the number of Scarlet Power Cards used before; eight cards meant eight times the damage. Throughout the game, even in the latter stages, few could withstand even one hit from her.

The Scarlet Witch directly smacked Red Skull to death.

The downside is that she could only act once per round and the liberation state would be lifted the next round. However, after three ability liberations, she could directly level up to Scarlet God, becoming even more powerful.

Seeing Red Skull slapped to death, Steve breathed a sigh of relief. Without Wanda, all these members of The Avengers would have been in trouble.

Nick's starship was still not fixed.

Steve didn't bother with him any longer and jumped ship to arrive at the Hydra event at the beginning of the next round.

Although he had arrived, his team was basically a group of defeated and crippled soldiers. The Hulk had turned back into Dr. Banner, Hawkeye was severely injured, and he himself, thanks to the Shield, was unscathed, but his damage was too low; he could only act as a front-row damage blocker.

At the start of this round, the four Skull Cards could move again.

Last round's Blood Card with its healing skills had been used up. This round, with the newly refreshed cards, one could boost someone's health, seeing Steve's expression, Shiller chose to heal Hawkeye.

Hawkeye's skills were greatly enhanced; although he couldn't ignore obstacles, he had to roll a die for damage, specifically a 20-sided die. If he rolled a double-digit number, it would result in extremely high damage.

Steve obviously hoped that Shiller would save Hawkeye because he felt lucky with his dice rolls. He had seen Hydra's health and in the broken defense state, with some luck, he could eliminate them with about three shots; at worst, it would just take one additional shot.

Shiller mourned silently and decided to first check the market since goods could be refreshed there, and the refresh also had a safeguard mechanism that could be resolved with Cash Strength.

Steve was already preparing to roll the dice. Even if he didn't roll an 18 or a 19, getting an 11 or 12 would be enough.

Steve rolled the 20-sided die.

The face showing "1" landed dramatically.

Stark couldn't even bother to mock him.

Hawkeye fired a shot, and Hydra lost a sliver of health.

Steve pounded the table in frustration.

Speaking of Stark, he had indeed crafted a weapon, but it was just a small handgun—the most common electromagnetic pistol sold by Stark Industries.

The style was cool, but let's not talk about the damage.

However, with the new round starting, Peter and Stark could draw equipment again.

Peter, defying doubt, drew three more cards. This time, it seemed even the god of luck didn't want to bother deceiving him. He drew items like a Speedball helmet, Temple of Eternity wallpaper, and Stark's cheeseburger—all sorts of abstract stuff.

Peter even had the Dream Power Doctor Strange check the probability for him. Among the hundreds of types of equipment in the deck, there were seven Divine Artifact Equipment cards, meaning there was a 7% chance for a gold draw.

There were over 40 good and useful equipment cards, meaning there was about a 40% chance for a purple draw.

There were also more than 20 regular but usable equipment cards, meaning there was a 20% chance for a blue draw.

But he ended up with six blue clear skies. Was that even scientific?

This time Stark didn't mock Peter because he found his own luck to be peculiar. After the store opened, he refreshed it twice and got a bunch of junk, not a single card he wanted.

What was with his luck today?

Stark didn't think it was his fault; he just considered it a momentary twist of fate and decided to draw a piece of equipment.

Would you believe his luck? Another electromagnetic pistol and, absurdly, it was a broken one that exploded, costing him three health points.

Furious, Stark threw the cards on the table and yelled at the Dream Power Doctor Strange, "Did you secretly switch my cards?! Are all you magic folks this deceitful?!"

The Dream Power Doctor Strange, who had a much better temper than the Strange of this universe, said nothing. He only turned over the cards he hadn't managed to put away yet, one by one.

Each one was better than the electromagnetic pistol.

Stark was fuming and breathless.

Wanda, too, looked on with a worried expression. The previous healing skills had entered cooldown, and now the control skills were cooling down as well. The four Skull Cards were eagerly watching; in two turns, they would deal area damage. What were they going to do?

Could the famously powerful superhero team really be done for here? How had the game gotten to this point?

Finding himself unable to argue with the Dream Power Doctor Strange, Stark turned his annoyance toward Jarvis, "Jarvis, how do you balance this?!"

Jarvis replied calmly, "I can manage game balance, but I can't change universal rules. Everyone has bad days."

"But aren't we having too much bad luck today?!"

Jarvis glanced at Shiller without showing any expression but still said, "Perhaps. Maybe you should call Eternity and ask if today isn't suitable for playing cards."

What was Stark supposed to say to that? Aside from not being close with Eternity, even if he did make the call, other than having his bad luck mocked, what would change? How could universe administrators change universal rules just to improve their luck in a game?

After venting his anger and looking up, Stark realized that Shiller had already drawn a hand of cards, and all the points from their major plan had been spent.

"You…"

"Give it up," Shiller cut him off, "Withdraw from the event, gather your strength."

"What about the Skull Descent?"

Shiller looked at his hand of cards, smiling, and said.

"Fight fire with fire."