As expected, just like Shiller anticipated: a shovel, a bucket, and a sandpit can entertain kids for an entire day. For kids, sand is the most fascinating thing. Especially with so many kids playing here, there are endless possibilities: one moment they're competing to see who can dig the biggest pit, the next they're orderly transporting water into the pit, then digging channels; some are building dams, others are crafting tributaries, and there are even those developing civilizations along the riverbanks. With Helen and Franklin, these two superpower users, watching over them, the parents are completely freed up.
Without needing to watch over their kids, everyone's mood noticeably improves, and they even feel that not going to Hawaii is a good thing. Although Hawaii isn't as popular now, there's no way the beaches are completely empty. If there were strangers present, these parents absolutely couldn't leave: on one hand, they genuinely fear danger, as you never know if the tourists on the beach are superpower users and might suddenly act out; on the other hand, in Europe and America, these matters are strictly regulated, and if parents stray a little too far, they're easily judged as negligent. If a video of that were posted online, it would be a total disaster.
Wanda previously left her kids with Erik to babysit because she had to work, and American law doesn't allow kids to stay home alone. If a neighbor reports it, she could be stripped of her custody rights, even if her husband is an all-capable robot that can monitor the kids 360 degrees through home electronic devices.
Moreover, Erik can't look after the kids in America because he doesn't meet the guardian standards. America has a very complex process for determining qualified guardians; just being the child's biological grandfather doesn't guarantee approval. So many American grandparents can't help their children babysit, not because they don't want to, but because the law forbids it. Even sending the kids over for a weekend could result in a neighbor's report, which would be very troublesome.
Therefore, Erik usually takes the kids to New Xanadu or the Andromeda Galaxy and waits for Wanda to pick them up when she's available. Although he can use wormholes to shuttle back and forth, Earth's internal regulations currently forbid opening wormholes, so he has to send them to the Space Station first, then use an official Teleportation Portal, and finally fly back with the kids.
Fortunately, all these kids are superpower users and are generally not under government surveillance. Once they reach Earth, they can teleport back; otherwise, it would be a real hassle.
Wanda stretched lazily, leaned against the table, drinking ice-cold juice while rocking her little daughter's cradle. Jarvis was next to her typing on the computer, seemingly working overtime.
The young ones had all changed into swimsuits, set up a net on the beach, and were preparing for a thrilling beach volleyball game; while the slightly older group was getting ready to go diving, planning to take some photos.
Natasha, watching a few people packing their gear, was a bit speechless. She said, "You guys can move freely in a vacuum, yet you wear diving suits to dive on Earth. And you, Tony, why not just wear your battlesuit?"
Tony was struggling to put on his diving suit, hopping around as he explained, "You don't get it, it's all about the vibe. Besides, my fans are already tired of seeing me in my battlesuit in photos everywhere. I need them to know that I am a diving expert even without relying on the battlesuit."
Reed scoffed and said, "You know very well whether it's a diving suit or a Symbiote Suit."
Venom yanked Eddie aside, saying, "Stay away from that rich jerk! He couldn't conquer me, so he wears my kinsman's corpse. You humans are disgusting!"
"Isn't that symbiote secretion? At most, it's like your kinsman's saliva. The stuff from the Osborn Group, now that's a corpse."
"You just made it even more disgusting, ugh."
"So, can't you transform into a diving suit? I also want to take some photos!"
"What's wrong with my appearance? Trust me, let's just jump in like this; I guarantee we'll make the biggest splash!"
Natasha still refused to wear a diving suit but pretended to put on goggles and a breathing tube, not considering at all that she meant to deep-dive. Shiller brought a diving tank, a respirator, and flippers, but didn't bring a diving suit either, as changing into it was too much trouble. It took Steve quite a while to put his on.
Once everybody was ready, they all headed out towards the center of the sea. The normal process would involve a boat to take them there, conserving physical strength; otherwise, by the time they reached the designated spot, they'd be exhausted. However, they weren't ordinary people, and this little island didn't have boats, so they swam themselves.
Since the island wasn't a naturally formed one, the shallow sea area was quite small, and after a while, they couldn't see the bottom anymore. The group prepared to dive. The seawater was crystal clear; when the sunlight streamed down, you could vaguely make out the shadows of coral.
The underwater terrain isn't flat as many might imagine, but like the land, it contains valleys, abysses, and sometimes cave-like structures. In the area where they were diving, the terrain was quite complex: ahead was a relatively shallow flat land, but further on there was a cliff, on which fissures could be seen.
Shiller took a few photos in the shallower area first, where there were quite a few corals and tropical fish. Because sunlight could reach here, the scenery was quite good. There wasn't any silt, and everyone felt like they were floating in the air.
Yet because the environment was so perfect, everyone got bored taking photos after a while, so Stark pointed to the cliff and suggested they continue diving deeper.
The depth over there was much greater than here, and after swimming over, they found they couldn't see the bottom. This only piqued their curiosity about what lay below, so they all swam over and continued diving deeper.
Diving deeper is not about swimming, but about increasing weight. They hadn't planned to descend so deep, so the weights they brought were insufficient. Shiller had to pull out other things from the gray mist: there were bricks from construction sites, iron pots, and a whole bunch of miscellaneous items. One person descending with this heap of chaotic items looked exactly like the time the cafeteria of Stark Group was emptied out, and they had to urgently fly back from the supermarket with supplies.
Reaching the crack, Steve looked up inside, but the crack was too small for them adults to squeeze into, and it didn't seem to have enough space inside. Forcing their way in might end up with bad news from the cave diving circle.
They continued to dive. After diving another few dozen meters, estimated depth was nearing 200 meters, and they still couldn't see the bottom. This was probably an extraordinary depth, but these were no ordinary people; for them, withstanding a kilometer-level water pressure was not an issue, so they resolutely kept diving deeper.
Besides water pressure, there was another critical factor in diving—water temperature. At this depth, the water temperature was already extremely low, and the diving suits they were using were not very professional. If not for superpowers, they might have been frozen stiff by now.
But as they continued to dive deeper, Shiller noticed the water temperature seemed to be rising. After diving more than 200 meters further, everyone found that this was precisely the geothermal layer, which explained why the water below was warmer.
Meanwhile, they couldn't dive further: cold was manageable, but if it got too hot, the symbiont might not withstand it. As the water temperature rose, Venom was the first to howl and swim back, and Stark's diving suit began to shrink.
There wasn't much here; everyone took a circle, snapped a few photos, and then left. On the way up, they routinely spent some time decompressing, but not fully so: decompression for several hundred meters would require an unimaginable amount of time, but since they weren't ordinary, they stayed a little over an hour, which was enough.
Genetically modified people like Natasha surfaced first to ensure everything was alright, then others followed. But even among superhumans, there were differences in constitution: Stark and Reed obviously were somewhat uncomfortable, so they had to stay in the water a bit longer, with Steve watching over them.
Shiller felt no discomfort at all, smoothly floated to the surface, and took out his phone, preparing to upload the video. After waiting for a while, others surfaced, and they headed for the shore.
The kids were still playing with sand, but had now evolved their game to building several fortresses, dividing into nations and factions for warfare: some used water and sand to make mud bombs, some shaped wet sand into balls, and others destroyed downstream river paths from upstream, having an absolute blast.
Shark Dog Jeff also joined in on the fun. Initially, he was playing volleyball, but when Deadpool illegally snatched the ball, Jeff chased after his rear, biting him, got penalized, and was kicked out of the beach volleyball team. Hence, he came to play with the kids.
The adults who didn't participate in diving were sunbathing. As Shiller walked over, Wanda handed him a cup of white beverage, saying, "Here, it's soy milk juice."
"What soy milk juice, that's called soy milk." Shiller shook his head. After taking a sip, he found this soy milk was icy. But iced soy milk had its unique taste, very refreshing to drink.
Nick was also efficient; in such a short time, a rescue plane had arrived. Three small planes capable of landing on the water appeared; passengers began packing their belongings onto the planes.
Though vacationing with superheroes was great, the insurance payout was more important. S.H.I.E.L.D. staff wanted to understand the accident situation and issue an official accident report, which would help with insurance claims, so they cheerfully boarded the plane.
Once only superheroes remained on the island, they gathered around the table shaded by a parasol at the noodle shop entrance, talking about everything from family to children, then to community and country, and finally the hottest topic, interstellar society.
But ultimately, the conversation drifted back to the multiverse. It's well known that a war review can last decades, even centuries, and regarding multiverse warfare, there are endless topics to discuss.
However, the details of the war had already been thoroughly discussed and analyzed from various aspects. From the superhero participants' perspective, there weren't as many overarching issues to talk about as those commanders and strategists, so the topic reverted to discussing the rules themselves.
"I don't think this was a pure war, nor did it truly serve the purpose of an exercise. Everyone had their own agenda, including Batman. We all wanted to use this war to gain status in our own multiverse or to extract benefits for our universe, causing strategy and combat to lack purity."
Steve nodded, saying, "That's certainly true. This doesn't adequately represent our state when a multiverse crisis comes, after all, at that time, multiverse superheroes, even with their own agendas, wouldn't dare be too excessive; unity will surely be stronger than now, and there wouldn't be many opportunities to profit for one's universe."
"Precisely because of biased strategic inclinations, the war's intensity was insufficient, nor did it effectively serve the purpose of tactical training. But since our universe is used as the battleground, there should indeed be some benefits to gain, and I can't think of a better alternative either."
"We can totally compete in a more pure environment," Stark said, "unrelated to cosmic interests or multiverse status, just pure tactical confrontation, as balanced and limited as possible, to achieve training effectiveness."