As You Wish

Zhang Ye didn't have to wait long. Only five or six minutes passed before a 'click' sounded, and the castle gates slowly opened, revealing the entrance to the two of them.

"See, I told you it wouldn't be hard." Pietro waved his hand excitedly, then looked back at Zhang Ye behind him, seeking credit.

"Not bad, now let's get out of here. It probably won't be long before the flames of war spread to our side." Zhang Ye nodded slightly, expressing his approval of Pietro, and then he lifted his foot and walked straight in.

The internal structure of this castle was almost exactly as Zhang Ye had guessed. Aside from slight differences in the details, it wasn't much different from the castles in the movies and TV shows of his previous life. Basically, all foreign castles had the same kind of decor.

However, when it came to the differences in interior design styles and the specific cultural interpretations of castle aesthetics across different countries, Zhang Ye was out of his depth. He hadn't studied any of that, so all he could do was offer a soft exclamation of awe at the extraordinarily opulent interior: "Awesome!"

The castle had probably been neglected for too long; it was dirty and messy everywhere. Dust coated the counters displaying withered plants, and cobwebs clung to the ancient paintings on the walls. It seemed that even President X hadn't been back here in a long time.

"Where is everything hidden?" Zhang Ye surveyed the surroundings. Huge vases were placed on both sides of the aisle—no, they were more like vase-shaped ornaments, each over a meter tall. Judging by the style of the vases, they seemed to be domestically produced, with standard landscape paintings adorning them.

"At the very bottom of the entire castle, there was originally a wine cellar, but President X transformed it into a large collection room. The good news is that there's almost no obstruction there. I don't know if it's because President X is too confident, but he didn't set up any defenses in the collection room. Of course, that's just what I experienced back then. I'm not sure what it's like now."

"You'll know once you see it." Zhang Ye and the other moved quickly, not stopping at all along the way. Led by Pietro, they rapidly moved through the passageways.

At this moment, Zhang Ye's heart was surging with an indescribable feeling. He was excited to finally be able to leave this damned world, but also worried that the Time Twister might be unusable or broken, in which case he would be trapped here forever.

With such a mood weighing on him, Zhang Ye lost all interest in admiring the interior of the ancient castle. If it had been the old him, he would have definitely taken the time to explore the castle thoroughly and "borrow" a few valuable items along the way.

Walking along the dark and chilling corridor, the two soon arrived at an elevator built inside the ancient castle. Pietro expertly pressed the button, and the elevator doors slowly opened.

"Hopefully, there aren't any traps below," Zhang Ye said softly, while also preparing himself. Since the Iron Suit had been crushed into pieces by President X, Zhang Ye could only take out his remaining weapon, the pistol in his arms.

"It shouldn't come to that, but if there really is a trap, I'll protect you even if it costs me my life." Pietro gave Zhang Ye a thumbs up, although his somewhat crippled state made it difficult for Zhang Ye to have any expectations of him.

The elevator descended, bringing them to the lowest level as they both remained tense.

Ding!

The elevator signal light turned green, and the automatic doors slid open. The trap Zhang Ye had feared didn't materialize. Instead, a long corridor stretched out before them.

As the two of them stepped out of the elevator, the originally dim passageway immediately lit up section by section, from near to far, until the entire passage was illuminated.

Zhang Ye and Pietro exchanged a look, neither of them speaking. Then, still not daring to relax, they prepared to face any situation and stepped forward.

The tunnel was made of smooth metal, and Zhang Ye didn't know what material it was. In any case, it didn't seem like a product of this era, yet it also looked a bit like a bank vault.

"It's spectacular, right? I was shocked the first time I came in here, too. I thought I'd arrived on an alien spaceship." Pietro said as he steered his wheelchair forward.

"Not bad." Zhang Ye replied somewhat perfunctorily. Having seen quite a few movies, he wasn't too surprised by all this. It was just that the environment here reminded him of the Mutant base in the X-Men movies, which seemed to be just like this.

Rounding a bend in the passage, a metal door like the entrance to a bank vault quickly came into Zhang Ye's view. On the door was a massive 'X' symbol.

"This is the place." Pietro drove towards the gate and saw a smart lock next to it, which could be unlocked with a password, palm print, or iris scan.

This time, Pietro took even less time. After only ten seconds, the metal door screeched as it slid open to both sides.

Indeed, this really was the X-Men's base. However, in this world, it had been transformed by the insane President X into his own private chamber, filled with all sorts of trophies. Each item, if taken outside, could fetch a lot of money on the black market.

Besides the useless Darkhold and Book of Vishanti, Zhang Ye also saw a Captain America shield with a hexagram pattern, Iron Man's helmet, Hawkeye's bow and arrows, Hank Pym's unfinished Ant-Man suit, and even a Thor's hammer!

In this world, there are actually two individuals who 'claim' to be Thor. One is the Thor who joined the Avengers, wielding an indestructible hammer and proclaiming himself the true Thor. However, this 'god' died in a Patriot Missile strike.

And the hammer in his hand wasn't as magical as the legends claimed. At least, the fact that his hammer could be kept here as a trophy was enough to show it was a fake that anyone could pick up.

Another one calling himself Thor was the old man who created the Thor cult, but he was dragged to the street and shot by the public security officers cracking down on cults.

In short, in this world, anyone who claims to use 'magic,' 'witchcraft,' or 'divine power' basically never ends up well.

"Zhang, what you're looking for is here." Just as Zhang Ye was engrossed in observing these magical items, Pietro stopped by a counter not far away and called out to Zhang Ye.

Hearing this, Zhang Ye immediately stopped thinking about those things and went to Pietro's side. Following the direction Pietro pointed, Zhang Ye saw the tablet-sized machine. On its back was engraved an orange clock, exactly like Miss Minutes in its memory.

"This is it!" Zhang Ye's eyes flashed with a hint of light as he abruptly picked up the Time Twister, his fingers clicking on it incessantly.

At the touch of a finger, the Time Twister instantly lit up, and an image appeared on the screen. It was the real Time Lady, a two-dimensional animated creation.

However, this Miss Time wasn't like the Loki from the American TV series in Zhang Ye's memory. She slowly opened her eyes, her pupils turning towards Zhang Ye's position with a cold and eerie gaze that was a little frightening. Even Zhang Ye couldn't help but feel a chill when stared at with such eyes.

"&……%&* Failure ((&* (Error%#……"

Like the crackling static from an old radio, Ms. Time's mouth opened and closed, emitting a variety of noisy, unintelligible, strange sounds, like the language of another planet, or a sentence being played in reverse.

"Ms. Time, take us away from here." Zhang Ye's heart tightened, and he couldn't help but say.

If this damn thing is really broken, then all my previous efforts will have been for nothing!

As the words faded, Miss Time's chaotic and bizarre voice abruptly ceased. Then, a hint of human-like emotion seemed to flicker in her eyes. Heaven knows how Zhang Ye and Pietro managed to discern emotional fluctuations from the gaze of an animated creation.

"You... know me?" Miss Time finally spoke her first comprehensible sentence.

That wasn't any national language, but a sound similar to biological radio waves, allowing any intelligent creature to understand what she wanted to express.

"Yes, I know you. Take me away from here." Zhang Ye said earnestly, holding the Time Twister.

Lady Time stared blankly at Zhang Ye, as if she were studying and understanding the meaning of his words, or perhaps her machine was reacting too slowly, unable to process so much information.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye urged again.

"I know you can open a time portal. Hurry, take us out of this world!"

Zhang Ye's brow furrowed deeply. He had never encountered this situation before. Pietro, standing beside him, remained silent, not daring to interrupt Zhang Ye's conversation with Miss Time, even though he really wanted to speak.

After who knows how long, Time Lady finally reacted. She stiffly forced a wide smile, if you could even call it that.

Immediately afterward, a flash of purple barrier rapidly expanded from beneath Peter's feet.

"As you wish."