Oklahoma City!
This is the capital of Oklahoma in America, possessing a rich cowboy atmosphere, with passersby dressed in cowboy attire visible everywhere on the streets.
Two figures sauntered out from an alleyway, and behind them, several figures could be vaguely seen lying motionless on the ground.
Darian held the handgun he had just seized and quipped, "Shooting at the slightest disagreement—with such 'simple and honest' folk customs, could we have arrived in Gotham?"
Wade waved his hand, "You're overthinking it, buddy. Look up at that big Sun; how could this possibly be that bat-themed playground where it's always raining?"
Darian surveyed the surrounding environment and asked, "Wade, are you sure there are qualified team members here?"
"Yes, buddy, absolutely. This is 'Logan', not only is there an Old Wolf, but there's also a little wolf—buy one get one free!"
Wade slapped his chest with a thud, but then his tone shifted, carrying a sense of wistfulness, "But having said that, the Old Wolf here is having a miserable time. He's old, his claws don't work, and he's still being chased and beaten by a bunch of extras like Raiders, only to end up dying miserably in his own hands. Wuwuwu, it's so touching; this script broke my heart!"
"Two qualified reserve team members, not bad."
Darian nodded, automatically filtering out Wade's nonsense and precisely extracting the core information.
"So, where are they?"
"According to the timeline, they will pass by the Harris Casino very soon. We can camp out there in advance and give that weather-beaten Old Wolf a surprise."
After finalizing the plan, the two acted immediately.
Darian found a car on the side of the road, opened the door with a skeleton key, then pulled out the wires to hotwire it, starting the engine in one fluid motion.
Wade was amazed, "Whoa, you're too professional! Where did you learn that? GTA?"
"Nothing to it, just practice."
Darian calmly sat in the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror; he couldn't even be bothered to show off with such a small feat.
The car sped off toward the Harris Casino.
In the passenger seat, Wade's mouth was like a floodgate that had been opened, pouring out nonsense in a completely illogical way, saying almost whatever came to mind.
He crossed his legs and swung his toes smugly, "I might as well tell you, I'm actually already seriously drafting my job application letter to the Avengers. The wording is elegant, fully demonstrating my sense of responsibility and unparalleled humor."
"As soon as Marvel completes the Universe acquisition of Fox and opens the Marvel entrance, I'll go to the Avengers Tower in New York to apply immediately. I believe that with my unique charm and strength, they will absolutely fight to recruit me into the Avengers!"
"Give up, they won't recruit you." Darian mercilessly struck him down.
He knew the personalities of the Avengers members; for a goofball like Wade, they would definitely tell him to get lost as far as possible.
Besides, even he couldn't get into the Avengers, so why should Wade?
"You don't understand!"
Wade waved his hand, his tone full of confidence, "Now Tony Stark is dead, Captain America has become an old relic and retired, that big dummy Thor ran off to an outer galaxy to hang out with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Hulk has traded his brawn for brains, and even my ex-wife Black Widow is dead. The Avengers are currently at their most desperate for people."
Are you missing a member of the Avengers?
Darian thought about it carefully.
Hmm, it seems they are indeed all there.
Wade continued, "Plus, Marvel's later movies are getting worse and worse, a hodgepodge of political correctness, with both box office and reputation collapsing. They are now in urgent need of a C-list savior who can carry the traffic, hold down the fort, and make the audience laugh. Obviously, I am that savior who will save Marvel. I am... Marvel Jesus!"
"Sorry to disappoint, but you won't become the savior, because Marvel will only get worse. Decades later, superheroes will be stacked with all kinds of BUFFs. A character like you with zero BUFFs will just be swept into the dustbin of history and forgotten by all Marvel fans."
Wade spoiled Darian, and in return, Darian naturally had to spoil him back. Don't forget, Darian is from the future World and knows the ending of Marvel all too well.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Wade burst into exaggerated laughter, waving his hands vigorously to deny this reality.
"As long as I join, along with Tony Stark's godson, my dear Peter Parker, we will join forces to save the dying Phase 4 and Phase 5, shoot the most perfect Avengers 5 and 6, and create the box office champion in Marvel movie history!"
Wade was completely immersed in his grand blueprint for saving the Marvel Universe, his mouth frantically outputting useless information.
Darian couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him and directly pulled up the game system settings, turning the volume down to the minimum.
Yes, this game even has a volume adjustment function.
But because this function wasn't very useful, Darian had never used it. Who would have thought that one day, this almost decorative game setting would actually come in handy because of Wade.
Darian directly muted Wade's voice, but he still saw a huge pile of subtitles floating before his eyes, filling the dialogue box to the brim, so he simply turned off the subtitles as well.
Now the World was instantly quiet!
Very quickly, Darian drove the car to a brightly lit large casino.
In the passenger seat, Wade's mouth was still opening and closing, accompanied by rich gestures, performing a silent one-man show.
Darian interrupted directly, "Cut the crap, hurry up and change your outfit. If we go in looking like this, what if people mistake us for bad guys?"
Wade: "..."
Your mask looks even more evil than a villain's, how dare you say that to me!?
Seeing a few clothes in the car, Wade wanted to strip and change right there, but Darian kicked him out of the car door.
Before Wade could get angry, Darian slammed a handful of cash into his face.
"Go to the clothing store next door and buy new ones."
"Okay, Captain!"
Wade's anger vanished instantly, and he trotted off to the clothing store next door.
As for where Darian got this cash, it was, of course, from when they just landed; he accidentally bumped into a few passersby on the street and inadvertently triggered his theft skill, swiping it from them.
Not long after, Wade walked out of the clothing store in a cowboy outfit, but he was still wearing his panda-eye mask.
He swaggered to the car, one hand on his hip, and the other making a gesture of holding an imaginary revolver and blowing away the smoke.
"Buddy, do I look cool in this?"
"It's alright."
Darian pushed open the car door and stepped out.
He had also finished changing, having removed his magic mask to reveal a handsome face comparable to the readers, paired with a charming suit, completely crushing Wade before him.
Wade was dumbfounded, "What the f*ck! How are you so handsome... wait, why isn't your face disfigured!?"
"Who said my face was disfigured?"
"Everyone knows Doom's face has long been disfigured, pockmarked like the surface of the moon, which is why he always wears that iron mask. That's how it's set in the comics and movies. You are openly violating the fundamental laws!"
"I've already said I'm not the Doom you're talking about; I am Darian."
"F*ck! I thought we were the same kind of people, but you actually betrayed me!"
Wade became more agitated as he spoke, as if he had been backstabbed by Darian.
Darian looked at him with interest, eyebrows slightly raised, "So, is your face disfigured too?"
"No! Not at all! Don't you go around spreading rumors!"
Wade immediately launched a triple denial, his voice involuntarily rising, "My face is fine! Not only is it smooth and delicate, handsome and extraordinary, but it's also full of damn charm. I was once voted the sexiest man in America; you know, the last one was Logan. Me wearing a mask is purely a personal style choice!"
"Oh?" Darian's tone carried obvious disbelief, "Since it's so good, take it off and let me see."
"No!" Wade protected his mask with both hands and stepped back half a step.
"It's okay, I promise I won't make fun of you."
"I refuse! A man's mask and a woman's age are taboos that cannot be touched!"
"One thousand dollars."
Wade hesitated instantly, his heart undergoing a fierce internal struggle, and finally whispered, "Then it's a deal, you can't make fun of it when you see my face!"
"Rest assured, I'm not that kind of person."
Having received Darian's assurance, Wade, in a near-tragic posture, took off his mask, revealing a pockmarked, terrifying face.
How to put it, it looked just like Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street, the kind that could scare someone to death if it walked out at night.
Darian wanted to quip, but remembering his promise to Wade, he had to say with discretion, "Your face... is truly quite unique."
Wade's eyes lit up, "Tell me, how is it unique?"
"Especially... especially ugly."
Wade: "..."
Darian looked at the instantly wilted Wade and shrugged indifferently, feeling not a shred of guilt.
This couldn't be blamed on him; it was Wade who insisted on asking. He had been honest since childhood, calling a spade a spade—this was one of his virtues, and he couldn't change it.
Darian made Wade put his mask back on.
There was no helping it; this guy was even scarier without his mask than with it. It didn't matter if he scared him, but it wouldn't be good if he scared the flowers and plants on the side of the road.
Once inside the casino, Wade instantly came back to life, his lethargy swept away. He took out the stack of dollars he had just earned from Darian, heroically exchanged it all for chips, and dove headfirst into the nearest roulette table.
Darian didn't stop him; since the target hadn't arrived yet, he let him be.
He didn't stay idle either, casually borrowing chips from a few kind-hearted people who couldn't refuse, and found a spot to play as well.
Not long after, Wade walked over like a defeated rooster, cursing, "F*ck! This broken roulette wheel must have been rigged! With my, Lord Wade's, earth-shattering luck, how could I lose every single time? This is unscientific! Darian, I strongly suggest we smash this casino..."
His complaint stopped abruptly.
Because he saw that on the green velvet in front of Darian, the chips had already piled up into a considerable small mountain, and the young, sexy dealer opposite was trembling as she shook the dice, her chest muscles shaking wildly.
"F*ck God!" Wade gasped, lunging over, his white eye-patches widening into perfect circles, "Buddy, did you win all this?"
Darian happened to win another round, and the chips doubled again.
Only then did he nod, with an air of nonchalance as if it were a matter of course, not even bothering to say a word, full of the demeanor of an expert.
Wade was shocked, "Are you Doom or Gambit? This gambling skill is just too f*cking strong!"
Darian stacked the newly acquired chips and said calmly, "That Gambit you're talking about? Before you appeared, I won until he only had a pair of patterned underwear left."
"Daddy Doom!" Wade knelt down without hesitation and hugged Darian's thigh, "Teach me! Please! To tell you the truth, I've actually always had a dream, and that is to dominate the entire casino!"
"You don't have the aptitude; you won't be able to learn it." Darian refused decisively.
"I think I can have it."
"No, you don't."
Darian didn't want to be annoyed by this guy, so he tossed him a dozen or so chips, "Take your dream and get lost to the side."
"Alrighty!" Wade immediately got up and ran off, making the people around him feel both disgusted and envious—they wanted to hug the thigh too!
Darian ignored the surrounding gazes and played a few more rounds at the card table, the chips still piling up.
Finally, the casino manager, with sweat on his forehead, walked over quickly, wearing a professional smile on his face, and respectfully asked Darian in a low voice if he would be willing to move to the VIP suite upstairs, where the environment was more elegant and the limits were higher.
There was no helping it; Darian had won too much, and gamblers around him had already started mindlessly following his bets. If he continued to win like this, this table would suffer huge losses.
Darian knew when to stop; he was just killing time waiting, and there was no need to attract excessive attention. He exchanged the mountain of chips in front of him for a thick stack of large-denomination cash checks, then got up to find Wade.
Passing through the noisy slot machine area and roulette tables, he saw Wade at a gambling table.
Wade was sitting in the main seat with his legs spread wide, crossing his legs, his toes swinging smugly, exuding an arrogant air of "I'm the best."
Two blondes with big waves sat on either side of him, giggling incessantly and constantly feeding him fruit.
And what surprised Darian even more was that on the gambling table in front of Wade, there was actually a small stack of chips piled up; although it couldn't compare to what he had just won, the amount was still quite considerable.
Darian was stunned, "Wade, did you win this?"
Seeing Darian walk over, Wade said smugly, "That's right, I used your chips to go all-in on the highest odds. I admit there was a gambling element to it, but I bet right. Look, these little darlings are all won by me!"
Darian's mouth twitched. He had assumed that a loser like Wade definitely wouldn't be able to win money, but he didn't expect this guy to actually stumble upon a dead mouse—he really got lucky once.
He still held a glimmer of hope, "Then what about your money? You shouldn't have spent it yet, right?"
Wade laughed out loud, "Is Lord Wade such a stingy person? These are, of course, just what I had left after spending! If I don't enjoy winning money, wouldn't I have won it for nothing! Otherwise, where do you think these air-freighted fruits and these two beauties beside me came from?"
Darian: "..."
Wade felt Darian's expression was off, and in disbelief, he said in a wounded tone, "You've changed, buddy. You've actually started to be jealous of my talent!"
Darian was in no mood to play along with his memes and sighed, "Money won through gambling skills cannot be spent casually."
"Huh? Why? Is there such a thing as money that can't be spent?" Wade scoffed.
"I'm not joking. This money can only be used for charity, otherwise, it will bring unpredictable bad luck."
"Get over it, that's not scientific at all. I think you're just unhappy because you saw me win—"
Wade's voice stopped abruptly.
He suddenly froze, his arm halfway through a gesture suspended in mid-air, his movements stiff.
Not just him, everyone present, and even the entire noisy casino, instantly turned into a silent wax museum, extremely eerie!