The atmosphere in the luxurious hotel suite in Orlando was somewhat heavy.
Lin Huai sat by the huge floor-to-ceiling window, unconsciously fiddling with the Yellow Crystal Pendant in his hand, but not performing any divination. He just quietly watched the brilliant Florida sunshine outside the window, his eyes unusually confused.
"Hey, relax a bit, my little mysticism kid."
Tony Stark walked over holding two prepared cocktails, shoved one into Lin Huai's hand, and leisurely leaned back on the sofa himself.
"I have a reasonable scientific speculation," he said, shaking the ice in his glass with a deliberately pompous tone. "Perhaps, your deity is busy battling some arch-nemesis and can't answer your calls. And you, unfortunately, keep getting prank calls from some intern's pet."
Lin Huai twitched the corner of his mouth, lacking the energy to retort.
Just then, Jarvis's polite and steady voice sounded in the room.
"Sir, an encrypted communication request from Agent Phil Coulson has been connected for you."
"Put it through." Tony raised an eyebrow, feeling quite surprised.
On the holographic screen, Coulson's perpetually unchanged nice-guy face exuded an official sense of detachment; even through the screen, his awkwardness was palpable. His tone was stiff and businesslike.
"Mr. Stark," he began with a formal greeting, then got straight to the point. "In the past 72 hours, Florida, especially the Orlando area, has received reports of over thirty mysterious cases of Mass Emotional Deficiency Syndrome."
He pulled up files one by one, showing the hollow, numb faces of children.
"They show no physical injuries but exhibit symptoms of losing interest and joy in everything."
Coulson paused, speaking in a tone that sounded like he had a toothache. "We are searching for the final location of the incident, but this event appears too mysterious. Director Fury believes your special consultant... might be able to provide some unconventional perspective on this matter."
As soon as he finished, he added one last piece of intelligence: "According to our preliminary investigation, all the affected children's families purchased family package tickets for the Orlando Miracle Kingdom Theme Park. We have already sealed off that park and are conducting an investigation."
Kingdom of Wonders!!!
This term struck like a bolt of lightning, instantly clearing the fog in Lin Huai's mind!
A theme park, a massive factory designed to create happiness! This was the most logical crime scene! All the maliciously distorted divinations before were just a huge smokescreen to divert his attention from this most obvious target!
A cold glint flashed in Lin Huai's eyes, but Tony Stark was one step ahead of him.
The playful smile vanished from Tony's face. He spoke slowly to Coulson on the screen: "Interesting intelligence, Coulson. My consultant will... meditate on it. If there are results, we'll notify you."
After saying this, he didn't even wait for a response, simply snapping his fingers.
"Jarvis, hang up."
The communication was cleanly cut off.
"Tony..." Lin Huai was about to speak.
"Shh, it seems this matter is quite tricky. Even after we've had a falling out, he still comes to us." Tony raised a hand to stop him, wearing an expression of 'finally my turn' with an unmistakable smug smile. "Don't rush, my little mysticism kid."
He didn't even glance at Lin Huai, directly issuing a rapid, clear series of instructions to Jarvis in the air, his speech so fast it was like conducting a symphony:
"Jarvis, activate the Stark Global Data Center, capture all visitor mobile GPS heatmaps from Kingdom of Wonders over the past 72 hours!"
"Overlay the heatmaps with the victim family addresses provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. for big data cross-referencing, filter out all physical areas visited by all victims with a stay time exceeding ten minutes!"
Within just a few minutes, massive data streams surged across the holographic screen like a waterfall.
Finally, with a soft "ding," a 3D map of Kingdom of Wonders clearly appeared before them. A bright red circle precisely locked onto a colorful, twisted-shaped building.
The Joker's Funhouse Mirror Maze in the Fantasy Zone.
Tony leisurely stood up, walked to the screen, crossed his arms, and looked down at Lin Huai's complex expression with a smile so thick it seemed about to drip.
"See, Lin. Your divination took us on a tour of all Florida, while my servers caught the Criminal in five minutes."
He wagged a finger in front of Lin Huai.
"This point goes to science."
After saying this, he turned triumphantly and gave another order: "Jarvis, connect to Coulson, let's see how S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation is progressing."
As the communication reconnected and Coulson's face appeared, Tony interrupted whatever he might have said with a matter-of-fact tone.
"Coulson, my consultant just completed an extremely complex multi-point exclusionary divination ritual. Your intelligence provided the final calibration step for our ritual. Thank you very much."
He pointed at the bright red circle on the screen as if lecturing a student.
"Location: the Joker's Funhouse Mirror Maze. Now, clear the area, evacuate everything within five hundred meters. The professionals are about to take the stage."
These words clearly caught Coulson off guard on the other end of the line. Lin Huai also looked up, glanced at Tony in surprise, then lowered his head again, just the corner of his mouth lifting almost imperceptibly.
A cooperation, like two kids who just had a spat but started playing together again over a toy, was thus formed.
After the call ended, Tony went off spiritedly to prepare his iron man armor. Lin Huai remained alone in place, looking at the precise red circle from the data analysis on the holographic screen, then down at the pendant in his hand that had repeatedly malfunctioned during this journey, remaining silent for a long time.
The previous confusion and self-doubt were swept away, replaced by a cold clarity.
It wasn't that the divination was wrong, nor that his skills were lacking.
On the contrary, the divination results were extremely accurate, but this accuracy had been packaged before being sent to him.
This is Anti-Divination in the field of mysticism.
No need to know who he is or what he's doing. As long as the other party is willing, they can contaminate and interfere with the divination of Low-Sequence Individuals, leading the revelations into logically closed dead ends.
The Joker's foolish acts, children's sorrow, lovers' fading passion... each divination result was like a carefully packaged bait, technically flawless, yet leading him away from the true target.
Lin Huai tightened his grip on the pendant in his hand, feeling the cold touch of the crystal.
He looked up, the last trace of confusion in his eyes dissipating, becoming as sharp as a scalpel.
Being played for a fool all along—this kind of trick, he'd had enough of it last time.