Chapter 61: Gifts (Part 2)
Lan Xingyu and his group walked outside. As they were about to get into the car, Lan Xingyu said, "Wait a moment, I need to make something."
Lan Xingyu stepped to the side, swung his arms, and clapped his hands together. A series of afterimages appeared during the movement. Then, he spread his hands outward, and several Clones emerged.
That's right, it was the same Clone technique Doctor Strange used against Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
Seeing this scene, even Tony and Pepper, who knew Lan Xingyu was very powerful and capable of various magics, were still a bit dazed. Especially Tony, who had already begun to become a total Xingyu-stan. As for why, we won't say much—everyone understands.
Lan Xingyu waved his hand and signaled all the Clones to assemble! The Clones also knew what Lan Xingyu was planning. They all lined up in an orderly fashion.
Then, all the Clones took out a white hat from their Pocket Space. There were three words on the hat (everyone can guess what they were).
Meteor Shower himself also put on a hat and walked to the front of the lined-up Clones. He feigned seriousness, took out a slip of paper, and read, "Do not act on your own to avoid getting separated."
"Yes!"
The lead actor and the extras coordinated with perfect chemistry.
"Do not quarrel with other little friends."
"Yes!"
"Use the fireworks and other tools properly..."
"Yes!"
"Good, now dismissed!"
This was something Lan Xingyu had thought of yesterday while buying fireworks, just in time to implement his plan.
These Clones were just like the Multi-Shadow Clones from Naruto; they could use Lan Xingyu's abilities, and their memories would return to him after they disappeared. Each also had its own personality. They would also vanish after taking a certain amount of damage. But here was the catch: they could also elementalize. Thus, these Clones were almost as invincible as Lan Xingyu himself.
The only difference from shadow Clones was likely that Lan Xingyu possessed absolute control over them.
Now Tony and Pepper were even more bewildered. Since you told them not to get separated, why did you then say "dismissed"? And as for those Clones, some opened Teleportation Gates, while others simply flew away. In an instant, they all vanished.
Lan Xingyu had some fun, and with his plans for the evening all set, he was in an exceptionally good mood. He excitedly hopped into Tony's car. Several other cars followed behind, which were meant for picking up Peter and the others. And so, with everything prepared, Lan Xingyu set off.
———— I am a divider line ————
The first stop was, of course, Gwen's house. Since her father was on duty and her mother was busy, Gwen was the only one coming. Her gift to Lan Xingyu was a plant. She said that since Lan Xingyu played games every day, he should put it next to his computer. Looking at it more often would help protect his eyes.
"Well, my wife really does care about me," he thought. Without a word, he immediately tucked it away.
Next was Peter's house. Surprisingly, Ned and Peter had stayed together last night. So, what exactly did you two do all night? However, Lan Xingyu soon found out. Peter and Ned hauled out a LEGO model that looked quite large to them and presented it to Xingyu.
"Happy Birthday, Xingyu! This is a gift from Ned and me," Peter said.
"Peter and Ned worked hard on this all night!" Uncle Ben added from the side.
Lan Xingyu was quite touched. He knew this was Peter and Ned's first major project. It was a very meaningful gift.
Lan Xingyu carefully put it away. Once they were in a blind spot behind the car, he stored the gift in his Pocket Space; only then did he feel at ease.
Peter's whole family had time, so they all went along. After picking up Peter's family and Ned, Lan Xingyu and the group headed toward the amusement park.
As the four little ones sat in one car, Lan Xingyu said, "In a bit, a very powerful person will be joining us. You can't go around blabbing about it after you see them," he said mysteriously.
"Who is it?" Gwen asked curiously. The other kids also leaned in closer.
"Hehe, I'm not telling you yet. Let's see if you can recognize them," Lan Xingyu said teasingly.
Before long, they arrived at the amusement park. A group of people had already gathered and were chatting. Lan Xingyu not only saw his "students" but also noticed Hawkeye with his wife and a young girl.
Lan Xingyu also saw Colonel Rhodes. No need to guess—Tony must have invited him.
"Hi, everyone's been waiting. I'm sorry," Lan Xingyu apologized. After all, he was the one who invited them, yet he made them wait.
"It's fine, it's fine. Happy Birthday, Xingyu! Let me introduce you. This is my daughter, Lina. Lina, this big brother is the birthday boy today!" Hawkeye introduced to Lan Xingyu.
"Hello, my name is Lan Xingyu. It's nice to meet you, and I'm even happier that you could come." Lan Xingyu reached out and shook Lina's hand.
"Hello, just call me Lina. It's nice to meet you. Oh, and here is your gift." Lina was a bit shy.
Lan Xingyu opened the gift; it was a wooden toy bow.
"This is the second bow I've ever made. I hope you like it," Lina said somewhat timidly.
"Wow! This is so cool! I love it! Hehe," Lan Xingyu said excitedly. Indeed, boys have a special love for things like swords and bows.
Just then, Peter and Ned also came out from behind.
"Wow! This bow is so cool! Lan Xingyu, can you let us play with it later?" Peter and Ned asked enviously.
"Not yet! I haven't even played with it enough myself!" Lan Xingyu said, then proceeded to introduce everyone.
"This is Peter Parker," Lan Xingyu said, pointing at Peter.
"Just call me Peter," Peter said.
"I'm Ned Leeds. Nice to meet you. Can I ask, is there a chance you could make one for me too? This is just way too cool." Before Lan Xingyu could even introduce him, Ned volunteered his own introduction.
"Mhm, of course. I'm glad you like it too." Lina was also very happy. Because of her father, she usually lived in a very remote place, which meant she didn't have many friends. Having so many friends all at once today made her very happy.
At this moment, Gwen also walked over. Lan Xingyu continued the introductions: "This is Gwen Stacy. She's also my classmate."
"Just call me Gwen. I thought I'd be the only girl here. It's so good to meet you," Gwen said.
Perhaps beautiful girls naturally gravitate toward each other; Gwen and Lina became fast friends and started chatting away.
Clint Barton saw how happy his daughter was and began to wonder if he should send her to the same school as Lan Xingyu and the others. He used to worry about her safety, but now there was Xingyu, wasn't there? Well, he'd discuss it with his wife when they got back.
Then Natasha and Rhodey walked over and presented their gifts: a cute bear pajama set with a hood and a pair of running shoes, respectively.
"By the way, Lan Xingyu, I'm so sorry! Coulson has a temporary mission today and couldn't make it. So he asked me to give his gift to you," Natasha said, taking out another present.
"It's okay, it can't be helped." Lan Xingyu was very understanding of Coulson. After all, Nick was training Coulson with the mindset of grooming a successor.
"Hi, Xingyu. Happy Birthday!" Finally, the Captain also walked over and gave Lan Xingyu a set of old sketchbooks.
"Uh... you know my situation. It was too late yesterday, and I only recently woke up, so I'm giving you these sketchbooks that accompanied me for half my life. I hope you like them," the Captain said.
"Oh, thank you, Captain. This is amazing!" Lan Xingyu carefully put them away. These were incredibly precious and held immense significance.
Hearing Lan Xingyu call him "Captain," Peter and the others looked over. When they saw who it was, they were all stunned.
"Xing... Xingyu. Am I dreaming? Ah!" Ned suddenly cried out in pain.
"Yep! It hurts, so it must be real." Peter's voice still sounded a bit skeptical as he pulled his hand back.
"Hehe, he's the real Captain America!" At this moment, Lina also walked over, holding hands with Gwen. She explained to the still-dazed Peter and his group, including Gwen.
"My dad was one of the people who helped wake the Captain up!" Lina said proudly. Mentioning her father, her face was full of pride.
To be honest, when S.H.I.E.L.D. found out who would be attending Lan Xingyu's birthday party, they had hesitated about whether to let Steve go. But in the end, after Lan Xingyu had casually blown up an asteroid cluster much larger than Earth in space, they stopped bothering Steve.
So, this tells us that we must exercise. After all, reading books is so you can speak calmly to idiots, while exercising is so that idiots will speak calmly to you.
This way, we can achieve a perfect flow: when you try to reason with me, I'll talk to you about physics; when you try to talk to me about physics... it's still useless, because you can't beat me anyway.
Just as everyone was surrounding Captain America, Tony walked over.
"Kids, you can go play in the amusement park while listening to the Captain tell you stories. Hello, Captain." Tony also greeted the Captain.
However, he didn't talk trash like in the original story, because after learning that Lan Xingyu was his child, he had read many articles on parenting. One of them was about leading by example; if a parent's words and actions are bad, it's easy to lead the child astray. So now, Tony was extremely mindful of his behavior.
Lan Xingyu had been worried about whether Tony and Cap would start bickering upon meeting, but seeing Tony's great attitude and how well he was chatting with Cap now, he was stunned.
Indeed, Tony was currently conversing with the Captain and leading them toward the amusement park. He was performing the duties of a host exceptionally well.
Tony had his own plans. In his view, Lan Xingyu's personality and values were still being formed—this was a crucial period. He knew exactly what kind of person he was, and he didn't want his own bad habits to rub off on Lan Xingyu. So, knowing that Captain America—a paragon of spirit and morality—would be among the guests, he wanted Lan Xingyu to have more contact with him. He hoped the Captain could influence Lan Xingyu through osmosis.
Lan Xingyu hadn't expected that his presence would invisibly soothe the relationship between Tony and the Captain.
But at the moment, he didn't think too much about it. He took his friends and ran toward the rides. Today, the amusement park and the surrounding areas had been rented out by Tony. That was why the Captain hadn't been swarmed by crowds earlier.
"Hey, did you know? I heard the speed at which cherry blossoms fall is five centimeters per second." Five centimeters per second—that's the speed of falling cherry blossoms. So, what speed is needed to bridge the distance between you and me? Writing isn't easy; please leave some recommendation votes and tips before you go.