Captain America pressed a hand to his ear and called out softly, “Barton.”
At this moment, Steve was distracted by a beautiful butterfly, hopping and skipping after it as it flew away.
“Hey, don’t wander off…” Captain America said, feeling somewhat helpless, but the lack of a response in his earpiece made him anxious.
“Barton, are you there?”
Two seconds later, a response finally crackled through the earpiece: “Phew… Sorry, Cap. Just got held up by a few zombies that popped out of nowhere… How’s the situation on your end?”
“This Steve isn’t a bad person. Plus, he has some amazing special abilities. I want to take him to the survivor camp in New York first. The people there need his help.”
“…Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“What if it’s like last time…”
Hearing this, Captain America glanced at the block man who was currently hopping around chasing the butterfly.
“…I’ll keep a close eye on him.”
“…Alright. You’re the boss,” Barton conceded.
“Find anything in the office?”
“Yeah, I found several documents just like the Professor said. They might be related to the source of the virus.”
“Good. Take the stairs down. We’ll head back to the camp first…”
Before he could finish, there was a loud “thump” as a figure appeared before them in a classic superhero landing pose.
It was Barton.
He stood up, his grappling hook gun retracting its cable with a “whir”: “Sorry, Cap, didn’t catch that last part. Where did you want me to go?”
Captain America smiled helplessly, rubbing his forehead and shaking his head.
He turned and shouted, “Hey, Steve!”
Steve stopped chasing the butterfly.
Seeing another person beside Captain America, he quickly crouched repeatedly as a sign of friendship.
Barton stared in confusion.
What was this guy doing?
“We’re planning to go to a survivor camp. Want to come along?” Captain America asked.
Steve seemed to think for a few seconds before nodding his blocky head.
A survivor camp?
That sounded more or less like a village.
And so, two humans and one block man set off together on the road to the New York survivor camp.
Along the way, Barton kept sizing Steve up.
From a distance, he looked a bit cute and dorky, but up close, his presence was truly imposing.
Noticing his gaze, Steve took the initiative to speak: “Hello, I am Steve.”
Barton was startled: “Uh… Barton. Clint Barton. Code name: Hawkeye.”
Hearing this, Steve felt a massive shock to his system!
Hawk!
Eye!
What a cool name!!!
Compared to that, things like Creepers, Skeletons, and Endermen paled in comparison!!!
Naturally, Hawkeye had no idea what was going through that big block head.
He turned to Captain America and asked, “You mentioned before that this guy has special abilities. What are they?”
Captain America recounted what had happened earlier, leaving Hawkeye stunned.
“Quickly healing others… that really is a rare ability. If he’s not a villain, he could be of great use in this apocalypse.”
The scattered zombies along the way were easily handled by Captain America and Hawkeye.
The two occasionally had time to chat.
Steve didn’t pay much attention; he didn’t understand things like viruses, symbiotes, or mutations anyway, so he just focused on looking at the scenery.
Who built this map?
It’s even more impressive than the server maps players used to take him to, he thought to himself.
After walking for about several dozen minutes, Steve finally saw the survivor camp Captain America had mentioned.
At the street entrance, a massive vault door from who-knows-where stood abruptly in the middle of the street, about ten blocks high.
This was the camp’s gate.
Steve didn’t recognize what it was, but he could tell its defensive power was staggering.
On the road in front of the vault door, layers of barbed wire acted as barriers.
On either side of the door, discarded shipping containers were stacked into a wall nearly ten blocks high, with a row of dark cannon muzzles mounted along the top.
Just as the three of them stopped at the base of the vault door, a red beam of light shot down from above, seemingly scanning them.
Then, after several clangs, the vault door opened a crack, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Steve followed the two into the camp, and several large military tents came into view.
Though called a camp, it actually encompassed at least half a block, with at least three buildings within its perimeter.
There were many survivors; some were repairing generators, some were sitting and eating, and others were swinging blades at something that looked like an armor stand, seemingly undergoing combat training.
Hawkeye nodded to Captain America and walked toward the group training on the basketball court.
Captain America signaled for Steve to wait a moment and walked to the side, covering his ear and talking to himself.
At that moment, a child who looked less than ten years old came running between the tents holding half a piece of chocolate.
A man nearby shouted, “Slow down,” before lowering his head to continue repairing the generator.
Thud!
The child slammed forehead-first into Steve’s Netherite Chestplate, falling backward onto the ground as the chocolate flew out of his hand.
Captain America heard the noise and turned around, quickly stepping forward to help the child up.
“Hey, hey… are you okay, Jimmy?”
Jimmy clutched his forehead in pain.
When he opened his eyes and gradually saw the giant object in front of him, the color drained from his face instantly, and he froze in shock.
What on earth is this thing?!
“It’s okay, don’t be nervous. This guy just looks scary…” Captain America comforted him.
The man who had been repairing the generator had already rushed forward to shield Jimmy, staring at Steve with a terrified expression.
Steve: ◨▂◧?
After much persuasion and comfort from Captain America, the man finally led Jimmy away, looking back repeatedly with every few steps.
“Sigh… your appearance really is…” Captain America sighed, shaking his head as he watched the two figures leave.
When he turned back, Steve was gone.
Where did he go?!
Turning his head again, he saw Steve standing in front of an old man named Hassan, crouching rapidly and repeatedly reaching out his right hand toward him.
Captain America:???
Hassan:???
You might not understand what’s happening here, but once I describe Hassan’s appearance, you’ll get it.
Hassan was Middle Eastern with brownish skin, a bald head, thick eyebrows that met in the middle, and a very large nose.
He wore a loose, dark brown robe, and because he was sensitive to the cold, he kept both hands tucked into his sleeves across his chest.
That’s right—Steve had mistaken Hassan for a Villager rendered with a high-definition texture pack and was trying to right-click him to trade.
Faced with this rectangular monster that was a head taller than him, Hassan turned pale with fright.
He whipped his hands out of his sleeves, and with a “snap,” an orange-gold magic circle materialized amidst sparks between his wrists as he took a combat stance!
This Hassan was actually a mage!
Captain America rushed forward to soothe Hassan while forcibly dragging away Steve, who was currently tossing gold ingots and Emeralds at him…
Before leaving, Steve made a “pop-pop-pop” sound as he sucked the gold ingots and Emeralds back from the ground; after all, they shouldn’t go to waste.
Along the way, this strange duo drew stares from everyone, but because Captain America was there, people weren’t exactly terrified—mostly just curious.
“Please, stop running off. I’m taking you to meet someone first…” Captain America sighed, rubbing his forehead.
“Once you’ve met him, it’ll be much easier for you to move around here. After that, we’ll arrange a place for you to stay…”
Before he could finish, he heard a sudden, soft “thump” behind him.
Turning around, a flat block had appeared out of thin air on the ground.
Red and white, seemingly with a wooden frame…
Captain America:???
Steve: ◨▂◧
“Is this… a bed?” Captain America asked, dumbfounded.
Steve nodded his big blocky head and then reached out his right hand to poke the bed twice.
Captain America: “…What are you doing?”
Steve: “Setting spawn point.”
Captain America: “Whaaaat?”
What-is-this-guy-talking-about.jpg
Three seconds later, Captain America gave up trying to understand the block man’s logic and decided to focus on the task at hand.
Don’t try to force yourself into a circle you don’t belong in.
He led Steve to a tent located at the base of an apartment building, which seemed to be the core area of the camp.
As Captain America lifted the tent flap, a bald back of a head entered Steve’s view.
…
After the young man confirmed that Steve had disappeared from his game, the first thing he did was take a photo and send it to his childhood best friend.
“Holy crap, bro! I came back from taking a dump and my character is just gone. Any idea how to fix this??”
Two minutes later, his friend replied:
“Didn’t you just press F1 to hide the UI? Who are you trying to fool? (sweating emoji)”
The young man stared at the reply for a second and then started frantically mashing F1 on his keyboard.
“Damn it, it’s not working at all!!” The young man picked up his phone again in a fit of rage.
“Whatever, I’ll just ask online…”
At this moment, he had no idea that in just six hours, his strange encounter would cause a massive stir throughout the entire Minecraft community, and in seventy-two hours, he would be famous across the whole internet.