Shadow of the Beautiful World

living ghost.

Merlin's description is a bit weird and conflicting.

The ghost itself refers to the phenomenon that the soul of a dead person, catalyzed by magic power, avoids the result of disappearing into thin air, and then continues to exist in the world in the form of a spirit body.

There are also many types of ghosts.

There are the most common earth-bound spirits, irrational wraiths, and rare ghosts that retain complete sanity, memory, and even rich emotions.

The last one is the rarest one, which is full of positive energy and can even condense the Holy Spirit into an energy body.

But there is no ghost that can be called alive.

Merlin's alive refers to a creature that still has the flowing vitality that can be seen by his vision.

But there is no such thing as vitality in ghosts.

Merlin turned into a black mist and brought Hill into an explosion pit more than 10 meters deep. Looking up from the bottom of the pit, this place seems to be like a mysterious sinkhole.

The shock wave generated by the explosion destroyed most of the buildings in the laboratory, but Merlin could feel that there were still some things in the ruined walls in front of him, and they were constantly emitting energy to the outside world.

The explosion may not have destroyed all the equipment Elias Starr had made.

Merlin said to Hill:

Maybe something survived.

What I'm more worried about now is the 'living ghost' you mentioned.

Agent Hill was standing in the shadow of the sinkhole. She looked back from time to time, holding a Geiger counter in her left hand and a pistol full of holy silver bullets in her right hand, looking nervous.

She said to Merlin:

Haven't found it yet, sir.

No.

Merlin frowned and replied that his perception of darkness had spread to the entire lab pit, but the fleeting perception of life seemed to have truly disappeared at this moment.

The pit was so quiet that Merlin had to wonder if he had made a mistake just now.

He maintained his vigilance and said to Hill:

Let's go and see what's still working. That should be what Fury needs.

OK.

Hill responded, and followed Merlin, walking towards the only small piece of ruins left in front of him from the explosion. I don't know if it's an illusion, or a weird feeling caused by Merlin's words. In short, Hill always feels that something is following them behind him.

This feeling made this girl who is afraid of ghosts feel extremely bad.

But fortunately, beside her is the most senior supernatural affairs officer of S.H.I.E.L.D., she couldn't help but take a few quick steps, approached Merlin, and followed Merlin step by step, making Agent Hill feel more safe in fear. feel.

The laboratory ruins that were miraculously preserved in the previous explosion were not large. After a few minutes, Merlin and Hill found the thing that was constantly emitting weak energy.

It was a strange instrument half buried in the ruins.

It looks like a strange experimental cabin made of metal and glass. The glass used to seal the door has already melted in the explosion, and the main body of the metal structure has also been severely twisted and torn, but the internal structure of the cabin can be vaguely seen .

It is like an enlarged version of a honeycomb, the inner metal wall is full of small hexagonal squares, reflecting golden light under the light of Hill's flashlight.

And judging from the burned wires and devices left inside the torn metal, this thing must be part of the precision equipment that Dr. Elias Starr did quantum entanglement experiments before.

But neither Merlin nor Hill knew much about such high-tech things. They didn't know what the honeycomb cabin in front of them was for.

It's down.

Merlin put his finger on the gap in the twisted metal cabin, and he said without looking back:

But it's still emitting some kind of energy that I haven't seen before. It's weird. We should move this thing back. Maybe the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists will tell us what this thing is for.

He withdrew his fingers and looked back at Hill, and the moment Merlin turned his head, the faint life fluctuation he felt before reappeared, and it was right beside Hill.

Get away!

Merlin yelled, and his body suddenly turned into black mist and rushed towards Hill. The latter's reaction was also extremely fast, and the girl suddenly rolled to the side. The billowing black mist almost brushed Hill's body and rushed into the shadow behind her, where a small figure seemed to be frightened.

It looked like a little girl in a skirt with a weird white glow.

She let out a hasty scream, and before Merlin's black mist touched her, she disappeared strangely again.

Merlin's black mist swept away, and his figure appeared behind the ghostly little girl. He looked around and frowned.

I can't feel any vitality in the dark perception, but the figure just now is real! Merlin was sure that it wasn't a ghost, it was a real, living little girl, but what was going on with her weird invisibility ability?

Sir, what was that just now?

Hill had also seen the little white girl standing behind her just a moment ago. That weird shape reminded Hill of many bad memories, and her face became a little pale.

She looked around and asked in a low voice:

Is that really a ghost?

No, she is not.

Merlin closed his eyes, constantly enhancing his perception of darkness, he replied softly:

You are an ordinary person, Hill, you can't see a ghost. If you can see her, it means that she is not a ghost.

So, it's actually a child?

Hearing that Merlin denied the specter's guess, Hill's expression suddenly became relaxed. As long as it's not something mysterious, she won't be afraid.

Holding the pistol, she walked up to Merlin, and looked around with the vigilance that an excellent agent should have.

A few minutes later, Merlin opened his eyes, and he shook his head:

No, I don't feel it. That child is a little weird. She seems to be playing hide-and-seek with us on purpose.

If it's a child, sir.

Hill thought for a while, put away her pistol, and said to Merlin:

It's possible she's freaking out, let me deal with that.

Hill stood in the shadows, and she took a deep breath to calm herself down. After a while, she spoke to the emptiness in front of her eyes in the gentlest voice:

Son, we know you're here. Come out, we won't hurt you. We're here to help.

Hill kept calling, persuading the invisible little girl.

Merlin stood on the side, and he also showed the gentlest expression, but he did not relax. The darkness perception was like a radar, covering the ruins firmly, and he could feel any disturbance immediately.

pain

Just as Hill called out for the third time, a faint voice came from behind the two of them.

Merlin and Hill turned their heads at the same time, and saw a little girl with long black hair and a little white dress curled up in the corner of the metal cabin they had discovered before.

She seemed to be terrified. She squatted there with her hands on her shoulders, and looked at Hill and Merlin with a kind of look that was looking forward to help, pitiful, like a wounded little animal.

The look on her face was pained, and she whispered:

It hurts so much, help me.

The little girl's figure is very illusory, like a ghost in the legend, it feels like there is no entity.

But she is real.

After she took the initiative to appear, Merlin saw the strange life activities in her body. It's like being between existence and non-existence, the flow of vitality is like a candle in the wind, which may be extinguished at any time, but it is also very tenacious. In that kind of turbulent fluctuation, she strives to maintain her own existence .

Don't be afraid, child.

Hill stretched out his hand, indicating that he was not malicious. She slowly approached the little girl. Under her gaze, Hill squatted in front of her eyes. The secret agent girl stretched out her hand, trying to touch the head of this lovely little girl.

But her outstretched hand worn through the little girl's head in a strange gesture.

It was as if what existed in front of her eyes was just a very realistic and lifelike three-dimensional projection.

this

Hill hastily withdrew her hand, and she looked back at Merlin in a little bewilderment. Merlin was standing beside the little girl, and he observed her carefully. A moment later he said to Hill:

The child's cells are constantly tearing apart, and then new cells are constantly being born. Her actual body has been annihilated, but the new cells represent that she is still 'alive'. It's really strange between A weird state between being alive and dead.

Merlin squatted down. He looked at the little girl in front of him who kept crying out for pain. He asked softly:

Son, tell me, what's your name? How did you become like this?

Ava, my name is Ava Starr.

The little girl looked at Merlin, endured the pain, and said softly:

I came to see Dad do the experiment. He told me and Mom that his experiment was a success and he wanted to celebrate but the lab, that big machine had sparks, beautiful bright sparks Dad and the other uncles were freaked out .”

The little girl recalled her previous memories, and she said intermittently:

My father asked my mother to take me away, but I didn't want to leave my father. My mother ran back after me, and my father asked me to hide in the glass house.

Pointing to the twisted, honeycomb-like metal cabin beside her, she said:

I saw flames coming out of that big machine. The flames were like sunlight. They were very hot and bright. They lit up the entire laboratory and there was a loud sound, like an explosion.

When I wake up

Little Ava raised her hands, and her ten fingers kept jumping back and forth in the illusory and solid state. It can be seen that this little girl is also very puzzled about her current state, and with a trace of fear, she says:

It just became like this. My parents, uncles and aunts are gone, and the laboratory is gone. I am in pain all over my body.

Little Ava hugged her body tightly in pain, like a child being blown in the cold wind, she raised her head, looked at Merlin and Hill with expectant eyes, and said:

Brother, sister, can you help me? I'm in so much pain.

We're here to help you, kid.

Merlin stretched out his hand and caressed little Ava's hair. He said to the poor girl in front of him who had suffered a disaster:

You must be tired, right? Do you want to rest?

Well, I'm tired, brother.

Little Ava looked at Merlin with tears in her eyes, and she said:

But I can't sleep, it hurts.

Then let me make a magic spell for you.

Merlin was like teasing a child, he pulled out the dark red wand from his waist, and in the midst of full magic power, a dark red light wrapped around the top of the wand Lola, illuminating the surrounding darkness.

This scene immediately caught the attention of little Ava, who was still a child after all.

She watched in amazement as Merlin waved the wand in his hand. The wand drew a circle in the air. The next moment, a ray of light shot out from the top of the wand and hit her.

Ever since waking up, little Ava, who has been haunted by pain, felt heavy drowsiness almost immediately when she was surrounded by the light.

She yawned and closed her eyes involuntarily. The next second, she fell into the deepest sleep.

As little Ava fell into a deep sleep, the illusory feeling that emerged from her body quickly became solidified, as if the whole person had changed from a ghost state to a flesh and blood body again.

But Hill stretched out his hand, but still couldn't touch Ava's body.

That solid body of flesh and blood is just an illusion, and the child is still unable to be touched.

wingardium leviosa! (levitation spell)

Merlin waved his wand, cast a levitation spell on the twisted metal cabin where Ava was lying, and lifted the metal wreckage left by this experiment together with little Ava in the air. He said to Hill who was silent beside him:

Elias Starr's quantum entanglement experiment has undoubtedly failed, but it is not a complete failure. Although I don't have much understanding of the scientific concept of quantum entanglement, the state of little Ava

Merlin looked at the sleeping little girl, and said softly:

She is always between existence and non-existence. Maybe she has just become like this, and she has no way to control it freely, but I believe that she has the ability to let her mind transform into an entity or an incorporeal body at will.

That crazy scientist killed himself and his wife, and made his daughter become what he is now, he really deserves to die!

Merlin glanced at the ruins behind him in disgust, and said to Hill:

Let's go, there's nothing to see in this sinful place.

Oh, I just feel sorry for the little girl.

Hill looked at little Ava with a look of pity, and she said:

Are we just taking her back to New York?

When we found her, we naturally wanted to treat her.

Merlin said without hesitation:

Since it is caused by quantum entanglement

Then Pym Hank, who successfully conducted quantum entanglement experiments more than ten years ago, must have a solution.