Shadow of the Beautiful World

In the middle of the night, just before 1:00 a.m., young investigative reporter Eddie Brook woke up suddenly.

He opened his eyes in the dark and looked around in a daze. He fumbled to turn on the bedside lamp. In the dim light, he saw the familiar furniture arrangement and the wall with murals in front of him.

This is his home in San Francisco.

He stood up in a daze, walked around the house, and took out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He felt as if he drank too much wine and then fell into pieces.

He had no memory of how he got home.

His memory still stays in the day before, when he made a deal with the drunk chef, and was driving a car full of ingredients, slowly driving into the scene of the secret base in Kansas.

All subsequent memories are gone.

It was as if it had been deleted, clean and tidy, no matter how hard Eddie tried to recall, he couldn't remember what happened yesterday at all.

He fumbled around in his clothes a little irritably, and finally found a recording pen and his own notebook in the inner pocket of his clothes, and there was a note in the notebook.

Eddie picked up the note with a sentence written on it.

By the time you see the note, you've forgotten about the interview, but it's definitely true.

This is his own handwriting, which is exactly the same. It was written by him himself, and it seems to be a special reminder to himself.

Eddie turned on the recorder dubiously, and opened the notebook at the same time.

The next moment, his own voice sounded in the recorder:

I'm ready, Mr. Agent, can we begin?

certainly.

What answered him was another voice, hoarse, deep, somewhat gloomy, which fit the personality of the agents.

The first question, is this base specially used to detain radical mutants?

No, that's not quite right, Mr. Eddie. Let me explain it to you.

The voice spoke in a calm and unhurried manner:

This base is not a shelter. It is prepared for some dangerous and unusual prisoners. Whether to put a prisoner in this base does not depend on whether he is a mutant, but depends on his status in society. self-positioning in

Only criminals are sent here, and the people detained here are all people who pose a great threat to social order.

So did you decide to build this base after you got the authorization from the government?

Eddie heard his own voice again, exactly like his interview style, sharp and to the point.

Another voice replied:

No, what we have received is a more advanced authorization, from the mutant affairs decision-making department of the World Security Council.

Eddie looked at his notebook while listening to the 30-minute interview recording. The facts recorded in the two were completely consistent. Unless it was a premeditated falsification, it must have come from him.

But the question in Eddie's heart was not answered. After listening to the recording, he dug out his backpack and found his camera.

In the camera's storage library, there are more than 70 photos, all of which are recorded inside the ghost base.

But Eddie also doesn't remember the circumstances under which he recorded these photos.

There was a kind of unreasonable fear in his heart, he subconsciously looked out of the window, it seemed that there was an invisible ghost staring at him in the dark night outside the window.

Ding ding, ding ding

Just when Eddie was suspicious, his cell phone rang suddenly, which startled him.

The investigative reporter picked up his cell phone. It was his editor-in-chief. He connected the cell phone and asked:

Bauer, what's the matter?

Eddie, I heard you finished the Kansas base interview?

The editor-in-chief's voice of joy came from the phone, and he asked:

Have you collected first-hand information about the mutant base?

I collected it.

Eddie says:

There are not only photos, but also an interview with the head of the base

It's yours, Eddie!

The editor-in-chief applauded loudly:

This is great! We're going to be the first to release this stuff, and we're going to catch this breaking news, Eddie, I know you're tired, it's not easy dealing with those agents, but I still hope You can send those materials to me tomorrow morning, we have to hurry up and dig out more useful information.

However, Eddie, I'm still curious. How on earth did you do it? I can understand sneaking into the base, but you also got an interview with the chief officer. God, this is almost unimaginable.

The editor-in-chief Bauer asked curiously, and Eddie himself didn't know how to answer this question, so he could only say vaguely:

Sorry, Ball, I don't want to talk about that.

Oh, it's okay, it's okay.

The editor-in-chief who smelled the big news hurriedly said:

I can understand. You investigative reporters have your own connections. It's my fault that I shouldn't have asked this question. Get some rest, Eddie, and I'll see you in the office tomorrow morning.

After speaking, the editor-in-chief hung up the phone.

Eddie heard the hang up sound from the phone, he took out a bottle of beer annoyedly, walked to the window, and opened it.

He looked out the window at night, in the black night, he poured himself a big gulp of beer, he raised his hand, looked at the note in his hand, the handwriting on it was his own, let Eddie think several times After a few minutes, a decision was finally made.

He decided to believe in himself.

But at the same time, he became more and more curious about the base and the chief agent who had been interviewed by him.

He also had a hunch that maybe in the not-too-distant future, he would meet that mysterious Mr. Agent again.

—

Merlin didn't care that in faraway San Francisco, a reporter was following him.

The importance of this matter doesn't even rank in the top 30 of all the important matters that Merlin is currently dealing with.

At this time, in the conference room on the fourth basement floor of the s.d.o.l.d. headquarters in New York, Merlin was sitting with his commanders. They were discussing a recent incident that was getting worse.

The case of mutant disappearances is intensifying, and at an increasing rate.

It's not just Radical mutants who are missing, sir.

Coulson, who rushed over from Philadelphia, looked a little tired. He clicked on the computer keyboard at hand, and on the projection screen in front of everyone, a bird's-eye view map of North America appeared, with many red dots marked on it.

Coulson said:

This is all the disappearance cases that occurred on the mainland in the last 7 days. Most of them are radical mutants who should be arrested, but there are also a small number of neutral mutants.

Our agents searched the scene of several disappearances in Philadelphia. As before, there were no suspicious traces. Some witnesses said that the missing people left their homes with normal faces and then disappeared.

There is no doubt that the mysterious Marauder is no longer content to harvest bad guys.

Melinda said in a low tone:

After receiving the order from the headquarters, I dispatched special agents to lurk near the places where some mutants lived, but all the mutants we paid attention to had no problems. That guy seemed to be aware of the fact that we were protecting us. People, it chooses its targets carefully, and before we can react, those people have disappeared.

The problem now is that we don't know what this guy is doing to catch these mutants.

Merlin looked at the projection in front of him. He was holding a piece of paper with a big ? drawn on it. Beside the note, there were information about those missing mutants.

Barbie and Trip have analyzed the identities of these missing persons, but have not found any clues connecting them. That is to say, when the mysterious guy plundered these mutants, he didn't seem to have a clear purpose, as if he picked his targets at random.

But Merlin could feel that this was not the case, these missing mutants must have some common traits, which were attracting the mysterious predator ghost.

Maybe it's another evil study of mutant genes, maybe he's trying to reunite a dangerous force after Magneto, maybe it's for some other purpose.

Merlin shook his head and said:

There's so little information out there that we can't extrapolate or even guess, which is really bad.

But one thing is certain.

Merlin looked at his subordinates, he said:

His plundering operations are becoming unscrupulous. From the current point of view, his targets do not include moderate mutants, so I doubt that this is actually a kind of punishment and a symbolic clean-up operation.

If he continues this behavior, then very soon, he will find us.

Merlin pointedly said:

The place where a large number of radical mutants gather on the mainland is in the ghost base. Maybe we can use this to lure him out.

Before this matter develops to the extreme and triggers a new wave of panic among the mutant community, we must find a way to solve this matter.

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, he looked at the note in his hand, and said:

I have already made a request to the Continental Hotel. In the next week, they will provide us with all the information on the radical mutants they have in their hands. You, you must send these information in the shortest possible time. The guys are all captured and sent to the ghost base.

Merlin moved his fingers, and he said:

I will apply to Trident headquarters to mobilize a special response force to assist you in the capture work. As long as we move fast enough, we can solve this problem before the next appearance of this mutant predator.

Merlin's request made the other commanders nod their heads. Setting a bait is not a smart trick, but it is often very useful.

But sir, if the purpose of this predator is really to collect mutant genes, then opening the ghost base as an ambush is equivalent to opening the door to the rice barn for hungry mice.

Mike sitting on the side, the tower-like agent commander said in a deep voice:

In case our ambush plan fails, then the predator can easily achieve all his goals. I mean, if we can't stop him, if we can't catch him, then we are equivalent to helping Give him a hand.

Yes, your consideration is indeed correct, Mike.

Merlin nodded, and he said to Mike and the others:

So setting up an ambush at the ghost base is a back-up plan. I don't plan to implement it immediately.

Merlin says:

I will try again in my way. If I can find the mysterious predator in advance, then we don't need to carry out such a risky plan. But I can't tell you my specific actions.

Merlin says:

Judging from the current situation, this guy is likely to have a strong mind control ability, just like Professor Charles' ability. I can't guarantee that he won't hide in the dark and spy on your thoughts, so I can't take risks.

Merlin rubbed his forehead. Occlumency was fixed in his mind. He didn't need to worry about his mind being invaded silently, but others couldn't.

For this illusory but extremely threatening mind controller, he must be fully prepared before acting.

He took out his pocket watch, checked the time, then got up, picked up the clothes lying beside the chair, and said to the others:

Let's go, I'll treat you to a late-night snack, and then enjoy your weekend.

Starting next Monday, guys, you're going to be busy again.