Shadow of the Beautiful World

Time flies, and the Internet data crash that caused a huge shock around the world has already happened a year ago in a blink of an eye.

2004 was generally a very peaceful year. There were almost no major incidents in this year, at least there were no major incidents that could be handled by Merlin.

He is used to the two-point and one-line life between his home and the Trident Building. Merlin resisted the idea of ​​sitting in an office to see the whole situation at first. He didn't think he could hide behind the scenes and give orders like Fury People, but it turns out that Merlin quickly adapted to his new role.

Over time, he has formed new habits.

Now he takes one day a week to go around the four mysterious object storage bases he manages, accompanied by Sharon.

He listens to work reports from sl.d. and other subordinate departments every half a month. Occasionally, when the mood comes, he will conduct a surprise inspection to punish those unlucky ones caught by him.

And every month, he would hold a regular meeting in the conference room of the Trident Building to summarize the work of the previous month and arrange the work of the next month.

Just like a spider lying on a pre-woven web, he can feel the vibrations from all parts of the web without even moving, and he will identify those vibrations and the information transmitted on this web, Then focus on the information that is sensitive and needs to be paid attention to.

Of course, his life is not limited to work, but also a real private life.

The withdrawal of the two girls from Xavier Academy went smoothly. Charles, or Kuang Gong, did not stop him. This guy may not care about Merlin's little thoughts, but it is still necessary for the children to leave the already unsafe place. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief.

Raven and Lorna live at home now, but it's just like going to school.

Every morning after breakfast, entering the mysterious room, and studying under the supervision of Xuanlan, it was like being taught by a private teacher. I have to say that with Xuanlan's help, Meilin didn't have to worry about the daily life of the two girls, which made her feel more comfortable. He relieved a lot of stress.

And the three of them spent more time together, which also made the relationship between Merlin and the two younger sisters closer.

Finally, the most important thing is that every 45 days or so, Merlin will disappear strangely for 2-3 days. Before disappearing, he is full of energy, and every time he returns, he is exhausted and occasionally has frostbite marks on his body.

Yes, that was his Snow Country Date with his girlfriend. Elsa was passionate every time, but the hoarfrost in her body would not be too gentle to Merlin.

The two can finally have a stable love life. Although they still get together less often, it's better than being separated by two worlds and not being able to see each other.

As for the scene when two people meet each time

Uh, it can be regarded as painful and happy.

Generally speaking, Merlin's life was not bad this year. Of course, it would be more perfect if the advanced frost protection potion made by Ms. Yennefer lasted a little longer.

And, if only there were fewer omnics popping up all over the world.

—

Your Excellency Merlin, there is a new communication message.

In November 2004, Merlin was in the office preparing meeting materials for a few days later, when a communication request popped up on Icarus's lens.

Speaking of Icarus, this upgraded artificial intelligence has faster response and data processing speed than the previous one, but for more than a year, Merlin has never been able to make it as human as it was before.

Compared with the previous Icarus, the current Icarus is like a cold auxiliary tool, very intelligent, but rarely makes people feel the presence of emotion.

This was probably the thing Merlin regretted the most this year.

beep, beep

Merlin raised his head, and the communication signal was connected, and Fury's face that always couldn't see the smile, as if the whole world owed him money, appeared in front of Merlin.

Along with the real-time image, there was also the left side of Fury's area. On the lens of Merlin's left eye, a map of North America appeared, projecting Fury's coordinates in front of Merlin's eyes.

When the call program is started, several modules are also started at the same time, including but not limited to communication encryption, recording and identification, etc.

It fully proves the powerful functions of Icarus, and the extremely cool, unobtrusive data processing interface, although Merlin feels that this is a bit of an overkill.

What's the matter, Fury.

Merlin picked up a document casually, flipped through it, and asked:

Aren't you talking about robots with people from the World Security Council recently? What are you doing in Nevada?

Because there are more important things, Merlin.

Fury's voice sounded in Merlin's ears, and he said:

A project I've been following has finally made gratifying progress. If you're not busy, come over to Pegasus Base this afternoon. I have something to tell you.

Um?

Merlin stopped flipping through the files. He looked at Fury, then pushed his glasses. He said:

I feel like there's trouble again, and it's going to end up on me. Can I say no?

Look, Fury, I'm pretty busy right now. I haven't been to dinner with May and Ben in weeks. My little nephew misses me so much. If I don't come over, he's going to call the stranger uncle. up

You have to come here, Merlin.

Fury frowned and said:

It's an order, and I think you probably don't want to miss it.

?

Merlin glanced at the confident Fury on the lens in surprise, and said:

Is it so confident that I'm interested?

He rubbed his chin, and after a moment, he said to Fury:

Okay, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I will go there after I finish the work at hand.

Okay, I'll wait for you here.

After finishing speaking, Fury hung up the phone, Merlin pouted, he stood up, moved his body to the window, looked at the city scene below, and said:

Things that can be clearly stated on the phone must be kept mysterious. His faults may not be corrected in his life.

Merlin shook his head. He lit a cigarette, and while the smoke was rising, he pushed the frame of his nose with his fingers, and said:

The third energy disturbance has just ended, Icarus, let me see the situation in the 'Tinder' contaminated area.

The next moment, on the two lenses, a rotating world map was spread out in front of Merlin's eyes. Many reddish areas and some light red areas were marked on the map, which looked like a clumsy stained area. The game is the same.

Those red areas are all over the world, fragmented and seemingly illogical.

Icarus' gentle voice from Elsa sounded in Merlin's ears, and she introduced to her master:

Inspection of the 4 infected areas in North America has been completed. Except for the 1175 omnic robots that have been contained, no more omnic robots that have been accidentally activated have been found.

Sl.d.'s agents are moving their positions to South America, where the order system is weaker, and many awakened omnic robots have fled there.

The search in northern and southern Europe is ongoing. According to the report of Agent Gartler, they have found at least 344 omnic robots in an escaped state. They are chasing the target, but the last capture operation failed due to accidental leaks. .”

The progress of the affected area in Asia is unknown. SHIELD does not have enough power there, but according to the efficiency of the ancient eastern country, the speed of searching there will only be faster than SHIELD.

Finally, in Africa, Wakanda is also carrying out the containment of omnic robots. They have not cooperated with S.H.I.E.L.D. Omnic robots, if nothing else, Wakanda may become a hiding place for these awakened omnic robots in the future.

Well, it doesn't look optimistic.

Merlin frowned, looking at the world map stained on the lens, he said softly:

Have the results of the ecological comparison of these areas infected by the fire force come out?

The Emperor Organization's first phase of research on the ecology of various places has ended. According to their report, in the 24 heavily infected areas around the world, both the ecosystem and the biological system have changed over time.

Two weeks ago, near the end of the third energy disturbance, Dr. Vivian saw a half-mechanical, half-flesh lion on the grasslands of East Africa. Obviously, this was a sign of a change in life form.

Icarus put a weird photo on Merlin's lens. In that photo, a male lion is patrolling his territory, but the lion's limbs have been transformed into mechanical metal similar to the Cybertronians. Form, one of its eyes has also turned into a metal gem, and its tail is composed of layers of metal sheets.

The lion didn't seem to be in too much pain, it didn't seem to feel any changes in itself, and was still hunting leisurely. This shows that the transformation of flesh and blood creatures by the energy erupted from the fire source will not trigger a chain reaction of pain.

If it's just animals being infected, it's not a big problem. What Merlin is most worried about is that this infection will spread to humans, but so far, there is no such precursor.

New changes are happening and new waves have emerged

Merlin looked at the photo and said softly:

How does human society respond to this?

There was no overreaction.

Icarus posted a few forms, and she responded:

Of course, this is more due to the information control carried out by SHIELD and the governments of various countries, which blocked the news of the emergence of omnic creatures. However, there are still sporadic sightings, and some tabloids are reporting this at length. thing.

In addition, Your Excellency Merlin, I need to remind you that compared with the samples from seven months ago, you should not be difficult to find that in the 24 heavily infected areas and 16 lightly infected areas, the residual energy of the fire is very powerful for machinery and low-level The transformation speed of intelligent life has been getting faster and faster, which means that that kind of energy is likely to have adapted to the rules of the earth.

According to this speed, maybe in a few years, the world will usher in a big explosion of omnic life. By that time, even the World Security Council will not be able to suppress this explosive news. Ordinary people will eventually It is difficult to determine their reaction to this kind of mechanical life when they come into contact with it.

Well, this is indeed a state of affairs that needs attention.

Merlin nodded and said:

However, Coulson made a very constructive suggestion to me. Maybe we can talk about this matter with Fury this afternoon. We still have time. If we are well prepared, the explosion of omnic life in a few years will not be difficult. will affect the order of civilization, perhaps

We can turn it into something good.

Although Merlin is full of confidence, the artificial intelligence Icarus seems to have a different opinion on this. She pasted the photos of several kinds of omnic life discovered so far on the lens, and she said to Merlin:

With all due respect, Your Excellency Merlin.

I think you underestimated the possible impact of omnic life on this world.

They are not robots without intelligence. Although their strength is far inferior to the real Cybertronians, if they are assembled together to form a military group, they will still be a powerful challenge to the existing military system in the world. .”

At present, we have discovered omnic life with accompanying weapons, which shows that they are also evolving. Although compared to the first batch of awakened omnic robots, such as 'Spectre', 'Mirror' and 'Lola', the newborn The individual power of the omnics has become very weak, but their numbers are increasing day by day.

Icarus says:

Obviously, this is the result of energy dispersion caused by the outward spread of fire energy. But the impact of 100 weak armed omnics on society is obviously more terrifying than 10 powerful omnics.

And according to my observations of human civilization, if the number of alien life is rare and gentle, and will not affect the existing order, then human beings will welcome them generously.

But if the number of alien life is large and unstable, then the first reaction of human beings is to resort to force. If you make a mistake, it will directly trigger a turmoil in the entire world.

I suggest, Your Excellency Merlin, you'd better devote more energy to this matter.

Well, the logic is perfect, well-founded, and cannot be refuted

Merlin nodded, and he said to Icarus:

Thank you for your suggestion, Icarus, I will first try to modify my plan with Coulson. In addition, I like your active state of mind very much, keep it up.

Thank you for the compliment, Your Excellency Merlin.

Icarus' voice returned to a calm state, and she said to Merlin:

I will continue to work hard.

In addition, a new email has just been dropped into your mailbox. It was sent by three of your disciples. They have just completed a mission assigned by the Assassin Alliance. They are now in New York. It seems that they want to treat you to a meal. Something to tell you.

Oh, Layla, Victoria and Miles?

Merlin nodded slightly, and he said to Icarus:

Contact them for me. At 9 o'clock tonight, Mick's House, I should have some free time at that time. In addition, continue to pay attention to the 'Tinder' situation, Icarus, and let me know as soon as possible.

Okay, Your Excellency Merlin.

Call me Merlin.

Merlin waved his hand. He returned to the desk and continued to deal with today's work. He had to finish processing the documents on the desk before 3 o'clock, and he had to meet with Fury in the afternoon.

Alas, I don't know what that mysterious guy is hiding

To be honest, Merlin was also a little curious.