A living ghost.

Merlin's description is a little quirky and conflicting.

The ghost itself refers to the phenomenon that the soul of a deceased person has been catalyzed by magic to avoid the result of disappearing, and then continues to exist in the world in the form of a spirit.

There are also many types of ghosts.

There are the most common earthbound spirits, the irrational spirits, and the rare ones that retain their full sanity and memories, and even have rich emotions.

Finally, it is the rarest of all, the Holy Spirit, which is full of positive energy and can even condense the body of energy.

But there is no kind of ghost that can be called "alive".

By "alive," Merlin meant creatures that still possessed a flowing life force that could be seen by his vision.

But there is no such thing as a ghost.

Merlin turned into a black mist and landed with Hill in the explosion crater more than 10 meters deep, looking up from the bottom of the crater, this place seemed to be like a mysterious sinkhole.

The shock wave from the explosion destroyed most of the buildings in the laboratory, but Merlin could feel that there was still something in the ruins in front of him, and it was constantly radiating energy to the outside world.

"The explosion probably didn't destroy Elias. All the equipment made by Starr. ”

Merlin said to Hill:

"There may have been something that survived."

"I'm more worried about the 'living ghost' you talked about now."

Agent Hill stood in the shadow of the pit, looking back behind her from time to time, holding a Geiger counter in her left hand and a pistol filled with holy silver bullets in her right hand, looking nervous.

She said to Merlin:

"Haven't you noticed it yet? Sir. ”

"Nope."

Merlin replied with a frown, his dark perception had spread throughout the lab's pits, but the fleeting perception of life before seemed to have truly disappeared at this moment.

It was so quiet in the pit that Merlin had to wonder if he had seen it wrong.

Keeping his guard on the line, he said to Hill:

"Let's start by looking at the devices that are still running. That should be what Fury needs. ”

"Okay."

Hill answered, and followed Merlin, walking towards the small piece of ruin that remained in front of him from the explosion. I don't know if it's an illusion, or if it's a strange feeling because of Merlin's words, but in short, Hill always felt that something was following them behind him.

This feeling makes this ghost-scared girl feel extremely bad.

But fortunately, she had the most senior supernatural officer of S.H.I.E.L.D. by her side, and she couldn't help but take a few quick steps, approaching Merlin, and following Merlin step by step, so that Agent Hill felt more secure in fear.

The ruins of the lab, miraculously preserved from the previous explosion, were not large, and a few minutes later, Merlin and Ciel had found something that was constantly emitting faint energy.

It was a strange instrument half-buried in the rubble.

It looked like a strange experiment chamber made of metal and glass, the glass used to seal the door had melted in the explosion, and the main body of the metal structure had been severely twisted and torn, but the inner structure of the chamber could be faintly seen.

It resembled an enlarged version of a beehive, with its metal walls filled with small hexagonal squares that reflected golden glow from the flashlight Hill was holding.

And judging by the remnants of the torn metal and the incinerated wires and devices, this thing must have belonged to Elias before. Dr. Starr was part of those sophisticated devices that did quantum entanglement experiments.

But neither Merlin nor Hill knew much about this high-tech thing. They didn't know what the hive chamber was for.

"It's down."

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

"But it's still emitting some kind of energy that I haven't seen before, it's strange... 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 finger and looked back at Ciel, and the moment Merlin turned back, the faint life fluctuations he had felt before reappeared, and it was right next to Ciel.

"Get out of the way!"

Merlin screamed, and his body suddenly turned into black mist and rushed towards Ciel, who reacted extremely quickly, and the girl rolled to the side violently. The billowing black mist almost grazed Ciel's body and rushed into the shadows behind her, where a small figure seemed to be frightened.

It looked like a little girl in a dress with a strange white glow.

She let out a rapid scream, and before Merlin's black mist could reach her, she eerily vanished again.

Merlin's black mist swept into the air, and his figure was visible to the ghostly little girl who had just been waiting for him, and he looked around and frowned.

I can't feel any life force 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 stealth ability?

"Sir, what was that?"

In the moment just now, Hill also saw the little white girl standing behind her, that strange form reminded Hill of a lot of bad memories, and her face became a little pale.

She looked left and right and asked in a low voice:

"Is that really a ghost?"

"No, she's not."

Merlin closed his eyes, constantly enhancing his dark perception, and he replied softly:

"You're a normal person, Ciel, and you can't see ghosts. If you can see her, it means that she is not a ghost. ”

"So, that's actually a child?"

Hearing Merlin deny the ghost's speculation, Ciel's expression suddenly lightened. As long as it's not a godly thing, she won't be afraid.

With her pistol in hand, she walked over to Merlin, looking around with the wariness of a good agent.

After a few minutes, Merlin opened his eyes, and he shook his head:

"No, I can't feel it. There's something weird about that kid... It was as if she was deliberately playing hide and seek with us. ”

"If it's a child, sir."

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

"Maybe she's frightened, let me deal with it."

Standing in the shadows, Ciel took a deep breath to calm her mind. After a moment, she spoke in the gentlest voice to the darkness that was empty before her:

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

Hill kept calling, persuading the little girl who couldn't be seen.

Merlin stood aside, he also showed the gentlest expression, but he did not relax, the dark perception was like a radar, shrouding this ruin, and he could feel any wind and grass for the first time.

"It hurts..."

Just as Hill made a third call, a faint voice came from behind the two of them.

Merlin and Ciel looked back at the same time to see a little girl with long black hair and a little white dress, curled up in the corner of the metal cabin they had found earlier.

As if frightened, she crouched there, clasped her shoulders in her hands, and looked at Ciel and Merlin with a pitiful, wounded little beast-like look that was expecting help.

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

"It hurts... Help me. ”

The little girl's figure was illusory, like a legendary ghost, and it felt as if it had no substance.

But she is a real presence.

After she showed up, Merlin saw the strange life activity in her body. It is like between existence and non-existence, the flow of life force is like a candle in the wind, which may be extinguished at any time, but it is very tenacious, and in that turbulent fluctuation, she strives to maintain her own existence.

"Don't be afraid, kid."

Hill held out his hand and signaled that he had no ill intentions. She slowly approached the little girl, and in her gaze, Hill crouched in front of her, and the agent girl reached out and tried to caress the poor little girl's head.

But her outstretched hand "pierced" the little girl's head in a strange gesture.

It was as if it existed in front of her eyes, just a very realistic, lifelike stereoscopic projection.

"This..."

Hill hurriedly withdrew her hand, and she looked back at Merlin, who was standing beside the little girl, and he was watching her carefully. After a few moments, he said to Hill:

"The child's cells are tearing apart, and then new cells are being born. Her physical body has been annihilated, but the new cells represent that she is still 'alive', which is strange... An eerie state somewhere between life and death. ”

Merlin crouched down, he looked at the little girl in front of him who kept crying out in pain, and he asked softly:

"Tell me, son, what's your name? How did you end up like this? ”

"Ava, my name is Ava. Starr. ”

The little girl looked at Merlin, and she endured the pain, and whispered:

"I'll come... Come and see Dad doing the experiment. He told me and my mom that his experiment was successful and that he was going to celebrate... But in the lab, the big machine sparked, very beautiful, bright sparks... Dad and the other uncles were terrified. ”

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

"Dad asked Mom to take me away, but I didn't want to leave Daddy. My mom ran back with me, and my dad told me to hide in a glass house. ”

She pointed to the twisted, beehive-like metal pod beside her, and said:

"I see... Seeing flames coming out of that big machine, flames like sunlight, very hot, very bright, illuminating the whole laboratory... There was also a loud sound, like an explosion. ”

"When I wake up..."

Little Ava raised her hands, her ten fingers constantly beating back and forth in the illusory and condensed state, it could be seen that the little girl was also very confused about her current state, and with a hint of fear, she said:

"It became... It's like this. Mom and Dad, as well as uncles and aunts, are gone... The labs are gone, too. I'm hurting... It hurts all over my body. ”

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

"Brother, sister, can you help me? I hurt so much... It's uncomfortable. ”

"We're here to help you, kid."

Merlin stretched out his hand and stroked the contours of little Ava's hair, and said to the poor girl in front of him, who had suffered a calamity:

"You must be tired, right? Do you want to take a break? ”

"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 I'll make a spell for you."

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

This scene immediately attracted the attention of little Ava, who was still a child.

She watched in amazement as Merlin waved his wand in his hand, which slashed in a circle in the air, and the next moment, a ray of light came from the tip of the wand and struck her.

Since waking up, little Ava, who has been haunted by pain, felt a heavy sleepiness almost immediately when she was added to the light.

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

As little Ava fell into a deep sleep, the illusory feeling that appeared on her body quickly became solidified, and the whole person seemed to change from a ghost state to flesh and blood again.

But Ciel reached out and still couldn't touch Ava's body.

The solidified flesh and blood was just an illusion, and the child still couldn't be touched.

“Wingardium Leviosa ！ (Levitation Spell)"

With a wave of his wand, Merlin placed a levitation charm on the twisted metal pod where Ava was lying, holding the metal remains left behind by the experiment in the air with little Ava, and said to the silent Ciel:

"Elias. Starr's quantum entanglement experiment undoubtedly failed, but it was not an outright failure either. Although I don't know much about the scientific concept of quantum entanglement, the state of little Ava..."

Merlin looked at the little girl who was sleeping heavily, and he whispered:

"She is always between being and not being, maybe she has just become like this, and she can't control it freely, but I believe that she has the ability to let her mind transform into a physical or virtual body at will."

"That mad scientist killed himself and his wife, and caused his daughter to become what she is now... He's damn it! ”

Merlin glanced in disgust at the pit of ruins behind him, and said to Ciel:

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

"Alas, just pity the little girl."

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

"Are we just going to take her back to New York?"

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

Merlin said without hesitation:

"Since it's caused by quantum entanglement..."

"Then Pym, who successfully conducted quantum entanglement experiments more than ten years ago. Hank, there must be a solution. ”