A few days later, on the rooftop of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Trident building, Maria in a gray trench coat. Hill stepped on his high heels and approached Merlin, who was blowing the wind on the rooftop.

The latter, with a burning cigarette in his hand and his left hand in his pocket, leaned against the railing of the rooftop, looking out at New York City below, and the wind ruffled his hair, making his figure look a little gloomy and a little sad.

"Here's the information you asked for about the Far Star Project, sir."

Hill handed Merlin the folder in his hand, and she said:

"NASA was uncooperative, claiming that the program was terminated years ago. So we used some 'abnormal means', but our agents still found some equipment in the closed lab, and they seemed to be searching for some specific stars in space, and judging by the amount of data in the database, this work has been going on for a long time. ”

"Who got the information? Can it be kept secret? ”

Merlin asked without replying.

"Agent Natasha went there herself."

Hill replied:

"She said she was guaranteed not to be discovered."

"Well, that's good."

Merlin nodded, he took the information, and said to Ciel:

"You continue to follow this line, and contact me directly if you find anything."

"Anything that tries to communicate with extraterrestrial civilizations is a big deal, not to mention our role, and NASA's actions are not documented in .B, which is not allowed. But don't alarm them, let them keep doing it, sooner or later they will show their feet. ”

"So, sir, what the hell are we looking for?"

Hill asked:

"Although Director Fury gave me the order to obey your orders completely, he didn't tell me why. And why deal with NASA all of a sudden? That department has been conservative since the end of the moon landing in the last century. ”

"Don't think about it, Ciel."

"Fury and I both trust you, but the more you know about it, the more dangerous it is for you."

Merlin looked down at the papers, and he said to Hill:

"Hmm... Judging by Fury's meaning, from now on, you are my assistant? ”

"Theoretically, that's so."

Hill nodded:

"But I'm still in the director's office."

"I understand."

Merlin Says:

"Fury always has a lot of things to help him with, he's like a spider, you understand? He sat in the middle of the growing cobwebs, and just feeling the vibrations around the webs was busy enough. Not to mention, he himself has to secretly prepare a lot of other projects. ”

"Also, about the investment company, we also conducted a fund inventory on it."

Like a perfect assistant, Hill reported to Merlin:

"We found that there were many doubts about the source of funds for that company, but the progress of the investigation was very unsatisfactory, and it seemed that there were many forces preventing us from continuing to investigate, and many lines were broken."

"You're talking about Karen. Zemo's company? ”

Merlin looked up, and he said:

"If it turns out that it is difficult, then stop, to be honest, it doesn't make much sense to continue chasing this line, it's just a 'white glove' company, just for the real cancer to collect funds. Freeze all the black gold we can find so far, and then take out a part of it as our activity funds. ”

"Okay, I'll do it."

Hill replied crisply, and just as she continued to talk about other things, Merlin suddenly said:

"Ciel, help me go to my office and get a file, it's in the second compartment of the filing cabinet, there's a label'.' folder, help me get it here, okay? ”

"Uh, okay."

Hill took the key from Merlin's hand and walked quickly off the rooftop.

After watching Ciel leave, Merlin turned his head to look at the other side of heaven, and said:

"It's been two years since we last met, and I thought you had completely rejected my original offer. But now it seems like you've just been thinking about it a little longer, right? ”

"As I said, it's not for me to decide."

As 2 years ago, the Inhuman Gordon, dressed in a brown trench coat and without eyes, stepped out from behind the vent in heaven, where he stood with his hands behind his back and said to Merlin:

"The Afterlife is a small organization, and in order to cover up our existence, in order to survive, we have to consider any risks. Still, we made a decision in the end... But that's not for me to say to you. ”

With that, Gordon turned sideways and exposed the man standing behind him.

It was a woman.

To be precise, she is a woman with oriental charm, she wears a red dress, black hair is coiled on the top of her head, and her hands are folded on her abdomen, looking like a lady.

But the woman's face was covered with scars that looked horrible, as if the face that had been so good had been cut open by a sharp blade and sewn together with thread.

This is a woman who has suffered unimaginable hardships, and she now distrusts any outside visitors, as can be seen from her scrutinizing gaze.

"Who is this?"

Merlin looked at Gordon, who introduced:

"This is the leader of the 'afterlife' and the savior who brings together those of us who are suffering, her name is Jiaying."

"Hmm..."

Merlin lengthened his nose, and he looked at the lady chief, and he said:

"I've been curious to think about what a leader who can command a group of paraphiles looks like, but with all due respect, Ms. Jiaying, you're a stronger leader than I thought, well... Much gentler. ”

"Gordon is actually more of a chief, he's more courageous than I am, he's more loving to his people, and he's willing to take risks to help anyone in need."

Jia Ying stood where she was, and replied to Merlin in a gentle, accented voice:

"I'm just a symbol, and because I have the power to heal aliens, I'm an important part of the 'afterlife,' that's all."

"And what are you two here for?"

Merlin looked at the time, and with the efficiency of Ciel's actions, in a few minutes, she should be back.

So Merlin said to the two strangers in front of him:

"I have other things to do, so I want us to make a long story as short as possible, and of course, maybe we can make another appointment."

"No, we're going to say it's simple."

A hint of determination flashed across Jia Ying's terrifying face, and she said to Merlin:

"The 'Afterlife' is willing to cooperate with you to save more suffering Inhumans, that is our compatriots, although I do not trust you secret organizations because of my personal experience, but my people need help, and I am willing to try to cooperate with you."

"Good!"

Merlin nodded, and the response of the Inhumans was a surprise, which meant that another force in this world, which was chaotic and numerous, was willing to enter the system of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But Merlin was also a little curious, and he asked calmly:

"You thought about it for two years before you made a final decision, which is a bit too long. So let me conspiracy theories, I guess, should be about Inhumans, which has changed in recent times, and this change has forced you to do the wrong response... I guessed right. ”

"It's not much of a secret."

Jia Ying replied calmly:

"Beginning a few months ago, Gordon was on a journey back and forth between North America and the 'afterlife' when he detected a force calling for the Inhuman instinct echoing through New York. Several forcibly converted Inhumans are also missing. ”

"We suspect that this is an obelisk that has been left out in some corner of the world by the Inhuman ancestors, and it is a sign that it is being 'opened', and we must find it before it is completely opened, or something very bad will happen."

"Obelisk? Open it? And the bad thing? ”

Merlin narrowed his eyes, it wasn't the first time he'd heard of the obelisk. A few days ago, in the barone's memory, he remembered that the "protégé" of one of the mysterious leaders of the Hydra had instructed the baroness to help him find something called an obelisk.

I don't know, is the obelisk that the alien in front of me is the same thing as the obelisk that Hydra is looking for?

Merlin looked at the Inhuman leader in front of him and said:

"Explain it in detail, otherwise I won't be able to help."

"I told you before that the transformation of the Inhuman requires a medium."

Gordon replied:

"And what is stored in the obelisk is that medium, and it's called Terrigen Mist. It is stored in a solid state, similar to green, cloudy glass, but once the obelisk is completely opened, it transforms into a gaseous state. Over the past decade or so, under Jia Ying's guidance, we have recovered many lost obelisks around the world, but that's not all. ”

"The Terrigen Mists are dangerous things, Mr. Merlin."

Jia Ying answered:

"It's only harmless to Inhumans, and any normal person who doesn't have Inhuman genes in their bodies who come into contact with it will be immediately sucked into life and transformed into inorganic matter, which is a very, very painful process, and the Terrigen Mist stored in an obelisk is enough to transform a town-wide population. If it is opened in a densely populated place..."

Jia Ying looked back at the bustling city below the rooftop, she shook her head, and said in a deep voice:

"In just an instant, you will receive a report of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of casualties, and it will be the most horrific massacre of this new century."

"Well, I guess I get it."

Merlin Says:

"You need me to help you find that obelisk... But you have an alien like Gordon who can travel through the world at will, and it shouldn't be difficult to find such a thing. ”

"Actually, it's hard."

Gordon said with some hesitation:

"My abilities don't work in any situation... Anyway, we've confirmed that the obelisk is now near New York, and that in the hands of a gang of people who are dedicated to finding the Inhumans and using them to carry out cruel experiments, this is your territory, and you have more ways to find things here than we do. ”

"Yes, you give me the information on the obelisk, and I will arrange for someone to find it."

Merlin said to the two strangers in front of him:

"Also, you need to meet with my boss. Don't worry, just meet privately, you have to understand that the cooperation between the two is not something that I can say alone. The process must be followed. ”

"As it should be."

Jia Ying said as usual:

"We came with this in mind, and we'll be waiting for Nick on the edge of the Hudson. Mr. Fury, if he is not at ease, he can bring a guard, but it is better to come alone. ”

After speaking, Jia Ying seemed to hesitate a little, but in the end, she still approached Merlin quickly, and she lowered her voice and said to Merlin:

"There's another personal matter, I want to ask for your help, Mr. Merlin, I have a daughter who was taken away shortly after birth, and I know that the last place where she was seen was in New York, and I hope you can help me find her."

This request made Merlin frown again, and he said:

"I'd love to help you, ma'am, but it's still the same question, why don't you ask Gordon to help you find your daughter?" With his abilities, if you really wanted to find her, you probably saw her years ago. ”

"Because..."

Jiaying raised her head, she looked at Merlin with a strange gaze, and she said:

"My daughter, at the beginning, was taken away by you."

"We?"

Merlin asked rhetorically:

"What do you mean?"

"Yes... It's you, S.H.I.E.L.D., or the Strategic Science Corps, to be exact. ”

Jia Ying sighed, and she said to Merlin:

"See the wound on my face? This was left in '91, I was kidnapped from my home by a gang of bandits and taken to a laboratory in Southeast Asia, where I was skinned and cramped... It's not an adjective, it's literal, my ability is immortality, I've lived for hundreds of years, in short, they coveted my ability, and that time, I almost died. ”

"Before I was captured, I hid my daughter in a secret place, and then I came back to my hometown after some incidents, but I found that my daughter was missing and someone had taken her. I have been looking for my daughter Daisy for all these years, and through some special channels, I learned that it was someone from the Strategic Science Corps who took my daughter at that time, and it was most likely your leader at the time, Peggy. Carter! ”

"Peggy. Carter? ”

Merlin said in a suspicious voice:

"You're kidding, right? Ms. Peggy was in her 60s in '91, how did she cross half the world to bring back your daughter in the ancient East? ”

"She's not alone."

Jia Ying took out a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Merlin, she said:

"There was a man who went with him, and he was carrying a shield, and the shield looked like this."

Merlin took the paper and opened it, revealing that it was a pair of cut-out comic book pages, and in the comic, the legendary hero Captain America, Steve Brown. Rogers, wielding his shield, is fighting a dangerous opponent.

Merlin glanced at Jia Ying, he waved the comic book page in his hand, and he said to Jia Ying:

"Exactly like the shield in this comic? Are you sure you're not confused by reading comics? ”

"You can suspect that this is normal."

Jia Ying's face did not change and said:

"But believe me, I've seen a lot of things that are more abnormal... At least for now, this is the only clue I have to find my daughter's whereabouts. And I recently learned that there is a... Well, there is a violent and dangerous person who has also been looking for her, which worries me. ”

Jia Ying didn't seem to be lying, and Merlin's gaze fell on the cartoon in his hand again, and after a moment, he said:

"Okay, I'll do my best."

But in fact, in his heart, Merlin had almost guessed the hidden information of this matter.

If it's really Peggy. Carter took Jiaying's daughter in 1991, so the one who accompanied her must be the old Steve who is suspected of being an elderly version of Captain America.

It's... Hell yes.