Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 220 Level 23.7

Coulson was still driving steadily.

Due to Merlin's poor state, Coulson deliberately lowered the speed of the car. After about 20 minutes, he parked the car in front of a super-large building on the border between Manhattan and Queens.

When Coulson was parking, Merlin rolled down the car window. He looked at the nearly 150-meter-high building in front of him with some doubts. The building was covered with glass panels and looked shining in the sunlight. On the surface, there is a super-large black and white eagle logo of S.H.I.E.L.D. hanging on it.

The building in front of me has a main body and two subsidiary buildings of different heights, which are connected with each other by a passage like a glass walkway, and there is a huge square under the main building.

It looks imposing.

"This building..."

Merlin asked:

"When did you move here?"

"3 months ago."

Coulson stopped the car, turned off the engine, pulled out the car key, and said to Merlin:

"This is the office building that Director Fury wants. It has been secretly built for several years. It is declared to be a large commercial office building, but in fact, we all call it the 'Trident' building. This is a comprehensive office building. The whole Many scattered offices on the east coast are concentrated here."

"SDOLD's office is here too?"

Merlin asked.

Coulson took out Merlin's wheelchair from the trunk, and while helping Merlin out of the car, he explained:

"It's just a liaison office here. We also have a new headquarters. The former 21st Century Bell Telephone Company's basement 6 office area is now all ours."

"Old town."

Merlin put his hands on the armrests of the wheelchair, and Coulson thoughtfully spread a blanket over him.

As he was pushed by Coulson towards the square of the Trident building, he complained:

"Sure enough, those of us who work in the dark don't even have an office building under the sun... But that's okay, the old city is hidden enough, here... it looks a bit too eye-catching."

While talking, he glanced at the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo hanging on the outside of the building in front of him. It could be seen clearly from several kilometers away. He shook his head and said softly:

"It's not good for an intelligence organization to be so ostentatious."

"But you can't deny it, sir."

Coulson pushed Merlin into the elevator, he said:

"Intelligence work is only a part of the current S.H.I.E.L.D. system, not the most important part. As a direct subordinate department of the World Security Council, we really should have an official headquarters."

"Most importantly, the Trident building looks cool, doesn't it?"

"Ding"

As the elevator door slowly closed, Merlin also nodded, and he said:

"Indeed, it's really cool. Fury's long-cherished wish has finally come true."

A few minutes later, on the 24th floor of the Trident building, Merlin met Fury.

His appearance is no different from what he looked more than a year ago. He is still wearing a black windbreaker, combat boots and military trousers, with an eye patch over his left eye, and the same black turtleneck sweater that has not changed for thousands of years.

He was waiting for Merlin in an infirmary.And when Merlin was pushed into the medical room, he also saw Dr. Hall standing beside Fury.

The latter has changed a bit more than a year ago, specifically...hair is thinner.

It seems that this doctor has been entrusted with important tasks for more than a year. He seems very tired and under a lot of pressure.

"Look who's here."

Fury heard the movement and turned around. When he saw Merlin, he opened his arms and said in a slightly joyful voice:

"Many people are concerned about you, Merlin, your awakening time is much earlier than we expected."

Merlin looked at Fury, he chuckled and said:

"How long do I have to sleep, in your opinion?"

"At least two years."

Fury hugged his shoulders, and he snorted:

"That's an estimate given by experts."

"Dr. Charles? Right?"

Merlin says:

"You still sent me to that mutant who can probe people's hearts."

"how do you know?"

Fury looked at his subordinate in surprise, the latter was leaning on the wheelchair weakly, he shrugged:

"When I was in a coma, I could hear everything you said beside me."

"Ok."

Fury smiled. He squatted down and looked at Merlin's eyes. He patted Merlin's cold hand and said:

"In short, just wake up, I still have a lot of tasks for you."

"I just woke up, let me rest for a while, okay?"

Merlin said with some headache:

"At least wait until I can move freely, okay?"

"Haha, I was just joking."

Fury stood up, and he waved his hand, indicating that Coulson could leave.He pushed Merlin towards Dr. Hall, and he said:

"Actually, it's good for you to do this... At least you can finally stay in the office peacefully. New York has been a bit uneasy recently. I mean, you'd better solve this matter quickly."

"Believe me."

Merlin says:

"I've already started working on it."

"That's good."

Fury pushed Merlin to Dr. Hall, who said to Merlin with some guilt:

"Merlin, I wouldn't have modified your watch if I had known it earlier. It was the gravitonium I gave you that caused your body to suffer. I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, doctor."

Merlin looked at the guilt-ridden Dr. Hall, and comforted him:

"Actually, that miniature 'Gaia' system also saved me. Without your help, what Hill eventually retrieved might just be a corpse."

"Perhaps you can tell us about the situation."

Dr. Fury and Dr. Hall lifted Merlin's body from left to right, and put him on a nearby CT-like instrument. The director stood beside Merlin, and he asked:

"What is it that hurt you like this?"

"It's a Mandarin."

Merlin was lying on the slightly warm treatment equipment, he turned his head to look at Fury, and said:

"This matter has something to do with magic, but you can simply understand that in the cave in Afghanistan, I fought against the mandarin. I failed and was almost killed...just not as skilled as others."

"About that mandarin..."

Fury asked solemnly:

"Any other news you can tell me?"

"Nothing."

Merlin shook his head, before being sent into the treatment cabin by the slowly activated treatment device, he said to Fury:

"What I know, I have already told you everything. Of course, I will tell you in detail about some of his special attack methods after the treatment is over."

"Ah."

Fury nodded, looked at his watch, and said to Merlin:

"I'll be back in 30 minutes. I also have something to tell you."

Thirty minutes later, when Merlin was sent out of the silver-white treatment cabin, Fury was ready to return to the treatment room.

When Merlin sat back in his wheelchair, he saw Fury walking into the room with a document bag covered with the emblem of SHIELD in his hand.

"I guess, it should be good news?"

Merlin looked at Fury, who nodded and handed the document bag to Merlin, he said:

"That's really good news."

Dr. Hall beside them is sorting out the test data. To be precise, the treatment this time is to conduct a comprehensive test on Merlin's body to determine the follow-up treatment.

It has been almost 20 hours since Merlin woke up, and his control over his body is slowly recovering.

At least the fingers are not shaking as much as before.

He untied the document bag in his hand, took out the documents in it, glanced at it, and found that it was his resume, that is, the personnel file.

Nothing else has changed, except for Merlin's professional level, the original level 5 agent has been changed to level 6, and after this level, there is a special mark, which is a "η" on it , which is the "7" in the Greek alphabet.

Merlin noticed that the font used for this "η" was different from other fonts. Under the light of the treatment room, it exuded a silver-gray feeling.

"What does it mean?"

Merlin raised his head and looked at Fury:

"Aren't the professional titles of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents only up to level 6?"

"Now, welcome to level 7."

Fury folded his arms and leaned against the metal cabinet next to him.

He said to Merlin seriously:

"The scale of S.H.I.E.L.D. is getting bigger and bigger, and the affairs we are responsible for are constantly being subdivided. I realized that as more and more members join in our affairs framework, those who were originally loosely managed but numerous The huge confidential database needs to be further divided into confidentiality authority."

"This is very important, Merlin. I can't just expose some confidential information that will endanger social order to a logistics agent who has been promoted to level 5 after a long time of work. Of course, this is just not so Case in point."

Fury explained:

"The vast majority of S.H.I.E.L.D., other than you secret agents, are normal people working for pay and benefits. Do you know what I mean? I have to put a wall between them and you, and it's not just To protect our secrets, but also to protect their safety."

"Now above level 6, there are still level 7-10 agent permissions. In the entire S.H.I.E.L.D., less than 3% of the people know your existence. We will pass through the huge S.H.I.E.L.D. staff Proof of time, to screen out some truly trustworthy people."

"You're still the same, Fury."

Merlin put the files back into the folder, looked at Fury, and said:

"Always speculate on anyone with the utmost suspicion."

"It's a necessary caution, Merlin."

Fury took back the file, and he said to Merlin:

"Doubt is much safer than opening your heart to everyone at the beginning, and then being stabbed in the back. You are also an old secret agent, and I believe you can understand this."

"I didn't say 'no', did I?"

Merlin smiled and said:

"That's good. A secret is a secret, and the fewer people who know it, the better."

"Well, gentlemen, put your secret business aside."

Dr. Hall walked over to the two with the printed test results. He handed the papers full of data to Merlin, and said:

"There is no doubt that your condition is recovering, Merlin."

"Does that mean I'll recover soon?"

Merlin glanced at the data. He put the test results aside with some headaches. He looked at Dr. Hall and asked bluntly:

"How long will it take me to get back to my previous state?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you."

Dr. Hall pushed up his glasses and said:

"Gravityonium is distributed in your body in the form of particles. I currently have no way to extract it, but I'm working on it. It may take some time, but I already have some clues."

"This substance has never been combined with the human body before. Frankly speaking, I am surprised that you can survive."

Dr. Hall sighed and explained:

"Gravitonium is essentially a special element, and many of its properties are still unknown to us. Judging from the current data, apart from the previous consciousness blockade, it has not caused too much negative impact on your body. impact, but it's temporary and no one knows if it will change again over time."

"Ok."

Merlin looked at his hands that were exactly the same as before, and said softly:

"That's it, doctor. If you have any news about the equipment for extracting the gravitonium in my body, please let me know as soon as possible, okay?"

"I'll do my best, Merlin."

Dr. Hall said seriously:

"If there is any bad change in your body, please notify me as soon as possible."

"Dr. Hall is currently helping S.H.I.E.L.D. develop the 'Gaia Engine' project."

Fury explained on the sidelines:

"His project is now one of the important proposals of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the World Security Council also attaches great importance to it. He will be permanently stationed at S.H.I.E.L.D., so it will be very convenient for you to find him."

"Ah."

Merlin nodded, he yawned a little tiredly, and he said to Fury:

"If there are no other important things, then I go back to rest first?"

"Go."

Fury waved to Merlin:

"Have a good rest during this time, and don't forget about the vampire."

"of course."

Merlin turned the wheel of the wheelchair by himself, and said without looking back:

"I'll be watching closely."

Coulson waited for Merlin outside the laboratory. He drove Merlin back to his home in Hell's Kitchen, and then left.During this period of time, due to the activity of vampires, SDOLD has a lot of affairs. Before Merlin officially returns to the leadership position of the Department of Mysteries, Coulson still needs to continue to assume the overall responsibility of the overview.

After Coulson left, Merlin stayed in his living room. He looked at the familiar things around him that had hardly changed. For a moment, he felt a little bit emotional.

A few minutes later, Merlin was leaning on the wheelchair, and he tentatively stretched out his fingers. In the empty living room, with the bending of his fingers, the vase on the coffee table in front of him also moved like an invisible hand. Same, slowly suspended.

Merlin felt the faint power, he frowned, looked at the vase spinning in the air, and put his fingers in front of his eyes.

After a moment, he whispered:

"It's not all bad..."

(End of this chapter)