Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 34 33. The Road of Darkness

When Merlin woke up again, the first thing he saw was a beautiful woman staring at him.

She has a typical oriental face, with fine skin that can be broken by blows.

Her eyes are blue, not the sea blue common to Europeans and Americans, but more pure blue like the sky.Her hair was drooping, and in her black hair was mixed with a different kind of purple, which looked very beautiful and very soft.

She was still wearing a black leather jacket, dressed like a female ninja, with a chic windbreaker over her combat uniform, and the heavy katana was thrown beside the bed.

The mercenary who had completed the mission was sitting by the bed, looking at Merlin with curious eyes.

To be precise, looking at Merlin's eyes, those distinctive eyes.

"Ahem, you, what are you looking at?"

Merlin asked weakly, the beauty shrugged, she stood up, took a few steps back, and sat on the sofa next to her.

she says:

"I'm looking at gold!"

"What gold?"

Merlin didn't understand, so he asked back.

The beauty snorted, stretched out her fingers, and while playing with her nails, said:

"Someone offered 500 million just to let me save your life. Do you understand? In my eyes, you are as valuable as an equal volume of gold."

"Oh, really?"

Merlin closed his eyes. He knew that it was Bruce's family who hired this powerful beauty.

He hadn't intended to use the number Bruce had left him, but he had used it in the fatal moment last night, and it had literally saved his life.

Alas, I don't know how to repay him.

"What's your name?"

Merlin leaned against the head of the bed with some difficulty, and he looked at the beautiful mercenary in front of him.

The latter picked out his own purple-black hair, and said lazily:

"Why do you ask this? From the looks of you, you can't afford to hire me. You're not pretty, you're not the type I like, so let's forget it. We won't have anything to do with you after you're safe."

"I always want to know the name of the benefactor. After all, you saved my life. Maybe it's just a business to you, but it's my life..."

Merlin said softly but stubbornly:

"Although I may not be able to help you, if you need it, I will try my best to help. I don't like to owe favors very much."

"..."

Merlin's words made the beauty silent for a moment, she looked at Merlin, and she said:

"Hmm...you don't look like an American, but you look like someone from my hometown. You know how to repay your kindness, good, good."

The beauty turned up, exposing her beautiful figure in front of Merlin's eyes indifferently.She lay on the sofa, searched in her small bag, found a crumpled business card, and threw it to Merlin.

She crossed her hips and said loudly:

"Then remember it, boy."

"Call me Lingdie, the best and most beautiful mercenary in the world. Oh, yes, another reminder..."

Lingdie stretched out her finger, a mass of crimson energy turned into a sharp blade in her hand, she flicked the energy knife, she said:

"I'm a mutant. You seem to be too?"

"Well... sort of."

Merlin didn't want to explain this question too much, he rested silently for a few minutes, then suddenly remembered something, he hurriedly struggled to stand up, picked up the water beside the bed, and drank it in one gulp.

He looked back at the clock behind him, it was 9 o'clock in the morning, 5 hours and 57 minutes had passed since the last time he drank water...

Really hanging.

Lingdie, who was watching TV boredly in the hotel room, glanced at Merlin with a little surprise.

She didn't care about Merlin's actions. She knew that many mutants had weird quirks, and it would be impolite to ask about this rashly.

"Where are you taking me?"

Merlin stood by the window, looking at the bustling streets below. This place should still be Auckland, but it should be at the other end of the city, very close to the airport.

"Wherever you want."

Lingdie tore open a bag of snacks, said while eating:

"As long as you escape this chase safely."

"I'm going to take you to Canada, where the Brotherhood of Mutants has a base. As long as you are willing to join Magneto's organization, there won't be too many unsightly bastards in this world who dare to provoke you."

"Magnetic King?"

Merlin shook his head. He knew this powerful mutant, who was said to be one of the two leaders in the mutant society.

But because Magneto has planned many attacks against humans in the past ten years, in the minds of humans, Magneto is equivalent to a real villain.

What's more, even if Magneto loves mutants, it's useless, because Merlin is not a mutant at all.

He said to Psylocke:

"I don't want to go there, I want to stay here."

"???"

Lingdie looked back at Merlin, she asked in surprise:

"What are you doing here? To die?"

Merlin didn't answer, and Lingdie chattered endlessly:

"Do you know how famous the Winter Soldier is in the mercenary world?"

"In the past ten years, he served the Soviet government. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he began to serve an organization. The missions he took over were almost [-]% complete, and many of them were extremely dangerous political assassination missions."

"Being targeted by such a ruthless character would be a headache even for me. You... Merlin, it's not that I underestimate you. Your ability is very unstable, and it's obviously not systematically developed. You are not him at all. opponent."

"So he's called the Winter Soldier, a good name."

Merlin nodded, he didn't care what Lingdie said.

Under the gaze of the spirit butterfly, Merlin turned his head and looked out the window. He looked at his hand and said:

"Those people died because of me, Lingdie."

"Before you came, I was hiding in an apartment building. The Winter Soldier fired a rocket at the apartment to kill me. His subordinates also dropped a lot of explosives on the block."

"They didn't deserve this fate, they only got it because I was hiding there and I didn't get out in time."

Merlin looked out of the window with an indescribable gaze, and he said:

"I'm not a bad person, I'm just unlucky, I've been unlucky."

"I've implicated them, I've implicated many people, I've been plagued by bad luck...a monster like me, I still hope that I can go home one day, I should have known that I have no home, it's not that my family doesn't accept me , but that I don't deserve to embrace that home."

"I only hurt them..."

"So you feel guilty? You want to sacrifice yourself to keep order?"

Spirit Butterfly said to Merlin sarcastically:

"I've lived longer than you can imagine, Merlin, and I've seen many people like you. Do you want to know the outcome? Let me tell you, even if you die, the fight will never stop. Someone like the Winter Soldier, who won't stop killing as long as he's alive, you want to end this?"

"You can... kill him, and everything will end temporarily."

"But the question is, can you do it? Good boy Merlin, let me ask you, have you ever killed someone?"

Lingdie lay comfortably on the sofa and stretched out her body like a supermodel. She said:

"Controlling violence with violence is low-level, but in the real world, this is always the best way to solve problems. Don't talk about world peace with me...Even a mutant as powerful as Professor Charles can control all the world's political leaders in an instant No strong man can truly achieve world peace."

"In my long life, if there's one thing that's been constant, it's the hatred of one's own kind...it's original sin, you know? Original sin that can't be undone! So don't be so childish The real important thing is to live well. Don’t forget, you are worth 500 million! Much more expensive than ordinary people.”

After being reprimanded by Lingdie as an elder, Merlin nodded silently, as if he had given up on his naive thoughts.

A moment later, under Lingdie's gaze, he turned around and limped into the bathroom.

Lingdie continued to focus on the soap opera in front of her, until nearly 8 minutes later, Merlin still hadn't come out of the bathroom.It was only then that Lingdie suddenly realized that she seemed to have never heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom a few minutes ago.

"Damn it!"

Lingdie kicked open the bathroom door, and there was no one there.

At the same time, downstairs in the hotel, on the street, Merlin got into a taxi, and he said to the driver:

"Auckland Station, thank you."

Thirty minutes later, Merlin, wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap, walked to the locker at the train station. He took out a key from the interlayer of his boots, and opened the locker in the corner in front of him. There, there was a Black mug.

He took out the thermos cup, twisted it open, poured out the melted water inside, and then poured the small bag of blue liquid into a syringe he just bought.

Merlin put the needle in front of his eyes, and he looked at the viscous blue liquid in the needle.

What was reflected in the liquid was Merlin's pale face and his eyes under the sunglasses.

Flames danced in those shadowy eyes.

"How can you let me watch innocent people die because of me with peace of mind? I can hardly breathe due to the burden of the past..."

"Just treat me as... childish."

"puff"

The needle pierced the blood vessel of the arm precisely, and the blue liquid was poured into Merlin's body bit by bit.

He didn't know what the consequences would be if the serum was injected into his body like this, but maybe Lingdie was right. In this real world, which is different from fairy tales, maybe, using violence to control violence is the way he should choose to atone for his sins.

But to control violence with violence requires strength!

"boom"

The empty needle fell to the ground and was crushed by Merlin's foot.

His body began to shake, and the serum took effect.I don't know if this violent shaking of the body is a normal reaction.

A pain erupted in Merlin's will. It was a sign that the body structure began to tear at the cellular level. The fatal crisis appeared again. Black smoke rolled over his arms, but it failed to complete the black mist. manifest.

There is a kind of power blooming in Merlin's body, it is preventing the dark magic from continuing to erode Merlin's body, and it is also preventing Merlin's body from turning into dark smoke.

Merlin curled up in the corner, and the shadows with clearer senses covered him like flowing water, as if pulling him into another dimension.

He hugged his body with both hands, and a wave of severe pain rushed out from the depths of his body, it was very painful.

Like the pain he suffered the night he lost everything two years ago in the Wisconsin wilderness.

The power of darkness is like a cocoon, enveloping Merlin bit by bit in the rising smoke.

The absorption of super soldier serum requires huge energy to be catalyzed, and Merlin does not have those sophisticated equipment.But luckily, he wasn't getting a full dose of serum, and if it was just energy, he wasn't lacking.

"If, this is a game..."

"Let's make it... fair."

---------

An hour later, Psylocke, who had changed into a loose attire, rushed into the train station.

There was light flickering in her blue eyes, like an invisible signpost, guiding Lingdie all the way to the train station. She followed the invisible signpost until she reached the locker. edge.

She could feel that a painful life was hidden here.

Lingdie looked left and right, she stretched out her hand, covered her fingers with crimson energy, and then ruthlessly grabbed the empty corner.

Accompanied by a slight sound similar to breaking glass, Merlin, who was curled up in the shadows, was grabbed out by the spirit butterfly.

"Run! Run again!"

Spirit Butterfly cursed, and waved her hand, crimson energy entwined around Merlin's body, binding him tightly, as if she was planning to take these 500 million guys away just like that.

Merlin didn't fight back, he wasn't doing well.

The sweat gushing out of his body had completely wet his clothes, and he looked as if he had been fished out of the water.He lowered his head and asked in a hoarse voice:

"how did you find me?"

Lingdie glared at him, and said impatiently:

"I can sense the minds of other people. Although I don't like this ability, it doesn't mean I won't use it. I really underestimated you, Merlin, you can actually read from... wait, your eyes !"

Merlin's eyes changed.

The light in his eyes, which was like a dancing flame, had completely solidified into a dark orange-red spot at this moment, just like the embers of coal that were left after the flame had finished burning and were about to go out.

It was only then that Lingdie noticed that Merlin's face was no longer as sickly pale as before, but turned rosy instead.

His slightly thin body has also become strong.

Even his height soared by 15 centimeters in just one hour.The pants and clothes that were originally fitted seemed to be one size smaller out of thin air.

"What did you do to yourself?"

Lingdie asked in surprise:

"Did you undergo some evil transformation? Or did you drink a magic potion or something?"

"It's nothing."

Merlin moved his arms, and with the black smoke rolling slightly on his arms, the energy ring bound by the spirit butterfly was squeezed away bit by bit.

He put on his sunglasses again, and said to Psylocke:

"I just... slightly embraced those things that have been calling me, and I discovered that the more you try to escape, the more you will encounter fate unexpectedly."

"So I decided to live a little more dangerously, just like you."

"A road to darkness is bad indeed, but it is at least a road to those who have nowhere to go."

"Now, I'm on my way."

Merlin turned his head to look at Lingdie who was a little surprised. He narrowed his eyes and showed a kind smile. He said:

"Speaking of which, you have telepathy, right? Ms. Lingdie..."

"Can you do me a little favor?"

"Help me find the Winter Soldier. It's time for this to end..."

"Of course, before that, I have to take a shower and eat something... Look at the smell, it's really bad."

(End of this chapter)