Time flies so fast that the Internet data crash that caused a severe shock around the world was a big incident. In a blink of an eye, it was already a year ago.

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

He was already used to life at two points and one line between home and Trident Building. Merlin was resistant to the overall situation in the office. He didn't feel that he could hide behind the scenes like Fury, and he was a man who gave orders, but it turned out that Merlin quickly adapted to his new role.

In the passage of time, he has developed a new habit.

Now he will take one day every week and, accompanied by Sharon, walk around the four mysterious items she manages.

He listens to work reports from sl.d. and other subordinate departments every half a month. When he is intrigued, he will conduct a surprise inspection and punish those unlucky unlucky men who are caught by him.

Every month, he would hold a regular meeting in the conference room of the Trident Building, summarizing his work last month and assigning his work next month.

It's like a spider lying on a already-made spider web. He doesn't even need to move, but he can feel the vibrations coming from various parts of the spider web. He will identify those vibrations, identify the information transmitted on this network, and then focus on those sensitive information that needs attention.

Of course, his life is not just about work, but also about his real private life.

The two girls dropped out of Xavier College very smoothly. Charles, or, in other words, did not stop him. This guy may not care about Merlin's little thoughts, but the children's escape from that unsafe place still made Merlin breathe a sigh of relief.

Riven and Lorna live at home now, but it's no different from going to school.

Every morning after breakfast, he entered the mysterious house and started learning under Xuanlan's supervision. It was like receiving the guidance of 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 relieved him a lot of pressure.

The three of them spend more time together, which makes the relationship between Merlin and her two sisters more intimate.

Finally, most importantly, every 45 days or so, Merlin will disappear strangely for 2-3 days. Before each disappearance, she is full of energy, every time she comes back, she is exhausted, and occasionally there are traces of frostbite on her body.

Yes, it was his "Snow Country Date" with his girlfriend. Elsa was "enthusiastic" every time, but the white frost in her body would not be too "gentle" to Merlin.

The two can finally have a stable relationship life. Although they are still together, it is much better than not being able to meet in two worlds apart.

As for the scenes of the two people meeting each time

Well, it can be considered "pain and happy".

Overall, Merlin has not been bad this year. Of course, it would be more perfect if the advanced frost protection agent produced by Ms. Yennefa lasted a little longer.

And, it would be great if the smart machinery that sprouted like mushrooms after a rain all over the world would be less energy.

—

"His Excellency Merlin, there is new communication."

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

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

Compared with Icarus before, Icarus now is like a cold auxiliary tool, very intelligent, but rarely makes people feel the existence of emotions.

This is probably the most regrettable thing that Merlin has made this year.

"Dou,Dou"

Merlin raised her head and the communication signal was connected. Fury's face, which was always invisible to see, seemed to be the whole world owed him money, appeared in front of Merlin.

Along with the real-time image, there is also the left side of the area where Fury is located. On the lens of Merlin's left eye, a North American map appeared, projecting Fury's coordinate points in front of Merlin.

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

It fully proves the powerful features of Icarus and is extremely cool and unscrupulous data processing interface, although Merlin thinks this is a bit of a big deal.

"Is there anything wrong? Fury."

Merlin picked up a document casually and asked while flipping through it:

"Aren't you quarreling with people from the World Security Council recently about robots? What are you going to Nevada again?"

"Because there is something more important, Merlin."

Fury's voice rose in Merlin's ears, he said:

"A project I have been paying attention to has finally made a pleasant progress. If you are not busy, I will come to Pagasos base this afternoon. I have something to tell you."

"Um?"

Merlin's movement of flipping through the documents stopped. He looked at Fury, then pushed his glasses, and he said:

"I feel like something has happened again, and this thing will eventually fall on me. Can I refuse?"

"Fry, look, I'm quite busy now. I haven't been to have dinner with Mei and Ben for several weeks. My little nephew misses me very much. If I can't go there, he will call strangers uncle."

"You're coming here, Merlin."

Fury frowned and said:

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

"?"

Merlin looked at Fury, who was full of confidence on his glasses in surprise, and said:

"Can I be interested in this so confident?"

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

"Okay, at 3 pm, I will finish the work I have at hand."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you here."

After saying that, Fury hung up the phone. Merlin curled his lips. He stood up, moved his body to the window, and looked at the city scene below. He said:

"If you can explain things clearly on the phone, you have to make it mysterious. This problem will probably never be changed in your life."

Merlin shook his head, he lit the cigarette, and as the smoke rose, his fingers pushed the frame of the bridge of his nose, saying:

"The third energy disturbance just ended, Icarus, let me see what the 'fire' contaminated area is like."

The next moment, on the two lenses, a rotating world map spread out in front of Merlin. The map marked many reddish-colored areas, and some light reddish areas, which looked like a clumsy dyeing game.

Those red areas spread throughout the world, fragmented and illogical.

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

"The inspection of four infection areas in North America has been completed. In addition to the 1,175 intelligent robots that have been contained, no more intelligent robots have been accidentally activated."

"The agents of sl.d. are moving their positions to South America, where the order system is weaker, and many awakened intelligent robots have fled there."

"Search in Northern and Southern Europe is underway. According to Agent Gatler's report, they have found at least 344 intelligent robots in escape status. They are chasing the target, but the last arrest failed due to accidental leaks."

"The progress of the affected areas in Asia is unknown. S.H.I.E.D. does not have enough power there, but according to the efficiency of the ancient Eastern Kingdoms, the speed of searching there will only be faster than S.H.E.D.."

"In the end, in Africa, Wakanda is also carrying out the containment of intelligent robots. They have not cooperated with S.H.E.L.D. Compared with S.H.E.L.D., the Wakanda people are more inclined to protect these intelligent robots born on Earth. If nothing unexpected happens, Wakanda may become the hiding place for these awakened intelligent robots in the future."

"Well, it doesn't look optimistic."

Merlin frowned and looked at the world map dyed on the lenses, and he whispered:

"Have these ecological comparison results of these areas infected by fire power come out?"

"The first phase of the study of ecology in various places by the Imperial Organization has ended. According to their report, in the 24 severely infected areas around the world, both ecosystems and biological systems have changed over time."

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

Icarus placed a strange photo on Merlin's lens. In the photo, a lion was patrolling his territory, but the lion's limbs had changed into mechanical metal forms similar to the Cybertron. One of its eyes had also turned into metal gems, and its tail was composed of layers of metal sheets.

The lion didn't seem to be suffering too much. It seemed that it did not feel its own changes and was still hunting leisurely. This shows that the energy of the fire source bursting will not trigger a painful chain reaction to the transformation of flesh and blood creatures.

If it is just that animals are infected, Merlin is not very worried about the infection that will spread to humans, but at present, there is no such sign yet.

"New changes are happening, and new waves have already appeared"

Merlin looked at the photo and said softly:

"What about human society's reaction to this?"

"There was no overreaction."

Icarus posted a few forms, and she replied:

"Of course, this is more because of the information control carried out by S.H.I.E.D. and governments, the news of the emergence of smart machinery creatures has been blocked. But there are still sporadic sightings, and some gossip tabloids are reporting this in a long and long way."

"In addition, Mr. Merlin, I need to remind you that compared with the sample 7 months ago, it should not be difficult to find that among the 24 severely infected areas and 16 mildly infected areas, the energy remaining in the fire has been transforming mechanical and low-level intelligent life faster and faster, which means that that kind of energy may have adapted to the rules of the earth."

"At this speed, perhaps in a few years, the world will usher in a huge explosion of intelligent machine life. By that time, even if the World Security Council comes forward, it will not be able to suppress this explosive news. Ordinary people will eventually be exposed to such mechanical life, and their reaction to this will be difficult to determine."

"Well, this is indeed a matter of concern."

Merlin nodded and said:

"But Colson gave me a very constructive opinion. Maybe we can talk to Fury about this afternoon and we still have time. If we prepare well, the explosion of smart machinery life in a few years will not affect the order of civilization, perhaps."

“We can turn it into a good thing.”

Although Merlin is full of confidence, AI Carlos seems to have different opinions on this. She pasted photos of several kinds of intelligent machinery lives she has discovered on the lenses, and she told Merlin:

"Improve it, Mr. Merlin."

"I think you underestimate the possible impact of intelligent machine life on this world."

"They are not robots without intelligence. Although they are far less powerful than the real Cybertrons, if they gather together and form a military group, they will still be a powerful challenge to the world's existing system of force."

"We have discovered intelligence-armed lives with companion weapons, which means that they are also evolving. Although the individual power of the new intelligence-armed robots has become very weak compared to the first awakened intelligence-armed robots, such as the Ghost, the Mute and the Lora, their number is increasing day by day."

Icarus said:
To be continued...