There must have been a secret between Richard and Mary, as the two of them seemed emotionally disturbed ever since they entered the room.

Merlin could feel this from the very beginning.

It seems that something bad has happened to them, or is about to happen.

"Brother, come with me."

Richard stood up and showed an apologetic smile to the others at the table. He held his wife's hand and said something to Ben who was eating. The latter raised his head and looked at his brother blankly, Richard then adds:

"Mary and I have something urgent to tell you."

"Oh."

Ben wanted to finish the pizza in his hand before going, but May patted him. At his wife's request, he glanced at his dinner regretfully before picking up the tablecloth, wiping his mouth, and following his brother and sister into the bedroom.

The door then closes.

"Those brothers are sometimes so mysterious."

May shrugged, she brushed her hair, and pushed a bowl of cereal in front of Charlie, who was picking green salads. She says to Charlie:

"Pretty little girl, you should eat more. It's a good thing to pay attention to your body, but you also need to pay attention to your health. Trust me, I know this."

"But you're in perfect shape, May."

Charlie looked at May's slender waist with envy, she touched her own, and said to May:

"How do you maintain your figure? Can you teach me?"

"If you promise to eat well in the future, and I'll teach you."

May stretched out her fingers and flicked Charlie's nose, who nodded, picked up the spoon, and began to deal with the cereal in front of her.

"Sister, your pizza is still so delicious."

Merlin, who was sitting on the other side, gave May a thumbs up admiringly while eating. But his attention has shifted to his spreading dark senses.

He was listening to the voices in the bedroom.

If possible, Merlin didn't want to use these methods to spy on the privacy of his loved ones.

But now, it's clear that the Richards have secrets that could affect their only relative. Merlin had to be careful because of this.

The senses were like invisible mist, which under Merlin's manipulation, converges in the direction of the bedroom.

After a while, Richard's voice was clearly projected into Merlin's mind.

"Ben, me and Mary are going on a business trip to South America tonight. It may take a long time for us to come back. I will place little Peter in your care for now. Please take good care of him while we are away."

Richard spoke in a consigned tone, and then Ben's voice resounded:

"Little Peter is my nephew. Richard, May and I will take good care of him even if you didn't tell us to. However, I'm getting the feeling that you and Mary are a little strange today. Tell me honestly, did something happen? ?"

There was a brief silence in the room, and after a few seconds, Richard's voice resounds again:

"No, brother. It's nothing, it's just the thought of leaving my newborn son for so long makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

"We are not good parents."

Mary cried in the bedroom, and said:

"My son may not even remember us by the time we get back."

"It's all right, Richard, I'll take care of little Peter for you. When you and Mary get back, he'll be well-fed, and maybe he'll call you Daddy then."

Ben comforted the two and said optimistically:

"Just go to work and don't worry about your family. May likes children very much, and she will take good care of little Peter."

"Well, of course I believe in you and May, you'll always be our strongest backing."

Richard said to his brother:

"I am absolutely relieved to hand Peter over to you."

The next moment, the door was pushed open.

Richard walked into the living room holding his wife's hand and saw that Merlin and Erkc were cleaning up their cutlery, and the two of them had almost eaten. And the enthusiastic May is putting a big pot of fragrant pasta on the table and is still urging Charlie to eat more.

The rest of dinner time went well, Richard and Erik talked about some engineering and mechanical stuff while Mary, May, and Charlie discussed body fashion and clothing. 

As the clock on the wall reached 10 pm, Richard and his wife were leaving. They were going on a business trip tomorrow and had to return and pack up immediately.

When the Richards were out, Merlin said to his cousin and brother-in-law:

"It's getting dark outside, I'm going to see Richard off, you stay at home."

After that, he walked out of the room with the Richard couple.

The apartment where Ben's house is located didn't have an elevator, so the three of them had to climb the stairs all the way down.

The three of them were silent. Richard and his wife walked arm in arm in front as Merlin followed behind. When they reached the corner of the second floor, Richard suddenly turned around. He looks at Merlin, and stretches his hand forward:

"Richard Parker, level 4 scientific research agent of SHIELD, I didn't expect that the famous Mr. Merlin is actually my family."

"That's because you don't always come here to visit."

Merlin shrugged, he held Richard's hand with a relaxed expression, and he said:

"And I rarely go to the logistics department. If I go more often, we would not be so unfamiliar."

"It's not your fault, Sir Merlin."

Next to Richard was Mary, who was also smiling, she stepped forward and says to Merlin:

"I'm Mary Parker, level 3 scientific research agent of SHIELD. My cover identity is Richard's wife, but it is also my real identity."

"Haha, you're so funny."

Merlin also held Mary's hand, and he said to the two colleagues in front of him:

"Shall we go out for a walk together?"

"Well, actually, I also have some research questions, and I want to consult you."

Richard made a "please" gesture and said to Merlin:

"It's a rare opportunity. After all, Mary and I's laboratory is far away in the mountains of Nevada. In fact, it's not that we're not indifferent, it's just that, SHIELD has, how should I put it, too many rules and vacations are too rare."

"Pegasus Base?"

Merlin reported the name of the base he knew, and Richard shook his head:

"Further than that, we're at Base 084."

"Oh?"

Merlin said in surprise:

"It seems that what you are researching is really something incredible. As far as I know, ordinary laboratories are not eligible to be placed in Base 084."

"What Mary and I have been working on in the last few years is really something of a shock."

Richard moved his shoulders, and the bookish researcher said to Merlin in an emotional tone:

"The habits of those few horntails that broke out of their shells are very troublesome. They're very fierce and their predatory nature is far beyond those of the natural creatures we understand. The most important thing is that these juveniles horntails also have some characteristics of cold-blooded animals...things can get very dangerous if we don't pay attention while feeding them. We all have to feed them with mechanical sensors now.”

"Hang on."

Merlin's footsteps stop, he frowns, and looks at Richard:

"You just said that what you are studying are horntails? If I understand it right, is it the kind of fierce fire dragon?"

"Yup."

Mary said:

"I heard that the parent sample of the horntail was captured by you and the agents you led, didn't you know?"

"Although the horntail is dead, it has intact dragon eggs in its abdomen. We found those dragon eggs with signs of life, and successfully hatched them with the help of the artificially simulated high-temperature nest environment."

"I had no idea."

Merlin rubbed his forehead with a headache and said:

"Actually, I only know a code name for many of the plans of the logistics department. Fury is a good person, but he is too suspicious. Even if he trusts another person, he will not tell him all the secrets. "

"Oh, I see."

Richard and his wife looked at each other, and the research agent said to Merlin:

"For an old agent like Director Fury, it may be instinctive to doubt anyone. The assistants in our laboratory are also rotated frequently, and he will not let a scientific assistant who's not level 3 to stay in a laboratory for more than 6 months."

"Segmented management does not allow every agent to know the content of every specific action or plan. Through a strict registration system and a complete and cumbersome division of intelligence authority, the foundation of secrecy and stability is maintained."

Merlin complained:

"This is the management style that Fury advocates, absolute Cold War mentality, and he is so fascinated by this method that it is almost hopeless."

"But you have to admit, it's a very efficient management tool."

The Richards and Merlin were walking down the streets of Queens, and after some small talk, Richard said to Merlin:

"My lab and Mary's are about to relocate to a base in South America, and we'll be back less often in the future. We had to keep our child at Ben and May's home; I had some concerns, but now that I know Merlin is also a member of our family, I am completely relieved."

Mary also smiled and said:

"With you in New York, Merlin, little Peter will be able to grow up safely."

"This..."

Merlin said regretfully:

"Like you, I'm going on a business trip tomorrow, somewhere far away and it may last a few months to half a year."

He said to the Richards in front of him:

"However, once I return to New York, you can be relieved. May is my relative, little Peter is also my relative, so I will do my best to take care of them."

"Of course we trust you."

Richard pats Merlin on the shoulder. Although today was their first meeting, the blessings of several relationships made the three of them feel like good friends.

Richard took a key from his pocket and said to Merlin:

"I left some things in the locker at Base 084, some of my notes and research materials, they're not precious, but very memorable. I had planned to return to get it and keep it here at Ben's place. But now, time is running out, so I guess I might have to trouble you."

"Well, as soon as I have time, I'll get those things back."

Merlin took the keys, and he watched Richard and his wife get into the car, drove into the street in the dark, and eventually disappeared.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and couldn't help feeling that things were impermanent.

Who would have thought that in SHIELD, not only did he have colleagues, and friends, but also family members... family members other than Coulson.

But Merlin was worried about something else Richard had mentioned.

The juvenile horntails.

Fury... he actually hid something like this from him. If the Magical Congress discovers that SHIELD was raising dragons privately, the problem would be much more serious.

There too exists biological invasion amongst magic creatures.

Horntails were a specialty of Hungary. This ferocious and aggressive fire dragon does not breed outside the mountainous areas where they live. Once should the horntails that grew up in the laboratory make an unexpected breakout, god knows what kind of trouble would occur.

And most importantly, there was also a Ministry of Magic in South America.

Once SHIELD's labs in South America are found to have traces of magical creatures, no one can guess what the Ministry of Magic will do in South America.

But Merlin couldn't speak of this matter directly...

Because he didn't want to expose his relationship with Richard, although Fury probably already knew.

Damn it!

How many secrets is that cunning braised egghead hiding?

Merlin's heart became agitated.

Just then, his phone suddenly rang. He picked up the phone and looked at it. There was no number displayed on the screen, but Merlin knew who the caller was.

In the darkness of the night, he put the phone to his ear, and then, Cliffjumper's slightly hurried voice resounds.

"Merlin! There's nothing in Hoover Dam! You've been tricked!"

"What did you say?"

"I mean, there's nothing there right now... We hacked into the base's computer program, and all the important information in it was transferred 5 days ago... But luckily, we found the residual energy of the Allspark, this means that the Allspark is indeed in the hands of the Department of Defense, and we will continue to investigate, but Merlin! You have to be careful!"

There was a hint of seriousness in Cliffjumper's voice.

"Bumblebee found some clues about you when browsing the files. Your Department of Defense is collecting your private information..."

"My information is confidential."

Merlin replied:

"A handful of people can see it even in SHIELD's database. That's physical encryption that none of you can crack."

"That's the problem, Merlin."

Cliffjumper said in a low metallic voice:

"Your separate encrypted file is in their computers and there's also the conversion code that matches the physical key. When we hacked into the computer system, the encrypted file was being cracked...Obviously, there's someone in your organization who's helping them."

"Bumblebee has tampered with that document, but it won't last long, so you better have a way of dealing with the crisis."

"Is that so?"

A gleam of light flashed in Merlin's eyes, he wasn't fearful as he said:

"Thank you, fly over the mountain, I wish you the fastest speed to find the source of fire, I will hang up first."

Merlin hung up the phone, raised his head, and looked up at the night sky.

Under the dim starlight, Merlin had a mixed and terrible mood.

At this moment, he finally determined...

There are moles in SHIELD...