"This bloody place!"

Merlin sat in his tavern that was already closed up early, he was currently controlling his Patronus spirit, Victor the Raven, as it flew fast over the vast deserts in the south of Kandahar City.

With the guardian spirit's shared vision, Merlin looked around and could hardly see any man-made buildings except for a barren land under the blazing sun.

He controlled the spirit of the raven to fly quickly across the desolate land. The spiritual body that ordinary people could not see was like a moving radar at this moment, trying to find signs of life on this wild plateau.

But there had been nothing but disappointing results during the hours of his search.

He seems to have made a stupid decision.

He underestimated this piece of land known as the "Empire Cemetery".

For the past few hours, he controlled Victor as it quickly scoured several canyons in southern Kandahar, large and small, but he found nothing.

In this uninhabited place, it is easy to get lost if you only rely on the landmarks on the ground to identify the direction.

Although Merlin didn't need a compass to identify Victor's location, and his spiritual body cannot be exhausted, but it would take him several weeks or even a month to fully explore this mountainous area with Victor alone. 

And that's if he's lucky.

Most importantly, mana was needed to sustain the existence of his Patronus spirit Victor, and there was a limit to how far Merlin's connection with Victor can go; their connection weakens as the distance stretches beyond 30 kilometers. 

That is to say, once Victor has explored the surrounding area, Merlin needs to set off on his own and head towards those unknown areas with harsh climates.

With such a high temperature, Merlin would still feel the scorching heat even in his fog form. The temperature of the surface would be higher, and while it's not fatal, it would tire Merlin out mentally and cause great burden to his physical body.

In order to maintain his best condition in his search, Merlin would have to pick times when the temperature was lower, thus decreasing efficiency.

And regardless of how mysterious and powerful as he may be, he was still a lifeform, and lifeforms needed food and water. Water can be solved using a water call spell, but Merlin could not stand eating compressed biscuits and military food.

In this regard, he was actually quite picky.

Merlin controlled Victor to hover in midair as he looked at the map in front of him. There were already several red crosses on the map, representing the places Victor had searched.

But Merlin could feel his head aching as he saw the explored areas barely covered one-twentieth of the mountainous area.

While effort is required to gain something from doing something. But a stupid way is a stupid way, and using a stupid way often means that the effort and the gain are oftentimes disproportionate.

After a few minutes, Merlin disconnected himself from the Raven Spirit.

In the distant sky of Kandahar, the Raven Spirit made an unpleasant cry and dissipates into the sky. In Merlin's tavern, Merlin thought for a moment, then took out his mobile phone and called Fury.

"Things have gotten a little better."

Merlin said to Fury:

"But I have a problem now. I need to borrow the authority of S.H.I.E.L.D. to use military satellites to scan the mountains in southern Kandahar. I'm very certain that the Ten Rings' encampment is there."

"It's not a big problem to use satellites."

Fury replied:

"But you have to be prepared for a fruitless search, Merlin."

"If the hiding places of the armed elements of the Ten Rings could be so easily discovered by satellites, they would not have survived the brutal civil war."

"I read the report you sent back a few days ago. I can only say that if the Ten Rings can exist in this broken place in Afghanistan for more than ten years or more, it can only show that those guys know how to hide."

Fury's words made sense, but Merlin was just trying to do something else. He said to Fury:

"I can't look for the target one anyone at a time, Fury, that's a waste of time. The situation around Kandahar is worse than I thought, with various militant factions attacking each other, and the CIA still poking in the dark, this place is like a pool of water that has been completely stirred up; right now, I'm eager to finish this thing and leave this place."

"I need you to use satellites to help me exclude some targets and leave areas that need to be searched."

"Alright."

Fury agreed simply, saying:

"A detailed search will take time, and I'll send it to your mailbox when the results come out. Also, Merlin, I found something in New York that might be helpful to you."

"The CIA made a fine-tuning of the special agent system in Afghanistan two weeks ago, and a new director went there. His name is Rollins. He should be in charge of intelligence collection and support for local forces, the coincidentally, he should also be near Kandahar by now."

"You think there's something wrong with that agent chief?"

Merlin asked:

"Also, do you have someone inside the CIA? I've only ever heard of agents who penetrate into our enemy's interior, but not spies in our allied departments. In this regard, Fury, you're quite skillful."

"No, I still have a bottom line, Merlin."

Fury explained:

"No matter how rotten an organization that has been passed down for a long time is, there must be people inside who adhere to principles. They don't want to see the organization they serve fall into darkness. Fortunately, I actually have quite a few friends, to have a friend who works at the CIA and still maintains their principles is perfectly normal for a person like me, no?"

"Oh, so it's a friend."

Merlin shrugged and said to Fury:

"That's it, I'll go and observe that Agent Rollins, and I'll wait for your results."

Merlin hung up the phone, he checked the time, and made himself a simple lunch.

After a dozen minutes, he stepped out of his bar while wearing loose local clothes, a sun hat, and glasses, he then proceeds into to drive his broken three-handed car towards the outskirts of Kandahar.

He plans to take a walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon to see if he can find something interesting.

But just when Merlin had just driven out of the city for ten minutes, he accidentally found a strange young man on the side of the road.

It was a tall, thin white man.

With short blond hair, he was wearing jeans and sneakers, presumably because of the hot weather, he took off his jacket, tied it around his waist, and carried something similar to a schoolbag on his shoulders.

There would be nothing wrong with this outfit if it appeared on the streets of New York, let alone draw attention.

But this was Afghanistan, a place where a war is brewing, and on this desolate road, it is abnormal for a person who looked like a student to appear here in such attire.

Merlin contemplated briefly before parking the car a few meters away from the young man. He shouted to the young man who was looking left and right:

"Hey, need a ride?"

"Well, thank you, kind sir."

Hearing Merlin's invitation, the already exhausted, gaunt-faced young man thanked him slightly embarrassedly, then quickly opened the car door and sat in the back seat.

Merlin started the car again, watching the young man in the rearview mirror amid the murmur of the engine.

He looked like to be in his early twenties.

"Where are you from? It's not a good choice to travel to Afghanistan during these trifle times."

Merlin asked casually.

The young man behind replied:

"I'm from Cincinnati, and I'm not here to travel. Actually, I'm here because of an... err, accident."

"What accident sent you from North America to this damn place?"

Merlin pretended to be very interested and said to the young man behind him:

"Oh, by the way, my name is Yuri, I'm from New York, and I run a failed bar in Kandahar. But it's getting harder and harder to do business now, and I'm planning to go home after a while. How about you?"

"My name is Lincoln, sir. Lincoln Campbell."

The young man with beautiful blue eyes replied politely:

"I'm a medical student. As for how I got here, uh, forget it, you wouldn't believe it."

"Hmm?"

Merlin became interested and said:

"I've been in this damn place for almost 2 years, it's boring, and I'm curious about everything now. So tell me, Lincoln, maybe I can help you? Look, you're here and you don’t know the place, and I happen to know how to get to the airport.”

"Of course, forget it if you'd rather not tell"

Merlin pointed to the rough road ahead and said:

"I'll put you down in the next town, you'll find a coach there that'll take you to Kabul."

Lincoln remained silent for ten seconds, and his face was obviously blank and at a loss. It seems that he also has a headache about his current situation, and under Merlin's deliberate guidance, he feels that he really needs help right now.

So, after a moment, he raised his head and said to Merlin:

"Actually, Mr. Yuri, I was drinking in a bar in Cincinnati 2 hours ago...and now I'm halfway across the world in Afghanistan."

"I was brought here by a weird person that can travel through space. Initially, he wanted to take me to a hidden place, but he seemed to felt something urgent along the way, so he just left me here alone."

"Sounds like drunken gibberish and some damn magic story."

A glimmer of light flashed in Merlin's eyes, but he pretended to be angry and patted the steering wheel:

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me your story, Lincoln, but I feel like you're insulting my IQ right now."

He acted in a way any normal person would act when they heard something absurd.

Behind him, the young man shrugged helplessly, and said:

"Look, I told you before that you won't believe it, in fact, even I don't really believe what I saw. I thought I was still in a hangover at first."

"Then let's say what you're saying is true. There really is a weirdo who can traverse the world at will. But why would he take you across the world?"

Merlin muttered:

"If I had the power to travel through space, I would rob a bank, or be a superhero, not kidnap a poor medical student, right?"

"I think so too."

Lincoln nods, his expression changes slightly before letting out an expression of approval, saying:

"I feel like I'm dreaming now, maybe I've been hit by a stroke. How about this, Mr. Yuri, you can drop me in the next town and I'll drive to Kabul by myself."

The change in the expression on Lincoln's face could not be concealed from Merlin, who had been watching him.

This young man has a secret, a secret he had nearly revealed just now

It was clear that at the most critical moment, he realized that Merlin was just a stranger he had just met.

Mmm, this is a very smart young man.

Merlin shook his head slightly, while he was interested in the secret of this young man he met by chance, now was not the time to explore that secret.

"Okay, you can rest for a while, it'll take a dozen minutes before we get there."

Merlin said:

"I'll wake you up then."

"Well, thank you for your kindness, Mr. Yuri."

Lincoln said:

"It's so reassuring to hear a familiar language in this foreign country."

"Hehe, then you are much luckier than me."

Merlin smiled and stopped talking, in the back seat, Lincoln also closed his eyes in the slightly bumpy ride. One could see that the young man was very tired, and with this opportunity, Merlin used his dark senses to detect Lincoln's life activities.

After a few seconds, Merlin retracted his senses.

He was sure that Lincoln Campbell is an ordinary young man.

There were neither fluctuations of magic nor were there strange energy hidden in the body of mutants. It's truly mysterious how he got involved in such a supernatural event.

Merlin turned the steering wheel and continued to move forward along the extremely poor road. After turning a corner, Merlin saw three military vehicles looking in his direction nearly 200 meters away.

Those cars were full of soldiers in local costumes, but Merlin saw a few white faces in them. If Merlin guessed correctly, those should be the "special people" operating non-peaceful missions in Afghanistan.

Merlin has seen some information inside SHIELD. After the Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan 10 years ago, the CIA immediately began to support pro-American forces locally. To be honest, this country has been fighting a brutal civil war that started in 1995 and has continued to the present. It's hard to say whether or not external forces were at play during that period.

"Alas, war."

Merlin sighed, he was a secret agent and had no interest in war.

A few seconds later, Merlin got closer to the three military vehicles, and as the two sides were less than 100 meters away, Merlin's dark senses suddenly sent out a warning that made his heartbeat beat faster and the mana inside his body to boil.

It was as if something bad was about to happen.

As Merlin watched on, two seconds later, under the road on the edge of the three fast-moving military vehicles, a trap that had been set up was triggered.

"Boom"

As Merlin watched, a blazing flame exploded nearly 50 meters in front of him. He watched helplessly as the first military vehicle flew into the air and continued to be engulfed by flames.

"Shit!"

Merlin cursed as he turned the steering wheel subconsciously, directing his car down the road.

What followed was the sound of a second violent explosion behind him.

His bad luck had struck again.