I adopted a child demon from the Gap, and I'm a special agent for the Bureau of Supernatural Ab

Chapter 174: The Deathly Gray Beginning

The melodious, light music, and the subtle, cheerful humming.

That was her voice, a voice he would never forget, no matter what. In the afternoon, in the evening, she turned on music and gently hummed along.

A gentle breeze stirred the white curtains and caressed his face. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt as heavy as lead, and he couldn't make out his surroundings.

Was it... a dream?

Her increasingly ethereal singing voice and the sound of her lowered footsteps reached my ears. She seemed to be far away, walking further and further away, yet she also seemed to be right beside me, gently accompanying me as always.

Ah, so this really was a dream...

The singing and footsteps faded into the distance, and my consciousness seemed to gradually return.

He knew, of course he knew. As long as he was willing to continue, he would definitely dream more and see more, as if she had always been by his side, as if she had never left.

But he couldn't indulge in the dream; he couldn't stay in this dream any longer. He had things to do, things to accomplish, for himself, for her, and for all the precious memories he held within him.

The dreamlike world, like a mirage, gradually disappeared. Real senses returned to my body once more.

Once again...

A nauseating, fishy, ​​salty, and pungent odor.

And the swaying, unstoppable feeling of dizziness.

The dark, cramped cabin, occasionally letting in small amounts of seawater, was filled with a suffocating heat that almost made one faint.

Amidst the roar of its engine, a dirty and dilapidated small boat sped across the turbulent ocean, heading towards a desolate and lifeless land at the horizon. Far off, from the depths of that land, black smoke could be seen slowly rising into the sky.

As dawn broke and the sky was still dim, the small boat swiftly approached the riverbank, a now-abandoned and neglected stretch of land. A few single-story houses remained, presumably the dwellings of fishermen, but now they were nothing but ruins and charred craters scattered everywhere.

The small boat glided swiftly to the shore, passed through the almost burned-out dock, crossed the beach strewn with crosses and mounds of earth, and finally stopped at a crumbling embankment.

"That's it, hurry up and get down,"

The boatman was an elderly man in his forties or fifties, with dark skin, who spoke in a somewhat broken Liberty League Common Language, shouting loudly into the cabin:

"Don't waste my time, hurry up and get down, it won't be good if shells come at us."

From inside the dimly lit cabin came the sounds of slight bumping. Then, a man lifted the curtain and slowly stepped out.

He stared silently at the land before him, his gaze lingering for a moment on the ruined buildings and the devastation. Then, he pulled a sum of money from his pocket, and without even looking at the amount, shoved it all into the boatman's hand. Immediately afterward, he turned and leaped from the boat onto the land.

“Hey, young man,” the boatman shouted behind him, “whatever you’re doing in this godforsaken place, don’t get yourself killed. I’ve come all this way not to bring a dead man here to fill a hole.”

Somewhat surprised by the boatman's words, the man turned around, only to see the boat speeding away, gradually disappearing beyond the horizon of the ocean.

"..."

After a long silence, the man turned his head and looked at the overgrown ground in front of him. He started walking forward.

This is Black Africa, one of the regions outside the world's three major powers. It is rife with poverty and war, a breeding ground for evil and a hotbed for darkness, a land far removed from peace and civilization.

On a morning with a typical gloomy gray sky, Li Cheng arrived alone on this land.

The reason he chose to travel by boat instead of using the gap to travel directly was simple: he didn't want tide to discover his current location and didn't want her to follow. He had spent a considerable amount of effort to shield himself from the contractual connection between him and tide. However, even so, if he used the gap or his realm, Xi could quickly find his location.

That's why Li Cheng spent a lot of time, changing various modes of transportation, and several weeks to arrive at this place in the most secretive way.

This time, it's my own business.

Taking a deep breath, Li Cheng's gaze gradually hardened. Accompanied by distant explosions, he strode forward, heading into the depths of this turbulent land.

Jiang Chaoxian, this time, I will definitely kill you!

Under the deathly gray sky, Li Cheng's tall figure walking across the wilderness seemed to be enveloped in flames, burning intensely.

Meanwhile, far away in neon-lit Tokyo, in the rebuilt branch of the Sixth Group, Kiritsugu Emiya lit a cigarette and drew back the curtains.

Outside the window, the sky was a deathly gray. It was nearing evening, and a cold downpour pounded against the city, accompanied by howling winds. Just by opening the window, a few drops of cold rain fell onto Kiritsugu Emiya's face.

"Squeak-"

Behind me, I heard someone push open the door and enter.

"Still no news," said Kurogiri Kanya, putting away his still-dripping umbrella and stepping forward. "He left quite secretly. We estimate that he probably ran away from Japan before looking for transportation, so it's very difficult to find him with the resources available in Japan."

"Isn't there even a little good news..."

Kiritsugu Emiya sighed helplessly and threw his cigarette butt into the nearby trash can. Mikiya Kokutou glanced at the trash can and found it was almost full of cigarette butts.

"Yes, there is. We checked his call records and found an unusual call with an encrypted address. But after cracking it, we can determine that it was probably in Africa."

"Black Africa?"

How did they end up in Black Africa? That's a very dangerous, war-torn region.

Kiritsugu Emiya frowned deeply, his fingers, resting on the windowsill, slowly digging into the tiles.

Black Continent is a fragmented continent located in the Southern Hemisphere. Like the American archipelago of the Free Alliance, it is said to have originally been a single, unified continent, shattered by the ultimate battle between transcendent beings. As a resource-poor region, Black Continent's national economy has always been underdeveloped and quite backward.

Moreover, unlike other generally peaceful regions, many parts of Africa are embroiled in conflict, marked by clashes between different ethnic groups, religious beliefs, and even the machinations of dark organizations and the covert power struggles among major nations. It is fair to say that Africa today is one of the most dangerous and chaotic places in the world.

Why would you want to go there? And who was the person who called you? You finally managed to pull yourself together again, and you finally found someone you wanted to protect, so why did you leave without saying goodbye and put yourself in danger again?

Li Cheng, what exactly are you thinking...?

The more Kiritsugu Emiya thought about it, the more his head ached. His expression changed several times, and finally, he could only let out a long sigh.

"How is Xi doing?"

Kurogiri Mikiya, standing beside him, asked Emiya Kiritsugu with some concern.

"Alice and Shirou are taking care of her in terms of daily life, so there aren't any major problems. However, as for her mental health issues, it's pointless to try anything unless we find Li Cheng."

Emiya Kiritsugu sighed several times before speaking slowly.

Indeed, although tide is well taken care of in daily life, her mental state never improves when the most important person is not around.

In fact, Shio, who is usually never hungry and is recognized by the members of Group Six as a glutton, has barely eaten anything during her stay at the Emiya residence. No matter how hard Shirou Emiya tries to prepare delicious dishes, or even calls on Nameless and Megumi to discuss cooking ideas, this girl, who should be very gluttonous, refuses to eat anything, remaining alone and dejected in her room or a corner. If it weren't for her yokai physical characteristics that allow her to live without food, she might already be starving and ill.

In the pouring rain, inside a guest room on the second floor of the Emiya family residence, Shio sat quietly by the window, watching the heavy rain outside, the vehicles passing by, and the hurried pedestrians.

In the past, as long as tide counted the passing cars and people, Cheng would return quickly.

But tide has been counting for three days now, why hasn't Cheng returned this time...?

Unable to sense the connection between tide and Li Cheng, the contract was now extremely vague. Undoubtedly, Li Cheng had somehow managed to block this connection, preventing Xi from locating him. This abandonment of her caused Xi immense sadness.

Is it tide? Did she do something wrong?

The fox plush toy, carelessly tossed on the bed, looked up and gazed at the girl sitting alone by the window, seemingly puzzled as to why the girl hadn't come over and hugged it. All of Xi's original toys, which had been moved from Li Cheng's house, lay in the boxes. Since Li Cheng left, tide hadn't played with these toys even once.

Cheng, when are you coming back...?

The little girl pressed her face against the windowsill, her gaze fixed on the view outside, her eyes filled with ever-increasing sorrow. A gust of cold wind blew into the room, causing the girl to shiver instinctively. But the man who usually scolded her, draped a coat over her shoulders, and pulled her away from the window was nowhere to be seen.

“Cheng…”

tide murmured softly, leaned against the window, closed her eyes, and quietly fell asleep. However, even in her sleep, her expression remained unsettled.

…………

Thank you so much, reader Huatangya, for the razor blade!

Thank you to readers Dingye and Huatangya for their monthly tickets.

Thank you to the readers who did not exist, Mysterious Girl A, Book Guest 67195465577, Sinful Demon King EX, Abnormality, Master Ding, Hanyu Ringo, Lei No. 9, Beyond the Fantasy Land, and Flower Sugar for their recommendation votes.

Chapter 2, Section 175: The Land Without Light

Thick black smoke billowed into the sky, covering most of it, and the pungent smell of burning filled the air, sprinkling over the shattered town.

After crossing a massive crater, passing through a collapsed building, and entering a city road, dodging the rotting corpses hanging upside down from half a bus beside him, the stench was even more overwhelming, almost filling the air. Li Cheng subconsciously raised his hand, wanting to use his realm to shield himself from the stench, but then he remembered that he couldn't use his contract ability, so he could only frown and continue to endure the unpleasant smell in the air.

"What a mess..."

As far as the eye could see, there wasn't a single building that was still intact. Everywhere there were traces of artillery fire, and the ground was full of craters. Some of the neighborhoods that had been heavily attacked were so badly damaged that their basic shape was no longer discernible, and they had been almost completely leveled.

Many buildings were still burning, flames shooting into the sky and black smoke billowing up, obscuring the heavens above. Li Cheng walked through the ruined town. Occasionally, he could find a few colorful flags that hadn't been completely burned, as well as many tattered tables and chairs scattered throughout the town.

Perhaps, before the disaster struck, the town was celebrating in some kind of way. It was only while people were still immersed in the joyful atmosphere that the artillery fire silently arrived.

Stepping across the broken, upturned ground, not far from him lay a rotting severed hand among a pile of rubble. A little further away, a section of intestine protruded from the soil, resembling a large intestine, with solidified black feces mixed with fragments of flesh and blood leaking from its edges. Numerous dark yellow maggots wriggled and thrashed about within it.

In a sense, it really does feel familiar.

In the past, when he was still the captain of the commando team and carrying out various missions, it was the same, often requiring him to venture into all sorts of dangerous areas. Back then, Li Cheng had already witnessed many scenes that could only be described as tragedies.

However, these things are no longer of much concern to him now. Li Cheng has no mission to complete and has no responsibility or obligation to care about the lives of others, let alone something that has already happened.

Everything except that one person is irrelevant to me.

Li Cheng spoke firmly to himself in his heart. The next moment, he turned the corner of the road buried by the collapsed building, walked to a small path on the side, climbed over a low wall, steadied himself, raised his head, and then stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening in shock.

"So...that's how it is..."

In this small private courtyard, there were at least forty corpses piled up, their heads all covered with black cloth, their hands bound, their heads smashed open, lying in rows in the corner.

Li Cheng's ascent over the wall startled a swarm of flies, which flew up in a dark mass, filling the entire courtyard with a buzzing sound.

Clearly, these were not casualties from the battle, but rather a one-sided massacre of prisoners.

After standing quietly for a while, Li Cheng turned and left, climbing over the other side of the wall.

The artillery fire destroyed the town, massacred its inhabitants, and then drove away. If the investigation I conducted before coming here was correct, this must have been the work of the Black Army.

The government army, which held de facto power and considerable military strength in the area, was known as the "Black Army" because of their black uniforms. According to the information Li Cheng possessed, it was a truly terrible force. Disciplinaryly corrupt, brutal in its methods, and plagued by numerous bad habits and backward conditions. Of course, this situation was also inextricably linked to the corruption and decadence of the local government.

In contrast, within this small country, there exists a resistance army that has been fighting against the regime's black army. Although their fighting capabilities are vastly different, due to problems within the regime and the black army themselves, as well as popular support, this resistance army has stubbornly survived.

As a result, the war on this land has lasted for almost half a year, and the damage to the country can be described as almost devastating.

This town was probably secretly funding the resistance, which is why it was destroyed and massacred by the Black Army as a warning, right? What a primitive and backward way of doing things, as cruel as barbarians.

That is why this country is called the "Land of No Light," because there is no light or hope to be seen in this place.

...No, I shouldn't think about it too much; this has nothing to do with me.

Li Cheng shook his head, trying hard to forget the images of the corpses he had just seen in the courtyard.