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

Perhaps, it was in her at that time that he found some shadows of his past. Just like the deep-seated longing she could feel in his gentle gaze during their long time together.

Just like the name he chose for her, "tide," it was definitely not a name he came up with casually. She could sense that this name must have unparalleled significance for him. And that's why he entrusted this name to her; presumably, he hoped that she could inherit something from it.

"Waaah..."

The more I thought about it, the more unsettled my anxiety became. I couldn't accept it, I couldn't forgive her. We had always been together, she had promised to stay by my side forever, so why did she run away without a word? Was all my past devotion and care for her just a substitute, a way to find psychological comfort?

Outside the door, she heard deliberately lowered footsteps in the corridor. She knew it was Shirou and Illya, who had come quietly out of concern for her. However, with the children's untrained gait, it was impossible for them to fool her superior hearing.

Forget it, staying here won't get me anywhere.

The rain outside the window had gradually subsided. tide, who was already extremely agitated, pushed open the window, jumped out, and quickly disappeared into the misty streets under the rain.

This was something she couldn't recall ever doing before. She disobeyed Li Cheng and secretly went out alone.

But she really didn't want to care about those rules he mentioned anymore. She had tried so hard to be a good girl, and yet he had just disappeared. He was the one who broke the vow first, so she wouldn't listen to him anymore.

With a hint of sullen displeasure and a touch of vengeful joy, tide strode briskly through the streets.

Because it was raining, there were few pedestrians on the streets. In addition, tide kept choosing to walk through small roads and alleys, so she did not encounter a single passerby after walking for more than an hour.

Under the curtain of rain, in the damp air carrying a hint of coolness, in the empty and silent city, it seemed as if only tide, the last living being, remained in the world.

Her long, golden hair billowed and danced with tide's light steps, yet not a single drop of rain touched it. She was clearly walking barefoot on the road, yet not a stain appeared on her body. She was like an ethereal spirit, appearing and disappearing in the deserted street in the rain, ethereal and dreamlike.

She walked along pedestrian streets with closed shops, through dark and quiet alleys, and past abandoned parking lots overgrown with flowers and plants. Sometimes she would look around curiously, sometimes she would stop and gaze at a particular spot, lost in thought about something inexplicable. She wandered through the city like this, observing, completely unaware of the passage of time.

Then, without her noticing, she stopped, turned around, and stared blankly at a winding alleyway beside her.

I have a feeling of sadness about it...

I can't understand it, I don't know its source, but at this moment, I truly feel sadness. It's not crying because of pain, not feeling lost because of setbacks, it's just a feeling hidden deep in my heart, like the despair of losing everything, a feeling of being unable to find any meaning, a feeling of living an empty life like a living corpse.

"Oh, I see. So that's how it is."

tide murmured softly to herself, clutching her chest as if to confirm the sound of her heartbeat. She closed her eyes, then slowly sat down, quietly sitting in the wet road in the rain.

"Is this what your past life was like, Cheng?"

That contract, binding them together from blood to soul, also linked their feelings and memories. So, just as he could vaguely know things he shouldn't have known, she could also sense his will and his past.

Countless days and nights, a loss of perception of time, a completely reversed sleep schedule. If work comes up, I do it; then I'm just idly passing the time. There's no desire to continue, no pursuit to strive for; I'm simply existing.

Until she came into his life...

"If that's the case, why did you leave? tide, I don't understand..."

He had clearly considered her everything in his life, clearly promised to stay with her for life, yet he vanished without a word, severing ties with her and making it impossible for her to find him. These incredibly real emotions from his memories felt like the greatest mockery of her present situation, a scorn for this lonely girl standing alone in the rain.

When I came to my senses, I found myself on the outskirts of the city, on the edge of the city, in an area far from the normal and bustling urban center, surrounded by ruins and broken buildings.

Shio knew of these places. On the very edge of the city she lived in, known as New Tokyo Special District, lay vast ruins. They represented the end of a previous era, a century ago, after humanity had wiped out most of the alien races and become the true rulers of the planet, a civil war that had taken place.

It is said that humanity at that time was far more advanced than it is now, an era of unparalleled prosperity. It boasted a population of tens of billions, hundreds of extraordinary individuals, and possessed powerful technologies and abilities that are now difficult to replicate.

Initially, everyone united, striving towards a common goal: to exterminate the alien races and make humanity the sole rulers of the planet. However, after this goal was achieved, a greedy desire erupted within the ruling class, igniting an unprecedented and terrifying war on the planet.

The scale of that war was beyond description; over 60% of the population perished, and countless powerful nations became relics of the past. It is said that at its most intense moment, the entire planet was torn apart by the power of the transcendent beings, and the world we stand on today is a reconstruction of those remnants. Because of this, the continent is riddled with holes, and many landscapes have been permanently altered.

That once brutal and merciless world war finally came to an end with a ceasefire agreement in its remaining countries. In the end, all that remained was a ridiculous conclusion with no victors, only losers. Even today, many years later, the wounds left by that war have not yet fully healed.

Like this dilapidated ruin, it still stands silently here. These once glorious high-rise buildings are covered by moss and grass, broken, collapsing, and disintegrating, like an unhealable scar or a mocking and ridiculous joke.

tide stood on the dilapidated road, now covered with a thin layer of grass, gazing absently at the silent tombstones of an old era. She seemed to recall something from long ago, frowning slightly, yet unable to truly remember it, a look of distress appearing on her face.

Have you ever seen a similar scene yourself?

The hazy memories of the past made tide unable to pinpoint the source of this familiar feeling.

Forget it, if I can't remember, I won't think about it. Besides, I've been walking around outside for so long, and I'm getting a little bored.

Let's go back.

Thinking this, tide yawned and prepared to turn back. But just then, she sensed a familiar aura, an aura that seemed to be one she recognized, emanating subtly from the depths of the ruins.

Is anyone inside?

Drawn by the familiar scent, tide walked towards a building in front of her, jumped over the collapsed door, and entered the moss-covered interior. Then, she saw a small figure sitting on a large lotus leaf floating on the water in the first-floor lobby of the building, in a collapsed, waterlogged green pool that had been turned into a pond, emanating a cool breeze.

It was a little girl who looked no more than eight or nine years old. She had light blue, almost white, shoulder-length soft hair, a dark blue short skirt that revealed her bare little feet, ice-blue, gem-like eyes, and most strikingly, six translucent icicles that constantly emitted a chilling aura, suspended behind her.

The girl sat on that enormous, terrifying lotus leaf, playing with a small piece of ice in her hand, looking radiant and seemingly very happy. tide didn't quiet her footsteps, so soon, the girl's ears twitched slightly, and she turned her head curiously, her eyes meeting tide's.

"Hello, my name is Shio, Yakumo Shio."

Because of Li Cheng's consistent teachings on manners, tide didn't hesitate to raise her hand and greet the girl.

"Hmm! Hello!"

After a slight pause, the girl realized what was happening and stood up from the lotus leaf, hands on her hips with a proud expression, tilting her head back and speaking loudly.

"My name is Cirno, and I'm the strongest!"

The next second, the lotus leaf, unable to bear the weight, suddenly tilted down, and right before tide's eyes, the proud girl swayed and fell directly into the pool below, splashing a lot of water.

…………

Thank you to reader Sin Demon King EX for the monthly ticket.

Thank you to readers 没有的八, 夜祭鳞, 罪魔魔王EX, and 某科学的妹控 for their recommendation votes.

A new month, perfect attendance... uh, seems pretty difficult still.

Chapter 6, Section 179: Geniuses and Fools

Almost the instant the girl who called herself Cirno fell into the water, Shio took a big step back, perfectly avoiding all the splashing water.

The next moment, a cold current swept up, and the already small pool was immediately frozen solid. A figure crashed through the ice and reappeared on the ice surface, still with a proud and smug expression.

"I'm Cirno! I'm the strongest, a genius!"

He just performed a flatwater dive in front of me, and now he's claiming to be a genius. Could this kid be...?

After thinking for about 0.03 seconds, tide came up with the correct answer.

Yes, this guy must be an idiot.

"Wow, you must be thinking of calling me an idiot, right? You must be thinking of calling me an idiot! I'm not an idiot! The guy who calls others idiots is the idiot!"

Huh? I haven't said anything yet, how does she know what I'm thinking?

"Hmph, Cirno's a genius, you know. She can figure this out so easily," Cirno said proudly, hands on her hips on the ice, her little head bobbing back and forth. "Cirno, I've seen people make that face at me so many times. Every time someone makes that face, they say I'm an idiot. You just made that face too, so you must want to call me an idiot too! Haha, this is called deduction in the outside world, a game only smart people can play! So Cirno is the smartest, a genius!"

In a sense, it's truly undeniable...

tide sighed, rubbing her forehead in exasperation. But soon she realized that her previous actions and reactions were remarkably similar to those of a man who had already left her, and her expression darkened further.

"Whatever, you're a genius if you want, it has nothing to do with me anyway."

With a very unfriendly tilt of her head, tide turned and left, but before she could even step out of the building, an ice wall rose up from the ground, completely blocking her way.

"..."

Without speaking, tide silently turned around, but a faint purple halo emanated from her pupils, and a dangerous aura, completely different from before, was gradually brewing within her.

"Let's duel! Hurry up and duel with me!"

Cirno, completely unaware of the change in tide's state, continued to speak loudly with great enthusiasm, even floating into the air and creating many blue ice shards around her body.

"I am the strongest, so I will defeat you!"

“...That annoying guy.”

Shio sighed softly, but her gaze did not fall on Cirno in the air. She gently tidied her slightly disheveled hair, and her expression gradually changed.

"They made such a promise, and even risked their lives for us, making us follow suit without hesitation. And then they disappeared in just over a month. Humans, indeed, are fickle creatures..."

As Shio spoke, a self-deprecating smile appeared on her face as she looked up at Cirno, who was suspended in mid-air.

For some reason, even though she was just a child who looked to be a little over ten years old and only slightly taller than herself, Cirno felt as if she were facing some kind of super powerful mastermind, the kind of person who would definitely be the final boss or even the hidden ultimate boss in a game.

"Goo-"

Sensing the invisible yet terrifyingly strange power emanating from Shio, Cirno subconsciously took a step back, but quickly took two steps forward, staring intently at Shio in front of her.

As the most warlike and strongest fairy, Cirno is not intimidated by the aura of a powerful opponent. Even knowing that going up to fight would result in her being beaten to a pulp, she would never retreat even a single step. This is the creed and principle that Cirno, as the "strongest," adheres to.

"How annoying, we actually imitate his way of speaking and habits."

As Cirno was eagerly preparing to launch her attack, Shio sighed again, her expression completely losing its previous innocent and childish quality, and instead resembling that of a grown-up.

"Although I've only ever caught a glimpse of you two or three times in the past, and I've never paid any attention to an idiot like you, today I'm really, really in a bad mood."

A pitch-black rift opened up in the air behind Shio, and one eye after another emerged from the deep darkness, indifferently watching Cirno who was suspended in the air.

"Next, I'll trouble you to be our punching bag for a bit."

"Ugh, I... I'm not afraid at all! I'm the strongest!" Despite feeling the eerie pressure from the other party that made her scalp tingle, Cirno still held her head high and swooped down towards Shio below, with countless icicles following closely behind, like a hailstorm.

At the same time, Xi stretched out her hand expressionlessly, her purplish-black demonic power flowing like water, radiating a captivating light.

boom--

In the quiet, abandoned building, there seemed to be an unusual tremor, a brief sound, but it quickly disappeared as if it had never existed.

"Waaah! Don't hit my head! Don't hit my head!"

Inside the building, where the pool water had completely evaporated and the ground was almost completely crushed, Shio sat expressionlessly on top of Cirno, tapping her forehead repeatedly with her small hand. Cirno struggled desperately, but was completely unable to break free from Shio's hold, only able to let out miserable cries and sway left and right to avoid Shio's taps.

"Ugh, why can't I break free? Could it be that you're the type who looks light but actually weighs a horrible amount?"

After struggling to no avail, Cirno looked at Shio sitting on her waist with some trouble and asked with considerable confusion.

"……（＃￣︿￣）"

Xi's lips twitched slightly. She raised both hands, clenched her fists, and slammed them down on Cirno's forehead like a heavy hammer. A dull, heavy thud was heard as Cirno's head was driven into the ground by Xi's punch, and she became completely dizzy.

"80, thank you for the generous offer."

With her fist clenched, tide stood up with a relaxed expression, not forgetting to add a teasing remark at the end.

Speaking of which, according to the guy at that shrine, this child, like the Scarlett family's children, must have been accidentally lost to the outside world, right?

But what does this have to do with me? Let "she" worry about what's going on here; for now, everything here is none of my business.