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

"They're nothing but lackeys of the regime, yet they actually think they're righteous enforcers of the law?"

After that, most of the battles were initiated by young people and usually ended inconclusively.

However, although he genuinely considered killing them, after a week of interaction, the young man roughly understood that these two were different from ordinary bounty hunters. At least, they wouldn't harm innocent people; they were bounty hunters who still retained a semblance of conscience.

The young man was starting to feel a little conflicted.

……

But I still feel extremely ashamed.

As the young man turned over in bed, his phone fell out of his pocket. He picked it up casually, looked at the newly added contact in the list, and remained silent for a long time.

After the young man fully recovered, the couple quietly disappeared, leaving only their contact information on the bedside table where he usually rested. After much hesitation, the young man finally chose to save the number instead of reporting them.

Anyway, they've promised to retire completely and never work as bounty hunters again. It seems a bit far-fetched, but I'll just trust them for now.

And frankly, the young man didn't think he would have another chance to meet those people again.

A month later, in a border drug trafficking case, the young man encountered Kiritsugu Emiya once again.

"It's you again, you bastard! Did you retire just to get involved in drug trafficking? I should never have trusted criminals like you in the first place. Just spiral into heaven and die right here!"

"Who would do such damn things! I'm also tracking down these drug dealers, okay? Wait, don't make a move! Ah, I guess I should eliminate this unstable factor first!"

After some slightly complicated negotiations, the young man learned that the dull-eyed guy in front of him had actually started working as a vigilante. Further investigation revealed that the guy had already caused a huge uproar in major underground forces around the world, and his secretive and ruthless methods had dealt a significant blow to those criminal forces.

Is this guy, the "partner of justice" that Natalia mentioned, actually true?

As the young man's strength and prestige gradually increased, he was promoted from a lowly team member. From a mid-level member to vice-captain, and finally to captain, independently leading a six-person squad. The young man also experienced battle after battle, constantly thwarting various conspiracies and evils.

During this process, he had many dealings with a man named Kiritsugu Emiya. The man was active around the world as a masked vigilante, exercising his sense of justice in his own way. The young man, who was already paying attention to him, naturally knew how much this unassuming man had accomplished in recent years. Moreover, in many joint operations, he and Kiritsugu Emiya would often be targeting the same person.

That's probably how they went from disliking each other at the beginning to becoming friends who could rely on each other.

"Naive idiot, just stay in your squad. One day, you'll realize how powerless you are."

Okay, I take that back. He still really wants to kill that bastard.

As their missions and goals intertwined, the young man noticed a silent woman appearing beside Kiritsugu Emiya, always quietly serving as his assistant. Upon inquiring, he learned that she was someone Kiritsugu had rescued during an operation and had been following him ever since.

Is it the suspension bridge effect?

The young man, who was pondering the nature of the relationship between the man and woman, witnessed Kiritsugu Emiya carrying away a frail white-haired girl during an operation to assist in a case involving the illegal creation of artificial humans in Germany. He began to treat the girl as scum, especially after discovering a year later that the two had a child.

Then, I learned that the other party was involved in a terrorist attack in Japan, and due to a mistake, a town was razed to the ground. In the end, only an injured and amnesiac boy was rescued from the attack.

After that, Kiritsugu Emiya gave up his life as a masked vigilante, settled in Japan, and joined the local supernatural abilities bureau, becoming a small action squad leader.

Was it because he didn't want to see the same tragedy again? Or was he taking the blame for those people's deaths upon himself? The young man didn't know the specifics and tried to contact the other party several times, but hesitated and then gave up.

……

"Is this how Uncle Jou and Uncle Emiya met?"

Sitting on the windowsill in the bedroom, watching the young man lying on the bed with his eyes closed and resting, tide subconsciously whispered something.

The process of establishing the friendship between these two people was quite tortuous. From initial hostility to being able to fight side by side and recognize each other, it took a full three to five years. Only a strange race like humans would have such a situation, right?

Wait a minute, something feels off.

Shio suddenly realized that just moments before, she seemed to have subconsciously addressed Emiya Kiritsugu as "Uncle Emiya."

"Wait a minute, why did I call that human uncle? Tsk, is it a habit from being a child for too long? I should be following the seniority system—oops, I'm just rambling on!"

tide then remembered that during the months she had been living with Li Cheng after losing her memory, she had always addressed the people around Li Cheng in the way he told her to. As a result, she had called them "Tohsaka-neechan," "Emiya-san-shu," "Illya-neechan," and "Kamijou-kun" several times.

The last one is what she only shouts at Touma Kamijou when Li Cheng isn't around, because every time she shouts at him, he looks like he's given up on life, which is a very pleasant thing even for Shio who has lost her memory.

However, now that memories from thousands of years ago are gradually reviving, tide can't help but feel uncomfortable when she recalls these titles that only juniors use.

No matter what, it's too much for me to address these people as a junior. I'm not some little witch or vampire. No way, when I get back and interact with Cheng's friends again, I absolutely won't use those titles anymore. Well, of course, the last one is an exception.

At the same time that tide was lost in thought, the trajectory of the young man's memories finally reached an important juncture.

An extremely dangerous mission with unexpected consequences resulted in severe injuries to the young man. He was quickly teleported back to China by his powerful space magician teammates and admitted to the intensive care unit. For three whole days, he remained in critical condition.

…………

Thank you to reader Yi E Xia Blade.

Thank you to readers Book Guest 67195465577, Terrifying Rabbit, Big Rabbit, Sin Demon King EX, Wrestling♂Police, Io Shrimp, and Grassroots Monster Association Chairman for their recommendation votes.

Section 212, Chapter Fifteen: A Thrilling Dream

The pain was so intense that my consciousness began to blur.

It seemed as if someone was calling to me, but I couldn't hear clearly. Only a vague voice echoed faintly around me.

What happened?

In what seemed like the last vestiges of consciousness, the young man recalled events before he lost consciousness. It was during a seemingly simple capture mission that they were caught in a suicide bombing attack. To prevent his teammates from being harmed, he, being at the forefront of the team, chose to throw himself at the human bomb that was about to detonate.

After that, following a moment of excruciating pain, consciousness sank into darkness, and memories were fragmented.

A faint white light shone on his face, followed by a cacophony of voices, machine noises, and electronic sounds. He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed, or if he was truly awake or still unconscious. The buzzing in his ears was incessant, and everything was distorted into a blurry mess. Finally, a familiar voice seemed to ring out, accompanied by suppressed sobs.

His consciousness once again plunged into darkness.

……

The young man knew what he had been fearing.

Scenes buried deep in my memory have resurfaced before my eyes once again.

Darkness, darkness, pitch-black darkness everywhere, a darkness so familiar it's nauseating, yet impossible to forget.

The mother's heart-wrenching cries were hidden in the deepest part of this darkness.

Ah, here we go again, back again...

She covered her ears, squatted on the ground, just like that night, hiding herself tightly in a corner, not thinking, not paying attention, just praying that she wouldn't be discovered by that person.

In the pitch-black world, a series of low laughs echoed.

So, in reality, I haven't changed at all from beginning to end? Even after becoming so much stronger, even after saving so many people and preventing so many tragedies, in the end, I'm still...

"Cheng—"

A soft call interrupted the young man's thoughts.

A familiar voice, one that could never be forgotten. It was the voice of my closest playmate during my carefree childhood, and also the voice of my most trusted and intimate friend of the opposite sex as an adult.

Is it her calling out to me?

"Cheng—"

The deathly darkness began to show signs of loosening. Following closely behind was a warm ray of white light shining from afar. The young man squinted, and when his eyes adjusted to the light, he opened them again to find himself lying on a hospital bed, with the girl he had known for so long sitting beside him.

"You can really sleep, you bastard! Do you know how many people are worried about you?"

The girl lowered her head, wiped her eyes, and then made a yawning motion, but her voice was somewhat excited as she spoke.

Worried? Oh right, I think I was hit by a high-powered bomb. I never thought I could survive such close contact.

"I'm sorry to have worried you."

The young man gave an apologetic smile and apologized softly in a hoarse voice.

"I'm not worried about you, it's just that if you really just fall asleep and don't wake up, I might not be able to afford the rent by myself. So I'm just a little worried... What are you laughing at, you idiot? Be careful your wound doesn't reopen!"

"Haha, I just didn't expect you to have moments of dishonesty. Is this what you call keeping up with the times?"

"What do you mean by keeping up with the times? You make it sound like I'm old. I'm only 23 this year, still very young! Unlike you, who's almost 26 and has one foot in middle age."

"Haha, so I've already reached the level of a greasy middle-aged man?"

"That's right, exactly!"

……

Naturally, the severely injured young man received a much-needed paid leave. In fact, according to the doctor's conservative estimate, he would be bedridden for at least three months. He hadn't encountered an ordinary suicide bomber during that mission, but a magician who used self-destruction magic in desperation. Even though the young man had absorbed almost the entire force of the explosion, it still destroyed a five-story building and caused significant damage to buildings within a sixty-meter radius.

"Now I understand why the older generation said, 'I'd rather have a third-class merit or even no merit than a special-class merit.'"

Lying on the hospital bed, the pale-faced young man, enduring the intense pain from his wounds after the anesthesia wore off, trembled as he spoke.

"You're overthinking it. It's only a second-class merit."

The girl sitting on the edge of the bed was peeling an apple for the young man as she spoke.

"So, even a second-class merit award has brought me to this state. I'd rather resign than strive for a special-class merit award..."

The young man pursed his lips and replied helplessly.

"...Resign?"

To the young man's surprise, the girl paused slightly upon hearing this, stopped what she was doing, and subconsciously repeated the sentence.

"Ye Jia, what's wrong?"

Somewhat puzzled by the girl's state, the young man subconsciously called out her name.

The girl didn't answer, but simply turned her head and gazed silently at the young man. The young man, somewhat confused about the situation, also stared blankly at her, and the two remained gazing at each other for a moment.

After a long while, the girl sighed softly and looked away. She closed her eyes, shook her head slightly, and when she looked up at the young man again, she had put on the same smile as always.

"Don't say such unambitious things again, you idiot."

She reached out and gently tapped the young man's forehead.

"Someone like you should never give up on your path no matter what. You know better than anyone why you chose this path, right? You can't just back down so easily."

"Who's backing down? It was just a joke."

Somewhat confused as to why the girl was going on and on about this, the young man laughed along.

"I have never regretted choosing this path. I just want to learn from the experience and hope that a similar situation will not happen again."

How could we possibly choose to back down?

The young man smiled and silently recited it in his heart.

If I were to back down now, what difference would I make from that child covering his ears in the dark?