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

"However, if we hadn't met that day, if I hadn't met Cheng, I probably would have died quietly like that. After all, at that time, I was so fragile that I couldn't even remember my own name."

At this moment, Zi suddenly moved closer, looked up into Li Cheng's eyes, and spoke softly.

"And Cheng will only sink into despair forever, unable to muster the courage to return to his hometown. He will only live like a walking corpse, waiting for the day his body decays and his consciousness fades away, right?"

"..."

Li Cheng fell silent. He wanted to turn his head away to avoid her burning gaze, but she forcefully squeezed into his arms, grabbed his cheeks with both hands, and forcefully turned his head back to face him.

Then, she chuckled softly and spoke to him:

"Hey, Cheng, why did you decide to keep us here in the first place?"

"...Don't you already know the answer to this question?"

After struggling and agonizing for a long time, Li Cheng could only say this in a low voice.

"So, knowing that we will eventually return to our current state, why does Cheng still refuse to leave and instead choose to stay?"

She then pressed on with more questions.

“I don’t know either,” Li Cheng said, closing his eyes. “I guess I’ve gotten used to this feeling.”

I've grown accustomed to having a girl who relies on me wholeheartedly, to her lazy refusal to get out of bed the next morning, to her excited anticipation at the dinner table, and to the genuine, unpretentious smile on her face when we go out together.

Even though he was the one taking care of the other person and the one the other relied on, over time, he was the one who sank deeper and deeper into the relationship and couldn't extricate himself.

A gentle breeze stirred Li Cheng's somewhat disheveled hair, and Zi's long, untied hair danced wildly in the wind, becoming rather messy.

Instinctively, Li Cheng reached out and grasped her hair, which had been blown about, gently smoothing and tidying up the somewhat disheveled strands. She closed her eyes, remaining motionless as he slowly tidied her hair.

"Cheng, why did you decide to come back here?"

In the hazy darkness of the night, Zi asked softly.

"...Because I don't want to keep running away anymore."

After a long silence, Li Cheng's voice rang out from the breeze, dispelling some of his confusion and adding a touch of determination.

“Living a muddled life may be easy, but if I continue to deceive myself, I will feel like I have let them down.”

He smiled and looked at the girl listening attentively as he continued.

"Even if it's just wishful thinking, I don't want things to continue like this..."

Before Li Cheng could finish speaking, a pair of small hands pinched his cheeks. Zi, with a smile on her face, stretched his face, forcing him to make a face like a ghost.

"With that sentimental expression, like he's acting in a melodrama, Seung is truly the biggest idiot of all."

She said it in an annoyed tone.

"It makes me really sad to be called an idiot all the time."

Li Cheng gave a wry smile.

"Since you know you're an idiot, then figure out a way to not be so stupid! Lan is much smarter than you, and Cheng's brain is even better than Cheng's!"

"Uh……"

Although he was being lectured, Li Cheng was unsure whether he should answer when the topic of his deceased loved ones came up so suddenly, and his expression became conflicted.

Zi clearly noticed Li Cheng's hesitation and immediately burst out laughing, releasing her fingers from Li Cheng's cheek.

"Idiot, do you think I'd be as颓废 and fragile as you? Don't underestimate me."

As she laughed, she gently leaned against Li Cheng. Because of her short stature, she could only barely reach his chest. She gently nuzzled against him and let out a soft sigh.

"Even an idiot can find his home, but we can't go back."

The world that had been destroyed was now beyond Zi's reach. She had lost a piece of her memory that she couldn't recover, and it was after that that she appeared in the city of Neon, where she met Li Cheng. Although the reason was unclear, she knew for certain that she had likely come to another world, a so-called parallel universe. And now, she had no power to return to her own world; she didn't even have the ability to sense that world.

From an angle unseen by Li Cheng, she revealed a rare hint of disappointment.

"Actually, the world I want to go back to is already gone. Although the scale may be quite different, it's actually pretty much the same."

A large hand gently rested on her head, and Li Cheng seemed to have mustered up some courage as he slowly spoke to her.

"For me, the people who can truly change me and give me courage are the people I have met now. For me, Zi is the one who has truly changed me."

"Although it may sound a bit offensive to say this, to me, Zi is indeed someone who is equivalent to family."

Li Cheng's voice was firm as he addressed the young girl in front of him.

"...Is that so? You really are, what a self-righteous idiot."

Zi closed her eyes, not raising her head, but simply lay on Li Cheng's body and responded softly.

"But this time, let's just agree to it for now, since we have nowhere else to go."

Family...

Zi opened her deep purple eyes and pondered the sentence in her mind.

family?

Arrogant idiot.

snort!

…………

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My head is about to explode from writing the romance scenes...

Section 241, Chapter Twenty-Four: The Meaning of Moving Forward

In the early morning, before the sky had fully cleared, the wind blew through the deserted streets, causing the withered yellow leaves scattered on the ground to dance in the air.

As Li Cheng walked along the quiet street, looking at the houses around him that were either closed or dilapidated, he couldn't help but recall the bustling scene when he used to live here.

This used to be a steamed bun shop, selling very delicious beef and vermicelli steamed buns, but they were a bit pricey.

It was a clothing store. I heard that the young woman who ran the store had an improper relationship with her own brother, so much so that her brother's leg was broken by his family. Later, the two eloped to the Freedom League.

And then there's that rice noodle shop I really love to go to. The owner is a very nice, loud-voiced man whose favorite pastime is sitting in the kitchen picking his toes... Wait a minute, isn't the owner also the head chef? Now that I think about it, could I have been...

Li Cheng promptly stopped reminiscing about his past life, preserving his childhood memories in a sufficiently pleasant state.

After walking through a mostly abandoned neighborhood and along a winding mountain road, Li Cheng raised his head and looked ahead. At the end of the road, there was a vast expanse of white, silent and solemn.

This is Li Cheng's destination, a cemetery located on the outskirts of the city.

He heard light footsteps beside him, followed by the gentle touch of his right hand being grasped. Li Cheng turned his head and met a pair of deep, serene purple eyes.

She didn't speak, but simply tightened her grip on Li Cheng's small hand slightly, and he chuckled softly, as if he had received immense encouragement. He led her, and they slowly walked into the quiet cemetery.

Perhaps because it was still early, there was no one else in the cemetery besides Li Cheng and Zi. Li Cheng walked across the white stone path without much thought, and quickly found the direction he needed to go.

That was a corner of the cemetery, with several tombstones side by side.

The tombstones were old and the inscriptions were illegible. There were even several cracks in the graves, indicating that they had been neglected for many years. Li Cheng walked to a grave, looked at the dense weeds in the pit that should have been used to hold incense and candles, and slowly squatted down.

"I've come to see you, Uncle. I'm sorry it took you so long to come back."

Zi stood silently beside Li Cheng, quietly watching him speak softly to the tombstone, and then slowly pulled away the weeds growing in the pit.

"This bottle of wine is for your uncle, but since your liver has always been weak, please don't drink it too fast."

"Aunt, I'm so sorry I haven't been back for so long."

"Sister, how are you doing?"

"Mom, I'm home."

Four tombstones stood side by side, belonging to his uncle, aunt, mother, and his sister, whose grave was merely a cenotaph. He cleaned all the graves, pulled away the weeds, and used his demonic power to repair the cracks and blurred inscriptions, striving to restore all the graves to their original condition. Afterward, he carefully placed incense and candles on each tombstone.

Autumn is a windy season; even after standing still for a short while, a breeze blew past her. Zi held her long hair and watched the man solemnly clear away all the weeds, bidding farewell to each tombstone.

The wind brushed across his somewhat stiff face, across his expression filled with reminiscence. Finally, he gently patted his uncle's tombstone, bid them farewell, and left.

Zi followed quietly behind Li Cheng without uttering a word or making any movement. She knew that Li Cheng was saying goodbye to his past vulnerability and trying to face himself again. Therefore, she did not make any move, but simply followed him and watched him slowly walk towards another part of the cemetery.

Li Cheng's steps were hesitant and slow. He seemed somewhat uncertain, his fingers clenched into fists at his sides, trembling slightly.

But he didn't stop in the end. Step by step, he continued to move forward on the white stone path in the cemetery, heading towards the front of the road.

It was deep inside the cemetery, in a very inconspicuous place, with two tombstones, one large and one small, side by side.

Li Cheng walked to the tombstone and stopped. He gazed at it silently for a long time. Finally, he let out a barely audible sigh and gently placed his hand on the tombstone.

"Jia, I've come to see you."

Li Cheng gently hung the wreath he had bought beforehand on the tombstone, then squatted down and placed a pile of candy under another tombstone.

"And tide, I'm so sorry, Dad hasn't come back to see you for so long. These candies are Dad's apology. Please forgive Dad."

Li Cheng's gaze softened as he gently stroked the smooth tombstone.

"At first, I was actually quite arrogant. Back then, I felt like I could protect anyone and save anyone. I joined the Special Science Department, became the captain of the Special Forces, saved many people, and stopped a lot of evil. At that time, I really felt like I was omnipotent."

"Later, after experiencing so many things, I began to doubt myself again. I could no longer believe in myself, and I felt that I couldn't save anything or protect anything. In the end, I ran away like a stray dog, without even the courage to return to this land."

Li Cheng's voice gradually lowered, and he laughed twice as if mocking himself, slowly leaning against the tombstone in front of him.

"But Cheng still came back, didn't he? No matter how painful or how scared he was, in the end, Cheng still came back here. Cheng didn't keep running away."

A small hand rested on Li Cheng's shoulder, and a girl's delicate voice, tinged with a hint of determination, rang in his ear.

"But even this courage is something I only have because of you..."

“Humans are creatures that need to rely on each other to survive, or rather, beings with emotions need to support each other,” Zi shook her head and continued, “Besides, it wasn’t just us who saved Cheng; Cheng saved us too, didn’t he?”

"I lost my home, the world I was determined to protect forever, and all the people I knew and loved. In the end, I even lost my memory. At that time, it was Cheng who pulled me out of the abyss. So, these things are mutual, aren't they?"

A warm sensation emanated from the body behind him. Li Cheng remained silent, but slowly, a smile returned to his face.

"I always felt like I was being comforted like a child."

Standing up, Li Cheng said with a smile.