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

Is this the Gensokyo that Yukari once was, now destroyed?

Although he only glanced at it briefly, Li Cheng had already found many familiar landmarks in the ruins. After all, they were two extremely similar worlds, and corresponding points could be found in many places.

The question is, why is this thing here?

The so familiar, so gloomy aura that Zi could never have forgotten, was also deeply etched into Li Cheng's memory as the memories were passed on. He was certain that this was the world that came from Zi, the world she couldn't protect until the very end.

It now appears that the barriers of the two Gensokyo have merged, causing a chaotic situation that has sealed off the barriers, cutting off any possibility of communication with the outside world.

Zi doesn't remember how she traveled to this world. She only vaguely remembers that she was seriously injured for some reason. So, since the survivors from that world were able to appear in this world, could it be that a similar reason caused this place to appear here as well?

Li Cheng began to feel a headache coming on.

If this continues, what if something else comes along? What if the black tide that caused the destruction of the world also appears?

The more Li Cheng thought about it, the more his head ached.

"Forget it, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. We'll deal with these things when we really need to. For now, let's focus on getting out of here and back to the outside world."

As Li Cheng was thinking this, he suddenly felt something strange, a faint tremor beneath his feet.

An attack?!

Without hesitation, he leaped into the air, and almost the instant Li Cheng dodged, a cluster of black spikes pierced through the spot where he had been standing.

This thing looks surprisingly familiar.

Spikes, or rather something more like a malleable viscous liquid, quickly transformed into tentacle-like structures and hurtled towards Li Cheng's location.

Even from several meters away, Li Cheng could clearly smell the stench emanating from that thing. It smelled like a mixture of rotting corpses and decaying sewage, making Li Cheng wonder what this dark, black thing really was.

A pitch-black, tentacle-like object slammed towards Li Cheng. He dodged the not-so-fast attack, and then saw a deep crack appear in the ground. It was clear that if that attack had landed on him, it wouldn't have felt pleasant.

Let's not get any closer for now. With this semi-solid structure, I always feel like if I punched it, I'd end up sinking into it.

Li Cheng took two steps back, cautiously observing the pitch-black creature. However, it was clear that the creature had no intention of giving Li Cheng time to investigate. Countless black tentacles, dripping with a foul-smelling liquid, surged towards Li Cheng as if they had gone berserk.

Li Cheng retreated continuously, when he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble once again. This time, he didn't have time to dodge and was directly blasted into the air by the black tentacles that shot up into the sky.

At this moment, he realized that the ground within a radius of at least two or three hundred meters was constantly shaking, and more and more black tentacles were spewing out from the cracks in the ground and flying towards him.

This seems a bit difficult.

As the gap opened, Li Cheng hid inside, dodging a swarm of tentacles. The next time he appeared, he was teleported thousands of meters into the air, gazing at the writhing black tide below.

"Could this be the thing that destroyed a world?"

Its appearance is indeed very similar to the thing in Zi's memory, but it's far too weak. Although it looks fierce, it's incredibly slow and its attacks are full of openings. If Li Cheng hadn't been cautious and dared not attack recklessly, and if he hadn't lacked ranged attacks, he would have been able to take it out on several times in that short time.

A degraded version? A split? Or simply a similar, lower-level creature?

Li Cheng was trying to figure out what the other party was when he suddenly noticed a pitch-black object shooting into the sky. He quickly closed the gap and moved to the other side. It seemed to be part of the monster's body, as if it had been launched directly into the sky like a cannonball.

It seems to have some intelligence; perhaps it's not a low-level creature?

"Boom—boom boom boom—"

More black spheres were continuously launched at him by the enemy. Li Cheng dodged and weaved through the gaps, avoiding these projectiles. He vaguely heard a girl's voice calling out, a voice that sounded somewhat familiar, but he quickly realized whose voice it was.

"Long time no see, uncle."

"Daaaaah! Take this! Get ready for a magic cannon shot!"

If Li Cheng hadn't actually seen a thick beam of white light pierce through the dark monster, he probably would have really thought that girl was trying to hit him.

A young girl riding a broomstick came galloping by with a smile. Countless rays of light emerged from her side, turning into magic bullets of all sizes that attacked the monster on the ground. Its excessively large body made it difficult for it to avoid Marisa's dense attacks, and its body was constantly being blasted apart by the magic cannons.

"Glug~ Glug glug~"

Strange sounds came from the black monster. Then, Li Cheng noticed that it began to try to escape underground, and its body, which had been exposed, was slowly retracting into the ground.

We can't let it go like this. Something that can lurk underground is bound to be a threat if we keep it.

Without any intention of concealing anything, Li Cheng raised his hand, and the power of his realm began to operate in accordance with his thoughts.

"Glug! Glug glug!"

The monster's voice grew more intense, as if it wanted to quickly hide underground. But for some reason, its movements became increasingly slow, and the ground that it could easily penetrate was becoming more and more solid, like an impenetrable iron plate.

An immense magical power condensed in Marisa's hand onto a small object, which then became a massive beam of light so dazzling it was almost blinding. This beam completely enveloped the black monster below, vaporizing it entirely and leaving a grotesque crater in the ground.

She has completely reached the output level of a top-tier A-rank magician, and it seems she doesn't even need a long preparation time. Is this girl really that strong?

Seeing Marisa wiping the sweat from her forehead with a smug expression, Li Cheng could hardly hide the surprise on his face.

"Hehehe, I'm pretty awesome, right, uncle?"

Marisa, having noticed Li Cheng's expression, became even more arrogant.

"At least among the people I've met of your age, there really isn't anyone more powerful than you. Even many veteran magicians probably wouldn't be able to reach your level, right?"

Li Cheng praised him honestly.

"Hehehe, so that means I'm pretty powerful outside too, right?"

"Yes, you could say that."

In fact, she could already be placed among the most powerful people below the Transcendent level, but Li Cheng wouldn't say that to prevent her from becoming too arrogant.

"Speaking of which, uncle, you really are a half-demon, da★ze, and you can even use the power of gaps and boundaries. Could it be that you are the older or younger brother of that gap demon?"

Seeing that half of Li Cheng's body was inside the gap, Marisa curiously approached, asking questions while peering into the gap, seemingly wanting to go in and take a look.

"If you're talking about that gap youkai in Gensokyo, I have nothing to do with her. How should I put it? There's actually another gap youkai in the outside world, and I'm her husband. I shared her power and became a half-youkai. Do you understand now?"

"Wow, that sounds amazing! This is the first time I've ever seen someone successfully woo a monster."

The first time? Li Cheng noticed something strange in Marisa's words.

"You mean there are many people in Gensokyo who have tried to woo youkai?"

“That’s right,” Marisa nodded. “Especially outsiders. Almost every outsider with some ability has tried, but so far no one has succeeded.”

As she spoke, Marisa's expression became somewhat troubled.

"In addition, three outsiders have approached me, seemingly wanting to develop the kind of casual, non-marital relationships that are common in the outside world. It's really very troubling."

"...Could you tell me roughly when those people contacted you?"

"Well, I can't remember exactly when, but it's been two or three years."

Two or three years ago, Marisa looked like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. But two or three years ago? Wasn't she only twelve or thirteen? How could anyone make such a request to a girl that age? What kind of people are they? This is something that deserves to be humanely destroyed, isn't it?

"Personally, I think it would be better to just destroy those three people directly, I mean physically destroy them."

Li Cheng said very seriously.

"Oh, isn't that a bit too cruel? They were just making a very polite request. They even offered me lots of candy. They didn't do anything outrageous when I refused, they just followed me around for several days."

Kidnapping and stalking? This has escalated to the point where humane euthanasia is necessary!

"However, one of them was seriously injured by a man-eating monster and was later sent to Eientei for treatment. I haven't seen that person since. The other two never came back after seeing me practice magic cannons. One of them doesn't know, and the other one later went to confess to Mitsuki, who is the person I mentioned to you at the beginning, da★ze."

"I don't even know how to describe my feelings," Li Cheng said, rubbing his head. "Doesn't this disappearance mechanism pick and choose who gets in? It's amazing that several people like this can be let in."

No, it was just that we received Marisa's help while fighting strange monsters, how did it turn into this topic? This girl's ability to derail the conversation is a bit too strong.

Li Cheng coughed a few times, his expression becoming more serious, before asking Marisa earnestly, "Marisa, how long have you been here? Do you have a general idea of ​​what's going on here?"

“Hmm,” Marisa hesitated for a moment, as if this problem was a bit difficult to solve. “To be honest, this place is quite strange. I don’t know how to describe it well. Uncle, you should come with me to take a look.”

With that, Marisa turned her broom around and flew towards the edge of the ruined desert. Li Cheng used the gaps in the sand to move and followed beside her. The two quickly arrived at the end of the ruins. In Li Cheng's mind, this place was either an extended desert or an isolated barrier at the edge, but when he actually arrived here, he couldn't help but be stunned.

"So, that's how it is."

The ruins here are completely broken, as if they have collapsed, but outside the fog, you can vaguely see that there is another set of ruins in the distance. No, not just one. There is another set of ruins floating in the air, and there seem to be more in the distance, but they are not visible because of the fog.

Li Cheng stared in shock at the ruins floating in the air, completely defying the laws of physics. Then, he suddenly remembered something and used the gap to return directly to the location where the monster had been. He stood in the crater Marisa had created and punched the ground hard. With a deafening roar, the earth shattered, and beneath the broken ground, a gray mist shrouded the sky. In the distance, other ruins could be seen below.

"That's it! Even I've never seen a place like this before."

Marisa stopped beside Li Cheng, her tone somewhat wistful.

"Indeed...unprecedented."

Looking at the endless gray fog before him, Li Cheng finally realized that the situation was probably much more troublesome than he had anticipated.

"And we can't even go back."

Marisa followed up with her words.

Li Cheng turned around and found that he could already see other suspended ruins in the direction he had come from. Clearly, the gray fog passage was a one-way door.

"In other words, unless we solve this strange place, we won't be able to go back, right?"

Li Cheng stood up, looked up at the gray world above, and his emotions gradually calmed down.

…………

Thank you to reader Big Rabbit for the razor blade, thank you very much.

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

Thank you to readers Feng Yong Sui Youfei, Yu Sheng Lin Qing, Zhuoyue de Wuli, Zui Mo Dao Wang EX, Mou Lei 9 Hao, and Ke Kong de Tu Zi for their recommendation votes.

A long-awaited transaction: "I, the Watch Shop Owner, Must Go into Debt to Save the World"

Why are cults so frequently wiped out? Why is the watch shop owner so addicted to slacking off? Why was the hunter tricked into becoming a miserable investigator?

Was all of this some unknown mystery, or the unscrupulousness of our predecessors?

What kind of era will be born when gods collide with machines, and when will he go bankrupt after opening a shop with debt?

The extraordinary journey of a hardcore otaku obsessed with dolls begins here!

Chapter 9, Section 299: The Black Monster

"In other words, unless we solve this strange place, we won't be able to go back, right?"

Zi stood up from the dim ruins and spoke to Huo beside her.

“It’s obvious at a glance,” Huo sighed somewhat boredly, looking rather uninterested. “But there’s really no good way to resolve everything quickly right now, is there? Even you don’t have any good ideas right now, do you?”

In the abandoned city outside Tokyo's special district, Murasaki and Kamaru discovered the source of the anomaly: an area shrouded in mist. Due to its remote location and small coverage area, few people had yet discovered it. The two then investigated the area, only to find themselves trapped within this gray ruin after venturing inside.