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

The important thing is, why am I called Jeanne Joestar now?

Chapter 11, Section 301: The Mist and Rain Magic Shop

Where am I...?

He still felt a slight pain in his head, and his body felt a little sluggish compared to usual. Li Cheng rubbed his somewhat disheveled hair, threw back the covers and sat up. Then, his vision, which had been blurry at first, gradually cleared, allowing him to see everything around him.

"Did I... run into a garbage dump?"

Li Cheng muttered to himself, unsure of how he should react.

Before him was a small wooden cabin, dimly lit, probably because the curtains on the wall nearby were drawn. Li Cheng himself was lying on a mat on the floor, all his wounds properly bandaged, and he didn't feel much pain.

As things stand, it seems that someone took him away after the battle and gave him proper treatment, but the current situation has completely diverted Li Cheng's attention.

Because, really...

"Isn't this a bit too chaotic?"

The pile of clutter, with all sorts of strange things haphazardly placed together, looked chaotic. Li Cheng found everything from a voodoo doll used for cursing to a copper coin that looked quite old, to a desktop computer that was clearly broken, and finally even a giant sword that was completely black, as well as a set of Durex condoms that had been blown up like balloons.

All sorts of random things were piled up haphazardly in the small room, except for the area around Li Cheng's bed, which was free of clutter. Looking around, Li Cheng couldn't find a single flat spot to stand on.

Where on earth have I ended up?

Lifting the blanket, Li Cheng's shirt was removed, likely because of the bandaging of his wounds, revealing his muscular physique. His arms and chest were wrapped in white gauze, and a faint, pungent odor could be smelled, seemingly some kind of magical potion that could promote wound healing.

However, it seems to have a slightly different flavor.

Li Cheng grabbed the blanket, leaned closer to smell it, and detected a soft, pleasant fragrance.

This bedding set must belong to a girl, right?

Thinking this, he got up from his cot and stood up, only to find that his pants hadn't been taken off, and he immediately made a judgment. Just as he was about to walk out, he heard the sound of a door opening in front of him, followed by a familiar, lively voice.

"Uncle, how's your recovery going?"

da★ze!

Marisa walked in from outside with a grin, looked at Li Cheng and said something, then cried out "Oops!" and tripped over a plush doll on the ground, falling directly into the pile of clutter on the floor.

"It hurts, it hurts, but it's not a big deal at all."

Struggling, the girl got up from the pile of debris, jumped over to Li Cheng in two or three steps, and then sat directly on a truck tire lying on its side next to her.

"The uncle passed out after the fight, he must still be confused, so let me explain it to him!"

……

Let's rewind to a few hours ago.

The defeated humanoid monster, possessing immense power, was ultimately struck in the body by Li Cheng's berserk power, causing it to disintegrate directly at the molecular level. The resulting backlash completely destroyed the ruins, which spanned thousands of square kilometers, and the entire floating island vanished into nothingness.

Marisa, who did not take on any direct offensive role in the battle and instead relied on her mobility to attack and dodge, thus avoiding major injuries, grabbed the unconscious Lee Seung as he fell at a crucial moment. She then prepared to take him to a safe area for treatment and bandaging.

But at that moment, an extremely powerful repulsive force suddenly enveloped the two of them. When Marisa broke free, she found that the two of them had returned to the magical forest in Gensokyo.

"When you killed that white thing, I actually felt that the space became unstable. The existence of that thing was like a load-bearing pillar of the space. Once it was irreversibly damaged, it would cause the entire space to shatter. That's why we were rejected and returned here."

Marisa analyzed the situation very seriously.

"Is that so? Although I fainted at the time, I did feel a sense of rejection," Li Cheng said, looking down in thought, then his gaze became somewhat subtle. "But why do you insist on wearing glasses when you speak? You don't seem to be nearsighted, do you?"

In front of him, the serious-looking Marisa was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses and trying her best to adopt a serious posture.

"Because this looks more convincing."

da★ze.

No, no, no, that would just look very strange and give people a very dangerous and bad feeling.

"But that move of yours was really amazing. I attacked that thing several times without any effect, but you just grabbed it and destroyed it. How did you do that? Is it some kind of special ability that destroys the properties of the object you touch?"

"You mean the final blow? Well, that was a rather risky attempt."

Everything in the universe exists within a realm, and the power of that realm he possesses can deflect and alter it. Initially, Li Cheng had also attempted to manipulate the realm of the monster itself, but it proved ineffective due to the monster's overwhelming strength. Under those circumstances, he devised a rather dangerous approach.

Since direct influence was difficult to achieve, they decided to resort to brute force and use demonic power to directly disrupt the stability of the scales. Since they could not achieve precise control over the scales, they simply overturned the scales and the table on which they were placed. This was the idea that Li Cheng came up with at that moment.

The result of the risky attempt was that the monster was easily destroyed, but the recoil damage directly knocked Li Cheng unconscious. After waking up, he found that the demonic power stored in his body had been greatly reduced in activity, and he felt weak and exhausted all over.

It has enormous destructive power, but it also has significant hidden dangers and drawbacks, so it cannot be used lightly.

This is Li Cheng's definition of this move.

Marisa was extremely curious about the techniques Li Cheng used, and unable to resist her insistence, Li Cheng gave her a general explanation of the underlying principles. He initially thought she would just listen and be satisfied, but after hearing Li Cheng's explanation, Marisa's expression became much more serious. After thinking for a moment, she spoke to Li Cheng:

"Uncle, it's best not to use that kind of trick so casually."

"I know, after all, my body is still in pain."

“It’s not that,” Marisa shook her head, her face showing the most serious expression Li Cheng had ever seen on this girl. “Youkai are born from nothingness, they are conceptual beings, so their realm itself is of great significance to them. Uncle, your actions are, in a sense, equivalent to denying your own existence as a youkai, shaking the very concept of what a youkai is. Well, how should I put it, I haven’t seen much of this stuff, I only know that if you use this kind of technique recklessly, you’ll probably dissipate and die in the end. But that’s for youkai, while you’re a half-youkai, I don’t know what will happen, but… it probably won’t be anything good, right?”

"Is it really that serious?"

To be honest, Li Cheng was slightly frightened by Marisa's words.

"This is no joke, Uncle." Marisa stood up, looked down at Li Cheng sitting on the ground, and said solemnly, "Alright, anyway, this matter is temporarily over. Now, let's... waah—"

Before she could finish speaking, she tripped over a small glass ball on the ground.

"By the way, aren't you planning to tidy up this place?"

Li Cheng murmured softly behind her.

"No, completely unnecessary da★ze..."

Marisa, who seemed to be in some pain from the fall, lay on the ground and spoke weakly.

……

According to Marisa herself, the Kirisame Magic Shop is both her home and a testing ground for magic, as well as a small shop where she accepts exorcism requests.

However, Li Cheng preferred to call this place a garbage dump.

A girl named Marisa Kirisame possesses an extraordinary curiosity and willpower when it comes to collecting new things. In this not-so-large two-story wooden house, things that Marisa has collected from various sources are piled up everywhere. As a collector, Marisa clearly has no sense of management over what she has collected, letting it pile up haphazardly in the house, turning a perfectly good house into a garbage dump.

In fact, Li Cheng had already found a dusty air conditioner unit near the gate, which seemed to have been brought back from the gray fog world they had just experienced.

Wait a minute, how did she bring such a huge air conditioner unit back? Did she hide it inside her skirt?

"Uncle, come and try my mushroom soup! It's the signature snack of the Misty Rain Magic Shop!"

Where would a franchise store like yours get its signature snacks?

Li Cheng looked at the colorful mushroom soup that Marisa had brought out, which was still steaming and bubbling. After hesitating for two seconds, he released a bit of his spiritual power into his stomach to ensure that he wouldn't be poisoned to death on the spot by the girl.

"It won't poison anyone. Even an ordinary person who hasn't exercised at all won't die from drinking my mushroom soup. And even if someone does die, can't we just put their soul back in on the spot?"

Marisa, having read Li Cheng's expression, protested sternly.

"Well, it would be quite funny if an A-level martial artist could be poisoned to death so easily."

Li Cheng sighed, took the mushroom soup, and drank it all in one gulp. Hmm, the taste was unique, somewhat like drinking a mouthful of strong hydrochloric acid. Speaking of which, does normal mushroom soup taste like strong hydrochloric acid?

In conclusion, there's probably nothing wrong with this soup.

"The soup tastes alright, thank you, young lady. Now that the space has been destroyed, I should be able to leave this place. See you again someday."

Always keeping his original purpose in mind, which was to go home, Li Cheng prepared to leave without any hesitation.

However, it's clear that he won't get his wish.

"That place hasn't been truly destroyed yet. I went to check it out with Reimu while Uncle was still sleeping. It's still there, but we can't go in for the time being. The Great Barrier is still maintaining its initial closed and chaotic state, and it can't be opened at all."

Marisa shook her head at Li Cheng and said.

"After hearing about what you and I experienced, Reimu said that there should be more than one of those strange things in that place, which has been maintaining its existence. If we don't eliminate them all, we won't be able to destroy that place. If we want to deal with this space that suddenly appeared and is attached to Gensokyo, we'll have to go back in and find the remaining nodes."

"Is it really this complicated... Oh well, I knew this wouldn't be so easy to solve."

After spending some time together, Li Cheng, who knew that Marisa wouldn't lie about such things, sighed and sighed helplessly, rubbing his head.

"Is it possible to go back into that place now?"

"No, Reimu said it would take about ten hours for that place to recover to a point where it's safe to enter again. Well, Reimu said that earlier, so it'll probably take another three or four hours now, da★ze."

Does that mean I have to stay here for another three or four hours and can't do anything?

Li Cheng is now really having a headache.

Although Li Cheng was already exhausted from the fact that he could never easily resolve such matters after getting involved in them, this time he was particularly irritable. Perhaps it was because he had separated from Zi, or perhaps it was because he was in a place that Zi did not want to face. Li Cheng could feel that his emotions were starting to become depressed.

Marisa remained as carefree as ever. She seemed eager to resolve the incident before the red and white shrine maiden at the shrine could, and therefore placed great importance on Li Cheng's ability to sense the monsters that served as the fulcrum. After confirming her decision to travel with Li Cheng a few hours later, she excitedly went to prepare the materials for her spell, while a less enthusiastic Li Cheng left the Kirisame Magic Shop and wandered aimlessly through the nearby forest.

I wonder how things are going with Zi now.

The feeling of not being able to see the people who are usually by your side, completely losing the possibility of communication, and not being able to see their joys and sorrows, is truly awful. But at this moment, Li Cheng, who was standing quietly against the tree, suddenly twitched his ears. He felt like he had just heard something.

“...cheng…”

The sound was faint, so faint that even with his enhanced hearing, he could hardly make it out.

“cheng——”

There were some familiar voices, as if someone I knew was calling me. And for some reason, I felt that the voices weren't coming from afar, but rather from…

"I accept!"

Li Cheng finally heard it clearly. The voice was like a poor signal, fluctuating in pitch and filled with chaotic noise, but Li Cheng still heard it clearly. It wasn't a sound transmitted from a physical level, but rather a connection established through their contract, linking their bloodlines.

In other words, the voice came from her.

"purple?!"

…………

Thank you to reader Tianyuanmeng for the monthly pass.

Thank you to readers Terrifying Rabbit, Excellent Unreasonable, Wind Forever Flies with Sorrow, Thunder No. 9, Sin Demon King EX, Big Rabbit, and Hanyu Ringo for their recommendation votes.

Section 302, Chapter Twelve: Communication and Ideas