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

With a slight pout, Zi lost interest and stopped approaching. She yawned, stretched, and then lay down on the sofa.

"Although I really want to maintain this form, unfortunately, my power is far from recovered. So for at least a long time, I can only move around in that child's form. In fact, even this meeting with you is just a temporary connection between our consciousnesses through a dream. Haven't you realized? Right now, you're actually dreaming."

As Zi's voice faded, Li Cheng's consciousness suddenly became blurred.

"Ah, it seems I've reached my limit. That was fast. But I'm already quite satisfied to be able to see you sober."

Despite the confusion, Zi's words still reached Li Cheng's ears clearly.

"In short, now that you have my power, you'd better use it properly. Simply using your demonic power to strengthen your physique? Turning yourself into a human air conditioner? What kind of idiotic use is that, like Cirno's? It's completely disrespectful to the power we possess."

"Hmph, of course, we know you can't understand such profound things right now. But you still need to grasp the basics a little bit. Consider this a hint: Gap, remember this word firmly, think carefully about what it really represents."

A gap...?

When Li Cheng opened his eyes, he saw his familiar, brightly lit living room.

tide lay on Li Cheng's lap, fast asleep. She seemed to be dreaming of something delicious; her mouth opened slightly, and drool soaked a small patch of Li Cheng's pants.

I looked up and glanced at the time; it was already around 2 a.m. Had I really slept for over four hours straight on the sofa?

Li Cheng recalled his previous dream, the girl named Zi in it, the things she told him, and the words she left behind before he finally woke up.

A gap... huh?

…………

Thank you to readers Night Festival Scale, Abnormality, The End of the Non-Existent Eighth and Ninth Realms, Mr. Mango's Heartless Madness, White Reimu, Hanyu Ringo, and C Queen's Pizza for their recommendation votes.

First update of the day.

Chapter 9, Section 107: The Future Gadget Research Institute

"Is this the person you were talking about, the one who can help us?"

Standing in front of the dilapidated-looking CRT store, Li Cheng looked up at the narrow corridor and the peeling paint on the exterior walls, and couldn't help but purse his lips.

"It looks like a pretty old building. Do people who would rent a place like this really have the ability to crack that hard drive? You know, no one in the intelligence department where Kurogiri works has ever succeeded."

Three days ago, while Kiritsugu Emiya continued to provide overt protection, he began to secretly investigate Jester, whom they were protecting.

Jester's personal information was impeccable, without any flaws. However, Kiritsugu Emiya was a shrewd man; unable to find any problems with Jester himself, he immediately began investigating the area where Jester was located. Soon after, he discovered the issue.

Jester is typically active in the American branch of the Freedom Alliance and in Japan, traveling extensively throughout the year and being quite enthusiastic about philanthropy and investment. However, closer investigation reveals that in the places Jester visits, missing persons cases, especially those involving women aged fifteen to twenty, tend to increase slightly only when he is there.

The magnitude of the increase was not significant enough to warrant attention, and only Kiritsugu Emiya, who connected Jester's whereabouts with the statistics of these cases, was able to detect the problem.

But that's not enough. As mentioned at the beginning, this number of cases isn't sufficient to truly suspect Jester. After all, he can't prove that Jester is the culprit in these additional cases, and crimes are unpredictable; he can't be 100% certain that they were caused by Jester.

Therefore, he needs evidence, more explicit evidence that points to Jester.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Jester, do you enjoy photography?"

One night, Kiritsugu Emiya came to the safe room on the second floor of the villa, walked to a wall full of various landscape photos, and casually asked Jester a question.

"Are you also interested in photography, Mr. Emiya?"

Jester was quite surprised and walked over, asking eagerly.

“I’m slightly interested,” Kiritsugu Emiya said calmly. “I have a lot of children at home, and sometimes I want to use photography to capture memorable moments, so I’ve studied it a little.”

This wasn't Kiritsugu Emiya pretending; he genuinely studied photography techniques very systematically in order to practice taking even cuter pictures of Illya. Within the large Emiya family, Kiritsugu was the best photographer.

Incidentally, the second best photographer is Emiya Mumei. He's taken countless photos of Rin Tohsaka, whether from the front or secretly. His collection ranges from beautiful portraits to everyday moments and even some suggestive scenes, which he often uses to increase Rin's embarrassment during fun games, thus adding more enjoyment to the game.

“This is wonderful,” Jester exclaimed sincerely, reaching out to touch a photograph of a sunset. “The charm of photography lies in its ability to capture the eternal beauty of a moment. Just as I photograph landscapes, just as you photograph your own children, we are both moved by that moment, so we try our best to preserve it. As long as we see this frozen landscape again, those beautiful memories will come back to us, won’t they?”

"Mr. Jester is indeed an artist, with such broad and profound thoughts. I am truly ashamed of my own inferiority."

Emiya Kiritsugu praised.

“No, I’m still far from being an artist,” Jester said somewhat embarrassedly. “I have a long way to go before I reach the true art I’m pursuing.”

"You're joking. If someone who has won the World Photography Awards five times in a row can't be called an artist, then who can? Mr. Jester, if you say that, it will make other people who are studying photography despair."

"Haha, is that so? Mr. Emiya is so witty and humorous..."

It was after that conversation that Kiritsugu Emiya decided to search for any possible photographic records. This man named Jester's love of photography was genuine; he must have truly loved it. So, if he really was connected to those disappearances, is it possible that those missing persons, who may have already been murdered, are preserved somewhere in the form of photographs?

Then, Kiritsugu Emiya remembered a notebook that Jester always carried with him, no matter where he went.

While Jester went to another room, Kiritsugu Emiya summoned Nameless and had him completely copy the laptop, then project it onto a screen. Taking this projected computer, he found Mikiya Kokutou, attempting to uncover any hidden information within it. The result was both exhilarating and frustrating, as they did indeed discover many hidden elements, but were unable to decipher them.

"The secret documents inside this machine use an encryption method that is difficult for us to understand. I don't know how to describe it. It is a very old, complicated, but also very secure method of confidentiality. With our technology, I'm afraid we have no way to successfully decipher it."

Mikiya Kokutou showed Kiritsugu Emiya the intricate and complex code in the system, and said with great helplessness.

"To have the ability to decipher this kind of thing, you'd need national-level technical personnel, or rather, highly skilled hackers who have collected multiple computing machines?"

"You mean, that person?"

"Yes, wasn't it thanks to him that we were able to crack the light barrier last time? I think he should be able to solve the problem of deciphering this file as well."

……

The flashback ends, and time returns to the present. Emiya Kiritsugu, along with Li Cheng, who had followed along because Shio and Illya were out playing together and had nothing to do, walked together up the narrow, dark staircase to the second floor and stood before the rusty door.

Li Cheng noticed that there was a handwritten mark on the doorplate next to the gate.

"Future Props Research Institute?"

Li Cheng deciphered the deliberately elegant handwriting on the doorplate, and then noticed a small line of annotation below it.

"Dudu lu??"

What the heck is this...?

Kiritsugu Emiya ignored Li Cheng and knocked on the door directly.

There were sounds of movement and talking inside, but no one came out to open the door.

Emiya Kiritsugu remained expressionless and knocked on the door once more.

Inside, the sounds of talking and walking could be heard again, and there seemed to be a faint argument, but after a while, no one came to open the door.

Li Cheng: "..."

Kiritsugu Emiya raised his hand, applied a little more force, and slammed it heavily on the door.

"Ah, here they come, here they come. None of you guys are willing to open the door for me?"

Accompanied by a slightly younger male voice, the door opened, and a slender, handsome man appeared inside.

"So, uncle, we didn't mess things up today—ugh, it's you again!? Ahhh, are the people from the organization finally going to silence me?!"

With a slightly frightened voice, the man's posture, which had been opening the door, instantly changed, and he desperately tried to close it. However, Kiritsugu Emiya simply stretched out one hand to brace against the door, and even with his face flushed red, he couldn't move the door even an inch.

"With your frail little body, you're not even worthy of my time to silence you. A thug who's had a couple of years of boxing experience could easily take you down."

With a disdainful and obvious look of disgust, Kiritsugu Emiya spoke without any mercy, pushed open the door, and walked straight in.

"Ugh, damn it! I'm a 'mad scientist with a wild temper,' and you dare say you're not worthy to silence me? Listen to me carefully, my name is Feng..."

"This chuunibyou's name is Okabe, and he's probably the leader of this crappy place."

Turning around, Kiritsugu Emiya briefly introduced the man standing in front of the door to Li Cheng.

"Oh, hello Mr. Okabe."

Li Cheng greeted him politely, thinking to himself that the other person looked like a college student at least, so how could someone so old have such a delusional mindset?

"So my name is Feng..."

"Oh, it's Mr. Emiya. Is there something you need to ask of Ayumi again?"

Stepping into the fairly clean and tidy house, to the left of the entrance, on the sofa, a short-haired girl looked over at the sound of footsteps, waved and smiled.

"Dudu lu~"

After finishing speaking, the other party added this ambiguous sentence at the end.

What is this? Is it some new and trendy way to greet someone? Am I out of touch?

Li Cheng was puzzled.

"This is Ms. Mayuri Shiina, also a member of this place, and she's a nice person."

Emiya Kiritsugu, standing to the side, introduced Li Cheng, and then introduced him to the girl opposite him:

“He is my partner, Li Cheng, a member of the China Alliance. Ms. Shiina, you can just call him Li.”

"Hello, Mr. Li."

The girl greeted Li Cheng again in a serious manner.

"Hmph, so the agency has sent another assassin? Just looking at his size, he's really scary, even taller than Mr. Brown."

With an expression of unreadable fervor, the man whom Kiritsugu Emiya called Okabe rubbed his shoulder, which had been bumped when Kiritsugu Emiya pushed open the door earlier, and slowly walked over.

"However, don't get your hopes up and think you can defeat me, the 'mad scientist with a mad temper,' just like that!"

"Emiya, is he really just a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) sufferer, or is he mentally ill?"

Standing next to Kiritsugu Emiya, Li Cheng asked in a low voice with a puzzled expression.

"Although I initially thought he was mentally ill, when we took him to the police station for testing, we found that he was completely normal. It's just that he likes to talk this way when he doesn't feel threatened."

Emiya Kiritsugu sighed in reply.

"But just treat him like a lunatic. Anyway, this easygoing guy doesn't care about these things."

"It's quite lively early in the morning, so who exactly is here?"

Just then, a somewhat frivolous voice, which inexplicably reminded Li Cheng of King Gilgamesh, rang out from the other side of the room, at the innermost part facing the main entrance.

Hmm, why does it sound so similar to Gilgamesh's voice?

Before Li Cheng could figure out what was going on, a chubby man lifted the curtain and slowly walked in.

"Oh, it's you, Emiya. Has something unexpected happened again this time?"

The man greeted her calmly, as if he were seeing an old acquaintance.

“Yes, Hashida,” Kiritsugu Emiya said as he took the laptop out of his bag and walked over to the other man. “I’ve come here to ask you a favor. I need to know what’s hidden inside.”