All the Monsters I Abandoned Came Looking for Me

Coming next: [Succubus, But Socially Anxious] or [I Picked Up a Socially Anxious Cat] Jin Xia was once dragged into the Abyss. Just before she conquered it, she was forcibly ejected and returned to the real world. Tired of fighting, Jin Xia joined the Bureau of Anomalous Creatures as a support staff member. A nine-to-five job with weekends off. Her happy retirement starts now. Until one day, Jin Xia was called into a meeting by her supervisor. The Abyss was invading. A hellhound powerful enough to destroy the world had infiltrated the human realm, and all personnel needed to be on high alert. Looking at the blurry photo of the hellhound, Jin Xia recognized it as her former contracted creature, a white dog that was carefree and only ever thought about food. The good news: her contracted creature was back. The bad news: because Jin Xia had abandoned them, all the monsters' corruption levels had maxed out. Jin Xia was now number one on the Abyss's wanted list. * The monsters in the Abyss spent their days in a daze, lost in the darkness with no sense of direction, until one day a human entered the Abyss. She smiled and reached out to them, lighting up the lonely monsters. She was like a god, descending from the heavens, only to vanish without warning. All their happy memories turned out to be lies. The abandoned monsters emerged from the Abyss, roaring in fury. "Bring her back. Hide her away. Make her belong to me alone." * I could have endured the darkness, if I had never seen the light. Now I'm going to catch that light and bring it back, so it shines for me alone. * Jin Xia: Wasn't I supposed to be enjoying retirement? How did things end up like this? By day, she works herself to the bone for the Bureau, capturing monsters. By night, she works herself to the bone leading monsters in their fight against humanity. I'm the big boss on both sides. What am I supposed to do? If we don't call a truce, I'm going to unite the world! [Succubus, But Socially Anxious] After the War of the Gods ended with the God of Light victorious, dark creatures could only hide from the gods' pursuit. Mo Mo transmigrated into the last succubus in the stars. She was weak, hungry, and on the verge of death. Luckily, she was bound to a System that made her irresistible to everyone. As long as someone willingly offered her their mental energy, she could survive. The System kept encouraging Mo Mo. "You're so beautiful! Just smile, and people will give you everything! Go on! Conquer the stars with your looks!" Mo Mo: B-but I'm socially anxious. She stammered whenever she met a stranger, had mastered the art of vanishing in a crowd, and knew all the other essential skills of a social-anxiety expert, like making parties awkward. Looking at the pretty little succubus in the mirror, Mo Mo couldn't imagine going outside with that face! Just thinking about people staring at her made her curl her toes and wish she could disappear. Luckily, it was the interstellar age. Mo Mo summoned her courage and posted her first update. [If you're my bro, come eat me!] A rough animation played to noisy music. A little stick figure ran across a pixelated grid, growing by devouring its peers and dying when it encountered a higher-level creature. System: (staring blankly) What's this? Mo Mo: A game. Something that can make people willingly offer up their mental energy. System: Get a grip! You're a succubus! Do you really think this will attract anyone? A moment later, the System stared in silence at the mental energy pouring in. * Entertainment was scarce in the interstellar age, until one day someone released a game. At first: What is this? So poorly made. Later: Wait, why did I die again? I refuse to believe it! I'll spend ten mental energy and play another round. Mo Mo never left home, yet harvested mental energy from across the stars, until she had to introduce an anti-addiction system. Get a grip, everyone! If you keep offering up your mental energy, I'm going to become a god! (A special awkward smile just for the socially anxious.) [I Picked Up a Socially Anxious Cat] Because she was broke, Bei Ning moved into a run-down, supposedly haunted apartment. On the first day, she found a severed hand under the bed. On closer inspection, it was a silicone toy. On the second day, the wardrobe door opened without a sound, and a pair of eyes glowed in the darkness. On the third day, most of the food in the fridge was gone, but the security camera had caught nothing. Bei Ning understood. There must be a socially anxious little cat in her home, afraid of people, greedy, and fond of playing at night. It was just like her, an unnoticed bit of flotsam in this city. Bei Ning decided to adopt the little cat. She made two portions of dinner when she got home from work, eating one and leaving the other on the table for the cat to eat at night. Whenever she got a package, she kept the cardboard box and left it in the corner for the cat to play with. Bei Ning was very happy with her life now. She had never seen the little cat, but at night she could feel something warm and fluffy. Sometimes, she heard it meow inside the wardrobe, and when she was sad, she'd find a gift from the cat by her bed. They were like two dandelion seeds drifting through the lonely city, finally finding a place to land. Until one day, someone knocked on Bei Ning's door and told her the entire city had been overrun by monsters and had become a mobile disaster. She was the only normal person left in the city. Bei Ning thought about it for a moment. So she'd met a lunatic. She slammed the door and went back to sorting her documents. After all, she still had work tomorrow. But that night, she saw a dark shadow spreading through her room and quietly creeping onto her bed. It turned out the thing she'd picked up wasn't a little cat. It was a monster. Theme: I only want a peaceful life