Little Pink Starfish

“Yuanyuan-jie, your handwriting is seriously beautiful. Can you teach me how to write like that?”

“Uh… well, I guess I’ve just always had nice handwriting since I was a kid. Teachers used to praise it too. But I think my writing’s a bit too rigid—kinda lifeless.”

Yuanyuan and Xiao Ying wrote postcards together until the streetlights outside started to glow. At one point, Xiao Ying’s mom even called her home for dinner, and before leaving, she peeked in, marveling at Yuanyuan’s handwriting too.

…In the eyes of Xiao Ying and her mom, Yuanyuan was probably some jobless drifter with zero income who’d run away from some tragic background—basically a semi-illiterate.

Yuanyuan ran a hand through her messy hair. She really had let herself go these past few years. She didn’t look anything like a recent college grad anymore.

But honestly… she’d been a good kid growing up.

Her mom had always been the gossipy type, and when Yuanyuan was young, she used to hear, “Hey, that girl from Granny Sun’s next door is back again. No idea what shady stuff she’s been up to. She was so bright as a kid. Look at her now—useless, nobody wants to hire her, completely wasted her life…”

From ages 7 to 10, little Yuanyuan would prop up her chin and nod along as she listened.

From 10 to 14, angsty Yuanyuan would roll her eyes and snap, “Can you not? Why do you always talk about people behind their backs…”

After 14, she just stopped responding. She’d listen in silence, not interrupting, sometimes giving a polite smile.

But no matter her reaction at the time… truthfully, Yuanyuan had never thought she’d end up like “Granny Sun’s daughter.”

Not even kidding—never in her life had she thought that would be her.

She’d always worked hard. She wasn’t the kind of kid who slacked off, partied with shady friends, or ignored her parents.

She’d been obedient, punctual with school, following all the steps: school → job → marriage → kids → retirement → death…

Every time her parents or teachers praised her, she’d beam with pride.

And normally, if you walk that kind of path, you’re supposed to get a decent life.

But now… she was no different from that “Granny Sun’s daughter.”

Someone was probably pointing at her right now and saying, “Hey, that scruffy girl from next door—always in clothes that cost less than a hundred bucks—is back again. No idea what shady stuff she’s into. Can’t do anything right, can’t hold a job, total mess…”

Yuanyuan had worked hard. She really had.

She sighed, ruffled her bird’s nest of hair, and kept writing those postcards—meticulously, one by one.

…

“This kind of blatant money-grab contest…” Yuanyuan muttered as she grabbed the latest issue of Mengman from a street stand.

After Xiao Ying mailed out those two huge stacks of postcards, Yuanyuan had just been lounging around at home. It wasn’t until this morning, when Sister Xue told her the bar was cleaned up and reopening, that she finally got moving again.

Her idle, foot-scratching life was finally over. Lately, the “Black-Clothed Man” had been trending way too hard. She hadn’t even dared go out, and since she was naturally a bit cowardly, she’d just holed up at home.

Their kind of job didn’t come with weekends off—holidays were fair game, too. Even with the weekend coming, she’d be working, while Xiao Ying and her classmates were probably out living it up.

Back when Yuanyuan was in high school?

She remembered the brutal study environment. Everyone silently competed—some were even petty enough to resent you for studying ten minutes longer than them. Failing students had no dignity; even dorm assignments were split by grades. The failing students didn’t even get to live on campus.

Classes ended at 9:30 p.m., started again at 6:30 a.m., with less than five hours of sleep a night. You aged a year per semester.

But in recent years, the Ministry of Education had started relaxing the rules. Each incoming class got off easier. The school hours kept shrinking.

So yeah… not just demons—humans were pretty terrifying too.

Yuanyuan walked home, listening to the noisy neighbors: TV blaring, Xiao Ying chatting and snacking with her classmates.

She closed her bedroom door, climbed into bed, and pulled out her jade talisman, checking its contents again.

She’d basically finished translating it all, but the content was… way beyond anything she’d expected. She’d guessed it might be weird, but after reading the whole thing—yeah, it was really weird.

After finishing it, she didn’t even know how to feel about the guy who wrote it. Admiration? Fear? Respect? Disgust?

But one thing was clear: whoever wrote this was a genius.

Yuanyuan wasn’t some professional in classical Chinese, but her high school education got her through. This demon had invented a totally original spell system—one built on something extremely bizarre.

That bizarre thing?

Blood.

And not just any blood—human blood.

This demon had created a hypothesis for using human blood to cultivate power, and apparently tried it. From the limited results described, it seemed… effective.

…But seriously, that’s the kind of character who dies first in every novel.

Throughout history, anyone who cultivates using human blood is always the villain. Always one of the first to die.

Yuanyuan stared at the talisman and instantly wanted nothing to do with it—on both moral and logical levels. She tucked it away, set an alarm, and collapsed into bed, sleeping until midnight.

At midnight, the alarm buzzed. She struggled upright, grabbed her fully charged phone, opened the Mengman app, and pulled up the latest Yaoguai Chronicle chapter.

These days, reading it felt like defusing a bomb. No more casual flipping through pages—every panel was a minefield.

This chapter followed the male lead, who—surprise—was facing a tough decision.

This guy had apparently decided to do something noble for humanity.

Though technically a low-ranking member of a righteous sect, he wasn’t uptight. He had a bit of cleverness, a dash of justice, and from his looks alone, he was one of the most classically handsome protagonists Yuanyuan had seen in a while.

Since arriving in Chaos City, he’d done two major things: first, he’d quietly taken down a bunch of troublesome demons. Second, he’d discovered a massive human trafficking operation.

Chaos City really lived up to its name—some demons were smuggling humans for food.

“Honestly, demons eating humans is a pretty ancient tradition,” the comic narrated, “but in modern times, with humanity developing countermeasures, it’s become more difficult for demons to hunt freely. So many have turned to smuggling.”

Yuanyuan nodded as she bit her nails.

She’d suspected something like this existed in the demon world, but only recently saw it firsthand. That girl she’d saved had probably been a smuggling victim.

“Smuggled humans might be missing persons, or undocumented people from remote areas…”

Yuanyuan paused. That was oddly detailed.

She suddenly flipped back a few pages, then stopped dead.

On her phone screen was a very familiar girl.

Same face. Same clothes.

That outfit cost exactly 19.50. She remembered buying it during a clearance sale across the street when she’d first moved in—picked up several just like it.

Plain black, cheap fabric, pilled after a few washes. The design wasn’t bad, though—made her waist look slim. She liked it. Even in her male form, it still fit, barely.

She’d worn that exact outfit when she raided the bar.

And she’d given it to the girl she rescued—because the girl’s clothes were shredded, and Yuanyuan didn’t have anything else to offer.

Now, on-screen, that girl was sniffing the outfit and muttering, “No demon scent at all… just smells like Liby laundry detergent.”

…

Yuanyuan sniffed herself. Yup. Cheap detergent.

Not her fault! She hand-washed to save water and only used the machine to spin-dry…

…

AAAAHHHHH! WTF!!

You seriously played me like this?

You— a righteous male protagonist—why are you doing crossplay now?! Weren’t you supposed to be a “sixteen-year-old girl”? What happened to quality control?! If I’d known you were the main character, I would’ve made sure you died on the dinner table!

Yuanyuan collapsed face-down on her bed, screaming silently like a flipped turtle.

She had no words—especially not after the next few panels.

The “girl” rubbed her face, transforming into a very upright, manly guy. He muttered, “That demon was dumb. Taking me to the police? Even humans get hurt there. Like that’s gonna stop anything… and seriously, using Google Maps to navigate? Broke as hell.”

The protagonist then walked out of the station, still wearing Yuanyuan’s black outfit, looking like some gangster cosplay.

Yuanyuan lay there, totally defeated.

She glanced at the top comment:

“AAAAHHHHHHH—THE PROTAGONIST IN GIRLS’ CLOTHES IS SO FREAKING CUTE!”

Yeah… cute.

Too cute.

Yuanyuan shut her phone and flung it toward the headboard.

Didn’t even finish the chapter.

Fuck this. I’ve been emotionally violated.