Little Pink Starfish

Yuan Yuanyuan woke up early and immediately checked her phone. She opened QQ and saw a group she didn’t recognize before—the name read “Yaoji Discussion Group.” She exhaled in relief.

Looking into the group, there were only three members. She clicked into the profiles of the other two: the first had a profile picture of Nyanko-sensei, the second had some strange black-and-red image that she honestly couldn’t make out.

She had requested to join the group the day before, and after much hesitation about what to write in the application, she ended up going to the tavern wall filled with portraits and randomly copied down a few names from those portraits to submit. This morning, to her surprise, she had been approved.

Being accepted meant… they must be insiders. Otherwise, any other group seeing her weird mishmash of references would’ve just booted her.

The group was dead silent, which made her unreasonably nervous. She typed a message:

“Hello.”

It wasn’t until late in the morning that someone finally responded—the group owner said:

“Hi.”

…

Yuan Yuanyuan thought, Wow. Talk about cold and distant.

Five minutes later, another reply came:

“I thought I was the only one in here who knew how to use a phone. Didn’t expect there to be three of us.”

Not only were they surprised—Yuan Yuanyuan was too. The guy seemed chill, so she quickly asked before he vanished again:

“So… what exactly is this group for?”

“This group?” he replied. “It’s just to chat about Yaoji. I’ve been digging through info for a week. Gotta rest now. I’ll send what I found after I wake up.”

“Okay…” she responded.

After that, silence. The group owner with the Nyanko-sensei avatar was gone, and the black-and-red guy had yet to say a word.

She pinned the group chat to the top, then went to wash laundry. Right then, Xiao Ying knocked on the door. Her hands full of soap suds, Yuan Yuanyuan opened it.

“Yuanyuan-jie,” Xiao Ying poked her head in. “That white-shirted demon from the other day—you know, the one I showed you…”

“I told you already, I don’t know him,” Yuan Yuanyuan cut her off and pushed her back out. “I’m just a little demon. Why would someone like me know a guy that powerful?”

She slammed the door and rolled her eyes while returning to her laundry.

Ugh… didn’t I say it? These cold, handsome types always attract fangirls. Xiao Ying had asked more about that “white-shirt boy” in the past few days than she’d asked about her own future.

Once the laundry was done, she checked her phone again. No new messages from the group. She sighed, looked outside, and saw something glowing green.

A tiny flying demon floated in mid-air. It looked like an oversized dragonfly with two translucent wings. After flying for a bit, it perched on a lamppost to rest, then flitted toward her window.

Yuan Yuanyuan curiously opened her window. The little creature, seemingly used to being ignored, was covered in leaves. It flapped around, tossing leaves into the air like confetti. She had no idea how it carried so many.

Noticing the open window, the little demon made eye contact with her—bright, round green eyes—and slowly approached, then tore off a leaf from its body and handed it to her with a chubby hand before flying away.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the red-and-green leaf in her hand, then read the writing on it.

“Junior Wu Jin respectfully challenges you, honored senior of the Blood Jade Demon Army. I hope, as a being of strength, stature, and virtue, you will not reject my request.

The appointed time is the 1st of next month, at the summit of Sanquan Mountain. I await your response.”

…

【What kind of hacks is Fa Ning using these days? Hiding his scent? Cheat alert. But he’s been hiding out on the mountain anyway, getting ready for that sect tournament…】

【Tournament arc time! Who hasn’t had a sect tournament in their story? Honestly, we’re starting late.】

【I just want satisfying face-slapping scenes. Fa Ning always seems like the pitiful underdog in his sect, so he’s probably going full “hidden badass” this time.】

【Ji Qiu’s doing a great job—every character is distinct. The tournament arc should be awesome.】

【Now that Fa Ning’s gone back, I can’t even see any demons… I was just here to drool over the hot ones.】

Yuan Yuanyuan scrolled the forums. She kept thinking about starting a thread titled “The Story Behind Yaoji” and posting her own tragic tale—but only as a dying act.

If I’m ever on my deathbed, my final act will be dragging out my phone and exposing everything to the forums or Tieba.

Suddenly, a new post popped up: 【Anyone know the inside story?】 Attached was a red-and-black image.

Yuan refreshed… and the post was gone.

What the hell? That was fast! From post to deletion took less than a minute. She didn’t even get to read it.

As she pondered, her phone suddenly blew up with notifications. She grabbed it and saw the group owner—who said he was asleep—sending a massive info dump with photos.

The black-red avatar messaged too:

“What happened? I just posted something on Tieba and it got deleted immediately.”

“Did you post something sensitive?” the group owner asked.

“No idea. I’ll try again with another account.” The black-red user vanished again.

“Anyway, check out the materials I just uploaded,” the group owner wrote. “I’ve been digging through the generals in the Blood Jade Army. These are the most likely ones.”

Yuan Yuanyuan scrolled up. The first image was a burly man with a beard, all in black-and-white. He looked fierce. Beneath the image was a long paragraph.

She blurted aloud:

“Holy crap… where did you get all this?! So detailed!”

“My grandfather was in the Blood Jade Army,” the group owner replied. “When this blew up recently, I dug through what he left behind. The army was super secretive—even internally. But a few of the known generals have decent records.”

Ah, so he had family ties.

She read through carefully. Some profiles had images—either black-and-white photos or hand-drawn portraits.

Lang Kang: Unknown unit and form. Extremely deadly. Slight chance he could be Yuan.
– Reason: Cause and time of death unclear. Might have survived.
– But: Personality doesn’t match Yuan—more violent. Unlikely.

…

Ru Hua: The famed “Painting Immortal.” A demon born from ancient artwork. Known general in the Blood Jade Army. Handsome. Strong resemblance to Yuan.
– Suspicion: Rank discrepancy—he was a general, but Yuan’s identity tag says lieutenant.
– Plus, Ru Hua’s death date is confirmed. Survival unlikely.

…

Yuan Yuanyuan read from start to finish. She was convinced their group leader was a STEM major—his logic and organization were top-tier. Detailed analysis, clear conclusions, even snarky side comments.

“Still no luck. Tried multiple accounts—anything related to demons gets auto-deleted.” Black-red avatar popped up again.

“Yeah, forget it. That board’s done. Don’t bother anymore,” the group owner said after a pause.

Yuan felt like the only one who hadn’t contributed anything. She pulled out the leaf from earlier, injected some demon energy into it, and the writing lit up. She snapped a photo and shared it to the group.

“WTF is that?!” the group owner freaked. “Holy crap, that’s a literal honor-duel letter!”

“Wu Jin… no way, isn’t he a major demon from C City? Rumored to be a crow-type?” asked black-red avatar. “Circle-circle (nickname), are you in C City?”

“Yeah… I’m in C City,” she replied.

They both gasped in chat. Apparently, C City had a bad rep in demon circles.

As they expressed their shock, Yuan Yuanyuan scrolled through the group member list—about thirty people. The group owner was certain Yuan was among them.

Pfft… what nonsense. Still, she reviewed all the shared materials.

“Maybe it’s Ru Hua,” said black-red. “He’s been my favorite since forever. If it is him, I’d be thrilled. I cried for days when he died as a kid, but I never told my dad.”

“You like Ru Hua? My childhood fave was Wu Yang. Total man’s man. Died tragically, though,” said the group owner.

Yuan silently watched them nerd out over lore she didn’t fully understand.

Then she saw a familiar face.

At the top of the image set was a woman in red, smiling serenely with crescent-moon eyes that seemed alive.

It was a hand-drawn portrait—but for a moment, Yuan felt like the woman had stepped out of the screen.

She was stunned.

Three seconds later, she realized it was just a drawing—and it hit her.

She’d seen this woman before—on the tavern wall.

Among all the portraits of Blood Jade soldiers, everyone wore black, gray, or white. Only this woman wore red.

Yuan Yuanyuan had never realized… she was also in the Blood Jade Army.

And that face—so alluring. Yuan had never seen a more seductive demon.

She was a general? More like someone’s concubine…

She muttered. But according to the profile, she was a lieutenant. Code name: 17, a spy.

No mention of whether she could be Yuan, but as a spy? That kind of beauty could seduce anyone.

“Why are you even including women in this list? Kinda ridiculous, dude,” she typed into the chat.

“Huh? Who?” asked the group owner. “You mean 17? He’s a guy.”

…

“Wait, you didn’t know? I thought female demons all loved him—he’s pretty pitiful too,” added black-red.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared at the image… then at herself in the mirror.

WHAT?! He’s a dude?! No way!! He’s girlier than me—if he’s a guy, then what the hell am I?! This has to be a joke!

“Honestly, 17 died young. But something always bugged me…” the group owner added. “Try covering the bottom half of his face.”

Yuan raised her hand, blocking the smiling lips in the picture—leaving only the eyes.

A pair of deep, narrow eyes with upward curves at the ends, like butterfly wings.

Her own eyes widened again.

Because those eyes… were exactly the same as hers when she transformed.