Little Pink Starfish

The moon outside had been hidden behind clouds, but now it revealed a sliver of silver light.

A gust of wind, laced with snowflakes, swept into the room, extinguishing the single candle on the table. The room instantly plunged into shadow, and the shopkeeper sitting in the center of the room—his face moments ago still touched by warm candlelight—was now swallowed by darkness. The only visible part of him was his glowing red eyes, gleaming ominously in the pitch-black space.

Upstairs, Tang Shi peered down and muttered to herself: So this is what real demon eyes look like when a monster unleashes their power…

Though she herself was a demon, she was still young and had lived a relatively peaceful life. She hadn’t awakened her own demon markings or demon eyes yet—only seen them on her relatives.

This… this was her first time seeing such a creature in the flesh.

The wooden door at the front was shaking violently from the impact but still miraculously hadn’t fallen apart.

The shopkeeper in the center narrowed his red eyes with obvious impatience. He looked at the hulking demon in the doorway and spoke with the same lazy tone as before, “Don’t you… know any manners?”

Tang Shi recognized that tone—it was the same one the shopkeeper used whenever she secretly visited in the early mornings and annoyed him. But this time, it was completely different. That same sentence made her whole body tremble.

Literally tremble.

She suddenly heard a strange chattering sound. At first, she wasn’t sure where it was coming from. After a few seconds of confusion, she realized…

It was her own teeth, chattering uncontrollably from her trembling jaw.

Her heart pounded. That reaction—it wasn’t something she could consciously control. Her body was instinctively reacting to the oppressive aura in the room.

Somehow, the entire space was now tinted with a faint red hue. Not the result of an external light source—this red glow came from within, a blood-colored mist that filled every corner of the room.

Was she imagining it? Because she swore she could now smell the faint scent of blood—sweet, metallic, and terrifying.

Right—what had Qiu Ling said before? That the shopkeeper looked like he’d just bathed in blood.

The cozy, warm atmosphere from earlier had completely vanished. What remained was sinister, eerie, and cold. It felt like a snake coiled in the underbrush, waiting silently to strike.

Just like that, Tang Shi shivered again.

Thin red tendrils had begun to rise and sway in midair. They writhed like living things, flexible, long, and agile—none of them tangling with one another, each dancing in its own rhythm.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the massive demon in the doorway. She could sense that the little demon girl was still crouching on the stairs, but now wasn’t the time to yell, “Hey brat, get your butt back upstairs!” That’d just make it weirder.

She had to admit—even she didn’t like the way her aura had become lately. Ever since she’d started practicing the Blood Jade Demon Technique, her energy had taken on a strange, dark tone.

Some demons gave off soothing or even ethereal auras—wood spirits, for example, always felt refreshing. Yuan Yuanyuan’s aura used to be relatively neutral… but now?

She sniffed lightly. Yeah, her energy smelled faintly like blood. Creepy, thick, and unsettling—just like those moody, psychotic high-tier demons who could freak out and massacre a bunch of baby demons on a whim.

She used to talk mad trash about those types behind their backs, even making voodoo dolls in private. Now… she was starting to resemble one.

The red tendrils sprouting from her were her favorite weapon. Honestly, they were kind of a giveaway, but she had no choice. She didn’t know how strong the enemy was, so it was better to go all out from the start.

“Who are you?” the hulking demon asked slowly. His voice was low, rough, and unpleasant to hear.

Yuan Yuanyuan’s figure remained hidden in the darkness. She chuckled softly. “Me?”

A pause.

“Just a nobody.”

The demon laughed, his voice rasping through the room like sandpaper. “Pretty bold, huh? I’m new in town, sure, but out there I’m a well-known demon.”

…

Moonlight streamed in, casting a silver glow across the floor.

The man in the chair remained expressionless.

Suddenly, the red tendrils all sprang to life.

Like scarlet ribbons in a storm, they shot forward, targeting the demon in the doorway. Within three seconds, they had completely entangled him.

He lifted a hand to block, but the tendrils coiled like venomous snakes around his arms, wrapping him tighter and tighter.

“Hah… this little trick? Not enough to hold me,” the demon sneered, lifting one hand like he was admiring how nicely he’d been bound.

He didn’t even finish his sentence before his expression changed.

A thin red tendril had pierced his skin—burrowing straight into his blood vessels. Like a parasitic vine, it burrowed deep, hungrily spreading through his body.

Within seconds, his veins began bulging unnaturally.

But they weren’t blue.

They were red.

A choking, nauseating scent of blood filled the air.

At three in the morning, half the street could hear a scream—a howl that didn’t sound human at all.

The people still asleep rolled over, assuming it was another drunk yelling again. They fell back into their dreams.

But the demons…

The demons woke up.

One after another, their eyes snapped open in horror. They turned toward the source of the sound, ears perked, senses on edge.

A wave of bloody demonic aura swept across the neighborhood, so pungent it made other demons panic. The scream that followed rose higher, then slowly faded.

One demon sat upright. Then another. And another.

Within minutes, every demon in the four or five blocks nearby had woken up, staring toward the direction of that scream.

This scent—this aura—had shaken the entire neighborhood.

That night, many demons remained sitting in silence, eyes wide until dawn.

When the sun rose, dewdrops settled. The scent—only perceptible to demons—finally began to dissipate along with the mist.

“…What the hell…” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered, dragging a massive corpse toward the door. “Middle of the damn night. Came down on a whim. Didn’t even do anything fun. Now I gotta clean up the body in daylight…”

The monster she’d killed had finally revealed its true form.

A massive rhinoceros.

Its horn still pointed skyward, nearly twice the size of a normal rhino’s. Supposedly, those horns were conduits for spiritual energy.

Yuan Yuanyuan stared for a while, then took out a small knife and sawed the horn off. She tossed it onto a table like a chunk of firewood.

She’d thought this guy would be hard to kill. Turned out… total paper tiger.

The move she’d used was from the Blood Jade technique—except it was originally meant for draining human blood. She’d modified it to work on demons instead. The tendrils weren’t even supposed to be tendrils; they were supposed to be mist. She just preferred her version.

Now, the blood stored in those tendrils would have to be released later. Gross.

She was halfway through the cleanup when the two girls finally came down the stairs.

“You should probably take the day off,” she told them. “Neither of you slept. Tell your families. I can come with you if you want.”

Both girls had dark circles under their eyes—Tang Shi’s were the worst. Qiu Ling didn’t look much better.

“Boss…” Tang Shi muttered, staring at Yuan Yuanyuan dragging the giant corpse. The morning sun lit up her face, bathing her in golden light. Tang Shi rubbed her eyes and murmured, “…You scared the hell outta me last night. I thought you were possessed or something…”

“Little kid like you cursing already?” Yuan Yuanyuan smacked her lightly on the head. Tang Shi yelped, clutching her forehead.

Yuan Yuanyuan turned to Qiu Ling. “You didn’t go home last night. Phone should work now. Call your parents.”

Qiu Ling nodded, took out her phone, and walked off to make the call.

“Hey, boss,” Tang Shi perked up again. “You really look like that guy from Dream Manga—especially when you’re not talking. The black hair, the black eyes, the outfit… even those tendrils! I was dumbfounded last night. You should totally cosplay him. No one would notice the difference.”

“…Just because I look like him, I have to cosplay him? What, tentacles are patented now? Nobody else allowed to use them?” Yuan Yuanyuan rolled her eyes. “What about Kaneki? Kurama? Davy freakin’ Jones?”

“Okay, okay, I get it. We’re going to school now.” Tang Shi grabbed Qiu Ling, who had just finished her call. “Let’s go!”

“Not gonna nap first?”

“We’ll sleep in class!”

Yuan Yuanyuan turned away, wiped down the door that had been dented by a demon’s charge, finished tidying the body, and prepared to head home to sleep.

Just before she left, she glanced back instinctively…

…and locked eyes with a crowd of stunned onlookers.

Startled, Yuan Yuanyuan froze. So did the people outside.

Then they turned and bolted.

She stood there for three seconds.

Then darted back inside and slammed the door.

And just like that…

Peace returned to the street once more.