Little Pink Starfish

Ever since that night, Yuan Yuanyuan had stayed away from that street for a whole week.

She holed up at home, bought a fresh notebook, and began writing cryptic notes in it—things that no one else could understand. Each time she filled a page, she burned it.

But truth be told, she wasn’t too worried about her identity being exposed anymore. Ji Qiu had been very cooperative, deliberately helping conceal her identity several times now. Yuan Yuanyuan could tell—Ji Qiu didn’t want her cover blown.

With such a mysterious big-shot demon watching her back, Yuan Yuanyuan felt more secure. At least, until the plot progressed into the later stages, she was confident that her “Yuan Yuanyuan” identity would remain hidden. She could continue to live her blissfully lazy, fish-like life as a low-key little demon.

Honestly, even in the later stages, she might still be fine—unless the author ran out of ideas and got desperate. In her opinion, her disguise was holding up pretty well.

After a week of idling, Yuan Yuanyuan intended to continue being a slacker. But the higher-ups among the big demons had other plans. They contacted her through the little bronze mirror, saying it was time to return to work. Left with no choice, she decided to drop by after her evening shift.

When she arrived, she saw Si Qun holding a long brush dipped in vivid cinnabar, carefully painting on a smooth, white porcelain vase. Under his hand, a beautiful plum blossom gradually took form.

Yuan Yuanyuan leaned in for a closer look. After a while, she muttered, “Qun’er… I didn’t know you had this kind of talent.”

Si Qun ignored her and continued painting, his brushwork precise and elegant—clearly the work of someone well-practiced. Yuan Yuanyuan tried to imitate his technique behind her back but ended up looking like a chicken claw and gave up, putting her hands back at her sides.

She looked at him again.

Si Qun was incredibly focused. Unlike his usual shy self, his face was calm and serious as he concentrated on the vase, those pretty eyes of his unwavering.

Though Si Qun usually acted timid like a little girl, whenever he got serious, there wasn’t a trace of that softness left.

Yuan Yuanyuan wondered if a rogue flirt tried anything at that moment, would he even flinch?

Eventually, he finished the painting. A lifelike plum blossom now adorned the vase. He gently blew on it and set it aside. Then he turned and saw Yuan Yuanyuan beside him—his face turned red instantly.

Yuan Yuanyuan quietly stepped back. Even after all this time working together, he still got flustered just talking to her. She doubted he’d ever speak to her properly.

Looking at flustered Si Qun, a wicked idea popped into her head…

What if I just kept him busy all the time… maybe he’d stay serious forever?

Pffft.

Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly laughed and left to deliver drinks. As she walked down the hallway, several little light-fairy demons fluttered onto her skirt or tugged at the hem.

She’d learned they loved bright colors, especially her red dress. Whenever she walked through the halls, they’d hide underneath her skirt—so now she always wore safety shorts, just in case.

When she arrived at the customer’s room, she shook off the clingy little demons, gently pried off a few stubborn ones by their tiny heads, and knocked softly.

“Hello, is Lord Yin inside? I’m Hong Xiu, delivering wine from the tavern.”

After a moment of silence, a voice replied from within, “Come in.”

Yuan Yuanyuan opened the door, entered with her head bowed, and placed the items from her tray on the table.

Though her head was lowered, her ears were wide open.

The guests inside were chatting about something:

“The Sanqing Temple has been rather restless lately…”

“I heard they called in quite a few reinforcements. Several well-known sects have sent help.”

“Pfft, do they even need help? Aren’t they the most famous sect around right now?”

“Still, I heard they’re keeping the identity of this ‘Fa Ning’ very tightly under wraps. No one even knows their real name.”

“Don’t gloat. If that big demon really breaks free, we won’t be safe either…”

As she set down the tray and added incense to the corner burner, Yuan Yuanyuan silently exited the room, still deep in thought.

It sounded like this wasn’t a one-person job anymore. Reinforcements were being called in.

And from what she could tell, the fact that no one had identified her as “Yuan” yet wasn’t just due to the sect’s secrecy—it was also thanks to Ji Qiu.

In fact… she now suspected even the exorcists didn’t know who Fa Ning really was. Maybe Ji Qiu was helping keep their identity hidden too.

All the other top-ten tournament contestants had been exposed—except for the mysterious tenth place: the “girl” everyone was speculating about.

Well, she couldn’t be bothered to dig into it. It was too far away, and she didn’t know how to investigate it even if she wanted to.

The day was bright, sunny, and cloudless.

Yuan Yuanyuan stretched, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and opened her shop door.

She had a half-finished garment on the table—everything was done except the buttons.

Her tailor shop only opened at night, and being in the “nursery district” of town meant that nights were always quiet. No rowdy demons, just peaceful streets. Even the Hundred Demon Parade never came this way.

So this was actually the first time she’d opened the shop during the day.

She sat down, glanced at the rhinoceros horn from that night, and began trying to carve buttons from it using a toolkit.

“Eh? When did this shop open?” some street-wandering demons noticed. It had always been closed before.

“Hello? Is anyone inside?” one of them peeked in.

Then they saw a man dressed all in black, handsome to the point of being eerie, sitting in the shadows, hammering away at a glowing white material.

Crack. Crack.

It radiated intense demon energy—definitely a part of some powerful creature’s body.

Hearing the voice, the man slowly raised his head and asked in a low voice, “Ah… hello. Would you like to buy something?”

Just as he spoke, the object in his hands cracked in half with a sharp pop.

“NOPE! Wrong place! I’m out!” the demon at the door screamed and bolted.

…Rude.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked at the split horn and calmly picked up a smaller tool to drill button holes.

“Boss, did you just scare away a customer?” said a familiar voice.

She didn’t look up—it was that kid, Tang Shi. She poured her a cup of hot water from the new kettle.

“Where’s Qiu Ling? Didn’t she come with you?”

“She has cram school later,” Tang Shi replied.

Just then, the door opened again.

“Behave yourself this time,” Tang Shi whispered quickly. “Don’t scare them off again.”

She turned and saw a woman in white at the doorway.

“Hello, would you like to buy something?” Tang Shi said sweetly.

But the woman just looked quietly at Yuan Yuanyuan.

“That’s not a customer,” Yuan Yuanyuan said, setting down the rhinoceros horn. “She’s… an old acquaintance.”

She got up. “You stay here. I’m going to talk to the nice lady outside. Don’t touch my clothes, or I’ll break your hands.”

“Got it, got it. Is she your girlfriend?” Tang Shi smirked. “She’s pretty. Why not introduce me?”

“Brat.”

Without another word, Yuan Yuanyuan walked out with the woman.

They stopped under a bare tree in the yard. The woman stared at it for a moment before speaking.

“You seem to be in high spirits lately. I thought you didn’t care for mingling with young demons.”

“Don’t pry into my private life. If you have something to say, say it,” Yuan Yuanyuan replied coldly.

“There’ve been rumors,” the woman said. “A number of outside demons are trying to infiltrate C City. We don’t know when or how—but we’ve confirmed the intent.”

“Is it serious?” Yuan Yuanyuan asked.

“Very,” the woman nodded. “Only a few of us in the upper ranks know. We can’t act rashly… so we’re asking for your help. Just protect this district. It’s mostly young demons. If you see outsiders, chase them off—or kill them.”

“…Wait,” Yuan Yuanyuan suddenly said. “That demon I saw last week…”

“That was one of them,” the woman confirmed.

Ah. So that’s why she’d been reassigned here. Why she’d been summoned back.

Inside, Yuan Yuanyuan’s eyes were dead as a fish’s, though her face remained calm. “So… you want me to stay here more often?”

The woman didn’t deny it. She bowed slightly and handed over a small jade pendant before vanishing.

Yuan Yuanyuan looked down at the jade, her head pounding.

Back inside, Tang Shi was fiddling with the tools. Seeing Yuan Yuanyuan return, she asked, “Who was that? She smelled so nice!”

“Lotus demon. That’s the scent of lotus flowers,” Yuan Yuanyuan muttered.

She sat down, started playing with the buttons again—but couldn’t calm down.

Shit… I think I’ve just been assigned a terrifying mission…